Translation:NEW YORK, May 31./TASS/.The Clooney Foundation for Justice, an organization founded by American actor George Clooney and his wife Amal Clooney, wants to get the European Union and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Russian journalists abroad.Anna Neistat, an employee of the Clooney Foundation, said this in an interview with the Voice of America radio station (recognized as a foreign agent media in the Russian Federation).According to her, the foundation intends to petition the ICC to initiate criminal cases against Russian journalists who cover events in Ukraine in a pro-Russian manner.The Foundation also wants to encourage individual EU countries to initiate criminal prosecution against Russian journalists for “war propaganda.”Neistat called this method more practical, since it will allow “the issuance of closed arrest warrants.”“This is important because we do not want these people to know about such a warrant, on the contrary, we want them to travel to other countries and be arrested there,” she explained.Neistat added that her organization intends to carry out similar actions against all Russian media workers, including “chief and non-chief editors,” those who speak “on air or on their pages on social networks.”
This is everything you need to know about these people and why nobody wants to talk to them in Russia. Waste of time.
Translation:Supplies of Pantsir anti-aircraft missile and gun systems to the troops will almost double this year, its head Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of the Ministry of Defense.The Pantsir-SM modification is considered the most modern short-range air defense system.These complexes received a new radar with an active phased array, as a result, the target detection range increased from 32–36 km to 75 km.The maximum engagement distance is 40 km.Small-caliber ammunition is being developed for Pantsirs, Izvestia previously reported.They use a control system and warhead similar in their capabilities to conventional Pantsir missiles.The new ammunition will be very effective against drones, and can also be used against ATGMs, MLRS shells, anti-radar missiles and other air attack weapons.The minimum area (zone) for hitting air targets with such missiles will be reduced to 500 m. The full ammunition load of an anti-drone installation can be up to 48 missiles.
So, combined with ECM this is what development of counter-measures looks like. Both Tor M2s and Pantsirs performed admirably already in Syria, now it is a new scale.
In related news, oopsie--there is no hiding anymore, especially when you are a high level military bureaucrat. Deputy Defense Minister of Russia, General Timur Ivanov has been detained under the suspicion of taking a bribe (in Russian). The guy was (now "was") in charge of construction for military personnel. In other words--the most senior quartermaster of Russian Defense Ministry. Not anymore. He took, allegedly, more than one R 1 million (how much more? MORE) bribe and will now have up to 15 years in "resort" to think about his life, if his guilt will be proven, which I think it will be. Rear services of such immense force as Russian Armed Forces means access to immense financial resources and contracts dispensation, which, I speculate, what the bribe was all about--to get juicy construction contract. I am sure more arrests are coming. What the fuck this guy was thinking while having the salary about the size half of this bribe a month. I guess greed got to him big time. Most likely it is one of possibly many such episodes which will be "attached" later. The conclusion? Serve honestly...
OK, I might as well put my 2 pennies in on the issue of today Assange's arrest in UK. It was expected and Assange is not the first, nor the last whistle-blower who got screwed by government agencies for providing crucial disclosures on government operations. I already had a word on him a while ago, I will reiterate:
For a person who decides to provide classified information, even if it discloses evil intentions of government, for a general public one has to be slightly more than just celebrity to handle own noble intentions. Assange is primarily a celebrity and not a very bright one, I may add. For people even remotely acquainted with history and military and intelligence operations, however, WikiLeaks information was and is not something which could have been defined as eye-opening. In fact, it was a "nothing new" affair. In other words it was known to anyone with a half-brain. For "lefty" products of Western hamster universe of office plankton, however, Assange is a "hero". He may well be the one, after all, but I personally still have to face the fact that classified information is called classified for a reason, and while US government and political establishment, in many of their manifestations, are evil, nobody, in any government, ever condoned leaking of classified data, and for the purpose of preventing such leaks any serious nation has a well-developed network of counter-intelligence services who operate on a legal foundation of, putting it in layman's lingo, "you leak, you get locked". Russia, US, Germany, China, India and Lesotho (well, I am not 100% positive about Lesotho)--all operate on this principle. I know, I held a very high level of clearance and I knew what may happen and did happen when those rules were violated.
Edward Snowden, obviously, was aware of this paradigm and, as an actual holder of high level clearance in CIA and intelligence professional he knew what he was getting into, and now look at him--he is obviously doing better, way better, than Assange, while living in Moscow and being secured from extradition to the USA. So, what's the lesson of Assange's saga? Very simple--be professional in what you are doing, especially when crossing the red line of the law. People like Assange are not exactly professionals--they are celebrities by definition and have views of the outside world that of celebrities or, being frank, very close to those of modern office plankton defined by ignorance of true complexities of modern world and forces at play in the world of espionage and classified information. So, while I am sympathetic to Assange's plight and see the value in his activity, Assange, for me at least, will remain one of those examples of how not to do what he was doing. This is if to assume that no higher level game was played in which Assange was merely a pawn. But this is yet to be learned, if ever. So, let's wish Assange luck in getting, possibly, but probably not, Presidential pardon--after all, he and WikiLeaks did help Trump get elected.
UPDATE: No comments are required here, everything speaks for itself--crying out loud shame, but expected nonetheless:
UPDATE 2 from 04/12/19: Russian language is needed. But here is Alexandr Asafov speaking to Pravda on Assange and speaking about what I spoke here in this post. Practically the same. He also thinks, in softer terms, that Assange made a mistake. Why Assange decided not to go to Russia? I have an opinion but it changes absolutely nothing at this stage.
