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War
- Thread starter Creeperpark
- Start date
#5 was mine.
St. Phatty
Active member
Why would anybody use the term "intelligence" to describe these Psychopaths ?
Military Psychopathy Department, is much closer to an accurate description.
Petrochemical
Active member
They're off the chart.
I just left the V.F.W Winooski and ran into two air lat recipients
Petrochemical
Active member
Omfg
dudes playing thor I mean what else what else can we expect from somebody that covets the KGB?
1973?
Montuno
...como el Son...
I survived many years ago a multiple explosion of several fuel tanks (People burned alive... it took days and days to be able to turn them off, and not bursting the nearby gas spheres), and I do not wish anyone to have been in that installation of the video ...
...About what the subtitles of the video comment "how could the Ukrainian MI-24s have made it, with so much likely Russian air presence?", I don't know if this article could have anything to do with it:
This is Krasukha, the system that blinds spy planes, drones and satellites that Ukraine has taken from Russia
The Ukrainian military has captured a Krasukha-4 command unit, Russia's most advanced electronic warfare system.
24 March, 2022
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ele...092_0.amp.html
.
Ukraine Just Captured Part Of One Of Russia's Most Capable Electronic Warfare Systems
Russia's lost Krasukha-4 electronic warfare system command module would be a prize for foreign intelligence agencies.
BYJOSEPH TREVITHICKMARCH 22, 2022
ptured Part Of One Of Russia's Most Capable Electronic Warfare Systems
Russia's lost Krasukha-4 electronic warfare system command module would be a prize for foreign intelligence agencies.
BYJOSEPH TREVITHICKMARCH 22, 2022
JOSEPH TREVITHICKView Joseph Trevithick's Articles
@FranticGoat
Acurious 'container' that Ukrainian troops captured today looks to actually represent a significant Russian loss and a potential intelligence goldmine. What Ukraine's forces found looks to be a containerized command post that is part of the Krasukha-4 mobile electronic warfare system. The Krasukha-4 is primarily designed to detect and jam large radars, such as those on airborne early warning and control aircraft, such as the U.S. Air Force's E-3 Sentry, and spy satellites.
Ukrainian forces reportedly found this command post container outside of the capital Kyiv. Twitter user @UAWeapons was among the first to identify it as most likely being a component of the Krasukha-4 system, which is also known by nomenclature 1RL257, based on a picture that had emerged online. A complete Krasukha-4 consists of two vehicles, both based on the 8x8 KAMAZ-6350 truck, one with the electronic warfare (EW) system and the other carrying the command post module.
RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
A picture showing a complete Krasukha-4 system, with the truck-mounted command post 'container' seen behind the vehicle carrying the EW component, in 2017.
There are no indications one way or another about what might have happened to the truck that had been carrying this container or to its companion equipped with the EW system. The photograph of the container shows it lying on its side with tree branches on top, but it's unclear if that reflects a deliberate attempt to hide it or just where it came to rest after some kind of attack or accident. There are other fallen branches and debris around it, as well. There is damage to the command post module, notably along a part of the bottom edge of the frame, and the access doors on the side that is visible are missing. That being said, it seems to be in relatively good shape, at least externally.
VIA TWITTER
A close-up look of a portion of the captured Krasukha-4 command post module showing the damage to the frame, at left, and some of the debris seen on the ground, at right.
Regardless, the loss of even one-half of a Krasukha-4 system could be significant for Russian forces from an operational perspective. Though its origins trace back to the late 1990s, this remains one of the Russian military's most capable mobile EW systems, with serial production only beginning in the early 2010s. It was developed as part of a larger project to field systems to shield Russian assets on the ground and in the air from the prying eyes of various ground-based and aerial surveillance and imaging radars, along with certain radar-equipped intelligence-gathering satellites.
Russian officials have at least claimed in the past that Krasukha-4 can spot and jam various types of radars, including surveillance radars, airborne radar imaging sensors, and active radar seekers and altimeters found in missiles. It has a stated maximum range against ground-based and aerial targets of between 150 and 300 kilometers, or around 93 to 186 miles, in any direction, depending on various environmental factors, according to the manufacturer, Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies, better known by its Russian acronym KRET. It's not entirely clear if this reflects the range at which radars can be detected, engaged, or both.
There are reports that Krasukha-4's jamming system can emit powerful enough beams of RF energy to physically damage sensitive electronic systems on certain targets.
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RUSSIA’S USE OF ISKANDER BALLISTIC MISSILES IN UKRAINE EXPOSES SECRET DECOY CAPABILITYBy Thomas NewdickPosted in THE WAR ZONE
RUSSIA’S ONLY PROTOTYPE T-80UM2 TANK WAS DESTROYED IN UKRAINEBy Thomas NewdickPosted in THE WAR ZONE
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Positioning a Krasukha-4 in the general vicinity of Kyiv would make good sense to help make it harder for Ukrainian forces, and their international partners, to find and target Russian units in this area via radar, where fighting has been ongoing for weeks now. By its nature, the system has to have some degree of passive detection capability, which would allow it to be used in a more general surveillance role, watching for potential threats to pop up, such as a combat jet's radar or one associated with a surface-to-air missile system. Discussions about this system's capabilities generally do not frame it as being a counter-communications tool, with Russia's military fielding a variety of other EW systems for that purpose, but it would seem possible that it has some secondary capability in this regard.
The Tweet below shows a Krasukha-4 system spotted in eastern Belarus in February as part of the buildup for the invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, Krasukha-4 represents a mobile, multi-purpose system that could be moved around relatively rapidly depending on the changing situation on the ground to provide valuable EW support elsewhere in the country. These systems could potentially be placed in certain areas of Ukraine and neighboring Belarus, to try to blind various kinds of foreign manned and unmanned aircraft operating from the safety of NATO or international airspace.
Though the U.S. military has stopped flying sorites directly over Ukraine, it, along with other NATO members, has continued to monitor the situation in Ukraine from the air from adjacent areas. This has included sorties involving U.S. Air Force and NATO E-3s, as well as Air Force E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) battlefield management jets, and RQ-4 Global Hawk drones, all of which carry powerful radars, among other aircraft, as you can read more about here. These are exactly the kinds of platforms Krasukha-4 was developed to defeat.
Earlier this month, a production team from CNN was able to fly on a NATO E-3 on a mission near Poland's borders with Ukraine and Belarus. "The Russians have also taken to trying to jam the NATO plane's radar, an annoying but inevitable occurrence given how visible the giant spy plane is," that outlet reported at the time, though no details were given about the source or sources of that interference.
It is worth noting that despite Russia's substantial EW capabilities, which have been employed in Ukraine, among other countries, in the past, by every indication it has curiously used systems like Krasukha-4 only sparingly in the current conflict so far. It is possible that this is due in part to concerns about the loss or capture of these systems.
At the same time, Russian forces have run the same risks by employing other relatively advanced weapon systems. Case in point, the war in Ukraine has exposed the fact that the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile has an integrated expendable countermeasure capability that was not previously known, at least publicly, which you can read more about here. There are indications that Russia's military may now finally be stepping up its use of EW systems, too, as evidenced by the captured Krasukha-4 command post module and the reported destruction of a R-330ZH Zhitel, a truck-mounted mobile communications jamming system.
Regardless, beyond the immediate implications of the loss of part of a Krasukha-4 system, if Ukrainian forces can safely retrieve this command post module, it could provide a substantial source of intelligence to authorities in the country and their foreign partners. Intelligence agencies in the United States and other countries in the West would undoubtedly love to get their hands on this container to see what can be gleaned from it. U.S. military officials regularly cite advanced EW systems, such as those that the Russians, as well as the Chinese, continue to develop and field as especially significant threats to American forces.
Learning more about the Krasukha-4's capabilities could help, among other things, in the development of countermeasures. The software that runs the system could be as valuable as the hardware, too, and might lead to the discovery of loopholes that could be exploited for cyber warfare purposes.
A deeper analysis of the command post's individual components, right down to things like the construction of the wiring inside, could offer other insights, including about Russia's ability to actually manufacture advanced EW systems and other electronics. Any documents or other items inside this containerized command post could provide a wealth of information on various topics.
