KETTLE CALLING POT BLACK

QAnon fans don't want flat Earth 'conspiracy nutters' to be associated with their movement: new book

Sarah K. Burris

February 23, 2022


QAnon followers might believe that JFK Jr. is going to be resurrected to join Donald Trump on the 2024 presidential ticket, but they really want the crazy flat-Earthers out of their movement.

The Daily Beast's Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng interviewed Kelly Weill about her new book, out this week, Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, conspiracy culture, and why people will believe anything. Weill revealed that there is trouble in conspiracy paradise and while it might be perfectly acceptable to wait for the return of JFK Jr., question the validity of the 2020 election, think that the COVID vaccine inserts a tracking chip in your body, or even that Hillary Clinton drinks the blood of children in a Washington pizza parlor's basement — "the Earth is flat" is too far.

In the podcast "Fever Dreams," Weill brought up the first time she learned about the flat-earth movement and interviewed a man arrested for handing out flat-earth propaganda on a school playground.

She began by explaining that after studying the flat-earth movement for the past two years found that the conspiracy world isn't exactly the most welcoming and "big tent" group.

Weill explained that a lot of people come to the flat-earth movement but ultimately become more and more engaged, pushing people in their lives away because it becomes an all-encompassing world. Instead of talking about football with family, for example, the flat Earth is all that matters to them.

"I thought flat-earth was an interesting parable about how people can believe anything," she said. There are other conspiracy theories that are more "reality-adjacent" and that it's easy to walk through the path of how someone got to the conclusion, based on their political beliefs. "But flat earth seemed so out there that I wanted to understand it better."

So, those in modern political conspiracies are a lot like the flat-earth movement in that there are people "who feel at odds with the reality that they live in and they want to be able to blame a person or a group for persecuting them. So, in a lot of ways, flat-earth is almost interchangeable with a lot of conspiracy theories that we deal with every day at work."

She went on to explain that there is a lot of overlap in the conspiracy world with flat-earthers and that it has even increased over the years. She cited one Facebook post she saw saying, "Globers = Antifa." Globers are what flat-earthers call those who believe our planet is round.

While at a flat-earth convention she saw two QAnon people selling jewelry who confessed they aren't totally believers in the flat-earth theory, but thought that it would be a receptive community to Q. But flat-earthers conflict with Q because in a Q&A someone asked "just to shut the flat-earthers up is the Earth round?" Q made it clear "of course, the Earth is round. We're not those conspiracy nutters!" The comments were filled with dissenters.

You can access the "Fever Dreams" podcast wherever you get your podcasts and Weill's book is on sale now.

Disgraced former NYPD union boss charged with defrauding fellow officers

Brad Reed
February 23, 2022

Screengrab.

Disgraced former NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins on Wednesday was criminally charged in a scheme to defraud his own union's members.

The United States Department of Justice has announced the Mullins is being charged with one count of wire fraud in connection with "a scheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the SBA, through the submission of fraudulent expense reports."

Specifically, the DOJ alleges that, over a four-year period starting in 2017, Mullins "defrauded the SBA by using his personal credit card to pay for meals at high-end restaurants and to purchase luxury personal items, among other things, and then submitting false and inflated expense reports to the SBA, seeking reimbursement for those bills as legitimate SBA expenditures when in fact they were not."

All together, the DOJ alleges that Mullins racked up bills for the SBA of over $1 million -- and it claims that the majority of it was "fraudulently obtained."

"As alleged, Edward Mullins, the former President of the SBA, abused his position of trust and authority to fund a lavish lifestyle that was paid for by the monthly dues of the thousands of hard-working Sergeants of the NYPD," said United States Attorney Damian Williams. "Mullins submitted hundreds of phony expense reports to further his scheme, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the SBA."

The FBI raided Mullins's home late last year, and he resigned from his position as SBA president shortly afterward.

Former Texas power chief says Greg Abbott directed him to charge customers max amount during winter outages

Brad Reed
February 23, 2022

Greg Abbott

Bill Magness, the former CEO of the Electric Reliabilty Council of Texas (ERCOT), testified in court on Wednesday that millions of Texans received sky-high energy bills during last winter's deep freeze based on the instructions of Gov. Greg Abbott.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Magness alleged under oath that " when he ordered power prices to stay at the maximum price cap for days on end during last year’s frigid winter storm and blackout, running up billions of dollars in bills for power companies, he was following the direction" of the Texas governor.

Magness said that keeping prices as high as possible were the only way to follow Abbott's directive, which was relayed to him by then-Public Utility Commission Chairman DeAnn Walker, to keep power on at all costs.

“She told me the governor had conveyed to her if we emerged from rotating outages it was imperative they not resume,” Magness testified. “We needed to do what we needed to do to make it happen.”

Abbott's office did not immediately respond to the Chronicle's request for comment, although last year Abbott spokesman Mark Miner claimed that the governor was "not involved in any way."

