UK

Vandals poured salt over the community garden Carly Burd planted to feed hungry neighbors. TikTok kept her from crumbling after the 'soul-destroying' tragedy.

Mara Leighton
Mon, May 22, 2023 

Burd and local volunteers responded to the vandalism by spreading two pallets of new soil.TikTok;@carlyburd43

After vandals dowsed Carly Burd's community garden in salt, kind TikTok comments kept her afloat.


Strangers offered Burd encouragement and hope as local volunteers helped her reclaim the land.


Burd, who said she's been unable to afford necessities before, grows food for neighbors in need.

In April, Carly Burd, a UK woman who's been growing food for neighbors in need, was crushed to discover the garden allotment she manages covered in piles of salt — ruining hours of labor and enough produce for 300 families.

Burd, who lives in Harlow, Essex, had started the garden project in June of 2022 and initially believed all of her efforts had been lost. But within days of sharing her story on TikTok, she was overwhelmed by an influx of donations to her GoFundMe campaign and words of encouragement from viewers. The video has since been viewed 5 million times. For Burd, it was the hundreds of thousands of comments from viewers that kept her going.

"I think without the support of everyone, I would have completely crumbled," Burd told Insider. "Having people say: 'Well done, carry on, keep going' — that did keep me going."

Since going viral on TikTok, she's raised £250,358 (or $311,374) for her charity A Meal On Me With Love. Eventually, she said she plans to use the money to buy seed, soil, and cameras that run on solar (she doesn't have cameras trained on the allotment, Burd said, in part because there's no available electric source).

@carlyburd43 #costoflivingcrisis #harlow #heartfm #dailymail #itvnews #bbcmorninglive #community #hometown ♬ original sound - CarlyBurd

For now, she's using the publicity she received to collect donations from stores and shops and distribute them to neighbors in need.

Burd's interest in helping her neighbors comes from her own experience of going without. Burd told Insider she's lived through winters in which she couldn't afford heating. She says finding employment has been difficult because she has multiple sclerosis and lupus diagnoses, and she's familiar with her family needing more than they could afford.

"I've been there many times — being an only parent, and you're stuck in a position where you've got no one to ask. I don't have parents, and you're stuck with the question: who do you go to? There isn't anyone to go to."

When she heard about the looming cost-of-living crisis, Burd told Insider, she decided to rip up her backyard garden and plant as much food as possible. To date, Burd estimates she's helped over 1,800 people by putting together packages of fruit, vegetable, and packaged food donations for families in need.

For Burd, the mission is to keep people from feeling alone. "To help someone else means everything to me," she said. "Hopefully, it means that person doesn't haven't to go through what I went through, because someone is there for them."

Because the work feels so personal, the loss has felt personal, too; Burd told Insider she couldn't understand the vandalism: "It's beyond being nasty or being bitter, it's evil." In its aftermath, Burd has felt anxious and afraid that someone could target the land again.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Burd credits the internet with helping her feel less alone in a loss that she described as "soul-destroying." Burd said she originally joined TikTok to gain visibility for potential local volunteers, and he didn't realize her video had gone viral until her son notified her. The avalanche of kind comments (as well as some snark) was so plentiful that she felt completely overwhelmed. "I couldn't use my phone for two days," she said.

More than a month after vandals dumped piles of salt on her land, Burd and local volunteers have since spread new soil and replanted potatoes and onions. Burd, who's grateful for the support, said she's just waiting to get her confidence back. Then, she said, she'll figure out how to move forward.

@carlyburd43 #costoflivingcrisis #harlow #heartfm #itvnews #bbcmorninglive #hometown #community #thankyou ♬ original sound - CarlyBurd

According to Burd, the Essex police are still looking into the case. Burd said in a recent video that she believed the person who did this was a "grower" who understood that the salt would destroy the crops.

"It was over five kilograms worth of salt," she said in a video posted on April 12. "It wasn't a child going to his mum's kitchen cupboard and doing it just for fun. It was a lot of salt."

"I'm not gonna let them get to me," Burd said of the vandals. "Nothing will let them get to me. They could do it 50 times, and I'll still keep going. I will just keep fighting, like I always do, and keep trying to make the biggest change that I

ROFLMAO

PNG won't be used for 'offensive military operations' - prime minister

APEC summit in Bangkok


By Kirsty Needham

Mon, May 22, 2023 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea (PNG) will not be used as a base for "war to be launched", and a defence agreement with the United States prohibited "offensive military operations", its prime minister said on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday a defence cooperation deal signed with PNG earlier that day would expand the Pacific island nation's capabilities and make it easier for the U.S. military to train with its forces.

The deal sparked student protests amid concern it could embroil PNG in strategic competition between the U.S. and China.

Prime Minister James Marape said the agreement was not a treaty and did not need to be ratified by parliament, adding he would release it in full for public scrutiny on Thursday.

"It's not a military base to be set up here for war to be launched," he told radio station 100FM.

"There's a specific clause that says that this partnership is not a partnership for PNG to be used as a place for launching offensive military operations from Papua New Guinea," he said.

The United States and its allies are seeking to deter Pacific island nations from building security ties with China, a rising concern amid tension over Taiwan, and after Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year.

China has been a major infrastructure investor in PNG, which sits near important sea lanes and international submarine cables linking the United States and ally Australia, that were crucial in World War Two.

Marape said PNG's military is the weakest in the region at a time of high tensions. The boost provided by the United States would also improve domestic security and encourage more foreign investors to set up in the country of 9 million that is rich in natural resources but largely undeveloped.

"There will be substantial infrastructure investment" flowing from the deal, in airports, ports, roads, communications and electricity to benefit the public, he said, while not giving details.

Subsidiary agreements that will determine how the U.S. military and civilian contractors come into PNG are being worked out, he said.

Australia has welcomed the defence cooperation agreement between its closest neighbour and the United States.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Papua New Guinea to sign security pact with US, PM says

Issued on: 18/05/2023 

Port Moresby (AFP) – Papua New Guinea will sign a security pact with the United States that gives American troops access to the Pacific nation's ports and airports, its leader said Thursday, as Washington jostles for influence in the region with Beijing.

US President Joe Biden has placed more importance on the Pacific over concerns about an increasingly assertive China, which is trying to woo nations with an array of diplomatic and financial incentives in return for strategic support.