VITALY KUZMIN
Another view of a Krasukha-4 command post truck.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, independent Ukraine has long proven to be a valuable source of Soviet-designed hardware for the U.S. military and the U.S. Intelligence Community to pour over as part of so-called foreign materiel exploitation (FME) programs. This has included the acquisition of higher-end systems, including fighter jets and large radars, from Ukrainian sources. The U.S. government is now reportedly in the process of sending Soviet-era air defense systems from its FME stockpiles to the Ukrainian military to help bolster its ability to keep Russian forces from gaining control of the country's skies.
Either as a direct part of that deal or through separate arrangements, it would seem possible, if not probable that the United States has already been looking to acquire various examples of more modern Russian weapons and other military equipment that have been captured in the fighting so far. This conflict is likely to produce a massive treasure trove of intelligence for the U.S. government and others, in general.
With that in mind, it's possible that the U.S. Intelligence Community, elements of which have been working very closely with their Ukrainian counterparts during the conflict so far, could be in the process of trying to acquire or otherwise gain access to this portion of the Krasukha-4 system. They may, of course, have already come across another example in the course of the conflict in Ukraine or through other, unrelated means.
All told, Ukrainian forces capturing this outwardly unassuming metal box could have serious ramifications for the Russian military and be a major boon to its adversaries in Ukraine and elsewhere around the world, including in the United States.
Contact the author: [email protected]
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...arfare-systems
Montuno
...como el Son...
1972 The drawing for 1972 was held August 5, 1971.
http://www.15thfar.org/draft70-72.html#Lottery Held August 5, 1971
Petrochemical , After watching the video I am not tough. I'm just gonna walk away.
Petrochemical
Active member
These dudes were selling fetynal pills made to look like oxycodone or something similar. The homeless case manager they were threatening later explained this to me. People have been dropping like flies up here from it because we're kinda rural and the majority of "heroin" being abused up here usually came with a 54543 stamp on it or were just straight pharmaceuticals from a loved ones medicine cabinet only to manifest itself into doctor shopping for script jockeys....which was easy peasey lemon squeezey up here until say 2018.
the case manager watched them get bear maced .....turns out bear mace is a air lat deflator....albeit temporary mind u.....never ending air supply lats are prolific
Happy April 1st to all.
Let's hope we don't witness our country falling apart in our lifetimes
the case manager watched them get bear maced .....turns out bear mace is a air lat deflator....albeit temporary mind u.....never ending air supply lats are prolific
Happy April 1st to all.
Let's hope we don't witness our country falling apart in our lifetimes
Montuno
...como el Son...
RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE
kyiv will recruit former Spanish military artillerymen and nuclear risk experts for $3,000 a month
- PELAYO MUD
- 03/08/2022 06:49
- UPDATED: 03/08/2022 09:03
The appeal is already circulating among former members of the Spanish armed forces. It comes directly from the Ukrainian embassy, which has publicized the «procedure for enlisting foreign nationals in the Foreign Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine» . The 'international brigades' loyal to the government of President Volodomir Zelensky .
As OKDIARIO has been able to verify, applications can be submitted in person, by phone or by email to the Ukrainian embassy in Spain. It is required to present the national identification document (DNI or passport), as well as certificates that accredit military service or service in the forces of public order. Those interested must demonstrate their experience in combat. All the procedures are carried out by the military attaché office of the embassy, with whom you must have an interview -personal or telematic- before your application is accepted.
Experts in artillery and CBRN risks
All military profiles " are welcome ", sources familiar with these efforts explain to OKDIARIO, but some more than others. This is the case of those who have experience " in field artillery" and who know how to use this type of weaponry on the battlefield.
In addition, another of the shortcomings that the Ukrainian Army seeks to cover with foreign professional volunteers is NBC defense . Acronyms for nuclear, biological and chemical, threats that are not present on the Ukrainian scene at the moment, but that could play a fundamental role in the conflict in view of the arsenal available to the Russian Federation.
Expert combat profiles, mainly from special operations teams, are also highly valued:
Legión (direct shock troops) and it BRILEG and BOEL (green berets), Tropas Regulares Indígenas (direct shock troops), Cazadores de Montaña,, EADA, BRIMAR (marines), BRILAT and BRIPAC(paratroopers).
On the other hand, former Spanish officers with experience and training in staff and operations are sought. That is, personnel capable of providing advice and support to the execution of missions of the Ukrainian armed forces on the ground.
"Bring your uniform"
Those interested are required "if available, bring military uniform or its elements, equipment, helmet, bulletproof vests, etc." It is admitted that the military uniform carries the flag of Spain.
Applicants, once accepted, must travel by their own means to Ukraine, although in transit the embassy " will provide assistance during their journey " and the necessary contacts to reach Ukrainian soil. Once there, at the agreed point for their enlistment, the recruit will sign their employment commitment with the Ukrainian military forces "and together with soldiers from other countries and national soldiers to fight against the Russian occupiers," explains the embassy documentation. They will not do it in an absolutely disinterested way, but the Ukrainian government will pay them salaries of around 3,000 dollars - a little more in the case of high-ranking officers or highly specialized profiles.
The Ukrainian appeals have aroused the interest of former Spanish soldiers. As OKDIARIO has learned, " several dozens" of people are already immersed in the procedures or even traveling to Ukraine. Among them, there are soldiers whose professional commitment to the armed forces ended when they turned 45 and professionals with experience as security contractors on board ships that navigate the waters of the Indian Ocean, threatened by Somali pirates.
For Russia, they are terrorists
The Spanish Government is closely aware of these movements, but since they are former soldiers - in reserve, with an extinguished commitment or on leave - it cannot prevent their deployment in Ukraine. Of course, they warn those who are willing to respond to the Zelensky government's call for help that "if they are captured, they will not be treated as prisoners of war ." This has been openly warned by Russia.
In the event that a soldier is captured by the enemy, the Geneva Convention (in its article 4) protects him against executions, torture or ill-treatment and obliges his captors to offer him a dignified treatment. These rules also apply to certain guerrillas and civilians who render some kind of service to the fighting armies. However, the Kremlin applies the status of "terrorists" to all those who are not professional Ukrainian military personnel.
In fact, as can be seen in videos released by the Russian Security Ministry, the Kremlin's special commandos are already searching the streets of the conquered cities for members of the resistance.
Montuno
...como el Son...
April 2, 2022 - Updated: 01:04
A report affirms that Russia integrates Spanish technology in the drones it deploys in Ukraine
According to Conflict Armament Research the autopilots of their Zastava UAVs are manufactured by UAV Navigation
Drafting | Friday , February 25, 2022, 06:00
The Russian Army integrates Spanish technology from the UAV Navigation company in the drones it uses in Ukraine, according to the report Weapons of the war in Ukraine , prepared by the Conflict Armament Research (CAR) . The company, which has denied in a statement having sold its systems to Russia, manufactures solutions for drones and autopilot systems, one of them, the AP04M, is, according to this report, in the Zastava UAVs used by Vladimir Putin 's troops to carry Carry out surveillance missions and fine-tune artillery shots.
The Conflict Armament Research report states that the Russians have been using the Zastava , a fixed-wing UAV manufactured by the Russian Federation since 2012 under license from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) , for years in Ukraine .
According to said report, the last time the presence of these unmanned vehicles was located in Ukraine was on April 5, 2020, near Donetsk, in the east of the country, although years before, in 2015, another drone of the same model near Luhansk, also in the east.
The position of the company
The statement issued by the Spanish company insists that "UAV Navigation has never sold its autopilots to Russia" and that the company "rigorously complies with all the regulations for the production and sale of dual-use technological material, civil and military ".
The text also explains that the company's sales abroad were investigated in 2010 and that the process "concluded without any responsibility for UAV Navigaton due to the complexity in the interpretation of regulations in force at that time regarding the export of technology of dual use".
The company, continues the statement, "has collaborated transparently with the authorities in order to ensure the traceability of said operations and comply with all regulatory requirements."
Characteristics of autopilot systems
The devices discussed in the report are designed to enable fully automatic operation of the UAV, including automatic take-off, flight plan execution and automatic landing. In addition, they can be used in all types of UAVs, regardless of whether they are dige or rotary wing.
Equipment Russia Ukraine drones zastava
https://mundomilitar.infodefensa.com.. .pliega-ucrania
Montuno
...como el Son...
The pro-Russian republic of Transnistria, bordering Ukraine, calls for independence from Moldova
MOLDOVA
A soldier of the Russian XIV Army in a street of Tiraspol, in the territory of Transnistria, split from Moldova
Sergey Gapon / AFP
EFE
03/05/2022 09:47Updated 03/05/2022 11:04
Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist entity within the territory of the Republic of Moldova and bordering Ukraine, has called for its independence to be recognized, after Moldova formally applied Thursday to join the European Union.
