Russia’s Defense Ministry has stated that “fake” satellite images of alleged shelling of Ukraine from Russian territory were created by US counselors “with close links to Ukraine’s Security Council.”
The authenticity of the images is impossible to prove, the ministry added.
The Defense Ministry stated that the images posted by the US ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt on his Twitter account, allegedly proving the shelling of Ukraine from Russian territory, are “fake,” ITAR-TASS reports.
“These materials were posted to Twitter not by accident, as their authenticity is impossible to prove – due to the absence of the attribution to the exact area, and an extremely low resolution. Let alone using them as ‘photographic evidence’,” Igor Konashenkov, the official representative of the ministry, stated.
“Pictures” like this, the general continued, “have also been provided by Kiev representatives as an excuse for the usage of heavy artillery and other weaponry by the Ukrainian army – against the country’s civilian population.”
“Last Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Valery Geletey again tried to add a sensational side to photo collages like this in the Ukrainian media – in vain. But on Sunday, the US ambassador to the Ukraine joined in, posting those satellite images on his Twitter page, which secured him the attention of the loyal Ukrainian media,” the Russian ministry said.
This scheme is called “an informational merry-go-round,” Konashenkov added, using an expression commonly uttered in Russia relating to feeding the information to the media.
“It’s no secret to anyone that fakes like this are made by a group of US counselors staying in the Kiev building of the Security Council, led by General Randy Kee,” he noted.
The general outlined the cycle as follows: the US counselors in the Kiev feed the disinformation to the Ukrainian media, with the news being taken by the Washington official representatives and presented as statements.
Afterwards, the Ukrainian media cite the US authorities and publish articles like as “objective.”
Defense Intelligence Agency director U.S. Army Lt. General Michael Flynn (Reuters / Gary Cameron)
A grim and unpredictable future could befall the Middle East if Hamas is destroyed, a top Pentagon official said, warning that another rampaging extremist group akin to the Islamic State terrorists could rise up in its place.
While Lt. General Michael Flynn criticized Hamas for exhausting finite resources of the Gaza Strip to build a network of tunnels for the purpose of fighting Israel, he nevertheless said that destroying the group would only lead to a widening of the regional conflict and probably an extremist group fighting in its stead.
“If Hamas were destroyed and gone, we would probably end up with something much worse. The region would end up with something much worse,” Reuters quoted the outgoing head of the Defense Intelligence Agency as saying on Saturday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
The Lt. General then envisioned an Iraq/Syria scenario, where large swathes of northern territories have fallen under control of the Islamist fighters of the Islamic Caliphate: “A worse threat that would come into the sort of ecosystem there… something like ISIS.”
With over 1,000 Palestinians now dead since Israel commenced the ground phase of its 20-day-old operation, a tentative 24-hour ceasefire ended on Sunday with hostilities renewing.
The pause in fighting was intended to open up a humanitarian corridor for food and medical care, but as Israel offered to extend the ceasefire it also warned that it would retaliate if Hamas continued to fire rockets from the Gaza territory.
For its part, Hamas refused to accept the ceasefire deal “without Israeli tanks withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and without residents being able to return to their homes and ambulances carrying bodies and being able to freely move around in Gaza,” their spokesman said.
To many in the world the conflict between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory looks to be never-ending. And they are worried that the same is now true for the Middle East at large. Flynn’s views were voiced in the midst of a broader assessment of conflicts in the region, which is now crumbling under the weight of terrorism.
Although few people would prefer another Islamic State-style faction taking over Hamas’ place, Flynn made clear that peace between the two warring sides would not happen “in my lifetime.”
The killing of innocent civilians in Eastern Ukraine resulting from the conduct of major bombing and shelling operations by US supported Kiev regime is not newsworthy. According to official sources, Four hundred and seventy-eight civilians, including seven children were killed and 1392 were wounded in Eastern Ukraine since the outset of the Kiev government’s military crackdown. (See RT, July 1o, 2014)
The casualty figures were released on the 10th of July 2014 by Ukraine’s Ministry of Health.
“The amount on civilian casualties is, unfortunately, greater than the military ones,” Vasily Lazoryshynets, deputy health minister, …
“In the area of the operation in eastern Ukraine, 478 civilians have died, including 30 women and seven children,”he said.
