Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Nothing worth doing is easy.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Come on, man.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

“But what about the lurkers?”

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 499: A Note of Clarification

War for Ukraine Day 499: A Note of Clarification

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

A quick point of clarification from last night’s post. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, who Haass and company have reportedly been meeting with, has not actual power or authority. The Russian Foreign Ministry itself, and Lavrov as its head, are basically there for show. They’re there because Russia has to have a foreign ministry to formally conduct diplomacy. But Lavrov isn’t an oligarch, nor is he siloviki or Bratva or a vory. He’s diplomatic cover for how Russia actually uses its diplomatic power as a weapon. Meeting with him may make headlines, it may provide Russia with material for its agitprop and disinformation campaigns, but that’s about it.

Someone, anyone’s, or for the atheists no one’s Deity or Deities save us from the useless idiots!

The useless idiots being Haass and his fellow travelers.

President Zelenskyy was once again on official travel today. There is no daily address posted, but I do have the videos of his press conference with Czech PM Petr Fiala and and Slovak Republic President Zuzana Čaputová. They are below and the English subtitles are turned on.

Everything else after the jump!

The new US military aid package has been announced. Here’s the press release from the Pentagon:

RELEASE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Biden Administration Announces Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine
July 7, 2023

Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This authorization is the Biden Administration’s forty-second drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021. This package will provide Ukraine with additional artillery systems and ammunition, including highly effective and reliable dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM), on which the Administration conducted extensive consultations with Congress and our Allies and partners. It also includes additional air defense munitions, armored vehicles, anti-armor weapons, and other equipment to help Ukraine protect its people and counter Russia’s ongoing war of aggression.

The capabilities in this package include:

  • Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems;
  • AIM-7 missiles for air defense;
  • Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
  • Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
  • 31 155mm Howitzers;
  • 155mm artillery rounds, including DPICM, and 105mm artillery rounds;
  • 32 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles;
  • 32 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers;
  • Mine clearing equipment;
  • Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
  • Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets;
  • Precision aerial munitions;
  • Penguin Unmanned Aerial Systems;
  • 27 tactical vehicles to recover equipment;
  • 10 tactical vehicles to tow and haul equipment;
  • Demolitions munitions and systems for obstacle clearing;
  • Small arms and over 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades;
  • Spare parts and other field equipment.

The United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements.

Full text of the tweet:

Any and all weapons and types of ammo that we receive from our partners are used for only one purpose: to destroy russian occupiers and expel them from Ukraine. Thank you to @SecDefLloyd J. Austin III, U.S. Government and all Americans for another package of security assistance!

The US is not the only NATO member to announce new military aid for Ukraine this week. First up the Czech Republic: (machine translation)

The Czech Republic will soon hand over helicopters and ammunition to Ukraine, as well as take part in the training of pilots, including F-16 fighters.

This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala at a joint press conference with the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky on Friday in Prague, according to a correspondent Ukrinform.

« He confirmed to the President today that the Czech Republic is giving Ukraine … helicopters, and in the coming months will hand over 100,000 large-caliber ammunition», Fiala said.

He also informed that the Czech Republic will take part in the training of pilots, including on F-16 fighters, and will also hand over simulators so that pilots can study in Ukraine.

Fiala reminded that Czech Republic is one of the most active « assistants » of Ukraine in all areas – financial, economic, humanitarian, as well as one of the largest suppliers of military equipment and amunition.

In almost 500 days, the republic transferred 676 units of heavy equipment and more than 4 million ammunition.

«This means that every day since the beginning of the war from the Czech Republic to Ukraine, an average of 10,000 units of ammonia and at least one tank, ZRK, special car and the like are sent », – calculated the head of the government of the Czech Republic.

He added that Prague is also working with other partners in this direction, in particular with regard to the repair of heavy machinery at Czech enterprises of the MIC. As an example, he introduced the repair of T-72 tanks together with the Netherlands.

