We need to not give the regime in Moscow the rights to monopolize the Security council of the UN, with abuses like Russia demanding Alaska AGAIN
Something is really off in the UN security council, when Russia abuses its position, in the UN security council, while being engaged in genocide in Ukraine. The UN failure over the Ukraine war
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The UN’s “failure” over Ukraine was caused by Russia’s position with a veto in the Security Council, she said in an address to the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think-tank during a trade visit to Australia.
Russia had used its place on the council to take a “morally bankrupt position in the wake of a morally bankrupt and illegal war”, Ardern said.
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I have seen clips of the Russian UN ambassador in UN speeches, and he is a sight to behold. And while this is going on, he engages in tirades, which of course are akin to this greatest hit yet, FROM VOLODIN, Putin's LAP DOG
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How about asking Putin to return the 1 TRILLION USD he scammed out of Russia during 22 years of Mafioso takeover first, Volodin ?
Meanwhile, high weirdness is set to hit in in the Donbass
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Still, Russia’s attacks in Donetsk in recent days have caused heavy damage. At least seven civilians were killed in the last 24 hours, including a 17-year-old girl found under rubble, local authorities said on Thursday. In Kramatorsk, which serves as Ukraine’s administrative and military center in the province, a rocket struck a residential area in the center of the city around midday, killing one person and wounding six others, officials there said.
The Institute for the Study of War said in its Wednesday assessment that while Russian forces may have “initiated an operational pause” in Donetsk, it did not mean that Russia had “ceased active hostilities.” Instead, the report said, Moscow’s troops “will likely confine themselves to relatively small-scale offensive actions as they attempt to set conditions for a more significant offensive.”
A spokesman for Russia’s defense ministry confirmed that assessment on Thursday,?saying?at a news conference that Russian troops had been given an “opportunity to rest” in order to “replenish their combat capabilities,” according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
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In other words, unless UN dysfunctionality in the Security council is addressed, there will be MORE pompous speeches to an empty security council by Putin's windbag, and a seismic blow up by August
https://www.kyivpost.com/world/new-zealands-ardern-decries-un-failure-over-ukraine-war.html
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New Zealand’s Ardern decries UN ‘failure’ over Ukraine war
By?AFP.?Published July 7 at 11:48 am
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Investment Lunch in Sydney on July 7, 2022. (Photo by James Gourley / POOL / AFP)
Photo by?AFP
The UN Security Council has failed in its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday, describing Moscow’s role as “morally bankrupt.”
Ardern, who has long argued against the Security Council veto powers held by the five permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, reiterated her call for reform of the body.
The UN’s “failure” over Ukraine was caused by Russia’s position with a veto in the Security Council, she said in an address to the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think-tank during a trade visit to Australia.
Russia had used its place on the council to take a “morally bankrupt position in the wake of a morally bankrupt and illegal war”, Ardern said.
New Zealand would seek reforms to the UN Security Council to ensure that its value and relevance does not diminish, she said.
“We must reform the United Nations so that we don’t have to rely on individual countries imposing their own autonomous sanctions,” Ardern said.
Russia must be held to account for its invasion, she said.
Ardern called for the International Criminal Court in The Hague to get the resources it needs to probe and prosecute war crimes.
New Zealand would intervene as a third party in Ukraine’s case against Russia at the court, she added.– China’s role on Ukraine –
But the prime minister warned against taking a “black and white” view of the world, casting the Ukraine invasion as a war between the West and Russia or democracy against autocracy, and pushing away important players such as China.
“Let’s not assume that China as a member of the Security Council does not have a role to play in placing pressure in response to what is the loss of territorial integrity at the hands of Russia,” the New Zealand leader said.
“Let’s not just isolate and assume that it’s only democracies that take this view.”
China’s growing diplomatic and security sway in the Pacific region — notably its signature of a secretive security pact with Solomon Islands in April — has fed concern among some Western nations about its intentions.
But Ardern said China had long been a player in the region and it would be wrong to expect sovereign Pacific island states to “pick sides”.
As tensions rise in the Pacific, diplomacy should be the “strongest tool”, she said, warning against isolating big players instead of engaging with them.
Even as China becomes “more assertive”, there are still areas for cooperation with Beijing such as trade, Ardern said.
New Zealand had nevertheless put on record its concerns about China’s actions in the South China Sea, Hong Kong including through multilateral institutions, she said.
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Not to mention Russia threatening to invade Alaska
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How about asking Putin to return the 1 TRILLION USD he scammed out of Russia during 22 years of Mafioso takeover first, Volodin ?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10990619/Putins-lapdog-MPs-threaten-Alaska-US.html
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Putin's lapdog MPs threaten to TAKE BACK Alaska from the US as revenge if the West uses seized Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine
PUBLISHED:?04:13 EDT, 7 July 2022?|?UPDATED:?07:31 EDT, 7 July 2022
Vladimir?Putin's lapdog parliament has threatened to take back?Alaska?from the US if seized Russian assets are used to rebuild?Ukraine?after the war.??
