Russia Attacks Ukraine From Land and Sea

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Ukraine’s government said it faced “a full-scale attack from multiple directions.” President Biden said he would deliver an address on Thursday, and world leaders condemned President Vladimir Putin’s actions.

Early Thursday, just as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia announced on television that he had decided “to carry out a special military operation” in Ukraine, explosions were reported across the country.

Blasts were heard in Kyiv, the capital; in Kharkiv, the second largest city; and in Kramatorsk in the region of Donetsk, one of two eastern Ukrainian territories claimed by Russia-backed separatists since 2014.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said that Russian troops had landed in the southern port city of Odessa and were crossing from Russia into Kharkiv. Footage captured by security cameras showed Russian military vehicles crossing into Ukraine from Crimea, the peninsula that Russia seized in 2014.

Rocket attacks targeted Ukrainian fighter jets parked at an airport outside Kyiv, and Ukraine closed its airspace to commercial flights, citing the “potential hazard to military aviation.”

As air raid sirens blared in Kyiv, the western city of Lviv and other urban areas, residents rushed to take shelter in bus and subway stations. In Kyiv, people packed up their cars and waited in long lines to fill up with gas on their way out of the city. In eastern Ukraine, early signs of panic appeared on the streets as lines formed at A.T.M.s and gas stations. » | Michael Schwirtz, Anton Troianovski, Marc Santora and Shashank Bengal | Thursday, February 24, 2022

Russia launches full-scale invasion of Ukraine »

Ukraine’s Zelensky says Russia acting like ‘Nazi Germany’ »

Guerre en Ukraine : la Russie a bombardé et pénétré sur le territoire ukrainien, l’OTAN veut déployer des « forces supplémentaires » pour aider ses alliés : Vladimir Poutine a annoncé le début de l’attaque militaire dans la nuit. Selon Kiev, au moins 40 soldats et une dizaine de civils ukrainiens tués dans des bombardements et des combats alors que les troupes russes ont pénétré sur le territoire ukrainien depuis l’Est, la Crimée et la Biélorussie. »

Editorial du « Monde » : Guerre en Ukraine : la double dérive de Vladimir Poutine : L’intervention de l’armée russe en Ukraine, jeudi 24 février, est la conséquence du durcissement continu du régime en place à Moscou et de l’obsession de Vladimir Poutine contre l’évolution démocratique des pays voisins, explique Jérôme Fenoglio, directeur du « Monde », dans son éditorial. »

Putins Zivilisationsbruch: Europa zerfällt wieder in zwei Blöcke. Ob Putin die Ukraine in sein Herrschaftsgebiet eingliedern kann, werden die nächsten Tage zeigen. Für den Westen ist das Gebot der Stunde jedenfalls klar. »

Russische Truppen dringen in Region Kiew vor: NATO aktiviert Verteidigungspläne für Osteuropa +++ Russland und China geben USA Schuld für Eskalation +++ Scholz: „Putin hat einen schweren Fehler gemacht“ +++ Kiew bricht diplomatische Beziehungen zu Russland ab +++ Alle Entwicklungen zum Konflikt im Liveblog. »

Guerre en Ukraine : Figaro en direct / En cours »

Ukraine President Zelenskyy: “First Step of Invasion Has Happened”

Feb 22, 2022 • Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of separatist regions in Ukraine and ordered more troops to those areas.

Die ukrainische Armee ist zwar viel stärker als beim letzten Krieg – gegen eine russische Invasion hat sie aber kaum eine Chance

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Die Streitkräfte versuchen sich innert kürzester Zeit vom sowjetischen und postsowjetischen Ballast zu befreien. Sie haben dabei grosse Schritte unternommen, kämpfen aber weiterhin mit Problemen.

Ukrainische Soldaten und Soldatinnen posieren Mitte Februar in Odessa für ein Foto. | Emilio Morenatti / AP
Die ukrainischen Streitkräfte haben sich in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten radikal verändert: Aus dem militärischen, antiwestlichen Bollwerk der sowjetischen Roten Armee wurde eine Truppe, die sich als erste Frontlinie gegen Russlands militärischen Expansionismus versteht, modernisiert und aufgerüstet durch den einstigen Todfeind Nato.

Trotz demonstrativer Gelassenheit dürften die Ukrainer aber ahnen, dass sie bei einer Invasion des grossen Nachbarn auf verlorenem Posten stünden. Mit 200 000 aktiven Soldaten und mindestens 250 000 Reservisten unterhält die Ukraine zwar die zweitgrösste Armee Europas nach der russischen. Personell wie materiell ist sie dieser dennoch haushoch unterlegen – grossen Verbesserungen seit 2014 zum Trotz. Der Schock von 2014 » | Ivo Mijnssen, Wien | Dienstag, 22. Februar 2022

Ni armes aux rebelles, ni soldats au sol en Libye, dit Longuet
REUTERS FRANCE: PARIS - La France n'a pas déployé en Libye de troupes au sol dans le cadre des opérations de la coalition internationale contre les forces du colonel Mouammar Kadhafi, a déclaré jeudi le ministre de la Défense.

