First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, the Moscow Times, Tass, Agence France-Presse, teleSUR, and india.com; others are accessible by clicking on their initials or names below. — MCM

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Putin signs annexation of Ukrainian regions as losses mount, by Adam Schreck | AP  KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the final papers today to annex four regions of Ukraine while his military struggled to control the new territory that was added in violation of international laws. . . . In a defiant move, the Kremlin held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine. Speaking in a conference . . . READ MORE . . .

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Kremlin says annexation and retreat are not a contradiction amid Ukrainian successes, by Guy Faulconbridge and Felix Light | Reuters  * Putin signs annexation documents * Russian forces battle counter-offensive * Putin appoints officials to run regions * Kremlin: the territories will be returned | LONDON — As President Vladimir Putin completed paperwork for the annexation of four regions of Ukraine today, the Kremlin said there was no contradiction between Russian retreats and Putin’s vow that they would always be part of Russia. . . . The conclusion of the legalities of the annexation of up to 18% of Ukrainian territory came as Russian forces battled to halt Ukrainian counter-offensives . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia claims front ‘stabilized’ as Ukraine pushes on with counteroffensive, by Leyla Latypova | The Moscow Times  Russian officials sought today  to allay concerns that Ukraine could achieve a major breakthrough in its ongoing counteroffensive amid reports that Kyiv’s forces were advancing in both the south and east of the country. Russian pro-war blogger Semyon Pegov confirmed today that Ukraine had recaptured a number of locations in the southern Kherson region . . . . At the same time, Kyiv’s forces appeared to be moving forward in the eastern Luhansk region . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia has great respect for everything Ukrainian, including language, culture — Putin. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia has always had tremendous respect for the Ukrainian people, culture and language, Russian President Vladimir Putin said today. . . . “Despite the current tragedy we have always had great respect for the Ukrainian people, Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian language and literature, and so on. And we have never permitted anything that is allowed in Ukraine in relation to Russian culture and the Russian language,” Putin said. He stressed . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says ready to supply gas via undamaged pipeline. From AFP. MOSC OW — Moscow said today it was ready to quickly supply gas to Europe through an undamaged section of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany, after recent leaks heightened geopolitical tensions. “If the necessary legal decisions are made by European colleagues regarding [Nord Stream 2’s] certification . . .  I think Russia in a short period of time could . . . READ MORE . . .

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Kremlin on Ukraine’s decree banning negotiations with Putin. From teleSUR. In the face of Ukraine’s decree “to recognize the impossibility of holding negotiations with the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Russia will await a new position by Ukraine or its new leader to resume peace talks. “It takes two sides to negotiate,” Peskov said, calling Russia an “advocate of the idea of achieving the terms proposed by the Russian side by diplomatic means” even before the country’s special military . . . READ MORE . . .

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In other news . . .

SpaceX spaceship blasts off to ISS carrying 4 including cosmonaut. AFP / india.com SpaceX spaceship Dragon carrying four astronauts blasted off today. Aboard were NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina. While on the orbiting laboratory, they will conduct over 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations in areas such as human health and lunar fuel systems. Click HERE and HERE for a photo and a video.

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, links to two pieces of commentary, the first from Behind the Curtin, the second from the Washington Post; the latter, like the five news reports that begin today’s entry, is full of examples of what the former talks about. — MCM

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Russian losses evident in key liberated Ukrainian city, by Adam Schreck and Vasilisa Stepanenko | AP  LYMAN, Ukraine — The bodies of Russian soldiers were lying in the streets of a key eastern Ukrainian city today, evidence of a hasty retreat that marked a new military defeat for Moscow as it struggles to hang on to areas it illegally annexed last week. Russia’s upper house of parliament rubber-stamped the annexation . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia forges ahead with annexation plan despite military retreats, by Jonathan Landay and Tom Balmforth | Reuters * Putin expected to sign annexation plan * Zelenskiy rules out peace talks with Putin * Ukraine retakes land in southern thrust * Is pressuring Russia in the east too | KRAMATORSK/KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin may finalise his plan to annex four Ukrainian regions later on Tuesday, even as his forces are being pushed back by Ukraine on two separate battlefield fronts shrinking the amount of seized territory he controls. Russia, which has escalated its seven-month war with its annexation drive, a mobilisation and warnings of nuclear weapons use . . . READ MORE . . .

