Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave what can only be described as a momentous televised speech. There were three primary takeaways from his words. First, Russia is instituting a “partial military draft” drawn from the nation’s estimated 25 million reservists, a group that includes anyone who has ever served in the military. The reason given is so that Russia can help their compatriots in disputed Ukrainian territories determine their own future. However, many see the recent setbacks in Kharkiv and the advance of Ukrainian military forces as the impetus for this action. The draft has caused great upheaval in the nation, and an attempted mass exodus of draft-eligible men. There are long lines of cars at the Russo-Finnish and Russo-Georgian borders, and social media is reporting that airlines have been required to stop selling tickets to men aged 18 to 65. Beginning today, checkpoints will be set up around Russia to find men seeking to escape the draft. Those discovered will be conscripted or imprisoned. Parliament has ordered a prison sentence of up to 10 years for those who do not comply with the draft. So far, well over 360 anti-draft protestors have been arrested in Russia.
The second takeaway is Putin’s apparent plan to annex four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. His strategy is similar to what he did in Crimea. The governments of these regions will hold a referendum. If the votes say that the majority of the people want to split off from Ukraine and become part of Russia – which Russia will ensure they do – then Moscow will officially annex the territories. If all four of these regions do become part of Russia, then Ukraine will lose 20% of its landmass. Should Ukraine seek to take these territories back, Moscow will view it as an attack on Russian territory and will consider it an act of war. If that happens, the other nations of the Collective Security Treaty (CST) – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan – will be obligated to join Russia in a war against Ukraine.
Finally, President Putin reminded the world that all weapons are on the table in the Ukrainian conflict, including nuclear. “When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. It’s not a bluff,” he told his audience. Former commander of the US Army’s European Command, Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, said that if Putin uses nukes in Ukraine, then, while the US may not respond with nuclear weapons of their own, they are prepared to destroy Russia’s Black Sea Fleet or wipe out the Russian bases in Crimea. As a result of Putin’s televised speech, the Russian stock market crashed losing up to 10% of its value on Wednesday.
As far as the actual prosecution of the military action goes, Russia continues to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. On Monday, they shelled the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant south of Kiev with rockets exploding only 300 meters from the reactors. The Russians also hit a nearby hydroelectric power plant. Meanwhile, when the Ukrainians repatriated the city of Izium, they discovered a mass grave of more than 440 bodies. Some of the dead appeared to have been victims of shelling and air strikes, while others showed signs of torture.
In the topsy-turvy world of war, a bizarre incident took place in Ukraine. Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman mediated a prisoner exchange between Russia and the West. Five Britons, two Americans, a Croatian, a Swede, and a Moroccan were released from Russia and transported to Saudi Arabia. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also became involved in a wider exchange of over 250 people. Amongst those exchanged were the three most famous commanders of the Ukrainian Azov battalion who were involved in the long siege of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. Within the 50+ transferred to the Russians was the pro-Russian member of the Ukrainian parliament, Viktor Medvedchuk, an oligarch accused of treason.
Yesterday was a bad day for the Central Bank of Iran as the hacktivist group, Anonymous, took down their website. Bank officials were quick to state that all its internal information was safe, and it was just the website that we inaccessible. Later the websites of Iran’s President and that of the Supreme Leader were also taken offline for a time. These latter two occurred just before Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi addressed the UN General Assembly, during which he held up a picture of Qassem Soleimani. That action caused the Israeli ambassador to walk out. The cyberattacks came amidst protests surrounding the death of a young woman who was arrested by the morality police for improperly wearing her hijab. She later died in custody. This has led to riots and mass protests with many of the people chanting “Down with the Dictator”. At least 17 have been killed so far in the demonstrations, although some report the number to be much higher. It has also spurred many women across the country to post videos of themselves removing their hijabs and cutting their hair. As a result of the protests, the government has disrupted communication, shutting down cellular networks, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Iran has not just been on the receiving end of cyber activity. Iranian cyberattacks against Israel have increased 70% in recent years. Most all the attacks were thwarted, however, by the Cyber Defense Division in the C4I Directorate, the IDF’s elite technological unit.
While Iran is using the internet for their attacks, Israel is doing their talking with airstrikes. On Friday, Israel hit the Damascus International Airport, killing five Syrian soldiers and damaging the cargo terminal used by Hezbollah and the Quds Force of Iran’s IRGC for illegal smuggling. The strike also damaged the ops rooms and headquarters of the Quds Force south of Damascus in El Kiswah.
The European Parliament has voted that Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is no longer a full-fledged democracy. Instead, it is an “hybrid electoral autocracy”. Zoltan Kovacs, Hungary’s Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations, shot back on Twitter, “Why not vote that the earth is flat…. The European Parliament also voted that men can give birth…. No matter what the EP says about it, we will always put Hungary first.”
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan on Sunday. One person died and 146 were injured as buildings collapsed and trains derailed. The next day a 7.6 magnitude temblor hit Mexico’s central Pacific coast. At least one person was killed and minor damage to buildings was reported. Then, today a 5.8 earthquake hit New Zealand and a 6.7 once again struck the western coast of Mexico.
Health authorities have declared an Ebola outbreak in Uganda after a 24-year-old man died of the disease in the country’s central Mubende district. It has been a decade since this rare Sudan strain of the disease broke out in Uganda, although the Ebola Zaire strain has been reported as recently as 2019.
Canada has finally decided to drop the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for entrance into the country. The change will go into effect at the end of September. A mask mandate will remain in place, however, for air travel and on trains.
In a visit that would have been unimaginable a decade ago, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. “I am here today to remind ourselves of the lessons that history teaches us and the great responsibility that has been placed on us to behave with tolerance for the sake of building our community and society,” he said. “We must take a brave step to build a bridge of true peace for future generations.”
Israel’s extremely unpopular interim prime minister Yair Lapid [told] the UN today that the nation is committed to trying to make work a two-state solution with the Palestinians. He is not the first to suggest this, and he will soon find out how poorly it went for the others who recommended this ridiculous solution. On the positive side, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is considering moving the UK embassy to Jerusalem.