"In these new circumstances, including those created by the actions of the Moldovan leaders, we call on the Moldovan side to start a dialogue with Transnistria" to achieve "good-neighborly coexistence of two independent states," read a statement published on Tuesday. Thursday by the "Foreign Ministry" of that de facto independent republic.
read alsoMoldova joins the Eastern puzzle
TERESA AMIGUET
In the text, quoted today by Moldovan media, the authorities of the self-proclaimed independent Transnistria reproach the Moldovan government for having made a "geopolitical decision" that will alter the "spheres of influence" in the region, by requesting entry into the EU.
They criticize Moldova for not having respected the dialogue mechanisms sponsored by the international community to resolve this conflict.
read alsoThe atlas of the countries that do not exist
DAVID RUIZ MARUL
"The decision of the Moldovan authorities assumes that they are ready to transfer Moldova's sovereignty to supranational institutions in Brussels," the statement added.
Located between the river Nistru, or Dniester in rudo, the breakaway enclave of Transnistria was established in the early 1990s by former Red Army forces stationed in Moldova who did not accept the creation of a state independent of Moscow in the former Soviet republic.
Russia has about 2,000 troops in Transnistria
It is estimated that Russia permanently has some 2,000 troops in the enclave known as Transnistria.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased fears in the Moldovan government of a military intervention.
The head of Security and Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, traveled to Moldova on Wednesday, to offer support to his pro-European government, and the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, will be there this weekend to support his support for its "sovereignty and territorial integrity".
https://www.lavanguardia.com/interna...-moldavia.html
MOLDOVA
The request comes after Moldova asked Thursday to join the European Union.
Sergey Gapon / AFP
EFE
03/05/2022 09:47Updated 03/05/2022 11:04
Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist entity within the territory of the Republic of Moldova and bordering Ukraine, has called for its independence to be recognized, after Moldova formally applied Thursday to join the European Union.
"In these new circumstances, including those created by the actions of the Moldovan leaders, we call on the Moldovan side to start a dialogue with Transnistria" to achieve "good-neighborly coexistence of two independent states," read a statement published on Tuesday. Thursday by the "Foreign Ministry" of that de facto independent republic.
read alsoMoldova joins the Eastern puzzle
TERESA AMIGUET
They criticize Moldova for not having respected the dialogue mechanisms sponsored by the international community to resolve this conflict.
read alsoThe atlas of the countries that do not exist
DAVID RUIZ MARUL
Located between the river Nistru, or Dniester in rudo, the breakaway enclave of Transnistria was established in the early 1990s by former Red Army forces stationed in Moldova who did not accept the creation of a state independent of Moscow in the former Soviet republic.
Russia has about 2,000 troops in Transnistria
It is estimated that Russia permanently has some 2,000 troops in the enclave known as Transnistria.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased fears in the Moldovan government of a military intervention.
The head of Security and Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, traveled to Moldova on Wednesday, to offer support to his pro-European government, and the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, will be there this weekend to support his support for its "sovereignty and territorial integrity".
https://www.lavanguardia.com/interna...-moldavia.html
Montuno
...como el Son...
The paradox of the Russian invasion: Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia throw themselves into the arms of the EU
REPUBLIC / AGENCIES | UPDATED:04.03.2022
The three countries, with Russian troops and pro-Russian separatist territories, have officially applied this week to join the European Union
The paradox of the Russian invasion: Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia throw themselves into the arms of the EUThe risk of a Russian threat after starting the war against Ukraine has pushed not only this country, but also Moldova and Georgia , countries with Russian troops and pro- Russian separatist territories , to sign the applications to become candidates for the European Union (EU) . .
Ukraine set the precedent and, after it, first Georgia and then Moldova decided to start a process that now requires following the channels enshrined in Article 49 of the EU Treaty : the Council (the countries) will have to assess the request and decide whether to request an opinion on the matter to the European Commission, which may take between 15 and 18 months.
Ukraine and the spur of war
"We call on the European Union for the immediate accession of Ukraine under a new special procedure," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message to the population after signing the document he sent to Brussels , at a moment described as "historic " by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament).
Since 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea , the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk , in the Donbas region (eastern Ukraine), have been the bone of contention between Ukraine and Russia. The region has been experiencing an armed conflict since April 2014, but last Thursday, February 24, Russia launched the war against Ukraine, extending the conflict to the entire country.
In the plenary session of the European Parliament, before the representatives of the institutions, Zelensky asked the EU to show that "it is with the Ukrainian people ", and has reiterated and pressed on numerous occasions with the membership as part of its "survival" before the Russian threat in a context in which Ukrainians are fighting "to be as free" as EU citizens.
Moldova and the situation in Transnistria
Moldova is a small and impoverished ex-Soviet republic that Russia has seized part of its territory from , establishing a de facto independent republic.
Threatened, in the midst of the Russian invasion of the neighboring country, Moldova asked this Thursday "to live in peace, democracy and prosperity, being part of the free world ", in the words of its president, the pro-European Maia Sandu, who after signing the request of accession praised the "serene and determined" response of his people "at a time when a real danger is knocking at the door".
The conflict in Transnistria arose after the collapse of the Soviet Union , when pro-Russian forces rebelled against the newly proclaimed state of Moldova, turning it into a territory where Moscow and the pro-Russian oligarchs who control it do and undo as they please.
It is estimated that Russia has some two thousand soldiers permanently deployed around Tiraspol , the "capital" of Transnistria . In addition, the region, as geopolitical analyst Mihai Isac explains to Efe, "is very close to Odesa, the main port of Ukraine and one of the objectives of the Russian military offensive."
"Although at the moment the Russian military in Transnistria have not participated in the invasion of Ukraine, their presence there immobilizes a part of the Ukrainian troops, who remain in the area to avoid a possible attack by these troops on Odessa," explains Isac.
In addition to being handcuffed by the Russian military presence in part of its territory, Moldova is the poorest country in Europe and must face the humanitarian crisis resulting from the war.
Georgia and the case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Georgia made headlines for the 2008 war , in which pro- Russian rebels supported by the Kremlin rebelled against the Tbilisi government to establish, on Georgian territory, two separatist enclaves (South Ossetia and Abkhazia), managed by Moscow.
When condemning Russia's recognition of Donetsk and Luganks, Georgian President Salomé Zurabishvili warned that "the same script that led to the occupation of 20% of the territory" of Georgia was being repeated, when Moscow recognized Ossetia from South and Abkhazia.
In this context, the country decided to rush to sign the application for accession, which opens an "important stage on Georgia's path to the European Union," according to its prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, after sealing the document.
"For us, a future in Europe is the only option. It is our strategic goal, " Garibashvili stressed after signing the document.
Georgia already signed the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014 , which includes the Free Trade Agreement, and in 2017 achieved the liberalization of the visa regime with the European Union and now, threatened by the war in Ukraine, has decided to formalize its candidacy .
Together with Ukraine, they constitute the two countries that Russia has constantly tried to prevent from joining NATO, citing its own security reasons.
https://www.republica.com/internaci...los-brazos-de-la-ue-20220304-17021406332/amp/
REPUBLIC / AGENCIES | UPDATED:04.03.2022
The three countries, with Russian troops and pro-Russian separatist territories, have officially applied this week to join the European Union
Ukraine set the precedent and, after it, first Georgia and then Moldova decided to start a process that now requires following the channels enshrined in Article 49 of the EU Treaty : the Council (the countries) will have to assess the request and decide whether to request an opinion on the matter to the European Commission, which may take between 15 and 18 months.
Ukraine and the spur of war
"We call on the European Union for the immediate accession of Ukraine under a new special procedure," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message to the population after signing the document he sent to Brussels , at a moment described as "historic " by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament).
Since 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea , the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk , in the Donbas region (eastern Ukraine), have been the bone of contention between Ukraine and Russia. The region has been experiencing an armed conflict since April 2014, but last Thursday, February 24, Russia launched the war against Ukraine, extending the conflict to the entire country.
In the plenary session of the European Parliament, before the representatives of the institutions, Zelensky asked the EU to show that "it is with the Ukrainian people ", and has reiterated and pressed on numerous occasions with the membership as part of its "survival" before the Russian threat in a context in which Ukrainians are fighting "to be as free" as EU citizens.