The Prime Minister informed that the government’s meeting with entrepreneurs discussed the issue of joint production of Czech and Ukrainian defense firms. He called these projects important, such as those that could strengthen the state’s combat capabilities. This is no longer help, but cooperation, the politician said.

The head of the Czech government assured that he considers Ukraine’s support to be one of the priorities of his work.

Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security, Ukraine is fighting for the security of the entire continent, Fiala stressed. He promised « very intensively » to continue to support Ukraine both on the path to Victory and post-war reconstruction.

As reported, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Prague during the visit between the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic on cooperation in the field of defense industry.

Finland is not to be left out.

Press Releases
06.07.2023 13:45

Finland to send more defence materiel to Ukraine

Finland will deliver more defence materiel to Ukraine. The President of the Republic decided on the matter on 6 July 2023 on the proposal of the Government.

This will be the 17th package of defence materiel to Ukraine, including anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition, among other items. Replacing the defence materiel capabilities in this package will cost Finland an estimated EUR 105 million. The combined value of all defence materiel packages submitted so far is about EUR 1.2 billion.

– We will continue to support Ukraine together with our allies. The outcome of the war will determine the security order of Europe and Finland for decades, which is why supporting Ukraine is an essential part of Finland’s security, says Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen.

For operational reasons and to ensure that the delivery reaches its destination, more detailed information on the content of the assistance, manner of delivery or schedule will not be provided. Both Ukraine’s needs and the resources of the Defence Forces have been taken into account when deciding on the additional assistance.

 

Full text of this tweet too:

We welcome the decision of the US to provide Ukraine with the new liberation weapons that will significantly help us to de-occupy our territories while saving the lives of the Ukrainian soldiers.

Under Article 51 of the UN Charter Ukraine has a universal internationally recognised right to self-defence and thus we have been officially requesting these types of munitions for a long time.
I would like to stress that in exercising our inalienable right to self-defence we will continue to strictly comply with all the international humanitarian conventions signed and ratified by Ukraine.

It is important to note that the russian federation has been indiscriminately using cluster munitions from day 1 of the unprovoked large-scale aggression. In February-March 2022 Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with over a million population, was relentlessly bombarded by russians cluster munitions.

Our position is simple – we need to liberate our temporarily occupied territories and save the lives of our people. For this we need to inflict losses on the enemy – war criminals, rapists and looters – who are occupying our territories. The more losses we inflict on them the more lives of Ukrainian people we will be able to save.

It is in our interest to save the lives of our soldiers. This is why we will continue to do this using all lethal weapons available to us.

Regarding the cluster munitions, we have 5 key principles which we will abide by and which we have clearly communicated to all our partners, including the US. I have personally informed our US partners about these five principles in writing a long time ago.

1. Ukraine will use these munitions only for the de-occupation of our internationally recognised territories. These munitions will not be used on the officially recognized territory of russia.

2. We will not be using cluster munitions in urban areas (cities) to avoid the risks for the civilian populations – these are our people, they are Ukrainians we have a duty to protect.
Cluster munitions will be used only in the fields where there is a concentration of russian military. They will be used to break through the enemy defence lines with minimum risk for the lives of our soldiers. Saving the lives of our troops, even during extremely difficult offensive operations, remains our top priority.

3. Ukraine will keep a strict record of the use of these weapons and the local zones where they will be used.

4. Based on these records, after the de-occupation of our territories and our victory these territories will be prioritised for the purposes of de-mining. This will enable us to eradicate the risk from the unexploded elements of cluster munitions.
The Minister of Defence of Ukraine is by law acting as the Head of the national de-mining agency. In this capacity I will ensure the implementation of the relevant legal framework for the de-mining process after our victory.

5. We will report to our partners about the use of these munitions, and about their efficiency to ensure the appropriate standard of transparent reporting and control.

https://defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3451570/biden-administration-announces-additional-security-assistance-for-ukraine/

Here’s The Kyiv Independent‘s Illia Ponomarenko’s take on the cluster munitions. Full text copied and pasted below the tweet.

