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"War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is a black crime against all men."

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

News and Opinion

Russia accuses Ukraine of using UK-supplied missiles to strike bridge to Crimea

Russian-backed officials in southern Ukraine have accused Kyiv of using British-supplied long-range missiles to strike a bridge connecting Kherson province with the Crimean peninsula.

The strike on the Chonhar Bridge, one of the few links between mainland Ukraine and Crimea, came two days after Moscow threatened to attack Kyiv’s “decision-making centres” if western-supplied missiles were used against Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

A series of photos and videos circulating on Telegram on Thursday showed a large crater on the bridge, with debris littering the roads. There were no casualties reported.

Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-appointed Kherson governor, suggested the bridge was targeted by Storm Shadow missiles, long-range cruise missiles that Britain confirmed it had provided to Ukraine last month.

Russian investigators said four missiles had been fired by Ukrainian forces at the bridge, the RIA news agency reported. It quoted a spokesperson for military investigators as saying that markings found on the remains of one of the missiles suggested it had been made in France.

Decision making centers will be destroyed. Russia warns US & UK

House Panel Passes Bill Calling on Biden to Send Ukraine Long-Range Missiles

The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday passed a resolution to pressure President Biden to escalate US involvement in the Ukraine war by supplying Kyiv with longer-range missiles.

The bill calls on Biden to immediately arm Ukraine with the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), munitions with a range of up to 190 miles. The ATACMS can be fired by the HIMARS rocket systems that the US has been providing Ukraine.

Most of the ammunition Kyiv has for use with the HIMARS has a range of about 50 miles, although the US has also pledged Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), which can hit targets up to 94 miles away. Russia said in March that it had downed a GLSDB for the first time. ...

The resolution now heads to the House floor. According to The Hill, the legislation is expected to have wide support.

Blinken Announces $1.3 Billion for Ukraine at Reconstruction Conference

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $1.3 billion in new economic aid for Kyiv at a meeting on Ukraine’s reconstruction held in London, known as the Ukraine Recovery Conference.

According to the State Department, the $1.3 billion will go toward “general economic assistance, assistance to repair and modernize Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and support for Ukraine’s commitment to energy sector reforms.”

The $1.3 billion is being drawn from spending Congress has already authorized for the Ukraine war, which at this point totals $113 billion. The State Department said that the new aid is in addition to the $63 billion in US assistance provided to Ukraine since February 24, 2022.

Ukraine Expects NATO Membership Invitation at Summit - Senior Kyiv Official

Ukraine expects to be invited to join NATO with an "open date" at the military alliance's summit in Vilnius next month, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff said on Wednesday.

The official, Andriy Yermak, said the failure of the alliance to deliver a "strong" decision at the July 11-12 summit would demoralise Ukrainians and that Kyiv had demonstrated it was ready to join with its fighting on the battlefield.

"We expect that Ukraine will be invited to NATO with an open date," Yermak told a webinar held by the Atlantic Council think tank.

Ukraine LOSING In 2023? Almost NO CHANCE They'll Overcome DISASTROUS Counteroffensive: Lt Col Davis

London’s Ukraine Recovery Conference plans imperialist looting operation

The vultures are circling in London, picking over a Ukrainian economy devastated by the NATO-Russia war and readying the super-exploitation of the working class. Billed the “Ukraine Recovery Conference”, the two-day meeting this Wednesday-Thursday was an opportunity for the NATO governments and their banks and corporations to further their predatory ambitions in Ukraine. There was an air of the surreal to the events, with officials talking about Ukraine’s “significant economic potential” in a context where millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes, hundreds of thousands killed and $700 billion of damage done—shuttering businesses, destroying infrastructure and ruining agricultural land—by a war predicted to grind on for years.

The conference was in part dedicated to escalating that conflict, providing a platform for demands that Russia be made to pay reparations. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced that Ukraine’s reconstruction would be financed “eventually with proceeds from the immobilized Russian assets.” The European Union (EU) is making plans to use the €200 billion of frozen Russian reserves held on the continent for that purpose, with the UK, the US and Canada holding similar discussions.

