Ukraine invasion by Russia Discussion and it's impact on Singapore and Asia? (compiled)

[Guest LOL]

3 hours ago, 7heaven said:

The US debt ceiling has everything got to do with the Ukraine war. If US debt ceiling is breached, Biden can longer afford to send US taxpayers monies to provide aid to Ukraine. 
 

Most are aware of this. It’s not difficult to understand. 
 

It is curious there is suddenly a guest appearing here after Steve got banned last week.  All of us can draw our own conclusions. Lol. 

how is it curious? Steve is posting as Guest Steve, singalion is posting as himself and I - another person - am posting as guest LOL because of how hilarious your posts and comments are, including that you keep posting as a guest. 
 

it’s pretty simple except maybe for the feeble minded.  

[7heaven]

2 hours ago, Guest LOL said:

how is it curious? Steve is posting as Guest Steve, singalion is posting as himself and I - another person - am posting as guest LOL because of how hilarious your posts and comments are, including that you keep posting as a guest. 
 

it’s pretty simple except maybe for the feeble minded.  

How is it not curious? 
 

There is suddenly a guest posting making similar posts as singalion in questioning the relevance of my posts about Biden‘s lack of plans to resolve the Ukraine-Russia war and also concluding that I am posting as a guest. This guest only appeared in last few days. Lol. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by 7heaven
Curious

[Guest Steve]

3 hours ago, Guest LOL said:

how is it curious? Steve is posting as Guest Steve, singalion is posting as himself and I - another person - am posting as guest LOL because of how hilarious your posts and comments are, including that you keep posting as a guest. 
 

it’s pretty simple except maybe for the feeble minded.  

 

I agree with you that being so hilarious,  7heaven's post are a strong temptation for individuals with sense of humor to post here as guests.    I keep hoping that @singalion will take off his serious mask and start taking @7heaven with humor, trading his long posts with facts that we all know with some observations of 7heaven's posting that make us laugh.

[singalion]

7humour is alluding here that I am the same as that Guest LOL.

 

But I am not.

 

I also permit the Moderators at this thread and herewith authorise the Moderators to identify that I am not the same as Guest LOL.

 

The Moderators can also confirm that I never posted in this thread under any Guest account since inception of this thread.

 

I have no issues if the Moderators confirm the above.

 

[singalion]

41 minutes ago, Guest Steve said:

 

I agree with you that being so hilarious,  7heaven's post are a strong temptation for individuals with sense of humor to post here as guests.    I keep hoping that @singalion will take off his serious mask and start taking @7heaven with humor, trading his long posts with facts that we all know with some observations of 7heaven's posting that make us laugh.

 

You didn't see my post in the US thread some days back...

 

Probably 7humour is running a health program here and under the employ of the Ministry of Health to make us laugh.

 

As confirmed by science, laughing is healthy.

 

But being honest, while I often laugh at his silly dumb posts, most of the time I feel much pity for 7heaven that he needs to resort to posting such nonsensical dumb content. His exposure to end up being totally embarrassed and the laughing stock of BW on a daily basis is surely something nobody intends to achieve...

 

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by singalion

[Guest Guest]

1 hour ago, singalion said:

 

I also permit the Moderators at this thread and herewith authorise the Moderators to identify that I am not the same as Guest LOL.

 

You "permit" and "authorize" the MODERATORS to do things which they already have the rights to do? Wow! The balls you have on you! Have they grown so big because they got cancerous, just like how you are a foreign cancer cell in a host body, growing more and more malignant each day!

 

My goodness! That's how this entire country got overrun by foreign trash like you. Give you an inch, and you want a yard. Give you a yard, and you start climbing over everyone's head and start behaving as if you run the entire place! And you think people will need your permission and authorization before they can do anything? 

 

The fucking balls you have on you! 

[Guest Guest]

5 hours ago, Guest LOL said:

how is it curious? Steve is posting as Guest Steve, singalion is posting as himself and I - another person - am posting as guest LOL because of how hilarious your posts and comments are, including that you keep posting as a guest. 
 

it’s pretty simple except maybe for the feeble minded.  

 

What I find curious is why aren't you using your new member account zeal-something-or-other to post? You already begged for your Nightwhore account to be  terminated and deleted, but you opened up that new account to continue to post. Are you afraid that others will troll your new account for another decade? You do know that we can still go ahead and do that, regardless if your want to post as Guest LOL or not, right? Why are you asking for another decade of that again? Do you need everyone to go dig out how you wanted to satisfy your pedophilic fantasies with your students? Do you need everyone to remember how you want to smell their feet and their armpits? Do you still stay at Kallang area (or maybe something like that)? 

 

You go around bashing Singaporeans and you have been labeled 叛徒走狗卖国贼 over and over again, to the extent that you have an entire band of bashers who hate you to the core, right? You even went around cutting and pasting newspapers articles on this forum everyday, detailing the crimes of Singaporeans in Singapore, calling Singaporeans "local trash", making it seems like Singaporeans are the scums of Earth. 

 

You should know that the internet never forgets. Do you really want everyone to remember all of that again, just because you have this urge to regather again as the Three Musky Queers? Everything had remained peaceful for you after your disappearance as Nightwhore, even though we all know you have a new alternate account and we let you have peace with that. 

 

So I'm curious: after a year of peace, or maybe even two, which we've allowed you to enjoy even under your new account, why are you trying to stir the hornets' nest again to incite more trolling against you? Is it because your backside CB itchy? Haven't had enough of those ten years of trolling? Asking for some more after a couple years of peace? Or maybe you think you 路见不平，拔刀相助，when you yourself is already 自相难保，被刀砍倒?

 

Yes, it's curious. 

