Russians hauling corpses washed from graves to Mariupol supermarket – the mayors adviser
Roman Petrenko – May 29, 2022
The Russian occupiers in Mariupol have hauled corpses washed out of graves during the restoration of water supply to a supermarket, said the mayor’s adviser Petro Andryushchenko.
Attention, this story contains distressing images!
Quote from Andryushchenko: ” In the premises of the “Shchyryi kum” supermarket in the Livoberezhny district on Svoboda Avenue, the Russians have set up a corpse dump. Literally.
The Russians are bringing the bodies of the dead here, bodies which were washed out of graves and partially exhumed in an attempt to restore water supply. They are just dumping them like garbage.
There is a catastrophic shortage of people to bury the corpses and of power for even makeshift mortuaries. To such an extent that a separate recruitment campaign for pathologists has been launched in Moscow. “-
Details: Andryushchenko emphasises that this photo is recent and demonstrates the threat of an epidemic.
Reminder:
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko warns of the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases in Mariupol this summer.
Invaders begin loading rolled metal products in port of Mariupol mayor’s adviser
Kateryna Tyshchenko – May 28, 2022
PHOTO FROM ANDRIUSHCHENKO’s TELEGRAM
The invaders have begun loading rolled metal products from the Port of Mariupol.
Source: adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andriushchenko, on Telegram
Quote: “The invaders have started loading the first shipment of rolled metal products from the Port of Mariupol. Since there has been no confirmation of the ‘new gate’ having been unlocked, the metal will be exported in small batches.”
Details: According to Andriushchenko, on Friday evening information was received that a large group of Kadyrovites [Russian units subordinate to the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov -ed.] entered Mariupol. And on Saturday, major attempts to load rolled metal products in the Port of Mariupol resumed.
In Andriushchenko’s opinion, this indicates that the invaders gave Mariupol “to the Kadyrovites to loot and there will be no ‘restoration’, only looting and terror,” and also that “not without the help of the Kadyrovites, the invaders found specialists in Mariupol who can do the impossible.”
Background: On 24 May, the Russian Defence Ministry announced that mine clearance had been completed at the port of occupied Mariupol and that a humanitarian corridor had been opened up to allow foreign vessels in port to depart.
On 27 May, the Metinvest Group declared that the seizure and reopening of the port of Mariupol indicate that the invaders can export metallurgical products to [Russian] ports in Rostov, Taganrog, Novorossiysk and Tuapse and to occupied Sevastopol.
“We realize that unless our country halts the special military operation, there will be even more orphans in our country,” said Vasyukevich.
However, the four communist councilmen did not find broader support among their colleagues, while regional governor Oleg Kozhemyako told them to leave the chamber.
“These acts disgrace the Russian army and our defenders…; traitor!” Kozhemyako told Vasyukevich.
Anatoly Dolgachev, the leader of the regional communist party, said that the appeal to Putin was not properly cleared with the party, and called it “a stunt.”
Video shows huge explosions Ukraine says are Russian thermobaric bomb strikes on its positions
Sophia Ankel – May 27, 2022
A Russian TOS-1 multiple rocket launcher at a 2013 military display.REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
Ukraine accused Russia of using thermobaric weapons on their forces in the eastern region of Donbas.
A video posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Thursday shows huge explosions in the area.
Thermobaric weapons are so destructive they can vaporize human bodies.
A video published by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence on Thursday shows huge explosions, which its officials said were Russian thermobaric bomb strikes on their troops’ positions in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine said the explosives — also known as vacuum bombs — landed on Ukrainian troops near the town of Novomykhailivka in the Donetsk region, currently the focus of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
The video, which has not been independently verified by Insider, shows intense back-to-back blasts in a small area.
russian TOS-1A shelling Ukrainian positions near Novomykhailivka, Donetsk region. This is what the the largest and most horrific war of the 21st century looks like. Ukraine is ready to strike back. To do this, we need NATO-style MLRS. Immediately. pic.twitter.com/XwdBfAfEq8
“This is what the largest and most horrific war of the 21st century looks like. Ukraine is ready to strike back,” the Ministry of Defense wrote alongside the video. It also appealed to NATO to supply its forces with similar weapons.
