This entry concerns events in Haiti and Colombia, NATO and the United Nations. First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via Popular Resistance, links to an account by a writer for a Venezuelan news outlet in opposition to a U.S.-supported effort for UN intervention in Haiti, that of another writer who opposes possible NATO involvement in the Amazon, and the earlier report in Spanish on the subject of NATO in the Amazon.  — MCM

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Cholera overwhelms Haiti as cases, deaths spike amid crisis, by Evens Sanon | AP  Dozens of Haitians have died from cholera during a rapidly spreading outbreak that is straining the resources of nonprofits and local hospitals in a country where fuel, water and other basic supplies are growing scarcer by the day. Across Haiti, many patients are dying because say they’re unable to reach a hospital in time, health officials say. A spike in gang violence has made it unsafe for . . . READ MORE . . .

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As U.N. mulls sending troops to Haiti, a gang’s rise shows how hard that would be, by Brian Ellsworth | Reuters — As Haiti’s gang-induced humanitarian crisis deepened in October, a group of looters ransacked a supermarket in a well-to-do suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince, leading police to arrest over a dozen people and take them to a nearby police station. Within hours, the station in the area known as Thomassin came under a hail of bullets from gang members. They overpowered officers and released the looters as well as others who . . . READ MORE . . .

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Some 19,000 people in Haiti are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Reported by Leila Fadel and Eyder Peralta | NPR  Haiti is now in the sixth week of a fuel blockade by armed gangs in the capital Port-au-Prince. It means that escalating hunger, along with a cholera crisis, is getting more dire by the day. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Haiti’s long and complicated history of international intervention. Rachel Martin of NPR talks with historian Robert Fatton about ill-fated interventions in Haiti, which is now embroiled in a crisis that has the country on the brink of collapse. Click HERE to listen and read.

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U.S. tries to bend UN charter to bless illegal, unwanted invasion of Haiti, by Kim Ives | Orinoco Tribune The gloves came off at the United Nations Security Council on Oct. 17 in one of the best bare-knuckle since the dawn of the new multipolar world on Feb. 24. The subject was Haiti. To justify its fourth major military intervention into Haiti in a century, Washington is trying to deputize one nation or group of nations to intervene on its behalf. Sources say that the candidates for the honor . . . READ MORE . . .

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NATO in the Amazon: Petro plays with fire, by Roger D. Harris | Popular Resistance Earlier this month, Colombian President Gustavo Petro invited US and NATO military forces into the Amazon on the pretext that the imperial war machine could be repurposed as “police” aimed at protecting the environment instead of the old ruse of the war on drugs. He proposed deployment of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters to put out fires. Previous to the environmental alibi, the pretext for militarization of the jungle was narcotics . . . READ MORE . . .

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Petro y la Amazonía, por E. Jiménez | La Esperanza  La semana pasada el actual presidente Gustavo Petro levantó polémica con sus declaraciones sobre la Amazonía. Entre otras cosas, afirmó que desea que la Amazonía sea custodiada por los Estados Unidos y la OTAN. Este hecho, aunque no debería sorprender a nadie que haya realizado un estudio serio sobre los nexos del actual presidente, es de interés porque . . . LEA MÁS . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Agence France-Press, Reuters, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, a link to a column in the Berkshire Eagle in which its foreign affairs columnist lays out overlapping political and economic reasons for pursuing the U.S.-led course in Ukraine. — MCM