Moldova and the situation in Transnistria
Moldova is a small and impoverished ex-Soviet republic that Russia has seized part of its territory from , establishing a de facto independent republic.
Threatened, in the midst of the Russian invasion of the neighboring country, Moldova asked this Thursday "to live in peace, democracy and prosperity, being part of the free world ", in the words of its president, the pro-European Maia Sandu, who after signing the request of accession praised the "serene and determined" response of his people "at a time when a real danger is knocking at the door".
The conflict in Transnistria arose after the collapse of the Soviet Union , when pro-Russian forces rebelled against the newly proclaimed state of Moldova, turning it into a territory where Moscow and the pro-Russian oligarchs who control it do and undo as they please.
It is estimated that Russia has some two thousand soldiers permanently deployed around Tiraspol , the "capital" of Transnistria . In addition, the region, as geopolitical analyst Mihai Isac explains to Efe, "is very close to Odesa, the main port of Ukraine and one of the objectives of the Russian military offensive."
"Although at the moment the Russian military in Transnistria have not participated in the invasion of Ukraine, their presence there immobilizes a part of the Ukrainian troops, who remain in the area to avoid a possible attack by these troops on Odessa," explains Isac.
In addition to being handcuffed by the Russian military presence in part of its territory, Moldova is the poorest country in Europe and must face the humanitarian crisis resulting from the war.
Georgia and the case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Georgia made headlines for the 2008 war , in which pro- Russian rebels supported by the Kremlin rebelled against the Tbilisi government to establish, on Georgian territory, two separatist enclaves (South Ossetia and Abkhazia), managed by Moscow.
When condemning Russia's recognition of Donetsk and Luganks, Georgian President Salomé Zurabishvili warned that "the same script that led to the occupation of 20% of the territory" of Georgia was being repeated, when Moscow recognized Ossetia from South and Abkhazia.
In this context, the country decided to rush to sign the application for accession, which opens an "important stage on Georgia's path to the European Union," according to its prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, after sealing the document.
"For us, a future in Europe is the only option. It is our strategic goal, " Garibashvili stressed after signing the document.
Georgia already signed the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014 , which includes the Free Trade Agreement, and in 2017 achieved the liberalization of the visa regime with the European Union and now, threatened by the war in Ukraine, has decided to formalize its candidacy .
Together with Ukraine, they constitute the two countries that Russia has constantly tried to prevent from joining NATO, citing its own security reasons.
https://www.republica.com/internaci...los-brazos-de-la-ue-20220304-17021406332/amp/
Montuno
...como el Son...
Western Sahara War
Spain resumes 'Vacaciones en Paz', the foster program for Saharawi children in summer after two years of hiatus
The pandemic forced the cancellation of the arrival of Saharawi minors and from the association they trust that the change in the Government's position in relation to the conflict will not affect the program
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Reception of the Saharawi boys and girls in the program 'Holidays in Peace' / Cadena SER
EP
Chain BE03/27/2022 - 13:14 CEST
Madrid:
The 'Holidays in Peace' program by which Saharawi boys and girls are welcomed each summer by Spanish families is resumed this summer, after two years interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and they hope that the turn of the Spanish Government regarding the Sahara does not affect the operation of the program.
"We hope that this position of the Government of Spain with respect to Western Sahara does not also affect the Holidays in Peace program," said Ana Graceful.
More information:
At the moment, within the 'Holidays in Peace' program, they are in the middle of a campaign to attract foster families in all the autonomous communities and they anticipate that, if all goes well, the first Saharawi minors will begin to arrive in Spain between July 10 and 15. In addition, Ana Garrido recalls that this is a special year because the children have not been able to travel to Spain in the summer for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We were all waiting with great enthusiasm to resume the program, and of course, now this also affects a lot because all the families that participate in the program are also in solidarity with the conflict in Western Sahara, not only do they participate in the program, but they are aware of the betrayal that once again a socialist government has committed against the Saharawi people", Garrido stated.
The regional coordinator of the 'Holidays in Peace' program in Castilla La Mancha underlines how "important" this initiative is for Saharawi children because, in addition to giving visibility to the Saharawi cause, it allows these minors to leave the harsh conditions for two months conditions in which they live, take them away from the high temperatures of the Algerian desert or carry out medical examinations and special treatments that are impossible in the camps.
"The health issue is one of the most important, if not the most important, when these children come they have their medical check-ups, they do tests, if they need special treatment they are given and, if something is detected for which they have to go through an operation is performed on them", he detailed.
For all these reasons and "now more than ever", Ana Garrido encourages Spanish families to welcome a Saharawi boy or girl this summer. At the same time, it highlights the solidarity that the Spanish population is showing with the Saharawi people in the face of the Government's decision, with concentrations throughout the Spanish geography with "a massive influx of people" united "screaming for freedom of the Saharawi people".
"What they ask us is that we shout for them, that we demonstrate for them, that we do everything in our power so that this decision is reversed," Garrido ditches.
https://cadenaser.com/2022/03/27/esp...anos-de-paron/
Spain resumes 'Vacaciones en Paz', the foster program for Saharawi children in summer after two years of hiatus
The pandemic forced the cancellation of the arrival of Saharawi minors and from the association they trust that the change in the Government's position in relation to the conflict will not affect the program
EP
Chain BE03/27/2022 - 13:14 CEST
Madrid:
The 'Holidays in Peace' program by which Saharawi boys and girls are welcomed each summer by Spanish families is resumed this summer, after two years interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and they hope that the turn of the Spanish Government regarding the Sahara does not affect the operation of the program.
"We hope that this position of the Government of Spain with respect to Western Sahara does not also affect the Holidays in Peace program," said Ana Graceful.
More information:
- "When you see the Saharian haze, remember the betrayal of the Saharawi people": Rufián's criticism of the Government with a message for the left
- Pedro Sánchez defends that the agreement with Morocco "lays the foundations for a much stronger relationship" with the neighboring country
- Police and Civil Guard agree: the "swerve" of the Sahara has unblocked pending police issues with Morocco
At the moment, within the 'Holidays in Peace' program, they are in the middle of a campaign to attract foster families in all the autonomous communities and they anticipate that, if all goes well, the first Saharawi minors will begin to arrive in Spain between July 10 and 15. In addition, Ana Garrido recalls that this is a special year because the children have not been able to travel to Spain in the summer for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We were all waiting with great enthusiasm to resume the program, and of course, now this also affects a lot because all the families that participate in the program are also in solidarity with the conflict in Western Sahara, not only do they participate in the program, but they are aware of the betrayal that once again a socialist government has committed against the Saharawi people", Garrido stated.
The regional coordinator of the 'Holidays in Peace' program in Castilla La Mancha underlines how "important" this initiative is for Saharawi children because, in addition to giving visibility to the Saharawi cause, it allows these minors to leave the harsh conditions for two months conditions in which they live, take them away from the high temperatures of the Algerian desert or carry out medical examinations and special treatments that are impossible in the camps.
"The health issue is one of the most important, if not the most important, when these children come they have their medical check-ups, they do tests, if they need special treatment they are given and, if something is detected for which they have to go through an operation is performed on them", he detailed.
For all these reasons and "now more than ever", Ana Garrido encourages Spanish families to welcome a Saharawi boy or girl this summer. At the same time, it highlights the solidarity that the Spanish population is showing with the Saharawi people in the face of the Government's decision, with concentrations throughout the Spanish geography with "a massive influx of people" united "screaming for freedom of the Saharawi people".
"What they ask us is that we shout for them, that we demonstrate for them, that we do everything in our power so that this decision is reversed," Garrido ditches.
https://cadenaser.com/2022/03/27/esp...anos-de-paron/
Montuno
...como el Son...
The napalm bombardment of Saharawis fleeing the Moroccan occupation that has not been investigated
SPS 07/25/2021 - 10:43
The Um Dreiga massacre is included in a 2015 National High Court order to prosecute 11 Moroccan military and civilian commanders who have not been arrested for genocide, and is documented in a report with testimonies from survivors directed by an expert in Commissions of the Truth in different parts of the world.
