Blow the Truth

Image by  Pexels  from  Pixabay Wagner Private Military Company The Wall Street Journal’s documentary “Shadow Men: Inside Russia’s Secret War Company” goes deep inside the lethal global expansion of the Russian private military company Wagner — tracing the group's evolution from a small, guns-for-hire operation into a sprawling network of businesses that has been active on four continents . Attribution: Wall Street Journal The Wagner Group  , also known as PMC  'Wagner Private Military Company'), is a Russian  paramilitary  organization.  It is variously described as a  private military company  (PMC), a network of  mercenaries , or a de facto  private army  of Russian President  Vladimir Putin . The group operates beyond the law in Russia, where private military companies are officially forbidden. Because it operates in support of Russian interests, receives equipment fr...

T-14 Armata Tank The T-14 Armata received a defensive upgrade specifically for the fight against Kiev’s troops, RIA Novosti reports Russia’s most advanced T-14 Armata main battle tanks have been deployed to fight Ukrainian troops, RIA Novosti news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a source. The news comes as Kiev is planning a decisive push against Moscow’s forces. The Russian forces have begun to use the newest Armata tanks to fire at Ukrainian positions,”  the source said, adding that the tanks  “haven’t participated in direct assault actions yet. According to the source, the T-14s were fitted with additional protection from anti-tank munitions. Tank crews have been training in one of Russia’s newly incorporated Donbass republics since 2022. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics voted to become part of Russia in September 2022. Both regions broke away from Ukraine in the wake of the 2014 coup in Kiev. In February, a video was posted on social media that purportedly s...

AUKUS Australia risks becoming Asian Ukraine as US’ proxy warrior against China’ – ex-Australian ambassador Photo screenshot rt.com On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to a former senior diplomat for over 3 decades for Australia, Ambassador Tony Kevin. He discusses Australia’s participation in the deepening AUKUS agreement as military and political tensions between the United States and China continue to grow, why the Australian public continues to see China as a bogeyman, how Australia’s military alliance with the US against China-their largest trading partner is against Australia’s own self-interest, Australia at risk of becoming and Asian Ukraine proxy war staging ground and much more. F OLLOW Going Underground  http://twitter.com/GUnderground_TV FOLLOW Afshin Rattansi  http://twitter.com/AfshinRattansi SUBSCRIBE on Telegram:  https://t.co/xDEHJ0c6WW LIKE on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GoingUndergroundTV/ Attribution: Image, Video and Tran...

Russian Su-27 fighter jet The US Department of Defense had previously accused pilots of reckless flying over the Black Sea. The Pentagon released a video on Thursday, which it said was shot from a US MQ-9 Reaper drone – during a close encounter with a Russian Su-27 fighter jet – before the American aircraft plunged into the Black Sea earlier this week. The 50-second clip provided to the media shows an interceptor plane approaching the drone from behind and apparently ejecting fuel as it climbs. The Pentagon claimed that Russian jets made several such maneuvers on Tuesday, including one in which the unmanned aircraft’s tail propeller supposedly got hit and damaged. The footage appears to show two of them, with the camera glitching both times. Source: rt.com

  Wars are world-shaping. Beyond their immediate human and physical tolls, wars alter the fates of societies and states; of clans, cultures and leaders. They establish new lines of access to resources and influence, determining who has what – and who doesn’t. They set precedents for how future wars are justified and, in the case of attempted conquest, wars can ultimately redraw the map of world politics. One year after its unprovoked invasion on February 24, 2022, Russia’s war against Ukraine encompasses all these dangers. With Ukraine waging an existential battle for its very survival, and Russia seemingly happy to settle for destroying Ukraine if it fails to conquer it, neither side has any incentive to stop fighting. Absent the complete collapse of either the Ukrainian or Russian armed forces, the grim reality is that the war will likely drag on throughout 2023 – and potentially beyond it. 2023 will be crucial But what happens in Ukraine during 2023 will be cruci...

