On [May] 17, a comprehensive report from Pyongyang informed that North Korea's coronavirus epidemic continues to spread. On Wednesday [May 18], the North Korean Central News Agency reported 232,800 new cases of 'fever' having emerged the day before. Six more people died, bringing the total to more than 1.71 million cases [of infections], with 62 deaths and about 690,000 people still receiving treatment.
.....
Official reports also stated that nearly 3,000 soldiers are stationed in hundreds of pharmacies in Pyongyang, reporting every 24-hours, in order to assist life saving measures with medical supplies and [direct] response.
Nearly 500 mobile epidemic prevention teams and treatment teams are carrying out diagnosis and treatment work as well across the country.
[星洲网 A Chinese language news center from Malaysia on May 18]
Here is an unusual obituary for battleship 'Moscow', flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Even though modernized, it should have served the Russian navy during the last 40 years. Now it sank due to an 'explosion of ammunition', probably incited by Ukrainian forces using cutting edge anti-ship missiles.
As to the destruction of the Ukrainian Antonov AN-225, the biggest aircraft ever built, here is a video footage showing the damage inflicted by Russian military and which is mentioned in the above 'obituary':
[An official Ukrainian source stated on April 13:] The Ukrainian army used the 'Neptun' missile to seriously damage missile cruiser 'Moscow', the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The R-360 Neptun missile system is the latest Ukrainian version of a Russian system. It was pre-produced in small series in 2021 and planned to enter military service by 2022.
Yesterday, April 11, the news agency American Press AP quoted the Polish Press Agency PAP as follows:
The latest of the commission’s reports, released Monday, alleges that an intentional detonation of planted explosives caused the April 10, 2010 crash of Soviet-made Tu-154M plane that killed [Poland's president Lech] Kaczynski, the first lady and 94 other government and armed forces figures as well as many prominent Poles.
Their deaths were the result of an “act of unlawful interference by the Russian side,” the commission's head Antoni Macierewicz told a news conference.
"The main and indisputable proof of the interference was an explosion in the left wing ... followed by an explosion in the plane's center," said Macierewicz, who in 2015-2018 served as defense minister in Poland's right-wing government.
He denied that any mistakes were made by the Polish pilots or crew members, despite bad weather at the time of the crash. [The crash took place on a military airfield near Smolensk, Russia.]
Editor's Note:
The above quoted Polish sub-committee report has an official status, and PAP is a government financed press agency. However, political development in EU member state Poland has become complicated in recent years. As American Press AP put it: The latest report once again drums up hostility toward Russia among some Poles, chiefly supporters of the nationalist government, in what seems to be an effort to consolidate the voter base of the Law and Justice party, which was founded by the Kaczynski twins in 2001.
Yesterday, April 6, semi-official People's Network published a statement given by the spokesman for the Chinese Mission to the European Union. That statement rejects EU accusations of China spreading unacceptable Russian conspiracy theories on the issue of the Ukrainian war, blaming the United States and NATO.
The Chinese statement indirectly hints at America's foreign policy under former US presidents like George W. Bush and which had led to the destabilization of Afghanistan and Iraq, yet without directly naming anybody. Published by China's semi-official online voice, that statement revives the idea of what the Chinese people got to know as 'US imperialism', allegedly representing a hegemonial attitude based on wrong accusations and tactical lies and which doesn't even refrain from the use of military force.
The statement, however, doesn't show any shift of position on the Chinese side. It only reiterates what is already known about China's verbal intention to recognize basic norms of international relations while acting in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and its commitment to promote peace talks and efforts to cool down the situation.
The spokesperson [for the Chinese Mission to the European Union] reiterated that China's position on the Ukraine issue is consistent, clear, objective and fair. The relevant article deliberately distorts China's position and proposition. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this. We remind those concerned not to be selectively blind. In the past few decades, who has spread false information and launched wars to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries? Who is constantly expanding regional influence and disrupting regional stability? Who provoked the conflict and caused the massive humanitarian disaster? Does such responsibility still need to be "blamed"? Double standards cannot deceive the eyes of the world, and the alliance of the old Cold War era can never represent fairness and justice.
AFP [on a regular press conference]: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell said that Chinese officials were reluctant to talk about Ukraine during the China-EU leaders' meeting last week. How do you respond to this?
Zhao Lijian [spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs]: A few days ago, the leaders of China and the EU held a very successful meeting. The remarks of the relevant European officials you just mentioned are not in line with the facts. What the relevant EU officials should do is to advance the bilateral relations between China and the EU in accordance with the consensus and spirit reached at the China-EU leaders' meeting, instead of making irresponsible remarks.
Only one day after the official statement was made by China's EU Mission, immediately confirmed by a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a more popular and less diplomatic version of China's stance appeared as 'personal view' in China's Defense Journal.
China's Policy of "Saying One Thing, Doing Another"
Eurasianet, a news center specialized on the Caucasus region and Central Asia, came to the following conclusion:
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has said all the right things in support of Russia, its professed strategic partner. Chinese officials have faithfully repeated Russian propaganda, refusing to describe the unprovoked attack on Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion,” while echoing the Kremlin claim that NATO’s expansionist desires are the root cause of the conflict.
But Beijing’s actions are telling a different story, underscored by the March 9 Foreign Ministry announcement that the Chinese Red Cross is supplying almost $800,000 in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The amount is small, but the gesture is significant in the current context: Chinese leaders are hedging their geopolitical bets.
It was just over a month ago that Russian leader Vladimir Putin met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The two issued a joint statement describing bilateral relations as “superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era,” and cooperation as having “no limits.”
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, however, China’s behavior toward Russia has been circumspect and restrained, its officials proclaiming solidarity with Russia without following up in substance. Before Russian troops attacked, Chinese officials spoke against Western sanctions. But once the United States and European Union started imposing sanctions and disconnecting Russian banks from the SWIFT financial network, leading Chinese financial institutions began quietly adhering to the restrictions, according to Bloomberg news service.
A personal view published in the Chinese Financial Times Network put it that way:
There is now a popular view at home and abroad that China will be an important beneficiary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The reason is that the Russia-Ukraine conflict highlights the contradiction between Russia and the West, especially the United States, and leads the United States' strategic focus from Asia to Europe, which will reduce the international pressure on China. In other words, China will be the winner of this geopolitical conflict. To demonstrate this point, the claim often cites the US war in Afghanistan as an example. After President George W. Bush took office in 2001, he planned to exert more pressure on China, but the "9·11" terrorist attack in 2001 completely changed this situation. In the following 20 years, the United States has devoted itself to combating international terrorism, thus easing the pressure on China. China has therefore won 20 years of golden development opportunities and made great strides in economic construction. Now, at a time when the United States regained focus on deploying a geopolitical strategy of "back to Asia" and treating China as a strategic competitor, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out again, which prompted the United States to reconsider its global strategy and allocate more power to Europe.
It is therefore that China will not be inclined to join ranks with a global majority of nations to oppose Putin's war on Ukraine. China's priority would rather be a silent reconstruction of global alliances and delivery chains to compensate for the damage inflicted by Putin's war on China's 'One Road One Belt' strategy in Central Asia.
Furthermore, showing public disagreement with Putin's macciavellian strategy for eastern Europe could reshift the focus of international criticism to China's own domestic and global strategies.
China Still Follows its Global Economic Strategy
On April 2, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong published an article titled "Why the War in Ukraine Won't Derail China's "One Belt, One Road" Initiative's ambitious goals". The author is Hong Kong - APEC Trade David Dodwell, executive director of the Policy Research Group.
The Eurasian Railway was an astonishing success. About 1.5 million containers travelled between China and 130 cities in 23 European countries last year, accounting for 5-8% of trade between China and Europe at a time when the pandemic has disrupted sea and air freight.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has undoubtedly disrupted transportation, but it would be inaccurate to think that this will have a significant impact in the long run.
For Beijing, the Eurasian railway is just one of many projects China is seeking to diversify market access to world trade, reduce its reliance on the Straits of Malacca and the Suez Canal, and ensure long-term access to commodities that are chronically undersupplied at home. According to Refinitiv's Belt and Road Initiative database, it already includes 2,631 projects around the world with a total value of US$3.7 trillion.
From this perspective, the Belt and Road Initiative provides an extremely important defense against an unstable world. The Eurasian Railway will lose some container transportation business in the short term, which will not keep the Chinese up at night.
U.S. President Biden, notorious for his unexpected and open-hearted remarks that usually require immediate correction from his advisors, once put it that way: 'Putin is a man without a soul'.
Biden seen as an empathic personality might be right about that, at least in the clerical sense he defines a 'human soul'. But what else did we expect from a Russian leader who emerged from the dark empire of the Soviet Union as a shrewd member of his country's intelligence.
Biden, like most politicians raised in what we call the 'free world', has undergone a public development that excluded the secret formation of a 'dark triad personality'. As a result, people belonging to the three groups of dark triad personalities (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism) would find it difficult to hide their inclination from the public when striving for the highest-ranking positions of their country. In fact, we find it easy to detect such persons in public life, starting from Senator McCarthy up to President Donald Trump, not to mention McCarthy's right hand Roy Cohn who should have played, as well, a role in the personal formation of young Donald Trump. Sometimes it is just their special inclination which makes up for their public attraction, - or public rejection on the contrary.
A dark triad personality is usually connected with a lack of empathy, however, there are some of them who are unexpectedly gifted with a fully developed empathy they could use to follow their dark inclination.
"A dark empath may actually be more dangerous than a more cold and unfeeling dark triad type, because the so-called dark empath can draw you in closer—and do more harm as a result," says Ramani Durvasula, PhD, clinical psychologist and author of "Don't You Know Who I Am?": How To Stay Sane in an Era of Narcissism, Entitlement, and Incivility. "The closer you are to someone, the more you can hurt them."
Basic information on the subject is given in the linked article. As to the characteristics of dark empaths scientists found out:
Though the aggression reported by the dark empaths was not as high as the traditional dark triad group, the danger of this personality profile is that their empathy, and likely resulting social skills, make their darkness harder to spot. We believe that dark empaths have the capacity to be callous and ruthless, but are able to limit such aggression. [Nadja Heym, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, and Alexander Sumich, Associate Professor of Psychology, both Nottingham Trent University]
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin had been raised in the post-Stalinist era, flooded with an aggressive propaganda which was directed against real and imagined enemies of the Soviet Union. Like many other youths of his age he was attracted by the adventurous and heroic world of state security, a world of deception, lies and sometimes bloody terror that must have deeply influenced a young personality in his development. So he became familiar with the 'dark triad' aspect of some kind of secret brotherhood which existed apart from daily life.
What made him so successful inside KGB and boostered his career, that was his strong empathic ability to evaluate people and manipulate them. This was confirmed by one of his former superiors in a video.
Putin can therefore be seen as a typical 'dark empath' as defined by modern psychology.
As long as he remained in the shadow of a secret organisation, his personal inclination remained in the dark as well. But when his efficiency in solving problems for the Jelzin administration finally brought him into the office of a prime-minister of Russia, things changed dramatically. In a video interview after his inauguration, he obviously felt unwell facing the necessity to lead a public life.
In the end, however, he came to terms with his newly won popularity. Successful suppression of the Russian media and of opposition groups and activists reduced the slightest risk for him to lose his face in the public. There is simply nobody left in an influential position who might get in his way. And the Russian people are so much indoctrinated by the official media that they have come to believe anything or fear to show the slightest sign of disagreement.
A history of Vladimir Putin by Dr. Mark Felton
produced for his non-political history channel.
Putin on Russian 'traitors'
within the oligarch class.
Western people understand this war through one-sided networks, and naturally they can only form one-sided public opinion. According to the Associated Press, a Feb. 23 poll found that 26% of Americans believe the United States should play a major role in the conflict. On the 28th, 83% of Americans supported increasing sanctions against Russia. And that's exactly what the U.S. government needs.
The German historian Theodor Mommsen (*) once said: "The important thing in war is to seek political results, not military success." Today's war may have to add another one, seeking victory in the field of public opinion. Because success in this area will not only affect the course of the war, but may also affect the long-term development of the country in the post-war period. It is not easy for Putin to achieve victory on both the military and public opinion fronts.
(*) Theodor Mommsen 特奥多尔·蒙森 [1817-1903] was a German scholar who became known for historical research on antiquity.