One of the most terrible episodes in the recent history of the Saharawi people , but hardly known, is part of the indictment issued by the National High Court in 2015 for genocide and war crimes against 11 Moroccan military and civilian commanders : the napalm bombardment and white phosphorus that killed at least 39 Saharawis and injured more than 75, most of them women, the elderly and children who were fleeing the Moroccan army's occupation in February 1976 when they left Spain what had been their colony. The massacre, 45 years later, has not yet been clarified.
The order of the then magistrate of the Central Court of Instruction 5 of the National Court, Pablo Ruz , issued on April 9, 2015, resulting from a complaint filed by the Association of Relatives of Sahrawi Prisoners and Disappeared (Afapredesa), refers as part of the facts investigated in summary 1/2015, but "without a known perpetrator", the bombardment with "napalm and white phosphorous" carried out from two Moroccan aviation planes on the Um Dreiga tent camp, set up by the Saharawi population fleeing through the desert of "the violence deployed by the Moroccan army" after occupying Western Sahara.
"Many of the Saharawis died or suffered injuries when they were inside the tents that caught fire as a result of the bombs. One of these bombs fell on the hospital-tent that was marked with a red crescent, killing most of them. the people who were inside and injuring many others, including a Spanish nurse," details the magistrate in the car. For this, the judge is based, fundamentally, on the statement of a surviving woman, with a Spanish DNI, and on the investigation of the report El oasis de la memoria that works in the proceedings, published by the Hegoa Institute of Studies on Development and International Cooperation under the direction of Carlos Martín Beristain, participant in several Truth Commissions in Latin America and consultant to the International Criminal Court in different African countries.
Ayuso, Batman movie level: says that "evil does not rest", speaking of the Government
TREMENDING
In this massacre, for which the judge does not determine a known perpetrator and, therefore, the 11 military and civil charges prosecuted are not charged, it concurs as an objective element of the commission of a crime of genocide, since -argues the magistrate - is part of "a series of actions against the life, dignity and freedom of people exclusively because of their ethnicity or race: the Saharawi". Genocide is also a permanent crime, it does not prescribe , and that is one of the reasons why the indictment remains in force, although Morocco has not yet responded to the rogatory commissions issued by the National High Court for the resolution of this cause, among others the arrest and extradition of seven of the defendants, who remain free.
Wounds of survivors of the bombing. — Courtesy of ANTONIO MARTINEZ
In the absence of progress in the Spanish and Moroccan justice, in the intervention of international organizations to investigate what happened that February 1976, the testimonies of the survivors of the massacre remain. Antonio Martínez traveled to the refugee camps in 2014, when he was clinical head of the Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology service at the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital in Seville, to examine the victims and document a specific report on the bombings that completed the investigation of El oasis of memory , which covered the entire scope of the repression of the Saharawi people. The result was the publication of The Other Death Flights. Bombing of civilian population in Western Sahara, also published by the Hegoa Institute, the University of the Basque Country and the Association of Friendship with the Saharawi People of Seville.
The survivors reconstruct the facts
Antonio Martínez, as reported to Público , spent two weeks visiting 22 survivors of the massacre, between 39 and 79 years old, 64% women and the majority residing in Dajla, the most remote wilaya (district) of the refugee camps , which was built so far away precisely to keep those who had suffered the trauma of the bombings away from the noise of the planes at the Algerian airfield in Tindouf. More than four decades later, a third of the victims had permanent injuries, 68% a grade 1 disability and 23% a grade 2.
"This is humiliating": trying to get an appointment to get vaccinated in Madrid, told in a thread
TREMENDING
In addition to the results of the medical examination of their physical and psychological injuries, the testimony of these people helped to reconstruct some events that took place between February 19 and 21, 1976, when Spain had not yet definitively abandoned the Sahara, when Many of the victims still carried the Spanish DNI in their pockets as inhabitants of what was called province 53, a week before the Polisario proclaimed the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. In Um Dreiga, in the middle of the desert, a place frequented by Bedouins to water their cattle at some water wells, between 3,000 and 4,000 people had gathered who were fleeing in cars or on foot from the south of the Spanish colony taken by the Moroccan army after the Green March. It was the largest camp for displaced people, it had a field hospital and a dispensary, and it was located, according to the survivors, about 70 kilometers from the Polisario military positions, that is, from the war front.
Wounds of survivors of the bombing. — Courtesy of ANTONIO MARTINEZ
The bombardment occurred in two passes, one going and one returning over the same area. In addition, the attack included strafing from planes that survivors describe as "beaked," leading the report's authors to believe they were French-made Mirage aircraft. The dispensary and the water wells were his first targets.
Ahmedbaba Kori was 40 years old when the bombing took place. He had fled from Dakhla, where he worked as an employee of the Spanish company Construcciones Colomina SA after having served in the army of our country for 16 years. "We were gathered near the aid tent and in the morning the explosions began near some trees, next to the dispensary, and three families were exterminated and a nurse decapitated ," he told the Sevillian surgeon Antonio Martínez, as reflected in the report 'The other flights of death'.
Bauzá mocks an interview with Sánchez on MSNBC and unleashes the joke: "Do you know the time zones?"
TREMENDING
Chrifa Dahan will never forget that day, because it was when she gave birth to the first of her ten children: "In the morning," she says, "the planes came dropping bombs and it turned into chaos. My husband was injured in One ankle and I, just like everyone else, went out in disarray seeking refuge in the trees, in the mountains, wherever. The bombs exploded and everything turned into fire and everything caught fire. There was also smoke and a lot of dust that made it difficult to breathe and that I couldn't see. I found a tree and I hid there, and I started to give birth. Alone, scared, without anyone's help, I gave birth to my eldest daughter Galat".
The burned mother who threw her baby
The testimonies of the victims of that bombing are innumerable, all terrifying, some terrible, like that of Minetu Sali Selma, who was only 40 days old when the bombs fell that charred her mother. What counts, she knows from what her aunt told her: "The bomb fell, setting everything on fire. My mother caught fire and still had the strength and instinct to save my life by throwing me away from her. The ground, they tell me, was also burning, which caused some burns on my hands and legs, which must have been minor because I have no scars and do not remember anything".
And the woman who saw her sister burnt to death was Iauguiha Ali Mohamed, from a nomadic family. This is part of his testimony: "It was something horrible. It was hell. The Moroccan aviation sent napalm bombs that burned everything and, immediately, many people died and there were also many wounded (...) When the explosion sounded, my sister He threw his daughter into the air, saving the life of the little girl , who was a baby at the breast".
Napalm had unfortunately become famous during the Vietnam War, used by the US Army in its bombing raids to, supposedly, destroy Vietcong hideouts in the jungle. It is a fuel that produces a longer-lasting combustion than that of normal gasoline. The photo of the Vietnamese girl fleeing naked after taking off her clothes set on fire by a napalm bomb caused a huge impact on American public opinion in 1972 and accentuated the rejection of that war. However, this type of ammunition has continued to be used in other conflicts around the world, such as in the Sahara and against the civilian population, as the report 'The other flights of death' attests, although in this case there were no press photos or films in the cinema denouncing its use.
According to this study, the evidence that determines the use of napalm and white phosphorus in the bombing of Um Dreiga is based, fundamentally, on the fact that there were charred corpses and many wounded by burns, that the survivors and the medical personnel who treated them reported numerous problems. respiratory infections, a fire spread throughout the camp displaced beyond what is usual in cases of conventional bombs, and that the fire was difficult to control, since it rekindled quickly. "The image that really impressed me was that of a woman whose name was, I think I remember, Fula Mohamed Abdalahi, who was lying on her side breastfeeding a child, and both she and the child were charred. When you tried to touch part of her body, it melted in your hands," said Sid Ahemed Baba.
However, there is no exact record of deaths or injuries, due to the emergency situation in which the camp was left. According to the study, there could have been 100 or 200 deaths, entire families massacred by the bombing, but there is no specificity about the data of a tragedy that the National High Court only confirms in 39 people dead and 75 injured. The burial of the corpses also had to be done urgently, without identifying the bodies or complying with the rites of the Saharawi culture and the Muslim religion, for fear of new attacks. The bombardment caused enormous panic among the surviving population, some of whom hid for days in surrounding mountains and caves, even refusing any kind of help.
The founding fact of exile in Algeria
What did accelerate the bombardment was the displacement of the Saharawi population towards the Tindouf hamada in Algeria, one of the most inhospitable deserts in the world where refugee camps have settled since then, in which more than 173,000 people live today. Terrified by what they had experienced, by what could happen again, malnourished, many sick, they were transported in trucks on long journeys of several days until they reached their new home, in a territory where then there were only a few tents in the middle of an infinite dry land of stones, earth and sand.
