Russian forces strike train carrying Western weapons – MOD

Russian forces strike train carrying Western weapons – MOD

RT

Russian forces have struck a freight train carrying military equipment supplied to Ukrainian forces by Kiev's Western backers, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The combined attack involved aircraft, missiles and artillery, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

“A train with Western weapons and military equipment was hit in the area of the settlement of Udachnoye in [Russia’s] Donetsk People’s Republic,” it added..

Udachnoye, translated as ‘lucky’ in English, is located in the western part of the republic.

Personnel and equipment from the 67th Ukrainian mechanized brigade were also struck at a railway loading station in the area of Balakleya in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, the ministry said.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces have also destroyed five US-made M777 howitzers, two American M102 105mm lightweight towed howitzers, a US-designed AN/TPQ-50 counter-fire radar, a British FH-70 howitzer, and other hardware, according to the statement.

The flow of Western aid to Ukraine decreased drastically in recent months as Republicans in the US Congress resisted attempts by President Joe Biden to push through another $61 billion in military assistance for Kiev. The standoff, which had dragged on since the autumn, was resolved earlier this week when lawmakers passed the legislation and Biden signed off on it.

Russia has repeatedly warned that foreign weapons deliveries to Kiev will not prevent Moscow from achieving its military goals, but will merely prolong the fighting and could increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. According to officials in Moscow, the provision of arms, intelligence-sharing, and training of Ukrainian troops means that Western nations have already become de facto parties to the conflict.

China Warns The U.S. About Crossing “Red Lines”

China Warns The U.S. About Crossing “Red Lines”

Mac Slavo

China has started warning the United States against crossing any “red lines” as Washington challenges China’s core interests and suppresses the country’s development, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

If any country knows how to cross red lines, it is the U.S. They have gone so far past any red lines Russia laid out for the war that it’s actually surprising Moscow has refrained from responding.

On Friday during talks with his US counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the relations between the U.S. and China seemed to dwindle further.  The “giant ship” of China-US ties had stabilized, “but negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building,” Wang said during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

Blinken arrived in Beijing on Thursday from Shanghai, where he urged the Chinese government to provide a level playing field for US firms in the country.

Bilateral ties face “all kinds of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” Wang stressed.

Beijing and Washington could either engage in cooperation or confrontation, the foreign minister warned. -RT

China is interested in “stable, healthy, and sustainable” relations and “win-win cooperation” with the U.S. Blinken said. Blinken reportedly told Wang that “there’s no substitute in our judgment for face-to-face diplomacy” between the two countries. The administration of U.S. ruler Joe Biden wants to ensure that “we’re as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations,” he said.

According to a Wall Street Journal report earlier this week, citing alleged informed sources, U.S. authorities are preparing sanctions that would not only target Chinese companies but would also cut off some of the country’s banks from the global financial system.

Ukrainian Drone Strikes Target Russian Oil Refineries Again Despite White House Pleas

Ukrainian Drone Strikes Target Russian Oil Refineries Again Despite White House Pleas

TYLER DURDEN

Just days after the Biden administration signed a new military aid package worth billions of dollars to Ukraine, Kyiv launched a series of suicide drone attacks on Russian oil refineries. 

Biden's top officials have pleaded with Kyiv to stop attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure because of the fears that turmoil in crude markets would send pump prices in the US higher ahead of the presidential elections in November. 

"Our region is again under attack by Ukrainian UAVs," Smolensk Governor Vasily Anokhin wrote in a post on Telegram on Wednesday. Kamikaze drones damaged oil facilities in western Russia. 

Another drone attack hit the Lipetsk region further south, which is home to steel production plants and pharmaceutical sites, Governor Igor Artamonov said.

"The Kyiv criminal regime tried to hit infrastructure in Lipetsk industrial zone," Artamonov said. 

The Moscow Times pointed out:

A source in the Ukrainian defense sector confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that drones in the service of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had carried out the attacks.

The source made no mention of the attack on Lipetsk but claimed two oil depots were destroyed in the Smolensk region.

"Rosneft lost two storage and pumping bases for fuels and lubricants in the towns of Yartsevo and Rozdorovo," the source said, referring to the Russian state-controlled energy giant.

The Financial Times, citing unnamed US officials, recently said long-range drones have hit at least 20 energy facilities deep within Russia so far this year. Kyiv's drone attacks on Russia's energy complex have been frightening for the Biden administration, as Brent prices have risen to the $90/bbl level on higher war risk premiums. Higher energy costs feed into inflation as stagflation concerns mount in the US. Also, gasoline pump prices in the US are inching closer to the politically sensitive $4 level. 

According to AAA data, the average cost of gas at the pump across the US was $3.66 as of Thursday, up from $3.10 in mid-January. 

