New York Times admits, then covers up, massive Ukraine casualties

Since January of this year, the New York Times has published dozens of articles claiming that Ukraine’s “spring offensive” would be a decisive turning point in the war with Russia. But this offensive, now six weeks old, has turned into a debacle. While Ukrainian forces have nowhere breached Russia’s main defensive line, tens of thousands of troops have died.

New York Times admits, then covers up, massive Ukraine casualties

‘Why are we tempting nuclear annihilation?’ — Transcript of Max Blumenthal’s address UN Security Council

The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal addressed the UN Security Council on the role of US military aid to Ukraine in escalating the conflict with Russia and the real motives behind Washington’s support for Kiev’s proxy war.

‘Why are we tempting nuclear annihilation?’ Watch Max Blumenthal address UN Security Council

Previously:

All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine

All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine

In the absence of official scrutiny of Washington’s spending spree on Ukraine, The Grayzone conducted an independent audit of US funding for the country. We discovered a series of wasteful, highly unusual expenditures the Biden administration has yet to explain.

All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine

Threats to international peace and security – Security Council, 9364th meeting

[2022] Switzerland has a stunningly high rate of gun ownership — here’s why it doesn’t have mass shootings

Switzerland has a stunningly high rate of gun ownership — here’s why it doesn’t have mass shootings

Switzerland hasn’t taken part in any international armed conflict since 1815, but some Swiss soldiers help with peacekeeping missions around the world.

Swiss authorities decide on a local level whether to give people gun permits. They also keep a log of everyone who owns a gun in their region, known as a canton, though hunting rifles and some semiautomatic long arms are exempt from the permit requirement.

But cantonal police don’t take their duty dolling out gun licenses lightly. They might consult a psychiatrist or talk with authorities in other cantons where a prospective gun buyer has lived before to vet the person.

Gun owners who want to carry their weapon for “defensive purposes” also have to prove they can properly load, unload, and shoot their weapon and must pass a test to get a license.

Switzerland is also one of the richest, healthiest, and, by some measures, happiest countries in the world.

The Swiss have been consistently near the top of this list. In 2017, when Switzerland was ranked fourth overall among nations, the report authors noted that the country tends to do well on “all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance.”

Meanwhile, according to the report, happiness has taken a dive over the past decade in the US.

The report authors cite “declining social support and increased corruption,” as well as addiction and depression for the fall.

Related:

Switzerland

Members of Zelensky’s party introduce internet censorship bill

Members of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party have introduced a bill to criminalize the spread of “false information” on the internet and through social media that violates Ukraine’s “national security.”

Members of Zelensky’s party introduce internet censorship bill

Related:

How The FBI Helps Ukrainian Intelligence Hunt ‘Disinformation’ On Social Media

US general cautions against writing Russia’s army off in Ukraine: ‘It is bigger today than it was at the beginning of the conflict’

A top US general has issued a warning that despite significant losses in Ukraine, Russia’s ground forces are bigger than they were at the start of the 2022 invasion, a sobering assessment of the country’s military capabilities.

US general cautions against writing Russia’s army off in Ukraine: ‘It is bigger today than it was at the beginning of the conflict’ (archived)

On The E-Girl Army Psyop Phenomenon

Video: On The E-Girl Army Psyop Phenomenon via Justin Taylor

Related:

Weaponizing e-girls: How the US military uses YouTube and TikTok to improve its image

How E-girl influencers are trying to get Gen Z into the military

But Haylujan isn’t the only E-girl using Sanrio sex appeal to lure the internet’s SIMPs into the armed forces. There’s Bailey Crespo and Kayla Salinas, not to mention countless #miltok gunfluencers cropping up online. While she didn’t document her military career, influencer Bella Poarch also served in the US Navy for four years before going viral on TikTok in 2020, and is arguably the blueprint for this kind of kawaii commodified fetishism in the military. An adjacent figure, Natalia Fadeev, also known as Gun Waifu, is an Israeli influencer and IDF soldier who uses waifu aesthetics and catgirl cosplay to pedal pro-Israel propaganda to her 756k followers. She poses to camera, ahegao-style, with freshly manicured nails wrapped neatly around a glock, the uWu-ification of military functioning as a cutesy distraction from the shadowy colonial context: “when they try and destroy your nation,” she writes in one caption.