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Russia’s hope for Ukraine win revealed in battle for Bakhmut, by Inna Varenytsia and Sam Mednick | AP  Russian soldiers pummeling a city in eastern Ukraine with artillery are slowly edging closer in their attempt to seize Bakhmut . . . . Taking Bakhmut would rupture Ukraine’s supply lines and open a route for Russian forces to press on toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, key Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk province. Pro-Moscow separatists have controlled part of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province since 2014. Before invading . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia suspends participation in Ukraine grain deal. From AFP. Russia today suspended its participation in a landmark agreement that allowed vital grain exports from Ukraine, blaming drone attacks on Russian ships in Crimea. Russia made the announcement after its army accused Kyiv earlier in the day of a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labeled a “false pretext” and the UN urged the deal’s preservation. The Turkey and UN-brokered deal . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says UK navy blew up Nord Stream, London denies involvement, by Guy Faulconbridge and Sachin Ravikumar | Reuters LONDON — Russia’s defence ministry said today that British navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month, a claim that London said was false and designed to distract from Russian military failures in Ukraine. Russia did not give evidence for its claim that a leading NATO member had sabotaged critical Russian infrastructure amid the worst crisis in relations between the West and Russia since the depths of the Cold War . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian navy ‘repels’ drone attack in Sevastopol: Moscow-installed governor. From AFP. The Russian navy today thwarted a drone attack on the Sevastopol port, home to Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet in Russia-annexed Crimea, Moscow-installed authorities said.“Today, starting at 04:30 am for several hours, various air defense systems in Sevastopol repelled drone attacks,” Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said. “All UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) have . . . READ MORE . . .

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It would be U.S.  ‘golden dream’ to have nuclear weapons in Ukraine – diplomat. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the emergence of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would be a “golden dream” for Washington. “The U.S. deployed its nuclear weapons on the territory of European countries. It’s not France and the UK that have their own nuclear weapons. This is Italy and many . . . READ MORE . . .

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How Ukraine aid can pay for itself, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle Aside from protecting a democracy from invasion by a totalitarian neighbor, here are dollars and cents reasons for helping Ukraine. As the West’s inglorious response to the start of World War II shows, containment pays. By moving fast to help Ukraine block Russia, NATO aid is radically reducing the chances of having to fight later on to defend five NATO members: Poland, Slovakia and the three Baltic nations. In speeches and essays last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

The essay beginning below was published on Thursday, Oct. 27, on “Unreported Truths,” the website of the writer, a former journalist and author of books of fiction and nonfiction. — MCM

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Let a trillion tweets bloom

By Alex Berenson

What will Twitter look like after the world’s richest man finishes buying it?

Very different. Very quickly.

And better.

Elon Musk’s takeover should close tomorrow [Friday, Oct. 28]. (It was always going to close; he was never going to walk away.)

Then Musk will have a hot mess on his hands. Twitter is awful, and getting worse by the day under current management.

The little bird is a uniquely important property, as Musk knows. When it is working, it is the world’s most important forum for journalism – and for debate. It is a no-holds barred public square where elite gatekeepers cannot stop reporting and research from being presented and judged on their own merits.

It is the world’s largest open journal, the ultimate peer-review site. Because on Twitter anyone and everyone can speak, and ideas are judged very quickly and rise or fall on their own merits.

When it is working.

It’s not working now.

I joined Twitter in 2009, but I only learned its power in March 2020, after I became publicly skeptical Covid was as dangerous as the media had claimed. In a matter of days, my views became known worldwide – because of the platform Twitter offered me.

Here’s one small but very telling example, from a May book called The Herd, about Sweden’s decision not to lockdown:

On 25 March [2020], Neil Ferguson testified before the Science and Technology Committee in the UK parliament. Among other things, he said that the British healthcare apparatus would be able to weather the storm of COVID patients, and that the death toll would come in below 20,000 people.

The magazine New Scientist ran a commentary on his testimony, which was subsequently quoted in a Twitter thread by the journalist and lockdown-sceptic Alex Berenson.

That thread, in turn, was pasted into an email… to both Johan Giesecke [Sweden’s former chief epidemiologist] and Anders Tegnell [at the time Sweden’s chief epidemiologist]. The subject line read: ‘Ferguson makes a U-turn?’

‘Interesting!’ Giesecke replied. 

(Without going into too much backstory, if you’ve read . . . READ MORE . . .

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

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Russia’s hope for Ukraine win revealed in battle for Bakhmut, by Inna Varenytsia and Sam Mednick | AP  BAKHMUT, Ukraine — Russian soldiers pummeling a city in eastern Ukraine with artillery are slowly edging closer in their attempt to seize Bakhmut, which has remained in Ukrainian hands during the eight-month war despite Moscow’s goal of capturing the entire Donbas region bordering Russia. While . . . READ MORE . . .