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Over 200,000 people mobilised to Russian army in two weeks: Defence minister. From AFP. MOSCOW: More than 200,000 people have been conscripted into the Russian army since President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization drive on September 21, Moscow’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said today. . . . The Kremlin has called the mobilization “partial” and said it aims to recruit 300,000 men. Shoigu said those mobilized are being trained at “80 training grounds and six training centers.” READ MORE . . .

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Putin raises the specter of using nuclear weapons in his war with Ukraine. Reported by A Martínez and Greg Myre | NPR  As Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, U.S. officials are assessing the threat level and planning how the U.S. could respond. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Russia is losing the edge in Ukraine, but Putin still seems ready to double down. Reported by Mary Louise Kelly, Michael Levitt and Sarah Handel | NPR  Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Michael McFaul, a former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, about Putin’s mindset as the war in Ukraine shifts out of Russia’s favor. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Only adult children still believe U.S. propaganda, by Edward Curtin | Behind the Curtain It should now be quite clear to any reasonable person that the Biden administration is hell-bent on destroying Russia and will risk nuclear war in doing so. It has already started World War III with its use of Ukraine to light the final match. The problem is that reasonable people are in very short supply, and, as Ray McGovern recently wrote in “Brainwashed for War with Russia,” the Biden administration and their media lackeys “will have no trouble rallying Americans for the widest war in 77 years, starting in Ukraine . . . READ MORE . . .

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Negotiated peace with Putin is safest way out, by David Von Drehle | The Washington Post I can’t fault anyone who objects to the idea of a negotiated settlement of the Ukraine war. Russia started with an unprovoked invasion and moved quickly to war crimes. So why . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

Beginning below is a look at Russian president Vladimir Putin’s public speeches since last December, which the essay’s author says suggest a forward-looking “new perspective” on Putin’s part and potentially on the part of other nations’ leaders. Consortium News published it today. — MCM

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The Strong, and the Merely Powerful

By Patrick Lawrence

Vladimir Putin’s speech from the Kremlin last Friday, delivered to the nation and the world as four regions of Ukraine were reintegrated into Russia, was another stunner, in line with numerous others he’s made this year, demonstrating a fundamental turn in the Russian president’s thinking over the past eight months.

The implications of this new perspective warrant careful consideration. Putin has taken to looking forward and seeing something new, and in this he is hardly alone.

“The world has entered a period of a fundamental, revolutionary transformation,” Putin said while standing beside the leaders of the Luhansk and Donetsk republics and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Phrases such as this bear the weight of history. By way of magnitude, presidential speeches do not get any larger. Here is how the Russian leader expanded on the thought:

“New centers of power are emerging. They represent the majority — the majority! — of the international community. They are ready not only to declare their interests but also to protect them. They see in multipolarity an opportunity to strengthen their sovereignty, which means gaining genuine freedom, historical prospects, and the right to their own independent, creative, and distinctive forms of development, to a harmonious process.”

Putin has been speaking in this register since Feb. 4, 20 days before Russia launched its intervention in Ukraine and on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. In the Joint Declaration on International Relations Entering a New Era and Global Sustainable Development, issued with Xi Jinping, Putin and the Chinese president declared, “Today the world is going through momentous changes . . . and humanity is entering a new era of rapid development and profound transformation. There is increasing interrelation and interdependence between the States; a trend has emerged toward redistribution of power in the world.”

Putin’s rhetoric has grown markedly sharper from February to last Friday. He has attacked the European Union for its “selfishness” and cowardice, the U.S. for its hegemonic aggression, including the genocide of Native Americans, and the West altogether for the “neocolonial” character of its relations with the non–West. Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, used to refer to Western nations as “our partners.” As of last Friday, yesterday’s partners are Russia’s “enemies.”

‘Irreversible Changes’

All very grim. Putin has made this turn toward confrontation reluctantly and out of frustration with the West’s obstinate refusal to negotiate the new security order that Europe so obviously needs. He is angry at the spectacle of wasteful violence and prolonged disorder. This is my read. But there is a certain brightness to his outlook that we must not miss amid the bleak, evident animosity.

“Global politics and economy are about to undergo fundamental and irreversible changes,” Putin asserted again, this time at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Council, held in Samarkand last month, “not based on some rules forced on [us] by external forces and which nobody has seen, but on universally recognized principles of the rule of international law and the U.N. Charter, namely, equal and indivisible security and respect for each other’s sovereignty, national values, and interests.”