Prime Minister James Marape said two agreements focusing on defence cooperation and maritime surveillance had been agreed with Washington and would be formally signed at the earliest opportunity after parliamentary approval.

"We are elevating to a specific defence cooperation agreement, something that is falling short of a treaty," he told a press conference.

"We are moving ahead, we are signing with the best military on the face of planet Earth."

The agreements, which can be renewed every 15 years, will give the United States vital movement in Papua New Guinea's waters near sea routes to Australia and Japan, in return for access to US satellite surveillance, he said.

"It now gives us an opportune time to focus not just on maritime access but satellite access on... illegal activities on the high sea," Marape said.

A leaked draft version of the defence cooperation agreement showed American forces would have broad autonomy at some of the country's key entry points, but Marape said any access would have to be approved by his government.

"The ports, the infrastructure... will not in any way stand to be exclusively used by the military," he said.

"They would always be asking our defence to have access to our facilities."

Biden -- whose uncle died in Papua New Guinea in the Second World War -- cancelled a historic first visit to the most populous South Pacific nation next week because of domestic debt ceiling crisis talks.

Marape said Secretary of State Antony Blinken would instead attend the summit with Pacific leaders in Port Moresby on Monday.

Washington is courting Pacific nations more intensely after the Solomon Islands became the unlikely epicentre of a diplomatic tussle between the United States and China last year when it signed a security pact with Beijing.

Marape said Papua New Guinea's pact with Washington would not prevent it from negotiating such deals with other nations, including China.

© 2023 AFP

#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA

Hundreds rally in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir against India G20 meet

SILENCE IS COMPLICITY

Abu Arqam Naqash
Mon, May 22, 2023 

Protest against the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting, in Muzaffarabad


By Abu Arqam Naqash

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Hundreds of people rallied in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Monday to protest arch rival India's decision to host a G20 tourism meeting in its part of the disputed Himalayan region, said a government official.

New Delhi is hosting the key conference in Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar from Monday to Wednesday, a move which Pakistan and longtime ally China have opposed.

Several protesters demonstrated in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and other cities, chanting: "Go India go back and boycott, boycott G20 boycott!" , said the official Raja Azhar Iqbal.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari visited the region and addressed Kashmir's legislative assembly on Monday. He termed the G20 gathering as illegal, and an attempt by India to seek legitimacy over its control of the disputed region.

"India is misusing its position as G20 chair," he said, and urged the world to take note of New Delhi's "gross human rights violations" since India scrapped Kashmir's special status in August 2019 and converted it into a federal territory.

The G20 tourism working group meeting is the first international event in the region since the conversion.

Indian foreign ministry didn't respond to a request for a comment.

Nuclear-armed nations, Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, which they each claim in full but control parts of.

G20 consists of 19 rich nations and the European Union. India at present holds it presidency, and is set to host its annual summit in New Delhi in September.

India hopes the meeting will help revive international tourism in the scenic Kashmir Valley which has been roiled by a violent Islamist insurgency against Indian rule since 1989, although violence levels have fallen in recent years and domestic tourism boomed.

(This story has been corrected to fix description of Kashmir's status from 'independent' to 'special' and India's action from 'annexed' to 'converted it into a federal territory' in paragraph 5, and 'annexation' to 'conversion' in paragraph 6)

(Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

G20 delegates begin meeting in disputed Kashmir, with region's intense security largely out of view 


Mon, May 22, 2023 

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Delegates from the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations began a meeting on tourism in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday that was condemned by China and Pakistan, as authorities reduced the visibility of security in the disputed region’s main city.

The meeting is the first significant international event in Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the Muslim-majority region of its semi-autonomy in 2019. Indian authorities hope the meeting will show that the contentious changes have brought peace and prosperity to the region.

The delegates will discuss topics such as ecotourism, destination management and the role of films in promoting tourist destinations.

The main city of Srinagar appeared calm on Monday and roads were unusually clean. Most of the usual security checkpoints had been removed or camouflaged with G20 signs. Officials said hundreds of officers were specially trained in what they called “invisible policing” for the event.

Shops in the city center opened earlier than usual after officials asked shopkeepers to remain open. Many shops in the past have closed in protests against Indian policies in the region. But authorities shut many schools in the city.

Mondays’ measures contrasted sharply with the visible security imposed in the days before the event. A massive security cordon was placed around the venue on the shore of Dal Lake, with elite naval commandos patrolling the water in rubber boats. The city’s commercial center was spruced up, with freshly black-topped roads leading to the convention center and power poles lit in the colors of India’s national flag.

Indian-controlled Kashmir remains one of the world’s most heavily militarized territories, with hundreds of thousands of troops. In 1989, a violent separatist insurgency erupted in the region seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which also controls part of Kashmir. India replied with a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, and tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed in the conflict.

India’s crackdown intensified after 2019 when New Delhi took the region under its direct control. Since then, the territory’s people and its media have been largely silenced. Authorities have seized scores of homes and arrested hundreds of people under stringent anti-terror laws. The government says such actions are necessary to stop a “terror ecosystem,” or civilian support for the armed rebellion.

Authorities have also enacted new laws that critics and many Kashmiris fear could transform the region’s demographics.

Indian federal Minister Jitendra Singh told attendees on Monday that Kashmir is changing.

″If such an event was held earlier, a strike call would be given from Islamabad and shops on Residency Road (in) Srinagar would close. Now there is no hartal (strike)," he said. “Common people on the streets of Srinagar want to move on.”

Last week, the U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, said the meeting would support a “facade of normalcy” while “massive human rights violations” continue in the region. India’s mission at the U.N. in Geneva rejected the statement as “baseless” and “unwarranted allegations.”

India’s tourism secretary, Arvind Singh, said on Saturday that the meeting was “not only to showcase (Kashmir’s) potential for tourism but to also signal globally the restoration of stability and normalcy in the region.”

Kashmir, known for rolling Himalayan foothills, has for decades been a major domestic tourist destination. Millions of visitors arrive in Kashmir every year and experience a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers.

The mainstay of Kashmir’s economy, however, continues to be agriculture, and the tourism industry contributes only about 7% to the region’s GDP.

China, with which India is locked in a military standoff along their disputed border in the Ladakh region, has boycotted the event. Pakistan also slammed New Delhi for holding the meeting in Srinagar. Both have argued that such meetings can't be held in disputed territories.

