Here we go - black woman targeted by racist abuse in Finland over festival role.

Daniela Owusu.

Here, a young black woman who was subjected to racist abuse after being selected to lead celebrations of a Swedish festival of light in Helsinki.

Finnish PM apologises to Daniela Owusu after she received hate messages after becoming first Black woman to represent Saint Lucia, reports The Guardian.

Daniela Owusu, 20, who is Finnish Ghanaian, received thousands of hate messages after on Friday becoming Finland’s first Black Lucia. The organisers have reported the abuse to police and the discrimination ombudsman and are considering taking legal action.

According to the Swedish and now also Finnish tradition, each year a young woman or girl is chosen to represent Saint Lucia by dressing in a costume of a white gown, red waistband and crown of candles as part of the official annual festivities in Finland at the Lutheran Cathedral on 13 December to mark the shortest day according to the Julian calendar.

About 5% of people in Finland, which until 1809 was part of Sweden, speak Swedish as their native language, which is one of two national languages in the Nordic country. My native language.

This completely insane war continues.

An ammunition depot in Russia's Bryansk region, believed to house weapons from North Korea, along with glide bombs and artillery shells, was reportedly hit by a drone strike early morning on Wednesday, Oct. 9. 

According to Ukrainian officials, the attack targeted the 67th GRAU arsenal, located near the town of Karachev, about 114 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security Council, confirmed the incident on Telegram.

The blows of fate

Jan van Rijckenborgh said that it is wrong to use astrology to try to avoid the blows of fate.

Everyone faces these, some kind of.

He was right.

There is a micro-macrocosmic connection.

Our destiny is written in the stars, but it must be found by developing self-knowledge.

One of the biggest problems in our world today is that we do not know the basis, our bearing and man's spiritual status at all.

Know your karma

Can We Remember Our Past Lives? | Antti Savinainen, Ph.D.

More important than remembering past lives (they can be false memories, or "symbolic flashbacks") is to understand one's karma. What has he done, for a long time, in his previous lives. 

That way you can understand your karma - although the road is long. As an example, I have told an individual who made a vow of poverty in his previous life, who does not remember this, and does not want to remember. I've seen him beat his head against the wall all his life trying to get rich quick.

Wednesday 28 August 2024 - war report

” The Red Line ”, 2024, oil on board,
by Kaj Stenvall Paintings.

Kazan International Airport has suspended flights due to the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes, according to reports. It comes after an oil depot in Russia's Rostov region was set on fire by overnight aerial attacks.

Ukraine war latest: Flights suspended at Russian airport for 'safety reasons'

Now Ukraine trying to break into new Russian region.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to shape the global landscape.

Drone strikes another Russian oil products reservoir Reuters is reporting that a drone attacked an oil products reservoir in Kotelnich in Russia’s Kirov oblast, more than 1,500 km (932 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Regional governor Alexander Sokolov said there were no casualties or fires from the attack.

The attack on Kotelnich comes after Ukraine-launched drones set several oil tanks on fire at the Glubokinskaya oil depot in Russia’s Rostov oblast, just across the border from Ukraine’s Luhansk oblast. The Baza channel, which is close to Russia’s security services, said three tanks were burning after strikes by two drones.

The Glubokinskaya attack took place while tanks were still on fire at another Rostov oil depot, in the Proletarsk district, 10 days after the depot was attacked.

Russia’s Use of Inexperienced Conscripts for Kursk Defense Raises Questions, according to Moscow Times.

A 20-year-old conscript from Bryansk said that although his platoon was given the order to fight to the last man, the entire platoon surrendered, with 11 young men being taken prisoner “without any problems.” 

Early in the invasion of Ukraine, reports surfaced of conscripts being killed or sent to the front lines despite President Vladimir Putin’s promises that they would not be deployed to combat zones — sparking backlash from military mothers and wives. 

“I would like to say that I'm very glad that we were able to get through the war alive … and I will try to make sure that a war like this never happens again.” 

says this conscript from Moscow.

Fact check: Trump made at least 20 false claims in his conversation

Many say this is meant to be funny
but sure it’s frightening.

According to CNN former President Donald Trump delivered his usual bombardment of false claims – at least 20 in all – during a Monday conversation with billionaire supporter Elon Musk, which aired on Musk’s social media platform, X.

Musk is pathetic running a club of liars.

Most of the falsehoods uttered by the Republican presidential nominee were claims that have been repeatedly debunked before, some of them for years. 

And yet he does it again.

They spanned a broad range of subjects, from immigration to the economy to foreign policy to Trump’s record in office to Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.

Donald Duck blesses

This Kaj Stenvall painting was made in February, 2020. ” The Supercharger ”, oil on board, 50 x 65 cm

A mad dictator drowns in blood

,” Frowning and Drowning ”, 2024, oil on board, 40 x 50 cm
by Kaj Stenvall Paintings.

According to Al Jazeera earth-shattering blasts (8.7) shook Kyiv's buildings on Monday morning, sending dagger-like shards of glass flying around.