Speaking of all the drama over cluster munitions for Ukraine.

Let’s resume this conversation when all those critics sitting in their comfortable air-conditioned offices somewhere in the West find themselves in a situation:

– when their nations have to fight an existential war against an adversary enjoying overwhelming supremacy in artillery and air power, with a far larger economy and population, with a totalitarian political regime that knows no bounds and is ready to spend any amount of cannon fodder, including suicidal convicts and mercenaries.

– when they see their own hometowns wiped off the earth along with their population and proudly proclaimed as “liberated”

– when their nations have to mobilize way over 1 million men and women to the military and to try and keep their shattered economy at least somewhat afloat while trying to stay as free and democratic as possible

– when they have to wake up in the dead of night due to missile and drone attacks and hope it’s not about their neighborhood and their house right here and now, and when they realize this is not going to end until the war is over

– when they realize the ongoing war has inflicted major damage to their country’s critical infrastructure and that it continues throwing the nation decades back in time

– when their military & political leadership has to spend endless months begging for weapons and assistance for their war effort, paying with the lives of their soldiers for every day in deliberations and risk management. Just to get at least something and go on saving the country.

– when their militaries have to break through one of the hardest systems of ground fortification in modern history, having to use as little as they managed to get, losing soldiers and vehicles due to a dire lack of air support and endless minefields the enemy had so much time to prepare

– when they all realize that their military has come so far against all the odds, but if it ultimately fails, their nations are absolutely done, they will all highly likely find themselves in pits with bullets in the back of their heads.

Now THEN I’d be very interested if they think their militaries need cluster munitions to go on fighting.

And speaking of civilian safety — the Ukrainian military in this war has repeatedly proven to be generally careful and discriminate when it comes to the use of weapons — well, to the extent possible in such a high-intensity war.

Especially in contrast with the bloodbath that Russia commits in this country on a daily basis.

So, dear ladies and gentlemen, I am very curious about why certain organizations overtly accuse Ukraine of putting civilians in war zones in jeopardy with cluster munitions before Ukraine even gets these munitions.

 

Ponomarenko’s take on Ukraine’s potential NATO membership is also right:

Full text:

Let’s face the reality — NATO just can’t let us in right now as the war goes on.

But — even the world’s biggest slowpokes should now realize that “the door is open, but….” excuse just doesn’t work and never will.

So if we talk about serious things, there need to be at least two things declared and enshrined loud and clear:

– Ukraine joins NATO as soon as physically possible following the current war’s formal ending as part of Europe’s postwar security reconstruction plan that must be on the table by now;
– Ukraine is to get a membership plan ASAP, which should be declared as soon as the upcoming NATO summit;

Without this, I don’t know what else the West is waiting for and what sort of new arguments it needs, given the tragic lessons of 2014 and 2022.

You don’t like to deal with the biggest European war since WWII — then you don’t encourage the aggressor.

For some weird reason, Russia did not attack the Baltic nations, but it took its time to make use of Western weakness and shortsightedness and made sure Ukraine was not covered by Article 5.

You know what’s the outcome.

At the same time, it’s very fair to say that Ukraine, in this postwar reconstruction, is just destined to go on developing as a major and modern military power for endless decades to come.

Without this, it’s going to be just a matter of time before Russia may want to take sweet revenge and try again, having fixed its past mistakes.

 

Bakhmut:

The butcher’s bill from Lviv:

Here’s the machine translation of Lviv Mayor Saovyi’s tweet:

10 bodies have just been found. Woman. Emergency workers are now freeing the deceased from the rubble. This will complete the search and rescue operation.

Sorokyne, Luhansk Oblast:

Russia tested disconnecting itself from the Internet. Again. First tweet from the thread, everything else from the Thread Reader App. Then a couple of tweets with an update and questions and answers.