In a speech to lawmakers in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir on Monday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the Srinagar meeting was a “display of India’s arrogance on the world stage" and the region "has become an open prison” for its residents.

India dismissed Pakistan's criticism, saying it is not even a member of the G20.

The G20 has a rolling presidency with a different member setting priorities each year. India is steering the group in 2023.

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Aijaz Hussain, The Associated Press

G20: India hosts tourism meet in Kashmir amid tight security

Cherylann Mollan & Sharanya Hrishikesh - BBC News
Mon, May 22, 2023 

India has stepped up security arrangements in Kashmir ahead of the meeting

India is holding a key G20 tourism meeting in Kashmir amid heightened security and opposition from China.

The working group meeting is being held in Srinagar, the summer capital of the federally administrated territory, from Monday to Wednesday.

This is the biggest international event organised in the region since India scrapped its special status in 2019.

Over 60 delegates from G20 member countries are expected to attend the event.

China, however, has said it will not attend, citing its firm opposition "to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory". The BBC has emailed India's foreign ministry for its response to China's statement.

Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in full, but control only parts of it. The nuclear-armed neighbours have already fought two wars and a limited conflict over the region.

In April, Pakistan, which is not a G20 member, had criticised India's decision to hold the meetings in Kashmir, calling it an "irresponsible" move.

India, however said, that it was "natural" to hold G20 events and meetings in "Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which are an integral and inalienable part" of the country.

In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led federal government had divided the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir to create two federally administrated territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Ladakh is a disputed frontier region along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, and both countries claim parts of it.

The Indian government and several sections of the media have calling the G20 event in Kashmir "historic", billing it as an opportunity to showcase the region's culture.

In the days leading up to the event, India had conducted several security drills in Kashmir. The region has seen an armed insurgency against India since 1989 - India accuses Pakistan of fomenting the unrest by backing separatist militants, a charge denied by Islamabad.

Over the decades, opposition politicians, activists and locals have also accused successive Indian governments of human rights violations and stifling of freedoms in the restive region - which Delhi has denied.

Some opposition leaders have criticised the elaborate security arrangements ahead of the G20 meet

This year, the region has witnessed increased attacks by suspected militants and security officers have told the media that they are taking steps to prevent any threats designed to derail the G20 meet.

Elite security forces - including marine commandos, National Security Guards, Border Security Force and police forces - have been deployed in Kashmir to provide ground-to-air security cover, according to reports.

Security has also been boosted around the Dal Lake and the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar, which is the venue for the meeting.

Schools around the routes that G20 delegates will use have been closed. Military bunkers, a common sight in Kashmir, have been covered with G20 banners to hide them from view.

Local opposition leaders, including former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, have criticised the elaborate security arrangements and accused the federal government of making life even more difficult for ordinary people. In a press conference, Ms Mufti compared the restrictions in Kashmir ahead of G20 to that of the notorious US military prison, Guantanamo Bay. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has not responded to this yet.

A 53-year-old businessman, who did not want to be named, told the BBC that locals had to "face a lot of difficulties" over the past 10 days due to the security arrangements.

"There was a lot of frisking, checking and search operations in residential areas. Many schools and colleges are shut," he said.

He also questioned the federal government's claim that the meeting would boost the local economy, saying that only "permanent peace" could achieve that.

Others have also criticised the decision to hold the meeting in Kashmir.

Last week, Fernand de Varennes, the UN's special rapporteur on minority issues, had issued a statement saying that the G20 was "unwittingly providing a veneer of support to a facade of normalcy" when human rights violations, political persecution and illegal arrests were escalating in Kashmir. The statement was criticised by India's permanent mission at the UN on Twitter.

India has said it will showcase the cultural heritage of Kashmir and promote its tourism potential during the meeting. Delegates will be taken on sightseeing tours and there will be discussions on strategies to promote "film tourism", according to an official statement.

The G20, which includes the world's 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union, accounts for 85% of global economic output and two-thirds of its population.

India currently holds the presidency - which rotates annually between members - and is set to host the G20 summit in Delhi in September.

 GREAT GOTH CONCERT 

Within Temptation - Black Symphony (FULL CONCERT)

It was filmed on February 7, 2008 at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam and this special concert features the band accompanied by The Metropole Orchestra, the Pa'dam Choir, and special guests including George Oosthoek (ex-Orphanage), Anneke van Giersbergen of Agua de Annique and Keith Caputo of Life of Agony.

TRACKLIST:

1 - "Overture"

2 - "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)"

3 - "The Howling"

4 - "Stand My Ground"

5 - "The Cross"

6 - "What Have You Done" (with Keith Caputo)

7 - "Hand of Sorrow"

8 - "The Heart of Everything"

9 - "Forgiven"

10 - "Somewhere" (with Anneke van Giersbergen)

11 - "The Swan Song"

12 - "Memories"

13 - "Our Solemn Hour"

14 - "The Other Half (Of Me)" (with George Oosthoek)

15 - "Frozen"

16 - "The Promise"

17 - "Angels"

18 - "Mother Earth"

19 - "The Truth Beneath the Rose"

20 - "Deceiver of Fools"

21 - "All I Need"

22 - "Ice Queen"

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

TikTok and other social media trends are thrusting performance crimes into the US spotlight

Mon, May 22, 2023 


NEW YORK (AP) — Jonnifer Neal's Kia was stolen twice in one day — first from in front of her Chicago home and later from outside the mechanic shop where she took it to get fixed.

But Neal’s ordeal didn’t end there. After her car was recovered a month later, she was stopped by police twice coming home from work because a police error caused the Optima to remain listed as stolen. The same error resulted in officers waking her up at 3 a.m. another night. On yet another occasion, a swarm of officers pulled her over as she was traveling to Mississippi, handcuffing and placing her in the back of a cruiser for more than an hour.

The Kia now sits in her garage.

“It’s been a few months, but honestly I’m still nervous,” Neal said. “I drive that car maybe once in a blue moon and I loved that car.”

Neal’s story is one of thousands from Kia and Hyundai owners across the country whose cars were stolen or damaged in the past two years.