According to Lazoryshynets , a further 1,392 people were injured in the fighting, with 104 women and 14 children among them.
“Two hundred and seventy-nine currently remain in hospital,” he added. (Ibid)
There has been virtually no Western media coverage concerning this human tragedy. The deaths of innocent children resulting from Kiev’s “counter-terrorism operation” have been casually categorized as “collateral damage”.
In early June, according to figures of Ukraine’s National Security Council “200 soldiers and law enforcement officers had been killed and over 600 injured during the so-called “anti-terrorist operation.” (Ibid). The Ministry of Defense reported the same figure of 200 deaths pertaining to soldiers on July 11.
Is the official count of civilian casualties reliable? On June 11, following the release of the figures on casualties by the Ministry of Health, Ukraine’s General Prosecutor Vitali Yarema confirmed that the government was to establish a data bank of persons killed and insured:
“Every death, every physical injury, every body of an unidentified individual found will be entered into the unified register of pre-trial investigations, and each case will be investigated as much as possible,” (quoted by AP, July 11, 2014)
The above figures on civilian casualties are consistent with a ‘leaked” Ministry of Internal Affairs report (July 15, 2014): 496 civilians killed and 762 wounded (updated with data of casualties collected in the period extending from 9-15 July). (see below)
According to this “leaked” MIA document, the death toll of soldiers in the Ukraine Armed Forces would have increased from 200 in early July (reported on July 10th by the Ministry of Health) to 1600 in mid-July (MIA, leaked report, see table below, dated July 15). These rounded up figures suggest that the Kiev government’s figures on soldiers “killed in action” are rough estimates.
The table below which includes the figures of civilian and military casualties included those wounded reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (sent to Global Research by a source in Ukraine) are as follows:
Killed in Action: 1600
Wounded in Action: 4723
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and its Anti-Terrorism Organization (ATO) oversees the military operation in Lugansk and Donetsk in liaison with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The information was officially released on July 15, 2014 bearing the signature of the Arsen Avakov (Minister of Internal Affairs) and V. Gritsak (Head of ATO [Anti-Terrorism Organization]
The authenticity, reliability and source of this leaked report remains to be fully assessed. These figures have not been made public and they are not the object of media commentary. They are, however, compatible with a report published by the Central News Agency Novorossia, Novorus.info (Russian) based on figures of the rebel Donbass forces which point to major military losses by the Kiev regime.
The MIA figures pertain to soldiers “Killed in Action”. They do not address the number of soldiers taken prisoner and/or the number of soldiers who have deserted the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In contrast, the Novorossia figures do not provide a breakdown of “killed, wounded, prisoners”. According to Central News Agency Novorossia, Novorus.info (Russian):
Total losses in Donbass inflicted to Kiev “punitive operatives” [in Russian каратели] 2 May – 11 July 2014 is 4994 soldiers [ in Russian persons, человек] [killed, wounded, prisoners]
What the MIA leaked report as well as the Novorossia figures convey is the conduct of a large scale military operation by Ukrainian Forces resulting in significant casualties incurred by Kiev government forces. None of this has been reported by the corporate media.
The leaked MIA report suggests heavy losses of military equipment by Kiev forces including a large number of tanks and armored vehicles which have either been captured or destroyed.
The rebels (according to MIA figures) have downed seven aircraft. This information was “leaked” 2 days before the MH17 crash. The reliability of these figures emanating from government sources remained to be determined.
The data from rebel sources cited Novorus.info also indicate sizable losses of military hardware including tanks and armored cars.
TOTAL UKRAINIAN LOSSES [MIA leaked document]
Killed in Action: 1600
Wounded in Action: 4723
Tanks: 35
Armoured Battle Vehicles: 96
Artillery: 38
Aircraft: 7
Helicopters: 2
Automobiles: 104
While the reliability of these figures emanating from the government remains to be determined, they nonetheless point to the failure of the Kiev led anti-terrorism operation confirming earlier reports to the effect that government forces have been repealed in Donetsk and Lugansk.