2/ Russian railroad services and food safety systems were reportedly disrupted after the Sovereign Internet testing on the morning of July 5

3/ Experts also reported various disruption of Western internet services such as @Google @Wikipedia @getlantern @PsiphonInc between 2 and 4am Moscow time on July 5

4/ Given the fears of blocking of YouTube, Telegram, and the last remaining sources of accurate information in Russia, this development is extremely alarming #KeepItOn

5/ the first tweet should say *July 5* of course, not June 

6/ This is not the 1st time Russia tested its Sovereign Internet system resulting in outages

@thebell_io reported that some internet providers in Ural region experienced disruptions during the testing of the 🇷🇺 Sovereign Internet’s DPI equipment in 2019

7/ Russian internet experts tell me they doubt Roskomnadzor’s claim that the Sovereign Internet testing was “successful” as the documented internet outages were scattered & not wide scale.

Sounds like Putin won’t be able to isolate 🇷🇺 people any time soon, but he’ll keep trying 

8/ Some experts are understandably questioning why would Russia block its own governmental services in attempt to disconnect from the global internet.

Well, this will not be the first time Russian gov tries to do something evil & instead ends up making a total fool of itself…

Here’s some excerpts from (one of) the obituaries for Victoria Amelina. The author is a professor of Ukrainian and east European culture and, from what I can gather, a friend of the deceased.

Victoria Amelina, who was wounded in a Russian missile attack in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on 27 June and died, aged 37, of her injuries four days later, knew that being a writer made her a target for Russia. She was aware that the invading forces had lists of activists and intellectuals to eliminate, but she also understood her country’s history: in March 2022, summoning one of the darkest pages in Ukrainian literary history – the murder of a generation of Ukrainian writers during the Stalinist purges of the 1930s, known as the “executed renaissance” – she wrote that “there is a real threat that Russians will successfully execute another generation of Ukrainian culture – this time by missiles and bombs”.

Victoria sought to protect and promote Ukrainian culture as the country came under attack: in 2021 she founded a literature festival in her husband Oleksandr’s home town, New York, in the Donetsk region. The town (whose unlikely name is thought to have been originally Neu Jork and to have come from 19th-century German settlers) was occupied by the Russian army in 2014 and has been on the frontline ever since.

As the assault on Ukraine and its culture unfolded, Victoria set aside fiction writing and trained as a war crimes investigator with the Ukrainian human rights group Truth Hounds. She travelled to areas liberated from Russian occupation and recorded the testimonies of witnesses and survivors. The crimes she investigated included the murder of fellow writers such as Volodymyr Vakulenko, whose occupation diaries Victoria discovered buried in his family’s garden and helped to have published this year.

Victoria’s missions to the east of Ukraine took their toll. She had recently, reluctantly, decided to take a break from her war crimes work and accepted a scholarship from Columbia University, New York, for a year’s writing residency in Paris. Having met a group of Colombian writers in Kyiv who were keen to visit the war-affected areas, however, she volunteered to accompany them for one last trip. They were dining together when a missile hit their restaurant.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Victoria had been known not as a human rights defender, but as a novelist and children’s writer. After completing a degree in computer sciences at Lviv Polytechnic National University and working for several years in IT, she became a full-time writer in 2015, after the publication of her debut novel, The Fall Syndrome (2014).

It was her second novel, Dom’s Dream Kingdom (2017), that cemented her status as a major new talent. The novel, which is currently being translated into English, explores the troubled past of Victoria’s hometown, Lviv, through the story of one family from the end of the second world war to post-independence Ukraine. It was shortlisted for several Ukrainian and international awards, including the European Union prize for literature.

Victoria is survived by Oleksandr and their son, and her parents.

 Victoria Amelina, writer and war crimes investigator, born 1 January 1986; died 1 July 2023

There is much more at the link.

That’s more than enough for tonight.

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Open thread!

Reader Interactions

53Comments

  1. 1.

    topclimber

    By way of further clarification, is it Haas et.al. you consider idiots or Jake Sullivan in the following tweets?

  2. 2.