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Moscow-installed official says Kherson civilian departures ‘completed.’ From AFP. MOSCOW — The head of Moscow-annexed Crimea has said civilian departures from occupied Kherson organised by Russia’s forces amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive were “completed”, after he visited the region with the Kremlin’s domestic chief Sergei Kiriyenko. “The work to organise . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia does not consider itself an enemy of the West – Putin. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia has never considered and does not consider itself an enemy of the West, despite the ongoing conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, speaking at the Valdai International Discussion Club plenary meeting Thursday. “In current circumstances . . . READ MORE . . .

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Can the U.S. keep up with Ukraine’s demand for weaponry? Reported by Tom Bowman, Stacy Vanek Smith,MEGAN Lim, Justine Kenin, Andrew Sussman and Ailsa Chang | NPR  The U.S. expects to be providing weaponry to Ukraine for months and even years to come. Defense officials are confident they can meet the demand, but there are real-world challenges. Click HERE to listen and read.

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‘No room for old dreams’, German president says of Russia ties, by Andreas Rinke | Reuters  BERLIN — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused an “epochal break” in Germany’s ties with Moscow and the war has shattered former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev’s dream of a “common European home”, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said today. Steinmeier, who hails from a wing of Germany’s Social Democrats that long argued for closer economic ties  . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

The linked analysis that begins below was published Wednesday by Popular Resistance. Its author is a reporter for The Grayzone. — MCM

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The endless proxy war, by design

By Aaron Mate | Educate!

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has presented the White House with a geopolitical crisis that it played a critical role in creating. In February 2014, Victoria Nuland, a current senior State Department official and former Dick Cheney advisor, was caught on tape plotting the installation of a new Ukrainian government – a plan, she stressed, that would involve Biden and his then-top aide, and current National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. Weeks later, the democratically elected Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted and replaced by Washington-backed leaders – including a prime minister selected by Nuland.

The regime change in Kiev made Biden the most influential US political figure in Ukraine, as underscored by the lucrative Burisma board seat gifted to his son Hunter. While the Biden family and other well-connected players profited, Ukraine fell into civil war. In the eastern Donbas region, Kremlin-backed Ukrainian rebels took up arms against a fascist-infused coup government that cracked down on Russian culture and countenanced murderous assaults on dissidents. Rather than promote the 2015 Minsk II accords — the agreed-upon formula for ending the Donbas conflict – the US fueled the fight with a weapons and training program that turned Ukraine into a NATO proxy. Influential US politicians left no doubt about their intentions. As the Donbas war raged, lawmakers declared that they were using Ukraine to “fight Russia over there” (Adam Schiff) and vowed to “make Russia pay a heavier price,” (John McCain). In February of this year, Russia invaded to bring the eight-year fight to an end, leaving Ukraine to pay the heaviest price of all.

The Biden administration shunned multiple opportunities to prevent the Russian assault. When Russia submitted draft peace treaties in December 2021, the White House refused to even discuss the Kremlin’s core demands: a pledge of neutrality for Ukraine, and the rollback of NATO military forces in post-1997 member states that neighbor Russia. At the final round of talks on implementing Minsk II in early February, the “key obstacle,” the Washington Post reported, “was Kyiv’s opposition to negotiating with the pro-Russian separatists.” Siding with Ukraine’s far-right, which had threatened to overthrow Volodymyr Zelensky if he signed a peace deal, the US made no effort to encourage diplomacy. Emboldened to escalate its war on the Donbas, the Ukrainian government then massively increased shelling on rebel-held areas in the days immediately preceding Russa’s February 24th invasion.

Looking back at the pre-invasion period, Jack Matlock, the US ambassador to the Soviet Union under Bush I, now concludes that “if Ukraine had been willing to abide by the Minsk agreement, recognize the Donbas as an autonomous entity within Ukraine, avoid NATO military advisors, and pledge not to enter NATO,” then Russia’s war “probably would have been prevented.”

For Washington, preventing the war would have interfered with longstanding objectives. As US policymakers have openly recognized, Ukraine’s historical, geographical, and cultural links to Russia could be used as a tool to achieve regime change in Moscow, or, at minimum, leave it “weakened.”

