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U.S. bulldozes jungles – trees, plants, and wildlife – for its coming war against China

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Caitlin Johnstone
September 14, 2023

The US Air Force Is Clearing Out Jungles In The Pacific To Prepare For War With China

The US Air Force is clearing out jungles in the Pacific and replacing them with airfields for its coming war with China,
because there exist people on this earth who look at a jungle and think, “This should be replaced with an airfield to prepare for a war with China.”

There are people on this earth who say, “You know the world would be a much better place if all these trees and exotic insects and birds were replaced with long stretches of concrete lined with nuclear bombers on high alert.”

There are people on this earth who see bulldozing rainforests to make way for war planes as much simpler and easier than just making peace.

There are people on this earth who would spend their entire lives making up new excuses to fight new enemies, and then tear up every inch of the biosphere looking for ways to defeat those enemies.

There are people on this earth who would rather wipe out all biodiversity than allow for any diversity in world leadership.

There are people on this earth who would rather rule supreme over a wasteland of irradiated dust and ashes than see the rise of a multipolar world.

There are people on this earth who would rather annihilate everything than take a brief moment to pause and look inward.

There are people on this earth who would rather stare down the barrel of nuclear armageddon than turn and stare at themselves.

There are people on this earth who would light the skies on fire before they’d take even a minute to just be here now.

There are people on this earth who would rather destroy everything than make peace with anything.

There are people on this earth who look at the staggering beauty of the natural world and think how wonderful it would be if they could tear it all down and funnel it into a factory to make Tomahawk missiles.

The biosphere is dying,
and we are hurtling toward nuclear war,
and it is so very, very heartbreaking,
and yet even in the midst of that heartbreak
nature shines as majestically as ever,
and some moments all you can do is take in the beauty
and take it as your solemn, sacred duty to appreciate it while it lasts,
and look at the trees and the bugs and the birds and the critters
who never had anything to do with this madness,
and bow as deeply as your body can bow,
and say I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry.

https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-us-air-force-is-clearing-out

From AntiWar.com

US Air Force Clearing Out Jungles in Pacific for New Airfields

The US Air Force is increasing its number of bases in the Pacific to prepare for a future war with China

Dave DeCamp
September 13, 2023

The head of US Pacific Air Forces said Monday that the Air Force was clearing out jungles in the Pacific to build new airfields and restore old ones as part of the branch’s preparation for war with China in the region.

The Air Force is working to expand its bases as part of a plan to become more mobile in the Pacific, a concept known as Agile Combat Employment (ACE). Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach said the Air Force is looking for more money to facilitate the military buildup.

“We’re going to be clearing out the jungle [and] we’re going to be resurfacing some of the surfaces there so that we will have a fairly large and very functional Agile Combat Employment base, an additional base to be able to operate from and we have several other projects like that around the region that we’ll be getting after,” he said at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber conference, according to Defense One.

“That takes resources to be able to accomplish and so those are some of the resources that I argue for when I go back to the headquarters,” Wilsbach added. He said the Air Force requested funds for additional construction in the Pacific for its 2024 military budget.

Wilsbach said that every new base in the region is a new area China would have to target. “Every single additional airfield that I can operate from is another in a contingency or crisis, or a conflict is another airfield that China has to put into their targeting folders and, and then allocate resources toward them, which dilutes their ability to shut us completely down,” he said.

The Biden administration has been working to expand the US military footprint in the Asia Pacific. This year, the US signed a deal with the Philippines to gain access to four new bases in the country and inked an agreement with Papua New Guinea to gain access to airports and sea ports in the Pacific island nation. The US is also expanding its presence in Australia under the AUKUS pact.

Wilsbach also has his eye on newer weapons and said the Air Force needs to modernize to face China. “There’s some modernization for some of our current platforms that are very critical for maintaining dominance in some of our mission areas because while we have been doing a lot of things in the Middle East in the last 20 years, China’s been resourcing for near-peer competition,” he said.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall made similar comments at the conference. “The threat of attack from violent extremist organizations still exists, and we will address those threats as they occur. But China is by far our pacing challenge,” he said.

https://news.antiwar.com/2023/09/13/us-air-force-clearing-out-jungles-in-pacific-for-new-airfields/

Was “No NATO expansion east” more than a promise?

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From the Libertarian Institute

By Ted Snider
July 17, 2023

At the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, eventual membership in NATO was promised to Ukraine and Georgia with the statement that “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agree today that these countries will become members of NATO.” Russian President Vladimir Putin “flew into a rage,” and, according to a Russian journalist quoted by John Mearsheimer, warned that “if Ukraine joins NATO, it will do so without Crimea and the eastern regions. It will simply fall apart.”

A decade and a half later, Putin sent the message [1] to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “Tell me you’re not joining NATO, I won’t invade.”

Putin is consistently accused in the West of dangerous melodrama and of historical revisionism when he points to NATO’s broken promise that it wouldn’t expand east if the Soviet Union permitted a united Germany to join NATO.

In 2007, Putin complained, “What happened to the assurances our western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today? No one even remembers them.” A year later, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev complained that the United States “promised that NATO wouldn’t move beyond the boundaries of Germany after the Cold War but now half of central and Eastern Europe are members, so what happened to their promises? It shows they cannot be trusted.”

Then U.S. Secretary of State James Baker has claimed [2] that the discussion of NATO expansion applied only to East Germany, not to Eastern Europe: “There was never any discussion of anything but the GDR (East Germany].” A 2014 NATO report claimed, “No such pledge was made, and no evidence to back up Russia’s claims has ever been produced.”

But declassified documents [3] now reveal that NATO was lying, and that it is Baker, and not Putin, who was engaging in historical revisionism.

After complaining that no one remembers the West’s assurances, Putin went on to remind his audience what they said: “I would like to quote the speech of NATO General Secretary Mr. Woerner in Brussels on 17 May 1990. He said at the time that: ‘The fact that we are ready not to place a NATO army outside of German territory gives the Soviet Union a firm security guarantee.’ Where are those guarantees?”

Putin was quoting correctly. He might have added, as we know from the recently declassified documents, that Woerner also “stressed that the NATO Council and he are against the expansion of NATO (13 out of 16 NATO members support this point of view).” The NATO Secretary General also assured the Russians on July 1, 1991 that, in an upcoming meeting with Poland’s Lech Walesa and Romania’s Ion Iliescu, “he will oppose Poland and Romania joining NATO, and earlier this was stated to Hungary and Czechoslovakia.” (Document 30)

As for Baker’s insistence that no such promise was made, he articulated some of the most important statements of that promise. On February 9, 1990, Baker famously offered Gorbachev a choice: “I want to ask you a question, and you need not answer it right now. Supposing unification takes place, what would you prefer: a united Germany outside of NATO, absolutely independent and without American troops; or a united Germany keeping its connections with NATO, but with the guarantee that NATO’s jurisdiction or troops will not spread east of the present boundary?”

Baker has been dismissive of this statement, categorizing it as only a hypothetical question. But Baker’s next statement, not previously included in the quotation, but now placed back in the script by the documentary record, refutes that claim. After Gorbachev answers Baker’s question, saying, “It goes without saying that a broadening of the NATO zone is not acceptable,” Baker replies categorically, “We agree with that.” (Document 6)

There are a number of other declassified statements that now solidify the evidence against Baker’s claim. The most important is Baker’s own interpretation of his question to Gorbachev at the time. At a press conference immediately following this most crucial meeting with Gorbachev, Baker announced that NATO’s “jurisdiction would not be moved eastward.” He added that he had “indicated” to Gorbachev that “there should be no extension of NATO forces eastward.”

And while Baker was meeting with Gorbachev, Deputy National Security Adviser Robert Gates was asking the same question of KGB leader Vladimir Kryuchkov in clearly non-hypothetical terms. He asked Kryuchkov what he thought of the “proposal under which a united Germany would be associated with NATO, but in which NATO troops would move no further east than they now were?” Gates then added, “It seems to us to be a sound proposal.” (Document 7)

On that same busy day, Baker posed the same question to Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Shevardnadze. He asked if there “might be an outcome that would guarantee that there would be no NATO forces in the eastern part of Germany. In fact, there could be an absolute ban on that.” How did Baker intend that offer? In Not One Inch, M.E. Sarotte reports that in his own notes, Baker wrote, “End result: Unified Ger. Anchored in a changed (polit.) NATO—whose juris. would not be moved eastward!” According to a now declassified State department memorandum of their conversation, Baker had already in this conversation assured Shevardnadze, “There would, of course, have to be ironclad guarantees that NATO’s jurisdiction or forces would not move eastward.” (Document 4)

And, according to a declassified State Department memorandum of the conversation, on still the same day, Baker told Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, not in the form of a question at all, that, “If we maintain a presence in a Germany that is a part of NATO, there would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east.” (Document 5)

Continue reading →

Vigil in Nevada: Protect native peoples, sacred land and water from Thacker Pass lithium mining; prayer camps raided by police

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From Lakota Law Project

May 31, 2023

Warm greetings to you. Today, I share with you my story of a very important experience. Earlier this month, I joined my father, Lakota Law co-director Chase Iron Eyes, and our videographer, Chuck Banner, on a trip to Thacker Pass in Nevada – or Peehee Mu’Huh, as it’s known in the Paiute language. We were there to support our Paiute and Shoshone relatives in a direct action to stop a massive lithium mine, which threatens a sensitive ecosystem and disturbs sacred burial grounds. Upon my return, I wrote a blog and shot a video, which I encourage you to read and watch.

I won’t go into a ton of detail for you here, because the blog and video do that. Suffice to say that the Indigenous People of Nevada need our attention and support. Just like Standing Rock with the #NoDAPL struggle, they’re on the frontlines of extractive capitalism, and their homelands are being desecrated without their consent. 

It hasn’t yet reached the same extremes as the coordinated effort by law enforcement and Big Oil at Standing Rock, but once again, activists on the frontlines are being targeted. My colleague Chuck was among several people hit with Temporary Protective Orders; another was Dorece Sam, a Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone tribal member and Nevada President of the Native American Indian Church. These actions by law enforcement are meant to stifle our ability to exercise First Amendment rights to free speech and protest.

We must not stand down. We should use this moment to grow the movement. It’s time to recognize and reinforce the latest front in the battle to protect Indigenous People, defend sacred lands, and preserve precious, life-giving water.

Wopila tanka — thank you for standing with our Paiute and Shoshone relatives!

Tokata Iron Eyes
Organizer
The Lakota People’s Law Project

June 12, 2023

I remain on the sacred grounds at Peehee Mu’huh, where the resistance to protect Thacker Pass from a massive lithium mine suffered a major blow last week. On Wednesday, police raided the two prayer camps set up by our Paiute and Shoshone relatives, extinguishing the sacred fire lit since May 11 when the grandmother-led action began, destroying the two ceremonial tipi lodges, mishandling and confiscating ceremonial instruments, and arresting an Indigenous land protector. Ox Sam Camp shared a video they captured with us. facebook(dot)com/LakotaPeoplesLawProject/videos/1298934087643579/

During breakfast, law enforcement arrived. Almost immediately and without warning, a young Diné (Navajo) water protector was singled out by Lithium Nevada security and arrested. Even as two non-Natives were allowed to “move” in order to avoid arrest, the Diné woman was quickly handcuffed and subsequently loaded into a sheriff’s SUV for transport to Winnemucca for processing. 

While on the highway, she says – again without warning or explanation – she was transferred into a windowless, pitch-black holding box in the back of a pickup truck. “I was really scared for my life,” she told Ox Sam Camp. “I didn’t know where I was or where I was going. I know that [the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women] is a real thing, and I didn’t want to be the next one.” She was eventually transported to Humboldt County Jail, where she was charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest, then released on bail. Again, I urge you to watch the video. Resisting arrest? I don’t think so.

Just hours before the raid, Ox Sam camp’s water protectors bravely stood in the way of large excavation equipment, shutting down construction at the base of Sentinel Rock for the second time that week. To many Paiute and Shoshone People, Sentinel Rock is a “center of the universe.” It’s been a site to gather traditional medicines, tools, and food supply for thousands of years, integral to many Nevada tribes’ way of life.

On Wednesday, at least five Sheriff’s vehicles, several Lithium Nevada work vehicles, and two security trucks arrived at the original tipi site containing the ceremonial fire. After the arrest and once the main camp was secured, law enforcement moved to dismantle the tipi site at Sentinel Rock, a mile away. There is a proper way to take down a tipi and ceremonial camp, and then there’s the way Humboldt County Sheriffs proceeded on behalf of Lithium Nevada Corporation. They knocked down tipis, snapped tipi poles, and rummaged through, mishandled, and impounded ceremonial objects and instruments. They approached and secured tents in classic SWAT-raid fashion. 

As we mentioned to you previously, Peehee Mu-huh is the site of two massacres of Paiute and Shoshone people. The remains of the massacred ancestors have remained unidentified and unburied since 1865. They are now being bulldozed and crushed by Lithium Nevada without consent or permission from the area’s Indigenous Peoples.

It’s clear that Lithium Nevada and law enforcement are now doing all they can to stifle this resistance before it can grow. Our videographer, Chuck, was one of several people served with restraining orders over the past several weeks, and we’re hearing threats of further legal action designed to stop continued media coverage of the events now unfolding. Ox Sam Camp has put out a call for legal defense assistance. If you can help, contact them through their website. And please stay tuned for further developments and potential action opportunities.

Wopila tanka – thank you for standing with water and land protectors!

Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director and Lead Counsel
The Lakota People’s Law Project

Lakota People’s Law Project
547 South 7th Street #149
Bismarck, ND 58504-5859

The Lakota People’s Law Project is part of the Romero Institute, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) law and policy center. All donations are tax-deductible.

https://lakotalaw.org/

Russian Foreign Ministry: No sign that U.S. is committed to arms control

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From Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question in connection with the remarks by National Security Adviser to the President of the United States Jake Sullivan

June 3, 2023

Question: What can you say about Jake Sullivan’s remarks at the Arms Control Association on June 2 which stirred heightened interest among the Western media?

Maria Zakharova: We believe this kind of frenzied media response is not entirely justified. We note that, in fact, these remarks do not contain anything fundamentally new that would respond to Russia’s concerns or take our positions into account. What we heard were the same old calls for Russia to immediately resume interaction with the United States in the field of arms control, including, in particular, the drafting of a new agreement to replace the START Treaty which expires in 2026 and do so, of course, on American terms.

Even though Mr Sullivan tried to present these calls in more brightly coloured wrapping paper and even outlined some “bonuses” which, apparently, were supposed to make them more appealing to Russia, Washington continues to stubbornly ignore the reasons that have led to the ongoing crisis in that area. The US officials continue to act as if this crisis has nothing to do with the openly hostile American policy towards Russia, which eventually took the form of an all-out hybrid war against our country.

We have seen no sign that, in the name of Washington’s declared commitment to arms control, the United States is ready to drop the goal of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on us and actually removing Russia from the international scene as a sovereign and full-fledged political player.

Disconnecting practical aspects of arms control from the general political context, as Jake Sullivan suggested, is not an option. No one should have any illusions in that regard. There is no need to cite the Cold War experience. We have experienced many other phases and learned a lot since then, so we will not fall for it and repeat previous mistakes.

If the United States and its anti-Russian coalition allies are truly interested in improving the international situation and are willing to return to meaningful work on arms control, they should start with forgoing their irresponsible and reckless attempts to build a world fitting the American patterns at any cost and turn away from the path which could clearly lead to a global disaster.

It is time to finally understand that the era of undisputable US dominance is over and that there is no return to it. The goal at hand is to have a clear grasp of the new realities and to begin to build the foundations for a more just, balanced and stress-resistant international system based on genuine equality, inclusiveness and, most importantly, indivisible security, and also on taking into account the interests and concerns of all countries without exception.

There’s no doubt that arms control and strategic risk reduction mechanisms, which would form the necessary safety net for such a system, could become a crucial element of it. Russia has never said no to political or diplomatic methods of ensuring security. They may take various forms and be implemented in various formats. However, we know from experience that these methods can be effective and viable only if all parties are genuinely committed to equal and constructive cooperation and honour the existing agreements without trying to cheat or repackage them to suit their needs.

Otherwise, even the most beautiful plans tend to hang in mid-air and, as the classic said, “lose the name of action” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet). Unfortunately, we do not see such commitment on the part of our American colleagues.

https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1873993/

Minsk agreements allowed me to arm Ukraine – Poroshenko

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From RT
6-6-23

Pyotr Poroshenko has said he turned to NATO to prepare for war instead of implementing the peace roadmap

Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has boasted about his role in rebuilding his country’s military under the cover of the Minsk agreements. The documents were ostensibly intended to reconcile Kiev with eastern regions that had not endorsed the 2014 Western-backed coup.

“Do you know how many battalions I had north of Kiev when I became president? Zero. What about the state budget? Below zero. What about working tanks? A pittance,” the former leader said, describing the state of Ukraine nine years ago in an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper published on Monday.

Poroshenko took office in June 2014, as the post-coup Ukrainian government was attempting to quash a rebellion in Donetsk and Lugansk Regions with military force. The two Minsk agreements were adopted with Poroshenko at the helm. They were supposed to de-escalate the conflict and reintegrate the regions into Ukrainian political systems under wide autonomy, but Kiev stonewalled their implementation.

Instead, Poroshenko told the newspaper that his government had opted for a military buildup with the help of foreign sponsors.

“Immediately after the signing, I invited NATO instructors, bought weapons and vehicles. During my presidency we built an army,” he declared.

The former president insisted that this had allowed Ukraine to prepare for the current confrontation with Russia. Moscow cited Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk accords, its continued attacks on Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as NATO’s encroachment into Ukraine as key reasons for the launch of its military operation in February 2022.

Russian officials have claimed that the Minsk agreements, which were mediated by France and Germany, were negotiated in bad faith. Former French President Francois Hollande and ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel have since confirmed that the deals were intended to buy time for Kiev.

Poroshenko suffered a landslide defeat to Vladimir Zelensky, the current president, in the 2019 election. The comedian-turned-politician promised to reverse his predecessor’s bellicose policies and reconcile with Donbass. However, Zelensky performed a U-turn after coming to power, as extremist nationalist forces objected to any attempts to negotiate.

In the interview, Poroshenko endorsed the opinion of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who argued last week that Minsk and Moscow should have “resolved” the Ukrainian situation in 2014-2015, instead of pursuing diplomacy. Poroshenko implied that his government would have been toppled in that scenario.

https://www.rt.com/russia/577553-poroshenko-minsk-accords-nato/

Ukraine blew up Kakhovka dam as revenge for failed offensive – Kremlin

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From RT
6-6-23

The act of sabotage may lead to “very serious consequences,” Dmitry Peskov has warned

Ukrainian forces sabotaged the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in Russia’s Kherson Region in a bid to deprive Crimea of drinking water and distract from Kiev’s faltering counteroffensive, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed on Tuesday.

The dam was partially destroyed early on Tuesday morning, sending torrents of water downstream and flooding towns and villages along the path of the Dnieper River. 

“We are talking about a deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side,” Peskov told reporters. “This sabotage could potentially lead to very serious consequences for several tens of thousands of inhabitants of the region, environmental consequences and consequences of a different nature, which have yet to be established.”

Peskov claimed that one of the key goals of the attack was to deprive Crimea of water. Crimea’s 2 million residents largely receive their water from the North Crimean Canal, which is fed from the reservoir above the Kakhovka dam.

“This sabotage is also connected with the fact that, having launched large-scale offensive operations two days ago, the Ukrainian armed forces are not achieving their goals,” Peskov continued. Russia’s Defense Ministry has said it repelled several large-scale attacks in the southern sector of the front in recent days. These “offensive actions are choking,” Peskov stated.

Ukrainian officials and their European backers have accused Russia of blowing up the dam, with European Council President Charles Michel calling the attack “a war crime.” Moscow “strongly rejects” the accusation, Peskov said.

While the flooding now makes it difficult for Ukrainian forces to cross the Dnieper and attack Russia’s defensive lines, the destruction of the dam also appears to aid a number of Ukraine’s key objectives. The flooding mostly threatens the eastern bank of the river, where Russian troops withdrew to last year amid concerns that the Ukrainian military would blow up the dam. 

With the dam destroyed, the level of the Dnieper has fallen further upstream, including at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Ukrainian troops made several attempts to cross the river to recapture the plant from Russian forces last year, and lowering the water level would remove a major obstacle to future attempts. Additionally, the Soviet-era plant depends on water from the Dnieper to cool its reactors and its spent fuel rods. 

The Ukrainian military conducted a test strike on the dam using an American-supplied HIMARS launcher last year, Ukrainian General Andrey Kovalchuk told the Washington Post in December. 

Two months earlier, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, warned the UN Security Council that Kiev’s forces were considering a “reckless” attack on the dam with sea mines or missiles. “The authorities in Kiev and their Western backers will bear full responsibility for all the consequences of such a devastating scenario,” Nebenzia cautioned. 

https://www.rt.com/russia/577573-ukraine-destroyed-kherson-dam/

Also

https://www.rt.com/russia/577548-kakhovskaya-hydroelectric-dam-breach/
https://www.rt.com/russia/577555-city-novaya-kakhovka-flooded-mayor/

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230606/fact-check-who-attacked-novaya-kakhovka-dam-1110946820.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230606/scott-ritter-kakhovka-dam-attack-designed-to-cure-wests-ukraine-fatigue-1110958667.html

Ukraine sabotages Kakhovka Dam, causing widespread flooding; Kiev ‘offensives’ disrupted

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From Strategic Stability
June 6, 2023

Report # 254. Statement by Russian Defence Minister

1. Sergei Shoigu: Two Ukrainian ‘offensives’ disrupted

On June 6 Russian Defence Minister, Army of General Sergei Shoigu made the following statement (full text translated from Russian)

“Over last three days, the Ukrainian regime launched a long-promised offensive in different areas of the front, concentrating large quantities of hardware and manpower for this purpose.

On 4 June 2023, the 23rd and 31st Mechanised Brigades of the AFU attempted an offensive in five directions.

The enemy did not succeed in any of them and suffered significant losses: 300 servicemen, 16 tanks, 26 armoured fighting vehicles, and 14 motor vehicles.

On 5 June 2023, the Kiev regime attempted an offensive in seven directions with five brigades.

The enemy was stopped and suffered even greater losses: more than 1,600 troops, 28 tanks, including 8 Leopard tanks and 3 AMX-10 wheeled tanks, 136 other military vehicles, including 79 foreign-manufactured ones.

The attempted offensive was thwarted, the enemy was stopped, and Russian troops showed courage and heroism in the fighting.

I repeat that the enemy failed to achieve its goals, and suffered considerable and incomparable losses.

The units of the 433rd Motorised Rifle Regiment of the 127th Motorised Rifle Division, the 37th and 60th Motorised Rifle Brigades distinguished themselves in battles, displaying persistence and fortitude. The 3rd Company of the 37th Motorised Rifle Brigade under the command of Junior Lieutenant Yury Zhelanov and the commander of the 1st Battalion of the same brigade Major Vladimir Polozhentsev displayed special heroism.

The divisions, having appeared on a direction of the main attack, steadfastly defended the occupied positions and have caused considerable losses to superior forces of the enemy’s 37th Marine Infantry Brigade. Under the threat of being surrounded, Junior Lieutenant Zhelanov, being wounded, led his company to previously equipped defensive positions, where he successfully stopped the advancing enemy units.

The skilful actions of our Operational-Tactical, Ground-Attack and Army aviation should be especially noted. They employed 50 anti-tank guided missiles. As a result, 5 tanks and 29 other armoured fighting vehicles were destroyed.

All in all during 3 days of fighting in all directions, the losses of the AFU amounted to 3,715 troops, 52 tanks, 207 armoured fighting vehicles, 134 motor vehicles, 5 aircraft, 2 helicopters, 48 pieces of field artillery, and 53 UAVs.”

Unfortunately, we have some losses too. A total of 71 servicemen died and 210 were wounded in repelling the enemy offensive by the combined group of forces. Fifteen tanks, 9 infantry fighting vehicles, 2 motor vehicles, and 9 guns were hit.

Tonight, the Kiev regime committed another terrorist crime: the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station facilities were blown up, flooding a large area. The purpose of these actions is reportedly as follows.

Having failed to succeed in the offensive operations, the enemy intends to redeploy the units and hardware from Kherson direction to its offensive area in order to strengthen its potential, significantly weakening its position in Kherson direction. The enemy has begun building defensive positions on the right bank of the Dnepr River, which indicates the intention to turn to defence there.

In order to prevent Russia’s offensive actions in this section of the front, the Kiev regime has carried out a sabotage, essentially a terrorist act, which has resulted in the flooding of significant areas and will have serious and long-lasting environmental consequences.

In addition, the release of water from the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, according to available data, has been significantly increased, leading to even greater flooding of areas. Fact proves that the large-scale diversion was planned in advance by the Kiev regime.”

2. It is a deliberate Ukrainian sabotage

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov claimed that the incident “was caused by a deliberate Ukrainian sabotage,” warning of “dire ramifications” for tens of thousands of local residents and the ecosystem.

City of Novaya Kakhovka flooded after dam destruction – its mayor said. He noted that the sabotage was aimed at cutting the water supply to the Russian Crimea peninsula, adding that the strikes appeared to have been linked to the recent large-scale Ukrainian attacks on the Donbass front, which were thwarted by Russian defenses.

Note: The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station was built in 1951-1956. It has the 30-meter tall and 3.2-kilometer-long hydroelectric dam that contains some 18 cubic kilometers of water. Its main door was destroyed by a direct AFU fire (preliminary by the U.S.HIMARS MLRS). The water level downstream went up by nearly 11 meters. The critical level is 12.5 meters. 14 populated centers with 22,000 citizens have been flooded as the result of such ecological disaster intentionally arranged by aggressive Kiev regime still supported by NATO and the EU.

A STRAIGHT-FORWARD QUESTION:

HOW LONG NATO AND THE EU WILL BACK THAT CLOWN IN SHABBY DRESS BEGGING FOR MORE AND MORE WEAPONS TO INTIMIDATE AND TORTURE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE?

Annex

The area before the dam was destroyed by Kiev

And after ….

Moscow’s basic terms for a peace deal with Kiev; Ukraine continues attacks on Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant

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From Startegic Stability
May 28, 2023

1. Russia outlined conditions for a peace accord

The Ukraine conflict could be settled if Kiev were to re-commit to its neutral status, recognize “new territorial realities,” and declare Russian as a state language, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview released on May 28. He is convinced that a peace settlement will be possible only if the Ukrainian Armed Forces cease aggression against Russia, and Western weapons shipments to Kiev are stopped completely.

Galuzin added that to achieve a durable peace, Kiev must return to a non-aligned status and refuse to join NATO, recognize the “new territorial realities” that emerged after people in Ukraine exercised their right to self-determination in 2014 and 2022.

The diplomat was referring to Crimea and four former Ukrainian regions that overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in public referenda, respectively, in 2014 and 2022.

Deputy Foreign Minister noted that another crucial element of any peace settlement is Kiev’s commitment to respect the rights of the country’s Russian-speaking population and other ethnic minorities. “Russian should be designated as a state language at the legislative level. It is necessary to ensure that basic human rights, including freedom of faith, are observed in Ukraine,” he stressed.

On May 28, Mikhail Podoliak, an aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, dismissed Moscow’s conditions, issuing Kiev’s own list of demands. Those include the immediate withdrawal of all Russian troops from territory Kiev claims as its own, the creation of a “buffer zone” on Russian territory, as well as voluntary renunciation of Russian assets seized in other countries in favor of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that while Moscow does not want the Ukraine conflict to be frozen, there are no prerequisites for a peace settlement yet, pointing out that Kiev has prohibited any talks with the current Russian leadership.

2. Russia expects its sanctions to follow against Kiev

Ukraine’s “puppeteers” in London and Washington start begin to concern themselves with mental stability of top officials in Kiev and Russia hopes that sanctions against the Ukrainian leadership will follow over the threats against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview published on May 27.

“I have no doubts that the puppeteers in Washington and London begin to concern themselves with how mentally stable these people are,” the Minister said. “I hope that sanctions will follow against these so-called officials. All statements that it is necessary to kill all Russians, wherever they are – that was said both by [Ukrainian Presidential Office Head Advisor Mikhail] Podolyak and [National Defense and Security Council Secretary Alexey] Danilov – and now personal [threats] against a leader of a sovereign state, the Russian Federation – is the most serious thing.”

Lavrov also stated that Ukraine is a terrorist state, with its authorities “driving themselves into this quality.”

Commenting on the threats against the Russian leadership, Lavrov underscored that a word has been uttered, and the West must bear responsibility for these words.”.

3. Rogov: Kiev is plotting new provocation at ZNPP

Ukraine is plotting a provocation at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to put the blame on Russia and cut short the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, Vladimir Rogov, leader of the We Are Together With Russia movement, told TASS on May 26. “Ukraine is announcing this strike in order to accuse us – and this is obvious, so that IAEA inspectors are not present [at the station] any longer,” he said, commenting of allegation by the Ukrainian defense ministry’s main intelligence directorate that Russia was hatching a provocation at the nuclear facility.

He noted that tensions around the Zaporozhye NPP have been growing in recent time. “Moreover, the rotation of the IAEA experts [at the ZNPP] has been postponed again. Vasilyevka is under shelling all the time: they are using artillery, HIMARS [multiple rocket launchers], and so on. Plus, an attempted terror attack on a journalist from federal mass media in Enerhodar to demonstrate that the situation in the city is too bad to visit it,” Rogov said.

Kiev is drawing attention to this topic, which means that it “is really plotting something,” he said. “Bearing in mind that they have both Grom-2 and Storm Shadow, and other weapons they can use, if the announce that, it is highly likely that they already have a scenario, he added.

Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company, told TASS earlier on Friday that Ukraine had once again derailed the rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) due to take place on May 26 following a postponement. In his words, no date has been appointed as of yet. The ninth team of IAEA experts was to arrive at the ZNPP on May 25. According to Karchaa, Kiev has once again demonstrated the lack of interest in ensuring nuclear security as the Ukrainian authorities are indulging in “shady games, which have no relations to nuclear energy.”

Despite all massive Kiev’s military provocations and artillery shelling of the ZNPP, the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi since February 2022 has not made any critical remarks on continuous Ukrainian nuclear blackmail Involving NPP, prohibited by the international law.

‘Weaponized’ genetically engineered insects? DOD funding $27 million ‘Insect Allies’ project

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Posted by Children’s Health Defense
May25, 2023
Originally posted October 23, 2018
For full article and references
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/weaponized-genetically-engineered-insect-allies-cola/

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, is planning to use insects to deliver genetically engineered viruses to crops, with the aim of altering the plant’s genetic traits in the field.

By Joseph Mercola MD

Story at a glance:

  • Scientists and legal scholars question the rationale for the use of insects to disperse infectious genetically engineered (GE) viruses engineered to edit the chromosomes in plants, warning that the technology could very easily be weaponized.
  • This Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program is the first to propose and fund the development of viral horizontal environmental genetic alteration agents with the capacity to perform genetic engineering in the environment.
  • The $27 million project, called “Insect Allies,” is trying to take advantage of insects’ natural ability to spread crop diseases, but instead of carrying disease, they would spread plant-protective traits.
  • The opinion paper “Agricultural Research, or a New Bioweapon System?” argues that if plant modification were really the ultimate goal, a far simpler and more targeted agricultural delivery system could be used.
  • There are also serious concerns about environmental ramifications, as the insects’ spread cannot be controlled. It would also be impossible to prevent the insects from genetically modifying organic crops.

Genetic engineering is being used in myriad ways these days, despite the fact we know very little about the long-term ramifications of such meddling in the natural order.

For example, DARPA, an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), is now planning to use insects to deliver GE viruses to crops, with the aim of altering the plant’s genetic traits in the field.

The $27 million DARPA project called “Insect Allies” (see video below) is basically trying to take advantage of insects’ natural ability to spread crop diseases, but instead of carrying disease-causing genes, they would carry plant-protective traits.

As explained by The Washington Post:

“Recent advances in gene editing, including the relatively cheap and simple system known as CRISPR (for clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats), could potentially allow researchers to customize viruses to achieve a specific goal in the infected plant.

“The engineered virus could switch on or off certain genes that, for example, control a plant’s growth rate, which could be useful during an unexpected, severe drought.”

youtu(dot)be/T6ENYFliwUI

‘Insect Allies’ project raises concerns about bioterror use

However, scientists and legal scholars question the rationale for the use of insects to disperse infectious GE viruses engineered to edit the chromosomes in plants, warning that the technology could very easily be weaponized.

The opinion paper “Agricultural Research, or a New Bioweapon System?” published on Oct. 4, 2018, in the journal Science questions DARPA’s Insect Allies project, saying it could be perceived as a threat by the international community, and that if plant modification were really the ultimate goal, a far simpler agricultural delivery system could be used.

Jason Delborne, associate professor at North Carolina State University, has expertise in GE and its consequences.

He told Gizmodo:

“The social, ethical, political, and ecological implications of producing HEGAAs [horizontal environmental genetic alteration agents] are significant and worthy of the same level of attention as exploring the science underpinning the potential technology.

“The authors argue persuasively that specifying insects as the preferred delivery mechanism for HEGAAs is poorly justified by visions of agricultural applications.

“The infrastructure and expertise required for spraying agricultural fields — at least in the U.S. context — is well established, and this delivery mechanism would offer greater control over the potential spread of a HEGAA.”

The team has also created a website to accompany the paper, the stated aim of which is “to contribute toward fostering an informed and public debate about this type of technology.”

On this site, you can also find a link to download the 38-page DARPA work plan. DARPA, meanwhile, insists the project’s goal is strictly to protect the U.S. food supply.

A DARPA spokesperson told The Independent:

“[S]prayed treatments are impractical for introducing protective traits on a large scale and potentially infeasible if the spraying technology cannot access the necessary plant tissues with specificity, which is a known problem.

“If Insect Allies succeeds, it will offer a highly specific, efficient, safe, and readily deployed means of introducing transient protective traits into only the plants intended, with minimal infrastructure required.”

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are also participating in the research, which is currently restricted to contained laboratories. Still, many are unconvinced by DARPA’s claims of peaceful aims.

The release of such insects could “play into longstanding fears among countries that enemies might try to harm their crops,” says Dr. David Relman, a former White House biodefense adviser and professor of medicine and microbiology at Stanford.

According to The Associated Press (AP):

“Guy Reeves, a co-author of the Science paper and a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany, says the technology is more feasible as a weapon — to kill plants — than as an agricultural tool. As a result, he said DARPA could be sending an alarming message regardless of its intentions.”

Unforeseen ramifications abound

Others are concerned about environmental ramifications, regardless of whether the genetic traits being delivered to the plants are perceived as beneficial or harmful.

According to DARPA, none of the insects would be able to survive for more than two weeks, but what if such guarantees fail? What if nature finds a way? If so, the insects’ spread could be near-unlimited.

Gregory Kaebnick, an ethicist at the Hastings Center bioethics research institute in Garrison, New York, told the AP he’s concerned the project may end up causing unforeseen environmental destruction, as insects will be virtually impossible to eradicate once released. If it turns out the genetic modification traits they carry are harmful, there will be no going back.

Yet others, such as Fred Gould, an entomologist at North Carolina State University who chaired a National Academy of Sciences panel on genetically modified food, believe the project’s stated goal of altering genetic traits of plants via insects is near-impossible in the first place.

However, while the research is still in its initial phase, they already have proof of concept. In one test, an aphid infected a mature corn plant with a GE virus carrying a gene for fluorescence, creating a fluorescent corn plant.

Open scientific debate is needed

Reeves questions why there’s been virtually no open scientific debate about the technology.

According to Reeves, who is an expert on GE insects, the Insect Allies project is “largely unknown even in expert circles,” which in and of itself raises a red flag about its true intent.

He told The Independent, “It is very much easier to kill or sterilize a plant using gene editing than it is to make it herbicide- or insect-resistant.”

Felix Beck, a lawyer at the University of Freiburg, added:

“The quite obvious question of whether the viruses selected for development should or should not be capable of plant-to-plant transmission — and plant-to-insect-to-plant transmission — was not addressed in the DARPA work plan at all.”

How horizontal environmental genetic alteration agents work

As explained in the featured paper, the technology DARPA is using is known as horizontal environmental genetic alteration agents or HEGAAs.

Essentially, HEGAAs are GE viruses capable of editing the chromosomes of a target species, be it a plant or an animal.

The specificity of HEGAAs is dependent on:

  • The range of species the GE virus can infect
  • The presence of a specific DNA sequence in the chromosome that can then become infected

The image below illustrates how an insect-dispersed viral HEGAA would disrupt a specific plant gene.

As noted on the team’s website:

“Interest in genetically modified viruses, including HEGAAs, largely stems from their rapid speed of action, as infections can sweep quickly through target populations. This same property is also a serious safety concern, in that it makes it hard to predict where viruses geographically disperse to or what species they eventually infect.

“Probably due to the complex regulatory, biological, economic, and societal implications that need to be considered little progress has been made on how genetically modified viruses should be regulated when the intention is to disperse them in the environment.

“It is in this context that DARPA presented its Insect Allies work program in November 2016.”

…

DARPA technology may violate biological weapons convention

According to DARPA, the technology does not violate the United Nations (UN) Biological Weapons Convention.

However, according to the Science paper, it could be in breach of the UN’s convention if the research is unjustifiable.

Silja Voeneky, a specialist in international law at Freiburg University, told The Independent:

“Because of the broad ban of the Biological Weapons Convention, any biological research of concern must be plausibly justified as serving peaceful purposes.

“The Insect Allies Program could be seen to violate the Biological Weapons Convention, if the motivations presented by DARPA are not plausible.

“This is particularly true considering this kind of technology could easily be used for biological warfare.”

The Science team also calls for greater transparency from DARPA in order to discourage other countries from following suit and developing similar delivery technologies as a defensive measure.

…

Should we use technology that can eradicate entire species?

In a 2016 report, the Institute of Science in Society discussed the creation of transgenic mosquitoes, carrying genes against a malarial pathogen.

Using CRISPR/Cas9, a gene drive was created that makes virtually all progeny of the male transgenic mosquito carriers of this antimalaria gene.

However, the transgene was found to be unstable in female mosquitoes, and key safety issues were also raised, including:

  • To what extent might crossbreeding or horizontal gene transfer allow a drive to move beyond target populations?
  • For how long might horizontal gene transfer allow a drive to move beyond target populations?
  • Is it possible for a gene drive to evolve to regain drive capabilities in a nontarget population?

According to the Institute of Science in Society, answering these questions is “crucial in the light of the instability of the gene drive in transgenic female mosquitoes.”

As noted in the report:

“When these females bite animals including humans, there is indeed the possibility of horizontal gene transfer of parts, or the entire gene-drive construct, with potentially serious effects on animal and human health.

“Cas9 nuclease could insert randomly or otherwise into the host genome, causing insertion mutagenesis that could trigger cancer or activate dominant viruses. …

“Finally, the ecological risks of gene drives are enormous … As the gene drive can in principle lead to the extinction of a species, this could involve the species in its native habitat as well as where it is considered invasive. As distinct from conventional biological control, which can be applied locally, there is no way to control gene flow. …

“Because the CRISPR/Cas gene drive remains fully functional in the mutated strain after it is created, the chance of off-target mutations also remain and the likelihood increases with every generation.

“‘If there is any risk of gene flow between the target species and other species, then there is also a risk that the modified sequence could be transferred and the adverse trait manifested in nontarget organisms.’ (This commentary has not even begun to consider horizontal gene flow, which would multiply the risks manyfold.)”

DARPA brushes off concerns

James Stack, a plant pathologist at Kansas State University and a member of the advisory panel of DARPA’s Insect Allies project, believes the concerns raised in the Science paper are unfounded.

He told The Washington Post:

“I don’t understand the level of concern raised in this paper, and to jump ahead and accuse DARPA of using this as a screen to develop biological weapons is outrageous.

“There’s risk inherent in life and you just have to manage it well. And I think as we move into a more crowded planet it’s going to put increasing demands on our food systems, our water systems. We’re going to need all the tools in the tool box that we possibly have.”

Unfortunately, recent history demonstrates we’ve not been very capable of managing these kinds of man-made risks very well at all.

Just look at Roundup-resistant genetically modified food, for example, or electromagnetic field radiation from cellphones and wireless technologies, both of which have been shown to cause significant health and environmental problems since their inception.

There’s virtually no evidence to suggest mankind is very good at predicting the potential outcomes of our technological advancements, so unleashing gene-altering technologies that cannot be recalled or reversed seems foolish in the extreme.

As mentioned, the Insect Allies project may be particularly detrimental to organic and biodynamic farming, as it would be completely impossible to prevent these gene-altering insect vectors from infecting organic crops.

Originally published by Mercola.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/weaponized-genetically-engineered-insect-allies-cola/

May 26 briefing by Russian MoD on U.S. military-biological activity

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From Strategic Stability

Report # 249
May 27, 2023

POWERPOINT

The Ministry of Defence or MoD of the Russian Federation continues to analyze the military and biological activities of the U.S. and its allies in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world. On May 26, 2023 it released its updated report. Here is its abridged option.

Consequences for Russia

Moscow has noted the increase of bird flu cases in Russia and European countries, where, according to the International Office of Epizootics, the disease has become a year-round with losses exceeding €3 billion since 2021.

Since the beginning of 2023, there have been 32 outbreaks of Avian influenza recorded in Russia in all federal districts. In the last week in May 2023 alone, the disease was detected in poultry farms in the Kirov and Yaroslavl Regions. Quarantine measures for highly pathogenic Avian influenza have been imposed in Moscow since 17 May 2023.

At the same time, the total damage to the agricultural sector caused by the disease in the last three years has exceeded 4.5 billion Roubles, and more than 10 million poultry have been eliminated.

Consequences for Ukraine

The MoD noted earlier that during the Special Military Operation, documentary evidence was obtained confirming that employees of the Biosphere Reserve in Askania Nova, Kherson Region, Ukraine, were studying the migration routes of migratory birds and selecting and transferring biological material abroad.

The task force of the Russian Ministry of Defence together with officers of the Federal Security Service and Rosselkhoznadzor [Russian Agriculture Monitoring Agency] have confirmed the collection and certification of Avian influenza virus strains with a high potential for epidemic spread and the ability to cross the species barrier, particularly the H5N8 strain, whose lethality in human transmission can reach 40%. Compare: 1% of new coronavirus infections resulted in death.

Despite efforts by the Ukrainian staff to destroy the biomaterials in the U.S.-Ukrainian biolabs by cutting off the power to the refrigeration units and destroying the cryopreservoir with liquid nitrogen, specialists from the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian MoD found traces of genetic material of highly pathogenic Avian influenza, Newcastle disease virus, and Avuloviruses even in the samples that had undergone decomposition. According to the employees who remained in the these labs, the Ukrainian side offered them a large cash reward for removing or destroying the research results.

Documents seized in the Reserve’s veterinary laboratory confirm the involvement of the Kharkov Institute of Veterinary Medicine in the work of the American UP-8 and P-444 Projects and preparations for the Flu-Fly-Way project. Their goal was to evaluate the circumstances in which the transmission of diseases associated with economically significant infections may become uncontrollable, result in economic harm, and constitute a threat to food security.

African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, which pose a serious threat to food security, have never been recorded in the USA, despite the fact that the U.S. has seen Avian influenza epizootics since 2003. At the same time, the U.S. military is actively studying these economically significant infections outside the national territory in bio-laboratories located along the borders of its geopolitical adversaries.

This demonstrates once more that the U.S. has been creating biological weapons components abroad, notably in Ukraine.

Documents obtained during the Special Military Operation show that for several years the Kharkov Institute of Veterinary Medicine Institute has been involved in training Ukrainian personnel as part of the Biological Threat Reduction Program. Robert Lipnik, head of the Epidemiology Department, and his subordinates were involved in the training of Ukrainian specialists. Representatives of the institute supervised military and biological projects UP-1 and UP-2, organized by DTRA, during which active collection of biomaterials of Ukrainian population was carried out. In the UP-1 project alone, more than 800 blood samples were collected under the pretext of studying the spread of tick-borne infections.

According to the documents possessed by Russia, the Walter Reed Institute was actively involved in the 2014-2020 Ukrainian aggression in Donbass in studying the antibiotic resistance of microbes isolated from military troops of the AFU.

As part of this project, 813 microorganisms obtained from 162 patients were studied in four Ukrainian military hospitals located in different parts of the country and full-genome sequencing of 52 isolates was carried out. It is understandable to wonder why the U.S. Army Institute would research the antibiotic resistance of microbes found in Donbass. This provides more proof that the U.S. considered Ukraine’s territory to be a base for the entry of NATO military forces.

Consequences for Italy

In December 2019, for example, the relocation of the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit Three (NAMRU-3) from Cairo to Sicily’s Sigonella Air Base, Italy, has provoked an extremely negative reaction from Italian citizens.

According to the Italian media, the U.S. used the pandemic to divert public attention from the fact that the biolaboratory had been relocated.

As L’Antidiplomatico notes, that ‘it is highly suspicious that the opportunity to spread the word about this laboratory was not taken, if on paper its purpose is to study health threats’.

From all European countries it was Italy that was most seriously affected by the COVID-19 virus, and the Russian MoD, at the request of the Italian authorities, promptly provided assistance to the Italian people at the height of the epidemic. However, not a single source mentions the activities of NAMRU-3 to protect Italian citizens, although the level of equipment of the facility allowed and allows for the full range of research with the new coronavirus agent. Clearly, the redeployment of NAMRU-3 under the pretext of providing assistance was not intended to protect Italians, and the role of the biolab in the spread of COVID-19 has yet to be assessed. No wonder that the decision by the Pesaro city authorities to construct a national biolaboratory sparked a wave of local protests and widespread pleas to state authorities given the deployment of a U.S. military biological facility in Italy.

U.S. military bioactivity in Asia

The number of biolaboratories in the United States with the highest possible BSL-3-plus and BSL-4 containment levels has increased significantly over the past few years. According to a report by King’s College based in London, there are 25 active laboratories in the US and three under construction where research on highly dangerous viruses and bacteria is being conducted.

According to a report by King’s College based in London, 18 additional BSL-4 laboratories will be opened in the upcoming years, the most of which will be situated in Asian nations outside the legal jurisdiction of the USA.

There are concerns that these facilities will pose serious risks: they are located in densely populated areas, save on protective equipment, and lack effective biosafety regulations in the countries where they are based.

Work is scheduled to collect and genotype samples of the pathogens of three extremely hazardous illnesses indigenous to these regions—plague, anthrax, and tularaemia – under the cover of doing completely peaceful tasks in the states of Central Asia and Transcaucasia.

Multifaceted U.S. violations

In the post-Soviet region, the U.S. has already stepped up its military-biological activities. Pentagon contractors and civilian intermediates like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Gryphon Scientific research company have taken the position of the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Pentagon contractors.

The long-term planning document like the new U.S. DoD Biomanufacturing Strategy approved on 23 March 2023 was developed specifically by the US military department. The document defines the development of biotechnology and the search for its military applications. The claimed goal is to ensure technological sovereignty in the field of bioproduction and to outpace strategic rivals.

The amount of funding for activities within the framework of the approved strategic documents for the next five years will be about $90 billion. In addition, the U.S. intends to strengthen global control of the biological situation in the world and reserves the right to conduct ‘dual-use’ research, including outside the national territory.

It should be noted that the U.S. has never clearly stated its commitment to the safety of research carried out in biolaboratories under its control.

This is supported by a review of US National Institutes of Health documents that relate to safety violations. In the course of an investigation conducted by the Intersept independent company, more than five and a half thousand pages of incident reports were studied. It concluded that research carried out at universities in Washington, Minnesota, and Illinois led to in-lab contamination and created the risk of further spread of dangerous pathogens.

These statistics do not take into account incidents at military-biological facilities, a key one being the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. However, the Institute has repeatedly been the subject of investigations by U.S. federal agencies because of its non-transparent and unsafe activities. In 2019, federal regulatory agencies banned work on dangerous pathogens at Fort Detrick due to poor efficacy of effluent disinfection systems and numerous safety violations, which took almost a year to fix.

According to an official statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, it was during this period that localized outbreaks of pneumonia of unknown origin were reported in several areas of the U.S.

Systematic breaches of security requirements at U.S. biolabs have raised justifiable concerns in the global community.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported on the Pentagon’s establishment of the Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS). Equipping bioweapons facilities on the territory of other countries with such systems provides the U.S. with an opportunity not only to ensure the security of its military contingents at their deployment sites, but also to remotely monitor the activities of biolaboratories outside national jurisdictions.

The surveillance system includes U.S. Army and Navy laboratories as well as verification points located at U.S. military bases in different regions of the world.

One of the areas of strategic development is the improvement of individual and group biosecurity methods for U.S. military personnel in different theatres of war. The goal is also to continue the study of area-endemic pathogens of particularly dangerous infectious diseases.

The Russian MoD shall keep tracking the operations of the agencies subordinate to the U.S. DoD that are involved in creating bioweapons in violation of the international BWC.