    Adam L Silverman

    @topclimber: Haas et al. Though I’m not a fan of Sullivan. But as far as I can tell he’s not advancing Russia’s interests for whatever Haas and his fellow travelers get out of it. He’s just to risk averse

    I added a clarification up top.

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    I feel much more sanguine about the cluster munitions now after reading all of this. Honestly, I already was the more I thought about it last night, and then today when the NYT had a piece about “Dems are all super mad at Biden over cluster bombs!!!!” and it was four people, two of whom I don’t think I’d ever heard of. I trust Ukraine when they tell us what they need and that they would not do anything that wasn’t strictly necessary for their protection and sovereignty.

    Zelenskyy also went to Türkiye for a lil’ kibbitzing with Erdoğan. I’m sure it was all super chill, no drama, just vibes.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  4. 4.

    Draco7

    I read an interesting article in Georgia Today (website) by former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul in which he discusses his perception of Ukraine’s future role in a (more) unified Europe. I found it interesting, and hope that I can insert the link in a way that doesn’t garbage up the interface. Here goes:
    Article
    The site also has a number of other interesting pieces regarding relations between Georgia and Ukraine and their future.

  5. 5.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Draco7: I think it was Adam who recounted how  in Iraq, Georgia sent troops to help us.  And then the day came when RU invaded Georgia, and the US and Georgians arranged for their troops to transit back to Georgia.  And it was a difficult moment, b/c the Georgians (either implicitly or explicitly) wanted to know: “we’ve been here for you; are you going to be here for us?”  And donchyano, we weren’t.

    Reading the interview with McFaul, it’s a little heartbreaking, remembering that.

  7. 7.

    Wombat Probability Cloud

    I was about to ask after the fates of the Colombians who also were hit in the Kramatorsk strike, but then rooted around and found this at pravda.com.ua of all places. I’ve got history in Colombia and am interested in the waves this sends out there and in adjacent countries. But, WTH, there’s a Ukrainian version of Pravda that looks reasonably legit? Can someone comment on the validity of that site? Seems fairly pro-Ukrainian but what do I know! Adam, thank you again for bearing witness to this.

  8. 8.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Wombat Probability Cloud: “ESTABLISHED BY GEORGIY GONGADZE IN 2000” (from their website).  IIRC,  “pravda” means “truth” ?  So it shares the name with the RU fishwrap, but nothing else (I guess).

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    @Alison Rose: The two Presidents had a lot to talk about, including the Black Sea Grain Deal which will expire July 17 unless it is renewed. Russian officials are saying they won’t sign off again.

    President Zelensky’s remarks on Twitter about the meeting with Erdogan were interesting, and fairly positive. I’ll try to post some excerpts here in the morning (too tired now). They were fairly positive.

    Turkiye did not announce any additional arms shipments to Ukraine, but they never do.* They did have Haluk Bayraktar meet Zelenskyy at the airport. Mr. Bayraktar and his brother Seliç (who is Erdogan’s son-in-law) operate Baykar Technology whose TB-2 combat drones were an important factor in Ukraine’s defense during the opening weeks of the war. A couple months ago Defense Minister Resnikov said Ukraine had acquired 50 TB-2s so far, with more on order.

    Haluk Bayraktar and President Zelenskyy have met before in Ukraine to discuss a drone plant being built in that country.

    *Stijn Mitzer of Oryx explained in his article “The Stalwart Ally: Turkish Arms Deliveries to Ukraine” Nov. 23 2022, that that unlike other nations, Turkiye does not publicize its arms shipments. Mitzer said he learned of them from Ukrainian officials, or from their appearance on the battlefield.