The sharp uptick has been linked to viral videos, posted to TikTok and other social media platforms, teaching people how to start the cars with USB cables and exploit a security vulnerability in some models sold in the U.S. without engine immobilizers, a standard feature on most cars since the 1990s preventing the engine from starting unless the key is present.

But unlike some social media-driven trends that seemingly disappear just as police get a handle on them, the car thefts have continued. Hyundai has tried to work with TikTok and other platforms to remove the videos, but as new ones surface fresh waves of thefts occur, illustrating the lingering effects of dangerous content that gains traction with teens looking for ways to go viral.

It’s a phenomenon known as performance crime. Police departments in a dozen cities have said it factors into an increase they’ve seen in juveniles arrested or charged with car thefts. Still, criminology experts caution that the role teens are playing in the theft increases — which began during the pandemic and aren't limited to Kia and Hyundai — may be artificially inflated because teenagers inexperienced at crime are more likely to be caught.

Attorneys general from 17 states have called on federal regulators to issue a mandatory recall, arguing the voluntary software fixes issued by the companies aren't enough. Multiple cities including Baltimore, Milwaukee and New York have filed or announced plans to join legal action against the automakers, which also are facing class-action and civil lawsuits from consumers like Neal. One such lawsuit was settled for roughly $200 million last week.

The National Highway and Safety Administration blames the trend for at least 14 crashes and eight fatalities, but lawyers suing the carmakers say the number is likely much higher.

Morgan Kornfeind was driving to a yoga class in Portland, Oregon, at the end of March when a man in a stolen Kia barreled into her as he drove the wrong way while fleeing police. The 25-year-old suffered lacerations, broken bones and extensive injuries to her leg. She needed surgery and attends multiple medical appointments every week.

“I’m unable to work my job that I love dearly. I’m unable to practice yoga or walk my dogs. I’ve missed planned trips with friends because of my ongoing rehab. The idea of ever driving again causes me great distress,” she wrote in a statement.

Earlier this month in Milwaukee, a stolen Kia collided with a school bus, leaving a 15-year-old who was hanging out the window in critical condition. Police later arrested four 14-year-olds, one of whom allegedly was driving.

Many of the calls for accountability have been directed at the automakers. MLG Attorneys at Law, a California law firm specializing in automotive defect lawsuits, has received more than 4,000 inquiries from victims like Kornfeind.

“And the amazing thing is it’s not slowing down,” said Randy Shrewsberry, MLG chief strategy officer.

But some police departments, victims and the automakers also point the finger at social media platforms. Videos posted on YouTube in recent weeks show people breaking into various cars or using a USB cable to hotwire cars. The company removed the videos when notified by The Associated Press.

YouTube removed videos depicting what's known as the “Kia Challenge” in recent months, spokesperson Elena Hernandez said in a statement, while stressing the company considers context when making those decisions.

“We might allow some videos if they’re meant to be educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic,” Hernandez wrote.

In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson pushed back on assertions that many of the dangerous challenges mentioned in news reports had reached mass popularity on the platform.

“There is no evidence any of these challenges ever ‘trended’ on TikTok, and there is a clear documented history that many challenges falsely associated with TikTok pre-date the platform entirely,” TikTok spokesperson Ben Rathe said.

Hany Farid, who stepped down in January from TikTok’s U.S. content advisory council because he felt unable to affect change, said TikTok tends to be defensive when criticized for its content moderation practices. He acknowledged the challenge of knowing where some trends originate because content moves quickly between platforms.

“It’s very much a Whack-A-Mole problem,” said Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley. “Because these platforms were not designed to be safe for kids, or for anybody."

TikTok's enforcement report from the last three months of 2022 showed 5% of the videos the company removed were due to dangerous acts and challenges, with 82% removed within 24 hours.

Like many social platforms, TikTok screens content with a combination of artificial intelligence and human moderators who try to catch whatever AI might miss. A spokesperson said it's easier for technology to spot certain violations, like nudity, than things like teens breaking into cars. The human moderators are a second level of screening when content is questionable.

Users also sometimes subvert the platform's controls by misspelling or changing words in hashtags. Some see that as a loophole deserving attention. TikTok says it monitors misspellings and touted the content being forced away from mainstream hashtags as a success.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, did not reply to a request for comment on how it screens for similar videos.

While the Kia Challenge is the social media crime trend of the moment, it's not the first. And, experts say, it's not indicative of social media creating a paradigm shift in criminal activity.

In LaGrange, Georgia, a city of about 31,000 people close to the Alabama border, before the Kia Challenge the police dealt with fallout from the “Orbeez Challenge,” which directed people to use toy or airsoft guns to shoot small, gel-filled balls called Orbeez at strangers or friends. Lt. Mark Cavender said officers were alarmed when they saw middle schoolers using toy guns painted black to look like real weapons, immediately putting out warnings to stop.

Michael Scott, director of the Problem-Oriented Policing Center at Arizona State University, said social media hasn't completely changed crime.

“Social media seems to be a radically new thing, but the only new things are the speed and the breadth,” Scott said.

There are also plenty of examples of trends in criminal activity spreading before social media existed as it does now. Before there were “rob mobs” there was “wilding” in the 1980s, in which groups of people gathered in public to cause chaos, vandalize or steal property. And before the Kia Challenge, there were groups of teens in the 1990s who figured out they could steal General Motors vehicles using a screwdriver.

Scott, who was an officer in the St. Louis Police Department at the time, said the carmaker was slow to act when officers noticed the uptick in their cars being stolen.

“Even without social media, that technique spread around the country,” he said. “What social media changed, was it sped up the process. Before, you had to know or meet someone who had figured out that all you needed was a screwdriver.”

___

Lauer reported from Philadelphia.

Claudia Lauer And Haleluya Hadero, The Associated Press

INDENTURED SERVITUDE IS SLAVERY

American woman’s ‘tone deaf’ video about returning her Filipino nanny back home after 30 years raises questions about treatment of overseas Filipino workers

Neia Balao
Mon, May 22, 2023

A woman is getting backlash from creators of color after posting what’s been described as a “tone deaf” video about her childhood nanny.

On May 11, Lexie Jayy (@lexie_jayy), a 29-year-old model and content creator based in Los Angeles, California, posted a controversial video on TikTok, in which she reveals that she’s “moving” her childhood nanny back to the Philippines.

