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Re: The War in Ukraine
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Re: The War in Ukraine
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Re: The War in Ukraine
UN suspends Russia from Human Rights Council
The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council after high-profile allegations of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers during the war in Ukraine.
The voting result was 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions.
A draft of the resolution says the General Assembly may “suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of a member of the Council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights.”
The draft resolution adds that the council has “grave concern” regarding reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” and “violations of international humanitarian law” committed by the Russian Federation during its invasion of Ukraine.
The General Assembly needed to vote in favor by two-thirds of the countries present and voting to remove Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. The measure suspends Russia’s membership in the Council and would launch a review of the matter if the UN deems it appropriate.
The United States ambassador to the United Nations made a case for seeking the suspension of Russia from the Human Rights Council in front of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, something she and other UN member states have been pushing.
“Russia should not have a position of authority in a body whose purpose – whose very purpose – is to promote respect for human rights. Not only is it the height of hypocrisy – it is dangerous,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
“Every day, we see more and more how little Russia respects human rights,” she said.
Ultimately she argued, “Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council hurts the Council’s credibility. It undermines the entire UN. And it is just plain wrong.”
The Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, ahead of the vote on Thursday called on all United Nations member states to support the resolution suspending Russia from the council.
“Now the world has come to a crucial juncture. We witness that our liner is going through treacherous fog towards deadly icebergs. It might seem that we should have named it the Titanic instead of the Human Rights Council. … We need to take an action today to save the council from sinking,” Kyslytsya said.
The Ukrainian ambassador said Russia’s actions in Ukraine “would be equated to war crimes and crimes against humanity.” While he noted that a vote to suspend a country from the Human Rights Council is “a rare and extraordinary action,” he said “Russia’s actions are beyond the pale.”
In response, the deputy Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Gennady Kuzmin, called on member states to reject the resolution, saying it would set a “a dangerous precedent.”
“Today is not the time nor the place for theatrics, or these kinds of extremely theatrical performances like the one presented by Ukraine. In fact the draft resolution we are considering today has no relationship to the actual human rights situation on the ground,” Kuzmin said.
The Russian representative said the vote on suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council “is an attempt by the United States to maintain its dominant position and total control to continue its attempt at human rights colonialism in international relations.”
Louis Charbonneau, the UN director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that Russia’s suspension sends “a crystal-clear message” that they have “no business” on the council.
“The General Assembly has sent a crystal-clear message to Russia’s leadership that a government whose military is routinely committing horrific rights violations has no business on the UN Human Rights Council,” Charbonneau said.
“Gruesome images from Bucha have shocked people around the world. Victims and their families deserve to see those responsible held to account. Investigators from the UN and International Criminal Court should set the wheels of justice in motion by moving swiftly to gather and preserve evidence of war crimes.”Comment
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Re: The War in Ukraine
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Re: The War in Ukraine
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Re: The War in Ukraine
Russian Missile That Hit Packed Train Station Reportedly Had Troubling Phrase Written On It
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Re: The War in Ukraine
The UK is to send 120 armored vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems to Ukraine, Downing Street announced Saturday, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid an in-person visit to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Johnson and Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer made separate visits to Zelensky on Saturday, the latest in a string of leaders to travel to the country during the ongoing Russian invasion.
A photograph tweeted by Ukraine's Embassy to the UK showed Johnson seated opposite Zelensky at a table in a pink and green stuccoed room. The post was captioned with the word "Surprise" and a winking face emoji.Comment
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Re: The War in Ukraine
It looks like the conflict is getting ready to expand to the Balkans. Half A Dozen Chinese Y-20 Cargo Jets Popped Up Over Europe Last Night - Truth PressComment
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Re: The War in Ukraine
Putin Purges His Own Spies, Many Likely Dead Already
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Re: The War in Ukraine
Russia says flagship of its Black Sea fleet has sunk
From Republican Security Council Facebook page:The 611 foot cruiser was the third largest vessel in Russia's fleet and one of its most heavily defended assets. 8 key points from the BBC World Service:3) Turkey will not let new Russian vessels enter the Black Sea, so it's not possible to replace the Moskva.4) The flagship had an elite crew of over 500 sailors and only 54 appear to have been rescued.5) There is also a moral and public impact. A large ship named Moscow has been sunk.6) The sinking is a real surprise because Moskva was equipped with a triple-tiered air defense system.That should have given it three opportunities to defend itself from the Neptune missile attack.The Moskva system can fire 5,000 rounds in a minute, essentially creating a wall of flak around the cruiser. Why the Ukrainian missiles got through is a real mystery.8 ) The missile strike raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the modernization of Russia's entire fleet.
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Re: The War in Ukraine
'Huge blow': Crew evacuates 'seriously damaged' Russian flagship | Washington ExaminerComment
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Re: The War in Ukraine
Protesters projected the Ukrainian flag on the Russian embassy in DC. The embassy responded with spotlights.
As protesters projected a Ukrainian flag onto the Russian Embassy in Washington Wednesday, personnel at the embassy attempted to use a spotlight to blot it out, video shows.
It all began at sundown said Benjamin Wittes, one of the organizers of the protest. Wittes is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, and he along with ten other people decided to organize the protest at the Russian Embassy.
"We're not going to storm the gates [of the embassy], but we want to get in there somehow," Wittes said. "And light lets you do that."
He and the others gathered about 15 projector lights and four generators — in two locations — and flipped them on as night fell to project a Ukrainian flag on the embassy. Wittes says they brought so many lights because they thought they'd need them to make sure it shined clearly on the embassy, which was would be roughly 300 feet away from their set up sites.
But when they did turn on the lights, Wittes says staff at the Russian embassy were ready, and flipped on a floodlight to blot out the flag.
That's when the game of "cat and mouse" began.
The protesters would move one of the flags over to one spot on the embassy, and the floodlight would follow. It continued on for hours, Wittes said. Until, around 1:30 a.m., the embassy staff gave up and stopped trying to blot out the Ukrainian flag.
That, Wittes said, was proof that the protest went above and beyond their expectations.
"The fact that they felt compelled to respond the way that they did over many hours by the way," he said. "They saw the protest as the way that we meant it. To not allow them to the space of their own embassy."
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