A distant war......

Given that the Russian invasion of Ukraine – a nation at least 12,975 km from the Australian mainland – is contributing to cost of living pressures here at home, it is perhaps time I mention that distant war which began on 24 February 2022.

Ukraine
IMAGE: Google Earth

Alasdair McCallum, PhD candidate, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, MediaNet media release, 3 June 2022:

“On the 100th day of this war, it is important to acknowledge Ukrainians living under Russian occupation. The actions of the Russian occupiers demonstrate that the purported goal of the ‘denazification’ of Ukraine is really a wholesale ‘de-Ukrainisation’. Street signs have been changed from Ukrainian to Russian, streets have been renamed after KGB officers known for persecuting Ukrainians, flags and coats of arms changed to Imperial Russian and Soviet symbols. Still more sinister is the mass abduction of ‘orphans’ from Ukraine to Russia and mass deportations of civilians.”

MarketScreener, 1 June 2022:

(Reuters) - Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its 100th day on Friday with no end in sight to the fighting that has killed thousands, uprooted millions and reduced cities to rubble.

After abandoning its assault on the capital, Kyiv, Russia is pressing on in the east and south in the face of mounting sanctions and a fierce Ukrainian counter-offensive bolstered by Western arms.

Some key events in the conflict so far:

* Feb. 24: Russia invades Ukraine from three fronts in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. Tens of thousands flee.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweets: "Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself."

* Feb. 25: Ukrainian forces battle Russian invaders in the north, east and south. Artillery pounds Kyiv and its suburbs.

* March 1: A U.S. official says a miles-long Russian armoured column bearing down on Kyiv is beset by logistical problems.

* Russia hits a TV tower in Kyiv and intensifies its long-range bombardment of Kharkiv in the northeast and other cities, in what is seen as a shift in Moscow's tactics as its hopes of a quick charge on the capital fade.

* March 2: Russian forces start a siege of the southeastern port of Mariupol, seen as vital to Moscow's attempts to link the eastern Donbas region with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia seized in 2014.

* Russian troops enter the Black Sea port of Kherson, the first large urban centre captured.

* One million people have fled Ukraine, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) says.

* March 4: Russian forces seize Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's biggest. NATO rejects Ukraine's appeal for no-fly zones, saying they would escalate the conflict.

* March 8: Civilians flee the northeastern city of Sumy in the first successful humanitarian corridor agreed. Two million have now fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says. 

* March 9: Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol, burying people in the rubble. Russia says Ukrainian fighters were occupying the building.

* March 13: Russia extends its war deep into western Ukraine, firing missiles at a base near the border with NATO member Poland.

* March 16: Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing a Mariupol theatre where hundreds of civilians are sheltering. Moscow denies it.

* March 25: Moscow signals a shift in focus to making gains in the east, while Ukrainian forces press to recapture towns outside Kyiv.

* March 30: More than 4 million people have fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says.

* April 3/4: Ukraine accuses Russia of war crimes after a mass grave and bodies of people shot at close range are found in the recaptured town of Bucha. The Kremlin denies responsibility and says images of bodies were staged.

* April 8: Ukraine blames Russia for a missile attack on a train station in Kramatorsk that killed at least 52 people trying to flee the looming eastern offensive. Moscow denies responsibility.

* April 14: Russia's lead warship in the Black Sea, the Moskva, sinks after what Ukraine says was a missile strike. Russia blames an ammunition explosion. 

* April 18: Russia launches what Ukraine describes as the Battle of Donbas, a campaign to seize two provinces and salvage a battlefield victory. 

* April 21: Putin declares Mariupol "liberated" after nearly two months of siege, but hundreds of defenders hold out inside the city's huge Azovstal steelworks.

* April 25/26: Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniestria says blasts hit a ministry and two radio masts. It blames neighbouring Ukraine. Kyiv accuses Moscow of staging the attacks to try to widen the conflict.

* April 28: Russia fires two missiles into Kyiv during a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Ukraine says. The Kremlin accuses Ukraine of attacking Russian regions near the border.

* May 1: About 100 Ukrainian civilians are evacuated from Mariupol's ruined Azovstal steelworks, in what the United Nations says is a "safe passage operation".

* May 7: As many as 60 people are feared dead after a bomb strikes a village school in Bilohorivka, eastern Ukraine, the regional governor says.

* May 9: Putin exhorts Russians to battle in a defiant Victory Day speech, but is silent about plans for any escalation in Ukraine.

* May 10: Ukraine says its forces have recaptured villages north and northeast of Kharkiv in a counter-offensive. 

* May 12: More than 6 million people have fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says.

* May 14: Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive near the eastern Russian-held town of Izium, the local governor says.

* May 18: Finland and Sweden apply to join NATO, a move that would lead to the expansion of the Western military alliance that Putin aimed to prevent.

* May 20: Russia says the last of Ukrainian fighters holding out at Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks have surrendered. Hours earlier, Zelenskiy said Ukraine's military had told the defenders they could get out and save their lives.

* May 21/22: Russia launches an offensive in Luhansk, one of two provinces in Donbas, focusing the attack on twin cities of Sloviansk and Sievierodonetsk.

* May 23: In the first war crimes trial of the conflict, a Kyiv court sentences a young Russian tank commander to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian.

* May 25: Putin signs a decree simplifying the process for residents of newly captured districts to acquire Russian citizenship and passports in a bid to solidify Moscow's grip on the seized territory.

* May 29: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calls the "liberation" of Donbas an "unconditional priority" for Moscow, while Russian forces appear close to seizing the entire Luhansk region there after days of slow but steady gains.

* May 31: Local officials say it is no longer possible to evacuate civilians trapped in Sievierodonetsk, where Ukrainian forces are still holding out but much of the city is under Russian control.