Hurtling toward them at 700-800 kilometers per hour was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, according to Ukraine’s security service, the United Nations and open-source investigators.

The attack, which killed at least 29, is considered the heaviest Russian bombardment of Kyiv in almost four months.

More than 60 people have been injured in the latest attacks that targeted at least two medical facilities, electrical substations and residential buildings.

Using painstaking trial and error, Russia has modified the weapon over the last year to defeat Ukraine’s air defense systems by flying at low altititude and hugging terrain, according to military analysts.

Not good.

.

“undesirable organisation”

The decision, announced by Russia’s prosecutor-general’s office on Wednesday, bans the news site Moscow Times  from the country, threatens staff with up to six years in prison for working there, and criminalises posting its articles online.

- so Russia has declared the Moscow Times, one of the country’s oldest independent news sources, an “undesirable organisation”, a designation that makes having any links to it a criminal offence.

They have no concept of freedom of the press.

Prosecutors said the Moscow Times “aimed to discredit the senior leadership of the Russian Federation in foreign and domestic policy” and according to Financial Times  “systematically published inaccurate socially resonant information to discredit our country’s organs of state power” during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The reliable iformation is somehow "inaccurate".

See Cold Bloodedly Killer

” In Blood ”, 2024, oil on board, 40 x 50 cm
by Kaj Stenvall Paintings.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was murdered on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the late opposition leader’s former chief of staff, Leonid Volkov.

“Putin killed Navalny. So on February 16, Vladimir Putin cold-bloodedly it’s a fact proven beyond reasonable doubt.”, Volkov said to Politico.

Volkov was himself the victim of a brutal hammer attack a month after Navalny’s death that left him with a broken arm and head injuries outside his home in Lithuania, where he now lives in exile.

Volkov said the organization Navalny founded will continue to gather information on the attack, having investigated the methods and means deployed by Putin’s regime to target other opponents in recent years. 

If the path to enlightenment is diagnosed with mental illness

On the way to an enlight a spiritual seaker can experience something like a mental illness, they will not be ruled by this illness in any way, as they are not ruled by their mind.

Question:

Is it possible for one with a mental illness to attain spiritual enlightenment?

Response:

"Most forms of mental illness are not so severe as to prevent spiritual growth. As long as the human nervous system is still functionally intact and there is enough presence and stability of self-awareness for the mind to understand and follow simple instructions for meditation, then one has the essential ingredients for self-realization, and can move forward in their spiritual journey,"

says pseudonym Deepak.

I personally believe that most of the steps and thresholds of the path are diagnosed as mental illnesses in this materialistic world.

The medication nullifies this urge to expand consciousness and the aspirant remains in place - the aspirant degenerates.

Rudolf Steiner (1861 - 1925) predicted (in his Karma presentations) that the stages of spiritual development will be diagnosed and so medically will prevented enlightening by human individuals.

I have observed that this is the case.

If we consider material reality as the only reality, we live in illusion. The philosopher Plato clarifies this idea beautifully with his allegory about the cave. He compares us, earthly people, with a group of persons who are bound hand and foot, sitting next to each other in a dark underground cave with the possibility to look only straight ahead. All they can see is the rock wall in the cave, while behind them, on a ledge, burns a large fire that illuminates the wall.

Swallowed up by our hectic life, how often do we not sigh: ‘I do not live, but I am lived.’ 

What is it?

The gnostic writer Jan van Rijckenborgh (1896-1968), showed that we are lived by the aeons, twelve power concentrations that, although they stem from the past, absolutely neither disappeared nor intend to disappear. They continuously keep us occupied. In this context, the author emphasised that the only possible escape from them is: going up into a ‘thirteenth aeon’, a special and pure, magnetic field, like the Pistis Sophia from the gospel of the same name.

‘Voices of the Silence’ by H.P. Blavatsky, which is sometimes called a gem, talks about same basic ideas.

Утечка данных

Финляндия пересматривает предложение, сделанное Финляндии союзниками в августе 1941 года, которое, среди прочего, обещает возвращение к государственным границам, существовавшим до 1939 года, в качестве награды за борьбу против нацистов. Финляндия разгромила нацистов в Лапландской войне.

Ретроспективная приемка и ратификация тендеров является возможным актом в соответствии с международным правом.

Россия угрожает морским границам Балтийского моря?

Это уже не первый раз (1939 год), но вчерашняя ночная тревога оказалась обманом.

Россия не собирается пересматривать на Балтике ширину территориальных вод, экономической зоны, шельфа и линию госграницы, заявил военно-дипломатический источник.

По крайней мере, об этом сообщают ТАСС и Интерфакс:

"Никаких намерений по пересмотру на Балтике ширины территориальных вод, экономической зоны, континентального шельфа у материкового побережья и линии государственной границы Российской Федерации не было и нет", - сказал военно-дипломатический источник в среду журналистам.

Предложение Минобороны РОССИИ - являющееся обманом - об изменении территориальной водной границы и морской границы Российского государства можно найти на сайте официальных правовых документов РФ в сети Интернет.

Вот дерьмо!