US grant to Nepal puts spotlight on geopolitical rivalry with China

A plan for a $500 million grant has spurred China to warn the US against carrying out "coercive diplomacy" in Nepal. Meanwhile, protests have broken out over ratifying the proposal.


Protests erupted over the proposed infrastructure grant

Nepal is facing geopolitical pressure over whether to accept $500 million (€441 million) in Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant assistance from the United States.

Nepal and the United States signed an agreement on the MCC grant in September 2017 to upgrade the Himalayan nation's dilapidated road networks and build electric lines.

The agreement was supposed to be endorsed by Nepal's parliament by June 2019. However, it couldn't move forward due to differences within the then-ruling Nepal Communist Party (CPN), along with other political forces.

Meanwhile, the US has pressed Nepal to stick to the MCC agreement and ratify it through parliament, while China has publicly cautioned Washington to avoid "coercive diplomacy" in Nepal regarding the project.

US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu earlier this month had warned that the US could terminate the compact if Nepal's leadership failed to fulfill its own pledges to table and ratify accepting the grant by the end of February.

Watch video01:43 Nepal lawmakers mull US aid amid violent protests

Political divisions over US grant

Nepali political parties and citizens are deeply polarized over the project.

The ruling Nepali Congress — a liberal democratic party — has stood in favor of the assistance; while its leftist coalition partners— including CPN (Maoists) and CPN (Unified Socialists)— are against its outright endorsement.

They have dubbed the grant a part of the US Indo-Pacific strategy that aims to counter China in Asia.

Nevertheless, the Nepali Congress-led coalition government on Sunday tabled the MCC bill in the House of Representatives, amid chaotic protests held by supporters of left-wing parties outside the parliament building,

While tabling the bill, Gyanendra Karki, the Minister of Communication and Information Technology, appealed to all parties to endorse it, saying that Nepal itself had approached the US for the grant and that it was beneficial for Nepal's development and economy.

The House is set to discuss its content on Thursday. But it is unclear whether the bill will be endorsed or rejected.

Watch video 03:17 Nepali pioneer improves lives through internet access

US and China face-off in Nepal

The controversy over the MCC compact has dragged the US and China into a face-off in Nepal as their diplomats have indulged in verbal barbs.

US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu earlier this month warned that Washington will review its bilateral relations with Nepal in the event of its failure to ratify the compact by the February 28 deadline, according to The Kathmandu Post.

Strategic analyst Indra Adhikari told DW that the ongoing tension over the US assistance was a sign of how Chinese influence has increased in Nepali society.

China's footprint in Nepal has increased in recent years, especially after an Indian border blockade in 2015-2016, when Beijing had extended vital support, including petroleum goods and agreed to provide transit access to landlocked Nepal.

In the following year, Nepal joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In October 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state-visit to Nepal, in which the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to a "strategic partnership" and signed a slew of infrastructure-related deals, including a plan to build a trans-Himalayan railway line under the BRI framework.

Although a section of Nepali society has questioned the conditions and financial implications of BRI projects, many people in Nepal have been attracted by China's "charm offensive."

During the visit, President Xi also warned that "anyone attempting to split China will be crushed and any external force backing such attempts will be deemed by the Chinese people as pipe-dreaming," apparently referring to the protests and activities of the pro-Dalai Lama forces in Nepal.

Nepal shares a 1,400 kilometer-long Himalayan border with Tibet and hosts almost 20,000 Tibetan refugees.

Protest against foreign development aid

Time and again, the US has tried to clarify that the MCC compact was purely a development grant. However, rumors and disinformation have been circulated both online and offline about it.

There have been a number of videos on YouTube full of disinformation, calling the MCC an American ploy to "trap Nepal and encircle neighboring China."

Talking to DW, Maoist party whip Dev Gurung claimed that US troops could be deployed in Nepal if they became part of the MCC compact.

Meanwhile, social media has been used to denounce and vilify those who make or share independent views or stand in its favor.

Watch video 05:57 Protecting climate change aid in Nepal

Earlier, many leftist parties had called a national strike to protest the MCC deal, whereas violent protests erupted outside the parliament with police resorting to using tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the crowds.

This is also not the first time that Nepal has faced controversy and politicization over external assistance or investment, mostly from the West.

In the early 1990s, the World Bank signed an agreement to build a 201-megawatt hydropower project and a 122 mile-access road in Nepal.

The World Bank in 1995 withdrew the $764-million deal following a heated political debate, and a request by the then-CPN-UML to the World Bank to withhold the project just ahead of the election in Nepal.

The World Bank didn't return and Nepal ended up facing more than two decades of electricity shortages.

Bikash Thapa, a journalist and writer, who has covered hydropower issues for more than two decades, told DW that the over-politicization of foreign grants and investments has eroded the prospects of foreign direct investment flow to the country, as well as "tarnished" the image of Nepali leadership.