The thermobaric rocket is a type of explosive that uses oxygen in the surrounding area to generate a high-temperature blast. It is so destructive it can vaporize human bodies and crush internal organs, according to Insider’s Abbie schull and Allan Akhtar.
The weapon was first used during the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan and was also deployed in Chechnya and the Syrian civil war, per The Guardian.
A senior US defense official said in March that while Russia has launchers for this type of capability in Ukraine, it was unclear if such weapons had been used.
Ukrainian Intelligence: Russia used 60% of its high-precision weapons
Denys Karlovskyi – May 25, 2022
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the Russian forces have already used more than 60% of high-precision weapons stockpiles.
Source: Deputy Head of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Vadym Skibitskyi
Skibitskyi’s quote: “According to our data, if we’re talking about high-precision weapons, about 60 percent of their stockpile has already been used. In the case of some types, even more – 70%.
There are relevant regulatory requirements for the threshold level that must be maintained in the army, and the number of Iskanders [mobile short-range ballistic missile systems] has almost reached this threshold level.
The Russian army has changed its tactics when using such weapons. Where, earlier, 2 or 4 missiles might have been used on one object, now the object is clearly selected and the target is hit with 8 to 12 missiles of various forms. [The Russians are using] ballistic and cruise missiles, land-based, naval and air-based [types of missiles], in order to be ready to hit this target.
We see these changes, and we understand that Russian resources of high-precision weapons and high-precision ammunition are at a borderline level. “
Details: Skibitskyi added that in the first two months of its large-scale invasion, Russia launched random strikes with high-precision missiles.
He is convinced that Russia currently does not have sufficient capacity to quickly replenish its spent stocks of high-precision weapons. Due to economic sanctions imposed by Western countries, Russian industry is unable to obtain the required number of imported components to equip high-precision missiles.
Background:
Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar said on 9 May that Russia still has enough reserves of components to equip missiles and capacity for their large-scale production.
In late April, Maliar said that Russia had launched more than 1,300 missiles in Ukraine.
A Russian mother said military officers ‘lied to my face’ and she forced Putin’s government to return her 2 conscripted sons who were not supposed to be in Ukraine
Azmi Haroun – May 26, 2022
on April 13, 2022, a Russian soldier stands guard at the Luhansk power plant in the town of Shchastya.Alexander Nemenov/Getty Images
A Russian mother successfully made Russian authorities return her sons from Ukraine.
Her two sons were conscripts but never meant to serve in the Ukraine war, the mother told the BBC.
She won a case with the military prosecutor and said “lied to my face.”
A Russian mother who was initially excited about her two sons’ conscription to the Russian military last year forced Putin’s government to return her sons home after she found out they were wrongfully sent to fight in Ukraine, according to the BBC.
Marina, a pseudonym used by the BBC due to fear of retribution, told the outlet that in 2021, she told her two sons that “it was their duty to the motherland,” and they were conscripted for a year in the country’s military.
But months into 2022, Marina worried for her boys as Russian troops were building at the Ukrainian border. When Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military invasion into the neighboring country on February 24, Marina stopped hearing from her sons.
“Time stopped for me. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep,” she told the BBC. “I exchanged messages with the mothers of other conscripts from the same unit. It turned out that many of them had lost contact with their children, too.”
Marina told the BBC that after weeks and an attempt to drive into Ukraine herself, she heard from colleagues in her son’s unit who said that her sons had signed military contracts to fight in Ukraine.
“I wrote to the prosecutor-general’s office asking to investigate,” Marina told the BBC. “I told them there was no way my sons could have signed military contracts. I was certain. Other mothers wrote, too. They all knew their children.”
By March 9, the military prosecutor’s office investigated Marina’s claim and returned her sons to Russia shortly after, given they had never signed military contracts to fight in Ukraine.
“The lads that came back from there were so thin, dirty and exhausted,” Marina told the BBC. “Their clothes were torn. My son said: ‘It’s better that you don’t know what happened there.’ But all that mattered to me was that he had come back alive.”
She added that throughout the war, military officers “lied to my face.”
“First, they lied that my sons weren’t in Ukraine. Then they lied that they’d signed military contracts. Officers lied, sergeants lied,” she told the BBC. “Later someone told me that they weren’t allowed to tell me the truth. Incredible. They were allowed to break the law and send my sons [to Ukraine], but they weren’t allowed to tell a mother where her children are.”