In the video, which has since gone viral on the digital platform with more than 4 million views and 563,600 likes, Lexie gives the backstory about her longtime nanny, Elena, who lived with her family for around 30 years. “It had been over 30 years since nanny had last been to the Philippines. She sacrificed raising her son and daughter to get a job in America and send every dollar she could back home to her family.”

“Taking her back to the Philippines is something I could not have wanted to do more,” Lexie explains, while noting that Elena was there for her during the most formative of experiences during her life.

In what was likely an effort to post a heartwarming story about Elena, some viewers took issue with certain aspects of Lexie’s video. Questions inevitably arose, including why Lexie’s family allegedly failed to pay for Elena to visit her loved ones in the Philippines earlier than now or how, after three decades in the country, she was unable to become an American citizen.

“All sorts of things were going through my head at this point: Will nanny’s family take care of her? Will they resent me? How will she fit in? Will she be homesick for America?” Lexie asks.

In the final three seconds of the video, a clip is shown of Elena hugging her daughter “for the first time.”

While some commenters haven’t had a problem with Lexie’s video about Elena, others, particularly people of color, are pointing out how privileged it comes off to the general public.

“her never hugging her own daughter in her life to raise you..” @himerdos wrote.

“… why didn’t you ever fly her home before this,” @perfectisntsexy asked.

“Is she a dual citizen and gained American citizenship? Because she lived with your family for thirty years, which is more than enough for her to gain,” @elouise4921 replied.

Lex (@lexifyign), a Filipino American TikTok user, posted a video in response to Lexie’s, calling for the acknowledgment of the plight of overseas Filipino workers.

“Now, this is a very specific situation. There is a lot I don’t know about that situation, but what I can talk about is the fact that domestic servants are not protected in America,” Lex reveals in her May 19 video. “Because we all know the typical story of an immigrant moving to America and becoming a maid or a servant or a caregiver to the elderly because there are no other options.”

“Although the total number of Filipinas working as nannies is unknown, advocacy groups estimate that Filipinos make up 15% — or as many as 300,000 — of the approximately 2 million domestic workers in the United States,” Ashley Westerman of NPR reported in 2013.

In 2021, women accounted for 60.2 percent or 1.10 million of overseas Filipino workers. Men, on the other hand, accounted for 39.8 percent or 0.73 million of Filipino migrant workers, per findings from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The blatant “feminization of Philippine migration” is further exemplified by the many OFWs who’ve taken on employment as nannies or domestic workers over time.

Lex notes that sometimes an overseas Filipino worker is overqualified, normally qualified or they “just have a degree that is not honored in America.” In an effort to educate audiences on the experience of migrant workers, Lex also references a story published in the Atlantic in 2017 entitled “My Family’s Slave” by Alex Tizon.

“This is relevant and topical, but I am not alleging that this is what Lexie’s family did to their maid,” Lex disclaims about Tizon’s story. “There are a lot of us, and a lot of immigrants who did get lucky. A lot of immigrant children who have benefitted from these people’s extremely hard work, and we should confront that.”

“What’s crazy is she exploited her again by making a tiktok like that for her own benefit. Like she thought that video would gain HER more followers,” @summerofrae replied.

“The level of her lack of awareness and glaring privilege in that video was concerning to say the least,” @ashleybulletjournals wrote. “It was so sad.”

“She is limping, her body is clearly broken down. They used her for half her life and are discarding her now,” @burneraccountboi commented.

On May 21, in light of the criticism she’s received, Lexie posted a follow up video on TikTok with the caption, “talking about Elena,” during which she acknowledges her “inappropriate”
tone and claims to have filmed “a lengthy video going into the details of her immigration process” and “employment.” Elena, however, allegedly requested Lexie keep this information to herself.

“Her word to me, is the most important thing. And I will honor that,” Lexie says. “She reminded me that she and I know the truth of our relationship, that that is what matters most and that hateful people are not interested in understanding.”

“I want to make it clear that I agree with how broken the immigration process is. Separately, I’d like to make it clear that Elena received a competitive wage for her work,” she adds. “She has been in my life since I was three weeks old. It is very painful to unpack why someone would end up as an undocumented citizen, but reducing her life and story to nothing but pain and sadness is untrue and disrespectful.”

Lexie then apologizes for coming off as insensitive.

“I am deeply sorry for the ripple effect of her hurt that my videos caused,” she says. “The spreading of false narratives on the internet can be extremely hurtful and dangerous to all involved.”

In just one day of posting, Lexie’s video has more than 600 comments, the majority of which seem to suggest Lexie is being disingenuous. TikTok users are accusing Lexie of having an impressive public relations representative.

“As someone who works in pr… who did you hire?! That apology ateeeee” @rangersrompsandstomps wrote.

“let’s go PR-approved pre-written script,” @readwithcindy commented.

That same day, Stefannie, who goes by the TikTok username @chiefnosybystander, shared her thoughts regarding Lexie’s apology video.

“OK, for reference, I don’t think the audience is asking about the nature of your relationship,” Stefannie says in response to Lexie defending her relationship with Elena. “I think they were asking about the nature of her relationship with her employers, not the relationship of the child who didn’t pay her.”

Stefannie also points out the inconsistencies with Lexie claiming that Elena’s immigration lawyers “advised her” not to visit her children back home or have them visit her in the United States.

“So it’s a bit confusing to find out now that she was actually undocumented,” she says, also in response to Lexie previously blaming the American immigration system for Elena’s inability to stay in the country.

“Her rich parents could’ve sponsored and moved her family out here. Elena was robbed of her own motherhood,” @heyhayhay86 commented on Stefannie’s video.

“If someone was this important to me, I’d move heaven & hell to get them documented and get their family here,” @noangel815 also replied.

“Its giving my parents attorney wrote this and I’m reading it so I don’t get financially cut off but I still have no idea why ppl are upset,” @theindianajanes criticized.

“Unable to earn enough money at home, an estimated 2.2 million Filipinos worked overseas last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. The majority were women, many hoping to give their child a better future,” Jessie Yeung and Xyza Cruz Bacani wrote for CNN in 2020. “They work as nurses, hospitality staff, nannies and cleaners. Last year, they sent $33.5 billion back to the Philippines in personal remittances — a record high, according to the country’s central bank. But their income comes at a high personal cost. Mothers can miss out on entire childhoods. Sometimes their relationship with their children remains damaged and distant, years after they return.”