[Guest LOL]

4 hours ago, Guest Guest said:

 

What I find curious is why aren't you using your new member account zeal-something-or-other to post? You already begged for your Nightwhore account to be  terminated and deleted, but you opened up that new account to continue to post. Are you afraid that others will troll your new account for another decade? You do know that we can still go ahead and do that, regardless if your want to post as Guest LOL or not, right? Why are you asking for another decade of that again? Do you need everyone to go dig out how you wanted to satisfy your pedophilic fantasies with your students? Do you need everyone to remember how you want to smell their feet and their armpits? Do you still stay at Kallang area (or maybe something like that)? 

 

You go around bashing Singaporeans and you have been labeled 叛徒走狗卖国贼 over and over again, to the extent that you have an entire band of bashers who hate you to the core, right? You even went around cutting and pasting newspapers articles on this forum everyday, detailing the crimes of Singaporeans in Singapore, calling Singaporeans "local trash", making it seems like Singaporeans are the scums of Earth. 

 

You should know that the internet never forgets. Do you really want everyone to remember all of that again, just because you have this urge to regather again as the Three Musky Queers? Everything had remained peaceful for you after your disappearance as Nightwhore, even though we all know you have a new alternate account and we let you have peace with that. 

 

So I'm curious: after a year of peace, or maybe even two, which we've allowed you to enjoy even under your new account, why are you trying to stir the hornets' nest again to incite more trolling against you? Is it because your backside CB itchy? Haven't had enough of those ten years of trolling? Asking for some more after a couple years of peace? Or maybe you think you 路见不平，拔刀相助，when you yourself is already 自相难保，被刀砍倒?

 

Yes, it's curious. 

 

strong IMH vibe here 

[Guest Steve]

On 5/16/2023 at 11:00 PM, singalion said:

 

But being honest, while I often laugh at his silly dumb posts, most of the time I feel much pity for 7heaven that he needs to resort to posting such nonsensical dumb content. His exposure to end up being totally embarrassed and the laughing stock of BW on a daily basis is surely something nobody intends to achieve...

 

 

Why this feeling of  pity?

 

He, together with all of us,  we surely belong to the LUCKIEST BILLION among the 8 billion humans in existence today.  If he gets his kicks out of posting what he does at BW,  this does not rule out that he may have a normal life,  enjoying the modern life style we have available in the 21th century.

[Steve5380]

Zelenskyy is really amazing!  He is now heading to the G7 gathering in Japan to continue his diplomatic mission.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/19/asia/zelensky-ukraine-travel-japan-g7-intl-hnk/index.html

 

If he successfully survives his war of liberation from the Russian invaders,  he will become a national hero,  something like a George Washington of Ukraine!

[singalion]

On 5/18/2023 at 10:41 PM, Guest Steve said:

 

Why this feeling of  pity?

 

He, together with all of us,  we surely belong to the LUCKIEST BILLION among the 8 billion humans in existence today.  If he gets his kicks out of posting what he does at BW,  this does not rule out that he may have a normal life,  enjoying the modern life style we have available in the 21th century.

 

Pity because he needs to resort to posting all these obvious partisan propaganda crap and Far right extremist demagoguery at every corner. 

 

People with a grain of intelligence wouldn't resort to such. 

 

 

[Guest G7 is a joker club]

7 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

If he successfully survives his war of liberation from the Russian invaders,  he will become a national hero,  something like a George Washington of Ukraine!

Not possible.  He will be dead or toppled.  Joe Biden is getting tired of him for asking too much money, as both country presidential election draws near,  the EU is in fatique mode and still struggling with inflation and its economy.  Japan and Korea can never be best buddy.  G7 is irrelevant in the current world.  These country cannot survive without the mighty China economy.  Japan GDP will plunge to 3rd world level without China market.  

[Steve5380]

1 hour ago, Guest G7 is a joker club said:

Not possible.  He will be dead or toppled.  Joe Biden is getting tired of him for asking too much money, as both country presidential election draws near,  the EU is in fatique mode and still struggling with inflation and its economy.  Japan and Korea can never be best buddy.  G7 is irrelevant in the current world.  These country cannot survive without the mighty China economy.  Japan GDP will plunge to 3rd world level without China market.  

 

Hopefully you don't get desperate when you realize that China may be running out of steam.  The "mighty China economy" may not be so stable.   And the damage Ukraine is inflicting on Russia may be only a gain for NATO, including Joe Biden.

.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Steve5380

[Guest G7 is a joker club]

1 hour ago, Steve5380 said:

 

Hopefully you don't get desperate when you realize that China may be running out of steam.  The "mighty China economy" may not be so stable.   And the damage Ukraine is inflicting on Russia may be only a gain for NATO, including Joe Biden.

.

Continue with your fictitious dream.  Unlike you, we are all living in the new world and Joe Biden is shitting in his pants to need help from his disunitied allies to put on G7 "empty show" amounting to nothing.  

[singalion]

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 451 of the invasion

Sat 20 May 2023

 

 

Ukraine said on Friday it had repelled attacks by Russian forces trying to recapture land they had lost around Bakhmut, where Kyiv says it has inflicted heavy Russian casualties. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group leading the assault on the devastated eastern Ukrainian city, said in a Telegram message that “heavy, bloody battles” were continuing and claimed his men were close to completing the capture of Bakhmut itself.

 

The G7 group of nations has urged Russia to stop its objection to the renewal of the Black Sea grain deal and told it to halt “threatening global food supplies”.

 

• Australia has imposed a new set of sanctions and an export ban on Russia. The sanctions will target 21 entities and three individuals, with entities including the major Russian oil company Rosneft, gold company Polyus PJSC, steel company Severstal PJSC and five banks.

• The Russian government has put the British prosecutor of the international criminal court, Karim Khan, on a wanted list in an act of retribution after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for allegedly overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children.