As Ukraine enters another winter of war, this time facing an intensified Russian assault, the Biden administration is apparently in no mood to end a crisis that it helped start.

In an interview with CNN, President Biden declared that he has “no intention” of meeting with Vladimir Putin at the upcoming G20 summit. “I’m not about to, nor is anyone else prepared to negotiate with Russia,” Biden said.

A recent account in the Washington Post details the White House’s prevailing mindset:

Privately, U.S. officials say neither Russia nor Ukraine is capable of winning the war outright, but they have ruled out the idea of pushing or even nudging Ukraine to the negotiating table. They say they do not know what the end of the war looks like, or how it might end or when, insisting that is up to Kyiv.

“That’s a decision for the Ukrainians to make,” a senior State Department official said. “Our job now is to help them be in absolutely the best position militarily on the battlefield … for that day when they do choose to go to the diplomatic table.”

If the US knows that its ally Ukraine is not “capable of winning the war”, why would it choose to prolong it? The stated aim to put Kiev “in absolutely the best position militarily on the battlefield,” has been offered for months. Yet during this time Russia has held on to about 20% of Ukrainian territory and positioned itself for a major escalation. The Russian army is preparing to deploy some 300,000 reservists, and has recently conducted its most ferocious missile barrages to date, causing serious damage to Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, as US officials had predicted.

While Ukraine has scored some battlefield successes, there is no indication that its strategic position has significantly improved. The counter-offensive in Kharkiv reportedly came at the cost of high Ukrainian casualties, a type of victory that is unsustainable. The Russian pullback, a Western official told Reuters, was more likely a “withdrawal, ordered and sanctioned by the general staff, rather than an outright collapse… the Russians have made some good decisions in terms of shortening their lines and making them more defensible, and sacrificing territory in order to do so.” The most audacious of Ukraine’s counter-attacks – the bombing of the Kerch bridge – “did not appear to have done permanent damage to the bridge — or to Russia’s war effort,” the New York Times reported. Instead, it only triggered a far more destructive Russian retaliation.

The stated White House position of treating diplomacy as “a decision for the Ukrainians to make” is also based on a false premise. For one, when Ukraine previously did “choose to go to the diplomatic table,” with Russia and even made significant progress, its Western backers in London and Washington sabotaged it, according to multiple accounts.

And whether Ukraine wants to negotiate, the US is not obligated to supply the weaponry and intelligence that sustains the fight. The US role as a co-belligerent in the US conflict is . . . READ MORE . . .

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

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Russia warns West: We can target your commercial satellites. From Reuters. LONDON — A senior Russian foreign ministry official said that commercial satellites from the United States and its allies could become legitimate targets for Russia if they were involved in the war in Ukraine. Russia, which in 1957 launched Sputnik 1, the first manmade satellite, into space and in 1961 put the first man in outer space . . . READ MORE . . .

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Evacuations intensify in Kherson; power sites hit. From AP. KYIV — Tens of thousands of residents have been evacuated from an area around the strategic city of Kherson as heavy fighting and attacks on power infrastructure continue, Moscow-appointed authorities in southern Ukraine said today. Kherson governor Vladimir Saldo said more than 70,000 residents . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin makes unsubstantiated claim that Ukraine has plans to use a dirty bomb. Reported by Steve Inskeep and Charles Maynes | NPR  Russia has given no evidence of Ukraine planning to use a bomb that would spread radiation on its own territory. The U.S. has warned Russia may be setting a pretext for its own future actions. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Ukraine withdrew from talks with Moscow on U.S. ‘order’: Kremlin. From AFP. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Ukraine pulled out of peace talks with Moscow in March on an “order” from the United States, the Kremlin said today. “The text was ready… And then suddenly the Ukrainian side went off the radar, the Ukrainian side declared its unwillingness to continue negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. using Ukrainians as bargaining chip in ‘great game’, says ex-Russian president. From Tass. MOSCOW — Ukrainian lives have been a bargaining chip in Washington’s great game, while the Russians who were killed in the conflict would be avenged either in combat or “in any other way,” Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned today. “There is only one currency for both the incumbent Biden team and their Republican opponents . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ford, Mercedes-Benz  to exit Russia. From the Moscow Times. U.S. automaker Ford Motor announced Wednesday it has finalized a full exit from Russia with the sale of its minority stake in a Moscow region-based joint venture. German carmaker Mercedes-Benz announced plans to sell its Russian assets to a local investor earlier on Wednesday. Ford said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainians are starting new lives in safer parts of the country. Reported by Nathan Rott | NPR  Millions of Ukrainians forced from their homes and jobs are starting new lives in safer parts of the country. Some are finding it hard to make ends meet. Click HERE to listen and read.