Edited by: Leah Carter

RACIST COMMENT BY ANGLO CHAUVINIST
Vladimir Putin Has Gone 'Full Tonto' By Invading Ukraine, Says Ben Wallace

Kevin Schofield
Wed., February 23, 2022, 

Vladimir Putin takes part in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow's Alexander Garden (Photo: Alexei Nikolsky via Getty Images)

Vladimir Putin has gone “full tonto” by invading Ukraine, according to defence secretary Ben Wallace.

He also suggested the Scots Guards could “kicked the backside” of the Russian president, just as they had done to Tsar Nicholas I in the Crimean War in 1853.

Wallace’s comments come after Boris Johnson accused Putin of behaving “in an illogical and irrational frame of mind”.

Wallace, who is a former Scots Guards officer, made the comments as he chatted with serving military personnel at the Horse Guards building in Westminster.

He said: “It’s going to be a busy Army. Unfortunately we’ve got a busy adversary now in Putin, who has gone full tonto.”

Wallace said the UK has 1,000 personnel on stand-by to respond to the crisis, adding: “The Scots Guards kicked the backside of Tsar Nicholas I in 1853 in Crimea – we can always do it again.”

He continued: “Tsar Nicholas I made the same mistake Putin did… he had no friends, no alliances.”

He made his remarks as the prime minister confirmed that more British weapons will be sent to Ukraine in response to the looming threat of a full-scale invasion by Russia.

At prime minister’s questions, he said: “In light of the increasingly threatening behaviour from Russia, and in line with our previous support, the UK will shortly be providing a further package of military support to Ukraine.

“This will include lethal aid in the form of defensive weapons and non-lethal aid.”

IT'S TIME FOLKS QUIT SAYING "OFF THE RESERVATION" AS WELL

Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine: A creeping process of occupation

The Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Luhansk are making global headlines. Russia-backed separatists declared independence from Kyiv in 2014. Since then Russian control over parts of the Donbas region has grown.

Shelling near Luhansk a day after Russia recognized east

 Ukraine's  breakaway republics

The significance of the Kremlin's move should not be underestimated. It completely overturns the status quo. By recognizing the independence of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk separatist-held regions and, above all, by the deployment of Russian troops to these areas, Russia has drawn a line under what has been its policy for nearly eight years. Up to now these breakaway regions had existed in a gray zone: formally part of Ukraine, but, de facto, under Moscow's rule.

The self-proclaimed 'People's Republics' of Donetsk and Luhansk were formed in spring 2014, following Ukraine's pro-Western opposition protests and a change of leadership in Kyiv. Today, these areas take in about a third of the Donbas region and the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. Like Germany's Ruhr Valley, these areas were very densely populated. Some six to seven million people used to live there.

Both areas have been shaped by the coal and steel industries, but there are also stark differences between them. While Luhansk was generally held to be Ukraine's poorest region, the city of Donetsk was relatively wealthy. In 2012, it was one of the hosts of the Euro 2012 football championships.

Since the conflict broke out, millions of people have left the separatist areas. A majority of the civilians fled to Ukraine, hundreds of thousands to Russia.

What led to the split?

There were barely any signs of separatist strivings after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2004. Back then, the Orange Revolution overturned the presidential victory of Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian politician and former governor of the Donetsk region, amid claims of vote rigging. His Party of the Regions, whose power base was located in eastern Ukraine, threatened to break away, but ultimately did not carry through on that threat.

Yanukovych did, however, go on to become president in 2010, flipflopping politically between Russia and the EU. His final abrupt shift towards Moscow sparked opposition protests in the winter of 2013/2014, and he fled to Russia. The Kremlin took advantage of the power vacuum in Kyiv to annex Crimea. In eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian sentiment was not as strong as in Crimea. However, skepticism about the new leaders in Kyiv was strongest in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Some in the Donbas region also perceived Yanukovych's flight to Moscow as a defeat. Yet the pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian camps seemed roughly equal. According to a survey, some 20% of the inhabitants of Donetsk said they were prepared to welcome Russian troops as their liberators. Around the same number wanted to fight for Kyiv.

In spring 2014, the administrations of several urban centers were occupied and police stations were stormed to seize weapons. Russian citizens with apparent links to the Russian secret services were the driving force. Subsequently, Moscow-backed separatists organized disputed referendums that sought to legitimize "self-rule."

Kyiv attempted to contain the insurgency. The Ukrainian army managed to regain control over most areas by summer 2014. But in August, the Ukrainian army suffered a defeat after being encircled in the battle of Ilovaisk, southeast of the city of Donetsk. Moscow still denies that regular Russian forces were involved. This put an end to major combat. The Minsk agreements of February 2015 laid down the front line. Since then, there has been a shaky ceasefire between the Ukrainian army and the Russian separatists.

Watch video 03:47 Recognition would mean death of Minsk agreement: DW's Vladimir Esipov

Rapid Russification, creeping occupation

From the outset, both regions experienced a rapid process of Russification. It began with the introduction of Russian textbooks in schools and the Russian currency. Russian advisors allegedly helped build up the separatists' forces, something that Moscow denies. Industry in the region has suffered significantly as a result of the split with Kyiv. Some companies were relocated to Russia. Ukraine broke off all economic relations with the separatist areas.