"Should Ukraine begin also targeting crude oil facilities, this could threaten Russia's overall production and exports and, more meaningfully, global oil prics would tick up, driving up inflation and cost-of-living pressures in the US and elsewhere," said Korhonen, adding, "It would also raise the prospects of Russia retaliating, for example, targeting energy infrastructure that the West relies on."

Anti-Israel Protests Now With Signs For 'Final Solution', Parallels With Nazism

Horror as GWU protester carries sign with Nazi ‘final solution’ call for extermination of Jews

Megan Palin

A despicable anti-Israeli protester has sparked horror after being photographed at George Washington University with a sign calling for the “final solution,” the Nazi plan to exterminate all Jews.

The unidentified man was seen mingling among students on the Washington, DC, campus carrying a huge Palestinian flag — and the sign with the expression Adolf Hitler used to sum up his plan for the “annihilation of the Jews.”

The image quickly sparked outrage from many shocked at a term used during the Holocaust.

“The parallels between this movement and actual Nazism is real and scary,” one X user wrote.

Another posted: “Just pure hatred.”

“Not a peaceful protest at all,” a third person wrote.

The image emerged as hundreds of anti-Israel protesters on Thursday occupied the campus at George Washington University, one of many schools swamped by such action.

The school said Friday that the remaining protesters “and any who attempt to join them are trespassing on private property and violating university regulations.”

“We are aware that individuals who are not GW students have joined the protest, and we have taken steps to restrict access to University Yard,” said the uni.

“We continue to work with the [Metropolitan Police Department] to ensure the safety and security of our campus.

“We are aware that individuals who are not GW students have joined the protest, and we have taken steps to restrict access to University Yard. 

“We will pursue disciplinary actions against the GW students involved in these unauthorized demonstrations that continue to disrupt university operations.”, which is working with police said.”

Sent from @GWtweets: a man at the encampment carrying a sign that says “Final Solution”

The DMV Coalition of Students for Justice in Palestine claims to be the organizer of the protest Thursday, joining colleges across the country in protest, Fox 5 reports.

The university earlier said that it “will not allow students from other local colleges or unaffiliated individuals to trespass on our campus.” 

“The encampment, unlike some demonstrations in the past, is an unauthorized use of university space at this location and violated several university policies,” said GW.

“Occupying campus grounds, establishing outdoor encampments, and blocking access to buildings create safety concerns and can disrupt learning and study, especially during this critical final exam period. 

“Such activities are inconsistent with the university’s mission, values, and commitment to providing a safe environment for all students and employees.”

George Soros is paying student radicals who are fueling nationwide explosion of Israel-hating protests

George Soros is paying student radicals who are fueling nationwide explosion of Israel-hating protests

Isabel Vincent 

George Soros and his hard-left acolytes are paying agitators who are fueling the explosion of radical anti-Israel protests at colleges across the country.

The protests, which began when students took over Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus lawn last week, have mushroomed nationwide.

Copycat tent cities have been set up at colleges including Harvard, Yale, Berkeley in California, the Ohio State University and Emory in Georgia — all of them organized by branches of the Soros-funded Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — and at some, students have clashed with police.

The SJP parent organization has been funded by a network of nonprofits ultimately funded by, among others, Soros, the billionaire left-wing investor.

At three colleges, the protests are being encouraged by paid radicals who are “fellows” of a Soros-funded group called the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).

USCPR provides up to $7,800 for its community-based fellows and between $2,880 and $3,660 for its campus-based “fellows” in return for spending eight hours a week organizing “campaigns led by Palestinian organizations.” 

They are trained to “rise up, to revolution.”

The radical group received at least $300,000 from Soros’ Open Society Foundations since 2017 and also took in $355,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund since 2019.

It has three “fellows” who have been major figures in the nationwide protest movement.

Nidaa Lafi, a former president of the University of Texas Students for Justice in Palestine, was seen at an encampment at UT Dallas Wednesday making a speech demanding an end to the war in Gaza.

Lafi, a former legislative intern for the late Democratic Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, graduated from the school last year with a degree in global business and is now a law student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

In January, she was detained for blocking the route of President Biden’s motorcade after he arrived in Dallas for the funeral of Johnson, her former boss.

At Yale, USCPR’s fellow Craig Birckhead-Morton was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree trespassing when SJP’s branch, Yalies4Palestine, occupied the school’s Beinecke Plaza, the Yale Daily News reported.

Birckhead-Morton — also a former intern for a Democrat, Maryland rep John Sarbanes — emerged from custody to address a sit-in blocking traffic in New Haven.

The most high-profile of the fellows is Berkeley’s Malak Afaneh, co-president of the Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine

The cash from Soros and his acolytes has been critical to the Columbia protests that set off the national copycat demonstrations. 

Three groups set up the tent city on Columbia’s lawn last Wednesday: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Within Our Lifetime.

At the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” students sleep in tents apparently ordered from Amazon and enjoy delivery pizza, coffee from Dunkin’, free sandwiches worth $12.50 from Pret a Manger, organic tortilla chips and $10 rotisserie chickens.

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