However wide the gap between rhetoric and reality, the event did at least showcase the real relationship between Ukraine and the NATO powers. Presenting itself as the saviour of Ukraine, its democracy and sovereignty, the imperialist alliance in fact sees the country only as a vassal state. Already being bled white militarily and demographically to weaken Russia, Ukraine faces the same fate economically at the hands of the US and European powers. ...

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, representing the oligarchy in Kiev which expects to be well rewarded for facilitating this imperialist plunder, threw his arms wide in a series of opinion pieces in the European media. He wrote in Politico: “At the moment, Ukraine has deposits of 21 of the 30 rare elements the EU classifies as critical raw materials;’ the second largest gas reserves in Europe; 41.3 million hectares of fine agricultural land; and one of the best developed digital ecosystems. It also has the most important thing — people — qualified, energetic and hard-working. All these factors, plus the recovery program worth hundreds of billions of dollars, open a window of opportunity for foreign investors.”

European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic salivated to Politico that Ukraine “could completely replace Russia’s supplies of critical raw materials to Europe.” He went on, “Ukraine has the largest underground storage facilities for gas in Europe—33 billion cubic meters, just at the border of Slovakia. The potential there is enormous. It could be a very important strategic asset for the energy security of the European Union.”

The EU is acting on its ambitions, planning to invest up to €72 billion in Ukraine between 2024 and 2027. The United States has sent $26.4 billion in financial support. Britain used this week’s conference to announce $3 billion dollars in World Bank loan guarantees. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is providing $15 billion over four years. While some of the funds are grants, most are loans, ladening Ukraine with debt—total foreign debt now exceeds $70 billion according to the country’s finance ministry. It will make payments of over $3 billion on that debt this year, despite an agreed two-year freeze on international debts worth $20 billion, and of an expected $10 billion in 2024. The funds also come with the expectation that Ukraine will be opened for US and European businesses.

From Drone Strikes to Settler Attacks, Israel Intensifies Effort to "Completely Take Over Palestine"

"The Palestine Laboratory": Antony Loewenstein on How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation

‘Simulation of democracy’: Guatemala readies for election amid concerns of manipulation

Along the main thoroughfares that crisscross Guatemala City, campaign posters promoting almost two dozen presidential candidates are plastered on electricity poles and lamp-posts, each promising to bring prosperity and security to Central America’s most populous country. Yet despite the plurality on display, few Guatemalans expect much to change amid mounting evidence that this Sunday’s election could be little more than a simulation of democracy.

Candidates from across the political spectrum have been blocked on spurious procedural technicalities, including the former frontrunner Carlos Pineda – a conservative agribusinessman and TikTok star – and Thelma Cabrera, an Indigenous Maya Mam grassroots leader.

Both have been encouraging supporters to spoil their ballot on 25 June in hopes of forcing a rerun. But less than 30 years since the end of the brutal civil war which left 200,000 mostly Indigenous civilians dead and disappeared – and four years since a pioneering UN-backed anti-corruption body was forced to leave Guatemala – fears are mounting that the country is backsliding into autocracy. “This is a blow to Guatemala’s supposed democracy,” Cabrera told the Guardian.

Experts warn that the election appears to have been manipulated to guarantee a president willing to consolidate power on behalf of the country’s elites, who in recent years have gained control over every branch of government – as well as the public prosecutor’s office – in order to secure immunity from prosecution for corruption and civil war crimes.

“The wind is blowing against the candidates seen as opponents of the ruling coalition,” said Edgar Ortiz, a constitutional law professor based in Guatemala City. “The legal system is a disaster … application of the law is unpredictable and arbitrary.” ...

In 2015, Guatemala saw a string of anti-corruption protests that led to the fall of the government and arrest of the then president, part of a regional wave of democratic activism known as the Central American spring. Just eight years later, pessimism is rife and there are no grassroots rallies or noisy demonstrations in Guatemala City’s central plaza.

“It was very emotional to see the square full in 2015, after decades of terror,” said the veteran rights activist Brenda Hernández, 58, recalling the 36-year internal conflict that wiped out a generation of community leaders and trade unionists. “Now the biggest fear is not dying, it’s going to jail.”

