Ukraine War Revives Supply Chain Crisis

 "The war in Ukraine is making clear that large parts of the world depend on Russia, Ukraine
and Belarus for basic necessities such as food, energy and other commodities. 

Trade with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine (referred to as the warzone in the remainder of this piece) has come close to a halt due to a wide range of sanctions, self-sanctioning (mainly by western companies), and strongly disrupted production and transport in Ukraine." ZH

Japan, U.S. hold navy drills off Koreas

"U.S. and Japanese warships, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, are
conducting their joint naval exercise in waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula for the first time in five yeas, in a show of their close military alliance amid growing speculation of North Korea's missile or nuclear testing later this week.

The U.S. 7th Fleet and Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force said Wednesday they conducted a joint naval exercise at the Sea of Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday." JapanToday

Greece explains why it won’t send more weapons to Ukraine

"Greece has announced that it won't send any more weapons to Ukraine because it doesn’t
have any to spare, and can't afford to weaken its own defenses." RT

Russian Police Disrupt Recital Featuring Ukrainian Composer

"Moscow police halted a piano recital featuring a well-known Ukrainian composer’s music
Wednesday after receiving an anonymous bomb threat warning.

Video from the Rassvet cultural center shows two uniformed officers disrupting Russian pianist Alexei Lyubimov’s performance of Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s song cycle “Stufen” accompanied by verses of classic Russian poets.  

Lyubimov continues to play a song by Austrian composer Franz Schubert as the policemen make gestures to the audience. Once Lyubimov finishes playing, the audience’s applause drowns out the policemen's words." MT

Americans Are “In Charge” of the War Says French Journalist Who Returned From Ukraine

"A French journalist who returned from Ukraine after arriving with volunteer fighters told
broadcaster CNews that Americans are directly “in charge” of the war on the ground.

The assertion was made by Le Figaro senior international correspondent Georges Malbrunot.

Malbrunot said he had accompanied French volunteer fighters, two of whom had previously fought against ISIS.

“I had the surprise, and so did they, to discover that to be able to enter the Ukrainian army, well it’s the Americans who are in charge,” said Malbrunot.

Adding that he and the volunteers “almost got arrested” by the Americans, who asserted they were in charge, the journalist then revealed that they were forced to sign a contract “until the end of the war.”

“And who is in charge? It’s the Americans, I saw it with my own eyes,” said Malbrunot, adding, “I thought I was with the international brigades, and I found myself facing the Pentagon.” SummitNews

Russian Forces Destroy Ukrainian MiG-29 Jet, Mi-8 Helicopter, Bayraktar UAV at 'Dnepr' Airfield

"Overnight into 14 April, 12 enemy targets were destroyed by high-precision weapons. 

In the settlements of Velikaya Mikhailovka and Bogatyr, two warehouses of artillery weapons of Ukrainian troops, a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet, a Mi-8 helicopter, and a Bayraktar TB-2 unmanned aerial vehicle were destroyed at the Dnepr airfield", Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said." Sputnik

Russian warship ‘seriously damaged’ by explosion

"The entire crew of the missile cruiser ‘Moskva’ was evacuated after an ammunition explosion caused by a fire, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a brief statement on Wednesday night, as quoted by multiple Russian news agencies, including RIA, TASS and Interfax." RT

ISIS-style Ukrainian video investigated - The disturbing video features a mock execution of a Russian soldier

"Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal probe on Monday over a Ukrainian
social media advertisement, which called for violence against Russian soldiers. The advertisement, shot in a distinctive style resembling propaganda videos by Islamic State terrorists, features the mock execution of a Russian soldier.

 

The controversial post emerged on social media over the weekend, sparking outrage in Russia. It features a woman, apparently portraying Ukraine, delivering a hateful speech against Russians with a ‘prisoner’ in clothes resembling the Russian military uniform kneeling by her side. The actress accuses Russian “pigs” of mocking, oppressing and killing Ukrainians for a long time and states that the situation has now changed.

“Something terrible woke up the peace-loving and grain-growing nation. Something that has been dormant for centuries in the bowels of the Dneper banks. Primordial and antique Ukrainian god. And now we’re reaping a bloody harvest. Death awaits you all,” the actress states, ‘slitting’ the throat of the ‘prisoner’ with a sickle.

