News of the World

[kyonides]

Germany Says It Delivered Patriot Missile Battery To Ukraine

Berlin has delivered a Patriot air defense battery and missiles to Ukraine, the German Defense Ministry (MoD) announced Tuesday on its website.

The Patriot system, along with additional trucks, was added to the category of “delivered” military assistance this week as part of Germany’s $2.41 billion commitment of lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine.

This is the first confirmed delivery of a Patriot battery to Ukraine. The U.S. has also promised to deliver an MIM-104 Patriot air defense system, but the Pentagon on Tuesday again declined to say whether it has been delivered yet.

“We don’t have any updates on this end and will allow the Ukrainians to announce any arrivals when they’re ready to do so,” Army Maj. Charlie Dietz, a Pentagon spokesman, told The War Zone Tuesday afternoon.

In February, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, told reporters at the Pentagon that delivery of the Patriot battery will be “expedited.” But he did not offer specifics.

During a media briefing last month announcing that the Ukrainian air defense troops training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma had wrapped up their U.S. training and left for Europe, Ryder declined to say when the U.S.-promised MIM-104 Patriot air defense system will arrive in Ukraine.

Last Friday, Col. Yuri Ignat, the Ukrainian Air Force spokesman, said he had not seen the Patriot.

Speaker McCarthy set to visit Israel, address Knesset

United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced on Tuesday he will give a speech in front of a full session of the Israeli Knesset during his upcoming trip to Israel.

McCarthy, a Republican from California, will be the first US House speaker to address the Knesset in 25 years. In 1998, Newt Gingrich was the first and last to do so.

McCarthy, along with a bipartisan delegation of 20 Republican and Democratic members of Congress, is slated to arrive in Israel on April 30 as part of the Jewish state's 75th Independence Day celebrations.

"My first trip abroad as Speaker will be a return to Israel to commemorate their 75th year of statehood. The US-Israel relationship is as important as ever, and I’m proud to accept @AmirOhana’s invitation as the 2nd Speaker of the House in history to address the Knesset," McCarthy tweeted, referring to Israeli parliament speaker Amir Ohana.

'Nazis are losers, will die miserably': Schwarzenegger fights antisemitism

...says the son of a WW2 Nazi officer.

Action film star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger published a 12-minute YouTube video last month calling on people to fight rising antisemitism and urged movements spreading hate against Jews to stop.

In the video, Schwarzenegger talked about his visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 2022 and the thoughts that came to him after his tour. His goal was that something like this should never happen again.
...
He explained he was reaching out to people who may have "heard some conspiracies about Jewish people or people of any race of gender or orientation and thought, 'That makes sense to me.'"

He continued: "Nazis? Losers. The Confederacy? Losers. The apartheid movement? Losers. I don't want you to be a loser."

Schwarzenegger added: "It's easier to make excuses that the Jewish people conspired to hold you back than it is to admit that you just needed to work harder. It's easier to hate than it is to learn.

But I gotta admit he has a point. It's our own responsibility to improve our skills and work hard.

Britain plays down impact of US leaks, says some information untrue

Britain on Tuesday played down the impact from the leaks of highly classified US intelligence documents online, saying some of the information being circulated from them was untrue and manipulated, without offering specific examples.

A 21-year-old member of the US Air National Guard accused of leaking top secret military intelligence records online was arrested last week and charged with unlawfully copying and transmitting classified material.
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Still, Ben Wallace, the British defense minister, told reporters in Washington that he observed inaccuracies in his review of the published information. He urged the public to be skeptical of the leaked material.

"I'm not going to comment on a specific part of the leak, but I have seen in our media a number of inaccuracies, significant inaccuracies, or manipulation of information," Wallace said.
...
He said the leak had "absolutely not" damaged relations with the United States and would not strengthen Russia or weaken Ukraine in their conflict.

Reuters reviewed some of the leaked documents, which included one that asserted that Britain, the United States and other countries had military special operations forces operating inside Ukraine. The Pentagon has said US forces in Ukraine operate from the embassy and help track US weapons provisions to Kyiv to help it defend itself against invading Russian forces.

The Washington Post reported on a leaked Defense Intelligence Agency assessment it says it obtained that anticipated 2023 will end without any Ukraine battlefield breakthrough for either side.

Without commenting on the documents themselves, Wallace expressed confidence in Ukraine's battlefield momentum, played down the idea of a stalemate and dismissed any characterization of the war as a "frozen conflict."

 It would be different if they had claimed EVERYTHING was a lie...

 Perhaps some of you still remember what happened some time ago when Iranian forces hit the Ukrainian airplane that transported travelers from Ukraine, Canada and other countries to Europe. Well, this is what happened to the idiot who shot it down.

Iranian air defense officer sentenced to 13 years for downing Ukrainian plane

An Iranian air defense commander was sentenced on Sunday to 13 years in prison for downing a Ukraine International Airlines flight over Tehran in 2020, with families of the victims rejecting the ruling as a "sham verdict."

On January 8, 2020, 176 people were killed after an IRGC Tor M1 surface-to-air missile system shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 over Tehran, just hours after the IRGC fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Iraq in retaliation against the US assassination of IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.

In total, 20 hearings were held on the case, during which a total of 117 plaintiffs registered complaints, according to the Mizan news agency, affiliated with Iran's judiciary.

According to the report, the commander of the Tor M1 system thought that the aircraft was a cruise missile and, without obtaining the necessary permission and contrary to instructions, he fired two missiles at the plane.

The court found that the commander shot down the passenger plane due to "ignorance of the subject and a mistaken idea of the discovered target, and a belief that the target was hostile and approaching."

The commander was also ordered to pay compensation to the parents of victims who demanded it and additional punishments are being considered for the commander as well, according to Mizan.

At least nine other individuals received prison sentences of between one to three years, including the then-commander of the air defense of the IRGC Air Force. Additional punishments are being considered for these individuals as well.

The report noted that the decision in the case is preliminary and that the parties involved can file appeals within the next 20 days.

The Iranian government has in the past promised to pay each of the families of the victims $150,000 in compensation.

Yes, a woman can get killed for not wearing a so called hijab but a military service man that shoots down a whole plane full of civilian passengers would only spend around 13 years in prison.

 Do they really think justice has been served properly here?