Sturgeon Lake First Nation marks birth of baby boy, celebrated as first traditional birth in decades

Sun., February 27, 2022

Norma Rabbitskin, a senior health nurse in Sturgeon Lake First Nation, Saskatchewan, says her daughter and grandson, pictured here, were both part of ceremonies and cultural practices leading up to the boy's birth on Wednesday.

 (Submitted by Norma Rabbitskin - image credit)

For the first time in decades, some in Sturgeon Lake First Nation, Sask., feel they've truly welcomed a baby into this world on their own terms.

The First Nation, located about 40 kilometres west of Prince Albert in central Saskatchewan, is one of three participating in a pilot project to bring cultural birthing back to First Nation communities in Canada.

On Wednesday a baby boy was born, welcomed in ceremony and with the First Nations traditional birth practices top of mind.

"A lot of those things were never lost," Christine Longjohn, the First Nation's band councillor responsible for health, said.

"We just weren't practicing them the way we should have, because of all of what First Nations people have gone through."

Help was drawn from elders, knowledge keepers, birth experts, midwives and health professionals both within and outside of Sturgeon Lake to create the community's soon-to-be cultural birthing centre and and revitalize the practices in the community.

Bighead said Wednesday's birth was a great day for Sturgeon Lake.

"We are rebuilding our nation, is actually what we are doing, because when we have healthy babies, healthy children, then we will have a healthy community," she said.

Though a proper birthing facility won't be built until the fall of 2022 at the earliest, the concept design for a new facility is expected to be unveiled in mid-March.

Norma Rabbitskin, a senior nurse in Sturgeon Lake — whose daughter gave birth on Wednesday — said knowledge shared by elders and knowledge keepers with the First Nation is being shared with the professionals supporting pregnant mothers in Sturgeon Lake.

Those professionals put that knowledge to use on Wednesday and will continue to do so going forward.

Soon, they will have a facility of their own to work in, too. In mid-March the First Nation will unveil the concept designs for the birthing facility it would like to see operating by this fall, if things go smoothly, Longjohn said.

Reclaiming a sacred right

Rabbitskin, who said she and her mother were born on the lands, said it was an honour to see her daughter choose a traditional path when it comes to birth — a way, she said, her daughter was practicing one of her most sacred rights.

"It really feels so sacred and I'm really just flying high," she told CBC News on Thursday.

"I'm sure my ancestors are rejoicing, [because] they are happy to participate all the way though the ceremonies because we were advising and we were acting for their guidance for this little one who is coming down from the spirit realm."

Pipe ceremonies, naming ceremonies and songs associated with those ceremonies are among the traditions and teachings passed down through generations associated with birth in Sturgeon Lake, Rabbitskin said.

Those deemed a low-risk pregnancy, she said, who have shown they're willing to commit to practicing the traditions and ceremonies related to birth are invited to partake in the First Nation's birthing strategy.

It's all based on choices though, Rabbitskin said and those who don't want to participate don't have to and can go for a more contemporary approach to birth if they choose.

For some, a more traditional birth is seen as a more welcoming way to bring new life into the world. Longjohn said her own mother was forced to isolate with her as a newborn years ago because she wasn't born in the hospital.

That experience, Longjohn said would be traumatizing for some and is part of what the birthing centre in Sturgeon Lake is hoping to combat.

The work being done in Sturgeon Lake, embraced Treaty Six's medicine chest clause, Bighead said, which has been interpreted to make it so First Nations people have a right to health care, be it through western medicine or traditional medicine.

"I believe, [the medicine chest clause] is why the federal government is forthcoming with the financial and moral support for our undertaking," she said.

Part of a growing history

The Sturgeon Lake First Nation birthing centre and traditional practices around birth are part of the First Nation's efforts to reclaim its health care, rooted in its own culture Rabbitskin said.

The birthing centre and the practices that will be taught through it are part of the First Nation's overall strategy looking at holistic health.

Bighead said in 1995, Sturgeon Lake First Nation's governance transferred control of first-level services, like health care, from what was then the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Through doing that the First Nation developed its own westernized model of health care, Bighead said. That includes legislation that allows for traditional midwifery and other practices related to birthing, allowing for the community to practice its cultural ways when it comes to health care and births.

"At that time we talked about the fact that we are First Nations; that we did not just want to be like any medical clinic, walk-in clinic, whatever you may have, we also wanted to have the opportunity to deliver traditional health services to those membership that wish to participate," she said.

"This is the first very important step and one of many in this fantastic, awesome journey that we are on."

The brain activity of a dying person was recorded for the first time ever

Joshua Hawkins
Sun, February 27, 2022


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A patient’s unexpected death during a study has given us the first recording of a dying human brain. Scientists managed to capture the unique event while monitoring the brain waves of an 87-year-old-epilepsy patient. During the study, the patient experienced a heart attack and died while still being monitored. It’s a unique situation and one that has given us a new glimpse into how the brain reacts at the time of death.

Here’s what a recording of a dying human brain told us

human head and brain

While the study wasn’t designed to record a dying human brain, it did give us some great insight. The researchers recorded around 15 minutes of brain activity surrounding the time that the heart stopped beating. To see how the brain reacts at death, though, they focused on two 30 second intervals surrounding the exact time that the heart stopped.