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the state Duma and Russia's most-senior politician, made the astonishing suggestion during a session of parliament on Wednesday.?
America must remember before it starts spending seized Russian money 'that we also have something to get back' Volodin said, telling MPs to 'keep an eye on Alaska'.
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia's lapdog parliament, has suggested taking back Alaska from the US if seized Russian money is used to rebuild Ukraine
The Russian Empire had a number of outposts in North America that it founded in the 18th and 19th centuries, the first and longest-lasting of which were in Alaska.
But Tsar Alexander II sold the territory to US President Andrew Johnson in 1867 for $7.2million - $144million in today's money - and it became a state in 1959.
'Decency is not weakness,' Volodin told the lower house of parliament on Wednesday. 'We always have something to answer with.
'Let America always remember, there is part of its territory... Alaska.'
He warned: 'When they start trying to dispose of our resources abroad, let them think before they do so that we also have something to get back.'
He ordered other MPs to 'keep an eye on Alaska'.
President Zelensky and his allies have ramped up calls to use seized Russian assets to pay for the rebuilding of Ukraine in recent weeks, ahead of making a formal proposition to the UN in September.
Ukraine estimates the cost of rebuilding damage to the country - as things stand today - is an eye-watering $750billion.?
In order to ease the burden on both Kyiv and its allies, politicians say seized Russian assets - including $300billion in foreign currency reserves - should contribute towards the final bill.
The idea has gained some traction. Canada has recently passed laws allowing Russia's assets to be liquidated for reparations, and similar laws are being discussed by EU leaders Urusula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.
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also
Russia ran several settlements in North America during the 19th century, among two of the most prominent being California's Fort Ross and various colonies in Alaska
That has caused fury within Russia, with MP?Pyotr Tolstoy - great great grandson of writer Leo Tolstoy and deputy speaker of the Duma - on Wednesday suggesting that a referendum should be held in Alaska on rejoining Russia.
Sham referendums are typically held by Russian on territory it is planning to appropriate into the mainland.
A similar vote was carried out in 2014 in Crimea - with 96 per cent of people voting to join Russia, under duress from troops stationed there at the time - before it was annexed to the mainland.??
It is thought Russia will attempt a similar tactic in areas of Ukraine it has occupied since the start of the war to try and take permanent ownership of them: Kherson and Mariupol in the south, and Luhansk province in the east.
Kremlin-appointed leaders were rumored to be preparing votes in the lead-up to Russia's Victory Day back in May, but held off amid partisan attacks.
It is hardly the first time that Russia has made threats towards Alaska under the pretense of 'taking back' its 'historic territory.'
Back in March, just weeks after Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Putin's 'spin doctor'?Oleg Matveychev demanded the US return not only Alaska, but also Fort Ross in California - a 19th century settlement just outside of modern-day San Francisco.
Speaking on a state media propaganda channel,?Matveychev demanded 'the return of all Russian properties, those of the Russian empire, the Soviet Union and current Russia, which has been seized in the United States.'
Among those properties were Alaska and Fort Ross, he added, before throwing in the entirety of Antarctica for good measure.
'We discovered it, so it belongs to us,' he said.
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Meanwhile, the Donbass situation is set to explode which will lead to MORE UN histronics on the part of the Russian Federation
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/07/world/russia-ukraine-war-news
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Live Updates: Russian Strikes in Donetsk Are Just a Prelude to Coming Assault, Analysts Say
At least seven civilians were killed in the last 24 hours by Russian attacks in the Donbas region in the east, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday, as Putin’s forces lay the groundwork for an onslaught.
Russian forces are bombarding Donetsk Province in eastern Ukraine, killing civilians in the process.Credit...
Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
Even as Russian forces pummel towns and villages in Donetsk Province with deadly rocket attacks and airstrikes, military experts say the strikes are most likely only the prelude to a full-scale assault.
President Vladimir V. Putin’s forces are laying the groundwork for an onslaught, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a research group based in Washington, which said that on Wednesday, for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, it claimed no territorial gains.
Still, Russia’s attacks in Donetsk in recent days have caused heavy damage. At least seven civilians were killed in the last 24 hours, including a 17-year-old girl found under rubble, local authorities said on Thursday. In Kramatorsk, which serves as Ukraine’s administrative and military center in the province, a rocket struck a residential area in the center of the city around midday, killing one person and wounding six others, officials there said.