    Mitzer added that unlike other NATO countries, Turkiye does not prohibit use of its weapons against targets on Russian soil, and that TB-2s hit targets in Kursk and Bryansk Oblasts early in the war, before Russia upped its air defense game.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    From The Guardian:

    Victoria Amelina: Ukraine and the meaning of home

    Before she was killed by a Russian missile strike, the acclaimed novelist and war crimes researcher wrote about growing up in Moscow’s shadow, and how she came to understand what being Ukrainian really meant
    ‘I was the worst investment the Russians ever made’

    After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, many believed that all borders would disappear. I remember singing Wind of Change by the German band the Scorpions at an international summer camp near Pskov, then the Soviet Union, in 1990, and feeling like the lyrics truly spoke to me: “The world is closing in / and did you ever think / that we could be so close, like brothers?” Were we all “children of tomorrow”, dreaming and believing in a better future? Where are we now?

    The winds of change turned out to be nothing more than an illusion, and my belief in it only shows that, culturally and mentally, Ukraine has always been a part of the somewhat naive west. The difference is that the Ukrainians were destined to face the truth eventually. Some learned it from the stories of Ukrainian dissidents like the poet Vasyl Stus, who was murdered in a Russian penal colony five years before Wind of Change was released. Others, like me, had to experience the Russian world first-hand to realise that the border between Russia and Ukraine is not a redundancy or a formality, but essential for our survival.

    It seems that we are all doomed to repeat our mistakes if we don’t know where our home – the safe space of trust – ends, and which of its borders need to be especially well guarded.

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    @Alison Rose: It doesn’t hurt to fill in some more detail about that relationship. Turkish-Ukrainian relations were pretty good before this war, and I expect they will be after. The two nations are natural economic partners and strategic allies

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Wombat Probability Cloud: Ukrainska Pravda was founded in early 2000 by a Georgian-Ukrainian journalist named Georgiy Gongadze. His journalism annoyed enough people in high places that he was kidnapped and murdered that same year. His headless body, doused in acid, was found in a forest in November, 2000.

    As Adam says, they are 100% legit. Many, many journalists in Ukraine, both at Ukrainska Pravda and elsewhere, stand on Gongadze’s shoulders.

  18. 18.

    Gin & Tonic

    And on a more general note, it’s “Haass.” Two “s”es, like in “ass.”

  19. 19.

    Draco7

    @Hangö Kex: yw – I was hoping to get to Georgia/Armenia earlier this year, but decided (just before the Tbilisi riots started) that there might be a better time to visit. It’s helpful to see the Georgian domestic perspective, especially since they have much the same challenges as Ukraine. It appears Russian money is dominating their political approach (via Georgian Dream) at this point. Pity – still a very high level of corruption.

  21. 21.

    Anonymous At Work

    Adam,

    Thanks for hte update and information on the cluster munitions.  Given how insanely banned they are internationally, and the anti-Biden sentiment among Republicans, any chance the US will sign on after RU is driven from Ukraine?  Or will the “Biden did a thing, we will now oppose it” caucus in the US Senate go away?

    I presume, as with the Convention on Land Mines, the US wants a carve out for South Korea as its primary objection (another non-signatory).

  22. 22.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: So when I looked up news from Zelenskky’s and Erdogan’s news conference, the lead item in most reports was Erdogan’s answer to a question about Ukraine’s prospective NATO membership:

    “There is no doubt that Ukraine deserves to be in NATO.”

    Erdogan also said that Russian President Putin would visit Turkiye next month.

  23. 23.

    Kent

    Why isn’t Haas in the Hague for war crimes?

    Wasn’t he one of the primary architects of the Iraq war and occupation along with Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Paul Bremer, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of the Bush cabal?

    At a minimum, why would anyone ever listen to him again after that fiasco?

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Speaking of NATO membership, Secretary General Stoltenberg will hold a meeting with President Erdogan of Turkiye and Prime Minister Kristersson of Sweden on Monday in Vilnius, Latvia. Stoltenberg really wants to see Sweden’s membership approved in principle before the NATO Summit that begins the next day, and the stubborn Erdogan is standing in the way.

    This follows an inconclusive meeting yesterday in Brussels. There was a high-powered set of officials attending: the Foreign Ministers of Sweden, Finland and Turkiye, plus the intelligence and security chiefs of each nation. It struck me as the kind of group that’s pulled together when a deal is close.