Upon inspection, they discovered gamma oscillations in the recording. Gamma oscillations are brainwaves we associate with dreaming, memory retrieval, and meditation. As such, the phrase “my whole life flashed before my eyes” might be that far off. Based on what they saw in the recordings, the researchers say that the brain may actually play a recall of important events in our lives when we die. It’s an interesting concept, and one that many have believed for years anyway. To see it finally solidified with scientific research is exciting, though.

Raising more questions

Doctor in a face mask with microscope

While exciting, the results of this study have also brought about some additional questions. For one, Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, the lead author of the study, says that the findings challenge our understanding of when life ends (via New Atlas). It also raises some important questions regarding the time that organs are harvested for donation, too.

The research shows that the mind continues to work in a dying human brain, even when the blood has stopped flowing to it. This means its capable of coordinated activity even after death. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen these kinds of waves in dying brains, though. We’ve also previously seen these waves in dying rats. However, this is the first time we’ve seen it in a dying human brain. Which makes it even more intriguing.

This is just a single case study, though. For any definitive results, we would need to have access to a much larger pool of information. Even then, there are other factors to consider, too. This patient suffered from epilepsy, though. As such, the results from other dying human brains could be quite different. The researchers have said they hope to continue studying the process. The researchers published a paper on the research in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

Helium shortage hampers critical weather balloon launches

Dennis Mersereau
Sat., February 26, 2022

Helium shortage hampers critical weather balloon launches

Starting on March 1st, the world will have one less weather balloon to gather important data about our atmosphere—for a little while, at least. A U.S. National Weather Service office in Florida had to cut back on weather balloon launches due to an ongoing helium shortage, the office announced on Friday. The announcement underscores the critical role these simple tools play in everyday weather forecasting.

GAS SHORTAGE HAMPERS BALLOON LAUNCHES IN NORTHERN FLORIDA

The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) office in Tallahassee, Florida, issued a statement on Friday announcing the office would cut its twice-daily weather balloon launches down to a single launch each day.

Florida Weather Balloon Launch Sites

“Due to a nationwide helium supply shortage, we will be unable to regularly launch two weather balloons per day,” the agency said in its statement.

Many weather balloon sites use hydrogen to give their balloons lift.

That’s not an option for NWS Tallahassee, though.

The office, which is headquartered on the campus of Florida State University, has to use helium instead of hazardous hydrogen for safety reasons. “The majority of NWS offices use hydrogen as they are away from sensitive places,” the agency said on Twitter.

HELIUM IS A FINITE RESOURCE IN SHORT SUPPLY

Helium is a non-renewable resource that’s harvested during natural gas production.

The gas, which is one of the coldest substances on Earth in its liquid form, is in short supply to begin with and it’s extremely difficult to store. Any helium that escapes can’t be recaptured—in fact, it escapes Earth’s atmosphere and vents right into outer space.

It’s not just used to keep balloons afloat, either. Scientists use liquid helium in everything from rocket fuel to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines in hospitals.

High demand and short supply have created several helium shortages in recent years, including the current disruption that forced NWS Tallahassee to conserve its resources.

WEATHER BALLOONS ARE A CRITICAL TOOL

Weather balloons are a vital part of the weather forecasting process.

Scientists and automated stations work together to launch balloons twice a day from hundreds of sites around the world, including more than 100 launch sites across the United States and Canada combined.

A package attached to the balloon, called a radiosonde, contains instruments to track temperature, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, altitude, and air pressure.

The radiosonde relays this information back to ground stations, giving meteorologists a detailed look at weather from the surface to the top of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere where almost all weather occurs.

Plotting out the data from the world’s twice-daily balloon launches can reveal important atmospheric features, such as the location and strength of the jet stream.

All this data gets ingested into weather models to help these computer algorithms understand what the atmosphere is doing now so they can help meteorologists predict the weather over the coming days.

WATCH: HOW AUTOMATED STATIONS RELEASE WEATHER BALLOONS
Click here to view the video

Meteorologists often order extra balloon launches during high-stakes weather events such as tornado outbreaks or impending hurricanes in order to help forecasters and computer models get a better handle on the situation.

The lack of a single balloon per day from the NWS office on the Florida Panhandle won’t affect the quality of weather forecasts, though.

“The reduction of launches will have no impact on severe weather operations or our ability to warn on dangerous storms in accordance with our mission to protect life and property,” NWS Tallahassee added in its announcement.

While weather balloons are a critical tool for meteorologists to understand the atmosphere, the release of hundreds of thousands of balloons every year poses an environmental hazard for the world’s wildlife both on land and at sea.

After a weather balloon finally pops, the shredded balloon and its radiosonde gently drift back to the ground using a small parachute. These devices can be recovered and sent back to their responsible launch agency when someone stumbles across one.

However, many of these balloons are never recovered, especially in Canada, where about 90 per cent of the country’s vast lands are uninhabited. There’s currently no feasible substitute for the accuracy and efficacy of the data acquired by these balloon launches.

Thumbnail courtesy of NWS Charleston, S.C.

