Drag events will no longer be allowed at U.S. military facilities or installations under President Joe Biden’s Defense Department, a spokesperson confirmed this week.
Pentagon bans drag shows on US military bases
Previously:
That Time Ronald Reagan Starred in a World War II Movie Featuring Several Drag Performances
The Pentagon revealed Thursday that it has overcounted the value of the military aid the United States has sent Ukraine by at least $3 billion.
Pentagon accounting error overvalued Ukraine military aid by $3B
Links Behind Paywall:
Accounting Error Leaves Pentagon With $3 Billion More in Arms for Ukraine, U.S. Says
Pentagon Says Accounting Mistake Frees Up $3 Billion More for Ukraine
ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — Sudan’s two warring generals sent their envoys on Friday to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at firming up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, three Sudanese officials said.
Sudan’s warring sides send envoys for talks in Saudi Arabia
Related:
Role of US troops in Sudan to shift as Biden administration sees no quick end to fighting
H/T: Emil Cosman
The DOJ and NCIS confirm that Bils is under multiple investigations, as details of a trouble past come to light.
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Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh was peppered with questions about Bils during a Monday press briefing. When asked if the Department of Defense was aware that the former Navy chief petty officer had been posting
Russian propagandasince 2014 and if she had been under investigation prior to the revelation of the document leak, Ms. Singh replied, “Because this investigation is ongoing, I would refer you to the DOJ for that.”…
The investigation by the FBI and NCIS comes at a time when the U.S. government appears to be cracking down on
FBI Interviews Sarah Bils, the Donbass Devushka, as the DOJ and NCIS Probes Her PastRussian influence[dissent] in American politics. In a separate case, the DOJ announced on Tuesday that four U.S. citizens and three Russian nationals have been charged with “conspiring to covertly sow discord in U.S. society, spread Russian propaganda, and interfere illegally in U.S. elections.” A federal grand jury alleges that Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents recruited, funded, and discredited U.S. political groups to act as unregistered Moscow agents. Omali Yeshitela, Penny Joanne Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus Romain Jr. of St. Petersburg, Florida, have been charged with violating the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and each faces up to five years in prison.
NAFO claims that Donbass Devushka’s Telegram channel was started in 2014 (during the war in Donbas?), while Bellingcat alleges that it was the first to publicly leak the Pentagon documents. Malcontent News suggests that she could be charged as a foreign agent due to her loose association with Rybar. They incorrectly state that the members of the Uhuru Movement are being charged under FARA. They’re being charged under Title 18 U.S.C. §951, according to the indictment. FYI, speech is restricted, under the UCMJ, while serving in the military.
Previously:
NAFO: Social-Media Account Overseen by Former Navy Noncommissioned Officer Helped Spread Secrets
Russia was aware of Western involvement in Ukraine even before the documents were leaked online, Dmitry Peskov repeated
Russian responds to leak of ‘secret’ NATO war plan
Related:
Ukraine War Plans Leak Prompts Pentagon Investigation (Archived)
Classified war documents detailing secret U.S. and NATO plans for building up the Ukrainian military before a planned offensive against Russia were posted this week on social media channels, senior U.S. officials said.
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U.S. officials were working to get them deleted but had not, as of Thursday evening, succeeded.
Ukrainian forces are unlikely to be able to recapture Crimea from Russian troops in the near future, four senior Defense Department officials told House Armed Services Committee lawmakers in a classified briefing. The assessment is sure to frustrate leaders in Kyiv who consider taking the peninsula back one of their signature goals.
Ukraine can’t retake Crimea soon, Pentagon tells lawmakers in classified briefing
Ukraine expects to receive 24 modern fighter jets, says Air Force Command
But even once negotiations for the delivery of these jets will be completed, Ukraine will not be able to use them on the battlefield for months, as training of pilots and technicians will take at least half a year, Ihnat warned.
Related:
Ukraine Situation Report: Kyiv Improving Airfields Anticipating Western Fighters
There is currently one Ukrainian student in the U.S. Air Force Aviation Leadership Program, which provides pilot training in the T-6A, not geared ultimately for any one specific combat aircraft, Air Force Capt. Rachel Salpietra, an Air Force Secretary spokesperson told The War Zone Friday afternoon.
“Ukraine has been participating in the program with us for the last 12 years,” she added. “Ukrainian maintainers and engineers have not participated in any training with the U.S. Air Force for the past several years.”
UK might donate fighter jets to Ukraine for air policing – The Telegraph
Commenting on the matter, one of the newspaper’s sources said “never say never,” while another one stressed that “it’s not the priority now,” regarding fighter jet transfers.
Either this narrative about weapon stockpiles, being depleted, is part of the information war or Russia is demilitarizing NATO!?!
U.S. and NATO scramble to arm Ukraine and refill their own arsenals
In Ukraine, the kind of European war thought inconceivable is chewing up the modest stockpiles of artillery, ammunition and air defenses of what some in NATO call Europe’s “bonsai armies,” after the tiny Japanese trees. Even the mighty United States has only limited stocks of the weapons the Ukrainians want and need, and Washington is unwilling to divert key weapons from delicate regions like Taiwan and Korea, where China and North Korea are constantly testing the limits.
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So the West is scrambling to find increasingly scarce Soviet-era equipment and ammunition that Ukraine can use now, including S-300 air defense missiles, T-72 tanks and especially Soviet-caliber artillery shells
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There are even discussions about NATO investing in old factories in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria to restart the manufacturing of Soviet-caliber 152-mm and 122-mm shells for Ukraine’s still largely Soviet-era artillery armory.
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The European Union has approved €3.1 billion ($3.2 billion) to repay member states for what they provide to Ukraine, but that fund, the [ironically-named] European Peace Facility, is nearly 90 percent depleted.
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Smaller countries have exhausted their potential, another NATO official said, with 20 of its 30 members “pretty tapped out.” But the remaining 10 can still provide more, he suggested, especially larger allies. That would include France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has advised the alliance — including, pointedly, Germany — that NATO guidelines requiring members to keep stockpiles should not be a pretext to limit arms exports to Ukraine. But it is also true that Germany and France, like the United States, want to calibrate the weapons Ukraine gets, to prevent escalation and direct attacks on Russia.
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Washington is also looking at older, cheaper alternatives like giving Ukraine anti-tank TOW missiles, which are in plentiful supply, instead of Javelins, and Hawk surface-to-air missiles instead of newer versions. But officials are increasingly pushing Ukraine to be more efficient and not, for example, fire a missile that costs $150,000 at a drone that costs $20,000.
Musk on Friday said that in asking the Pentagon to pick up the bill for Starlink in Ukraine, he was following the advice of a Ukrainian diplomat who responded to Musk’s Ukraine peace plan earlier this month, before the letter was sent to the Pentagon, with: “F*** off.”
Related:
Ukrainian forces report Starlink outages during push against Russia (archived, as original is behind paywall)
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 