 

The woman also vowed revenge for the northwestern Kiev suburb of Bucha, as well as for other Ukrainian towns and cities that allegedly suffered at the hands of Russian troops. Ukraine accused the Russian military of massacring civilians in Bucha early in April after troops withdrew from the area. Moscow denied any involvement in the deaths, insisting the whole Bucha affair was a staged “provocation” by Kiev to frame the country’s military." RT

Hundreds of Ukraine marines surrender in key port of Mariupol

"More than 1,000 soldiers have surrendered in the beseiged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol....

Russia’s defense ministry says exactly 1,026 marines, including 162 officers, have waved the white flag as President Vladimir Putin continues his invasion of Ukraine." NYP

Global Food Crisis: German Wholesale See Highest Percentage Price Rise in 60 Years

"As the global food crisis worsens thanks to the ongoing war in Ukraine, wholesale prices in
Germany have spiked, seeing their greatest yearly rise in 60 years.

Germany — along with a host of other European countries — is already experiencing chronic shortages of a variety of products, including the likes of flour and sunflower oil, with food manufacturers, in particular, struggling to adjust recipes and production methods to keep factory lines moving with substitute ingredients.

The worst is still yet to come, though, according to a report by German Federal Statistics Office Destatis which records the cost of wholesale goods as having gone up 22.6 per cent in March 2022 compared to March last year.

This represents the single greatest jump in prices since record-keeping for the statistic began." Breitbart

Pressure mounts on Germany after Ukraine snub

"Pressure was mounting on Germany to up its game over the war in Ukraine on Tuesday as
Kyiv snubbed the country's president and Chancellor Olaf Scholz was accused of a weak response to the crisis. 

On a visit to Poland, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted he had offered to visit Ukraine with other EU leaders, but Kyiv had told him he was not welcome right now. Scholz, meanwhile, was being panned for his own failure to visit Kyiv, as well as his hesitancy over providing heavy weapons to help Ukraine resist Russia's invasion." France24

Ukrainian opposition leader arrested

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his delight on Tuesday after Kiev's successor to the Soviet-era KGB arrested the country's most prominent opposition leader. 

The President shared a photo of his handcuffed rival Viktor Medvedchuk on social media, with the caption: “A special operation was carried out by the SBU. Well done! Details to follow."

The SBU is Ukraine's main intelligence and security agency, founded in 1991 to replace the KGB.

“I consider it especially cynical of him to use military camouflage,” Zelensky later said, mocking Medvedchuk as trying to pose as a “warrior” and “patriot” and proposing to exchange the detained politician for Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia.

Medvedchuk heads the second largest party in the national parliament, the “Opposition Platform - For Life.” He was previously placed under house arrest, last year, as part of Zelensky's clampdown on dissent, which was granted tacit approval by the regime's Western supporters." RT

Sean Penn Is ‘Thinking About Taking up Arms Against Russia’

"The Russia/Ukraine conflict could soon be coming to an end because actor Sean Penn says

he’s thinking about “taking up arms” against Russia.

 Penn has been in Ukraine filming a documentary and expressed his support for Ukraine and desire to fight on its behalf in an interview with Hollywood Authentic." PJM

Saudi TV Just Humiliated Joe Biden with a Hilarious Sketch

"Saudi state TV just ran a funny, SNL style program making fun of US president Joe Biden,

one where he attempts to address the crisis in Ukraine but then wanders away from the podium, has to be prodded by the Kamala Harris character when he forgets what he’s supposed to be saying, and even falls asleep mid-sentence. Consequently, the audience sees Harris, played by a male actor in drag, telling the President what to say and do. At the end of the clip, Biden finally falls asleep and Harris literally puppets his unconscious body, screaming, “clap for the president!” TP

Azov Battalion Alleges Russia Used Chemical Weapons in Mariupol

"It appears that Azov Battalion has enacted a contingency plan to further allege war crimes

against the Russian Federation as a means of enticing more military involvement from NATO member states. The Nazi paramilitary did so on Monday by claiming that the Russian Federation used chemical weapons against civilians in Mariupol.

Azov Battalion took to its official Telegram page to launch the claim that Russian forces used an unmanned aerial vehicle ("UAV") to deploy a chemical agent. "About an hour ago, Russian occupation forces used a poisonous substance of unknown origin against Ukrainian military and civilians in the city of Mariupol, which was dropped from an enemy UAV...The victims have respiratory failure, vestibulo-atactic syndrome. The consequences of using an unknown substance are being clarified." they stated." ZH