ITS BEING ABUSED BY THOUSANDS OF DONALD DUCK IMITATORS

Why Does Inhaling Helium Make Your Voice Sound Funny ...

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/21590/why-does-inhaling-helium-make...

2014-03-20 · Helium's atomic number is 2 and its atomic weight is 4.002602. Its boiling and melting points— -452.1°F and -458.0°F, respectively—are the lowest among the elements. It is the second most abundant...

World's largest cargo aircraft was destroyed during a Russian attack on an airfield, Ukrainian minister says

Sam Tabahriti
Sun, February 27, 2022

One of the world largest aircraft AN-225 Mriya lands for a technical halt.Mahesh Kumar A./AP

Cargo plane Anotov AN-225 Mriya was destroyed, according to Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs.

A defense reporter for the Kyiv Independent made similar comments on Sunday.

US-funded media Radio Liberty posted a picture purporting to show the plane in flames.

The world's largest cargo aircraft, the An-225 Mriya, has been destroyed during a Russian attack, according to Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba.

Kuleba tweeted on Sunday: "Russia may have destroyed our 'Mriya'. But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state."

"We shall prevail!" he added.

The plane was based at the Antonov Airport – also known as Hostomel Airport – according to Scottish publication The Herald. The paper reported Thursday that the airfield was struck by missiles prior to the attack.

On the same day, Aviation24.be published a report saying a source had confirmed the aircraft was in Georgia.

Insider was not able to independently verify the publication's claims.

Illia Ponomarenko, a defense reporter for the Kyiv Independent, said on Sunday that the aircraft was ruined "amid a Russian attack."

And the US-funded media Radio Liberty shared a satellite picture purporting to show the aircraft in flames.

The aircraft, which first took off in 1988, was used to transport large amounts of humanitarian aid around the world, especially at short notice. It was also used to transfer Soviet spacecraft.

Russian flights have been banned from many European countries as part of the sanctions imposed by the EU and the US, as Insider reported.

Coal disaster 50 years later: WVa creek teeming with fish

By JOHN RABY

1 of 9

Destroyed homes and businesses are piled up against each other in the 

Dingess Hollow area of Lorado, W.Va., after the Buffalo Creek Dam

 broke on Feb. 26, 1972.

 (Lee Bernard/The Herald-Dispatch via AP)


MAN, W.Va. (AP) — The day before the disaster hit, Perry Harvey went fishing on Buffalo Creek for one reason.

“There was a gold trout out there I was trying to catch,” he said.

Did he get it? “Nope.”

The following morning, his wife’s birthday, Harvey was on his way to pick up a cake, but police had the road blocked off. Miles away, a coal company’s hillside impoundment dams collapsed, sending slurry thundering downhill and into the hollow, inundating small communities and killing 125 people.

For decades after that, fishing of any kind was no longer an option on the southern West Virginia waterway.

The makeshift dam had collapsed after several days of heavy rain, releasing black water estimated at 132 million gallons (600 million liters). Rescue operations were slowed because roads, bridges and railroad lines were destroyed or blocked. National Guard helicopters picked up survivors and delivered supplies.

The current rose so high that it covered telephone poles. In addition to the deaths, the disaster injured 1,100 and left more than 4,000 people homeless.

As residents gather this weekend on the 50th anniversary of one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, they’re also able to revel in a comeback.

Buffalo Creek, whose habitat was destroyed along a 17-mile (27-kilometer) stretch, is teeming with trout again, after a steady, coordinated effort by Harvey and others to get back what they once had — and share it with future generations.

“My dad and brothers all were fishermen and miners,” Harvey said. “I enjoyed it when I was small.”

He said the adults decided that if they got the kids involved “they wouldn’t be as apt to go out and start worrying about getting on drugs or drinking and stuff like that.”

Long after the Feb. 26, 1972, disaster, the poisoned creek had no life. Dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers helped but did nothing to support trout habitat.

In 2005, the ecosystem took another hit when water blew out of an abandoned coal mine, turning the creek green. That year, the Buffalo Creek Watershed Association was formed. State regulators sued the mine’s owner. The association used settlement money to start fixing the creek.

“That’s the year we really got cranked up,” Harvey said.

Boulders donated by another mine operator were strategically placed in the creek. The association bought habitat structures to further help form the pools that trout prefer.

Volunteers picked up trash around the creek. Local high school students were brought in by the busload, helping them to fulfill the 40 hours of community service required to graduate.

After its pH level and temperature were checked, the creek was returned to the Division of Natural Resources’ trout stocking program in 2006 after a 34-year hiatus.

Jacob Turkale holds a rainbow trout he caught Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, along Buffalo Creek in his hometown of Man, W.Va. Fifty years ago in West Virginia, the collapse of an coal-waste impoundment unleashed a torrent of black water into a narrow valley. More than a dozen towns were inundated and 125 people lost their lives.

 (AP Photo/John Raby)

 Restockings now happen several times a year.

“I love it,” said Jacob Turkale, 25, who caught a rainbow trout Tuesday. “I’ve been fishing here for almost 17 years. I want to fish nowhere else.”

The association will hold its annual kids’ fishing event in April, giving away 125 rods and reels and other fishing gear.