While Lexie did not intend to come off as insensitive or disingenuous, her videos about Elena generated a conversation about the often unjust treatment of Filipino migrants and domestic workers, who, after dedicating large portions of their lives to the families they’re aiding, are discarded or shipped back home when no longer of use. Whether or not that’s the case with Lexie’s family remains unclear, but the story about a Filipino overseas worker who, for whatever reason, fails to gain citizenship in the country she sacrificed so much to work in isn’t an anomaly.

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UK

‘I believe in Rishi’, says billionaire behind Tories’ biggest donation in over 20 years

Charles Hymas
Sun, May 21, 2023 

Mohamed Mansour Man Capital Egypt businessman Conservative Party largest donation funding politics - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

The Tories have received their largest donation for more than 20 years from a businessman who said he believes that Rishi Sunak can grow the economy.

Mohamed Mansour, an Egyptian-born billionaire, has given £5 million to the Conservative Party, equal to the donation by Sir Paul Getty in 2001.

This reversed a dip in donations to the Tories after Boris Johnson’s exit, and followed the defection to Labour of former Conservative donors, such as Gareth Quarry, a recruitment millionaire who accused the Tories of being “riven with arrogance and complacency”.

Figures released by the Electoral Commission last December revealed that Tory donations between July and September were overtaken by Labour for the first time in more than a year – £3 million to the opposition’s £5.4 million.

Writing for The Telegraph, below, Mr Mansour said that Mr Sunak had shown himself to be “very capable”, citing him as “one who understands how growth is generated in the modern economy”.

“He gets the importance of technology and innovation. He can make the modern economy work for all UK citizens,” he said.

Mr Mansour recalled how his “life changed overnight” when Gamel Abdel Nasser, the former Egyptian president, seized his family’s land, homes and assets because he did not believe property rights should stand in the way of his socialist creed.

He was already at university in the US which meant, without his family’s support, he had to trade in his car, work as a waiter and “go hungry” as he struggled to pay for food and utilities.

“This experience left me with a lifelong belief in the importance of political stability, property rights and the rule of law,” he said.

This, he added, was why he chose to come to the UK, as “a place where the rule of law is paramount, property rights are respected and with an enviable record of political stability”.

His £5 million is the second biggest individual donation after Lord Sainsbury of Turville gave £8 million to the Liberal Democrats in 2019.

Mr Mansour’s donation contributed to the Tories’ most successful first quarter of donations for five years. The figure is set to be confirmed by the Electoral Commission in early June.

Since 2016, he has given the Tories £600,000 through his firm Unatrac and last December, the Prime Minister announced he had been made one of the party’s senior fundraisers in the run-up to the next general election.

In February, Mr Mansour agreed to a multimillion-pound tax settlement following an investigation into Unatrac by HM Revenue and Customs. This was part of a wider review by the tax office into multiple companies’ so-called “Google tax diversion schemes”. It found no evidence of diverted tax or avoidance.

Last year, he was given a role on the Government’s advisory investment council, as founder of his family-owned investment firm Man Capital, which he established in London in 2010 after moving from Egypt.

Mr Mansour is also the chairman of the Mansour Group, the family conglomerate which employs 60,000 people.

With his two brothers, the company has built close ties as distributors for US companies including Caterpillar, Chevrolet and General Motors. Some of his other interests include Metro, Egypt’s largest supermarket chain, and McDonald’s franchises in his homeland.

Outside of business, he served as a transport minister from 2006 to 2009 under Hosni Mubarak, the late Egyptian president who quit office during the 2011 Arab Spring.

Mubarak was considered a military autocrat who ruled Egypt for 30 years, maintaining his grip on office through a crackdown on political opposition, routinely running for re-election unopposed and stifling free speech. He died in 2020.
Why I donated £5m to the Tories – and believe in Rishi Sunak

By Mohamed Mansour, the founder and chairman of Man Capital LLP

When I was a teenager, my family’s assets were confiscated by the state. Egypt’s president Gamel Abdel Nasser, under the influence of his Soviet mentors, nationalised the cotton industry, taking my father’s business from him.

But he did not stop there. Nasser was convinced that private property rights should not stand in the way of his socialist creed and took my family’s land, homes and other assets.

My life changed overnight. I was already at university in the United States. But from this moment on, my family could not support me. I had to trade in my car, knuckle down and work as a waiter to pay my way through college. I came to know what it is like to go hungry and to struggle to pay for food and utilities. Back in Egypt, my father was left trying to support the family on a meagre salary.

This experience left me with a lifelong belief in the importance of political stability, property rights and the rule of law.

My father was not a man to be knocked down. He set up a cotton business in Sudan, only for that to be nationalised too.

But undeterred, when Anwar Sadat came to office, he returned to Egypt and began the job of rebuilding the family business. I was honoured to continue that work with my brothers.

We diversified the business away from commodities and started to work with firms such as General Motors and Caterpillar. Today, our family business employs 60,000 people around the world.

With that success came responsibility. I created a not-for-profit to offer financial support to businesswomen in Egypt, and we have given more than four million loans. In 2005, I stepped back from my business to serve in the Egyptian government and spent nearly four years trying to modernise the country’s transport infrastructure.

But when I had finished that period of service, I knew there was one country where I wanted to base my business. A place where the rule of law is paramount, property rights are respected and with an enviable record of political stability. This country: the United Kingdom.

I believe that this country has a very capable Prime Minister. One who understands how growth is generated in the modern economy. He gets the importance of technology and innovation. He can make the modern economy work for all UK citizens.

My confidence in the Prime Minister is why I was proud to become a senior treasurer of the Conservative Party last December. I want to give him the best chance of having a full five-year term and so have donated £5 million to the party’s election fighting fund. I look at what he has achieved in his first months in office and think what he could do in five years.

I love and respect this country, which has welcomed my family and me so warmly. It has a proud history and noble traditions. I believe that it has great days ahead of it. I want to do what I can to help this country – the place where I am watching my grandchildren grow up – achieve its great potential.


Former minister under ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak donates £5m to Tory war chest

Sky News
Mon, May 22, 2023

 

An ex-minister to former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has donated £5m to the Conservatives to help them fight the next election.

Mohamed Mansour, who served as transport minister under the late Mubarak - who was deposed during a popular revolution - became the party's treasurer last December.