She added that other families are still living with the nightmare of not knowing where their children are, and whether they are serving in the war.
“So many sons haven’t come back and never will. So many mothers are still searching for their children,” Marina said. “My children were different people when they came back. You can see it in their eyes. They’re different. They’re disillusioned. I want them to believe again in a bright future, in peace and love. They’ve stopped believing.”
Tariffs on solar panels threaten Biden’s climate change goals
Ben Adler, Senior Editor – May 26, 2022
An ongoing Department of Commerce investigation into whether China is circumventing tariffs on its solar energy products is slowing the expansion of solar power capacity in the U.S., according to industry and outside experts.
“In the blink of an eye, we’re going to lose 100,000 American solar workers and any hope of reaching the president’s clean energy goals,” Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energies Industry Association (SEIA), said in a statement late last month.
On March 25, James Maeder, the deputy assistant secretary of commerce for anti-dumping and countervailing duty operations, announced an investigation into whether crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand or Vietnam that use components from China violate tariffs on Chinese solar imports. Pending the outcome of that investigation, tariffs could be applied — even retroactively, for recent purchases — to solar panels from those four Southeast Asian countries.
Solar panel installers anxious not to run up what could potentially be a huge tax bill are therefore avoiding buying panels from those major suppliers and are often unable to fulfill orders.
A worker assembles a solar battery at Irex Energy JSC’s manufacturing facility in Vung Tau, Vietnam, in 2019. (Yen Duong/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
As a result, on April 27, after surveying its members on the effect the investigation is having, the SEIA cut by 46% its forecast for new solar installations in 2022 and 2023. A May 10 analysis by Rystad Energy, an independent energy research consulting company, found a potentially even more dramatic contraction in the solar industry, concluding that 64% of the 27 gigawatts of new solar capacity that was to be installed in this year is in jeopardy.
With new tariffs potentially being imposed in August, clean energy advocates and experts say the problems may only grow worse in the months ahead. “Imports have fallen off, projects are being canceled, and projections of growth are being revised radically downward,” David Roberts, host of the podcast “Volts,” said Wednesday. “The tariffs could be anywhere from 30%-250%, which would radically change the economics of big solar projects, and, if applied, will be retrospective over the last two years, which means even existing contracts are in jeopardy. The uncertainty has cast a pall over the entire sector.”
President Biden is publicly committed to expanding solar capacity as quickly as possible to combat climate change. The White House has issued press releases and fact sheets touting its administrative moves to encourage the installation of wind turbines and solar panels on federal lands and waters, and the president has proposed tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for rooftop solar panels in his budget reconciliation package.
In June 2019, while running for president, Joe Biden walks past solar panels at the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative in Plymouth, N.H. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
The administration is caught between its climate goals and its desire to protect American manufacturers from unfair trade practices. If China can produce cheaper solar panels, with or without a government subsidy, it benefits American consumers and helps speed up the replacement of fossil fuels that cause greenhouse gas emissions. But allowing a rival to dominate the supply chain of growing U.S. energy sources could be risky, as Europe has seen with its reliance on Russian oil and gas. Every president wants to create domestic manufacturing jobs, which tend to pay relatively well, especially for those without a college degree.
In 2012, the Obama administration imposed tariffs on Chinese solar panel components — increasing the cost by 24% to 36% — when it found that, in violation of trade agreements, Chinese manufacturers were unfairly undercutting American competitors by using loans from the Chinese government to produce more panels at lower prices. (Tariffs have since increased to as much as 250%.)
The measure was supposed to bolster American solar manufacturing, but it didn’t work out that way.
In March 2012, President Barack Obama tours Sempra’s Copper Mountain Solar 1 facility in Boulder City, Nev. (Julie Jacobson/AP)
“What happened was not that American domestic manufacturing flourished. What happened was: The same Chinese manufacturers decided to locate some of their supply chain in other countries,” Marcelo Ortega, an analyst at Rystad Energy who produced its recent report, told Yahoo News. Those countries include the four in Southeast Asia at issue in this case. As U.S. imports of solar panels from China fell, imports from these other countries rose just as fast.