'Shady and Corrupt': Add Barrett Real Estate De​al to List of Supreme Court Ethics Scandals

Thursday reporting on a real estate deal made by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett months after her confirmation in 2020 was the latest evidence, said a government watchdog, that ethics reforms at the high court must either be imposed by the judiciary or Congress.

Days after ProPublica reported on Justice Samuel Alito's previously undisclosed private jet trip—funded by a billionaire hedge fund owner whose business has been involved in numerous Supreme Court cases—CNN revealed that Barrett has had financial dealings with the Religious Liberty Initiative (RLI) at Notre Dame Law School.

A Note Dame professor who had just taken a leadership role at RLI purchased Barrett's private home months after she was sworn in in October 2020.

The group, which advocates for religious freedom, was founded in 2020 and has filed numerous amicus briefs in cases related to the issue—related to questions surrounding abortion, public health precautions, and school prayer—since it was established. RLI has filed at least nine briefs with the court since the sale of Barrett's home.

The newly reported conflict of interest is one of several in recent months that have brought renewed scrutiny to the fact that the Supreme Court justices are not required to abide by an ethics code, as other federal judges are.

"The endless drip of shady and corrupt Supreme Court dealings just further underscores the need for reform," said Kyle Herrig, president of the watchdog group Accountable.US. "Every federal judge is bound to an ethics code requiring them to avoid behavior that so much as looks improper, except for Supreme Court justices. Chief Justice Roberts has the power to change that, but so far he hasn't shown the courage. If he fails to do his job, Congress must do theirs."

CNN also reported Thursday that RLI funded a previously reported trip Alito took to Rome shortly after the court overturned Roe v. Wade, stripping millions of people across the U.S. of the right to abortion care. In Rome, the right-wing justice mocked critics of the ruling, which has been decried as a violation of international law by human rights experts.

Alito ruled in favor of RLI's positions stated in its amicus briefs in several cases, and neither judge has recused themselves from a number of high-profile cases involving the Initiative.

In recent months, government watchdogs have demanded accountability for alleged ethics breaches and conflicts of interest at the Supreme Court, including Justice Clarence Thomas' financial ties to Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing last month to make the case for legislation that would require the high court to follow an ethics code.

Although Barrett's home sale may not have violated any rules, Indiana University law professor Charles Geyh told Accountable.US, it adds to the "perception problem" regarding the justices' ethics.

Atlanta Referendum to Block 'Cop City' Clears Key Bureaucratic Hurdle

Opponents of the proposed Public Safety Training Center—widely known as "Cop City"—near Atlanta cleared an important administrative hurdle Wednesday as the city clerk's office approved their petition for a referendum on whether to cancel the controversial project's land lease.

The petitioners will now have just 58 days to collect signatures from 15% of Atlanta's registered voters—or 70,000-75,000 people—in order for the referendum to qualify for this November's ballot.

Paul Glaze, an organizer with Cop City Vote Coalition, told WXIA that more than 3,000 volunteer canvassers have already signed up to gather signatures.

"The mayor says the people of Atlanta want Cop City, that this is a thing the people want, and if that's true, no one should be afraid of a vote," Glaze said, referring to Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens, a supporter of the project. "We are committed to this and we believe in this."

The petition's approval follows months of protests inside and around Atlanta City Hall. Cop City opponents are set to launch a week of action this weekend to drum up support for the ballot measure and amplify opposition to the $90 million project, which is funded largely by the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF).

Hillary’s $84 Million Money Laundering Scam EXPOSED!

OVERWHELMING Evidence Of Bidens’ Bribery From Ukraine!

Oregon county sues big oil over 2021 heatwave that killed dozens of people

Oregon’s most populous county on Thursday sued major oil and gas companies over a deadly 2021 heatwave that killed dozens of people. The defendants should be held responsible, the lawsuit alleges, for their role in fueling the climate crisis.