A unholy warmonger

” Holy Water ”, 2024, by by Kaj Stenvall.

Secretary Oleksiy Danilov of Ukraine’s National Security Council said the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is a devil.

What does it means? 

In the mind of the Kremlin and in the explicit words of Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill, the current invasion of Ukraine is some kind of “a metaphysical battle,” for which the Russian Orthodox Church has been happy to provide ideological justification. 

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, we have been reminded that a centuries-long struggle continues against imperial forces seeking to eliminate Ukrainian identity, church life, and the very right of Ukrainians to exist. 

As was the case during the Czarist and Soviet eras, the Russian Orthodox Church is playing a leading role in these efforts.

“Any war must have guns and ideas. In this war, the Kremlin has provided the guns, and I believe the Russian Orthodox Church is providing the ideas,” 

says states Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, an Orthodox priest and theologian who in the 2000s worked in the central offices of the Moscow Patriarchate and is now a professor at Loyola Marymount University in California.

In addition, Kirill is a very corrupt Sin-Eater who deals with indulgence trade.

A fearsome ruler

by Kaj Stenvall.

According to Tortois at his home he’s a tyrant. Abroad he’s a warmonger. Everywhere and always he’s a former spy in thrall to the dark arts of intelligence and adept at creating crises wherever they might advance his project for a revived Russian empire. Above all he is a breaker of norms.

"Russian assets: how and why to seize them The EU’s foreign policy chief has produced a plan to confiscate 90 per cent of revenues from $300 billion of seized Russian assets and use them to buy weapons for Ukraine. It’s legal but it doesn’t go far enough. "

i'm going to see it.

According to four main factors - Russia is losing the war

Russia is surely lose in Ukraine, according to Feng Yujun, Chinese Russia -relations chief expert.

"The war between Russia and Ukraine has been catastrophic for both countries. One thing is clear, though: the conflict is a post-cold-war watershed that will have a profound, lasting global impact.

With neither side enjoying an overwhelming advantage and their political positions completely at odds, the fighting is unlikely to end soon. "

But now four main factors will influence the course of the war. 

The first is the level of resistance and national unity shown by Ukrainians, which has until now been extraordinary. The second is international support for Ukraine, which, though recently falling short of the country’s expectations, remains broad.

The third factor is the nature of modern warfare, a contest that turns on a combination of industrial might and command, control, communications and intelligence systems. 

One reason Russia has struggled in this war is that it is yet to recover from the dramatic deindustrialisation it suffered after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

And here comes the last final factor: this is information. When it comes to decision-making, Vladimir Putin is trapped in an information cocoon, thanks to his having been in power so long. The Russian president and his national-security team lack access to accurate intelligence. The system they operate lacks an efficient mechanism for correcting errors. Their Ukrainian counterparts are more flexible and effective, wrote Feng Yujun in The Economist.

For the indoctrinated children

A Child´s Skull, 2024, by  Kaj Stenvall.

We know that president Vladimir Putin has often used the Russian Orthodox faith to justify the war in Ukraine. But now the president used a Bible story in a speech about the need to teach the Russian youth about values - appearing via video link to celebrate the opening of children’s centres near Moscow - he began quoting from the Bible.

Putin has ordered the establishment of youth centres across the country in a move redolent of the Soviet-era camps where children were indoctrinated in Communist party values from a young age. 

This substitute Jesus has often used the Russian Orthodox faith to justify the war in Ukraine. Now he compares himself to Jesus in his battle to uphold tradition

President Putin has compared himself to Jesus Christ as he quoted the Bible to explain his divine mission schooling Russia’s youth in special traditional values.

The Russian president has frequently portrayed himself as a stalwart defender of the Christian faith against the Satanic West.

In a revealing insight into how Putin sees his role, the Russian leader spoke in overtly religious terms about the need to shape the worldview of young Russians.

The Times points out that the youth centers intended to indoctrinate children are lagging behind the Soviet era.

Putin's supposed important sacred role as the upholder of the country's values reflects the deification of the tsars before the 1917 revolution.

Well done. Soon we'll see that again.

The Best

Sure, for seven consecutive years, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world, followed closely by its Nordic neighbours Denmark, Sveden and Iceland. 

What makes the Finns such happy people? And what can we learn from it?

People in Finland are happy because our society has developed what they call an infrastructure of happiness. It includes healthcare, education, the economy, human rights, democratic governance and a culture of volunteerism. Happiness surges in a person's inner self.

We have a high levels of trust and freedom also help explain Finnish happiness.

Here you don't have to be afraid of the police and other authorities like in totalitarian states.

”One Way Out”,

Painting by Kaj Stenvall: ”One Way Out”, 2024,

Russian missile strikes on Kiev early Thursday injured at least 13 people. In addition, fires broke out in residential buildings, a church and a kindergarten were destroyed, and cars were burned, says the military administration of Kyiv.

"As a result of the attack on Kiev, 13 people were injured. There is no information about the casualties," 

said Serhi Popko, head of the military administration.

According to Ukraine, the fires were started by shrapnel from downed missiles in the residential area of Podilskyi.