Carlos Martín Beristain, director of the investigation of 'The oasis of memory' and The other flights of death , doctor and doctor in social psychology who testified before Judge Pablo Ruz in this case, considers that the displacement of the population suffered The bombings towards Tindouf constitute "the foundational fact of the exile in Algeria" of the Saharawi people, who until then thought that their flight was temporary and that they would soon return to their homes in the territories occupied by the Moroccan army.
As Beristain has stated to Público , the bombing of Um Dreiga marks the beginning of the war against the Saharawi civilian population that occupied an area that was not used for combat by the Polisario forces against the Moroccan army. "There is very little awareness - he affirms - of how atrocious this means. There has never been an international commission to investigate this", the only known case in the world - he assures - in which a displaced population has been bombed during a conflict.
The problem, in the opinion of this Truth Commission advisor and consultant to the International Criminal Court, is that despite having witnesses to what happened, including two Spanish nurses who treated the wounded, despite all the work of documentation that was made from El oasis de la memoria , no official body has yet investigated what happened. "The Sahara is the most forgotten conflict in the world," underlines Beristain, who alludes to the great power of Morocco, its alliances with France and the US and its coercion of Spain to explain that absolute inaction, in the case of very serious crimes against humanity. and of some citizens who, at the time of the massacre, were Spanish and even carried their DNI in their wallet.
One of the survivors who was examined by the Sevillian doctor Antonio Martínez, the woman who saw her sister burnt to death after throwing the baby away to save her life, told her in the interview: "What we ask of the United Nations and all the international organizations is that they act, that the occupants leave our lands. We ask the whole world to bring the guilty to justice and restore justice. We demand responsibility from Spain, since it is blocking the action of the United Nations itself. And -addressing directly to the interviewer - we ask you not to abandon the monitoring of this case until independence is obtained and justice, truth and reparation are restored".
The report on the bombings concludes that the forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime, in accordance with the provisions of International Humanitarian Law, as well as the attack to which hundreds of people far from the combat zone were subjected and the use of "incendiary weapons" that cannot be used against the civilian population, since they cause "superfluous harm and unnecessary suffering". And after these actions there is also, in the opinion of the authors of the study, a feeling of abandonment and defenselessness due to the lack of investigation, recognition and reparation of the facts. "The impact of the bombing -they emphasize- has remained especially in the conscience, in the minds and in the hearts of the survivors".
"How can man get to do these things?"
"As a doctor, the experiences that the survivors told me horrified me," recalls Antonio Martínez. "It has no justification. Even war has rules. You can never attack the civilian population indiscriminately, using incendiary bombs, too. You have the feeling of not understanding how man can do these things and how society does nothing to make this known and clarified either. And that this was done with our compatriots whom we left behind, that makes me very ashamed".
The Polisario delegate in Andalusia, Mohamed Zrug, also does not understand the role that Spain has played in this matter. According to the representative of the Saharawi government, some of the Moroccan military and civil charges prosecuted by the National High Court for war crimes and genocide have subsequently been decorated by institutions of the Spanish Administration in recognition of their work against drug trafficking, drug mafias, irregular immigration or the fight against terrorism. And not only that. Also, he assures him, some of them have entered and left our country regularly to enjoy a vacation on the Costa del Sol in Malaga, without anyone having stopped them. "This seems shameful to us," stresses Zrug.
"This not only challenges the memory and past of Spain and the responsibilities it has with the Sahara, but also the responsibility it has from having ceded the management of its responsibilities to a feudal monarchy, as if it had subcontracted the management of which was its colony. And it also challenges the Social, Democratic and legal State to the extent that if the Spanish State does not resolve the legitimate demands of the Saharawi people in accordance with the law, this will continue to be a burden for democracy in Spain" , points out the head of the Polisario.
In the opinion of Carlos Martín Beristain, it continues to be a pending issue for Spanish democracy to enforce what has been ordered in an indictment such as the one issued by the judge of the National Court Pablo Ruz for the commission of some very serious crimes and that they do not prescribe
The fact that Um Dreiga is now part of the territory of Western Sahara occupied by the Moroccan army has also contributed to the fact that no official investigation has been carried out into what happened in February 1976. This has prevented organizations such as those that have promoted the reports collected in The oasis of memory and The other flights of death from being able to travel to the site of the massacre to obtain evidence of what happened there and, perhaps, even recover remains. of those killed as a result of the bombing.
Um Dreiga is located very close to the wall that Morocco built during the war with the Polisario Front with an extension of 2,700 kilometers to separate the occupied territories from those that had been liberated by the Saharawi army. It is the largest defensive barrier in the world in operation, which is also protected by a field of between seven and ten million anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, according to different estimates, a delayed-effect munition that continues to explode indiscriminately decades after the end of the armed conflict and that has already caused more than 2,000 victims among the Saharawi population, according to SMACO, the Polisario national office for comprehensive action against these explosives. On the Moroccan side, on the other side of the wall where Saharawis also live, figures have never been given, but it is estimated that they could be as many. In total, more than 1,300 dead and 3,600 wounded.
The authors of the report 'The other flights of death' also propose a series of reparative measures for the damage caused by the bombing, although they point out that the first step to reach reparation is "recognition of the facts", something that, they add, the state of Morocco has not yet done so. "It has not recognized the carrying out of the bombings against the civilian population or its victims", nor has any of its instances investigated the facts -it is added in the study-, despite the fact that they fell within the mandate of the IER, the body created by the neighboring country to clarify the truth about serious human rights violations committed during the reign of Hassan II, father of the current Alaouite monarch.
https://www.spsrasd.info/news/es/articles/2021/07/25/34517.html
SPS 07/25/2021 - 10:43
The Um Dreiga massacre is included in a 2015 National High Court order to prosecute 11 Moroccan military and civilian commanders who have not been arrested for genocide, and is documented in a report with testimonies from survivors directed by an expert in Commissions of the Truth in different parts of the world.
One of the most terrible episodes in the recent history of the Saharawi people , but hardly known, is part of the indictment issued by the National High Court in 2015 for genocide and war crimes against 11 Moroccan military and civilian commanders : the napalm bombardment and white phosphorus that killed at least 39 Saharawis and injured more than 75, most of them women, the elderly and children who were fleeing the Moroccan army's occupation in February 1976 when they left Spain what had been their colony. The massacre, 45 years later, has not yet been clarified.
The order of the then magistrate of the Central Court of Instruction 5 of the National Court, Pablo Ruz , issued on April 9, 2015, resulting from a complaint filed by the Association of Relatives of Sahrawi Prisoners and Disappeared (Afapredesa), refers as part of the facts investigated in summary 1/2015, but "without a known perpetrator", the bombardment with "napalm and white phosphorous" carried out from two Moroccan aviation planes on the Um Dreiga tent camp, set up by the Saharawi population fleeing through the desert of "the violence deployed by the Moroccan army" after occupying Western Sahara.
"Many of the Saharawis died or suffered injuries when they were inside the tents that caught fire as a result of the bombs. One of these bombs fell on the hospital-tent that was marked with a red crescent, killing most of them. the people who were inside and injuring many others, including a Spanish nurse," details the magistrate in the car. For this, the judge is based, fundamentally, on the statement of a surviving woman, with a Spanish DNI, and on the investigation of the report El oasis de la memoria that works in the proceedings, published by the Hegoa Institute of Studies on Development and International Cooperation under the direction of Carlos Martín Beristain, participant in several Truth Commissions in Latin America and consultant to the International Criminal Court in different African countries.
Ayuso, Batman movie level: says that "evil does not rest", speaking of the Government
TREMENDING
In this massacre, for which the judge does not determine a known perpetrator and, therefore, the 11 military and civil charges prosecuted are not charged, it concurs as an objective element of the commission of a crime of genocide, since -argues the magistrate - is part of "a series of actions against the life, dignity and freedom of people exclusively because of their ethnicity or race: the Saharawi". Genocide is also a permanent crime, it does not prescribe , and that is one of the reasons why the indictment remains in force, although Morocco has not yet responded to the rogatory commissions issued by the National High Court for the resolution of this cause, among others the arrest and extradition of seven of the defendants, who remain free.