Putin's move seals a long process of creeping Russian influence in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk

In 2019, Russia began to distribute Russian passports to the area's inhabitants. According to the latest reports, some 800,000 eastern Ukrainians are said to have Russian citizenship — an estimated 15 to 25% of the population, although exact figures are hard to obtain. This is the central argument behind the Kremlin's recognition of the independence of the separatist regions.

Ukraine struggled to define the legal status of these regions. Initially, Kyiv described them as "terror organizations." Later, the Ukrainian parliament declared that Donetsk and Luhansk were occupied regions. However, Russia was not named as the occupying power until 2018. Under international law, they both remain part of Ukraine.

Watch video03:04 'The Minsk process is dead': DW's Nick Connolly reports from Kyiv

Language dispute

For decades now Moscow and Kyiv have been engaged in a dispute about language. Russia has long criticized the Ukrainian government, saying it discriminated against Russian speakers. Kyiv denies that. The fact is: The use of Ukrainian, as the country's only official language, has increased in the media and in written communication. However, Russian is spoken primarily in the cities of eastern and southern Ukraine while Ukrainian or a mixture of the two languages is spoken outside those urban centers. Two thirds of the inhabitants of the separatist regions say Russian is their mother tongue, according to a survey conducted by Berlin's Center for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) in 2019. About one in three people said they spoke both languages; only 3.5% said Ukrainian was their mother tongue.

The current mood among the population of the two regions can only be approximately gauged. According to the ZOiS study, which is three years old, about a third of the inhabitants of Luhansk and Donetsk were keen to gain autonomy within Ukraine or Russia. Almost 20% wanted to return to how things were before the split and just as many were in favor of becoming part of Russia without autonomous status. However, it is impossible to check the accuracy of these figures.

This story was originally written in German.

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Kremlin reveals how borders of Donbass republics will be defined

The two breakaway regions are locked in a bloody territorial dispute with Kiev

By Layla Guest

Donetsk, Donetsk People's Republic. © RIA/Ilya Pitalev

Russia will acknowledge the borders of the two breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in line with where local leaders exercise authority and jurisdiction, the Kremlin has announced, after Moscow formally recognized the two regions as independent states. At present, Ukrainian forces control large swaths of the territory to which the separatist leaders lay claim.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, explained that Moscow would support the Donbass republics in their territorial dispute. That meant acknowledging them “within the parameters they declared themselves,” he said. He added that this would be dependent on “when the two republics were proclaimed,” but declined to provide further information.

Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko later added that Moscow will respect the borders as local leaders exercise authority and jurisdiction.

The remarks came less than a day after Putin announced that, amid escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine, Moscow would affirm the two breakaway Donbass regions as sovereign nations. Last week, amid what they claimed was a sharp spike in hostilities, Donetsk and Lugansk announced that they had begun evacuating residents to Russia and had ordered the mobilization of all able-bodied men, should conflict break out.

Read more

 Putin signs ‘immediate’ recognition of Donbass regions

In recent days, both Kiev’s army and those loyal to the two separatist territories have accused each other of instigating aggression in the form of heavy shelling across the contact line. However, Ukraine has rejected allegations that it is preparing to attack, with Alexey Danilov, the secretary of the country’s National Security and Defense Council, claiming “there is an attempt to provoke our forces,” and that Kiev’s troops would open fire only “if there is a threat to the lives of our service members.”

The two republics declared their autonomy from Ukraine in 2014, in the wake of the Maidan revolution, when violent street demonstrations overthrew the elected government. Kiev has long insisted the separatists in the region are Russian-backed – an accusation Moscow has denied. At present, Ukrainian government forces effectively control over half the territory in the Donbass that had been part of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions before the split.

In recent months, Western officials have sounded the alarm that Moscow could launch an offensive against Ukraine. US President Joe Biden expressed concern last week that the uptick in fighting could be the beginning of a “false flag” operation, giving Russia’s armed forces an “excuse to go in” and invade its neighbor. The Kremlin has consistently denied it has any plans to launch such an incursion, however.

Militants attack Shchastya; shell hits apartment building

Source : 112 Ukraine

The shelling has not subsided during the day

12:22, 22 February 2022

Serhiy Gaidai Facebook

The militants continue shelling residential areas in Donbas. In particular, one of the shells hit a residential house in Shchastya as Head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhiy Gaidai reported on Facebook.

"Militants hit a residential house in Shchastya. During the day the shelling has not subsided. At the address of Donetsk, 20 - hit, no victims," Gaidai said.

Related: 54 ceasefire violations reported in Donbas today; four Ukrainian soldiers wounded

He stressed that special services are waiting for the shelling to subside in the city, after which they will examine the house and evacuate the residents.