• Ukrainian air defence claimed it destroyed 19 drones and missiles out of 28 launched on Friday morning. “Three Kalibr missiles launched from the Black Sea and 16 drones were shot down. Shelling continues on an almost daily basis,” a Ukrainian air force spokesperson, Yuriy Ihnat, told Ukrainian television. Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, posted to Telegram to say five drones had been shot down overnight above his western Ukrainian region.

 

The Pentagon overvalued US equipment it sent to Ukraine by about $3bn, a Senate aide and a defence official said on Thursday, an error that opened up the possibility of more weapons being sent to Kyiv for its defence against Russian forces. The error was the result assigning a higher than warranted value on weaponry that was taken from US stocks and then shipped to Ukraine, two senior defence officials said.

 

 

Moscow pushing to capture Bakhmut so it can claim 'some success' in war, says UK MoD

Russia has very likely redeployed battalions to reinforce Bakhmut and sees capturing the city as key so it can “claim some degree of success” in the war, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.

In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said Russia’s redeployment of “up to several battalions” in the area over the past four days followed Ukrainian tactical gains on the flanks of the largely destroyed city and publicly aired doubts about the commitment of Wagner Group forces to continue fighting there.

The update, posted on Twitter, said:

 

With Russia likely maintaining relatively few uncommitted combat units in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a notable commitment by the Russian command.

Russia’s leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict.

 

Ukraine repels 'massive' drone attack on Kyiv, says military

Kyiv’s air defences successfully repelled a new Russian drone attack overnight but falling debris caused some damage in the Ukrainian capital, the military said on Saturday.

Agence France-Presse reports that the head of Kyiv’s civil and military administration, Serhiy Popko, said in an update on Telegram:

 

This night, the aggressor again carried out a massive drone attack. All detected air targets were destroyed by the forces and means of our air defence. No strikes on Kyiv were performed!

Falling debris caused a fire in a residential building in Darnytskyi district but it was extinguished without casualties, he said.

 

Debris also caused some damage in three other districts, he said, but there was no immediate report of casualties.

Popko said it was the 11th air attack on Kyiv since the start of May.

At 12.45am on Saturday local time, the Ukrainian army said drones were heading towards the Kyiv region.

Explosions were reported there by authorities and also in the city of Chernihiv, north-east of Kyiv. The exiled council of Russian-occupied Mariupol also reported explosions in the city on the Sea of Azov.

Air defence systems were active in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, according to the Ukrainian military.

 

 

 

[Steve5380]

10 hours ago, Guest G7 is a joker club said:

Continue with your fictitious dream.  Unlike you, we are all living in the new world and Joe Biden is shitting in his pants to need help from his disunitied allies to put on G7 "empty show" amounting to nothing.  

 

Yes, Guest is a joker, you ARE a joker.  You and your other aliases are living in the new world of fantasy created by you specifically to spam and fight in BW.   I give you credit that you yourself don't believe what you write,  ha ha!  

[Guest Light if Showing]

The fact that Zelenskky has to move between countries, over fiy manyr countries, hyjacked leader's meetings and plead for conference meeting with world leaders to prove one point:  UKRAINE IS DEFEATED - militarily, economically and financially. The good news is that these situation will continue to hurt Biden's chances of winning the presidency, and Zelenkky may be killed as his own election day approaches. 

 

Not trying to be cruel,  if the any of the above happened, we might just be seeing light at the end of the tunnel. 

[Steve5380]

23 hours ago, Guest Light if Showing said:

The fact that Zelenskky has to move between countries, over fiy manyr countries, hyjacked leader's meetings and plead for conference meeting with world leaders to prove one point:  UKRAINE IS DEFEATED - militarily, economically and financially. The good news is that these situation will continue to hurt Biden's chances of winning the presidency, and Zelenkky may be killed as his own election day approaches. 

 

Not trying to be cruel,  if the any of the above happened, we might just be seeing light at the end of the tunnel. 

 

You are not being cruel.  You are simply seeing a weird light in a fictional tunnel created in your brain by who knows what hallucinogenic drug!   Please seek treatment.  It is dangerous to be so wrong about reality !!!!!!

[singalion]

 

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 453 of the invasion

Mon 22 May 2023

Bakhmut remains 'epicentre' of combat, Ukraine's armed forces say

Fighting is continuing in Bakhmut, Ukraine’s armed forces have said in their morning update after Russia claimed to have completed the “liberation” of the eastern city over the weekend. Confusion has reigned as Ukrainian officials rejected the claims.

“[In Bakhmut] the enemy continues to lead offensive actions. Fighting for the city of Bakhmut continues,” the armed forces said, adding that over the past day Russian forces had “unsuccessfully tried to recover lost positions south of the [nearby] settlement of Ivanivske”. Russia had also carried out air strikes on Bakhmut.

It has been impossible to verify the conflicting statements over the devastated city, which has assumed symbolic importance as a measure of which side has the resilience to prevail in the war overall.

[Guest Alarm]

21 hours ago, singalion said:

Bakhmut remains 'epicentre' of combat, Ukraine's armed forces say

 

That should give you a red flag what not to believe.

[singalion]

 

 

 

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has started withdrawing its forces from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in a video published on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Prigozhin had repeatedly threatened to withdraw troops from the area before it was taken, citing his dispute with the Russian military and defence establishment over supplies of ammunitions. A couple of days ago Prigozhin sarcastically suggested that his mercenary troops could be replaced by “a battalion of generals”

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/may/25/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-russian-rebels-belgorod-attack-raid-anti-putin-militia-latest-news

 

The Russian private army Wagner lost 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, according to the group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin. He said about 20% of the 50,000 Russian prisoners recruited to fight in the 15-month war had died in the eastern Ukrainian city, and a similar number of its regular troop. The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it has lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979 and 1989.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by singalion

[singalion]

This part is quite bizarre. Could it be a plot by the Russians ?