Wounds of survivors of the bombing. — Courtesy of ANTONIO MARTINEZ
In the absence of progress in the Spanish and Moroccan justice, in the intervention of international organizations to investigate what happened that February 1976, the testimonies of the survivors of the massacre remain. Antonio Martínez traveled to the refugee camps in 2014, when he was clinical head of the Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology service at the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital in Seville, to examine the victims and document a specific report on the bombings that completed the investigation of El oasis of memory , which covered the entire scope of the repression of the Saharawi people. The result was the publication of The Other Death Flights. Bombing of civilian population in Western Sahara, also published by the Hegoa Institute, the University of the Basque Country and the Association of Friendship with the Saharawi People of Seville.
The survivors reconstruct the facts
Antonio Martínez, as reported to Público , spent two weeks visiting 22 survivors of the massacre, between 39 and 79 years old, 64% women and the majority residing in Dajla, the most remote wilaya (district) of the refugee camps , which was built so far away precisely to keep those who had suffered the trauma of the bombings away from the noise of the planes at the Algerian airfield in Tindouf. More than four decades later, a third of the victims had permanent injuries, 68% a grade 1 disability and 23% a grade 2.
"This is humiliating": trying to get an appointment to get vaccinated in Madrid, told in a thread
TREMENDING
In addition to the results of the medical examination of their physical and psychological injuries, the testimony of these people helped to reconstruct some events that took place between February 19 and 21, 1976, when Spain had not yet definitively abandoned the Sahara, when Many of the victims still carried the Spanish DNI in their pockets as inhabitants of what was called province 53, a week before the Polisario proclaimed the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. In Um Dreiga, in the middle of the desert, a place frequented by Bedouins to water their cattle at some water wells, between 3,000 and 4,000 people had gathered who were fleeing in cars or on foot from the south of the Spanish colony taken by the Moroccan army after the Green March. It was the largest camp for displaced people, it had a field hospital and a dispensary, and it was located, according to the survivors, about 70 kilometers from the Polisario military positions, that is, from the war front.
Wounds of survivors of the bombing. — Courtesy of ANTONIO MARTINEZ
The bombardment occurred in two passes, one going and one returning over the same area. In addition, the attack included strafing from planes that survivors describe as "beaked," leading the report's authors to believe they were French-made Mirage aircraft. The dispensary and the water wells were his first targets.
Ahmedbaba Kori was 40 years old when the bombing took place. He had fled from Dakhla, where he worked as an employee of the Spanish company Construcciones Colomina SA after having served in the army of our country for 16 years. "We were gathered near the aid tent and in the morning the explosions began near some trees, next to the dispensary, and three families were exterminated and a nurse decapitated ," he told the Sevillian surgeon Antonio Martínez, as reflected in the report 'The other flights of death'.
Bauzá mocks an interview with Sánchez on MSNBC and unleashes the joke: "Do you know the time zones?"
TREMENDING
Chrifa Dahan will never forget that day, because it was when she gave birth to the first of her ten children: "In the morning," she says, "the planes came dropping bombs and it turned into chaos. My husband was injured in One ankle and I, just like everyone else, went out in disarray seeking refuge in the trees, in the mountains, wherever. The bombs exploded and everything turned into fire and everything caught fire. There was also smoke and a lot of dust that made it difficult to breathe and that I couldn't see. I found a tree and I hid there, and I started to give birth. Alone, scared, without anyone's help, I gave birth to my eldest daughter Galat".
The burned mother who threw her baby
The testimonies of the victims of that bombing are innumerable, all terrifying, some terrible, like that of Minetu Sali Selma, who was only 40 days old when the bombs fell that charred her mother. What counts, she knows from what her aunt told her: "The bomb fell, setting everything on fire. My mother caught fire and still had the strength and instinct to save my life by throwing me away from her. The ground, they tell me, was also burning, which caused some burns on my hands and legs, which must have been minor because I have no scars and do not remember anything".
And the woman who saw her sister burnt to death was Iauguiha Ali Mohamed, from a nomadic family. This is part of his testimony: "It was something horrible. It was hell. The Moroccan aviation sent napalm bombs that burned everything and, immediately, many people died and there were also many wounded (...) When the explosion sounded, my sister He threw his daughter into the air, saving the life of the little girl , who was a baby at the breast".
Napalm had unfortunately become famous during the Vietnam War, used by the US Army in its bombing raids to, supposedly, destroy Vietcong hideouts in the jungle. It is a fuel that produces a longer-lasting combustion than that of normal gasoline. The photo of the Vietnamese girl fleeing naked after taking off her clothes set on fire by a napalm bomb caused a huge impact on American public opinion in 1972 and accentuated the rejection of that war. However, this type of ammunition has continued to be used in other conflicts around the world, such as in the Sahara and against the civilian population, as the report 'The other flights of death' attests, although in this case there were no press photos or films in the cinema denouncing its use.
According to this study, the evidence that determines the use of napalm and white phosphorus in the bombing of Um Dreiga is based, fundamentally, on the fact that there were charred corpses and many wounded by burns, that the survivors and the medical personnel who treated them reported numerous problems. respiratory infections, a fire spread throughout the camp displaced beyond what is usual in cases of conventional bombs, and that the fire was difficult to control, since it rekindled quickly. "The image that really impressed me was that of a woman whose name was, I think I remember, Fula Mohamed Abdalahi, who was lying on her side breastfeeding a child, and both she and the child were charred. When you tried to touch part of her body, it melted in your hands," said Sid Ahemed Baba.
However, there is no exact record of deaths or injuries, due to the emergency situation in which the camp was left. According to the study, there could have been 100 or 200 deaths, entire families massacred by the bombing, but there is no specificity about the data of a tragedy that the National High Court only confirms in 39 people dead and 75 injured. The burial of the corpses also had to be done urgently, without identifying the bodies or complying with the rites of the Saharawi culture and the Muslim religion, for fear of new attacks. The bombardment caused enormous panic among the surviving population, some of whom hid for days in surrounding mountains and caves, even refusing any kind of help.
The founding fact of exile in Algeria
What did accelerate the bombardment was the displacement of the Saharawi population towards the Tindouf hamada in Algeria, one of the most inhospitable deserts in the world where refugee camps have settled since then, in which more than 173,000 people live today. Terrified by what they had experienced, by what could happen again, malnourished, many sick, they were transported in trucks on long journeys of several days until they reached their new home, in a territory where then there were only a few tents in the middle of an infinite dry land of stones, earth and sand.
Carlos Martín Beristain, director of the investigation of 'The oasis of memory' and The other flights of death , doctor and doctor in social psychology who testified before Judge Pablo Ruz in this case, considers that the displacement of the population suffered The bombings towards Tindouf constitute "the foundational fact of the exile in Algeria" of the Saharawi people, who until then thought that their flight was temporary and that they would soon return to their homes in the territories occupied by the Moroccan army.
As Beristain has stated to Público , the bombing of Um Dreiga marks the beginning of the war against the Saharawi civilian population that occupied an area that was not used for combat by the Polisario forces against the Moroccan army. "There is very little awareness - he affirms - of how atrocious this means. There has never been an international commission to investigate this", the only known case in the world - he assures - in which a displaced population has been bombed during a conflict.
The problem, in the opinion of this Truth Commission advisor and consultant to the International Criminal Court, is that despite having witnesses to what happened, including two Spanish nurses who treated the wounded, despite all the work of documentation that was made from El oasis de la memoria , no official body has yet investigated what happened. "The Sahara is the most forgotten conflict in the world," underlines Beristain, who alludes to the great power of Morocco, its alliances with France and the US and its coercion of Spain to explain that absolute inaction, in the case of very serious crimes against humanity. and of some citizens who, at the time of the massacre, were Spanish and even carried their DNI in their wallet.
One of the survivors who was examined by the Sevillian doctor Antonio Martínez, the woman who saw her sister burnt to death after throwing the baby away to save her life, told her in the interview: "What we ask of the United Nations and all the international organizations is that they act, that the occupants leave our lands. We ask the whole world to bring the guilty to justice and restore justice. We demand responsibility from Spain, since it is blocking the action of the United Nations itself. And -addressing directly to the interviewer - we ask you not to abandon the monitoring of this case until independence is obtained and justice, truth and reparation are restored".