* June 1: Russia criticises U.S. decision to supply advanced rocket systems to Ukraine, warning it could widen the conflict and increase the risk of direct confrontation with Washington. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Ukraine had given assurances it will not use the systems against targets on Russian territory.

(Compiled by Andrew Heavens and Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Alison Williams)

Reuters 2022

It's as official as it is ever going to get - the Russian Government decided it would like this man to be the 45th President of the United States of America

It's as official as it is ever going to get - the Russian Government decided it would like this man to be the 45th President of the United States of America.

Donald John Trump

U.S. National Intelligence Council, Intelligence Community Assessment, 6 January 2017, excerpt:

“This report is a declassified version of a highly classified assessment; its conclusions are identical to those in the highly classified assessment but this version does not include the full supporting information on key elements of the influence campaign.

Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections

ICA 2017-01D

6 January 2017

Key Judgments

Russian efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election represent the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations. We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.

 We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.

 Moscow’s approach evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia’s understanding of the electoral prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency.

 Further information has come to light since Election Day that, when combined with Russian behaviour since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessments of Russian motivations and goals.

Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations — such as cyber activity — with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or “trolls.” Russia, like its Soviet predecessor, has a history of conducting covert influence campaigns focused on US presidential elections that have used intelligence officers and agents and press placements to disparage candidates perceived as hostile to the Kremlin.

 Russia’s intelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US political parties.

 We assess with high confidence that Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks.

 Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards. DHS assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying.

 Russia’s state-run propaganda machine contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences.

We assess Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the US presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against US allies and their election processes.”

Full declassified report can be found here.

Trump's America: that Russian link raises its head again

The Huffington Post, 11 November 2016:

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are reviewing the Democratic Coalition’s investigative report highlighting 10 “clear links” that the FBI failed to investigate about our President-elect’s business ties to Russia, and to the Putin regime.

It’s named “The Dworkin Report.”

“The FBI missed at least 10 key connections between President-elect Trump and Russia when they conducted their investigation and concluded that our President-elect had no links to the country,” said Scott Dworkin, Senior Advisor to the Democratic Coalition and author of the report. “It is imperative that the American people be made aware of this information.”

The Dworkin Report shows that Donald Trump has incorporated almost 250 registered businesses in Russia.

This hard evidence directly contradicts Trump’s prior statements about having no business ties to Russia over the summer.

Additionally, the evidence shows that Trump has travelled to Russia dating back to 1987, before the end of the Soviet Union.

In particular, a visit in 2010 included a tour of St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum led by a Russian government official of sufficient ranking, that he earned a personal photo and award from Vladimir Putin earlier this year.

The Democratic Coalition also revealed a 2013 video recorded interview with Donald Trump to MSNBC’s Thomas A. Roberts - which he has confirmed as authentic - where he claimed twice to have a relationship with Putin.

Also in 2012, Donald Trump Jr. told Latvian interviewers in a video recorded interview, that he had been to Russia many times and that the Trump Organization has a significant business there.

The Dworkin Report was also shared with Democratic Congressional leaders Senator Harry Reid, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Congressman Keith Ellison on Thursday evening.

Russia’s authoritarian President Putin himself sent warm congratulations, after Tuesday night’s Presidential election, in which his government has already openly admitted to interfering.

Since Tuesday night, Putin’s regime has publicly admitted to having a hand in the Wikileaks deluge of emails during the election.

Russian government officials told the New York Times that they had direct contact with Trump’s closest allies this week, after polls closed....

The Washington Post, 10 November 2016:

MOSCOW — Russian government officials had contacts with members of Donald Trump’s campaign team, a senior Russian diplomat said Thursday, in a disclosure that could reopen scrutiny over the Kremlin’s role in the president-elect’s bitter race against Hillary Clinton.

Facing questions about his ties to Moscow because of statements interpreted as lauding Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, Trump repeatedly denied having any contact with the Russian government.

After the latest statement by the Russian diplomat, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks denied that there were interactions between Russia and the Trump team before Tuesday’s election.

“The campaign had no contact with Russian officials,” she said in an email.

But Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said in an interview with the state-run Interfax news agency that “there were contacts” with the Trump team.

“Obviously, we know most of the people from his entourage,” Ryabkov said. “Those people have always been in the limelight in the United States and have occupied high-ranking positions. I cannot say that all of them but quite a few have been staying in touch with Russian representatives.”…..

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. accused the Russian government last month of deploying hackers to meddle in the U.S. elections. Officials said Russian hackers, possibly with high-level intelligence links, broke into the email account of Clinton’s campaign chief, John Podesta. The emails were then disclosed by WikiLeaks in an effort that Clinton supporters claim was intended to damage her White House bid.

Putin throughout the campaign interfering with the elections.

But neither the administration’s hacking allegations nor reporting of Trump’s apparent ties to Russia dissuaded more than 59 million voters from casting their ballots for the Republican.

Speculation has swirled about Trump’s links to Russia since early in the campaign, both because of his warm words about Putin and past business ventures in Russia. It is not clear whether Trump currently has any investments in the country, because he has not released any tax records.

But he made millions of dollars by bringing the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013. Wealthy Russians also have been an important source of investments in Trump’s businesses. His son, Donald Trump Jr., said in 2008 that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” adding that “we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”

Several Trump advisers have also had well-publicized ties to Russia, including his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who managed an investment fund for a Russian aluminum magnate with close ties to Putin. He resigned from the campaign days after his name was found in a ledger of payouts from the party of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in a pro-European street revolution in 2014…..

The Dworkin Report by The Democratic Coalition by Grant Stern on Scribd

List of alleged Trump companies registered in Russia here.