In his Moscow address, he said: “They do not wish us freedom, but they want to see us as a colony. They want not equal cooperation, but robbery. They want to see us not as a free society, but as a crowd of soulless slaves.”

“Western countries have been repeating for centuries that they bring freedom and democracy to other peoples. Everything is exactly the opposite: instead of democracy – suppression and exploitation; instead of freedom – enslavement and violence. The entire unipolar world order is inherently anti-democratic and not free, it is deceitful and hypocritical through and through.

“Let me also remind you that the United States, together with the British, turned Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne and many other German cities into ruins without any military necessity during World War II. And this was done defiantly, without any, I repeat, military necessity. There was only one goal: just like in the case of the nuclear bombings in Japan, to intimidate both our country and the whole world. …

“The US dictate is based on brute force, on fist law. Sometimes beautifully wrapped, sometimes without any wrapper, but the essence is the same – fist law. The collapse of Western hegemony that has begun is irreversible. And I repeat again: it will not be the same as before.”

This kind of talk is daring. It is a million miles from anything . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Tass, Agence France-Presse, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Ukrainian forces burst through Russian lines in major advance in south, by Tom Balmforth | Reuters  * Russian-installed official confirms Ukraine advance in south * Says Kyiv’s forces near Dudchany, 30km from former frontline * No official Ukrainian confirmation of advance in south * Russian military bloggers say troops fall back dozens of km * Ukraine buoyed by weekend capture of Lyman in east | KYIV —  Ukrainian forces today achieved their biggest breakthrough in the south of the country since the war began, bursting through the front and advancing rapidly along the Dnipro River, threatening supply lines for thousands of Russian troops. . . . Russian sources acknowledged that a Ukrainian tank offensive had advanced dozens of kilometers along the river’s west bank, recapturing . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia smuggling Ukrainian grain to help pay for Putin’s war, by Michael Biesecker, Sarah el Deeb and Beatrice Dupuy | AP   BEIRUT — When the bulk cargo ship Laodicea docked in Lebanon last summer, Ukrainian diplomats said the vessel was carrying grain stolen by Russia and urged Lebanese officials to impound the ship. . . . An investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” has found the Laodicea, owned by Syria, is part of a sophisticated Russian-run smuggling operation that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to . . . READ MORE . . .

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State Duma passes laws on accepting DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into Russia. From Tass. MOSCOW — The State Duma unanimously passed draft constitutional laws on accepting the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR), as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, into Russia in the first reading and in their entirety today. According to the laws, the residents of the new constituent entities are recognized as Russian citizens starting on September 30 . . . but have a month to reject Russian citizenship. The documents . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia’s war machine faces ridicule from two Putin allies, by Guy Faulconbridge and Felix Light | Reuters LONDON — The withdrawal of Russian forces from a strategically important town in eastern Ukraine has prompted two powerful allies of President Vladimir Putin to do something rare in modern Russia: publicly ridicule the war machine’s top brass. Russia’s loss of the bastion . . . READ MORE . . .

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Head of Russian-held Ukrainian nuclear plant freed: UN watchdog. From AFP. The detained chief of Ukraine’s Russian-held nuclear power plant has been released, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said today. “I welcome the release of Ihor Murashov, director general of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant; I have received confirmation that Mr Murashov has returned to his family safely,” Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says woman killed after cross-border Ukrainian shelling. From AFP. A Russian official said today that Ukrainian shelling had killed a woman in the southern Russian region of Belgorod which neighbours Ukraine, in a rare cross-border attack. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine fired at the village of . . . READ MORE . . .

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How Russian forces lost control of the Ukrainian railway hub of Lyman. Reported by Steve Inskeep and Jason Beaubien | NPR  Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the key railway hub is under his country’s control. Russian forces had been using the rail lines to resupply their troops farther south in Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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TO BE CONTINUED

Presented below is the beginning of an informed analysis that predicts terminal consequences for humanity if the leaders of the United States and Russia fail to successfully exercise what the author describes as “the kind of political maturity leaders rarely demonstrate.” Consortium News published it on Sept. 30. — MCM

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The Onus Is on Biden & Putin

By Scott Ritter

Wars should be avoided at all costs. Nuclear conflict should never be contemplated.