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TO BE CONTINUED

Some of the writer’s credentials are stated at the end of the linked commentary that begins below. It was published online Monday by ScheerPost.com, for which he makes a postscript appeal for donations, and republished yesterday by Consortium News. — MCM

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Stop worrying & love the bomb

By Chris Hedges | ScheerPost.com

I have covered enough wars to know that once you open that Pandora’s box, the many evils that pour out are beyond anyone’s control. War accelerates the whirlwind of industrial killing. The longer any war continues, the closer and closer each side comes to self-annihilation.  Unless it is stopped, the proxy war between Russia and the U.S. in Ukraine all but guarantees direct confrontation with Russia and, with it, the very real possibility of nuclear war.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who doesn’t always seem to be quite sure where he is or what he is supposed to be saying, is being propped up in the I-am-a-bigger-man-than-you contest with Russian President Vladimir Putin by a coterie of rabid warmongers who have orchestrated over 20 years of military fiascos. They are salivating at the prospect of taking on Russia, and then, if there is any habitation left on the globe, China.

Trapped in the polarizing mindset of the Cold War — where any effort to de-escalate conflicts through diplomacy is considered appeasement, a perfidious Munich moment — they smugly push the human species closer and closer toward obliteration. Unfortunately for us, one of these true believers is Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Putin is saying he is not bluffing. Well, he cannot afford bluffing, and it has to be clear that the people supporting Ukraine and the European Union and the Member States, and the United States and NATO are not bluffing neither,” E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned. “Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated.”

Annihilated. Are these people insane?

You know we are in trouble when former President Donald Trump is the voice of reason.

“We must demand the immediate negotiation of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, or we will end up in world war three” the former U.S. president said. “And there will be nothing left of our planet — all because stupid people didn’t have a clue … They don’t understand what they’re dealing with, the power of nuclear.”

I dealt with many of these ideologues — David Petraeus, Elliot Abrams, Robert Kagan, Victoria Nuland — as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. Once you strip away their chest full of medals or fancy degrees, you find shallow men and women, craven careerists who obsequiously serve the war industry that ensures their promotions, pays the budgets of their think tanks and showers them with money as board members of military contractors.

They are the pimps of war. If you reported on them, as I did, you would not sleep well at night. They are vain enough and stupid enough to blow up the world long before we go extinct because of the climate crisis, which they have also dutifully accelerated.

If, as Joe Biden says, Putin is “not joking” about using nuclear weapons and we risk nuclear “Armageddon,” why isn’t Biden on the phone to Putin? Why doesn’t he follow the example of John F. Kennedy, who repeatedly communicated with Nikita Khrushchev to negotiate an end to the Cuban missile crisis?

Kennedy, who unlike Biden served in the military, knew the obtuseness of generals. He had the good sense to ignore Curtis LeMay, the Air Force chief of staff and head of the Strategic Air Command, as well as the model for General Jack D. Ripper in “Dr. Strangelove,” who urged Kennedy to bomb the Cuban missile bases, an act that would have probably ignited a nuclear war. Biden is not made of the same stuff.

Why is Washington sending $50 billion in arms and assistance to sustain the conflict in Ukraine and promising billions more for “as long as it takes”? Why did Washington and Whitehall dissuade Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, and the Moscow Times; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Next, via Popular Resistance, a link to an analysis assigning blame to Western powers for preventing negotiations between Ukraine and Russia toward peace. — MCM

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Progressive Democrats withdraw a letter urging Biden to be more proactive in Ukraine. Reported by Deepa Shivram, Vincent Acovino, MATT Ozug, Sarah Handel, Krishnadev Calamur and Juana Summers | NPR  Thirty members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus sent a letter to President Biden on Monday urging him to change his approach on the war in Ukraine and take a more proactive, diplomatic push with Russia. But Tuesday, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who leads that caucus, withdrew the letter, and she called it a distraction. Click HERE to listen and read. Click HERE for a copy of the letter.