Besides, the windows are damaged at the house on Gagarin Street.

Related: Zelensky addresses Ukrainians: Russia is legalizing its troops, which were in Donbas

In the Luhansk region, militants are also shelling settlements. As a result of the shelling, residential houses were damaged and residents were left without light, gas, and water. The Luhansk Energy Association reported that the city of Shchastya, Peredilsk village, Staryi Aidar village, Kryakivka village, Trokhizbenka village, and Raihorodka village are completely de-energized

As we reported, 84 violations were recorded from the side of the illegal armed groups in Donbas over the past 24 hours, on February 21. 64 of them involved the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements.

Ukraine crisis: A low-cost disinformation campaign aids Putin’s playbook

Sébastian SEIBT
France 24
© AFP - ALEXANDER NEMENOV

While Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway regions of Ukraine as independent this week, pro-Russia online disinformation campaigners unleashed numerous images and videos depicting Ukraine as the aggressor. Their often crude efforts were promptly dismantled by experts and fact-checkers. But for Moscow, quantity overrides quality concerns.

The disinformation examples abound the Internet: a photo of an alleged Ukrainian armored vehicle on Russian territory, a video of Ukrainian troops on an “invasion” mission infiltrating Russia, or another clip supposedly showing Ukrainian or Polish "saboteurs" trying to blow up Russian tanks.

Days after the Kremlin slammed Western “hysteria” over the Russian military buildup around Ukraine, the messaging from Moscow has changed following President Vladimir Putin’s decision on Monday to recognise the pro-Russian, self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

The new narrative, sustained by a disinformation campaign, is focused on presenting "proof" of Kyiv’s belligerence, which is contradictory to the situation on the ground as Ukraine confronts the military might of its huge eastern neighbour.

The disinformation circulates in pro-Russian groups on the messaging service Telegram and is then relayed by state and pro-Kremlin media organisations. Over the past few days, Russian state media has insisted that Putin has ordered troops on a “peacekeeping” mission into eastern Ukraine to prevent what the Russian leader has called a “genocide” of Russian-speakers by the government in Kyiv.
‘Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy’ editing

The fake videos and images though have not escaped the attention of fact-checkers on the lookout for Russian disinformation on the Internet.

>> More on FRANCE 24 Observers: Meet the anonymous Internet investigators tracking Russian movements on Ukraine’s borders

The video of soldiers "speaking Polish" and trying to sabotage Russian tanks was dissected to reveal a montage of video and audio pieces, according to Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, an Amsterdam -based investigative site that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence. Some of the footage was shot in early February, while editors added footage and sound from a video shot during a Finnish military exercise in 2010.

The image of an alleged Ukrainian armored vehicle supposedly advancing into Russian territory was also promptly and effectively debunked. The Soviet-era vehicle in the photo does not belong to the Ukrainian arsenal, according to investigators at Oryx, an open-source platform specialised in military equipment and technology. “They couldn’t even get that right," said the group in a Twitter post.

Far more sensitive for investigators was a claim, supported by video by the FSB – one of Russia's main intelligence services – that a shell fired from Ukrainian territory destroyed a Russian outpost on the border on Monday.

 

Video: Russia-Ukraine conflict: 'This is a struggle between the Russian Federation and the civilized world' (France 24)

The FSB video was examined by investigators at the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of specialists in Russian military issues, and found to be suspect. "The closest Ukrainian positions” are located more than 37 kilometres from the impact zone, began a CIT Twitter thread. In a series of posts systematically debunking the claim, CIT noted that the only Ukrainian artillery systems that could fire at such a distance would have caused much heavier destruction than the lone damaged hut in the video.

“We find this 'incident' to be yet another in a string of poorly staged pretexts for a possible operation against Ukraine,” concluded CIT in a message posted on Tuesday.

It was not the first time that fact-checkers have called out the efforts of pro-Russian propagandists in recent days. "Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy,” taunted Aric Toler, a researcher at Bellingcat, who monitors "made in Kremlin" disinformation.
Aimed at ‘an already receptive audience’

The lack of sophistication may indeed be surprising. Russia is known to be a master of online propaganda since its agents interfered in the 2016 US presidential campaign. Moscow had, moreover, "already used the same techniques in 2014 to justify the annexation of Crimea", recalled Stefan Meister, a specialist in Russian security and disinformation at the German Council on Foreign Relations, in an interview with FRANCE 24.

Meister believes that "it’s impossible to imagine Russia today conducting a conflict without a cyber-propaganda dimension".

But how then can the well-oiled Russian machine produce such "low-cost" disinformation? "Simply because, for the moment, the Russian authorities do not need to do better," said Meister.

The Kremlin wants and needs to convince its own population. "A military operation in the Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, is much less popular with Russians than the annexation of Crimea had been in 2014," noted Valentina Shapovalova, a specialist in Russian media and propaganda at the University of Copenhagen, in an interview with FRANCE 24.

The authorities have therefore developed a narrative and resorted to images "which are similar to all the disinformation that has been sold for eight years to the Russian-speaking population about Ukraine", Yevgeniy Golovchenko, a specialist in Russian disinformation at the University of Copenhagen, told FRANCE 24.

It’s not the first time, for instance, that Putin has used the term "genocide" to refer to the situation in Ukraine. "This is what he had already done in 2014 before launching the invasion of Crimea," recalled Meister.

This means there’s little need to reinvent the wheel and fiddle with the details of disinformation. It can remain simple and work "because it is primarily aimed at an already receptive audience", explained Golovchenko.
‘Fog of disinformation’

What’s more, it’s not so much the quality as the quantity of disinformation that matters. "The goal is to create so many different – and sometimes even contradictory – versions of what is happening at the border that no one can really distinguish the true from the false anymore," said Shapovalova.

Using what Shapovalova calls a "fog of disinformation", Moscow hopes that the Russian-speaking population, from Moscow to Donbas, will be so saturated with messaging that, not knowing which way to turn, they will cling to the familiar: the voice of the Kremlin.

Disinformation, however crude, can also have its own raison d'être at the international level. "Moscow knows very well that the Western public will, in any case, consider anything coming from Russia as not very credible. The Kremlin is mainly interested in the fact that American and European analysts and decision-makers waste time tracking down this disinformation and talking about it," said Meister.

The purpose of this heavy-handed propaganda may be to divert attention, to create informational background noise intended to distract the opponent.

Finally, another possible explanation is that Moscow is purposely playing Washington's game. "The US has warned on more than one occasion that Russia would create incidents out of thin air before any invasion or military operation in Ukraine," noted Golovchenko. All the Russian propagandists have to do is create crude fabrications so that everyone cries wolf and spots a likely Russian "false flag" operation to justify a war. In short, this is enough to put pressure on Ukraine and NATO without having to move a single tank.

This article was translated from the original in French.

War of words: Are Putin's moves an act of war or a peacekeeping deployment?

Is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to direct troops to the separatist-held regions of Donetsk and Luhansk an invasion? And what are its so-called "peacekeeping" functions? Experts share their analysis

Is the deployment a peacekeeping mission?

The third article of the treaty that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed with separatist leaders on Monday calls for the "implementation of peacekeeping functions by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" in Ukraine's breakaway territories. The Kremlin's decision has effectively annulled the Minsk ceasefire agreement, which was signed after Putin illegally annexed Crimea in southern Ukraine in 2014.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, described Putin's assertion that the troops would assume a peacekeeping role as "nonsense."

Among the principles of peacekeeping as defined by the UN are the "non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate," and the "consent of the main parties to the conflict."

Samantha de Bendern, an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House, a think tank in London, questions the role of the so-called peacekeeping forces.

"What are they going to do? Start policing the separatists? It is a smokescreen. It's part of Putin's disinformation [campaign] and part of his disingenuous waging of war. He has never been able to admit that he's at war with Ukraine, but he is," she told DW.

Domitilla Sagramoso, a senior lecturer in security and development and an expert on Russian foreign and security policy at King's College London, told DW that the deployment is "clearly an invasion" because "there is no agreement between the two sides about the deployment of peacekeeping forces. There is very little doubt that Russia took it upon itself to send additional troops into the separatist region and to call them peacekeeping troops to confuse everyone."

The Kremlin's motives may appear clearer following a unanimous vote late on Tuesday by Russia's Federation Council to allow the Russian leader to use military force outside the country, essentially formalizing Russia's military deployment to the regions held by separatists. It's feared the move could herald a broader attack on Ukraine.

Does the move constitute an act of war?

Technically, war has been going on in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas between Ukraine forces and Russian-backed separatists since 2014. Around 14,000 people have been killed so far in the conflict. An additional 1.4 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced.

The White House had earlier been reluctant to use the term "invasion" but has now shifted its position. "We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia's latest invasion into Ukraine," Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser, told CNN. "An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway."

The EU and the UK, meanwhile, weighed in on what Putin's decision means.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday labeled the move a "renewed invasion." The EU's high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, noted that it was not yet a "fully-fledged invasion."

Under international law, the breakaway regions are still part of Ukrainian sovereign territory. Russia is currently the only country that recognizes these republics; no EU member state has done so. As such, said de Bendern, there is little doubt as to what is happening. "When you send troops into the territory of another place, it is called an invasion. These peacekeeping troops are not peacekeeping troops, they are an invasion," she told DW.

Putin did not indicate if he would send troops across the longstanding line of contact between Ukrainian government territory and the self-proclaimed "People's Republics" of Luhansk and Donetsk.

"Whether Russia moves into the rest of the Luhansk and Donetsk region is a matter for discussion because they would be facing Ukrainian forces. If they advance further then we enter into a hot war with Ukraine," said Sagramoso.

What are the historical precedents?