But the disaster will never be forgotten. On Saturday, victims were being remembered at the same high school that served as a temporary morgue 50 years ago.

Harvey’s home was spared, barely. When the deluge receded, he saw bodies along the long walk to check on relatives, images that have been seared into the veteran’s mind.

“It brings back old memories of being in Vietnam,” he said.

Barbara Brunty watched from higher ground with her 3-year-old daughter as their home was swept away along with the girl’s Christmas presents: a toy motorcycle, a kitchen set and a Chatty Cathy doll.

That summer, Brunty cried in fear with every storm and strong wind gust that shook her temporary trailer. Eventually, she and her husband, Arthur, rebuilt on the same spot as the old house.

“We’re going to live here as long as he works here,” she said, adding that without the dam, “we could be over here safely.”

The state filed a $100 million lawsuit against mine owner Pittston Coal; then-Gov. Arch Moore accepted a $1 million settlement at the end of his second term. A separate settlement for survivors amounted to about $13,000 per plaintiff.

Pittston announced in 1999 that it was leaving the coal business.

Jack Spadaro, a mine safety investigator and environmental specialist, has made it his life’s work to prevent such disasters from happening again. He was heavily involved in writing federal regulations and beefed-up criteria for the construction of coal waste dams and their maintenance.

Spadaro also wrote the bulk of the state’s report debunking Pittston’s claim that the disaster was an “act of God.” An investigation found the company built the dam on top of coal slurry that had been deposited by an earlier dam, then more material went on top of that.

“It took a mere 15 minutes to totally fail,” Spadaro said. “And people died instantly when that tidal wave came through the valley.”

In eastern Kentucky in 2000, the bottom of a coal impoundment ruptured into an abandoned underground mine, flooding two streams and poisoning a water supply. In 2012, a section of embankment being worked on collapsed at a coal slurry pond in northern West Virginia. A bulldozer slid into the pond and its driver died.

The U.S. Mine Safety Health Administration lists 570 active coal impoundments across the country. West Virginia has the most with 108. Kentucky has 102. MSHA said 49 impoundments pose a significant hazard because of the potential damage from a failure.

There’s also the risk of environmental damage from coal ash, the toxic wastewater left over from burning coal at power plants. Last month the Environmental Protection Agency ordered utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites.

The Buffalo Creek that survives today is calm in places and flows briskly in others, its rapids gurgling. The water is tranquil in the pools where the trout like to hide.

“It just doesn’t seem that long ago that it happened,” Harvey said. “But it brings back memories. I remember that just like it was yesterday.”

N.B. government reaches tentative agreement with CUPE Local 1253

Sat., February 26, 2022,

The provincial government has reached a tentative agreement with CUPE Local 1253, which is comprised of 1,800 members. (Mrinali Anchan/CBC - image credit)

The New Brunswick government and CUPE Local 1253 have reached a tentative agreement.

The province made the announcement Friday.

The local is comprised of 1,800 members and represents school bus drivers, custodians and maintenance workers.

Both parties are waiting until ratification before details are disclosed.

The local was the only one of 11 in New Brunswick to reject a proposed deal by the province on Nov. 19 during strike action.

For the others, close to 22,000 workers returned to the job after going on strike on Oct. 29.

In November, Local 1253 president Iris Lloyd said the agreement presented to her group was not clear enough on possible changes related to their pension plan.

UNHEARD OF

BP exiting stake in Russian oil and gas company Rosneft


 A view of the BP logo at a petrol station in London, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017. BP PLC reported its biggest full-year profit for eight years on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022 its coffers boosted by soaring oil and gas prices that have hiked domestic fuel bills for millions of people. 

(AP Photo/Caroline Spiezio, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

DEE-ANN DURBIN
Sun, February 27, 2022, 

BP said Sunday it is exiting its share in Rosneft, a state-controlled Russian oil and gas company, in reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

BP has held a 19.75% stake in Rosneft since 2013. That stake is currently valued at $14 billion.

London-based BP also said its CEO, Bernard Looney, and former BP executive Bob Dudley will immediately resign from Rosneft’s board.

“Like so many, I have been deeply shocked and saddened by the situation unfolding in Ukraine and my heart goes out to everyone affected. It has caused us to fundamentally rethink BP’s position with Rosneft,” Looney said in a statement.

BP Chairman Helge Lund said BP has operated in Russia for more than 30 years.

“However, this military action represents a fundamental change,” Lund said in a statement.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the U.K.'s secretary of state for business and energy, said he welcomed BP's decision.

“Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine must be a wake up call for British businesses with commercial interests in Putin’s Russia,” Kwarteng said in a tweet.

BP said it will take two non-cash charges in the first quarter to reflect the change, including an $11 billion charge for foreign exchange losses that have accumulated since 2013.

Rosneft's partnerships with Western oil and gas companies have been stymied before.

In 2011, Exxon Mobil, led at the time by future U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, signed a deal with Rosneft to potentially drill in the oil-rich Russian Arctic. But Exxon ended that partnership in 2017, citing U.S. and European sanctions against Russia.