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Progressives retract Ukraine letter to Biden after uproar, by Farnoush Amiri and Seung Min Kim | AP  WASHINGTON — A group of progressive Democrats in Congress said Tuesday it had retracted a letter to the White House urging President Joe Biden to engage in direct diplomatic talks with Russia after it triggered an uproar among Democrats and raised questions about the strength of the party’s support for Ukraine. In a statement . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for a copy of the letter.

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Russia’s chaotic draft leaves some out in cold, without gear. From AP. The mobilized reservists that Russian President Vladimir Putin visited last week at a firing range southeast of Moscow looked picture-perfect. That stands in stark contrast with the complaints circulating widely on Russian news outlets and social media of equipment shortages, poor living conditions and scant training for . . . READ MORE . . .

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Despite modernization drive, Russia’s air force struggles for superiority in Ukraine, by James Beardsworth | The Moscow Times After billions of rubles were invested in modernizing Russia’s Air Force over the past decade, many analysts predicted that Russian air power would quickly overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses, gaining free reign in the skies over Kyiv. But heavy losses in early March pushed the Air Force to adopt more risk-averse tactics, playing a . . . READ MORE . . .

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Another casualty of Russia’s war: Some Ukrainians no longer trust their neighbors. Reported by Franco Ordoñez | NPR  KUPIANSK, Ukraine — As towns recover from Russian occupation, residents perceive their neighbors differently. Among the challenges emerging is how months of Russian occupation have ripped apart the social fabric of these towns and villages. Neighbors no longer know whom they can trust. They don’t know who . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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West must stop blocking negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, by Vijay Prashad | People’s Dispatch / Educate!  The lack of willingness to allow Ukraine to negotiate with Russia was summarized in a March 10, 2022, article in the Washington Post where senior officials in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration stated that the current US strategy “is to ensure that the economic costs for Russia are severe and sustainable, as well as to continue supporting Ukraine militarily in its effort to inflict as many defeats on Russia as . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

How to evaluate claims regarding the threat of “dirty bomb” use in the Ukraine war? Beginning below is one analysis, by a retired U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and former United Nations arms inspector, and author of the new book Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union. — MCM

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Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ scare

 By Scott Ritter | Consortium News

In the span of a few hours on Sunday, the senior-most Russian defense authorities — Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and General Gennady Gerasimov — called their counterparts in the U.S., U.K., France, and Turkey, with the same message — Ukraine is preparing to detonate a so-called “dirty bomb”— high explosive-wrapped radiological material, designed to contaminate large areas with deadly radioactive isotopes. 

Russia is not only concerned about the immediate impact of Ukraine detonating such a devise in terms of the harm that would be done to people and the environment, but also about the potential for such an event to be used by Ukraine’s western allies to directly intervene militarily in the ongoing conflict, similar to what occurred in Syria when allegations about the use of Sarin nerve agent by the Syrian government against civilians were used by the U.S., U.K., and France to justify an attack on Syrian military and infrastructure targets. (It turned out that the allegations of Sarin use were false; the jury is still out about the use of commercial chlorine as a weapon.)

Russia is to raise the matter at the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

In return, Western governments on Monday accused Russia of plans to deploy a dirty bomb. “We’ve been very clear with the Russians … about the severe consequences that would result from nuclear use,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price. “There would be consequences for Russia whether it uses a dirty bomb or a nuclear bomb.”

Ukraine is requesting that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) send a team to Ukraine to investigate.

A dud

For all the press attention that has been given to the possibility of a “dirty bomb” being used in Ukraine, history shows that despite the hype, a “dirty bomb” is not a weapon that is either easily produced or procured or causes the kind of mass casualties its proponents hope for.