In February, Auxin Solar, a U.S. manufacturer of solar modules, filed a complaint with the Commerce Department, which is responsible for enforcing the tariffs, claiming that the solar manufacturers in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are making an end run around the tariffs on Chinese photovoltaic cells. Imports from those countries accounted for 85% of all imported U.S. solar power capacity installed in 2021 and 99% of solar imports in the first two months of this year, according to Rystad’s analysis.
Companies that provide solar panels to U.S. customers say their business has been thrown for a loop.
“It makes deploying solar simply just more difficult and more expensive,” Gabe Phillips, CEO of Catalyst Power, a retail energy provider and solar developer, told Yahoo News. “On the distributed solar side, the pricing’s all over the place. They can’t commit to pricing. They’ll give me a price, with the caveat that it’s contingent on the outcome of this case. It’s stymieing the sales process.”
Employees in Nantong City, in China’s Jiangsu province, work on the solar panel production line at a workshop of Jiangsu Fox Group on April 18. (Zhai Huiyong/VCG via Getty Images)
Apart from the uncertainty in pricing, the process of providing a customer with solar energy has become slower and less reliable.
“Suppliers don’t want to take the risk of being slapped with a potential 100% import tariff,” Ortega said. When the SEIA surveyed its members, 83% reported that purchases had recently been canceled or delayed.
“At the moment, the products we’re seeking to market have been pushed back at least a quarter,” Phillips said. “There’s less expectation of panel availability, and therefore dates for projects are being pushed back.”
The White House declined to comment on the record, noting that it does not get involved in legal proceedings such as the current Commerce Department investigation, but it reiterated the president’s commitment to deploying solar power.
“While we cannot comment on an ongoing, independent judicial investigation, the process cannot factor in policy or our solar strategy,” a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity wrote in an email. “President Biden remains committed to standing up clean solar energy across the country to lower energy bills for families, create good-paying union jobs, and … grow our clean energy economy. As the president has made clear from the earliest days of the campaign, solar power is at the heart of his agenda for cutting energy costs for American families, creat[ing] good jobs, and fight[ing] the climate crisis that is already causing unprecedented harm to our economy and national security.”
Electricians install solar panels at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, N.Y., in November 2021. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
The solar industry’s answer is to build up American solar manufacturing without resorting to jacking up the price on imports.
“I understand the detriment to American manufacturing that dumping causes,” Phillips said. “However, I’m not sure that I have a problem with the Chinese government subsidizing American renewable energy development. There are other ways that we could support our own domestic manufacturing of solar panels, other than sticking a tariff on someone else’s solar panels. We could do what China does and subsidize [it]. There must be tools that are available.”
Uvalde newspaper publishes powerful front page 2 days after school massacre
Dylan Stableford, Senior Writer – May 26, 2022
The Uvalde Leader-News, a locally owned newspaper in Uvalde, Texas, published a powerful front page on Thursday, two days after 19 children and two teachers were killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
The cover of the twice-weekly paper was completely black, except for the date of the massacre — May 24, 2022 — a stark reminder of the darkness that has enveloped the community of about 16,000 people in southwest Texas.
The front page of Thursday’s Uvalde Leader-News. (Uvalde Leader-News)
Inside, the first 10 pages of the 12-page paper contain news from what would have been an ordinary week in a small town: graduations, taxes, local elections, weather, sports. Three collegiate rodeo athletes have qualified for the National Rodeo Finals, the paper reported.
There is almost no indication of the carnage that unfolded on Tuesday, except for the announcement of a blood drive at the civic center on Saturday (there is an urgent need for donors, particularly those with type O blood, the paper said) and an advertisement for the Robb School Memorial Fund established by the First State Bank of Uvalde. An ad for the Uvalde Honey Festival, which had been scheduled for June 10 and 11, shows that it has been canceled without explanation.
The final two pages, however, are dedicated to the tragedy.
Crosses with the names of victims of the mass shooting at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Thursday. (Marco Bello/Reuters)
Under the headline “City’s Soul Crushed,” the back page of the paper includes photos of children being taken out of the school through windows, and a teacher running to safety after the last of her students were evacuated.
Another shows the suspect’s abandoned pickup truck crashed in a ditch, and a rifle, believed to be the shooter’s, sitting atop a duffel bag on the ground next to the passenger door.
There is also a story about the school district’s graduation ceremonies, which had been scheduled for Friday, being postponed.