The organized violent crime organization has organized a public display

Kaj Stenvall painting, 2024.

Now that Putin's power confirmation theater is in the headlines, we don't understand why (also in other) western media call them "elections", when it's not about any elections but the dictatorship's brutal subjugation theater

It would be better to use, for example, the expression; the world's largest organized violent crime organization has organized a public display to promote its reign of terror.

Mika Hortelli:

That would correspond to reality, but it is of course a bit long expression for everyday use.

Ro Holopainen:

But maybe it can replace a couple of silly phrases.

And there's no need to talk about the "honesty of elections" any longer.

"Two different people" - Putin pretended over the years - here comes his transformation in 25 years

Watch this English interview on MTV.
Click on the image or go here.

According to Mikhail Kasyanov, Putin pretended for long time - before he turned into a bloody dictator in 25 years.

See that "Two different people - Putin's transformation in 25 years."

Mikhail Kasyanov, who served as Russian prime minister from 2000 to 2004, is a frequent critic of Vladimir Putin who now lives in exile in Latvia and now in Finland.

There would be in Russia 'no chance' for opposition to rise says Kasyanov

Vladimir Putin may test Nato’s resolve by invading one of the Baltic states in a bid to shore up support for his war, a former Russian Prime Minister has claimed.

But while Mikhail Kasyanov said attitudes within his country towards the conflict have changed in the two years since Putin’s invasion, there was zero chance of any serious opposition.

 “Putin could easily try to test Article V (5) of the Nato charter.”

The 66-year-old, a frequent critic of Putin and his regime who now lives in exile in Riga, säys now: 

“It could be one of the small countries of the Baltic states.”

Putin launched his full-scale offensive on February 24, 2022, but hopes of a swift victory were rapidly snuffed out with Ukraine, led by Volodymyr Zelensky, putting up dogged resistance ever since.

Putin, who is almost certain to be re-elected next month still had support and his propaganda machine suggests he retains the backing of 85 of the population, Mr Kasyanov said - although he estimated the true figure was more like 40.

Det kommande presidentvalet är inte ett legitimt val

En av den ryska oppositionens kändaste figurer var i Helsingfors. 

Denna ryske oppositionsaktivist sade att den ryska oppositionen hoppas kunna ordna demonstrationer vid röstningsställena.

"Jag hoppas vi alla kan mötas vid valurnorna den 17 mars för att säga nej till Putin",

sade Michail Chodorkovskij, som höll ett tal under demonstrationen. Han tog i en demonstration mot Rysslands krig mot Ukraina och president Putins regim vid Medborgartorget. 

Det var den anti-putinistiska organisationen De ryskspråkiga finländarnas demokratiska samfund som ordnade demonstrationen.

Också aktivisten och en av oppositionspolitikerns Ksenia Sobtjaks kampanjchefer Anastasija Sjevtjenko deltog i demonstrationen. Sjevtjenko som lever i exil i Vilnius konstaterade i ett tal att Putin tagit livet av politiska opponenter och jagat ut oberoende media ur landet.

Putin är inte som det ryska folket! Ryssarna vill inte ha krig! sa' alla.

jösses den är liten!

Kaj Stenvall Paintings ”In Vain ”, 2024.

Nothing beats that

 

Traces of torture: Alexei's body found with bruises on head and chest

Dead Putin critic Alexei Navalny's body reportedly showed bruising on his head and chest, raising suspicions about the circumstances of his death.

Russian officials claim Alexei Navalny fell unconscious and died after a walk. 

Russian government denies torture, claims natural death.

But Alexei Navalny's body had bruise marks, claims paramedic

The unnamed source, identified as an experienced paramedic, said Navalny’s head and chest were bruised when his body arrived at the mortuary, as reported by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe.

The paramedic mentions weird police presence at hospital

The body of Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of Kremel who died in a Russian prison, was reported to have bruising on his head and chest, according to a Russian newspaper citing a paramedic professional.

In fact some of this morning’s Russian newspapers make no mention of Alexei Navalny’s death in prison. 

Some of them report but in most cases briefly, sure. Papers give more prominence to a story just about anywhere than to the death of the Kremlin’s most vocal critic. 

The death of Alexei Navalny

According to the renew europe. the group in the European Parliament condemns the killing of Alexei Navalny, Kremlin’s most vocal political opponent, in a state prison in the Arctic, one month ahead of Russia’s presidential elections.

His commitment cost him his life, but his courage and his fight against Putin's regime and its cronies will always be remembered by his people. His fight goes on!

The President of Renew Europe Group, Valérie Hayer, said:

"With Navalny’s passing, Putin has just added another murder to his long list of repressed political opponents, together with the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by the war of aggression he started against Ukraine."

Then.

"I strongly condemn the Kremlin regime, which cruelly sent Alexei Navalny to his death. With Navalny's murder, the world has lost a freedom fighter, a man who championed the cause of a free Russia."

Poisoned and then taken prisoner by a government adept at the politics of fear, Alexeï Navalny never ceased to call on his compatriots not to allow themselves to be intimidated.

We all grieve.

Our world is expanding.

An illusion
Credit: Nasa.

The smaller planet, TOI-715c, could be only slightly larger than Earth, and also might dwell just inside the "conservative" habitable zone.

Using data from Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellit's astronomers have discovered and characterized a habitable zone planet orbiting the nearby red dwarf star TOI-715 with a period of 19.3 days. 

They’ve also demonstrated that there is possibly a second, smaller exoplanet with a period of 25.6 days, placing it just inside the outer edge of TOI-715’s habitable zone. This system represents the first Tess discovery to fall within this most conservative and widely applicable habitable zone.

TOI-715 hosts the super-Earth exoplanet TOI-715b and the smaller terrestrial exoplanet candidate TOI-715c.

I remember when the red dwarf star was found. 

I like this progress.

True Finns lost the election, but hit Russia hard

Finland's presidential election went as polls predicted on Sunday evening, with Alexander Stubb (NCP) taking top spot and his Green rival Pekka Haavisto joining him in a second round run-off to decide who replaces Sauli Niinistö after his twelve years as head of state. 

But Jussi Halla-aho, True Finns, spoke the truth about Russia. He boosted his support in the final stages of the campaign, but it was not enough to dislodge either of the top two presidential contenders. The second round takes place on 11 February. Advance voting will be from 31 January to 6 February. 

Началась война – я потерял ясновидение

Но теперь оно вернулось. Я вижу путь к росту для отдельных людей.

Дух русского народа находится в панике уже более 100 лет.

«Никто Его не понимает», — сказал Рудольф Штайнер.

Существует опасность, что нация потерпит неудачу. Тогда возникает угроза, что все человечество тоже потерпит неудачу.

Еще есть время. Свергнуть тирана.

Fucking head of the church

Vladimir Putin has said Russia's borders "do not end anywhere" during a live televised awards ceremony for students in Moscow.

And now it.s on the wall.

Someone has said that it is Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all of Russia who is feeding this sop to the inner circle of the Kreml.

Russia’s undoing, like that of other empires, will be the hubris and criminal stupidity of its ruling elite, said Steve Rosenberg in X.

Instead of working for the electorate, Russian president puzzles the public with his bizzare actions. He does not do what the situation demands of him, but sinks deeper and deeper into the fake reality that his subordinates conjure up for him.

Greetings from Finland, by Kaj Stenvall Paintings ”Let’s See Action! ”, 2024.

We are moving on a dangerous path

According to Norbert Röttgen the political willingness to continue providing military and economic support to Ukraine has begun to erode in both the United States and Europe. 

With Ukrainian forces stalled on the battlefield, and major aid packages for Kyiv blocked by Hungary in the EU and by Republican policymakers in the United States, the Western alliance in support of Ukraine appears increasingly weak and divided. 

Several scholars and policymakers have assessed this scenario—and reached the conclusion that a pivot to a defensive strategy could eventually bring Putin to the negotiating table. 

According to that line of thought, a new approach focused on securing territories that Ukraine already controls would consolidate Western support and eventually demonstrate to Russia that it cannot outlast Ukraine’s war effort.

Such a reassessment reveals an uncomfortable truth: namely, that Ukraine and the West are on an unsustainable trajectory. 

According to Röttgen Germany has changed profoundly in the past 22 months. But measured against the challenge, it has not changed enough. At stake are no less than peace and freedom in Europe and with it the future of the European project. If Ukraine does not succeed in pushing back Russia and if Putin is even just partially successful with his aggression, this would have dramatic and decades long consequences for the whole of Europe. 

"We would be divided again, a border of military confrontation would run across Europe and the sovereignty of countries like Moldova, Baltics and Georgia would be endangered. The confidence of the Balts, the Central and Eastern Europeans in the EU and above all in its two largest member states Germany and France would be severely damaged in a core area, that of security", he says.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive appears to have stalled, just as wet and cold weather brings to a close the second fighting season in Kyiv’s effort to reverse Russian aggression. At the same time, These circumstances necessitate a comprehensive reappraisal of the current strategy that Ukraine and its partners are pursuing.

Now

 

One artwork - a red stop sign, by Banksy, with three military drones on - was unveiled on the corner of Commercial Way, Peckham, south-east London, on Friday. It was taken by a man with bolt cutters within an hour as witnesses took photos.

This thief has been arrested on suspicion of theft and criminal damage after a road sign featuring work by the elusive street artist Banksy was removed, the Metropolitan Police has said.

”Useful Idiot ”

”Useful Idiot ”, 2023, oil on board.

by Kaj Stenvall Paintings.

В России несколько миллионов собственных граждан, не имеющих права выезжать за границу

На дороге Раате в декабре 1939 года.

Владимир Путин утвердил новый закон о слежке еще в июне, но теперь, в понедельник, 11 декабря, он вступит в силу, сообщает, в частности, новостной сайт "Фонтанка" – границы закрыты для миллионов россиян.

В России Владимира Путина несколько миллионов собственных граждан, не имеющих права выезжать за границу. Новую быстро растущую группу составляют обычные россияне, которым запретили выезжать за границу из-за неоплаченных долгов.

