02/14/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 02:44 Gysi criticizes the cancellation of the Munich Security Conference to Russia +++
Left-wing foreign politician Gregor Gysi criticizes the Munich Security Conference’s decision not to invite Russian government officials as a missed opportunity to explore a ceasefire for Ukraine. “Of course you also have to talk to the officials in Russia if you want to reach a ceasefire and thus prevent further deaths, injuries and destruction,” Gysi told the editorial network Germany. Even within the US military, there are doubts that Russia or Ukraine could win the war. “If that’s the case, you don’t need an extension of the war, but an immediate ceasefire. In this respect, diplomacy and the willingness to negotiate must be given much more space.”
+++ 01:13 Dutch Air Force intercepts Russian fighter planes over Poland +++
A formation of three Russian military aircraft has been intercepted by two Dutch F-35 fighter jets over Poland and escorted out of the area, according to the Dutch Defense Ministry. “The planes, which were unknown at the time, were approaching Polish NATO territory from Kaliningrad,” the ministry said in a statement. “After identification, it turned out to be three aircraft: a Russian IL-20M Coot-A escorted by two Su-27 flankers. The Dutch F-35s handed over the escort to the NATO partners.” The Russian Ministry of Defense has so far not commented on request. Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave on the Baltic coast, sandwiched between NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania.
+++ 23:53 Selenskyj hopes for more weapons from Ukraine meetings +++
When the defense ministers of the 30 NATO countries meet in Brussels on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping for a decision on further arms deliveries to his country. “We are working on ensuring that all of our negotiations are reflected in our partners’ armament decisions,” says Zelenskyj in his evening video message. Even before the meeting, the US is organizing consultations with the Ukraine contact group in the morning. Weapons deliveries to Kiev are coordinated via the so-called Ramstein format. According to Zelensykj, further bilateral talks are also planned before the first anniversary of the Russian attack on February 24.
+++ 23:07 Russia is taking action against undesirable content on the Internet with “Oculus” +++
Russia intensifies internet censorship. The “Oculus” program will in future scour texts, images and videos for illegal content, reports Interfax. “The system automatically detects crimes such as extremist content, calls for illegal mass gatherings or suicide, pro-drug content, LGBT propaganda and so on,” the news agency quoted the main radio frequency center MRFC, which belongs to the Roskomnadzor media regulator. “Oculus” can check more than 200,000 images a day. “This system is our response to provocations and anti-Russian actions by foreign powers.” The government in Moscow accuses the West of spreading false information about what Russia calls the “special operation” invasion of Ukraine. Since last year, people and organizations that disseminate objectionable content have been fined. Another law prohibits “LGBT propaganda”.
+++ 22:10 Kadyrov wants to “smack Scholz in the muzzle” and send Russian troops to East Germany +++
The President of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, believes that Chancellor Olaf Scholz should be “slapped in the face”. That’s what the ruler said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 channel, the flagship of Russian state television, which was riddled with outrageous propaganda. Excerpts from it are shared on Twitter, among other places. The background to his statements are apparently the battle tank deliveries to Ukraine announced by Germany. In the interview, Kadyrov also ranted about the withdrawal of Russian troops from what is now East Germany in the 1990s — a mistake, in his view. And he suggests that the military should return there. “This is our territory”.
+++ 21:42 “complicity with the aggressor”: political scientist makes serious allegations against Schwarzer and Wagenknecht +++
The political scientist Herfried Münkler criticizes the joint appeal by left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht and women’s rights activist Alice Schwarzer as unscrupulous. Schwarzer and Wagenknecht ran “Putin’s business with uninformed idle talk,” the professor emeritus at Berlin’s Humboldt University told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.” In the description of what happened during the war, their manifesto was “euphemistic and mendacious”. According to Münkler, there is “a sort of complicity with the aggressor”. Both women disavowed the whole idea of pacifism and the basic concern of the peace movement. The idea of pacifism, which has been incorporated into international treaty systems since the beginning of the 20th century, is based on the ban on aggressive war, says Münkler. The defense against an aggressor remains of course permissible. However, the “Manifesto” continues to level the categories of attack and defense. “Pacifism is then nothing more than a willingness to submit. It actually never was, and what we are presented with in this paper is the end of a peace movement that should be taken seriously politically.”
+++ 21:11 Professor receives funding from Russia – University checks process +++
According to a report, a professor at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) violated guidelines in connection with the Ukraine war through scientific cooperation with Russia. As the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” reports, the surgeon is said to have applied in Russia for a so-called mega grant, research funding of more than one million euros, and was also promised it in the summer of 2022. Accordingly, it was about setting up a laboratory for research into arteriosclerosis in Russia. At the beginning of March 2022, Lower Saxony’s then Minister of Science, Björn Thümler, called for all university and research cooperation with Russia to be put on hold because of the Russian attack on Ukraine. A spokesman for the university announced that the MHH presidium is currently checking whether the professor’s activities related to Russian funding violated instructions. The MHH spokesman said that the professor stated that he submitted the application for the mega grant in November 2021 and thus before the start of the war. The Executive Committee of the MHH was not aware of either the application or the award of the grant.
You can read earlier developments in the Ukraine war here.