“My heart is broken,” Hal Harrell, the district’s superintendent, is quoted as saying. “We are a small community and we are going to need your prayers to get through this.”
These 3 High-Tech NATO Weapons Could Force Russia to Flee Ukraine
Kyle Mizokami – May 25, 2022
Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Bryce Hadley
Ukraine has a new list of weapons it hopes to get from the United States and its NATO allies.
Ukraine wants long-range weapons that can target Russian forces far behind enemy lines if necessary and break the naval standoff that is isolating the country at sea.
The wish list is emerging just as Russian forces are gaining new ground in the eastern part of the country.
With its defenses already bolstered by shipments of weapons from NATO, Ukraine now has a new wishlist of weapons it hopes will prove decisive in the ongoing war with Russia. Kyiv has asked for long-range rocket artillery, attack drones, and anti-ship missiles to beat back the Russian invasion, and already at least one NATO ally, Denmark, has pledged to step up. The weapons are more necessary than ever as a fresh Russian offensive makes gains in the Ukrainian state of Luhansk.
The U.S.-made HIMARS is at the top of the list. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is an armored five-ton truck equipped to launch 227-millimeter (8.93-inch diameter) rockets. Each HIMARS carries six GPS-enabled Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets. And, according to the U.S. Army, each conducts “high-volume destructive, suppressive, and counter-battery fires,” or artillery missions at ranges of up to 43 miles. HIMARS can “out-stick” most Russian artillery, firing on it from beyond the range of Russian guns and rocket launchers.
Ukraine already has a variety of rocket artillery systems, including the BM-30 Smerch 300-millimeter rocket system. Most rocket artillery systems are unguided, and rocket artillery is less accurate than tube (howitzer) artillery. Rocket artillery is therefore typically relegated to the suppression mission, with each rocket carrying smaller high-explosive or anti-tank cluster munitions. As the rocket flies over the target, the cluster munitions disperse, covering a wide area.
Here’s a video of U.S. forces using HIMARS in live-fire exercises:
HIMARS is different from other rocket systems. In recent years, outrage over the threat that unexploded submunitions pose to civilians led to a global treaty outlawing the weapons. Although the United States is not a party to the treaty, it no longer develops them and has shelved existing submunition ammo stocks. This has forced HIMARS to take a different path: instead of showering a wide area with thousands of tennis ball-sized bomblets, HIMARS makes each rocket count. Each GMLRS rocket is capable of first-round hits on a set of GPS coordinates, using a unitary, single large warhead designed to make up for the loss of hundreds of smaller submunition warheads.
It was unthinkable three months ago that Ukraine might receive HIMARS, but times are changing. So far, the Biden administration has not approved the request, but is reportedly considering it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested he wouldn’t say no to a transfer, indicating there could be bipartisan support.
MQ-1 Gray Eagle Attack Drone
Photo credit: U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Sean Brady
Ukraine also wants reusable attack drones. It already operates a small fleet of TB-2 Bayraktar attack drones, each capable of carrying smart micro munition (MAM-L) guided bombs. Although Bayraktars have proven effective in striking Russian supply convoys and armored vehicles, particularly behind enemy lines, it’s less capable than NATO-operated drones. Ukraine is also likely running low on Bayraktars, as combat losses mount.
Although the U.S. government has provided Switchblade 300 and 600 kamikaze drones, these are one-way weapons that are not designed to fly more than one mission. An obvious solution to Ukraine’s problem is the U.S. Army’s MQ-1C Gray Eagle. Gray Eagle is larger, faster, flies higher, and carries a bigger and better weapons payload than Bayraktar. Gray Eagle has much longer legs than Bayraktar, capable of flying up to 2,500 nautical miles versus 186 miles due to the use of satellite navigation.
Here’s a video of a Gray Eagle taking off from an unspecified country “in the Middle East region.” Note the two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles:
Gray Eagle, which acts as an uncrewed scouting platform for AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, would be a considerable upgrade from Bayraktar. Gray Eagle can carry up to four Hellfire anti-tank missiles, each with a range of up to 6.8 miles. By contrast, Bayraktar must fly much closer to the target to release its MAM-L bombs. This boost in range will allow Ukrainian drone operators to conduct standoff attacks, staying out of the range of all but dedicated air systems, and in general lasting longer over the battlefield.
Ukraine first asked for Gray Eagle drones in late April, and has held discussions with its manufacturer, General Atomics. The U.S. government may be hesitant to sign off on a transfer due to Russia’s past complaints that armed drones like the Predator, Reaper, and Gray Eagle are technically equivalent to cruise missiles, and this could open up Washington to allegations that it’s providing cruise missiles to Kyiv. Armed drone transfers are also strictly regulated under the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international agreement meant to prevent the proliferation of long-range missile technology, as Politico points out. The Trump administration loosened those rules, but the Biden administration may be hesitant to follow suit.
Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile
Photo credit: HUM Images – Getty Images
One of the most spectacular of Russia’s many failures in the war was the loss of the Moskva, a guided-missile cruiser and flagship of the Black Sea Fleet. Two Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles, fired from a truck based on shore, sunk the 600-foot-long warship. While that was the humiliating end of Moskva, it wasn’t the end of the Russian Navy, which continues to patrol Ukraine’s coastline and threaten amphibious landings behind the front line.
Neptune is a brand-new missile system that became operational pretty recently in late 2021. Ukraine has requested more anti-ship missiles from NATO that would allow it to take the offensive, sinking Russian warships blocking its ports—including critical grain shipments to countries worldwide—or pushing them far enough out to sea that they become irrelevant.
The most likely candidate for Ukraine is the American-made Harpoon. Harpoon, originally deployed in the 1980s, is an anti-ship cruise missile. Harpoon is launched from a ship via rocket booster, which accelerates the missile skyward until the built-in turbine engine can take over. The missile is designed to fly low over the waves at subsonic speeds to avoid radar detection, has a 500-pound warhead, and a range in excess of 67 nautical miles.
Here’s a video of the retired amphibious cargo ship USS Durham, struck by three Harpoon missiles during the 2020 Rim of the Pacific Exercise, the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise:
Harpoon uses a radar built into its nose to find its target. An operator can program a missile to fly to a specified area and only then turn on its radar, a useful capability for flying past friendly ships and islands, and preventing the enemy from detecting the missiles’s radar emissions until the last minute. A newer version, Harpoon Block II, includes GPS guidance, resistance to enemy jamming, and a re-attack capability that allows the missile to turn around and try again if it misses an enemy ship.
Late last week, Reuters reported that the U.S. had backed the request and was trying to find NATO countries that could fill it. Ukraine has virtually no navy and its air force is fixated on the land war, so the best solution is another ground-launched missile system. The United States has anti-ship missiles in its arsenal, including the Harpoon and new Naval Strike Missile anti-ship missiles, but does not operate a truck-mounted version.
On Monday, Denmark stepped up to provide one truck-mounted Harpoon system and missile reloads. Denmark received Block II Harpoon upgrade kits in 1999, so Ukraine will almost certainly get the newer, more capable version. Denmark, a peninsular nation in the Baltic Sea, needs the weapon to defend its hundreds of miles of coastline, but with Finland and Sweden joining NATO and strengthening the organization, defense of the Baltic just got a little easier.
There is also the possibility that Ukraine could receive the Norwegian-designed Naval Strike Missile. Poland, a staunch ally of Ukraine, operates a land-based, truck-mounted version.
Photo credit: Anadolu Agency – Getty Images
Russia’s retreat from northern Ukraine has allowed it to focus on the eastern part of the country, releasing its fury on the Donbas region. The challenge to the United States and NATO is to provide new weapons, and the training to use them, in time for the Ukrainians to operate them effectively. Weapons like HIMARS, Gray Eagle, and Harpoon will give Kyiv a technological edge and hopefully convince Russia it has bitten off more than it can chew, and a full withdrawal is in Moscow’s best interests. If not, Ukraine has proven more than capable of escorting Russia to the border.
Switzerland hasn’t had a mass shooting since 2001, when a man stormed the local parliament in Zug, killing 14 people and then himself.
The country has about 2 million privately owned guns in a nation of 8.3 million people. In 2016, the country had 47 attempted homicides with firearms. The country’s overall murder rate is near zero.
The National Rifle Association often points to Switzerland to argue that more rules on gun ownership aren’t necessary. In 2016, the NRA said on its blog that the European country had one of the lowest murder rates in the world while still having millions of privately owned guns and a few hunting weapons that don’t even require a permit.