Lors d'un point de presse à son ministère, Gérard Longuet a ajouté que la livraison d'armes au rebelles libyens, aux prises avec les forces de Kadhafi, n'était "pas à l'ordre du jour".

"Il y a une limite technique dans la résolution 1973, c'est qu'il n'y a pas d'occupation au sol", a-t-il dit, précisant qu'un envoyé spécial à Benghazi, fief des insurgés, constituait pour l'heure la seule présence française sur le sol libyen.

Gérard Longuet s'est rendu cette semaine à bord du porte-avions Charles-de-Gaulle au large des côtes libyennes, d'où partent une partie des avions engagés dans l'opération armée contre les forces de Mouammar Kadhafi, en vertu de la résolution 1973 des Nations unies adoptée le 17 mars.

Interrogé sur l'hypothèse d'une assistance militaire ou de livraisons d'armes à l'opposition libyenne, le ministre a répondu: "Une telle assistance n'est pas à l'ordre du jour parce qu'elle n'est pas compatible avec la résolution 1973." » | Elizabeth Pineau, édité par Patrick Vignal | Jeudi 31 Mars 2011

Blair Lied and Lied Again: Mandarins Reveal that 10 Days Before Iraq Invasion PM Knew Saddam Couldn't Use WMDs
MAIL ONLINE: The full extent of how Tony Blair misled the public about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction before and after the Iraq War was laid bare yesterday.

The Chilcot Inquiry heard that just ten days before the invasion of Iraq Mr Blair was told Saddam had no way of using weapons of mass destruction.

And weapons experts revealed that the former Prime Minister took Britain to war based on intelligence that his own spies rated just 'four out of ten' for accuracy.

On the eve of the conflict, intelligence chiefs told Mr Blair that the Iraqi dictator had no warheads capable of delivering chemical weapons, dramatically undermining the Prime Minister's case for war.

Yet Mr Blair gave the go-ahead for the invasion despite strong evidence that Iraq was no threat to Britain.

Then, after the war, officials had to tell Mr Blair not to 'declare success too rapidly' in the quest to find WMD in Iraq as he continued to make misleading statements claiming that 'massive evidence' had been found.

The revelations reinforce the case that intelligence evidence that Saddam was no threat was ignored by Mr Blair to take Britain to war on a false prospectus. >>> Tim Shipman | Thursday, November 26, 2009

Viewpoint: The Next Barbarian Invasion
CELESTIAL JUNK: Barbarian hordes, in wave upon wave, eventually consumed The Roman Empire, and even the Christianized Roman Empire was plunged into cultural decay that lasted centuries. But, Rome didn’t collapse in a day, she fell apart at the seams, like a human body corrupted by cancer. Rome could’ve been a pox to hundreds of cultures, but she was sheer heaven compared to what the barbarians brought. Some argue that not until the Renaissance, did Europe emerge from the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Are we facing another Barbarian invasion? Is the soft genial socialist utopia of Western Europe in particular, once again in danger of being swallowed by a more coarse, crude, and blunt culture? Are many South Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures, which have not already succumbed on the verge being consumed?

When I was a child, I recall visiting missionaries from Kenya who showed us slide photos of quaint little missions where children by the thousands received medical care and schooling. From Catholics to Mennonites, dedicated individuals brought hope and democratic values to many developing countries. Many countries were up and coming; except those under Soviet or despotic domination. Since those days much has changed, and many places where once law, order, and decency prevailed, are now under brutal, degrading, dehumanizing Islam. Countries where stoning to death and honor killing were not even heard of, suffer under these and many other heinous dehumanizing practices. And, the pathogen that has corrupted and slid these cultures backwards into some ancient dark age has arrived in force in Europe.

Fundamentalist Islam is a disease. It is the new Barbarianism, and we are on the cusp of it’s first intrusions into modern society. Africa, being pre-modern, has no chance and like a tide, Islam is sweeping the savannahs, jungles, and desserts of that great continent, and is destroying any gains made by humanists, missionaries, the United Nations, and any other well-meaning entity. Quaint missions have been replaced by Sharia, the missionaries driven off or killed, and the efforts of humanitarian agencies countered by an ever increasing fundamentalism. Elsewhere in the world underdeveloped regions are under siege, or threat, by Islamic fundamentalism. From the Philippines to Indonesia to Iran, it the fundamentalists who are bombing, beheading, and effectively usurping governance. In many cases only dictators, themselves marginally more benign, stand against Islamo-fascist takeovers. The Next Barbarian Invasion >>> By Junker | August 28, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>