BP abandons stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft with up to $25bn charge after Putin orders Ukraine invasion

Joe Middleton
Sun, February 27, 2022, 11:14 AM·2 min read

BP today announced it was ditching its 19.75% stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft, following Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

The move by the UK-listed company to abandon its holding will cost it charges of up to $25bn and comes after growing pressure from the British government over its relationship with Rosneft.

In a statement released on Sunday, the oil group also said its chief executive Bernard Looney is resigning from Rosneft's board with "immediate effect".

BP said Russia’s attack on Ukraine represented a “fundamental change” in how the company could operate there.

On Sunday, Mr Putin ramped up tensions with the West after he placed Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, in response to sanctions from the US, EU and UK.

Rosneft is also part-owned by the Russian government, and BP has held a 19.75% stake in the firm since 2013.

BP chairman Helge Lund said: “Russia’s attack on Ukraine is an act of aggression which is having tragic consequences across the region. BP has operated in Russia for over 30 years, working with brilliant Russian colleagues. However, this military action represents a fundamental change.

“It has led the BP board to conclude, after a thorough process, that our involvement with Rosneft, a state-owned enterprise, simply cannot continue. We can no longer support BP representatives holding a role on the Rosneft board.

“The Rosneft holding is no longer aligned with BP‘s business and strategy and it is now the board’s decision to exit BP‘s shareholding in Rosneft. The BP board believes these decisions are in the best long-term interests of all our shareholders.”

Ukrainian refugees arrive from their homeland at Zahonyi railway station close to the Hungarian-Ukrainian border (AFP/Getty)

Members of civil defense prepare Molotov cocktails in a yard in Kyiv, Ukraine (AP)

Mr Looney added: “Like so many, I have been deeply shocked and saddened by the situation unfolding in Ukraine and my heart goes out to everyone affected.

“It has caused us to fundamentally rethink BP‘s position with Rosneft.

“I am convinced that the decisions we have taken as a board are not only the right thing to do, but are also in the long-term interests of BP.”

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng held a virtual call with Mr Looney for around 20 minutes on Friday to discuss the company’s position.

Today, he said: “I welcome BP‘s decision to exit its shareholding in Rosneft oil company.

“Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine must be a wake-up call for British businesses with commercial interests in Putin’s Russia.”

BP admitted last year that sanctions on Russia could be problematic for its business, as global leaders are lining up to impose an even more stringent economic retaliation against the Kremlin.

The company, which co-owns Rosneft with the Russian government, said in its annual report that “events in or relating to Russia, including trade restrictions and other sanctions, could adversely impact our income and investment in or relating to Russia”.

Additional reporting by agencies

Crime watch: ICC prosecutor is monitoring Ukraine invasion
By MIKE CORDER

1 of 4

A man walks past a building damaged following a rocket attack, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. The International Criminal Court's prosecutor has put combatants and their commanders on notice that he is monitoring Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity. But, at the same time, Prosecutor Karim Khan acknowledges that he cannot investigate the crime of aggression. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)


THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor has put combatants and their commanders on notice that he is monitoring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But Prosecutor Karim Khan acknowledged that he cannot investigate the issue that is being most talked-about at this stage of the invasion — the crime of aggression.

Western leaders have widely condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to invade Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said the invasion “was always about naked aggression, about Putin’s desire for empire by any means necessary,” while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it “Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression.”

While the global treaty that established the Hague-based court in 2002 has been updated to include the crime of aggression since 2018, Khan said he does not have jurisdiction over that because neither Ukraine nor Russia is among the court’s 123 member states.

The only way the court could get jurisdiction over the crime of aggression in the conflict in Ukraine is if the United Nations Security Council were to call on the ICC to investigate.

That “ain’t going to happen,” said Brendan Plant, a Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and Downing College at the University of Cambridge, because Russia is one of the council’s veto-wielding permanent members.

Putin has sought to justify his invasion by warning that pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine faced what he called genocide from Ukrainian forces.

Plant called it a “concocted” legal justification.

“Even if this twisted invocation of the right of self-defense were accepted, it’s extremely difficult to see how such a wide-scale invasion, with incursions across multiple sites across the country, well beyond even the most expansive territorial claims of the separatist regions, could be justified as a necessary and proportionate act of self-defense,” he said.

While the crime of aggression is out of the global court’s reach, crimes committed during the conflict are not.

Khan said his office “may exercise its jurisdiction over and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within the territory of Ukraine.” That’s because Ukraine, while not a member state, has accepted the court’s jurisdiction.

In a warning that could apply to Russia’s civilian and military leadership, Khan said that “any person who commits such crimes, including by ordering, inciting or contributing in another manner to the commission of these crimes may be liable to prosecution before the Court.”

He added: “It is imperative that all parties to the conflict respect their obligations under international humanitarian law.”

War crimes and crimes against humanity cover numerous offenses committed during armed conflicts including murder, torture, rape and forced expulsions of civilians. Laws governing the conduct of war aim to rein in disproportionate use of force and protect civilians and troops no longer participating in fighting such as prisoners and the wounded. They also prohibit attacks on civilian targets and infrastructure such as hospitals and on cultural and religious sites like churches.

