Hamas fired rockets into Israel from Lebanon yesterday, and Israel retaliated with air strikes.
The U.S. released its report on the withdrawal from Afghanistan:
Pope Francis addressed the Russo Ukrainian War and the situation involving the Isreali's and Palestinians in an Easter homily.
The US and Ukraine are dealing with leaked Pentagon information, which seems to be genuine, on the war in Ukraine and discussing a wide range of topics.
The Department of Justice has opened up an investigation on leaks from U.S. intelligence, which apparently provides information on Ukrainian and Russian forces, as well as information regarding some U.S. allies.
The US and Ukraine are dealing with leaked Pentagon information, which seems to be genuine, on the war in Ukraine and discussing a wide range of topics.
The Department of Justice has opened up an investigation on leaks from U.S. intelligence, which apparently provides information on Ukrainian and Russian forces, as well as information regarding some U.S. allies.
I haven't discussed here what those reports reveal, as it hasn't been very clear to me. By and large, most of the information I've seen related to the leaks simply confirms news that had already been circulating, something that; 1) makes you wonder to what extent this was leaking before, and 2) makes you wonder if this is really a deception campaign.
Indeed, on the latter, the Ukrainians have been remarkably adept at keeping their own plans secret. Having said that, this would be a U.S. leak and Americans are phenomenally bad at keeping anything secret, which is one of the reasons the theory that the US has been keeping details of extraterrestrials secret for eighty years is absurd. We couldn't have kept that secret for thirty days.
Anyhow, more recent news stories have stated a couple of things that are of interest and haven't really been revealed before, and they're worth mentioning.
One is that the US is under equipping the Ukrainians. We've put a lot of military hardware in their hands, but we have yet to make use of the Lend Lease bill that Congress passed and really get them everything we could. As a result, there are real reasons to doubt that they could mount a successful Spring offensive. And in some areas, we desperately undersupply them in critical weapons.
Another is a host of NATO armies do have boots on the ground, including the U.S. The numbers are minuscule, with the country with the most, the UK, having less than 20 at any one time.
These are no doubt advisers, and I'd frankly wondered. It makes sense that they'd be there, and now we know that they are.
A video is circulating of Russian soldiers beheading captured members of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. On the video, they can be heard saying "mercenaries".
April 13, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
The Washington Post reports the intelligence news leaks came from Thug Shaker Central Discord server and the person releasing them is a member, "OG", who works for U.S. intelligence in some capacity.
April 13, cont.
A1C Jack Teixeira, 21 years of age and a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested in connection with the intelligence leaks described above.
April 16, 2023
Sudan
Sudanese government and paramilitary forces have been engaged in heavy fighting in the nation's capital over the past couple of days.
Russo Ukrainian War
The war is beginning to have peculiar domestic impacts inside of Russia.
A debate over migration from Central Asia has commenced, with backers wanting to nearly triple immigration into Russia to stabilize a crashing population. This has sparked a reaction in that opponents are accusing the backers of wanting to basically sell out Russians to Central Asian cultures.
In the meantime, advertisements are now appearing on Russian television for Russian women to move to China as brides.
Russia is introducing conscription via electronic notices.
April 23, 2023
Sudan
The U.S. Embassy staff has been evacuated from Sudan and civilians are leaving the country.
Russo Ukrainian War
The Ukrainians have crossed the Dnipro near Kherson.
The Russian military is attempting to pressure Putin to go to defensive operations.
Russian authorities are oppressing Catholics in occupied areas, most recently occupying the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in occupied Berdyansk, accusing the priests there of hiding weapons.
April 24, 2023
Sudan
The US and UK airlifted their embassy staffs out of the country in military operations.
April 25, 2023
Sudan
Rival factions vying for control of the country, mostly through fighting in its capital Khartoum, have agreed to a US brokered three day ceasefire.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine apparently had planned deep strikes inside of Russia on the anniversary of the invasion of the country, including on Moscow, but were restrained from doing so by the US.
Such an effort would likely have been a waste of munitions and only served to unite Russians more completely behind Putin.
April 30, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
A Russian ship that carries rescue submarines was photographed near the location of the Nord Stream gas pipeline prior to its explosion last September.
Hmmm. . .
Ukrainian drones hit a Russian fuel depot in Crimea.
Sudan
The U.S. has evacuated private citizens from Sudan.
There's been some medial criticism that the US hasn't treated the situation in Sudan the same way it has the war in Ukraine. But how would it? Intervene in a civil war?
May 2, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
The US believes that the Russians have sustained100,000 causalities, including 80,000 wounded and 20,000 killed, in the Battle of Bakhmut. Half of the 20,000 dead were Wagner Group troops.
May 3, 2023
United States/Mexican Border
Not a war, but the US will deploy 1,500 troops on the border as Covid era emergency restrictions come off.
This is a topic for another post, but the problems with illegal immigration across the border are something the US just hasn't had the stomach or foresight to really deal with. Given the level of illegal immigration, and its deep existential nature, the time to do so, if its not going to amount to simply ordering the border and fundamentally changing the nature of the country by giving up on having any immigration controls at all, is right now.
Russo Ukrainian War
Trains have been targeted by blown rails in Crimea the last two days, a classic sabotage, resistance move, although in this instance it appears to be via drones.
May 4, 2023
Russian Ukrainian War
The Kremlin was attacked, oddly and ineffectively, by two drones. The respected ISW suspects this was a Russian false flag operation.
May 5, 2023
Russian Ukrainian War
Russia asserted the absurd hypothesis that the US was behind the drone strikes on the Kremlin.
More and more Russia looks like the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
The leader of the mercenary Wagner Group claimed he is pulling his troops out of Bakhmut next week. A feud between the group and the Russian forces over supplies has been running for several days.
May 7, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
It appears that the Wagner Group will pull out of Bakhmut and that it will be replaced by Chechens.
At this point, the Wagner Group may have been effectively eliminated as a fighting force.
Chechens haven't really been put to the test, but it's worth noting that dissident Chechens are already fighting for Ukraine.
May 11, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Russia had a much scaled down Victory Day celebration, that annual event in which Russia pretends the USSR single-handedly defeated its former ally Nazi Germany. This year's event featured a single tank, that being a World War Two vintage T-24. Putin delivered a speech in which he acted as if the attempted rape of Ukraine was a war against the entire West, and the West's fault.
This parade does point out something we've noted before, that being that one of Russia's great liabilities in the modern era is believing that it won World War Two. It did not. Nor did the USSR do it single-handedly. In reality, the USSR fought with millions of men who were not Russian, along with millions of Russians, most of whom were conscripted, and whom signficant numbers of which deserted and defected to the Nazis in spite of all that the Nazis fought for. Moreover, this would have been a good parade to thrown an American made Sherman or British made Churchill tank into, sybolizing the extent to which the Soviets were saved by Western Allied materials.
Putin may imagine himself at war with the West, or state it as propganda, but in reality, the Soviets were Allies of Western fascism in the form of Nazism, until attacked by it, at which point they were saved, in no small part, by the Western democracies.
Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin used the occasion to mock Putin, which is a bit surprising, even though Prigozhin has been outspoken in his discontent. Indeed, I'd regard it as dangerous even if Russian forces need Wagner's wholly disposable troops. Those troops, however, are now not going to be withdrawn from Bakhmut, that whole episode apparently being theater of some sort.
Russia has been engaging in large-scale missile attacks on Ukraine. Drone attacks are being attempted as well, but Ukraine is having a lot of success in shooting drones down.