These two truisms are often spoken, but rarely adhered to. Wars occur all too frequently, and so long as nations possess nuclear weapons, their use  is contemplated on a continuous basis.

The ongoing Ukrainian-Russian conflict has put the world’s two largest nuclear powers on opposing sides, with the U.S. supporting a Ukrainian military that has become a de facto proxy of NATO, and Russia viewing its struggle with Ukraine as including the “collective West.”

Since the initiation of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, both the U.S. and Russia have played their respective nuclear cards.

Russia has made it clear that any intervention by NATO would be considered an existential threat to the Russian nation, thereby invoking one of the two clauses in the Russian nuclear posture in which nuclear weapons could be used. (The other would be in response to a nuclear attack against Russia.)

The U.S. has made it clear that any attack by Russia against a NATO member would invoke Article 5 of the NATO charter (the “collective defense” clause), resulting in the totality of the alliance’s military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, being made available in response.

So far, neither side has directly challenged the red line of the other, although the United States has edged right up to it with the provision of tens of billions of dollars of advanced weaponry, financial assistance and intelligence and communication support for Ukraine.

This material support isn’t provided for Ukraine’s defense, but rather to enable Ukraine to retake territory lost to Russia and to inflict losses among the Russian forces of such a magnitude as to weaken Russia  for an extended period.

From the Western perspective, the massive infusion of military aid appears to be succeeding. Ukraine is perceived as having pushed back an initial Russian effort to capture Kiev in the opening weeks of the conflict. It is also seen as having held back a concerted Russian offensive in the Donbass long enough to deploy a reconstituted army — trained and equipped by NATO — which succeeded in recapturing the totality of the Kharkov region.

The fact that the Kiev “victory” has been described by Russia as a strategic feint, and not a defeat, and that the Kharkov offensive, together with a parallel failed offensive in Kherson, cost Ukraine so many casualties that it was more Pyrrhic than political in nature, is secondary.

From the perspective of both Ukraine and NATO, the Russian army is no longer viewed as invincible, but actually vulnerable. Both NATO and Ukraine appear ready to continue an aggressive military posture designed to attrite Russian forces while recapturing Ukrainian territory.

For its part, Russia believes . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Tass, Agence France-Presse, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Ukraine presses on with counteroffensive; Russia uses drones, by Jon Gambrell | AP  KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked the Ukrainian president’s hometown and other targets Sunday with suicide drones, and Ukraine took back full control of a strategic eastern city in a counteroffensive that has reshaped the war. Russia’s loss of the eastern city of Lyman . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian parliament to consider legal steps to absorb Ukrainian regions. From Reuters. * This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine | MOSCOW — Russia’s parliament will consider on Monday bills and ratification treaties to absorb four Ukrainian regions, RIA Novosti news agency cited the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, as saying today. . . . Separately the Russian Constitutional Court ruled today that the “international treaties” on the incorporation of the four regions to be in compliance with the Russian constitution. READ MORE . . .

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Germany, Denmark, Sweden to jointly investigate Nord Stream emergency — German top brass. From Tass. BERLIN — Germany, Denmark and Sweden want to create a joint investigation team to probe into the circumstances of the incident at Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper published on Saturday. “All evidence points . . . READ MORE . . .

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Pope Francis deplores Ukraine annexations, calls on Russia to end conflict. From AFP. Pope Francis today deplored Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory and called on the Russian leader to stop the war and on Ukraine’s president to be open to talks. “I deeply deplore the grave . . . READ MORE . . .

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Jewish Ukrainian father and son soldiers mark holy days under cloud of Russia’s war. Reported by Eleanor Beardsley | NPR  For Ukrainian Orthodox Jews Asher and David Cherkaskyi, a father and son both fighting on the front lines in the eastern Donbas region, beating Russia has become especially important to them because of their faith. While Russian President Vladimir Putin falsely claims . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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How Ukraine ended up with one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants. Reported by Julian Hayda | NPR  As part of the former Soviet Union, Ukraine was the site of nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons – and the story of those helps tell the story of the country. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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TO BE CONTINUED

A review of ‘The Last Witness’

By Mark Channing Miller

A witness is someone with personal knowledge of an event who is able to recount what he or she knows. Some witnesses’ testimony is challenged successfully. Not all witnesses to an event want to recount their memories of what they saw, at least not under certain circumstances.