 

 

• Washington is looking into reports that American vehicles were used by Ukraine inside Russia, the White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday. He said the US has been clear with Kyiv that it does not support any such use of US-made equipment.

• The Kremlin said the use of US-made military hardware by pro-Ukraine fighters who conducted a raid on a Russian border region this week was testament to the West’s growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict. The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked the Russian border region of Belgorod with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.

• In Belgorod, nine people remain in hospital, utility supplies continue to be disrupted, and more than 500 people remain displaced after the cross-border incursion by anti-Russian partisans on Monday, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Russian region.

 

 

 

Washington investigating reports American vehicles used in raid inside Russian border

Washington is looking into reports that American vehicles were used by Ukraine inside Russia, the White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

He said the US has been clear with Kyiv that it does not support any such use of US-made equipment.

It came as the Kremlin said the use of US-made military hardware by pro-Ukrainian fighters who conducted a raid on a Russian border region this week was testament to the West’s growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked the Russian border region of Belgorod with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.

It said it had destroyed four armoured vehicles and five pickup trucks to repel what was one of the largest incursions on to Russian soil from Ukraine since Moscow launched what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine 15 months ago.

Footage of some of the destroyed vehicles released by the Russian defence ministry showed US-made military hardware such as Humvee military trucks.

Reuters was able to confirm the location of damaged vehicles and surrounding details shown in the video, though could not verify the date it was filmed.

The United States, Ukraine’s biggest military supplier, initially played down reports that American-made military hardware was used in the raid.

 

 

As Russian militias opposing the Kremlin readied a daring cross-border raid into the Belgorod region this week, a man with slicked-down hair, in full camouflage and holding an automatic rifle stared into a camera lens.

“We are Russians just like you,” the man said in the video, later posted online. “We are people just like you. We want our children to grow up in peace and be free people so they can travel, study and were just happy in a free country. But this has no place in modern Putin’s Russia, rotten through and through from corruption, lies, censorship, restrictions on freedoms and repression.”

That man was Maximillian Andronnikov, the self-proclaimed commander of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a paramilitary group that, until this week, was chided for its outsized internet and media activity. Under the nickname “Caesar” he has also served as a media spokesperson for the group, which has sought to largely act in the shadows and keep its membership a secret.

But with the raids into southern Russia this week, the spotlight has been turned on both the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, another group composed of Russians who now say they are fighting against Putin.

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by singalion

[singalion]

 

 

The intensity is increasing’: Ukraine says first steps in counteroffensive have begun

Presidential adviser says supply lines and depots already being destroyed as preliminary operations get under way

 

27 May 2023

 

Preliminary operations have already begun to pave the way for a counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has said.

“It’s a complicated process, which is not a matter of one day or a certain date or a certain hour,” Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with the Guardian. “It’s an ongoing process of de-occupation, and certain processes are already happening, like destroying supply lines or blowing up depots behind the lines.

 

 

“The intensity is increasing, but it will take quite a long period of time,” he added, predicting that as the counteroffensive gathered momentum, there would be more incursions into Russia.

 

Full details:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/27/first-operations-in-ukraine-counteroffensive-have-begun-says-top-official

 

 

[singalion]

 

16 hours ago, Guest Cunt said:

Russia was provoked by NATO. If u don't get rid of western cancerous cells it will spread around the world. Russia was putting a stop to it by invasive "surgery". 

 

 

Sounds quite unrealistic to me that Russia can be provoked by NATO.

 

NATO did not actually provoke Russia.

 

The point is more that Russia seems not to have accepted the full independence of Ukraine.

 

Can independent countries join NATO or does have Russia any say when it comes to that question.

 

Ukraine is actually just a copy of what happened in Georgia when the Georgian government took a decision to lean to NATO. Russia played the same playbook in that country.

 

NATO is already around Russia and I don't think it made much difference whether Ukraine would join NATO...

 

Please also learn that NATO is a defence treaty and not an attack treaty. NATO doesn't have any aggressive stance to attack neighbouring countries.

 

 

[Guest Macron's wisdom]

There will be no war without NATO.   Japan wanted NATO in this region and encountered huge backslash from Asia countries, particularly to the dismay of ASEAN countries.  France president wanted NATO to mind its own business in North Atlantic instead of stretching its arms too long and drag the entire Europe into unnecessary conflict in Asia.  

[singalion]

This claim can be easily rebutted.

 

NATO ships need to berth at certain states in the South China Sea. if ASEAN countries did not want it, then how can they berth at most of the surrounding countries...

 

‘Ironclad’: Biden, Marcos Jr affirm US-Philippines security ties

Two leaders agree to deepen military relationship amid heightened tensions in Asia Pacific, China pressure.

1 May 2023

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/1/military-ties-top-agenda-as-biden-meets-philippines-marcos-jr

 

Shangri-La notebook: Happily, WWIII is not imminent

June 8, 2023

 

The Singaporeans, who pride themselves on maintaining a friendly and apparent equidistance between both sides (even while collaborating pretty deeply with the US military), will have been very happy.

 

The reason why, on my football metaphor, China ended up conceding so many goals is that, in Li’s formal speech and in many of the questions posed to other speakers by the largest Chinese delegation that had ever been sent to this event, the Chinese failed to respect either the interests or the intelligence of the many Southeast Asian countries sitting in the audience.

 

The posture China took was a self-righteous one of claiming to be a great defender of international law, a firm believer in treating other countries with mutual respect and the greatest exponent of “ASEAN centrality” – that is, considering the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to be its main and respected interlocutor.

 

Yet every single senior official or scholar present from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and many others knew that if anyone were to follow Deng Xiaoping’s exhortation to “seek truth from facts” they would instantly see that China’s own actions show up this posture as hypocritical nonsense.

 

They know that in the South China and East China Seas China violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on a daily basis, even while being a signatory to it, and ignores “ASEAN centrality” by trying to pick off member countries one by one.