Однако, по оценкам, в России до 10 миллионов собственных российских граждан, которым не разрешается выезд за границу и контроль за которыми Путин и далее ужесточает. Хотя российская конституция в принципе гарантирует всем гражданам России право покидать страну и возвращаться обратно, в последние годы право на передвижение миллионов россиян ограничивается постоянно ужесточающимися правилами.

В ТО ВРЕМЯ, когда Финляндия рассматривает возможность продления закрытия восточной границы, Россия вводит закон, который ужесточает контроль за запретом на выезд из страны своих собственных граждан.

Беспорядки на финской границе связаны главным образом с тем, что молодые люди призывного возраста не могут сбежать за границу. Граница продолжает оставаться закрытой.

Он выразил свою обеспокоенность тем, что война в Украине может стать одним из многих затяжных конфликтов, которые уже существуют на Земле.

Россия отправляет умирать неграмотных людей

Би-би-си нашла свидетельства того, что российские власти пытаются вербовать задержанных для отправки на войну с Украиной.

Всего Би-би-си известно о 254 иностранных гражданах, воевавших и погибших в Украине в составе российских формирований.

В предыдущий раз Рая-Йосееппи был закрыт в военные годы

Восточная граница Финляндии остается закрытой до 13 декабря.

Международный пограничный пункт Рая-Йоосеппи в Северной Лапландии закрылся в 14 часов. В предыдущий раз Рая-Йосееппи был закрыт в военные годы.

В соответствии с решением Государственного совета, принятым вчера, пограничные пункты на восточной границе будут закрыты до 13 декабря, если до этого не будет принято новое решение. Решение не касается грузоперевозок через железнодорожный пункт Вайниккала.

Пока пограничные пункты закрыты, прошения о предоставлении убежища можно подавать только в портах и аэропортах.

Пограничная служба сообщает, что сегодня границу не пересекали просители убежища из России.

Slava Ukraine

Photo: NATO.

"Rasmussen said the cause of Ukraine’s Nato membership cannot be deferred again next year. The time has come to take the next step and extend an invitation for Ukraine to join Nato. We need a new European security architecture in which Ukraine is in the heart of Nato", said a former Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen. 

He has put forward a proposal for Ukraine to join the military alliance but stripped of the territories occupied by Russia.

Rasmussen has long worked alongside Andriy Yermak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, particularly ahead of the last Nato summit in Vilnius this year that ended with no invitation for Ukraine to join.

According to Guardian the two men are again broadly discussing Ukraine’s place in a new European security architecture, including practical questions around the extent of Ukraine’s Nato membership.

Rasmussen, who was Nato’s secretary general between 2009 and 2014, insisted that a plan for partial Ukraine membership would not symbolise a freezing of the conflict, but would instead mark a determination to warn Russia that it cannot prevent Ukraine joining the western defensive alliance.

Nato is due to hold its 75th anniversary summit in Washington next summer, and the issue of Ukraine’s future membership is bound to be a major topic.

Ukraine’s leadership was left bitterly disappointed (according to Guardian) when, under US and German pressure, Nato at its summit this year issued a statement saying Ukraine would be offered an invitation when conditions allowed, effectively rejecting Ukraine’s request to be given a specific date.

Instead, Ukraine’s relationship with Nato was elevated on the margins by setting up a Ukraine-Nato council and through an agreement that Nato members bilaterally would offer security guarantees to Ukraine.

Russians want "war-reparations" from Ukraine

”Rains in to Putin’s Granary”, 2022, by Kaj Stenvall Paintings.

Russians are ready to support an end to the war if Putin decides so. They want to negotiate with
Ukraine.

They want lands as some sort of "war reparation", otherwise there won't be a majority for peace.

Most Russians would support an immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine,

follows from a Levada Center survey.

However, the majority of respondents do not agree that the territories seized by Russia should be returned to Ukraine.

As part of a survey about the war, which Levada conducts every month, respondents were randomly divided into two equal groups. The first group was asked: “If President Vladimir Putin decided to end the military conflict with Ukraine this week, would you support or not support this decision?”

Answers

37% - definitely support

33% - I would rather support it

12% - definitely won't support

9% - I would rather not support it

9% - difficult to answer

The second group of respondents was asked the question: “If this week President Vladimir Putin decided to end the military conflict with Ukraine and return the annexed territories of Ukraine, would you support or not support this decision?”

Answers

16% - definitely support

18% - I would rather support it

19% - I would rather not support

38% - definitely won't support

10% - I find it difficult to answer

When asked whether hostilities should continue or peace negotiations should begin, more than half of respondents answered that they were in favor of negotiations.

Russians support the Russian army

Three quarters of those surveyed said they support “the actions of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine.” Among respondents in the age group 18-24 years old, 62% said this, among respondents over 55 years old - 82%.

Put the piss in Trump's mouth

This fine image of Donald Trump’s face wrapped around a lip-shaped urinal in a Belushi’s sports bar  - this is a symbol of Paris’ multicultural influence and modern artistic freedom.