In the 2018 movie “The Last Witness,” directed by Piotr Szkopiak,  Michael Loboda (played by Robert Wieckiewicz) is the eponymous witness (although the title is a double-entendre). Before long it becomes apparent why Loboda wants to keep what he knows to himself until the circumstances are right.

It’s a terrific movie. I saw it last night on hulu, and today looked it up on a couple of websites. Its Rotten Tomatoes ratings are just 29% on its tomatometer based on seven viewers’ reviews and a 60% audience score based on more than 50 ratings. Not high, so some will be disappointed.

The reviewers on imdb.com are sharply divided, but nearly all of the squibs are enjoyable and educational.

The protagonist in the movie, Stephen Underwood (Alex Pettyfer), reporter for a small newspaper, decides to check out a reported suicide. Write a few lines. But he quickly assumes it is not a suicide at all but a murder. The police call it suicide. His boss says forget it. “There’s no story here.” Do not write about it.

Underwood follows up anyway. Boy does he follow up.

A rule of thumb in writing movie reviews is not to give away too much about the plot; readers of this one will get hardly any of it. (People planning to see “The Last Witness” should not go near online reviews before seeing it.) Some will criticize the review you are reading for providing way too little of the plot.

Most Americans have never heard of the mass murders in 1940 in Poland known collectively as the Katyn massacre, although some facts about them became known a few years after they occurred. The site in Katyn forest was just one of where a series of such mass murders were committed.

Although the specific story in “The Last Witness” is fictional, the author of one commentary correctly calls it “a realistic view of what journalists can [do] and have done to bring the truth to light.” Another commentator writes, “It leaves you . . . pondering how farcical history can be.”

That said, this Wikipedia account of the series of Soviet NKVD mass murders lumped together under the title of “Katyn massacre” seems exhaustive. However, people who plan to see “The Last Witness” might want to wait until they have before reading it.

First, a link to an op-ed column in today’s Berkshire Eagle by the newspaper’s foreign affairs writer. Then, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Tass, Agence France-Presse, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their initials below. — MCM

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Russian men vote with their feet against Putin’s war in Ukraine, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle In one week, 300,000 Russian men have fled to neighboring countries to duck the draft. That is five times the number of American men who fled to Canada in the decade from 1965 to 1975 to escape the Vietnam War draft. . . . Military analysts, most notably the British Defense Ministry, warn that after seven months of war, Russia’s army lacks the officers for training and the equipment for arming new recruits. Backing up this view, a widely circulated video shows a Russian Army officer lecturing new recruits that the Army will supply only “uniforms and weapons.” It is up to soldiers to provide their own sleeping bags, tourniquets and medical supplies. READ MORE . . .

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Russia withdraws troops after Ukraine encircles key city, by Jon Gambrell and Adam Schreck | AP  KYIV — After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out today from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin. Russia’s withdrawal from Lyman complicates its internationally vilified declaration . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia abandons Ukrainian bastion, Putin ally suggests nuclear response, by Tom Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk | Reuters  * Ukraine’s recapture of Lyman deals Moscow major setback * Chechen leader suggests use of low-yield nuclear weapon * Lyman is key logistics hub in eastern Donetsk region * Donetsk is one of four regions Putin says are now Russian | KYIV — Russia said today its troops had abandoned the key bastion of Lyman in occupied eastern Ukraine, a stinging defeat that prompted a close ally of President Vladimir Putin to call for the possible use of low-grade nuclear weapons. The fall of Lyman came just a day after Putin proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions – including Donetsk, where Lyman is located – and placed them under Russia’s nuclear umbrella, at a ceremony that was condemned by Kyiv and the West as an illegitimate . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ending conflict practically impossible after four new regions joined Russia – Borrell. From Tass. MADRID — The fact that the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions joined Russia makes ending the conflict in Ukraine practically impossible, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell told Spain’s 24 HorasTV channel today. “No one will recognize . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine Condemns ‘Illegal Detention’ Of Nuclear Plant Chief: Ministry. From AFP. Kyiv said today it condemned “in the strongest terms the illegal detention” by Russians of the director of Ukraine’s Moscow-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. “The crime is yet another act of state terrorism by Russia and . . . READ MORE . . .

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Understanding Putin’s moves as he annexes even more of Ukraine. Reported by Ailsa Chang, Kathryn Fox and Bridget Kelley | NPR  Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed four more Ukrainian regions Friday. NPR’s Juana Summers speaks with senior policy researcher at the RAND corporation Dara Massicot about the move. Click HERE to listen and read.

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The real world impact of Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian regions. Reported by Jason Beaubien | NPR  Russian President Vladimir Putin has formally annexed four regions of Ukraine. Ukraine responded by submitting an application to quickly ascend into NATO. The moves are an escalation in the conflict. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Ukrainian villages grapple with the effects of Russia’s sham referendum. Reported by Kat Lonsdorf | NPR  In Ukrainian villages on the front line, Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian regions may further complicate life. Click HERE to listen and, some other time, read.

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TO BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Tass, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names and initials below. Next, links to commentaries via the Greanville Post on the explosions that shut down two Baltic Sea pipelines meant to carry natural gas from Gazprom in Russia to customers elsewhere. Finally, from late yesterday via Popular Resistance and Consortium News, links to commentary by two observers regarding the explosions, and links to commentary by Diana Johnstone and by Caitlin Johnstone. — MCM

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Putin accuses the West of sabotaging Baltic Sea pipelines, by Jan M. Olsen | AP  COPENHAGEN — Russian President Vladimir Putin today accused the West of sabotaging Russia-built gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea to Germany, a charge that has been vehemently denied by the United States and its allies. Nordic nations said the undersea blasts that damaged the pipelines this week and have led to huge methane leaks involved several hundred pounds of explosives. The claim by Putin . . . READ MORE . . .

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Zelensky says ready for dialogue with Russia, but not with Putin. From Tass. KIEV — Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said today that Kiev is ready for settlement talks with Moscow, but with a Russian president other than Vladimir Putin. “We are ready for dialogue . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin proclaims annexation as Russian garrison surrounded in Ukraine, by Jonathan Landay | Reuters  * Russian annexation of four regions condemned worldwide * Move is ‘dangerous escalation’ jeopardising peace – U.N. chief * Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says for war to end Putin must be stopped * Zelenskiy summons emergency meeting on security, defence | ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — President Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia’s annexation of a swath of Ukraine today in a speech at the Kremlin, but the event was overshadowed by one of Russia’s worst battlefield defeats of the war, with one of its main garrisons surrounded. “People living in Luhansk, Donetsk . . . READ MORE . . . 

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U.S. announces ‘severe’ sanctions on Russia over annexations. From AFP. The United States today announced “severe” new sanctions on Russia in response to what President Joe Biden called Moscow’s “fraudulent” claim to have annexed four Ukrainian regions. “The United States is imposing swift and severe costs . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin: Russia will use all means to guard annexed regions, by Jon Gambrell and Hanna Arhirova | AP  KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the process of annexing parts of Ukraine by saying he would sign laws to absorb them despite international condemnation and protect the newly incorporated regions using “all available means.” In a speech preceding a treaty-signing ceremony to make four Ukrainian regions part of Russia, Putin warned . . . READ MORE . . .

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After staged referendums, Putin is annexing 4 regions in Ukraine. Reported by Rachel Martin and Charles Maynes | NPR  President Putin will officially annex four regions in Ukraine that have become part of Russia, after holding a referendum that the international community broadly denounced as a sham. Click HERE to listen.

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How Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian regions could change the war. Leila Fadel of NPR talks with Andrew Weiss of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about Russia annexing four Ukrainian territories and how that could escalate the war. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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No, Russia didn’t blow up their own pipeline. From the Jimmy Dore Show / The Greanville Post. Why blow up an important and expensive strategic asset when . . . Click HERE for video.

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Germany and EU have been handed over a declaration of war, by Pepe Escobar | The Greanville Post The attack on both Baltic Sea pipelines consisted of multiple explosive charges detonated in separate branches close to the Danish island of Bornholm, but in international waters. That was a sophisticated operation, carried out in stealth in the shallow depth of the Danish straits. . . . [T]he waters around Borholm are crammed with sensors, reflecting fear of incursion by Russian submarines. (!) Drunk on their own hubris . . . READ MORE . . .

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The war on Germany just entered its hot phase, by Moon of Alabama | Educate! Just yesterday [Sept. 27] I laid out how the U.S. is winning its war on Europe’s industries and people. That war, hidden behind the U.S.-created Ukraine crisis . . . READ MORE . . .