One striking and clear example of China’s domineering attitude was General Li’s use of the phrase “hegemonic navigation.” He used this in an effort to discredit the so-called “freedom of navigation operations” that American and other naval ships practice in the international waters of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

South China Sea. Mlap: Asia Times files

The phrase appeared designed to imply to Southeast Asian nations that the American, Australian, French, British, German, Dutch and Japanese ships sailing in these international waters are somehow seeking to dominate those seas rather than to maintain open international sea lanes.

 

When challenged over recent allegedly dangerous intercepts of American vessels and planes by Chinese ships and fighters, his answer was straightforward: such incidents would not happen if those American ships and planes hadn’t been there, poking their noses in what he clearly considered Chinese business. He also claimed that China never flies or sails close to other countries’ territorial waters, a claim that was clearly news to Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, let alone Taiwan.

 

The underlying point was clear: China considers that the entire South China Sea belongs to it (in accordance with its notorious “nine-dash line” map), despite all legal rulings to the contrary. The real “hegemonic navigator” was on full display. 

 

https://asiatimes.com/2023/06/shangri-la-notebook-happily-wwiii-is-not-imminent/

 

 

Vietnam seeks safer maritime security partnerships

5 May 2023

Author: Minh Phuong Vu, ANU 

In March 2023, China and ASEAN resumed negotiations on the South China Sea (SCS) Code of Conduct, which aims to reduce the risk of conflict in the disputed maritime zone. But such progress has not calmed the situation. In February 2023, the Chinese Coast Guard harassed a Filipino Coast Guard crew with a ‘military-grade’ laser, sparking an intense response from Manila.

Vietnam has been comparatively quieter, but silence does not mean that all is well. On 25 March 2023, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel sailed near oil and gas wells belonging to Vietnam’s Vanguard Bank, resulting in a dangerous encounter between Chinese and Vietnamese patrol boats. 

Maritime cooperation with India and Japan also includes dialogues, naval exercises, ship visits and joint training programs.

 

 

Vietnam welcomes US stance on South China Sea

Linh Pham

Vietnam hopes other countries to make efforts to contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability in the South China Sea.

http://media.hanoitimes.vn/2021/05/14/logo_hntimes.png

Vietnam has hinted that it welcomes the United States' recently announced position that rejects China's maritime claims in the South China Sea through which over US$5 trillion worth of trade cruising through its waters every year.

 

 

 

[Startup]

On 4/27/2023 at 9:10 AM, Why? said:

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Startup

[singalion]

 

 

Ukraine strikes key bridge between mainland and Crimea – Russia-appointed officials

Thu 22 Jun 2023

A series of photos and videos circulating on Telegram showed a huge crater on the Chonhar Bridge connecting Russian-held parts of the Kherson region with the Crimean peninsula, after an alleged attack by Ukrainian forces with Storm Shadow missiles, which Britain confirmed it had provided to Ukraine last month.

 

Photos show the infrastructure deserted and partially damaged by the missile attack with debris littering the roads. There were no casualties reported so far.

 

Known as “the gate to Crimea”, the Chonhar Bridge is one of a handful of bridges linking Crimea – which was annexed by Russia in 2014 – with the mainland. Ukraine is determined to retake the Crimean peninsula and one of the key objectives of its recently launched counteroffensive is to isolate Russian troops there.

 

The news was reported early on Thursday by Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-appointed Kherson governor, who said the traffic had been diverted to a different route. All the traffic from Russia has to now go through Armiansk or the Kerch Bridge, which Kyiv blew up last year.

The Kerch Bridge is a hated symbol of the Kremlin’s occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsula, one of Vladimir Putin’s prestige projects and a vital logistical link for the Russian military.

 

 

 

[singalion]

 

 

 

Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia in maps — latest updates

A visual guide to the war

 

an overview:

 

https://www.ft.com/content/4351d5b0-0888-4b47-9368-6bc4dfbccbf5

 

[Guest Updated]

The missing submarine has overshadowed the war in Ukraine. Now nobody cares to pay attention on Zelenakky and his toy soldiers. The world is busy in the Atlantic Ocean. 

[Steve5380]

5 hours ago, Guest Updated said:

The missing submarine has overshadowed the war in Ukraine. Now nobody cares to pay attention on Zelenakky and his toy soldiers. The world is busy in the Atlantic Ocean. 

 

How tragic the discovery of the rests of the Titan vessel!

 

 

[Sweetie Pie]

5 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

 

How tragic the discovery of the rests of the Titan vessel!

 

 

It is truly tragic that hundreds of Pakistani refugees who were trapped and eventually sank into the sea because they simply wanted to leave their country in search of a better future did not receive the same attention and international assets deployments as the couple of millionaires were lost while trying to have fun in the ocean.

 

Similar to how everyone is so alarmed when Russia invades Ukraine, for many decades and NATO could care less when Israel attack Palestinians  and erects illegal walls inside Palestine soil. 

 

Recently, Modi received a standing ovation from Congress, and no one condemned the Indian army for massacring unarmed Mariupol villagers who were protesting for equal rights, but the United States and the European Union kept harping on China's treatment of Xing Jiang citizens. It is beyond the comprehension of everyone how all these standards are handled equally.

 

Tragic, did you say?

Edited June 23, 2023 by Sweetie Pie

[Steve5380]

10 hours ago, Sweetie Pie said:

It is truly tragic that hundreds of Pakistani refugees who were trapped and eventually sank into the sea because they simply wanted to leave their country in search of a better future did not receive the same attention and international assets deployments as the couple of millionaires were lost while trying to have fun in the ocean.

 

Similar to how everyone is so alarmed when Russia invades Ukraine, for many decades and NATO could care less when Israel attack Palestinians  and erects illegal walls inside Palestine soil. 