Rights group Amnesty International said Friday that Russia’s invasion was “marked by indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and strikes on protected objects such as hospitals.”

The group made the claim after analyzing photos, video and satellite imagery of three attacks carried out in the early hours of Feb. 24.

“The Russian government, which falsely claims to use only precision-guided weapons, should take responsibility for these acts,” said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute individual perpetrators and their commanders responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, in cases where nations are unable or unwilling to hold their own trials. The crime of aggression was added later to the list of offenses in the Rome Statute treaty that founded the court.

While the ICC cannot prosecute anybody for aggression in the Ukraine invasion, there is another avenue, said Carsten Stahn, a professor of international criminal law and global justice at Leiden University.

“We have around 40 states in the world which have actually legislation on the crime of aggression, and some of them could use this legislation also in order to in order to exercise jurisdiction over aggression,” Stahn said.

Universal jurisdiction is invoked by some nations in cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity, allowing them to prosecute crimes committed outside their own borders.

One of the highest profile examples of its use was against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested in London in 1998 on a Spanish warrant. He ultimately was not put on trial due to ill health, but his case served as a warning for leaders accused of crimes that they may no longer be able to travel the world with impunity.

Although Ukraine is not a member of the ICC, it has accepted the court’s jurisdiction over alleged crimes on its territory dating back to 2013. That acceptance forms the legal underpinning for Khan’s warning to combatants that he could prosecute crimes committed during the Russian invasion.

The court already has conducted a preliminary probe into crimes linked to the violent suppression of pro-European protests in Kyiv in 2013-2014 and allegations of crimes in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and eastern Ukraine.

In December 2020, the then-ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the probe uncovered indications that “a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the Court have been committed” in Ukraine. However, the court’s prosecutors have not yet sought permission from judges to open a full-scale investigation.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the tensions between Russia and Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

War via TikTok: Russia’s new tool for propaganda machine

By DAVID KLEPPER

FILE - Russia's President Vladimir Putin appears on a television screen at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany, Feb. 25, 2022. Russia is revving up its sophisticated propaganda machine as its military advances in neighboring Ukraine. Analysts who monitor propaganda and disinformation say they've seen a sharp increase in online activity linked to the Russian state in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)


The Russian TikTok video has it all: a cat, puppies and a pulsing background beat. It’s cute, watchable and hardly seems the stuff of state propaganda.

In 2014, Russia flooded the internet with fake accounts pushing disinformation about its takeover of Crimea. Eight years later, experts say Russia is mounting a far more sophisticated effort as it invades Ukraine.

Armies of trolls and bots stir up anti-Ukrainian sentiment. State-controlled media outlets look to divide Western audiences. Clever TikTok videos serve up Russian nationalism with a side of humor.

The effort amounts to an emerging part of Russia’s war arsenal with the shaping of opinion through orchestrated disinformation fighting alongside actual troops and weapons.

In the cat video, a husky puppy identified by a digitally inserted U.S. flag swipes at the tail of a tabby identified by a Russian flag. The cat responds with a ferocious jab that sends the hapless dog scurrying. The clip, which has been viewed 775,000 times in two weeks, is the work of an account named Funrussianprezident that boasts 310,000 followers. Almost all of its videos feature pro-Russian content.

“It could just be a patriotic Russian fighting the good fight as they see it, or it could easily be something directly affiliated with the state,” said Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation researcher and expert on Eastern Europe at the Wilson Center in Washington. “Russia has been perfecting these tactics.”

Now they are putting them in play.

Analysts at several different research organizations contacted by The Associated Press said they are seeing a sharp increase in online activity by groups affiliated with the Russian state. That’s in keeping with Russia’s strategy of using social media and state-run outlets to galvanize domestic support while seeking to destabilize the Western alliance.

Across the internet, there’s been a rapid uptick in suspicious accounts spreading anti-Ukrainian content, according to a report from Cyabra, an Israeli tech company that works to detect disinformation.

Cyabra’s analysts tracked thousands of Facebook and Twitter accounts that had recently posted about Ukraine. They saw a sudden and dramatic increase in anti-Ukrainian content in the days immediately before the invasion. On Valentine’s Day, for instance, the number of anti-Ukrainian posts created by the sample of Twitter accounts jumped by 11,000% when compared with just days earlier. Analysts believe a significant portion of the accounts are inauthentic and controlled by groups linked to the Russian government.

“When you see an 11,000% increase, you know something is going on,” said Cyabra CEO Dan Brahmy. “No one can know who is doing this behind the scenes. We can only guess.”

The work has been underway for some time.

Researchers at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab analyzed 3,000 articles by 10 state-owned Russian news outlets and noticed a big increase in unfounded claims that Ukraine was poised to strike separatist groups. Overall, Russian media claims of Ukrainian aggression surged by 50% in January, according to the research.

“This is the way they go to war; it’s a central part of Russian doctrine,” said Jim Ludes, a former U.S. defense analyst who now directs the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University. Ludes said Russian disinformation campaigns are intended to galvanize Russian support while confusing and dividing the country’s opponents.

Russia tailors its propaganda message for specific audiences.