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The timing of the pipeline attack, by Joe Lauria | Consortium News President Joe Biden, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz by his side, promised a White House press conference in early February that the U.S. was “able” to shut down the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea if Russia invaded Ukraine. A reporter asked . . . READ MORE . . .

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Omerta in the gangster war, by Diana Johnstone | Consortium News PARIS — Imperialist wars are waged to conquer lands, peoples, territories.  Gangster wars are waged to remove competitors.  In gangster wars you issue an obscure warning, then you smash the windows or burn the place down. Gangster war is what you wage when you already are the boss and won’t let any outsider muscle in . . . READ MORE . . .

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New Zealand’s PM wants more online censorship for the war in Ukraine, by Caitlin Johnstone | caitlinjohnstone.com New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern continued her crusade for the expansion of internet censorship during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday [Sept. 23], this time using the war in Ukraine. “Whether it’s climate, trade, health crises or seeking peaceful solutions to war and conflict, New Zealand has always been . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Tass, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and the Moscow Times; others are accessible by clicking on their names and initials below. — MCM

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Kremlin will annex 4 regions of Ukraine on Friday, by Jon Gambrell and Adam Schreck | AP  KYIV — Russia confirmed on Thursday it will formally annex parts of Ukraine where occupied areas held Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” on living under Moscow’s rule that the Ukrainian government and the West denounced as illegal and rigged. Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a ceremony on Friday in the Kremlin when . . . READ MORE . . .

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Moscow prepares to annex 4 Russian-occupied regions in Ukraine. Leila Fadel of NPR talks with PBS Newshour’s Simon Ostrovsky about what the earlier annexation of Crimea might suggest for what happens now for the next areas Russia is trying to annex. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Ukrainian soldiers’ view on counteroffensive could inform efforts to dislodge Russia. Reported by Jason Beaubien | NPR  Ukraine’s counteroffensive saw many Russian forces flee advancing troops in the northeast of the country. But soldiers on the ground say it was more difficult than some headlines have portrayed it. Click HERE to listen and read.

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War didn’t stop Hasidic pilgrims from gathering in Ukraine for the Jewish new year. Reported by Pete Kiehart and Julian Hayda | NPR  UMAN, Ukraine — For all but a week a year, the city of Uman is like any small city in Ukraine. The economy usually revolves around a bus factory and some grain processing facilities. But every fall, thousands of Hasidic Jews from around the world transform a central neighborhood in Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. And this year . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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EU officials and others are concerned about explosions at Nord Stream pipelines. Reported by Leila Fadel and Jackie Northam | NPR  Some European leaders say the Nord Stream pipeline leaks are deliberate. There’s growing concern about what it could mean for security at oil and gas installations around Europe. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Russian diplomat says Nord Stream leaks occurred in zone controlled by U.S. intelligence. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Nord Stream pipeline incidents took place in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark and Sweden, an area that is fully controlled by US intelligence agencies, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Soloviev Live TV program on Thursday. Commenting on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipeline leaks . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says Nord Stream ‘sabotage’ likely to be state-sponsored act, by Sabine Siebold and Charlotte Campenhout | Reuters MOSCOW/BRUSSELS — Russia said today leaks spewing gas into the sea from pipelines to Germany appeared to be the result of state-sponsored “terrorism”, as an EU official said the incident had fundamentally changed the nature of the conflict in Ukraine. The European Union is investigating . . . READ MORE . . .

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Over 194,000 Russians flee call-up to neighboring countries, by Dasha Litvinova | AP  TALLINN, Estonia — It took Vsevolod four days to drive from Moscow to Russia’s southern border with Georgia. He had to abandon his car at one point and continue on foot. On Tuesday, he finally finished his 1,800-kilometer (1,100-mile) journey and crossed the frontier to escape being called up to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine. “At 26, I do not . . . READ MORE . . .

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Finland to close border to Russians with EU tourism visas from Friday. From AFP. Finland will bar Russians with Schengen tourist visas from entering the country from Friday, the government said Thursday following a surge in arrivals after Moscow’s mobilisation order for the war in Ukraine. “The decision . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian forces face ‘imminent defeat’ in east Ukraine supply hub. From the Moscow Times. Russian forces face “imminent defeat” to advancing Ukrainian soldiers in a key supply hub in eastern Ukraine, threatening Russian positions elsewhere and potentially undermining morale further, observers said today. Russian military bloggers said . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED