Tag: Wagner Group

When Will the Stars Shine Again in Burkina Faso?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

When Will the Stars Shine Again in Burkina Faso?

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War is a plague! My country might disappear! I tell you, war is not a solution! War has no friends nor allies, and there are no real enemies. All people are suffering from this war: Burkina, Ivory Coast… everyone! War rages everywhere in Africa, especially in the North and in the Center of Mali. Hey African people, War is not a solution! War is not a good thing, my poor Malian people. If we are not able to make peace, the whole world will laugh at us. Ageloc, Timbuktu, Kidal War has never built anything; it destroys all that it finds. My country might disappear in a war and its betrayals! War is in Timbuktu, war is everywhere in Mali… Let’s avoid war because it has never built anything.

Oumou Sangaré – Kêlê Magni (Acoustic Version)

Terror on Crimea Bridge forces Russia to unleash Shock’n Awe + Before Ukraine blew up Kerch Bridge, British spies plotted it

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Terror on Crimea Bridge forces Russia to unleash Shock’n Awe

By Pepe Escobar – October 10 2022

The western narrative of a ‘losing Russia’ has just been decimated by Moscow’s blitzkrieg against Ukraine and its foreign-backed terror operations

…

It was a plan by the British MI6, says this source, without offering further details. Which, he elaborates, Russian intel, for a number of reasons, is shadow-playing as “foreign special services.”

Related:

EXPOSED: Before Ukraine blew up Kerch Bridge, British spies plotted it

Army launches coup in Burkina Faso amid mass protests against France

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Army launches coup in Burkina Faso amid mass protests against France

The ousted junta leader, [Paul-Henri Sandaogo] Damiba, was widely seen as too closely linked to France. Late Saturday, there were protests outside the French embassy in Ouagadougou and the French Institute in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Video on social media showed residents with lit torches outside the French embassy, and other images showed part of the compound ablaze. The crowds also vandalised the French Institute.

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Burkina Faso: Another Coup Led By U.S-Trained Soldier

[Paul-Henri Sandaogo] Damiba is a highly trained soldier, thanks in no small part to the U.S. military, which has a long record of training soldiers in Africa who go on to stage coups. Damiba, it turns out, participated in at least a half-dozen U.S. training exercises, according to U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM.

Ousted coup leader leaves Burkina Faso for Togo

US Accuses Russia of Interfering in Foreign Elections

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment
Source

An intelligence review commissioned by the Biden administration has concluded that “Russia has secretly funneled at least $300 million to foreign political parties and candidates in more than two dozen countries since 2014 in an attempt to shape political events beyond its borders.”

US Accuses Russia of Interfering in Foreign Elections

Missing Links/Behind Paywalls:

Russia spent millions on secret global political campaign, U.S. intelligence finds (not missing but archive.today’s ads are annoying)

WaPo cites anonymous sources. 🙄

Assistant Secretary Nuland Speaks at U.S.-Ukraine Foundation Conference – U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva (archived)

Since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, the United States has supported Ukrainians as they build democratic skills and institutions, as they promote civic participation and good governance, all of which are preconditions for Ukraine to achieve its European aspirations. We’ve invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine.

RESCUING BORIS (archived)

Dermokratiya, USA

10.2 Billion Loan To Russia Approved

Washington’s Africa Strategy Seeks to Counter Russia and China

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Geopolitical competition has no limits. This is especially the case when superpowers with global ambitions compete. As long as the competition is fair, it could drive development (although it might still have its socio-political and economic discontents). But when competition itself is projected as a phobia, it becomes more of an anomaly than a driver of growth and development. The most recent example of the super-power rivalry being framed in terms of ‘Sinophobia’ and ‘Russophobia’ is Washington’s newly revealed ‘Africa Strategy’ – a document that seeks to insert the US in Africa not as a competitor but as a country solely responsible for imparting ‘democracy’ and ‘openness’ to the so-called ‘backward’ societies of Africa. This is classical colonial statecraft reframed as a strategy for ‘engagement’ and ‘development.’ The document stipulates a US strategy to “foster … open societies”, “deliver democratic and security dividends”, and “support conservation, Climate Adaptation, and a Just Energy Transition.” This is an ambitious agenda with very ambitious objectives. But are these the real objectives?

Washington’s Africa Strategy Seeks to Counter Russia and China

US accused over huge ‘covert pro-Western’ digital campaign targeting Middle East

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Dozens of social media accounts operating for years in an attempt to influence people in the Middle East and Asia have been shut down. Now a major new study believes the US is likely behind it

US accused over huge ‘covert pro-Western’ digital campaign targeting Middle East

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CONOPs

Evaluating Five Years of Pro-Western Covert Influence Operations

The US government got caught using sock puppets to spread propaganda on social media

The data analyzed came from 146 Twitter accounts (which tweeted 299,566 times), 39 Facebook profiles, and 26 Instagram accounts, along with 16 Facebook pages and two Facebook groups. Some of the accounts were meant to appear like real people and used AI-generated profile pictures. Meta and Twitter didn’t specifically name any organizations or people behind the campaigns but said their analysis led them to believe they originated in the US and Great Britain.