De Bendern said Putin's actions are analogous to Nazi Germany's military occupation of Czechoslovakia, which began with the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938. "He has created his own artificial Sudetenland and is doing what Hitler did there."

Another historical precedent is the 2008 war in Georgia. The Kremlin dispatched troops from the breakaway separatist region of South Ossetia onto Georgian territory. "They were sent there to allegedly keep the peace and the Russian tanks ended up 20 kilometers (12 miles) from [the Georgian capital] Tbilisi," said de Bendern.

Another area of concern is that Putin may use the comments made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at last weekend's Munich Security Conference about security guarantees related to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.

The memorandum is an agreement between Russia, Ukraine, the United States, France and the UK to grant security guarantees to Ukraine about its territorial integrity in exchange for Ukraine agreeing to give up its nuclear weapons.

In Munich, Zelenskyy lamented that those security guarantees are not being respected. According to de Bendern, Zelenskyy was implying that Ukraine now saw no reason to respect the Budapest memorandum conditions.

"Very few people picked up on what that actually means. What he was really saying is that maybe we should start thinking about rearming ourselves with nuclear weapons," she said. 

While that is highly unlikely, not least because of a lack of delivery capabilities and other infrastructure problems, de Bendern said Putin could use that perceived threat as a pretext for action further down the line.

"And they would say: You did that in Iraq. We're doing it in Ukraine. They're going to bring up Kosovo and they're going to say you bombed Belgrade because the Serbians were killing ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. We're going to bomb parts of Ukraine because Ukrainians are killing our fellow Russians in Donetsk and Luhansk."

There is no evidence supporting Putin's baseless claims that Ukrainian forces have harmed civilians.

Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect that the armed conflict between Ukrainian forces and separatists in eastern Ukraine began in 2014. 

Edited by: Stephanie Burnett

Trump says Putin's invasion plan was 'GENIUS', praises 'savvy' move to send the 'strongest peacekeeping force in the world' to take over Ukrainian breakaway regions and slams Biden for doing 'nothing'

'If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all,' Trump said

'The weak sanctions are insignificant relative to taking over a country and a massive piece of strategically located land,' Trump added

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday sent troops into the pro-Russian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as he declared those regions independent

Biden imposed some new sanctions on Monday prohibiting trade with the Kremlin-backed regions
The president is expected to announced more sanctions Tuesday

Republicans and Democrats urged Biden to use every sanction in his arsenal before Putin fully invades

By MORGAN PHILLIPS, POLITICS REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 22 February 2022

Donald Trump praised Vladimir Putin's plan to invade Ukraine as 'genius' and called the Russian leader 'very savvy' on Tuesday, hours after he put out a statement saying Russia would have never invaded Ukraine under his watch.

Speaking with conservative podcaster Buck Sexton, the former president said: 'I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, "This is genius,"' Trump recalled. 'Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine -- Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful.'

'I said, "How smart is that?'" the former U.S. president continued. 'And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force… We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace all right.'

'No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy,' Trump went on. 'I know him very well. Very, very, very well. Had I been in office, not even thinkable, this never would have happened.'

Trump added: 'But here’s a guy that says, you know, 'I’m gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent,' he used the word 'independent' and 'we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.' You gotta say that’s pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn’t have one for that. No, it’s very sad. Very sad.'

Trump also called President Biden 'a man who has no concept of what he's doing.'

Earlier Tuesday Trump claimed that Vladimir Putin never would have invaded Ukraine if he were still president, and said that Russia has become 'very very rich' under President Biden.

'If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all,' Trump said in a statement Tuesday. 'I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done during the Trump Administration what he is doing now, no way!'

Trump hit out against Biden's 'weak sanctions.'

'The weak sanctions are insignificant relative to taking over a country and a massive piece of strategically located land. Now it has begun, oil prices are going higher and higher, and Putin is not only getting what he always wanted, but getting, because of the oil and gas surge, richer and richer.'

Gas prices have already surged to an eight-year high, and are expected to rise even more as the crisis between Russia and Ukraine escalates.

Biden promised his administration was using 'every tool at our disposal' to limit the effect on gas prices back at home, but acknowledged that Americans would see price rises at the pump.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling on President Biden to get tough with sanctioning Russia after it moved troops into eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday sent troops into the pro-Russian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as he declared those regions independent republics and no longer a part of Ukraine.

On Tuesday Biden announced his 'first tranche' of sanctions that included new financial restrictions on two of Russia largest banks, VEB and the military bank, specific Russian oligarchs, and cutting the nation off from Western financing.

Biden imposed some new sanctions on Monday prohibiting trade with the Kremlin-backed regions, but administration officials initially refused to call Putin's move an 'invasion.' The Biden administration has insisted that it uses sanctions as leverage and is trying to stave off a full-blown invasion.



However on Tuesday, the administration admitted that Putin's move constitutes an 'invasion,' the red line Biden said would result in severe sanctions on Moscow.