 

Recently, Modi received a standing ovation from Congress, and no one condemned the Indian army for massacring unarmed Mariupol villagers who were protesting for equal rights, but the United States and the European Union kept harping on China's treatment of Xing Jiang citizens. It is beyond the comprehension of everyone how all these standards are handled equally.

 

Tragic, did you say?

 

I fully agree with you about the absurdity of getting so upset over this tragedy of 5 persons and not think much about the tragedy of the hundreds of Pakistani refugees.  And the tragedy of the Titan is insignificant compared to the tragedy of the Titanic, with more than 1500 dead.   And the inequity of spending so many resources to save 5 individuals, compared to the little attention paid to the Pakistani. 

 

But there is some romanticism in this tragedy.  The confinement, thousands of meters at the bottom of the ocean.   And I had a particular reason:  I have lowered measuring equipment into oil wells at larger depths and pressures than the Titan did, and I know much about pressure control,  but never a person has been lowered into an oil well,  he would not fit into a narrow hole!

[Guest Payment due]

24 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

d I had a particular reason:  I have lowered measuring equipment into oil wells at larger depths and pressures than the Titan did, and I know much about pressure control,  but never a person has been lowered into an oil well,  he would not fit into a narrow hole!

You are the reason why America should compensate the world for the damaged  climate we all have to bear with. You guys pioneer in the destruction of our beloved earth.

[Guest The American value]

29 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

And the inequity of spending so many resources to save 5 individuals, compared to the little attention paid to the Pakistani.

Ain't America also spending so many resources to invite Modi and to blow up his ego?  Was he not a friend of Putin who invaded Russia and contunue to fund Russia thru cheap oil? Did you cheers and stay overnight just to enjoy Modi speech?

[PlayersGroup]

51 minutes ago, Guest Payment due said:

You are the reason why America should compensate the world for the damaged  climate we all have to bear with. You guys pioneer in the destruction of our beloved earth.

 

Civilization cannot on one hand blame America for environmental degradation while quietly enjoying the benefits of American technological developments and innovation all these years.

 

Fact that you are now logged onto a worldwide network to be able criticize America here on this page is the result of internet technology developed in large part by the US Department of Defense. Which they introduced to the world that enabled unprecedented levels of growth n progress of communications and civilization as a whole.

 

Of course we detest double standards by America, Europe n all. But there's a lot of questionable behaviour by many big countries going all around.

Edited June 23, 2023 by PlayersGroup

[Steve5380]

4 hours ago, PlayersGroup said:

 

Of course we detest double standards by America, Europe n all. But there's a lot of questionable behaviour by many big countries going all around.

 

 

Double standards are universal.  Like this by Singaporeans complaining about the hot weather,  while there are people on top of the Himalayans freezing to death.

[Steve5380]

4 hours ago, Guest Payment due said:

You are the reason why America should compensate the world for the damaged  climate we all have to bear with. You guys pioneer in the destruction of our beloved earth.

 

Thanks to people working in the oil service companies like I did, you have gas to put in your car,  electricity to run your MRT and the moment you read this, power your computer.

[Steve5380]

4 hours ago, Guest The American value said:

Ain't America also spending so many resources to invite Modi and to blow up his ego?  Was he not a friend of Putin who invaded Russia and contunue to fund Russia thru cheap oil? Did you cheers and stay overnight just to enjoy Modi speech?

 

I don't care for Modi's speech. And India needs oil   ( for which I made an infinitesimal contribution with my work ) for its billion+ people to survive.  I approve of Biden's move to cultivate a friendship with India, to help in the defense against PRC China.

[PlayersGroup]

India is sophisticated and fascinating. 

 

It is the one country that took part in wargames with US n allies As Well As wargames with Russia and China. It receives a grand reception when visiting the US but buys increased oil from Russia at the same time.

[Guest U Xuai Ah]

7 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

 

Double standards are universal.  Like this by Singaporeans complaining about the hot weather,  while there are people on top of the Himalayans freezing to death.

Not true.  Just like North Pole,  Himalaya are melting too.

[Steve5380]

1 hour ago, Guest U Xuai Ah said:

Not true.  Just like North Pole,  Himalaya are melting too.

 

Yes, both poles and the Himalayans are melting, with ice expecting to be gone by year 2100?

 

But I was thinking of the temperature on top of Mount Everest,  which is about -20 degC today!  BRRR....

 

But we can find another example of double standards that has more to do with this thread:  Singaporeans who live in older HDB flats may complain that they may start to deteriorate,  but they don't think of the apartment buildings in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol made uninhabitable by the Russian bombardments.

. 

Edited June 24, 2023 by Steve5380

[singalion]

 

Just a reminder here:

 

The topic is the Ukraine war.

 

Neither the titan ship nor any Pakistani refugees are part of the discussion here. (not even in any broader sense).

 

 

Let's get back to the Ukraine war.

 

 

[singalion]

There seems to be some civil unrest going on in Russia the past hours.

 

Not sure on the validity of news but Russian tanks are seen in Russian cities.

 

 

 

Russia-Ukraine war live: Wagner chief claims to be in Rostov military HQ; Moscow accuses him of trying to start ‘civil conflict’ – latest updates

 

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, has accused Russian military leaders of targeting his troops.

He said the attack happened after he criticised the country’s top brass on the Telegram messaging app.

In a video, he had said the Kremlin’s rationale for invading Ukraine was based on lies and the “evil” of Russia’s military leadership must be stopped.

Prigozhin has since claimed the country’s defence ministry ordered a rocket strike on Wagner’s field camps in Ukraine which has killed scores of his fighters.

He warned his troops will move to punish defence minister Sergei Shoigu and urged the army not to offer resistance.

Prigozhin said: “This is not an armed rebellion, but a march of justice.”