For Russians and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, the message is that Russia is trying to defend its own people against Western-fueled aggression and persecution in Ukraine. Similar tactics have been used, including by Nazi Germany when it invaded Czechoslovakia under the guise of protecting ethnic Germans living there, Ludes noted.

“It’s not good guys who use this tactic,” Ludes said. “It’s the language of conquest, not the language of democracy.”

Russia is also using disinformation to confound and demoralize its opponents. For instance, the Kremlin said it resumed fighting Saturday after pausing for possible talks with Ukraine. But AP journalists in various areas of Ukraine witnessed that the Russian offensive never stopped.

The chaotic information environment surrounding the invasion led to confusing and sometimes contradictory accounts. On Friday Ukrainian officials reported that all troops stationed on the strategic Snake Island had been killed after defiantly refusing Russian demands to surrender. Russian state TV later showed what it claimed was footage of the soldiers alive in custody. The AP was unable to immediately verify either claim.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has information indicating Russia is publicizing false reports about widespread surrenders of Ukrainian troops and claims that Moscow plans to “threaten killing family members of Ukrainian soldiers if they do not surrender,” according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.

Russia has also employed cyberattacks in its invasion of Ukraine, and while they pose a serious threat, online propaganda can leave even more lasting damage if it succeeds, according to retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Nagata, a former director of strategic operational planning at the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center.

“What is far more dangerous is Russia’s ability to influence what populations everywhere believe,” Nagata said. “To get them to believe things that are useful for Russian strategic interests... If you’re able to change what an entire population believes, you may not have to attack anything.”

In the West, Russia seeks to sow division and reduce the chances of a unified international response. It does this in part through a stable of state-controlled media outlets such as Sputnik and RT, which publish in English, Spanish and several other languages.

“The invasion is off,” read one headline in RT last week, just days before Russian troops moved into eastern Ukraine. “Tucker Carlson Slams Biden for Focusing on Putin, Ukraine Instead of US Domestic Problems,” reads another in Sputnik News, reflecting a common Russian practice: cite government critics in the U.S. (like Fox News host Carlson) to suggest America’s leaders are out of touch.

The European Union signaled its concerns about RT on Wednesday when it included RT’s editor-in-chief on a list of sanctions imposed on Russian officials. The EU called RT’s leader, Margarita Simonyan “a central figure of the government propaganda.”

On Friday, Facebook announced that it would prohibit RT from running ads on its site and said it would expand its use of labels to identify state-run media.

Ludes said he’s been pleased to see the U.S and its allies forcefully push back on Russian disinformation and even seek to preempt it by publicly disclosing Russia’s plans.

“The Biden administration has demonstrated some creativity in using intelligence to respond,” he said. “We haven’t seen that from the West since the cold war days.”

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Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Matthew Lee and Nathan Ellgren in Washington contributed to this report.

WAR IS ECOCIDE
Russia hits Ukraine fuel supplies, airfields in new attacks
By YURAS KARMANAU, JIM HEINTZ, VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and ZEKE MILLER

 PHOTO GALLERY 1 of 31

Ukrainian soldiers take positions outside a military facility after an explosion in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine's capital Saturday, and street fighting broke out as city officials urged residents to take shelter. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)


KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed a wave of attacks on Ukraine targeting airfields and fuel facilities in what appeared to be the next phase of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance. The U.S. and EU responded with weapons and ammunition for the outnumbered Ukrainians and powerful sanctions intended to further isolate Moscow.

Huge explosions lit up the sky early Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, where people hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.

Flames billowed into the sky before dawn from an oil depot near an air base in Vasylkiv, where there has been intense fighting, according to the town’s mayor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said another explosion was at the civilian Zhuliany airport.

Zelenskyy’s office also said Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, prompting the government to warn people to protect themselves from the smoke by covering their windows with damp cloth or gauze.

“We will fight for as long as needed to liberate our country,” Zelenskyy vowed.

Terrified men, women and children sought safety inside and underground, and the government maintained a 39-hour curfew to keep people off the streets. More than 150,000 Ukrainians fled for Poland, Moldova and other neighboring countries, and the United Nations warned the number could grow to 4 million if fighting escalates.

President Vladimir Putin hasn’t disclosed his ultimate plans, but Western officials believe he is determined to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.

To aid Ukraine’s ability to hold out, the U.S. pledged an additional $350 million in military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, body armor and small arms. Germany said it would send missiles and anti-tank weapons to the besieged country and that it would close its airspace to Russian planes.

The U.S., European Union and United Kingdom agreed to block “selected” Russian banks from the SWIFT global financial messaging system, which moves money around more than 11,000 banks and other financial institutions worldwide, part of a new round of sanctions aiming to impose a severe cost on Moscow for the invasion. They also agreed to impose ”restrictive measures” on Russia’s central bank.

It was unclear how much territory Russian forces had seized or to what extent their advance had been stalled. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said “the speed of the Russian advance has temporarily slowed likely as a result of acute logistical difficulties and strong Ukrainian resistance.”

A senior U.S. defense official said more than half the Russian combat power that was massed along Ukraine’s borders had entered the country and Moscow has had to commit more fuel supply and other support units inside Ukraine than originally anticipated. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal U.S. assessments.