Mr Mansour said he had donated the amount - reported by the Daily Telegraph as the largest the Tories have received for more than 20 years - because of his "confidence" in Rishi Sunak.

Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Mansour said: "I believe that this country has a very capable prime minister. One who understands how growth is generated in the modern economy. He gets the importance of technology and innovation. He can make the modern economy work for all UK citizens.

"My confidence in the prime minister is why I was proud to become a senior treasurer of the Conservative Party last December.

Braverman facing questions in Commons - politics latest

"I want to give him the best chance of having a full five-year term and so have donated £5m to the party's election fighting fund. I look at what he has achieved in his first months in office and think what he could do in five years."

Sky News' Westminster Accounts project, in conjunction with Tortoise Media, collated all the information on donations that is available through Parliament's register of interest for the first time in one database, with total sums and details of which MPs are receiving how much money and from whom.

It revealed that Mr Sunak received the highest number of donations of any Conservative MP with £546,043 - but he came behind Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who amassed £752,809 given to him by 67 companies and individuals.

This latest donation to Mr Sunak will not show up on the Electoral Commission's register until next month, meaning it won't yet be available on the Westminster Accounts tool.

The development will be a welcome boost for Mr Sunak, who presided over a punishing set of local elections that saw the Tories lose more than 1,000 seats.

Despite the result, Mr Sunak confidently backed himself to remain prime minister for another term in an interview with Sky political editor Beth Rigby from the G7 summit in Japan.

Asked whether he would still be PM after the next general election, Mr Sunak replied: "Yes. I'm working really hard to deliver for the British people.

"That's my priority, that's what I am thinking about. I'm confident we can deliver for people. I know that things are tough right now, but I think we have made good progress in the six months that I've been in the job. I'll just keep at it."

According to Forbes, Mr Mansour oversees family conglomerate Mansour Group, which was founded by his father Loutfy in 1952 and has 60,000 employees.

Read more:
Westminster Accounts: Following the money
How to explore the database for yourself
Search for your MP using the Westminster Accounts tool

From 2006 to 2009, Mr Mansour served as Egypt's minister of transportation under Mubarak, who was topped in 2011 as Egypt was caught up in a wave of popular uprisings that became known as the Arab Spring.

Mubarak, known by his nickname as the modern-day "pharaoh", ruled Egypt as an autocrat for three decades from 1981, and was jailed for years after the revolution that ended his rule.

He was given a life sentence for the deaths of anti-government protesters at the heart of the uprising and was convicted in 2015 alongside his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, of embezzling millions of pounds from the state.

Mubarak eventually walked free in 2017 after being acquitted of the majority of the charges against him in a move that shocked Egyptians.

He died on 25 February 2020.

Tim Scott's biggest financial backer is Larry Ellison, a tech billionaire who owns the sixth-largest island in Hawaii and has poured $35 million into the senator's super PAC


Bryan Metzger
Mon, May 22, 2023 

Sen. Tim Scott, the Hawaiian island of Lana'i, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images; Phillip Faraone/Getty Images.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina officially entered the GOP presidential primary on Monday.

His biggest financial backer is Larry Ellison, a tech billionaire who owns an entire Hawaiian island.

Ellison has pumped $35 million into Scott's super PAC, and could legally give him millions more.

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina officially launched his presidential campaign on Monday, joining a fast-growing crop of GOP candidates challenging former President Donald Trump for the party's 2024 nomination.

Scott stands out from the field in a number of ways. He's the only senator expected to run for president this year, a significant shift from previous election cycles. He's a Black Republican, a relative rarity that offers him a unique vantage point from which to discuss race in America.

One other way Scott stands out: the tens of millions of dollars he's received from Larry Ellison, a tech billionaire who owns 98% of Lana'i, the sixth-largest Hawaiian Island.

Ellison, the co-founder of the Oracle Corporation, has poured $35 million into Opportunity Matters Fund, the South Carolina senator's super PAC — making him by far the single biggest donor to the group.

The Oracle billionaire has also reportedly hosted Scott several times on his island, and the two are said to have bonded over their shared interest in promoting school choice.

On Monday, Ellison attended Scott's campaign launch in North Charleston, where Scott described him as one of his mentors.

Representatives for Scott and Ellison did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Who is Larry Ellison?

Ellison founded Oracle, a tech company that specializes in software, in 1977. He's since amassed a nearly $127 billion net worth, according to Forbes, making him the 4th richest person in the world.

When it comes to politics, Ellison has had a winding journey.

He declared in 2000 that we "should have amended the Constitution to elect [President] Bill Clinton to a third term" and he played golf with President Barack Obama in 2014.

But he later backed Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential campaign, pouring $5 million into a super PAC backing the Florida Republican's 2016 bid, before becoming a prominent support President Donald Trump. He later took part in a call about contesting Trump's election loss in November 2020.

Ellison began contributing heavily to Scott in 2020, giving $5 million to his super PAC in October of that year before following it with another $30 million over the course of 2021 and 2022.

Douglas Peebles/Corbis via Getty Images

Ellison bought Lana'i — a relatively small Hawaiian island off the coast of Maui home to just over 3,000 people — in 2012 from David Murdock, a fruit and vegetable magnate. The island has been privately-owned since the 1800s.

The Oracle billionaire was even once pulled over for traffic violations on the island, which a local elected official touted as an example of no one being above the law on the island.

According to Bloomberg, Ellison has mostly lived on Lana'i since the COVID-19 pandemic, and acts as a landlord or boss to almost everyone on the island.

'Super PACs are just a fact of life'

All told, Ellison's largesse accounts for more than 75% of the roughly $45 million sum that Scott's super PAC has raised in the last few years.

And while federal campaign finance law limits Ellison to contributing just a few thousand dollars to Scott's official campaign account, the Oracle co-founder could theoretically pour millions more dollars into Scott's super PAC.

During the 2022 midterm elections, Scott used Opportunity Matters to back GOP candidates across the country, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads supporting Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina.

Now, with Scott seeking the nation's highest office himself, Opportunity Matters could soon play a key role in backing his campaign. In recent months, he's hired former Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner and other high-profile Republican consultants to staff the organization, according to Axios.