Sure, you can see a Rolling Stones-inspired row of bright-red, lip-shaped urinals, designed by Dutch Artist Meike van Schijndel, but ...See it for yourself,

you can find this men’s toilets of Belushi’s sports bar, a popular student, tourist and expat hangout in the 10th arrondissement just a few steps from the Gare du Nord.

The reaper arrives

”Fear”, 2023, oil on board by Kaj Stenvall.

According to DonPress the public has repeatedly talked about the deterioration of Valdimir Putin’s health against the background of oncology and a number of other diseases:

“This case of cardiac arrest seriously alarmed the president’s inner circle, despite the fact that the attending doctors had already warned that Putin was very ill and was unlikely to live until the end of autumn.”

Lighted up.

The Night Watch is a live album (2-CD set)
by the English band King Crimson, recorded
in Amsterdam in 1973, and released in 1997.

On the onstage, Robert Fripp has always been the picture of an introvert: seated, taciturn, entirely concentrating on his guitar.

"I’ve learned to trust the music, trust the process. And it’s important that the audience should know they are as important as the musician. If the audience is present and engaged and listening, the relationship is qualitatively different."

According to New York Times Robert Fripp became a rock star without acting like a showman. 

As the guitarist and leader of King Crimson — the band he founded in 1969 — Fripp, 77, has written music that’s visceral, but also complex and ambitious, seizing the vanguard of progressive rock yet reaching a broad audience.

In a rare interview, the guitarist explains “an entirely different trajectory.” - read it all that.

The “awful man” designation teases at Fripp’s many disgruntled former bandmates and business associates.

"I don’t think I can look back. I think the future has now shot off on an entirely different trajectory. A personal interest for me is kicking received opinion. Because if you were only seen in a certain way, there is a richness in life which is somehow closed to you."

By the way.

There was a click (September 1983, in the sauna)  "and I realized the tuning was for the guitar class".

Here they go.

Kaj Stenvall Paintings; ”Hands Up! ”, 2023, oil.

In schools across the Russian, service in the armed forces is being glorified, “voluntary companies” of teenagers are being formed and the national curriculum is being changed to emphasize defense of the motherland.

And then:

older kids are being taught how to dig trenches, throw grenades and shoot with real ammunition.

According to CNN, Russia’s children are, in short, being prepared for war.

The militarization of Russia’s public schools has intensified since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, driven not by a spontaneous surge of patriotic feeling, but by the government in Moscow.

Read more.

The Cursed War of Aggression

Then we went to February 24, 2022. It had been maybe 10 hours since Vladimir Putin announced some kind of  “special military operation” against Ukraine, but the fighting was already taking place dangerously close to Kyiv. 

Russian forces were trying to take control of the Hostomel airport on the north-western outskirts of Ukraine’s capital. Columns of tanks and other heavy equipment were heading towards Kyiv from Belarus. It was only a 130 kilometers journey. 

“If the ILs would have been able to land at Hostomel, we might be today in a totally different situation than what he have." 

Estonian military intelligence chief colonel Margo Grosberg took pause before said that the answer seems just a tad too long. But he acknowledges that the Hostomel battle that day (24.2.2022) might well have been the most crucial battle in the whole course of the Ukrainian war so far.

Then, roughly 800 km away in Pskov, 18 IL-76 transport planes started their engines and headed towards the takeoff track. 

According to VSquare the planes were full of perhaps Russia’s most elite airborne troops from the 76th Guards Air Assault Division. The approximately 1,000 troops loaded onto the planes were highly trained, and many of them already experienced from the Chechen wars. 

Their objective was to fly to Kyiv and quickly finish their war of aggression, so-called “special military operation”.

The ILs were already halfway towards the Hostomel airport when, according to VSquare, Christo Grozev was the first to publicly draw attention to it: 

“The only plausible goal would be to capture and subordinate Kyiv and install a puppet government today. While the world is watching and doing almost nothing.”

But luckily this time Grozev got it a little bit wrong. 

Two different sources confirmed to Delfi Estonia that Estonia’s military intelligence, officially known in English as the Military Intelligence Centre of Estonian Defense Forces, had sent an advance warning to their Ukrainian colleagues before the troops had even stepped on the planes.

And Ukraine poured everything it had around Kyiv to keep the planes from landing. The Ukrainians showered the airfield with artillery fire to make the landing strip unusable. Apparently one of Russia’s KA-52 attack helicopters was shot down and crashed on the runway making it virtually impossible for the ILs to land. After circling in the Ukrainian sky for some time, they needed to return to the base. 

Read more from here.

During the war, Grosberg asked for a different type of present from Ukraine. He asked for a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle, drone that Ukraine had captured. The Ukrainians packed one of a specific type of UAVs that was in surprisingly good condition. Back home, the Estonian military intelligence was able to study the UAV and Grosberg says the local defense forces are now better aware of how to defend against it. Then they sent the model back to Ukraine.

Besides Russia’s totally failed initial planning, the second reason that the war has carried out for so long lies in the collective west and its slow political decision making process, according to Grosberg. 