For anyone who’s ever been within 15 feet of a history book, the news that the US is using covert action to push its interests in other countries won’t come as a surprise. It is, however, interesting that these operations were uncovered just as social media companies are gearing up to deal with a wave of foreign interference and misinformation in our own elections.

The report also comes right on the heels of a bombshell whistleblower report from Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security, which accused the company of lax security practices and misrepresenting the number of bots on its platform (something the US government is investigating and that Twitter has strongly denied).

South African Minister Tells West To Stop “Patronising Bullying” On Ukraine

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Minister Pandor made these statements while sitting next to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor has warned global powers against dictating how African countries should respond to global issues saying South Africa will never accept what she termed “patronising bullying”.

South African Minister Tells West To Stop “Patronising Bullying” On Ukraine

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Blinken: US Won’t ‘Dictate Africa’s Choices’ on Russia, But…

In South Africa, Blinken has been pressed about legislation passed by the House this year that aims – in the words of its author, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) – to “counter the malign influence and activities of the Russian Federation and its proxies in Africa.”

The text describes Russia’s “malign influence and activities” as those “that undermine United States objectives and interests.” – i.e, US corporate interests!

Last week, Pandor offered pointed criticism of the legislation, describing it as an “unprecedented” measure that is “intended to punish countries in Africa that have not toed the line on the Russia-Ukraine war.”

The Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act passed the House in April in a 415-9 vote, and now faces Senate consideration.

‘Offensive’

At a joint press briefing with Blinken on Monday, Pandor expressed the hope the Senate would reject the “offensive” bill.

“When we believe in freedom, as I’m saying, it’s freedom for everybody, you can’t say because Africa is doing this, you will then be punished by the United States,” she said.

Pandor argued that South Africa’s position on Ukraine was one of abhorring war and supporting a search for peace.

She also suggested that the U.S. employs double standards, by supporting freedom for Ukraine but not for the Palestinians.

“We should be equally concerned at what is happening to the people of Palestine as we are with what is happening to the people of Ukraine,” she said. “We’ve not seen an even-handed approach in the utilization of the prescripts of international law.”

In a television interview in Johannesburg earlier in the day, Blinken was asked about the House legislation, and said, “I can only speak for our administration and for the president. Our focus is not on saying to friends, partners: you have to choose.” – liar!

In contrast to those diplomatic words, when the Meeks bill was first marked up by the committee he chairs, ranking member and co-sponsor of the legislation Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) spoke of the need to “make every state choose between doing business with the free world or with a war criminal” – the latter a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin. – then they shouldn’t be doing business with any NATO country!

‘I Know You Are But What Am I’: Russia’s Ready Response to US Africa-Alarmism

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Perhaps you’ve heard: not only is Moscow about to maraud its way through Ukraine, not only is Tsar Vladimir I seeking a new Eurasian empire, but – as if to add insult to injury – Russia is “returning” to Africa in a big way, intent on “displacing” the influence of the continent’s apparently rightful influencers (interesting language, that – no?). Anyway, at least that’s the hyper-panicked Russophobic narrative emanating from America’s top think tanks, papers of record, and bipartisan but paltry politicians.

‘I Know You Are But What Am I’: Russia’s Ready Response to US Africa-Alarmism

US military veterans training Ukrainian frontline troops say NATO’s artillery and rocket launchers are essential for Ukraine to beat Russia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

US military veterans training Ukrainian frontline troops say NATO’s artillery and rocket launchers are essential for Ukraine to beat Russia

The Mozart Group is a cadre of US military veterans helping train Ukrainian soldiers. Established at the start of the Ukraine war by Andrew Milburn, a Marine veteran, the group has been described as the Western counterpoint to Putin’s elite Wagner Group.

So they’re the equivalent of Blackwater?!

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U.S. officials have described many of the suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban affiliates it holds at Guantanamo Bay as unlawful combatants either for taking part in hostilities against the United States or by supporting the hostilities while not part of a nation’s military.

By that standard, some of the private guards in Iraq and Afghanistan also could be seen as unlawful combatants, particularly if they have taken offensive action against unarmed civilians, experts said.

America’s own unlawful combatants? via Wikipedia

Andrew Milburn retired from the Marine Corps as a colonel in 2019 after a 31 year career. His last position in uniform was Deputy Commander of Special Operations Central (SOCCENT), and prior to that commanding officer of the Marine Raider Regiment and Combined Special Operations Task Force – Iraq.

Since retiring, he has written a critically acclaimed memoir: When the Tempest Gathers and has had articles published in The Atlantic , USA Today, JFQ, and War on the Rocks, in addition to the Military Times . He is on the Adjunct Faculty of the Joint Special Operations University and teaches classes on leadership, planning, ethics, command and control, mission command, risk, special operations and irregular warfare at US military schools. He is a co-host of the Modern War Institute’s Irregular War Podcast, and Irregular War Initiative.

Andrew Milburn, BIO

I’ve been to Ukraine, Niger, Somalia and Tunisia. I’m training people who will use what they’ve learned in the real world almost immediately.

Andrew Milburn, 02-2020

Who are the Mozart Group? Former U.S. Marine Training Ukrainians in War