July 18, 2014 – Official Ukrainian Military Accounting of Losses for July 9-15, 2014 ((1) Ukrainian Version; (2) Translation)
TOTAL UKRAINIAN LOSSES
Killed in Action: 1600
Wounded in Action: 4723
Tanks: 35
Armoured Battle Vehicles: 96
Artillery: 38
Aircraft: 7
Helicopters: 2
Automobiles: 104
TOTAL MILITIA LOSSES
Killed in Action: 48
Wounded in Action: 64
Tanks: 2
Armoured Battle Vehicles: 0
Artillery: 5
Automobiles: 8
TOTAL CIVILIAN LOSSES
Killed: 496
Wounded: 762
SIGNED & SUBMITTED BY: Arsen Avakov (Minister of Internal Affairs) and V. Gritsak (Head of ATO)
A top pro-Russia rebel commander in eastern Ukraine has given a bizarre version of events surrounding the Malaysian jetliner crash — suggesting many of the victims may have died days before the plane took off.
The pro-rebel website Russkaya Vesna on Friday quoted Igor Girkin as saying he was told by people at the crash site that “a significant number of the bodies weren’t fresh,” adding thathe was told they were drained of blood and reeked of decomposition. [emphasis added]
Of course, the commander will be immediately discredited by western-backed establishment media sources simply because of which side of this conflict he politically stands on.
Not the point, however.
Bodies drained of blood and reeking of decomposition at a fresh crash site?
Who would even think to make something like that up in the first place?
This story is only bizarre until you consider the fact that this situation might be staged.
That explanation might help explain what’s going on in this video below, supposedly taken of the crash site moments after the plane went down, where a man scatters a handful of what look like brand new, unscathed passports from the Netherlands on the ground.
Again…are they wagging the dog to get us in to wider war?
Sure, President Obama seemed all properly concerned today when he mentioned at a press conference that an American was indeed killed on board MH17 and basically advanced the narrative that “Russia did it”.
He wasn’t all that concerned yesterday — right after the crash happened — when the media thought perhaps 23 Americans had been killed, however…at least not enough to cancel his burger photo op.
Supporters of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa Islamic organization hold placards and party flags as they shout slogans during a protest against U.S. drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal region, in Peshawar November 29, 2013.(Reuters / Fayaz Aziz)
At least 50 people are dead after airstrikes hit northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, and at least 15 of those were the result of a suspected American drone strike.
Some officials also believe the drone strike’s death toll could be around 20 or higher. Either way, it’s the deadliest single drone-related incident since July 3, 2013, when 16 people were killed.
According to the Washington Post, the United States had two targets in its sight when it launched the Wednesday attack in North Waziristan: a house and a vehicle that was driving past. One villager claimed that at least four missiles were fired, and local officials said the targeted area is thought to be sheltering members of the Afghan Haqqani network and militants from Uzbekistan.
“The compound was being used by foreign militants, and some local terrorists were present in the vehicle that got targeted,” an unidentified Pakistani intelligence official told the newspaper.
Although the drone strike is believed to be carried out by the United States, government officials did not comment on the matter. Drone-related activity has declined in the recent past, but President Obama has said they will continue as necessary.
The drone strike marks the second such attack to occur in the area in less than a week. On July 10, six or seven people were killed by a drone. The spike in activity comes as the Pakistani military continues its offensive in North Waziristan, where it claims some 450 militants have been killed in the last month. Military officials are looking to disperse Pakistani Taliban members along with other militants who have taken up camp in the area, using it to launch attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, Pakistani officials said they had also captured senior Pakistani Taliban leader Adnan Rashid as he attempted to make an escape.
As reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the most recent drone strike is notable for killing more than a dozen people. On average, strikes during the month of June killed four people each time. Overall, 35 drone strikes have occurred in the immediate area since 2004, killing at least 109 people. Almost half – about 50 – are believed to have been civilians.
In addition to the drone strike, Wednesday saw Pakistani airstrikes kill 35 people. Government officials said these individuals were Taliban fighters attempting to leave the area.
According to a separate report, the Bureau found that 15 airstrikes in North Waziristan killed somewhere between 291 – 540 people, with civilian casualties numbering anywhere from 16 to 112.
The killing of innocent civilians in Eastern Ukraine resulting from the conduct of major bombing and shelling operations by US supported Kiev regime is not newsworthy. According to official sources, Four hundred and seventy-eight civilians, including seven children were killed and 1392 were wounded in Eastern Ukraine since the outset of the Kiev government’s military crackdown. (
by Melissa Melton
PN 