 

Military generals condemn Prigozhin

 

Pjotr Sauer

Russian security services have moved swiftly against the Wagner boss,
denouncing Prigozhin for “treachery” and ordering the mercenary
group’s fighters to detain their commander.

 

The defence ministry also published videos with several senior
military generals who urged Prigozhin to stop what one commander
described as a “coup.”

 

“This is a stab in the back of the country and the president,” general
Vladimir Alekseyev, the deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence
agency, said in a video appeal to Wagner fighters “This is a coup,”
Alekseyev added.

 

It was not immediately clear if Prigozhin was acting alone. In one
audio message, the warlord claimed to have the support of “the
majority of the army” as well as 25,000 Wagner fighters.

 

But Prigozhin for now appears isolated, with several former allies
denouncing his rebellion. General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy
commander of Russia’s Ukraine campaign, who is believed to be close to
Prigozhin, released a video address ordering the mercenaries to remain
loyal to Putin.

 

“The termination of Prigozhin and Wagner is imminent. The only
possibility now is absolute obliteration, with the degree of
resistance from the Wagner group being the only variable,” wrote
Tatyana Stanovaya, the founder of the political analysis firm R Politik

“Surovikin was dispatched to convince them to surrender. Confrontation
seems totally futile,” she added.

 

While there was no immediate sign that Vladimir Putin’s hold on power
appeared threatened, Stanovaya argued that the dramatic episode will
likely damage his standing.

 

“Many within the elite will now personally fault Putin for letting the
situation escalate to such extremes and for his lack of a timely
adequate response.”

 

 

A fighter from the Wagner private mercenary group patrols a street near the headquarters of the Southern Military district in the city of Rostov-on-Don Photograph: Reuters

 

 

 

A view of the empty Red Square.

 

 

A police car is seen behind a barrier on the Red Square in central Moscow. Photograph: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters

 

 

Armoured vehicles are seen on a street of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia Photograph: Reuters

 

Russia accuses Prigozhin of calling for 'civil conflict'

Russian authorities have accused Yevgeny Prigozhin of trying to start a “civil conflict” and called for his detention.

Agence France-Presse reports that the FSB security service’s probe into calls to stage an “armed mutiny” came after the head of the Wagner mercenary group accused Moscow of targeting his forces with deadly missile strikes and vowed to retaliate.

Prigozhin urged Russians to join his forces and punish Moscow’s military leadership in the most audacious challenge to President Vladimir Putin since the start of the offensive in Ukraine last year.

In a statement, the FSB said:

Prigozhin’s statements and actions are in fact a call to start an armed civil conflict on the territory of the Russian Federation and a stab in the back to Russian servicemen fighting pro-fascist Ukrainian forces.

The FSB urged Wagner fighters to “take measures to detain him”.

 

The Kremlin said Putin had been informed of Prigozhin’s claims and “necessary measures are being taken”.

 

Earlier on Friday, Prigozhin had accused Moscow’s leadership of lying to the public about the justifications for invading Ukraine. He dismissed Moscow’s claims that Kyiv was planning to launch an offensive on the Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine in February 2022, saying: “The ministry of defence is trying to deceive the public and the president and spin the story that there was insane levels of aggression from the Ukrainian side and that they were going to attack us together with the whole Nato block.”

 

Russian governor urges people to stay indoors

The governor of Russia’s southern Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, has told its citizens to remain calm and stay indoors, Reuters reports.

•  

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jun/23/russia-ukraine-war-live-russia-investigates-mutiny-as-wagner-chief-says-evil-military-leaders-must-be-stopped?page=with:block-649637098f084ea43c43f592&filterKeyEvents=false

 

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by singalion

[singalion]

 

Latest update on the Russia events:

 

Rostov-on-Don, where Wagner forces have entered and where footage has emerged of armed men in uniforms skirting the city’s regional police headquarters, is the largest city in southern Russia and is the capital of the Rostov region that adjoins parts of eastern Ukraine where the war is raging.

Home to about 1 million people, the city is an important river port and is located about 100km from Ukraine and 1,046km south-west of Moscow.

It is the centre of Russia’s southern federal district and where Russia’s southern military district is headquartered.

In Novocherkassk, about 24km north-east of the city’s regional hub, is the headquarters of the 8th Guards Combined Army. It was one of the centre’s of Putin’s military buildup in the lead-up to the invasion of Ukraine last year.

Last month, Russia announced a court in the city would trial five foreign men, including three British nationals, accused of fighting alongside Ukranian forces against Moscow.

Earlier this year, Russian defence personnel began building a water pipeline system to connect to the Rostov region with the eastern Donbas region inside Ukraine.

[singalion]

 

Reuters has some images that the wire service says show Wagner fighters in Rostov-on-Don.

Fighters of Wagner private mercenary group are deployed in a street near the headquarters of the southern military district in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Photograph: Reuters

A Wagner fighter stands guard near the headquarters of the southern military district in Rostov-on-Don. Photograph: Reuters

Wagner fighters pose for a picture as they get deployed near the southern military district HQ in the city. Photograph: Reuters

 

 

 

[singalion]

Nothing new to us, but good that such facts are spread in Russia also.

 

 

Russia-Ukraine war live: Wagner chief claims to be in Rostov military HQ; Moscow accuses him of trying to start ‘civil conflict’ – latest updates

 

 

Yevgeny Prigozhin has called on Russians not to believe what they are being told on state television.

 

The Wagner chief said in the new video posted on Telegram: “When they tell you that PMC Wagner interfered with work and that’s why something on the front collapsed,” he said, addressing Russians, “things on the front collapsed not for this reason.”

 

Agence France-Presse reports that Prigozhin also said in the video:

 

A huge amount of territory is lost. Soldiers have been killed, three, four times more than what it says in documents shown to the top [leadership].