  27. 27.

    Lyrebird

    @Chetan Murthy:

    CM, I often see things differently from you,  but on that one, you srsly just read my mind.  Elliot Abrams (spits).

    @Kent: totally agreed, they should meet up in the Hague if they do have more unofficial talks.

     

    @Gin & Tonic: did you see this enormous Latvian choir (DKos diary, must scroll way down) singing the Ukrainian national anthem?  And the audience all stood.

  29. 29.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Kent:

    @Chetan Murthy:

    @Lyrebird:

    Worse, the Biden Administration just nominated Elliot Abrams to a position on the U.S. Advisory Committee on Public Diplomacy. I don’t think it is an influential post, but why should a D administration continue to legitimize him sin any way?

    Naturally, Abrams has been a senior fellow on the Council on Foreign Relations, which Richard Haass headed for 2 decades (just stepped down). I am sure they both belong to the elitist & exclusionary DC foreign policy club that Adam has inveigled against in the past.

    On the Iraq War, Haass worked for Colin Powell during the lead up, but left before the war was launched. He later claimed that he was against GWB Administration’s policies in both Afghanistan & Iraq, but stayed to retain influence on other foreign policy issues, until the disagreements became too much to tolerate.

    I think we can believe he had been self-serving & self-exculpating in his claims, but I would not classify him in the same group as the neocons such as Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld & Cheney (the latter 2 I think are actually hardcore hegemonists who did not believe in democracy promotion at all). Instead, Haass is thoroughly conventional in the American Exceptionalist, American primacist & liberal internationalist/interventionist/hegemonist tradition.

  30. 30.

    Chetan Murthy

    @YY_Sima Qian: I’ve forgotten what perfidy he got up to during GWB’s admin and Trump’s; for me, he stands out for his perfidy during the 80s — Iran-Contra, and so much murder in Central America.  The idea that such an odious bloodsoaked devil could *possibly* advise *anybody* on “public diplomacy” ……. grrr.

  31. 31.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Chetan Murthy: To me, one of my disappointments w/ Biden Administration’s foreign policy has been how they have sometimes allowed prospects of R attack to constrain them, even though R will attack them no matter what they do. Less so on Ukraine than elsewhere.

  32. 32.

    Chetan Murthy

    @YY_Sima Qian: You’re right, but I would suggest that they can’t fight *every* battle: some, they must concede, simply to preserve their forces for the ones that really matter.  For example, withdrawing from Afghanistan.  This was something that mattered, and even as I spit on Elliott Abrams and all who ride in him, I can recognize that withdrawing from Afghanistan was more important.

  33. 33.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Chetan Murthy: I would say rapidly withdrawing from Afghanistan was an instance where the Biden Administration admirably ignored the inevitable sniping from the R & the “Blob”. Not it’s greatest foreign policy moment, though, in light of the aftermath.

  34. 34.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Chetan Murthy: The Elliot Abrams nomination really pisses me off, since I am not sure what it gains the Biden Administration. Unless they don’t in fact think personages such as Elliot Abrams are beyond the pale.

  36. 36.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: President Zelenskyy’s statement on the meeting in Istanbul:

        During the meeting with the President of Turkey, Recip Erdogan, we discussed several joint projects that we can implement together to strengthen our states and give more security, more jobs and more growth.

    This concerns cooperation in the military-industrial complex, the production of drones, and other strategic industries. Corresponding agreements have also been concluded. We invited Turkey to join the large-scale work work within the reconstruction of Ukraine, reconstruction and transformation.

    I am grateful to Turkey for its constant support of the territorial integrity and sovereignity of Ukraine.

    I believe together we can do even more, saving lives and protecting stability.

  37. 37.

    Geminid

    President Zelenskyy commemorated the 500th day of the war by making a trip to Snake Island. Noel Reports (@NOELreports) repeats the video of the trip.