'We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia's latest invasion into Ukraine,' said Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser, said in an interview on CNN. 'An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway.'

The president is expected to announced more sanctions Tuesday.

Republicans and Democrats urged Biden to use every sanction in his arsenal before Putin fully invades.


President Biden imposed some new sanctions on Monday prohibiting trade with the Kremlin-backed regions

'Joe Biden has refused to take meaningful action, and his weakness has emboldened Moscow,' Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote on Twitter.

She called on Biden to 'immediately' impose sanctions on the Nord Stream II pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany and to remove Russia from the SWIFT international banking system.

Germany announced Tuesday it was pulling the plug on Nord Stream II after Russia's move.

'It should never have reached this point. There was no good reason for President Biden to kill the Keystone XL pipeline last year while greenlighting Nord Stream 2 at the same time. It made absolutely zero sense. Very bad play calls that were the exact opposite of what was needed,' Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., wrote on Twitter.

Biden last year lifted sanctions on the pipeline as a diplomatic favor to Germany, arguing the pipeline was already 98% complete anyways.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Monday that Biden had signed an executive order that 'will prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by U.S. persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine. We will also soon announce additional measures related to today's blatant violation of Russia's international commitments.'

She said that Biden would announce new sanctions on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday sent troops into the pro-Russian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as he declared those regions independent republics and no longer a part of Ukraine

A tank drives along a street in Donetsk, Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of Russian troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine

Military vehicles are seen on the move on Monday night in Donetsk

Waving Russian flags, people celebrated the latest announcement in the streets in Donetsk, Ukraine on Monday, February 21

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called on Biden to impose 'devastating sanctions against the Kremlin and its enablers.'

'The President should waste no time in using his extensive existing authorities to impose these costs.'

'Now is not the time for symbolic pinpricks that will serve only to embolden Putin and endanger our friends in Ukraine,' said Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Mike Rogers, R-Ala., in a statement.

'Putin's obsession with restoring the old Soviet Union has led to unprovoked and unnecessary aggressive military action,' said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. 'Biden should have issued sanctions long ago.'

'The time for taking action to impose significant costs on President Putin and the Kremlin starts now,' said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who is close with the president, according to Politico. 'We must swiftly join our NATO allies and partners in the European Union to impose forceful new sanctions on Russia, on all those responsible for this dangerous violation of international law, and to provide emergency support for Ukraine.'

'It's really important that we impose the sanctions now,' New Jersey Democrat Rep. Tom Malinowski said after returning from the Munich Security Conference, where Vice President Kamala Harris met with Western allies to discuss the path forward should Russia invade.

'This seizure of additional Ukrainian territory should trigger the start of the sanctions,' Malinowski said.

'The Biden administration and our European allies must not hesitate in imposing crushing sanctions. There must be tangible, far-reaching and substantial costs for Russia in response to this unjustified act,' said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Foreign Relations committee chair.

More than 10,000 soldiers entered separatist-occupied areas overnight, a source with links to Ukrainian military intelligence told MailOnline, with 6,000 sent to Donetsk, 5,000 to Luhansk and 1,500 to the city of Horlivka. 'It is difficult to believe [Putin] could have moved that quickly - but he had a long time to prepare,' the source said.

Meanwhile Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin's order to recognise Donetsk and Luhansk as independent stretches to the entire provinces - not just the areas currently occupied by rebels - raising the prospect he is about to launch a land-grab and spark direct confrontation with Ukrainian troops dug into trenches there.

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As Russia's troops rolled in, fighting in the region escalated - with shells striking a power plant on the Ukrainian side of the line Tuesday morning after explosions killed two of Kiev's men and wounded 12 overnight.

Putin claimed the troops would be moving in to carry out peace-keeping operations.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, dismissed 'as nonsense' Putin's announcement that Russian troops would be in the separatist area known as Donbas as peacekeepers, saying their presence is 'clearly the basis for Russia's attempt to create a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine.' She said he gave the world a choice, and it 'must not look away' because 'history tells us that looking the other way in the face of such hostility will be a far more costly path.'

The U.N. Security Council set a rare nighttime emergency meeting at the request of Ukraine, the U.S. and other countries.


Ukrainian service members participate in tactical drills at a training ground in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Tuesday

Ukrainians are preparing for Russian forces to arrive on their doorsteps after coming onto the country's soil Monday evening after recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as independent states

Germany PULLS PLUG on Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as pressure...

Europe is facing 'its most dangerous moment…and warfare on a...

Putin received no support for his move at the summit, with even close ally China urging diplomacy and a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Russia happens to hold the Security Council's rotating presidency this month and wanted the meeting to be closed, but diplomats said they agreed to an open session under intense pressure from Western and other members.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a member of the Banking Committee, called on Biden to implement all of the sanctions he has been preparing. 'I have worked with my Senate colleagues to ensure the president has the tools to sanction Russia's leaders, its banking and financial sectors, and other critical industries. Now is the time for these tools to begin to be used.'