“Now, 550-plus days into the war, we have agreed to supply Ukraine with weapons and equipment that president Vladimir Zelensky asked on day one. "

If it would have been granted right then and not delivering heavy equipment by a few pieces at a time only, the situation could be much different.

Grosberg makes clear that he doesn’t think much of the supposed “red lines” that might push Putin to opt for tactical nuclear weapons. 

Surely, he says, the new weapons won’t cross that red line, if indeed such a line exists. 

 "I don’t see the threat of tactical nuclear weapons as significantly high."

Anyway, I don't think that humanity has the right to use nuclear weapons anymore.

Here comes the truth

The only plausible goal would be to capture and subordinate Kyiv (and install a puppet government) *today*. While the world is watching and doing almost nothing.

— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) February 24, 2022

On Tuesday, the head of Estonian military intelligence, Colonel Margo Grosberg, turned fifty. The head of military intelligence closed the door and gave a rare interview.

On the afternoon of February 24 of last year, around four o'clock, about twenty large IL-76 transport planes started taxiing at the Pskov military airfield.

"These were stuffed to the brim with Russian paratroopers, considered the highest elite of the army there. They are trained and experienced, fought in the Chechen wars and were legendarily brutal there, killing private individuals openly and for no reason.

Now about a thousand of them were to fly to Kiev and quickly complete what other Russian troops had already begun: a coup d'état in Ukraine, followed by the handover of the entire country to Russia."

                                                                              Margo Grosberg

Yesterday was his last day of work. He admits that he has also had surprises in the Ukrainian war.

Fine!

 

Another explosion in Russia. This time in the center of Rostov near the headquarters of the criminal Southern Military District.

pic.twitter.com/gf4Oazupjw

— Olga Lautman 🇺🇦 (@OlgaNYC1211) September 7, 2023

.

The fired man says

Russian historian and political scientist, Doctor of Historical Sciences Valery Garbuzov was fired from his post as director of the Institute on the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Why?

Just previously, he wrote a long article in which he described in detail the absurdity of state propaganda, condemned anti-Western rhetoric and indicated Russia’s real place in the world: 

According to Garbuzov thus, today there are only two informal empires on the planet - the USA and China. Russia is a former empire, the heir to the Soviet superpower, "experiencing an extremely painful syndrome of suddenly lost imperial greatness."

"The fact that Russia today exhibits a pronounced post-imperial syndrome is more a tragic pattern than a historical anomaly", 

Garbuzov wrote.

Then.

"Its peculiarity is that it did not appear immediately after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, but made itself felt much later, with Putin coming to power. More than 30 years later, the delayed syndrome, the possible occurrence of which was not previously given much importance, has acquired a threatening character..."

Some say that in a society that truly values education and scholarship, this sort of free thinking and introspection would not be viewed as a threat, but appreciated as a helpful warning to heed.

Россия разрушила все отношения с Финляндией

Министр иностранных дел Финляндии Элина Валтонен.

По словам главы финского МИДа Элина Валтонен (КП), Россия разрушила двусторонние отношения с Финляндией, и на политическом уровне отношений больше не существует.

Однако в вопросах дипломатии и обеспечения безопасности на границе связь важно поддерживать.

Согласно главе МИДа, цель Финляндии – добиться того, чтобы Россия прекратила войну в Украине.

"Летнее восстание ЧВК “Вагнер” показало, что нам необходимо быть готовыми к внезапным поворотам событий. Но одновременно с этим нужно быть готовыми и к тому, что война затянется,"

 – заявила Валтонен.

"Министр подчеркнула, что ответственность за наступательную войну несет Россия. По ее словам, Россию необходимо также принудить к выплате контрибуций за разрушения, причиненные в ходе военных действий."

Вместе с другими западными странами Финляндия действует в рамках международного права, помогая Украине, подчеркнула Валтонен. Также министр напомнила, что стратегическую зависимость от Китая необходимо уменьшить.

Валтонен призывает пересмотреть вопросы ответственности, связанные с недавней историей. 

Валтонен считает, что в западном обществе необходимо провести широкую и публичную дискуссию обо всём том, что случилось в последнее время.

"Общественная власть – это по сути ответственность. Да, вопросы ответственности должны рассматриваться в нашем обществе даже постфактум. Вопрос не в том, чтобы оглядываться назад, а наоборот – смотреть вперёд и учиться на будущее."

"Я сама была одним из тех людей, кто годами не совсем поддерживал политику Финляндии по отношению к России. У меня нет никакой личной обиды или требования что-либо установить."

Министр иностранных дел Финляндии Валтонен (Коалиционная партия), выступая на собрании глав дипломатических миссий нашей страны, сделала ряд важных заявлений.

Возвращаясь к вопросу военных действий на Украине, Валтонен отметила, что война, вероятнее всего, будет продолжаться долго, и Финляндия продолжит помогать Киеву вместе с другими союзными странами. Министр также заявила, что Россия должна понести ответственность за агрессию и возместить ущерб, причиненный военными действиями.