And here is what another editor marked as 'personal opinion':
The three points Putin did not expect are listed in the article as follows:
1. Putin did not expect the Ukrainian army to be so tenacious. ......
2. Unexpectedly, the reaction from the US and Europe was so intense. ......
3. The combat mode of the Russian army is so clumsy.
A large number of tanks have been destroyed, many armored vehicles have been abandoned, and supply lines have been cut off, all of which have been experienced by the Russian army in the past month. Whether it is the siege of Kiev, Kharkov, or the fierce battle for Mariupol, the Russian army's way of advancing is still the same. Tank cannons play the leading role.
..........
In 2022, there will be more black swans, more gray rhinos, and more unexpected farces. We only hope that Russia and Ukraine will shake hands and make peace as soon as possible, so that this cruel war will come to an end. If we continue to fight it, we can only let the United States earn the benefits.
......................
UPDATE March 27:
On March 27 semi-official SINA quoted Russia's presidential spokesman Peskov as saying, Biden's evaluation of Putin as a 'butcher' and who 'should not rule Russia' surprised him, given that Biden once supported the 'bombing of Yugoslavia' in 1999. It might not have been NATO's brightest hour to bomb the capital of Serbia, considered as a rogue state at that time. But two Serbian nationalist leaders, Milosevic and Karasic, were behind a bloody war that destabilized multinational Yugoslavia. Both of them were tried much later for genocide before the International Court of Justice in Den Haag. Milosevic died in his prison cell before the court reached a decision on him while Karasic and military leader Mladic were finally sentenced as war criminals. I still remember the news of the Chinese embassy being accidentally hit in the Belgrade bombing.
Lets talk about hypersonic missiles:
Well, the Russians have them. The Chinese have them. The US as well. Not to forget the North Koreans.
Only difference so far: Russia showed off its Kinzhal missiles in a battlefield environment and destroyed two enemy targets in the frame of Putin's 'specially operated war' on Ukraine.
We understand that such weapons are constructed to outwit enemy missile defense systems, especially when hypersonic gliders change their direction during flight. But if that's really successful under war conditions, nobody knows up to know.
China News Service, March 22 - Twenty-two days after the launch of military operations in Ukraine, the Russian military launched the "Dagger" hypersonic missile for the first time.
However, American and Western officials and media's comments on this powerful weapon are a bit "sour". Some Western experts said that Russia is "showing off its skills", and some media said that Russia just wants to gain a psychological advantage to "scare everyone".
The photo included in the above quoted article is showing a Russian MIG-31 able to carry hypersonic weapons.
Today, 中国侨网, a Network for Chinese abroad, issued an official warning for Chinese expats not to return to Ukraine. The article is providing emergency telephone numbers in case of need.
From China's TV station CCTV we learn that an evacuation flight has saved further Chinese expats from Ukraine this morning. By the way, it should have been the fourteenth flight so far. And there is some ambiguity in a Chinese media report about another delivery of Chinese aid to Ukraine that should have arrived in Warshaw, Poland. The Shanghai media report included some kind of statement that could be intended to question the reliability of such information, rather unusual for media from China Mainland. Maybe, that aid delivery has been combined with a repatriation flight for Chinese refugees from Ukraine, and that statement was used to point at another possibility to leave the region.
The 2nd batch of humanitarian supplies from China departed to Ukraine from Budapest, Hungary. Assisted by the Red Cross Society of China, the supplies for people in need arrived on a special flight of Air China in the Hungarian capital yesterday. They will be transported into Ukraine where the Ukrainian Red Cross can take them over this afternoon local time. [Chinese media, March 13]
A first batch of humanitarian aid materials provided by China already arrived at the warehouse in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, on March 11 local time.
关注乌克兰局势中国首批援乌人道主义物资分发给当地民众
Regarding the situation in Ukraine, China's first batch of
humanitarian supplies to help Ukraine was distributed to
the local people.
The 'thermobaric bomb' or 'vacuum bomb' is being used in Russian grenade launcher systems to generate huge flame balls that suck oxygen from the environment. It can kill groups of people on the spot who either burn, melt in the heat and/or suffocate. Such weapons use fuel jelly like the notorious napalm bombs once deployed by the US in Vietnam. They disperse an aerosol of fuel in the sky which is then ignited. Russia is known for having deployed that weapon in all of the regional wars it conducted during the last decades.
The following quotations have been taken from Chinese sources reporting what Chinese residents in Ukraine experienced these days. Both reports quoted seem to be published on China mainland channels while official voices from Beijing are reluctant to take sides in the conflict.
Faced with the sudden deterioration of the situation, Qiao Liya expressed her helplessness. As she said in the video before, "Brothers for many years, why are you making trouble today?" Since 2014, the relationship between Russia and Ukraine has begun to decline.
乔丽娅表示，俄乌两国其实大部分人并不希望有战争。
Julia said that in fact, most people in Russia and Ukraine do not want war.
直到2月24日，王旭觉得在乌克兰的一切都在正常进行，尽管与俄罗斯矛盾已经持续了若干年。
Until February 24, Wang Xu felt that everything in Ukraine was going on normally, even though the conflict with Russia had been going on for several years.
On January 14, 2022, Xinhua News Agency just published an article entitled "China-Ukraine Practical Cooperation Achieves Fruitful Results in 2021 - Interview with Fan Xianrong, Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine", Fan Xianrong said in an interview, "In mid-2021, Ukraine's pragmatic cooperation has many bright spots in bilateral trade, production investment, transportation exchanges, etc. In the face of the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, bilateral pragmatic cooperation has shown strong resilience and great potential."
This morning, it became clear to the world that Western allies in the US and EU are standing together against Russia [The Guardian - Timeline of War]:
The United Nations Security Council held a meeting on the 27th and voted to pass Resolution 2623, which was requested by the United States and others to hold an emergency special UN General Assembly on the situation in Ukraine. Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, attended the meeting, abstained from voting in the relevant voting, and made an explanation of China's voting position.
The resolution didn't pass as was expected from the beginning. China, however, did not openly take sides in favor of Russia which is its strategic partner in many aspects. On February 28, China's news agency XINHUA confirms Beijing's unchanged position in the matter.
Boris Kashin, a member of the Russian State Duma Financial Market Committee, has publicly stated that China is Russia's strategic partner, and Russia's main partner in creating its own independent payment system is China UnionPay. The development of China UnionPay can serve as a reference for Russia. In this context, Russia established the Russian National Payment Card Company (NSPK) and the Mir payment system. Russia is the third largest market for Visa and Mastercard. The two giants are reluctant to withdraw from the Russian market. In order to continue their business in Russia, the two giants have also joined the Russian National Payment Card Company (NSPK).
China UnionPay, which is about to turn 20 years old, is now one of the three major international card organizations, and it has also become an international leading bank card clearing organization covering 180 countries and regions around the world. A good life is inseparable from payment services. While we lament [about daily business], we also pay tribute to the foresight and prudence of the older generation of [China's] politicians. Having an independent payment network avoids the influence of international politics and ensures the long-term stability of our people’s livelihood development.
Visa and Mastercard have been included in the Passing Sanctions Act (CAATSA) approved by the U.S. Congress to counter U.S. adversaries. The bill allows Washington to impose penalties on businesses and individuals deemed hostile to the United States or loyal to a regime hostile to the United States. Although the situation in Ukraine is getting worse and worse, the use of payment networks to sanction Russia, which is already well-prepared, may fail. First, Russian officials have strengthened strict control over the payment systems of international card organizations outside Russia. The foreign payment system is required to pay a guarantee fee of 25% of the average daily trading profit to the special account of the Russian Central Bank on a quarterly basis. Second, all card organizations, including Visa and MasterCard, must be connected to the Russian National Payment Card Company (NSPK), which is a centralized local data processing center. Local credit card transactions in Russia are processed by NSPK, and the United States' unilateral intervention is not possible.
- News of the Day -
More EU countries – including France, Italy and Greece – have said they would back a ban on Russia using the Swift global payments network in an attempt to pile further pressure on the country after its invasion of Ukraine.
Cyprus and Hungary also said they would support such a measure.
The move, which it is hoped would hit Russian trade by making it harder for companies in the country to do business, is being considered to escalate sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Germany seems to be reluctant on this matter because a Swift ban could damage western economies as well, according to Germany's liberal finance minister Lindner.