The current “dirty bomb” scare isn’t Russia’s first encounter with the concept. In November 1995 a “dirty bomb” comprised of high explosives and cesium was uncovered in Moscow’s Ismailovsky Park, and in December 1998 another cache of radioactive material was found attached to an explosive charge near a railroad track in Chechnya. Both devices were disarmed by Russian security forces.

In May 2002 F.B.I. agents arrested Jose Padilla, an American citizen who converted to Islam, as he returned to the United States from a trip that took him to Egypt, Pakistan, and eventually Afghanistan, where, sometime in 1999-2000, he allegedly met with Abu Zubaydah, Osama Bin Laden’s operations chief. According to Zubaydeh, he and Padilla discussed the possibility of Padilla building and detonating a “dirty bomb” inside the U.S.

While Al Qaeda had apparently drafted plans for such a weapon — and in fact had accumulated radioactive medical isotopes for use in a “dirty bomb” (these materials were seized by the U.N. in 2002) — none of this information was shared with Padilla, who arrived in the U.S. with neither a weapon design nor means to accomplish the task. He was tried and convicted, nonetheless.

The closest the world has come to the actual production and employment of an actual “dirty bomb” came in 1987, when Iraq built and tested . . . READ MORE . . .

Presented are links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Tass, Agence France-Presse, teleSUR and Agencia EFE; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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U.S. considers HAWK air defense equipment for Ukraine, say U.S. officials, by Mike Stone | Reuters WASHINGTON — The United States is considering sending sending older HAWK air defense equipment from storage to Ukraine to help it defend against Russian drone and cruise missile attacks, two U.S. officials told Reuters. . . . . The Biden administration would use the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to . . . READ MORE . . .

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‘They took my big love’: Ukrainian woman searches for answers, by Erika Kinetz | AP  OZERA, Ukraine — [This story is part of an AP/FRONTLINE investigation that includes the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience and the upcoming documentary “Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes,” which premieres 10/9c Oct. 25 on PBS.] Click HERE to read.

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West is going to provide support for Ukraine for decades to come – Scholz. From Tass. BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said today that the West intends to provide assistance to Ukraine “for decades” to come, noting that a “Marshall Plan of the 21st century” was on the agenda. He was speaking at the opening of an international conference on the restoration of Ukraine. “Now is the moment to discuss what the future of Ukraine . . . READ MORE . . .

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UK’s new PM Sunak vows to support Ukraine to war’s ‘conclusion’. From AFP. LONDON — Britain’s new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, vowed today to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion even as he warned of difficult financial choices ahead for his government. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Sunak called it a “terrible war that must be seen successfully to its conclusion”.

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30 progressive U.S. Democrats urge negotiated settlement of Ukraine conflict. From teleSUR. In a letter to President Biden Monday, 30 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged a negotiated solution to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. “We urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push,’ the letter said in part, “redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a cease-fire.” Click HERE to read more, and HERE for text of letter.

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Lavrov: Kiev’s ‘dirty bomb’ threat to be discussed soon at UN. From teleSUR. The issue of Ukraine’s possible use of a “dirty bomb” will be discussed at the UN Security Council “today or tomorrow,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday. He said Russia had reliable evidence about such provocations. READ MORE . . .

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Representatives from 40 countries demand return of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia. From EFE. ZAGREB, Croatia — Representatives of 40 countries and a number of international organizations are participating today in Zagreb in the First Parliamentary Summit of the International Crimea Platform, a forum created to support the sovereignty of Ukraine and the return of territories occupied by Russia. Among the participants is U.S. House of Representqtives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who . . Click HERE to read in Spanish.

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Representatives de 40 países exigen la devolución del territorio ucraniano ocupado por Rusia. De EFE. ZAGREB, Croatia — Representantes de 40 países y varias organizaciones internacionales participan este martes en Zagreb en la primera Conferencia parlamentaria de la Plataforma de Crimea, un foro creado para apoyar la soberanía de Ucrania y reclamar la devolución de los territorios anexionados por Rusia. Entre los participantes figura la presidenta de la Cámara de Representantes de EEUU, Nancy Pelosi, que reafirmará . . . Lea más AQUÍ en español.

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MAY BE CONTINUED