 

 

Prigozhin apparently speaking from inside military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, in a screen grab from footage posted on Saturday on Telegram. Photograph: Telegram/@concordgroup_official/AFP/Getty Images

 

The mercenary leader said in the video that he was in Rostov-on-Don’s army headquarters, which are a key logistical base for Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

Metrics show that Google News has become unavailable for many users in Russia, according to NetBlocks, a group tracking internet disruption.

⚠️ Confirmed: Metrics show that the Google News aggregator platform has become unavailable for many users in #Russia; the incident comes amid heightened tensions between the Wagner paramilitary group and Moscow pic.twitter.com/wXyzM0M79k

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) June 23, 2023

 

 

Military sites in Rostov, including an aerodrome, are under control.

 

Prigozhi said planes taking part in the Ukraine offensive “are leaving as normal” from the airfield.

 

 

Our correspondent Luke Harding has this take on today’s events:

 

This is a very significant moment. It presents an enormous opportunity for Ukraine. I would expect Kyiv to intensify its counteroffensive. It is hard to know how Russia will respond, but there will be turmoil in Russian military structures, from ground positions to the very top.

 

It is a bad day for Putin.

Extraordinary - and a long night ahead: tanks in the streets of #Moscow and Rostov; open warfare between Prigozhin and the Kremlin/FSB; pleas from Russian generals for Wagner to call off its "state coup". All of which present significant opportunities for #Ukraine in coming days https://t.co/ezeE2s8kRH

— Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968) June 23, 2023

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by singalion

[singalion]

 

Wagner chief accuses Moscow of lying to public about Ukraine

Yevgeny Prigozhin dismisses justification for war that Kyiv was planning 2022 attack on Donbas and Crimea

 

 

Fri 23 Jun 2023

 

The Wagner head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has accused Moscow’s leadership of lying to the public about the justifications for invading Ukraine, in the latest sign of conflict between Vladimir Putin’s government and one of his most important allies.

 

In an explosive 30-minute video posted on his Telegram channel, Prigozhin dismissed Moscow’s claims that Kyiv was planning to launch an offensive on the Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine in February 2022.

 

“There was nothing extraordinary happening on the eve of February 24,” Prigozhin said.

 

“The ministry of defence is trying to deceive the public and the president and spin the story that there was insane levels of aggression from the Ukrainian side and that they were going to attack us together with the whole Nato block,” the Wagner head said.

 

Shortly after Russia attacked Ukraine, Putin claimed Moscow’s invasion had thwarted Ukraine’s own plans for “a massive attack on the Donbas, and then on the Crimea”.

 

Prigozhin also said Russia’s leadership could have avoided the war by negotiating with Ukraine’s president, Volodomyr Zelenskiy.

 

“When Zelenskiy became president, he was ready for agreements. All that needed to be done was to get off Mount Olympus and negotiate with him,” he said.

 

Prigozhin has been arguing with top military officials for months, blaming the minister of defence, Sergei Shoigu, for battlefield failures.

 

However, his latest tirade appeared to be a new escalation, as the warlord directly contradicted Putin’s rationale for the invasion, implying it was based on lies in what amounts to the harshest criticism by any prominent Russian war figure of the decision to attack Ukraine.

 

“What was the war for? The war needed for Shoigu to receive a hero star … The oligarchic clan that rules Russia needed the war,” he said.

 

“The mentally ill scumbags decided: ‘It’s OK, we’ll throw in a few thousand more Russian men as cannon fodder. They’ll die under artillery fire, but we’ll get what we want,’” Prigozhin continued.

 

While the warlord was careful not to directly attack the Russian president, Prigozhin did question several decisions made by Putin, including the Kremlin’s decision to exchange more than 100 captured Azov fighters for Viktor Medvedchuk, a close ally of Putin.

 

And in one instance, Prigozhin appeared to criticise the Russian president for continuing to self-isolate.

 

“We still have self-isolation in our country, and therefore none of the decision-makers have yet met [with military generals and discussed how to win the war]. They all talked on the phone.”

 

Prigozhin, whose Wagner troops have pulled back from Bakhmut, also attacked Russia’s current war efforts in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

 

Directly contradicting Putin’s claims that Moscow has fended off Kyiv’s counterattack, Prigozhin also accused the Russian military leadership of lying to the public about the scale of its losses and setbacks in Ukraine.

 

“The Russian army is retreating in all directions and shedding a lot of blood … What they tell us is the deepest deception.”

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/23/wagner-chief-accuses-moscow-of-lying-to-public-about-ukraine-yevgeny-prigozhin

 

[Guest Corrections]

6 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

But we can find another example of double standards that has more to do with this thread:  Singaporeans who live in older HDB flats may complain that they may start to deteriorate,  but they don't think of the apartment buildings in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol made uninhabitable by the Russian bombardments.

. 

*sigh*,  You are asking for simple lecture again.  The Mariupol apartment building has been used as a wartime rocket launch site. You were unaware of how many mercenaries personnels were dwelling there.You are not really waging a war if you don't destroy them before they hit you.  

 

Singapore older HDB flats are not deterioriating, where did you hear that from?   People are complaining about its depreciating value because it sits on leasehold project.   Gosh!!! you wasted few seconds of my precious time to correct you. 

[singalion]

46 minutes ago, Guest Corrections said:

*sigh*,  You are asking for simple lecture again.  The Mariupol apartment building has been used as a wartime rocket launch site. You were unaware of how many mercenaries personnels were dwelling there.You are not really waging a war if you don't destroy them before they hit you.  

 

Singapore older HDB flats are not deterioriating, where did you hear that from?   People are complaining about its depreciating value because it sits on leasehold project.   Gosh!!! you wasted few seconds of my precious time to correct you. 

 

There is no evidence to support any of your claims made in your post on Mariupol. 

 

I give it 3 Pinocchios...

 

here you can read what really happened:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2023/feb/23/mariupol-the-ruin-of-a-city