Boris Johnson: Putin Is a Murderous Thug

                 (Hauser & Chen’s article from the CNN on 27 August 2023.)

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin “must have killed” Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and said there can be no peace negotiation with Putin on Ukraine.

Writing in a Daily Mail op-ed on Saturday, Johnson speculated about Prigozhin’s last moments, just days after a plane believed to be carrying the Wagner boss crashed in a field northwest of Moscow while en route to St. Petersburg. It is not clear yet what caused the plane crash, but US and Western intelligence officials that CNN has spoken to believe it was deliberate.

“It can’t have been more than a few seconds between the explosion aboard the otherwise reliable Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, and the moment the Russian thug blacked out in his vertiginous acceleration to earth; and yet in that instant I am certain that he knew with perfect clarity what had happened,” Johnson wrote.

HIMARS Missile System Test-firing In Australia’s NT

    (Major Dan Mazurek’s post from the AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE on 03 August 2023.)

Army missile system on target in first firing: The Army tactical missile system (ATACMS) has been fired in Australia for the first time, demonstrating the type of capability Australia will need to defend its northern borders.

The ATACMS, fired as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre, is a US-made long-range tactical precision surface-to-surface missile, combining advanced technology and intelligence-driven targeting.

1st Brigade Commander Nick Foxall said capabilities such as this would have a big impact on the ability to deny access to enemies as the Army's focus in the north shifts to littoral operations. “Army is entering a new period, and exercises like Talisman Sabre, where we work with our partners and new capabilities, only enhance the defence of Australia,” Commander Foxall said.

Singapore Suspended Corrupt Transport Minister?

                                (Staff article from THE HINDU on 02 August 2023.)

Singapore PM Lee bars Indian-origin Minister from duty, slashes his pay amid corruption probe: Indian-origin Transport Minister S. Iswaran was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on July 11.

CPIB’s probe into Transport Minister S. Iswaran involves billionaire Ong Beng Seng, the man widely credited with bringing Formula-1 racing to Singapore. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on August 2 barred Indian-origin Transport Minister S. Iswaran from duty and slashed his salary after he was arrested last month in relation to a corruption probe.

Mr. Lee was speaking in Parliament on a recent spate of scandals that has rocked Singapore, a country otherwise known for its corruption-free and stable politics. He spoke on the ongoing corruption probe involving 61-year-old Mr. Iswaran and the resignations of two Members of Parliament (MPs), former Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui, over their extramarital affair.

WAGNER: Putin’s Mercenaries from HELL

               (Joshua Yaffa’s article from THE NEW YORKER on 31 July 2023.)

On May 20th, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, stood in the center of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, and recorded a video. The city once housed seventy thousand people but was now, after months of relentless shelling, nearly abandoned. Whole blocks were in ruins, charred skeletons of concrete and steel. Smoke hung over the smoldering remains like an early-morning fog. Prigozhin wore combat fatigues and waved a Russian flag. “Today, at twelve noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” he declared. Armed fighters stood behind him, holding banners with the Wagner motto: “Blood, honor, homeland, courage.”

More than anyone else in Russia, Prigozhin had used the war in Ukraine to raise his own profile. In the wake of the invasion, he transformed Wagner from a niche mercenary outfit of former professional soldiers to the country’s most prominent fighting force, a private army manned by tens of thousands of storm troopers, most of them recruited from Russian prisons. Prigozhin projected an image of himself as ruthless, efficient, practical, and uncompromising. He spoke in rough, often obscene language, and came to embody the so-called “party of war,” those inside Russia who thought that their country had been too measured in what was officially called the “special military operation.” “Stop pulling punches, bring back all our kids from abroad, and work our asses off,” Prigozhin said, the month that Bakhmut fell. “Then we’ll see some results.”

The aura of victory in Bakhmut enhanced Prigozhin’s popularity. He had an almost sixty-per-cent approval rating in a June poll conducted by the Levada Center, Russia’s only independent polling agency; nineteen per cent of those surveyed said they were ready to vote for him for President. His new status seemed to come with a special license to criticize top officials in Moscow. Prigozhin had accused his rivals in the Russian military, Sergei Shoigu, the defense minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of general staff, of withholding artillery ammunition from Wagner. “That’s direct obstruction, plain and simple,” Prigozhin said. “It can be equated with high treason.” In the battle for Bakhmut, he said, “five times more guys died than should have” because of the officials’ indecisive leadership.