From 25 to 28 June 2021, an unprecedented heat dome blanketed the Pacific north-west. The record-shattering temperatures killed 69 in Oregon’s Multnomah county and hundreds more across the region, marking one of the most destructive weather disasters in American history. ...

The new lawsuit, filed at a state circuit court in Portland, draws on research showing the scorching heat was exacerbated by climate breakdown. It aims to hold 17 fossil fuel companies and interest groups – including Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP, Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute – accountable for their role in the event.

“The heat dome that cost so much life and loss was not a natural weather event. It did not just happen because life can be cruel, nor can it be rationalized as simply a mystery of God’s will,” the litigation says. “Rather, the heat dome was a direct and foreseeable consequence of the Defendants’ decision to sell as many fossil fuel products over the last six decades as they could.”

The suit seeks $50m in damages for the 2021 heat dome’s consequences and $1.5bn for future climate damages. And it demands the defendants spend an additional $50bn on a county plan to upgrade public healthcare services and infrastructure to protect residents from coming extreme heat events and other climate disasters.

Ecological tipping points could occur much sooner than expected, study finds

Ecological collapse is likely to start sooner than previously believed, according to a new study that models how tipping points can amplify and accelerate one another. Based on these findings, the authors warn that more than a fifth of ecosystems worldwide, including the Amazon rainforest, are at risk of a catastrophic breakdown within a human lifetime.

“It could happen very soon,” said Prof Simon Willcock of Rothamsted Research, who co-led the study. “We could realistically be the last generation to see the Amazon.”

The research, which was published on Thursday in Nature Sustainability, is likely to generate a heated debate. Compared with the long-established and conclusively proven link between fossil fuels and global heating, the science of tipping points and their interactions is relatively undeveloped. The United Nations’ top science advisory body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has been more cautious. In its latest report, it said there was a chance of a tipping point in the Amazon by the year 2100.

However, several prominent Brazil-based scientists, including Carlos Nobre, have warned that this may come much sooner. The new study underlines that alarming prospect. It observes that most studies until now have focused on one driver of destruction, such as climate change or deforestation. But when you combine this with other threats, such as water stress, degradation and river pollution from mining, the breakdown comes much quicker.

Journalist Backs YACHTS Over Orca Uprising

Invasion of giant African land snails prompts quarantine in south Florida

An invasion of giant African land snails has alarmed residents in south Florida, where authorities have established a quarantine area to try to deal with the destructive pests.

The invasive snails have voracious appetites and consume at least 500 species of plants, according to Florida’s department of agriculture, which is fearful for the state’s lucrative growing industries of citrus and other fruits and vegetables.

In response, it has set up a “treatment area” covering several dozen blocks of the city of Miramar, south-west of Fort Lauderdale, and is warning residents that the slimy creatures also pose a serious health risk to humans by carrying the rat lungworm parasite, known to cause meningitis. ... It intends to spray the area with the chemical snail bait metaldehyde, which is approved for residential use.

The snails are illegal to import or possess in the US without a permit, and authorities have been trying for years to eradicate them. They can damage buildings, as well as destroying crops, and in some quarters are even considered a delicacy.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

More Weapons Go To Ukraine But What Will It Do With Those?

The Failed Ukrainian Peace Deal

As Venezuela Mends Ties With Latin Neighbors, Western Media Turn Up the Propaganda

Rightwing war on ‘woke capitalism’ partly driven by fossil fuel interests and allies

Could Cornel West Help the Greens Win Ballot Access in 50 States?

Supreme court rules against Navajo nation in Colorado River water dispute

Thus We Fall: June Temperature Spike Confirms Dire Climate Change Forecasts

A Little Night Music

Sonny Rhodes - If the Blues Fits, Wear It

Sonny Rhodes - She's Excited

Sonny Rhodes - Black Cat Bone

Sonny Rhodes - You better stop

Sonny Rhodes - I Just Can't Stay

Sonny Rhodes - Half Smart Woman

Sonny Rhodes - All Night Long They Play The Blues

Sonny Rhodes - Killing Floor

Sonny Rhodes - Ain't No Blues In Town

Sonny Rhodes - I Was Kidding