That makes Scott just the latest current or potential candidate to have a super PAC helping them out. Trump's political operation includes the "MAGA, Inc" super PAC, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has enjoyed the support of the "Never Back Down" super PAC.

Even President Joe Biden benefits from the help of a super PAC called "Build Back Together."

That's despite super PACs being nominally independent of the campaigns they're supporting — a boundary that's grown increasingly blurry in recent years.

"This election is going to present a lot of challenges to this notion that super PACs are, in fact, independent," said Saurav Ghosh, the director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, adding that we're in an "era in which super PACs are just a fact of life."

Scott's campaign isn't the first time a Republican presidential candidate has heavily relied on a single megadonor. In 2012, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had the backing of Sheldon Adelson, while former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's campaign enjoyed the support of billionaire Foster Friess.

But in a race that so far appears likely to be defined by a horse race between Trump and DeSantis, Ellison's money immediately makes a candidate like Scott a serious competitor.

And for campaign finance experts, that raises the specter of undue influence, especially given the singular role that Ellison could play in boosting Scott's candidacy.

"It's the problem of the candidate saying, 'I wouldn't be where I am today without his support,'" said Ghosh.

THE T62 AKA THE STALIN TANK

Russia's aging, obsolete tanks are actually doing some serious damage in Ukraine, report says


Mia Jankowicz
Mon, May 22, 2023 

A Russian T62 tank crosses the empty highway linking Tbilisi and western Georgia, August 21, 2008.MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images

Russia's tanks are still a formidable force in Ukraine, a new report has claimed, despite their age.


Though they aren't breaking through at the front line, they play significant support roles, it said.


There are three main ways Russian armor has adapted in the conflict, the report said.

Much has been made of Russia's need to bring decades-old tanks out of storage to send to Ukraine, amid major battlefield losses. But a new report describes how Russia is making effective use of its aging tanks and armor, even as the vehicles are barely able to push forward at the front line in Ukraine.

The report, based on multiple interviews with Ukrainian officers in the field, outlined areas where Russia has adapted after its bungled initial invasion last year.

Ever since their humiliating losses earlier in the war, Russian forces have stopped trying to use armor to break through Ukraine's ranks directly, the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) wrote in a report released Friday. Instead, Russian tanks nowadays effectively provide backup for artillery, long-range firepower, and quick raids.

"The Russian use of of armor has evolved significantly during the conflict," the authors wrote, adding: "While the introduction of older tanks such as the T62 and T55 to the field has been mocked online, these vehicles are largely being used in the role of the fire support function offered by BMPs and other infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs)."

Being able to fire from more than a mile away, when in places where anti-tank guided weapons are thin, the tanks "pose a serious battlefield threat," the authors said.

And although an "inefficient form of artillery," they write, tanks are notably less vulnerable, so can be used in a supplemental way where air defense is poor.

Russia has also been using its tanks — primarily its T80BV — for nighttime raids during Ukrainian troop rotations, the report said, with the aim "to rapidly approach the target sector, fire as many rounds as possible within a short space of time and withdraw."

And some Russian modifications and tactics have also made it harder to detect and hit Russian armor with anti-tank guided missiles, the authors wrote. Anti-thermal materials are now being used, as well as engaging in attacks at dusk and dawn — a moment known as "thermal crossover" — when the tank is at a temperature nearest to the ambient temperature, the report explained.

In recent months much has been written about Russia's military weaknesses, which exposed deadly gaps in a previously much-feared force. The Washington, DC, think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies said in February that Russia had likely lost more than 2,000 tanks since the start of the war, while its air force is hampered by strong Ukrainian air defenses, and morale in its army is legendarily poor.

But the RUSI report sounds a note of caution over other areas — such as bridge-building, engineering and electronic warfare — where Russia's army has shown high competence, and warned about areas, like tank wafare, where Russia's military has shown itself able to adapt.

A top Ukrainian commander fighting around Bakhmut says military experts who portray Russian soldiers as only 'stupid and miserable' are wrong

Bethany Dawson
Sun, May 21, 2023 

Ukrainian artillery teams fire toward Russian positions in Bakhmut.Madeleine Kelly/Getty Images

A Ukrainian commander has contradicted suggestions of the poor state of Russian troops.


Andriy Biletsky, of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, said Russian soldiers were not "stupid."


The comments come as President Zelenskyy said that Bakhmut was completely destroyed.

The commander of a Ukrainian brigade fighting on the frontlines in Bakhmut has dismissed the notion that Russian soldiers are ill-equipped and unhappy.

In a video posted on Telegram, Andriy Biletsky, a commander with Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, said recent victories had not come at "an easy price."

The enemy is not as stupid and miserable as some experts show him to be," said Biletsky.

He added that "The enemy is stubborn and cruel. But we are moving forward. We gnaw out every meter of Ukrainian land. Slava Ukraini!"

Biletsky's comments contradict a lot of previous analysis on Russia's military, which has tended to suggest that troops are poorly equipped, lack training, and suffer from low morale.

The Telegram video comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy conceded that Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been waging a particularly brutal battle, had been completely destroyed.

"They've destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity. It's tragedy," Zelenskyy said during a Sunday meeting with President Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Hiroshima.

"For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he added.

Zelenskyy's office later made it clear that he had not meant that the city had fallen to Russian troops, the BBC reported.

Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade in action

Helmet camera footage of Ukrainian fighters on the frontlines.

@11Knuk123 Twitter screenshot

Meanwhile, Ukraine said it had made advances on the flanks around Bakhmut, where Biletsky's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade has seen action.

Recent helmet-cam footage from the brigade represents the reality of the fierce fighting, showing a smoky ruin of Russian trenches littered with corpses after the unit mounted a series of surprise counterattacks.

Insider's Isobel Van Hagen reports the video depicts Ukrainian soldiers throwing grenades, firing their weapons, and advancing toward Russian positions.

In his video, Biletsky described battles earlier this week against Russia's 72nd Brigade and the so-called "Storm Z. " He called it "an analogue" of the Wagner Group units made up of released convicts, operated by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

He described hard-won victories that left "more than 50" Russians dead and the capture of "a lot of trophies: equipment, weapons, and prisoners."

The British Ministry of Defence announced additional Russian troops had likely been deployed to Bakhmut to fight against Kyiv's advances.

The intelligence briefing stated that Russia's leadership will "likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim," which will "allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict."