Browsed by
Category: War

Google allowed a sanctioned Russian advertising company to harvest user data for months

Google allowed a sanctioned Russian advertising company to harvest user data for months

By Craig Silverman, ProPublica, July 1, 2022 The day after Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner sent a letter to Google warning it to be on alert for “exploitation of your platform by Russia and Russian-linked entities,” and calling on the company to audit its advertising business’s compliance with economic sanctions. But as recently as June 23, Google was sharing potentially sensitive user data with a sanctioned Russian ad tech company owned by Russia’s largest…

Read More Read More

How the Russian media spread false claims about Nazis in Ukraine

How the Russian media spread false claims about Nazis in Ukraine

The New York Times reports: In the months since President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called the invasion of Ukraine a “denazification” mission, the lie that the government and culture of Ukraine are filled with dangerous “Nazis” has become a central theme of Kremlin propaganda about the war. A data set of nearly eight million articles about Ukraine collected from more than 8,000 Russian websites since 2014 shows that references to Nazism were relatively flat for eight years and then…

Read More Read More

Most Russians are unaware of the horrendous war crimes being committed by Putin’s forces in Ukraine

Most Russians are unaware of the horrendous war crimes being committed by Putin’s forces in Ukraine

Vladimir Kara-Murza writes: At the hearing in early June — the one that extended my arrest through mid-August — the court honored the prosecution’s request to ban any spectators, including journalists and diplomats, from the room. It was a scene reminiscent of the dissident trials of the Soviet era. Even if the outcome is predetermined, the last thing the Kremlin needs is to have the uncomfortable truth about its bloody war in Ukraine publicly voiced in a courtroom in downtown…

Read More Read More

Thirty-five years in Afghanistan

Thirty-five years in Afghanistan

Kathy Gannon writes: The Afghan policeman opened fire on us with his AK-47, emptying 26 bullets into the back of the car. Seven slammed into me, and at least as many into my colleague, Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus. She died at my side. Anja weighed heavy against my shoulder. I tried to look at her but I couldn’t move. I looked down; all I could see was what looked like a stump where my left hand had been. I…

Read More Read More

Ukraine has exposed Russia as a not-so-great power

Ukraine has exposed Russia as a not-so-great power

Phillips Payson O’Brien writes: In times of peace, much of what anyone says about national power is guesswork. Different claims can be based on hopes, prejudices, or even simple self-interest. Analysts and experts can speak confidently about how some states are undoubtedly great powers while others are weak, that some countries are led by strategic geniuses and others by corrupt incompetents. The statements can sound eminently plausible as facts, even be downright persuasive, because there is no way of knowing…

Read More Read More

Newly arrived advanced weapon systems will help hinder further Russian advances in Ukraine

Newly arrived advanced weapon systems will help hinder further Russian advances in Ukraine

The New York Times reports: The most advanced weapons that the United States has so far supplied Ukraine are making an impact in their first several days on the battlefield, destroying Russian ammunition depots and command centers, American and Ukrainian officials say. Ukraine’s military had eagerly awaited the arrival of the first batch of truck-mounted, multiple-rocket launchers, whose satellite-guided rockets have a range of more than 40 miles, greater than anything Ukraine had possessed. The weapons have even won grudging…

Read More Read More

‘Perfect storm’ of crises is widening global inequality, says UN chief

‘Perfect storm’ of crises is widening global inequality, says UN chief

The Guardian reports: Humanity is facing a “perfect storm” of crises that is widening inequality between the north and south, the UN secretary general has warned. The divide is not only “morally unacceptable” but dangerous, further threatening peace and security in a conflicted world. The global food, energy and financial crises unleashed by the war in Ukraine have hit countries already reeling from the pandemic and the climate crisis, reversing what had been a growing convergence between developed and developing…

Read More Read More

Ukraine-Russia war: The first four months in numbers

Ukraine-Russia war: The first four months in numbers

Army Technology reports: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February this year has resulted in a reaffirmation among NATO members about the need for the Alliance and the role it plays in European security. However, as the war drags on, the scale of the challenge is becoming ever clearer. Earlier this week, NATO announced that it would increase the number of forces held as rapid readiness to more than 300,000, up from around 40,000 at present, mainly based on the Alliance’s…

Read More Read More

In Russia’s biggest cities, Ukraine war fades to background noise

In Russia’s biggest cities, Ukraine war fades to background noise

The Wall Street Journal reports: Dima Karmanovsky had just finished his second DJ set of the night on a recent weekend, and was catching his breath before dashing off to another club for his next job. “I haven’t had this much work since before the pandemic,” the 35-year-old disc jockey said at Blanc, a popular bar in Russia’s capital. As the invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth month, there are relatively few outward signs in Moscow and St. Petersburg of…

Read More Read More

Russia abandons Snake Island in ‘big victory’ for Ukraine

Russia abandons Snake Island in ‘big victory’ for Ukraine

Reuters reports: Russian forces abandoned the strategic Black Sea outpost of Snake Island on Thursday, in a major victory for Ukraine that could loosen the grip of Russia’s blockade on Ukrainian ports. Russia’s defence ministry said it had decided to withdraw from the outcrop as a “gesture of goodwill” to show Moscow was not obstructing U.N. efforts to open a humanitarian corridor allowing grains to be shipped from Ukraine. Ukraine said it had driven the Russian forces out after a…

Read More Read More

In new poll, 89% of Ukrainians reject ceding land to reach peace with Russia

In new poll, 89% of Ukrainians reject ceding land to reach peace with Russia

The Wall Street Journal reports: An overwhelming share of Ukrainians—some 89%—say it would be unacceptable to reach a peace deal with Moscow by ceding Ukrainian territory that Russian forces have seized in their invasion this year, a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds. The survey, conducted in conjunction with a Ukrainian polling firm, also finds that 78% of Ukrainians approve of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s response to the Russian invasion, with only 7% saying he has handled the war poorly. With…

Read More Read More

How far do Putin’s imperial ambitions go?

How far do Putin’s imperial ambitions go?

Yaroslav Trofimov writes: At a ceremony honoring young geographers in 2016, President Vladimir Putin asked one boy about the capital of Burkina Faso and then quizzed another about where Russia’s borders end. “At the Bering Strait with the United States,” the 9-year-old boy ventured hesitantly. Mr. Putin, who chairs the board of the Russian Geographic Society, contradicted the boy to triumphant applause. “The borders of Russia,” he pronounced, “never end.” The scene, years before Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine unleashed…

Read More Read More

Ukraine war has left at least 345 million people facing food insecurity

Ukraine war has left at least 345 million people facing food insecurity

The Telegraph reports: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left the world on the brink of a “triple F” crisis with at least 345 million people facing food insecurity, the World Food Programme has warned. Matthew Hollingworth, the emergency coordinator for the WFP in Ukraine, said millions of extra people had been left vulnerable as a result of food, fuel and fertiliser shortages and a spike in prices triggered by the war. “We are extraordinarily concerned for more than 345 million…

Read More Read More

Turkey backs NATO membership for Sweden, Finland

Turkey backs NATO membership for Sweden, Finland

The Wall Street Journal reports: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is on a course to admit Finland and Sweden following an agreement with Turkey, a move that would add vast territory and new military abilities in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two Nordic countries, which had long shunned joining the alliance, abruptly changed their stance following Moscow’s attack on its neighbor on Feb. 24. Both countries applied for NATO membership a month ago, but Turkey had balked,…

Read More Read More

Ukraine war: Kremenchuk shopping centre attack claims fact-checked

Ukraine war: Kremenchuk shopping centre attack claims fact-checked

BBC News reports: Within hours of the attack on a shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, false and unproven claims began circulating online. Stories were spread by Russian Telegram channels and by Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations. They included rumours that the attack was “false” or “staged” – and were repeated on Russian television. On Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry released a statement claiming the shopping centre was “non-functioning” and that the bombing of…

Read More Read More

NATO to put 300,000 troops on high alert in response to Russia threat

NATO to put 300,000 troops on high alert in response to Russia threat

The Guardian reports: Nato’s secretary general has said this week’s Madrid summit will agree the alliance’s most significant transformation for a generation, putting 300,000 troops at high readiness in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance’s forces in the Baltic states and five other frontline countries would be increased “up to brigade levels” – doubled or trebled to between 3,000 and 5,000 troops. That would amount to “the biggest overhaul of our collective defence and…

Read More Read More