TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, refused to recognize the results of the parliamentary elections in the country

Zurabishvili noted that "Russian elections" were held in Georgia and announced an opposition rally to be held on October 28 at 7:00 p.m. Previously, the opposition parties and coalitions also did not recognize the results of the parliamentary elections

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has called on citizens to take to the streets in protest, saying the ruling party used widespread fraud to win Saturday’s nationwide election.

In a speech alongside opposition leaders on Sunday, she said: “I do not accept this election. It cannot be accepted, accepting it would be accepting Russia into this country, the acceptance of Georgia’s subordination to Russia,” she said, inviting supporters to gather outside the country’s parliament at 7.00 p.m. on Monday to oppose the result, which she said had been rigged.

“We became witnesses and victims of a Russia special operation,” added Zourabichvili, who has become one of the most prominent critics of the ruling Georgian Dream party. “They stole our right to choice, they carried out a Russian election.”

Opposition parties cried foul after preliminary results showed a lead for the ruling Georgian Dream party, which took 53 percent of the vote compared the opposition bloc’s 38 percent.

The opposition Coalition for Change said their MPs would not take up their parliamentary mandates because the election results were rigged.

Violence erupted at multiple polling stations in Georgia on Saturday as voters cast their ballots. Observer organizations, such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), reported concerns over vote-buying, “imbalances in financial resources, a divisive campaign atmosphere, and recent legislative amendments.”

The National Democratic Institute’s international observer mission noted that the pre-election period was compromised by widespread threats, harassment and in some cases violence, affecting voters, activists and political actors.

The election is widely regarded as a pivotal for Georgia’s prospects of joining the European Union. Critics have slammed the government’s increasingly authoritarian trajectory and close ties with Russia.

Georgia’s EU membership prospects were stalled after the Georgian government adopted a controversial Russian-style “foreign agents” law, despite warnings that it could jeopardize Georgia’s bid to join the bloc.

In the lead-up to the election, the ruling party had also pledged to ban virtually all opposition parties, and has passed a string of Russian-style laws branding Western-backed human rights groups and media outlets as ‘foreign agents'.

A joint statement declaring the vote was “neither free nor fair” was signed by more than a dozen European and Canadian politicians, including the chairs of parliamentary foreign affairs committees in Germany, Lithuania, Ireland and Ukraine. “Against this background, the European Union cannot recognise the result,” it reads.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán moved to quickly congratulate Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the Georgian Dream party “on their overwhelming victory at the parliamentary elections.” Orbán will visit Tbilisi on Oct. 28, the Georgian government announced, in a move likely to rile follow EU leaders.

European Council President Charles Michel decried the alleged intimidation and interference, and said “these alleged irregularities must be seriously clarified and addressed.”

“What a disgrace,” wrote Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže on X, commenting on the reports from the OSCE. “I applaud the Georgian people who came out to vote en masse despite intimidation. Their wish for a European future must be respected by any Georgian government,” Braže said.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also expressed his concerns over “reports of irregularities,” writing on X: “Closely following the evaluations of international & local observers.”

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen says EU countries need to exceed the 2% of GDP NATO military spending goal to deter Russia: “It’s time to grow up. Putin is a dictator, who only understands the language of power.”

In an interview with German media, Ms. Valtonen also mentioned that Russia is waging a hybrid war in Europe already, with France and Germany as its main targets, and cautioned against falling into the trap of the Kremlin’s disinformation: “If anyone thinks that war can be stopped by halting arms deliveries to Ukraine, I can only say one thing: this will not lead to the end of the war, it can only lead to the end of Ukraine.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/ru/glava-mid-finlandii-prizvala-strany-es-bolse-investirovat-v-sderzivanie-putina/a-70610940

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Our role has been pivotal because — as President Zelensky has told me more than once — without Britain there might not have been a still largely free Ukraine today. We cajoled, led by example and embarrassed other nations into joining us.

This is the existential test for the West. We said it was unacceptable for democratic Ukraine to be invaded by a larger autocratic neighbour. We pledged support, introduced sanctions and provided weapons and training. Our intelligence reveals that few pay greater attention than the administration in Beijing.

Make no mistake: China and other authoritarian states want us to fail. Such countries show little regard for democracy or the rights of their own citizens. Their purpose is to change the world order to benefit their own totalitarian regimes. Yet the West doesn’t appear as unsettled as it should be.

If we now fail to do everything that is required to ensure Putin loses, then we will suffer the consequences not only here in Europe, but in the Indo-Pacific and the wider world.

The cost of allowing the use of our weapons, even inside Russia if Putin attacks from there, would be minimal compared with the consequences of Putin winning — and thereby allowing others to believe that you can time out the West’s interest. Now is therefore the time not only to provide long-range permission for our Storm Shadow missiles but to do so without awaiting a decision from Washington. That was the approach I took last year in Crimea — it worked then and it will work again now.

We should go further by doubling our defence support to Ukraine, despite the expense of restocking ammunition, while challenging the rest of Nato and other civilised countries to follow.

The cost is nothing compared with the potentially ruinous impact of a full-scale conflict between China and Taiwan.

The most cost-effective way to persuade the Chinese leadership to stand down is through peaceful political discussion and by ensuring that when the West says force will not prevail, we don’t just mean until we grow bored with supporting freedom.

Redoubling our support for Ukraine today would not only be doing the right thing but would also make an invasion of Taiwan much less likely, thereby protecting us from a recession or even depression.

Our work in the National Security Council led us to estimate the eye-watering cost of a Taiwanese blockade that lasted for, say, six months. But you don’t need me to spell out this cost because, thanks to open-source intelligence, you can find an estimate in a few clicks. I suggest that this time we act on that Osint.

If we let Ukraine fall, Taiwan’s next — then we really will be at war - Grant Shapps, Former Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom

Each day as defence secretary I would review top secret briefings. These highly classified documents, some of which are only otherwise shared with the prime minister, contained the latest intelligence from our global analysts, military strategists and foreign policy advisers.

The quality of British intelligence is outstanding. I read these papers with considerable interest, frequently calling for more information, sometimes summoning an intelligence officer to elaborate on a specific point, perhaps to better appreciate how much weight to attach to a particular nugget of information.

We get our intelligence from a variety of sources. Each has its own acronym. There’s signals intelligence (or Sigint) — data collected by intercepting communications. Human intelligence (or Humint) is the approach often taken by Bond and Smiley in your favourite spy novels. And then there’s open-source intelligence (or Osint). This is intelligence gathered from publicly available sources like newspapers, social media, academic papers and speeches.

There are many others, but if I had to rely on just one, it would definitely be the last. Why? Because historically it has proved incredibly reliable.

Need 14 years’ notice of Hitler’s desire to invade the rest of Europe? No problem: he openly set out his plans in Mein Kampf, published in 1925. That’s classic Osint.

Looking for a heads-up a year before Vladimir Putin’s full-scale Ukraine invasion? Easy: read the dictator’s 2021 essay in which he asserts that Ukraine is an inseparable part of Russia. A black-and-white example of Osint, in case you missed his earlier invasion of Crimea.

Or perhaps you want to understand China’s plan to take over Taiwan. Simple. The People’s Republic of China has made its position clear hundreds of times with speeches, documents and policy declarations in which President Xi has made “reunification” a central tenet of his leadership. Unsurprisingly, democratic Taiwan is deeply uneasy about being absorbed by its giant authoritarian neighbour.

And yet, despite this mass of available intelligence, the world is somehow failing to grasp the importance of this coming Indo-Pacific war. If you are wondering whether a conflict on a small island 6,000 miles away matters to you, and thinking Britain should not get involved, that is a monumental mistake. Sadly not everyone gets the privilege of booting out their government when things aren’t working.

Avoiding a physical conflict between China and Taiwan is not just about defending principles of freedom and democracy; it is also about the global economic impact. A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would create a worldwide shortage of the semiconductors that power everyday essentials like smartphones, laptops, washing machines and your car. Inflation would soar; jobs would be cut. The world could be thrown into a deep recession, costing trillions and disrupting sectors from technology to defence — probably dwarfing the financial toll of Covid and the war in Ukraine combined.

It is clearly in the world’s interest that Taiwan is not blockaded. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to send a clear message to the Chinese leadership that subjugating the neighbouring democracy by force will never be acceptable. We must send this message by acting much closer to home, here in Europe.

Nearly 1,000 days ago, after that clear open-source signalling, Putin marched on Kyiv. He hoped to wrap up his control in a few days. Yet brave Ukrainians were not prepared to see their democracy crushed by their large neighbour.

Britain was the first of Ukraine’s allies to rise to the challenge, delivering weapons, training and intelligence to help resist Putin’s illegal war. Time and again — whether through the supply of tanks or long-range missiles — we helped ensure that this tyrant must be confronted, never appeased.

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🇬🇪In Georgia, opposition MPs from the “Coalition for Change” have renounced their seats, announced coalition member Nana Malashkhia.

“We collectively declare that these elections are fraudulent and the results illegitimate. We will not legitimize the stolen votes of the Georgian people and are renouncing our parliamentary seats,” Malashkhia stated.

According to Georgia’s Central Election Commission, the “Coalition for Change” secured 11% of the vote, equating to around 20 seats in the new parliament. Meanwhile, the ruling “Georgian Dream” party holds 53.9%, though independent exit polls indicated no more than 42% support for them.

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Soldiers of the 95th brigade liquidated the entire navigator group of the ruzzian 155th brigade of marines and the special unit "Akhmat" who were preparing to seize Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region of russia.

Everyone was killed, only two sheep herders decided to surrender.

❗️Earlier, bastards from this brigade beheaded a Ukrainian prisoner. They are believed to have executed at least 9 Ukrainian POWs.

This killing of Ukrainian POWs comes back to haunt them.

"Kamala Harris Serves Satan": Putin's Propagandist Dugin "Reveals" the Reason for the US Presidential Candidate's Infectious Laughter

"She is not a woman. She is a post-human entity from the race of Gog and Magog," wrote the crazy "philosopher" on X, quoting the excommunicated former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Bishop Viganò.

Whatever Dugin takes for mental stability, he needs much stronger things.

It does seem like the ruzzians don't like Kamala Harris for some reason and are trying to discredit her. Maybe Putin would prefer the other candidate to win the US Presidential elections?

🟡🔥  Epic footage of the unsuccessful attempt by Russians to storm Ukrainian positions in a passenger car

Kind of makes you wonder if any of their officers even has an 80 IQ

Anna Bowles
https://open.substack.com/pub/annabowles/p/one-guy-one-car-one-job-at-a-time?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=70k1h

At some point in the coming weeks contractors will start laying down a €2.3 billion line of fortifications, arms depots and reconnaissance posts along Poland’s eastern frontiers.

The border with Belarus is already bristling with steel fence posts erected to deter “weaponised” migration. A few hundred miles away to the northeast, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are building bunkers and tank traps of their own.

For President Duda of Poland, this thousand-mile wall of metal and concrete is nothing less than a second Iron Curtain that the West’s borderlands have been forced to devise as protection against the insatiable imperialist designs of Russia.

“Some politicians in the West look at this with horror,” Duda, 52, told The Sunday Times in an interview at his presidential palace.

“The last thing they want to see is the Iron Curtain being rebuilt. I will say this: if the security of my compatriots is to be safeguarded by the Iron Curtain being put up again, then OK, there will be an Iron Curtain as long as we are on the free side of it.”

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦 Admin Team 🔱

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/new-iron-curtain-could-protect-us-from-putin-says-polish-president-p2fplfvhd

Jeff Tiedrich
https://open.substack.com/pub/jefftiedrich/p/washington-post-endorses-fascism?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=70k1h

The Bulwark will stream tonight from Madison Square Garden.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/join-us-tonight-from-madison-square?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=70k1h

Israeli strike cripples Iran's missile production, knocking out a key component of Iran's ballistic missile program. Recovery could take at least a year, Axios

Israel is also reported to have damaged UAV production in Iran.

The attacks on the air defenses caused “deep alarm” in Iran, The New York Times reported citing three unnamed Iranian officials — one from the country’s oil ministry — since it rendered defenseless Khuzestan Province’s Abadan oil refinery, Bandar Imam Khomeini petrochemical complex and an adjacent major port, as well as the Tange Bijar gas field in the Ilam Province.

Further information on this :

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-said-alarmed-as-idf-cripples-its-missile-production-disables-key-air-defenses/

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱

Is Russia building up to an invasion of Poland? What a mistake that would be.

"Poles have captured the Kursk region" - Russians are told on Russian TV.

"Polish AFU mercenaries occupied the houses of the residents of Sudzha, and those residents who stayed were hanged right under the bridge and shot."

Russian propagandists are switching to Poland?

Gerashchenko.

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦 Liz

https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/38230

On 24 October 1956, Soviet russia began “liberating” Hungary.

The Hungarian people sought freedom from Soviet oppression. Moscow claimed it was a “fascist revolution financed by the imperialist West.”

Inspired by anti-Soviet demonstrations in Poland on October 19, Hungary began protesting on October 23, tearing down an 8-meter-high, nearly 6-ton statue of Stalin on the edge of Budapest’s City Park. Only the boots remained.

Protests continued. On October 25, the Soviets and the secret police opened fire on roughly 6,000 peaceful demonstrators in Kossuth Square. The number of casualties is estimated to be close to 1,000.

But the protests persisted. The Hungarian government eventually had to concede. A new government was formed, and the prime minister ordered the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary. This meant independence.

The Soviet government didn’t want to lose Hungary and decided to crush the revolution by military force. On November 2, 12 new military divisions arrived in Hungary in addition to the existing 5. The rebellion was crushed.

In the next three years, about 400 people were executed for participating in the revolution, more than 21,668 were imprisoned, and 18,000 were deported.

Since 1957, the October events were taught as a “fascist counter-revolution,” and many Hungarians still believe this propaganda today.

Hungary only regained independence when the Soviet Empire collapsed.

~ Soviet Union = russian Federation = same narrative

@ukrainejournal

💔 The life of Serhii Ovsyanka was taken by a Russian bomb attack against the village of Yastrubshchyna in Sumy Oblast on October 8, 2024.

In the morning, the Russian army dropped four guided aerial bombs on the settlement. Serhii died on the way to the hospital. Later, his wife Yulia was found under the rubble of the house. The sons, who were raised by the couple, managed to be evacuated from the village earlier.

Serhiy Ovsyanka was 38. He was born in Sumy Oblast. He lived with his family in Yastrubshchyna. From time to time he went abroad for work. Later, he worked on a farm at "Yastrubshchanske" LLC.

"He and his wife were always there. Whenever I met them, they were always holding hands or under the arm. They were smiling, cheerful, friendly, very hardworking. They tried with all their might to give their children everything so that they would never need anything," she said. fellow villager Sofia Goncharova, who knew Serhiy and Yulia since childhood.

Serhiy Ovsyanka is survived by his parents, brother, two sons and other relatives.

Polish police report that a group linked to Russian intelligence sent packages containing explosives across Europe, the UK, and tested deliveries to the USA and Canada.

“The main targets were civilian sites, such as warehouses and large stores, using arson as the primary method. The group distributed disguised incendiary materials in courier packages across Europe, with a timed ignition mechanism during transport,” stated the Polish prosecutor’s office.

This is part of Russia's ongoing program recruiting saboteurs from European countries through social media with promises of cash or crypto currencies. The goal is to intimidate Western populations and undermine support for Ukraine.

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MILITARY & STRATEGIC:
RUSSIANS RISKY ATTACK COMES UNDONE

Sometimes it surprises me how small some of these important operations are in key areas. When you’ve spent literally months of your life researching and reading battles that involved tens of - hundreds of thousands of- even millions of men, three BTR-82’s and 28 Russian storm troopers seems like something of a let down.
Yet that’s what Russia sent hurtling towards Malya Lockna to drive out Ukrainian forces and recapture the important junction there. They hoped that it would then cut off Ukrainian forces north and northwest of the position.
Racing along the highway from their recently seized junction village - two of the BTR were wiped out before they managed the second of the 7km journey.
A single Ukrainian T-64 destroyed the last one by waiting in the road until it came in sight and blasted it.
The Russians had started their attack from Zelishnyak village, and then Ukrainian decided now was the time to counterattack.
Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade then deployed six troop carrying vehicles to launch an attack south of the village, destroying six Russian vehicles.
Russian forces preparing another attack were hit by artillery and drones as well as and their vehicles eliminated - many of the Russians had to crawl to safety in woodland.
The result was the seizure of some 2km of ground and Ukrainian forces right on the outskirts of Zelishnyak.
Further assaults using Bradley’s and Abram’s from the north, courtesy of the 47th Brigade squeezed the Russians back further.
The Bradley’s are fearsome when it comes to suppressing infantry in tree lines. The high speed fire of the 25mm gun means the enemy has no time to react and the shell penetrates deep through soil and wood trenches before exploding so nobody is willing to stick their head above the line to react. Most defending Russians are killed in situ. The M-1 Abrams rather than acting as an armoured fist, is used as a heavy assault weapon, destroying houses and buildings the Russians are trying to fire from and hide in.
This led to the recapture of a small village and another kilometre of ground.
Again I bring your attention to the scale of these operations. They’re intrinsically small scale and yet have potentially huge consequences.
With Russian resources you would expect them to be much larger operations with near certain chances to make it through, yet they risk feeble BTR-82’s that are notorious for their thin skins, in a mad dash where they hope speed will overcome resistance.
A handful of Ukrainian units undid the whole operation and reversed it.
I look at the Russians and think they’re not taking this seriously enough. If they were and they had the resources how is this not yet over? What are they waiting for?
Ukraine seems to be hanging on by its fingernails in northern Kursk and yet Russia seems to be playing to Ukrainian strengths.  It’s like they haven’t learned anything in three years of war.
Meanwhile the Ukrainians seem to be waiting for the Russians next move which is almost too easy to predict and then react to it quickly and decisively- always the best way; stop it before it gets worse.
Russia has now extended its Kursk retake deadline from October 7 to 15, to 30, and now February 28 2025, ‘allowing for seasonal conditions’.
The Russians have nothing but their own incompetence to blame for this. Any quality commander with the resources given would have had this done by now. Instead they have dithered about, argued about what to do and allowed the Ukrainians to feed in some crack units, that are experienced and capable enough they don’t need vast amounts of equipment to run rings around amateur Russian officers and their stupid orders.
In any military analysis it has to be said the Russians stole the march on the Ukrainians, both in scale of the attack from the west and the location - it paid huge dividends. Then somewhere along the line they lost the plot.

I think this goes back to what I have described before as Russian ‘supply box ops ‘.   “Here’s the package of equipment we think you need to get the job done”.

Once the box is empty you’re screwed because you can’t have any more, but the demands on what you are expected to achieve don’t change. That leads to high risk stupid attacks that fail and increases the demand on what supply you have left.
Now you have to wait until Moscow is convinced you deserve a second supply box.
The result is stalemate and it gets harder the second time to change things on the ground.
Kursk may - not because of Ukraine’s actions but because of Russian incompetence- become the very thing Ukraine actually needs it to be now - a drag on Russian forces at little cost to their own.
If they can hold on through winter it will become a stiffer challenge for the Russians.
The stupidity of the Russian command is mind boggling at times. They had this in the bag and screwed it up. Quick thinking Ukrainian tactics in defence resulted in fast withdrawals, avoiding any encirclement disasters. Russia seized almost half of the land lost. And now they’ve been stopped. And they seem utterly at a loss to find the material to carry on.

‘The Analyst’ MilStratOnX
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!