TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2993. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
Moskowitz confronts Greene on Ukraine, Nazi remarks - The Hill
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) confronted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in a Wednesday hearing about her false claims that Nazism was rampant in Ukraine — an argument frequently touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify his country’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a House Oversight Committee hearing titled “Defending America from the Chinese Communist Party’s Political Warfare,” Moskowitz issued a searing rebuke of the Georgia congresswoman’s efforts to paint Ukrainians as Nazis and pushed back against her comparisons of Ukraine’s government to that of Nazi Germany.
“Stop bringing up Nazis and Hitler. The only people who know about Nazis and Hitler are the 10 million people and their families who lost their loved ones — generations of people who were wiped out,” Moskowitz said.
“It is enough of this disgusting behavior, using Nazis as propaganda,” he continued. “You want to talk about Nazis? Get yourself over to the Holocaust Museum. You go see what Nazis did.”
“It’s despicable that we use that, and we allow it, and we sit here like somehow it’s regular,” he said.
Moskowitz began by invoking his own family’s history, saying, “Now, I want to address something else that went on in this committee by another member,” referring to Greene’s comments earlier the same day.
“And I say this as someone whose grandparents escaped the Holocaust. My grandmother was part of the Kindertransport out of Germany. Her parents were killed in Auschwitz. My grandfather, her husband, escaped Poland from the pogroms.”
Moskowitz described Nazi Germany’s efforts to wipe out the Jewish people, and criticized fellow lawmakers for tolerating false claims, saying, “We pretend that behavior is acceptable and regular.”
“There are no concentration camps in Ukraine. They’re not taking babies and shooting them in the ear because they’re Jewish. There’s no gas chambers. There’s no ovens. They’re not railing people in, they’re not ripping gold out of people’s mouths. They’re not taking stuff out of their homes. They’re not trying to erase a people, the Ukrainians,” Moskowitz said.
His remarks follow Greene’s line of questioning in the hearing, which she used to push back on Democrats’ witness, historian Timothy Snyder, an expert on the Holocaust, fascism, the Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe.
In her remarks, Greene highlighted several news stories and displayed several photos that she said depicted neo-Nazis in Ukraine. She raised concerns that it is now widely considered misinformation to talk about “the Nazis in Ukraine and their recruitment efforts that go all around the world.”
Greene displayed a news story, entitled, “Inside a White Supremacist Militia in Ukraine,” and then held up a photo of what appeared to be two Ukrainian soldiers, smiling, and holding their right hands up as a form of salute.
“This looks like something you’d see out of Hitler’s Germany from Ukraine. And this is something that’s extremely important to talk about,” Greene said.
When given a chance to respond to Greene’s remarks, Snyder refuted the suggestion that Nazis were pervasive in Ukrainian government, and he urged lawmakers to redirect their concerns about fascism to focus on Russia.
“If the chamber is interested in the degree of far-right participation in Ukrainian politics, you can be assured that no far-right party has ever crossed 3 percent … in a Ukrainian election,” he said. “So, of course, there are bad people in every country, but by any comparative standard, it is a very small phenomenon.”
“In Russia, on the other hand, the army includes openly Nazi formations … the government itself is fascist in character, and it is carrying out a war, which includes deportation of children by the tens of thousands, the open intention of destroying a state, as well as mass torture,” Snyder said. “So if we’re looking for fascism, and if there is anyone who is sincerely concerned about halting fascism or racism, you would wish to halt Russia.”
Russian enterprises report record shortage of workers
The supply of personnel in the first quarter fell to its lowest level in the entire history of observations, while companies’ hiring plans for the second quarter were at a maximum, the Central Bank reports in its monitoring of enterprises. Since 1998, the Central Bank has been monthly surveying approximately 15 thousand companies about their assessments of the current situation and expectations (the April survey took into account the responses of 12.7 thousand).
According to enterprises, in the first quarter the problem of staff shortages worsened, the Central Bank notes. The provision of workers was minus 28.2 points (this is the balance of responses - the difference between the number of those who are provided with and those who experience a shortage of workers). The most acute shortage of personnel is still at manufacturing enterprises producing products for investment and consumer purposes, monitoring showed. Earlier, the Central Bank wrote that “the greatest need for workers has arisen in the areas of IT, manufacturing, as well as in areas with a large share of blue-collar specialties: cargo transportation, construction, agriculture, etc.”
In the second quarter, enterprises in the main sectors of the economy plan to increase the number of employees, the Central Bank reports the results of the survey. The question is where will they get them: there are almost no free hands left in the economy. Unemployment is at historic lows, and labor demand (employment plus vacancies) has caught up with supply (labor force).
In Tatarstan, 14-year-olds will be recruited to work at military factories
The Parliament of Tatarstan has prepared a new regional program to "promote youth employment", according to which teenagers 14-18 years old will be allowed to work in factories in their free time, Kommersant writes .
Separate paragraphs in the document indicate “promotion of employment of youth under the age of 35 in agriculture” and “at enterprises of the military-industrial complex.”
Officials are worried that the number of working youth in Tatarstan is declining - due to “a decline in the birth rate in the country in the 90s of the twentieth century” and due to the fact that young people prefer to study rather than work.
Last year, the State Council of the Republic wanted to allow teenagers from 16 years of age to be employed in hazardous and hazardous industries.
Earlier it became known that in the Tatarstan SEZ "Alabuga" underage students of the "Alabuga Polytechnic" are forced to assemble Iranian kamikaze drones , which are used in the war against Ukraine.
From "The Analyst":
THE RETURN OF THE PRIVATE ARMY
Russia has just permitted yet another private military company for Novotek,the gas supply giant.
A string of other private armies are expected to be authorised as these big resources companies struggle to protect their interests.
Generally speaking most Russian PMC’s are designed for combat operations, standing in for state military forces.
Wagner was of course the largest and best known, causing mayhem across Africa, Venezuela and Afghanistan.
The oil and gas companies however have a different requirement. For them this more about self-security.
Russia has a problem with this already. It requires men that should be mobilised, it doesn’t help defend the oil and gas facilities from air and drone strikes.
Yet there are also serious issues over who controls them and how they might eventually be used. Corporate armies capable of threatening the government - individually or jointly could be a problem all of their own.
The whole concept may have existed for some time - but Ukraine sending streams of drones has been the catalyst for security. And the irony is these armies have no more ability to protect these facilities than the hapless Russian army does. The most likely outcome is that the private armies grow, both as a hedge against Ukrainian attacks, but also to defend their assets in the event of a federal collapse and the need to protect physical assets. In many ways these armies tell you how deeply flawed the Russian political and economic systems is, that it needs to permit corporations to protect themselves with their own armies. You can’t help but think these are eventually going to be more trouble than anyone bargains for. Prighozhin should have been warning enough.
🤡 Marjorie Taylor Greene proposed an amendment to the US House bill on aid to Ukraine, under which all congressmen who vote "For" are sent to fight for Ukraine.
- And how about: Those who vote "Against" are sent to the front lines to fight for ruzzia? Deal?
Republicans who can't figure percentages
Good morning Resisters everywhere. It's fixing to get stormy. T-storm alert and possible rotation. But we really don't get them here. Tornadoes have an affinity for flat ground and trailer parks. Neither of those here.
Goodnight Resisters everywhere.
These guys are Resisters. Just ask DeathSantis
They fought an attempt to repeal an 1854 law outlawing ALL abortions
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/arizona-republicans-just-made-a-huge-mistake/55557/
From "The Analyst":
MASSIVE STRIKE ON RUSSIAN LOGISTICS
Ukraine launched a massive strike on Russian rear and logistics areas yesterday, along the line of contact in the Kupiansk sector. Drones and missiles in a coordinated strike designed to overwhelm and confuse, hit ammo depots and supply points, paying particular attention to supply trucks and vehicles, already in short supply due to losses.
The Russians have been using a variable attack system - striking in one place, failing, regrouping there and resupplying, then moving somewhere else on the line to attack while the previous groups repair and resupply to go again.
The Ukrainian plan to attack multiple points all at once allowed them to disrupt this ongoing rotation.
Another part of the reason for the attack was that troops moved from Kupiansk to Lyman nearly two months ago were now relocating back to Kupiansk. They too were part of the target plan for this strike during their transit.
The Ukrainians also attacked a key bridge over the river behind Russian lines.
There were already clear signs of problems behind Russian lines. Thefts of food and animals from those under occupation have shot up in the last few weeks, suggesting food shortages and low morale. Russian trucks have been hit hard over the past year and supply isn’t keeping up with demand. Shortages result, and troops take things into their own hands.
These attacks follow on from an operation late last week that involved StormShadow. Widely believed to have been a repair centre for Russian units, it’s since been revealed as the command HQ for the Russian Central Front and it was totally destroyed along with its senior officers and comms systems.
The strike along with others by drones has been possible only because strategic strikes at oil refineries have drawn away Russian air defences. These strikes will likely lure them back and Ukraine can resume its attacks on the refineries! An endless game of cat and mouse.
A good day for Ukraine!
Slava Ukraini
From "The Analyst":
MASSIVE AIRBASE STRIKE
Ukraine used ATACMS missiles to strike a major Russian air base last night at Dzhankoy in Kazan. The explosions were massive and ongoing, ammunition continued to fire off for hours, leaving a fast burning mess and gargantuan pal of smoke that spread for dozens of kilometres.
Helicopters, S-300/400 missiles, including 2 S-300 and 3 S-400 launchers, heavy bombs and other ammunition was held in the base. Precision targeting seems to have rendered the base unusable in the immediate future.
An aircraft factory in Tartastan is also under attack by drones and so is an airbase at Moldoyvia.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2993. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
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