    It’s very striking: a dawn approach to the Black Sea island in a small boat; Zelenskyy stepping onto the rocky shore and climbing a hill to a memorial where he places flowers, with flags whipping in the breeze; and then him speaking into the camera about the courage of the defenders, and his nation’s determination.

    The writer of Noel Reports said it gave him goosebumps and I could see why.

  38. 38.

    oldster

    @Geminid:

    Zelensky went to Snake Island?!?!

    Wow — that is brave to the point of reckless. He was a sitting duck there — it’s a small island with scant shelter. And the trip there and back left him exposed.

    I am not going to tell him how to be a war-time head of state, because he is doing it better than anyone else has this century. But if I were his advisor I would have told him not to take the risk.

    He is a very, very brave individual.

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid:

    Thanks for the pointer.

    NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
    @[email protected]

    Zelenskyi visited Zmiinyi Island. What a brave leader.

    “500 days of the full-scale war. I am grateful to everyone who fought here against the occupiers. We commemorated the heroes who gave their lives in this battle – one of the most important during the full-scale war.”

    Jul 08, 2023, 03:04

    It includes a short video.

    Slava Ukraini!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  43. 43.

    Juju

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s a much more suitable spelling for him. The way I’ve seen the name spelled made me think he’s an insult to avocados. I love avocados. I feel better now.

  44. 44.

    Gin & Tonic

    Zelensky also brought home the Azovstal commanders:

    Повертаємося додому з Туреччини й повертаємо додому наших героїв.
    Українські воїни Денис Прокопенко, Святослав Паламар, Сергій Волинський, Олег Хоменко, Денис Шлега нарешті будуть із рідними.
    Слава Україні!

    ——

    We are returning home from Türkiye and bringing our heroes home.… pic.twitter.com/SLX3RIWPiy
    — Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 8, 2023

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @YY_Sima Qian: It’s also good leadership. Zelensky is sending many thousands of Ukrainian troops into much more hazardous conditions, and he’s showing them that he is willing to risk his own life.

    I expect the Ukrainians stacked some extra air defense on the shore opposite. They probably ran that boat pretty fast, too.

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: I wonder what their route home was. Lviv is a farly short hop from Istanbul, but I don’t know how safe that would be. Maybe they flew to Romania or Slovakia, and went by land from there.

    It’s been quite the few days for Zelenskyy. Thursday morning he flew to Bulgaria and chewed out their president, and then traveled to Czechia to confer with theirs. I hope Zelenskyy and Pavel got to knock back a couple bottles of that good Czech beer that evening.

    Then yesterday it was on to Slovakia and Turkiye, and this morning he made a dawn trip to Snake Island.

  49. 49.

    oldster

    @Geminid:

    It is true leadership in the truest sense.

    But when’s the last time a head of state put himself in that much danger?

    I’m reminded of the time when Lincoln toured a fort on the outskirts of DC — was it Bladensburg? — and looked over the parapet at the traitor pickets. The Union commander barked at him, “put your head down, you damned fool!”, before apologizing to his commander in chief for the breach of etiquette. Lincoln, of course, was vastly amused by it.

    With the same mixture of love, fear, and exasperation, I want to tell Zelensky to put his head down, the damned fool.

  51. 51.

    Bill Arnold

    @Kent:

    Why isn’t Haas in the Hague for war crimes?

    A reminder that there are at least two well-documented cases of pre-election “diplomacy” for electoral gain; Nixon’s team/Vietnam war prior to the 1968 election, and Reagan’s team/Iran prior to the 1980 election.
    We must assume the possibility that they (or a subset), in the current unofficial contact, were relaying what assistance to Russia a Republican POTUS would possibly provide to Russia if they won the election, and possibly inviting Russian electoral interference to boost the GOP. The possibility that they are traitors, in the colloquial sense if not the narrow US constitutional sense.

  52. 52.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: I thought that was the case, but I wasn’t sure.

    There’s a good rail connection from Slovakia, though. I learned that because it is one of the overland routes for grain shipments, and the US spent 40 million improving grain shipping facilities at the border.

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