The curfew forcing everyone in Kyiv inside was set to last through Monday morning. The relative quiet of the capital was sporadically broken by gunfire.

Fighting on the city’s outskirts suggested that small Russian units were trying to clear a path for the main forces. Small groups of Russian troops were reported inside Kyiv, but Britain and the U.S. said the bulk of the forces were 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the city’s center as of Saturday afternoon.

Russia claims its assault on Ukraine from the north, east and south is aimed only at military targets, but bridges, schools and residential neighborhoods have been hit.

Ukraine’s health minister reported Saturday that 198 people, including three children, had been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded during Europe’s largest land war since World War II. It was unclear whether those figures included both military and civilian casualties.

A missile struck a high-rise apartment building in Kyiv’s southwestern outskirts near one of the city’s two passenger airports, leaving a jagged hole of ravaged apartments over several floors. A rescue worker said six civilians were injured.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, said troops in Kyiv were fighting Russian “sabotage groups.” Ukraine says some 200 Russian soldiers have been captured and thousands killed.

Markarova said Ukraine was gathering evidence of shelling of residential areas, kindergartens and hospitals to submit to The Hague as possible crimes against humanity.

Zelenskyy reiterated his openness to talks with Russia in a video message, saying he welcomed an offer from Turkey and Azerbaijan to organize diplomatic efforts, which so far have faltered.

The Kremlin confirmed a phone call between Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev but gave no hint of restarting talks. A day earlier, Zelenskyy offered to negotiate a key Russian demand: abandoning ambitions of joining NATO.

Putin sent troops into Ukraine after denying for weeks that he intended to do so, all the while building up a force of almost 200,000 troops along the countries’ borders. He claims the West has failed to take seriously Russia’s security concerns about NATO, the Western military alliance that Ukraine aspires to join. But he has also expressed scorn about Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent state.

The effort was already coming at great cost to Ukraine, and apparently to Russian forces as well.

Ukrainian artillery fire destroyed a Russian train delivering diesel to troops heading toward Kyiv from the east, said Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister.

The country’s Infrastructure Ministry said a Russian missile was shot down early Saturday as it headed for the dam of the sprawling reservoir that serves Kyiv. The government also said a Russian convoy was destroyed. Video images showed soldiers inspecting burned-out vehicles after Ukraine’s 101st brigade reported destroying a column of two light vehicles, two trucks and a tank. The claim could not be verified.

Highways into Kyiv from the east were dotted with checkpoints manned by Ukrainian troops and young men in civilian clothes carrying automatic rifles. Low-flying planes patrolled the skies, though it was unclear if they were Russian or Ukrainian.

In addition to Kyiv, the Russian assault appeared to focus on Ukraine’s economically vital coastal areas, from near the Black Sea port of Odesa in the west to beyond the Azov Sea port of Mariupol in the east.

Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol guarded bridges and blocked people from the shoreline amid concerns the Russian navy could launch an assault from the sea.

“I don’t care anymore who wins and who doesn’t,” said Ruzanna Zubenko, whose large family was forced from their home outside Mariupol after it was badly damaged by shelling. “The only important thing is for our children to be able to grow up smiling and not crying.”

Fighting also raged in two eastern territories controlled by pro-Russia separatists. Authorities in Donetsk said hot water supplies to the city of about 900,000 were suspended because of damage to the system by Ukrainian shelling.

The U.S. government urged Zelenskyy early Saturday to evacuate Kyiv but he turned down the offer, according to a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation. Zelenskyy issued a defiant video recorded on a downtown street, saying he remained in the city.

“We aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country,” he said. “Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that.”

Hungary and Poland both opened their borders to Ukrainians.

Refugees arriving in the Hungarian border town of Zahony said men between the ages of 18 and 60 were not being allowed to leave Ukraine.

“My son was not allowed to come. My heart is so sore, I’m shaking,” said Vilma Sugar, 68.

At Poland’s Medyka crossing, some said they had walked for 15 miles (35 kilometers) to reach the border.

“They didn’t have food, no tea, they were standing in the middle of a field, on the road, kids were freezing,” Iryna Wiklenko said as she waited on the Polish side for her grandchildren and daughter-in-law to make it across.

Officials in Kyiv urged residents to stay away from windows to avoid debris or bullets.

Shelves were sparsely stocked at grocery stores and pharmacies, and people worried how long food and medicine supplies might last.

The U.S. and its allies have beefed up forces on NATO’s eastern flank but so far have ruled out deploying troops to fight Russia. Instead, the U.S., the European Union and other countries have slapped wide-ranging sanctions on Russia, freezing the assets of businesses and individuals including Putin and his foreign minister.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, warned that Moscow could react by opting out of the last remaining nuclear arms pact, freezing Western assets and cutting diplomatic ties.

“There is no particular need in maintaining diplomatic relations,” Medvedev said. “We may look at each other in binoculars and gunsights.”

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Isachenkov reported from Moscow, and Miller from Washington. Francesca Ebel, Josef Federman and Andrew Drake in Kyiv; Mstyslav Chernov and Nic Dumitrache in Mariupol, Ukraine; and other AP journalists from around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the Ukraine crisis at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine