World Geography And Politics Daily News

Posts falsely claim UN removed country banners for pride month

Social media posts claim the United Nations (UN) has replaced the 193 member state banners outside its headquarters with LGBTQ pride flags. This is false; the photos shared as supposed evidence show Rockefeller Center, not the intergovernmental peacekeeping organization.

"This is false; the photo shows Rockefeller Center and not the UN Headquarters," UN spokesman Farhan Haq told AFP. "We are not connected to Rockefeller Plaza." Translated from German to English, the photo caption says: "Rainbow flags at Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, 2019."

Israel disciplines soldiers over blunders that led to fatal Egyptian border attack

The Israeli military said Tuesday that it would discipline three officers over a rare attack on the Egyptian border that killed three Israeli soldiers and exposed a series of mishaps earlier this month. An Egyptian security officer slipped into Israeli territory undetected on June 3 and killed the three Israeli soldiers in two separate shootings in the usually quiet border area. The Israeli military's investigation into the incident found that “a few hours” passed between the two shootings, raising questions about how the Egyptian policeman had not only infiltrated Israel but also managed to spend significant time in Israeli territory without arousing suspicion and mount a surprise attack on a second guard post.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Tuesday that it would discipline three officers over a rare attack on the Egyptian border that killed three Israeli soldiers and exposed a series of mishaps earlier this month. The Israeli military's investigation into the incident found that “a few hours” passed between the two shootings, raising questions about how the Egyptian policeman had not only infiltrated Israel but also managed to spend significant time in Israeli territory without arousing suspicion and mount a surprise attack on a second guard post. The Egyptian policeman easily breached the security gate because it was left unlocked, the Israeli military revealed Tuesday. It said Israeli forces suffered from poor planning and staffing, adding that the military would immediately seal off the southern border, boost the number of soldiers at lookouts and reduce the length of their shifts. Currently, soldiers are expected to remain alert, even in the desert heat, for 12 hours at a time. “This is a severe incident with difficult operational consequences that could be prevented,” said Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, the head of Israel's southern command. The military said it would reprimand two senior officers and transfer a third officer to a different position. Egypt had publicly offered a different version of events, saying that a member of its security forces had crossed the Israeli border while pursuing drug smugglers and had exchanged fire with Israeli troops. Israel and Egypt have been at peace for over 40 years and have strong security cooperation, particularly since the rise of an Islamic State affiliate in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula. The incident marked the first deadly exchange of fire along the Israel-Egypt border in over a decade.

Putin lets slip that Russia has lost 54 tanks in a week

Vladimir Putin has said his forces lost 54 tanks in under two weeks of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in a rare admission of battlefield casualties.

He refused to reveal more details but insisted the losses were much lower than Ukraine’s, claiming Kyiv had suffered “catastrophic” defeats, including swathes of Western-donated arms. Ukraine also claimed its forces were moving forward, just after Putin said the long-expected counter-offensive was failing. “Both defensive and offensive fierce fighting is ongoing in the east and south of our nation. We have certain gains, implementing our plans, moving forward,” Valery Zaluzhny, the chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said on social media. At a meeting with 18 Russian military bloggers and war reporters, Putin said Ukraine had been attacking Russian positions since June 4 in two areas in the east and, at one point, in the south. “The enemy did not succeed in any of the points of the offensive,” the Russian president said as he claimed Ukraine was suffering “catastrophic losses in terms of personnel”. In an apparent slip, he said Russia has lost 54 tanks in Ukraine since the start of the counter-offensive insisting that some of them “can be repaired and brought back to service”. Russian officials typically never reveal their own losses. Ukraine, according to Putin, has lost 160 tanks and 360 armoured vehicles, which he claimed accounts for 30 per cent of all weapon supplies to Ukraine by Western allies. Oryx, an independent analyst of battlefield losses, counted less than 10 Ukrainian vehicles destroyed so far. Putin has sought to distance himself from the war in Ukraine in recent weeks. But on Tuesday chose to host Russia’s increasingly critical military bloggers and war reporters in what may have been an attempt to appear more reasonable to the Russian public. They duly pressed him over his weak response to Ukrainian aggression and Western arms. Visibly rattled, Putin told one pro-war blogger that Russia’s invasion in itself was the ultimate response to the West endangering its security. “We will continue to [carry out] precision strikes. We will be responding selectively,” he said. He also refused to order any immediate further mobilisation to back up his troops in Ukraine. Last September, the Russian leader announced what he said was a “partial mobilisation” of 300,000 reservists, triggering an exodus of at least as many Russian men who sought to dodge the draft by leaving for republics of the former Soviet Union. Asked about another mobilisation at the Kremlin-held meeting, Putin said: “There is no such need today.” While insisting that the defence ministry saw no need for another wave of call-ups, the Russian president also raised what he said was a rhetorical question that only he could answer about going for another attempt on Ukraine’s capital. He said of Kyiv: “Should we return there or not? Why am I asking such a rhetorical question? It is clear that there is simply no answer to this – I can only answer it myself.” Russian forces attacked Kyiv just hours after Putin ordered troops into Ukraine, seeking to take control of an airfield just outside the Ukrainian capital, but they were repelled with heavy losses by Ukrainian forces. Further attacks followed, but Russian troops were beaten back and eventually withdrew to a swathe of land in Ukraine’s east and south which Putin has declared to now be part of Russia. On Monday, Russia lost its first general in more than a year in a missile strike near the front lines of the counter-offensive. A well-connected pro-Moscow military blogger published a lengthy obituary to Maj Gen Sergei Goryachev, who reportedly died in a Ukrainian strike. “The war takes away the best of us,” Yuri Kotenok said in a post to his half a million followers on the Telegram messaging app. “The army has lost one of its best and most efficient military leaders who was hailed as an exceptional professional and a brave man.” Several Russian pro-war bloggers said the general was likely killed by a UK-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missile during a Ukrainian attack near Velyka Novoselka where heavy fighting was reported on Monday. The Russian defence ministry has not confirmed the reports. Military analysts say recurrent deaths of senior Russian officers in Ukraine point to a manpower crisis as top commanders typically stay away from front-line hostilities. In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian troops have recaptured about 3 sq km of land, advancing up to 1km on some parts of the front line towards Berdyansk on the Azov Sea, Andriy Kovalev, a spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff, said on Tuesday. Hanna Malyar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said their troops had liberated seven villages in the past week while the advance appears to be focused in four directions, one in the south in Zaporizhya, and three others to the east in Donetsk. Meanwhile, a devastating Russian missile strike on Tuesday morning hit a block of flats in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, almost gutting out the building and killing a dozen people, local officials say. As rescue workers were combing through smouldering debris, the death toll climbed to 11 in the afternoon and a further 28 people were injured, Serhiy Lysak, head of the Dnipro region, said. Russian troops continued shelling the Ukraine-held right bank of the Dnipro river as the area is grappling with massive flooding following last week’s destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam. In the village of Bilozerka just west of Kherson, a shell hit the local Orthodox church, killing the 72-year old priest and injuring a 76-year old woman, Andriy Yermak, chief of President Zelensky’s staff, said on Tuesday.

Putin declares Ukraine occupies Russia's "historical territories"

Russian president Vladimir Putin believes that Ukraine was allegedly located on the "historical territories" of the Russian Federation. Source: Putin during a meeting with the so-called "war reporters," as cited by Russian media Quote: "Why should they (Ukrainians - ed.

Russian president Vladimir Putin believes that Ukraine was allegedly located on the "historical territories" of the Russian Federation. Source: Putin during a meeting with the so-called "war reporters," as cited by Russian media Quote: "Why should they (Ukrainians – ed.) live at our expense in our historical territories? And if they want to live in our historical territories, then influence your political leadership in such a way that normal relations with Russia are built, so that no one from these territories is threatened. That's the problem!" Details: Putin sees a threat in the fact that NATO is trying to enter these "historic territories" of his. "They're out of their minds, aren't they?!", he exclaimed. Putin has once again lied about everything in the past. He stated that Ukraine allegedly came into existence only in 1922, after Lenin "out of some fear" gave it "Russian lands".

Putin threatens to withdraw Russia from Black Sea Grain Deal again

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Western countries of failing to comply with the Russian demands concerning the Black Sea Grain Initiative and said that Moscow was considering a withdrawal from the agreement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Western countries of failing to comply with the Russian demands concerning the Black Sea Grain Initiative and said that Moscow was considering a withdrawal from the agreement. (The Black Sea Grain Initiative is an agreement brokered by the UN with Russia and Türkiye launched on 22 July 2022 to enable ships to transport grain from Ukraine – ed.) Source: Interfax-Russia news agency, quoting Putin during a meeting with Russian military journalists in the Kremlin Details: The Russian president claimed that the West promised Moscow to "liberalise grain supplies to foreign markets" as part of the agreement, including by lifting some of the sanctions introduced following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "There were many different conditions that the Westerners had to comply with under the UN oversight. Nothing has been done. We are now considering withdrawing from this grain deal," Putin added. He also said that Russia extended the Grain Initiative in the past "in the interest of friendly states" that "do not support the West’s aggressive actions and [Western] satellites in Ukraine". Later, it was reported that Kyiv might allow the transit of Russian ammonia through Ukraine if it receives guarantees from Russia and the UN that the Black Sea Grain Initiative will operate without obstacles.

Haley ‘inclined in favor of a pardon’ for Trump if convicted

Former U.N. ambassador and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said in an interview Tuesday that she’s “inclined in favor of a pardon” for former President Trump if he were to be convicted of federal charges stemming from his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. “I think we all need to let this…

Former U.N. ambassador and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said in an interview Tuesday that she’s “inclined in favor of a pardon” for former President Trump if he were to be convicted of federal charges stemming from his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. “That’s something you’d see in a Third World country. I saw that at the United Nations, so I would be inclined in favor of a pardon. But I think it’s really pretty mature at this point when he’s not even been convicted of anything,” she added. Trump appeared in federal court in Miami on Tuesday afternoon after federal prosecutors alleged that Trump mishandled classified documents, which included information on the country’s national and military secrets. The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges and has decried the probe as a “witch hunt.” While the former U.N. ambassador reiterated her point that Trump was “incredibly reckless” if the charges in the federal indictment were true, Haley’s comments underscore the awkward position many 2024 GOP challengers are in as they seek to avoid defending their chief GOP White House rival while acknowledging a base of the Republican Party is still largely loyal to Trump.