Image by  Sammy-Sander  from  Pixabay     There has been widespread discussion of Russia’s threat to use tactical nuclear weapons in its war on Ukraine. Russia is estimated to have thousands of tactical nuclear weapons – possibly the world’s largest stockpile – which could be deployed at any time. The use of nuclear weapons is also embedded in Russian military doctrine . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to the rest of the world to take the threat seriously. In this article we examine what would happen during a tactical nuclear bomb explosion, including the three stages of ignition, blast and radioactive fallout – and how one might be able to survive this. Ignition You see a sudden flash in the sky, as bright as (or even brighter than) the sun. You quickly turn your face away and run for cover. The brightness suddenly vanishes, but returns again a short while later and continues – the distinctive double flash caused by competition...

Women in the Grocery store Image by  Architect and artist  from  Pixabay     Russia and Ukraine between them account for almost a quarter of the world’s wheat exports. Russia and Ukraine are also big exporters of maize (corn), barley, and other grains that much of the world relies on to make food. Wheat alone accounts for an estimated 20% of human calorie consumption. Since the start of February, as war became more likely, the grains and oilseed price index compiled by the International Grains Council has jumped 17%. The big drivers have been jumps of 28% in the price of wheat , 23% in the price of maize and 22% in the price of barley . Russia and Ukraine account for one fifth of the world’s barley exports. Maize is a common substitute for wheat and barley. Russia and Ukraine are also enormous producers of sunflower oil, between them accounting for around 70% of global exports. Among the world’s biggest wheat importers are Egy...

Anti-tank missile Ukraine’s allies have sent some 17,000 anti-tank weapons into the battlefield, in a bid to help fighters bog down the Russian offensive. The stockpile includes at least 2,000 NLAW (Next Generation Light Antitank Weapon) missiles from the United Kingdom, 100 NLAWs from Luxembourg , and several hundred Javelin missiles from the United States and Estonia . The NLAW and Javelin are some of the most advanced man-portable anti-tank missiles available. Both are relatively lightweight, shoulder-fired missiles which – although they won’t completely turn the tide of the war – have so far proven valuable in what is otherwise a highly asymmetrical conflict. So how do the missiles work? And what makes them so helpful for Ukraine’s defence? What are anti-tank missiles? Portable anti-tank missiles are specifically designed to destroy main battle tanks, which are more heavily armoured than other types of armoured vehicles (such as armoured personnel carriers, for instance...

Fake Media Host Joy Reid MSNBC Race Baiter’s Hot Take On Ukrainians: People Only Care Because They’re White Christians Every issue covered by MSNBC’s Joy Reid is filtered through her  race bait tinted spectacles , and the conflict over Ukraine is no different. In a broadcast Monday, Reid stated that more people care about what is going on in Ukraine than they usually do about crises in other foreign nations because the people there are white and Christians. Reid cited Yemen, where Saudi Arabia, with the backing of the U.S. is essentially waging a war against Iran, resulting in horrific humanitarian consequences for the local population. Reid suggested that people don’t care as much about that though because those people are brown. The host stated “We should also care this much for refugees and those facing occupation and war in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, too,” adding “The coverage of Ukraine has displayed a pretty radical disparity of how human Ukrainians look and feel to We...

  Global crude oil prices have already reached their highest levels since 2014 in response to Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine. With Russia being the world’s second-largest exporter of crude oil and refined petrol, as well the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, we can expect prices to go even higher as the conflict deepens. Skittish global energy markets are now factoring in disruptions to Russia’s supply through Western sanctions as well as Russia cutting off to supplies to Europe, its main market for both oil and gas. Australians will feel these market anxieties too, with changes in retail prices largely determined by international price benchmarks for refined petrol. It typically takes more than a week for changes in international prices to flow through to retail prices in Australian cities, and longer in regional areas. But based on what is happening internationally we can expect petrol prices in Australia to soon reach an average of $2.10 a litre. ...