The report on the bombings concludes that the forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime, in accordance with the provisions of International Humanitarian Law, as well as the attack to which hundreds of people far from the combat zone were subjected and the use of "incendiary weapons" that cannot be used against the civilian population, since they cause "superfluous harm and unnecessary suffering". And after these actions there is also, in the opinion of the authors of the study, a feeling of abandonment and defenselessness due to the lack of investigation, recognition and reparation of the facts. "The impact of the bombing -they emphasize- has remained especially in the conscience, in the minds and in the hearts of the survivors".
"How can man get to do these things?"
"As a doctor, the experiences that the survivors told me horrified me," recalls Antonio Martínez. "It has no justification. Even war has rules. You can never attack the civilian population indiscriminately, using incendiary bombs, too. You have the feeling of not understanding how man can do these things and how society does nothing to make this known and clarified either. And that this was done with our compatriots whom we left behind, that makes me very ashamed".
The Polisario delegate in Andalusia, Mohamed Zrug, also does not understand the role that Spain has played in this matter. According to the representative of the Saharawi government, some of the Moroccan military and civil charges prosecuted by the National High Court for war crimes and genocide have subsequently been decorated by institutions of the Spanish Administration in recognition of their work against drug trafficking, drug mafias, irregular immigration or the fight against terrorism. And not only that. Also, he assures him, some of them have entered and left our country regularly to enjoy a vacation on the Costa del Sol in Malaga, without anyone having stopped them. "This seems shameful to us," stresses Zrug.
"This not only challenges the memory and past of Spain and the responsibilities it has with the Sahara, but also the responsibility it has from having ceded the management of its responsibilities to a feudal monarchy, as if it had subcontracted the management of which was its colony. And it also challenges the Social, Democratic and legal State to the extent that if the Spanish State does not resolve the legitimate demands of the Saharawi people in accordance with the law, this will continue to be a burden for democracy in Spain" , points out the head of the Polisario.
In the opinion of Carlos Martín Beristain, it continues to be a pending issue for Spanish democracy to enforce what has been ordered in an indictment such as the one issued by the judge of the National Court Pablo Ruz for the commission of some very serious crimes and that they do not prescribe
The fact that Um Dreiga is now part of the territory of Western Sahara occupied by the Moroccan army has also contributed to the fact that no official investigation has been carried out into what happened in February 1976. This has prevented organizations such as those that have promoted the reports collected in The oasis of memory and The other flights of death from being able to travel to the site of the massacre to obtain evidence of what happened there and, perhaps, even recover remains. of those killed as a result of the bombing.
Um Dreiga is located very close to the wall that Morocco built during the war with the Polisario Front with an extension of 2,700 kilometers to separate the occupied territories from those that had been liberated by the Saharawi army. It is the largest defensive barrier in the world in operation, which is also protected by a field of between seven and ten million anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, according to different estimates, a delayed-effect munition that continues to explode indiscriminately decades after the end of the armed conflict and that has already caused more than 2,000 victims among the Saharawi population, according to SMACO, the Polisario national office for comprehensive action against these explosives. On the Moroccan side, on the other side of the wall where Saharawis also live, figures have never been given, but it is estimated that they could be as many. In total, more than 1,300 dead and 3,600 wounded.
The authors of the report 'The other flights of death' also propose a series of reparative measures for the damage caused by the bombing, although they point out that the first step to reach reparation is "recognition of the facts", something that, they add, the state of Morocco has not yet done so. "It has not recognized the carrying out of the bombings against the civilian population or its victims", nor has any of its instances investigated the facts -it is added in the study-, despite the fact that they fell within the mandate of the IER, the body created by the neighboring country to clarify the truth about serious human rights violations committed during the reign of Hassan II, father of the current Alaouite monarch.
https://www.spsrasd.info/news/es/articles/2021/07/25/34517.html
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ARGENTINA
40 years of conflict over the Malvinas Islands, in pictures
20 photosOn April 2, 1982, troops of the dictatorship forcibly recovered the islands that Argentina claims as part of its territory. 74 days of battles on land, sea and air later they surrendered to a colossal task force sent by London
THE COUNTRY
1 APR 2022 - 23:23 CEST
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1Argentine soldiers landing from a Sea King helicopter near Port Stanley in 1982. The fighting on these South Atlantic islands left 649 Argentines and 255 British dead. UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP GETTY IMAGES
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twoSoldiers carry their weapons and equipment to the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) ocean liner as they prepare to depart for the Falklands War from Southampton Docks in Britain on May 12, 1982. GETTY IMAGES
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3After returning from his whirlwind visit to the Malvinas Islands, Argentine President General Galtieri gives a press conference at Comodoro Rivadavia, headquarters of the Argentine armed forces, on April 23, 1982. Dictator Leopoldo Galtieri dug his own grave when he launched the Malvinas militarist adventure and lost the war against Great Britain, a defeat that led to the fall of the regime and the return to democracy. ALAIN NOGUES GETTY IMAGES
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4Crosses mark graves in the Argentine Cemetery near the settlement of Goose Green in the Falkland Islands. England sent soldiers so unprepared to war that many did not even have a dog tag around their necks, many graves remain unmarked. MICHAEL LUONG BLOOMBERG
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5A veteran cries as he touches the names of his dead colleagues during a ceremony to commemorate the "Day of the Veterans and the Fallen in the Malvinas War" at Plaza San Martin on April 2, 2019 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. FRANCO FAFAULI GETTY IMAGES
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6In 1965, the United Nations invited Argentina and the United Kingdom to sit down at a negotiating table to seek a solution to the dispute. In compliance with that resolution, since 1966 and for 16 years, both countries carried out negotiations. ROBERT HUNT LIBRARY GETTY IMAGES
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7A British military camp on the Falkland Islands during the conflict. FOX PHOTOS GETTY IMAGES
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8An Argentine businessman reads a newspaper with Margaret Thatcher blindfolded on the cover, referring to the conflict in the Falkland Islands, in April 1982. ALAIN NOGUES GETTY IMAGES
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9British soldiers surrender to Argentine troops who invaded the islands on April 2, 1982 in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. RAPHAEL WOLLMANN GETTY IMAGES
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10Margaret Thatcher during a visit to the Malvinas Islands in 1992. The then British Prime Minister found in the conflict a reason to improve her image. She sent thousands of troops, two aircraft carriers and hundreds of ships, bombers and helicopters to fight, showing the military superiority of her country. JOHN GILES GETTY IMAGES
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elevenA Falkland Islands war veteran prays in front of a monument honoring fallen Argentine soldiers during the 38th anniversary of the conflict on April 2, 2020 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. MARCELO ENDELLI GETTY IMAGES
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12Argentine Air Force patrol flying to San Carlos during the war, in 1982. UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP GETTY IMAGES
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13Argentine soldiers have lunch at the partially destroyed former Royal Marines base, on April 13, 1982. DANIEL GARCIA AFP
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14Argentine dictator Leopoldo Galtieri greets troops in Stanley, Falkland Islands, on April 22, 1982. Argentina surrendered to the British army on June 14 and the regime, in terminal crisis, calls for elections. TELAM GETTY IMAGES
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fifteenReproduction of the cover of the Argentine newspaper 'La Razón' of April 23, 1982. The Malvinas War is the most important conflict of sovereignty recognized by the United Nations decolonization committee. GABRIEL ROSSI GETTY IMAGES
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16In this file photo taken on April 13, 1982, Argentine soldiers are seen on their way to occupy the captured Royal Marines base in Port Stanley. DANIEL GARCIA AFP
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17People gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires on April 2, 1982 to cheer Argentine dictator Leopoldo Galtieri after Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands. TELAM GETTY IMAGES
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18Falklands War veteran Guillermo Soldi shows a silhouette representing a staked soldier, denouncing alleged torture by his superiors during the Falklands War, on March 22, 2022. AUGUSTINE MARCARIAN REUTERS
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19Veterans Darío Vergara (L) and Ricardo Roncoso pose for photos at the Continental Veterans Camp in Plaza de Mayo on March 27, 2015 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2008, continental shelf veterans started a camp in downtown Buenos Aires asking the National Government to be recognized as war veterans. Since they had not fought on the front lines, they do not have the same benefits as soldiers who have been to the Islands. GABRIEL ROSSI GETTY IMAGES
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twentySince the end of the war, the United Kingdom has refused to resume negotiations with Argentina, despite repeated calls for dialogue by the United Nations and other international forums. The islands are also known as the Falklands.
- MICHAEL LUONG
- https://elpais.com/elpais/2022/03/29/album/1648580560_141127.html#foto_ga l_19
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