The Institute for the Study of War said in its Wednesday assessment that while Russian forces may have “initiated an operational pause” in Donetsk, it did not mean that Russia had “ceased active hostilities.” Instead, the report said, Moscow’s troops “will likely confine themselves to relatively small-scale offensive actions as they attempt to set conditions for a more significant offensive.”
A spokesman for Russia’s defense ministry confirmed that assessment on Thursday,?saying?at a news conference that Russian troops had been given an “opportunity to rest” in order to “replenish their combat capabilities,” according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
In an?interview?with CNN on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine cast doubt on whether Russian forces were pausing at all. He said it was “clear” that Ukraine would not recapture all of its lost territory, but rejected the possibility of officially ceding land conquered by Russia in exchange for peace. He also vowed that Ukraine would regain some areas.
“Ukrainians are not ready to give up their land as new territories of the Russian Federation,” he said. “This is our land. We have always said this, and we will never give it up.”
Mr. Zelensky questioned what Russia had gained by its capture of Luhansk Province last week: “I don’t even understand what exactly they’re controlling there. They ruined towns, school. They are the occupiers of the rubble?”
Moscow is now turning its attention to Donetsk Province, which lies southwest of Luhansk. After victory in Luhansk, military experts said that Russia would rotate troops out and bring in fresh ones.
A resident of Sloviansk, in Donetsk Province, inspecting shelling damage this week.Credit...
Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
A report on Thursday by British military intelligence said that while heavy shelling continued on the front line in Donetsk, Russian forces had made few advances and were “likely reconstituting” their operations.
Since April, after its forces were routed from northern Ukraine, Russia has narrowed its focus to capturing the whole of the Donbas region, which comprises Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Russia’s strategy has been to pound its targets for weeks before launching a?ground assault, a method that worked in Luhansk Province.
The head of Donetsk’s military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said on Thursday on the Telegram social messaging app that civilians died in the city of Siversk and in three other locations to the south. “Two more people were injured,” he said, without giving details.
Later, Oleksandr Goncharenko, the mayor of Kramatorsk, said a Russian airstrike hit the city’s center.
“We are investigating the consequences,” he said. “Rescue services are working. Stay in the shelters, the danger has not passed.”
Alex Traub?contributed reporting.
Correction:?July 7, 2022
An earlier version of this article misspelled the last name of the mayor of Kramatorsk, Ukraine. He is Oleksandr Goncharenko, not Gonchareno.
—?Matthew Mpoke Bigg?and?Kamila Hrabchuk
Image
A rocket strike in a residential area of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, killed one person and wounded six others, including Volodymyr Tarasov, who was drinking a cup of tea in his kitchen when the rocket hit.Credit...
Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — A rocket that Ukrainian officials said was fired by Russian forces hit the center of the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, gouging a deep crater in a residential area, killing one person and wounding six others.
The rocket landed on a piece of ground beside apartment complexes and a hotel on a central street. A man sitting on a bench in the yard of one apartment complex was killed in the strike, and a woman was severely wounded, according to officials and witnesses. The man’s body lay in a bag in the yard as police officers checked the surrounding buildings. Six buildings including the hotel were damaged, officials said.
Residents had been cooking and eating together in the yard since the war began, said one former resident, Anastasia, 25. She had been visiting and had just left the area when she heard the strike and came back to help, she said.
“He was here, outside,” she said. “He had no chance.”
Kramatorsk, along with the nearby town of Sloviansk, are both in Donetsk Province, and the cities have been targeted by multiple artillery strikes in recent days as Russian forces have turned their sights on Donetsk after?capturing the last city in neighboring Luhansk Province. Ukrainian officials have urged the remaining population to leave ahead of a full Russian assault they believe will start soon.
Image
The rocket landed beside apartment complexes and a hotel on a central street.Credit...
Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
The city of Kramatorsk was devastated in April when?a Russian missile strike hit a packed train station, killing more than 50 people. Kramatorsk originally had a population of 150,000 people, but the city began emptying out after the missile attack. Still, thousands remain, though the city would be directly in the path of a new Russian offensive.
Volodymyr Tarasov, a 66-year-old retired engineer, was drinking a cup of tea in his kitchen on the fourth floor of one apartment building when the rocket hit.
“There was such a bang, and this is the result,” he said showing his wrecked apartment. His head was heavily bandaged, and his neck and back were cut and bleeding from the shattered glass.
Mr. Tarasov lost his wife to a stroke 18 months ago. Now, he was afraid for his only other companion, his cat of eight years, who disappeared when the attack landed.
“It’s so bad the feeling in my heart, I can’t express it,” he said. “This is a complete horror.”
But he said he did not intend to leave Kramatorsk.
“I don’t want to leave,” he said. Everywhere was dangerous in Ukraine, he added. “You can’t escape fate.”
—?Kamila Hrabchuk
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Andrew Beckwith, PhD