Video: Inside a factory that makes untraceable ‘ghost guns’
Untraceable ‘ghost guns’ are easier than ever to 3D-print — we went inside a company that helps people do it
“Ghost guns” don’t require background checks or serial numbers, meaning they can’t be traced. Some companies are taking advantage of the legal loophole that has allowed this industry to go unregulated.
But the Swiss have some specific rules and regulations for gun use.
Switzerland hasn’t taken part in any international armed conflict since 1815, but some Swiss soldiers help with peacekeeping missions around the world.
Many Swiss see gun ownership as part of a patriotic duty to protect their homeland.
Most Swiss men are required to learn how to use a gun.
Swiss President Ueli Maurer pauses during a shooting-skills exercise — a several-hundred-year-old tradition — with the Foreign Diplomatic Corps in Switzerland on May 31, 2013.REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
In recent years, the Swiss government has voted to reduce the size of the country’s armed forces.
Switzerland is a bit like a well-designed fort.
Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters
Switzerland’s borders are basically designed to blow up on command, with at least 3,000 demolition points on bridges, roads, rails, and tunnels around the landlocked European country.
John McPhee put it this way in his book “La Place de la Concorde Suisse”:
“Near the German border of Switzerland, every railroad and highway tunnel has been prepared to pinch shut explosively. Nearby mountains have been made so porous that whole divisions can fit inside them.”
Roughly a quarter of the gun-toting Swiss use their weapons for military or police duty.
AP/Keyston, Lukas Lehmann
In 2000, more than 25% of Swiss gun owners said they kept their weapon for military or police duty, while less than 5% of Americans said the same.
In addition to the militia’s arms, the country has about 2 million privately owned guns — a figure that has been plummeting over the past decade.
Members of an honor guard of the Swiss army.REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
The Swiss government has estimated that about half of the privately owned guns in the country are former service rifles. But there are signs the Swiss gun-to-human ratio is dwindling.
In 2007, the Small Arms Survey found that Switzerland had the third-highest ratio of civilian firearms per 100 residents (46), outdone by only the US (89) and Yemen (55).
But it seems that figure has dropped over the past decade. It’s now estimated that there’s about one civilian gun for every three Swiss people.
Gun sellers follow strict licensing procedures.
Daniel Wyss, the president of the Swiss weapons-dealers association, in a gun shop.REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
Swiss authorities decide on a local level whether to give people gun permits. They also keep a log of everyone who owns a gun in their region, known as a canton, though hunting rifles and some semiautomatic long arms are exempt from the permit requirement.
But cantonal police don’t take their duty dolling out gun licenses lightly. They might consult a psychiatrist or talk with authorities in other cantons where a prospective gun buyer has lived before to vet the person.
Swiss laws are designed to prevent anyone who’s violent or incompetent from owning a gun.
Nina Christen of Switzerland at the Olympic Games in Rio in August 2016.Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
People who’ve been convicted of a crime or have an alcohol or drug addiction aren’t allowed to buy guns in Switzerland.
The law also states that anyone who “expresses a violent or dangerous attitude” won’t be permitted to own a gun.
Gun owners who want to carry their weapon for “defensive purposes” also have to prove they can properly load, unload, and shoot their weapon and must pass a test to get a license.
Switzerland is also one of the richest, healthiest, and, by some measures, happiest countries in the world.
The Swiss have been consistently near the top of this list. In 2017, when Switzerland was ranked fourth overall among nations, the report authors noted that the country tends to do well on “all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance.”
Meanwhile, according to the report, happiness has taken a dive over the past decade in the US.
The report authors cite “declining social support and increased corruption,” as well as addiction and depression for the fall.
But the Swiss aren’t perfect when it comes to guns.
Around the world, stronger gun laws have been linked to fewer gun deaths. That has been the case in Switzerland too.
A police officer at Geneva’s airport.REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
After hundreds of years of letting local cantons determine gun rules, Switzerland passed its first federal regulations on guns in 1999, after the country’s crime rate increased during the 1990s.
As of 2015, the Swiss estimated that only about 11% of citizens kept their military-issued gun at home.
Most people aren’t allowed to carry their guns around in Switzerland.
Hunters at a market in central Switzerland offer their fox furs.REUTERS
Concealed-carry permits are tough to get in Switzerland, and most people who aren’t security workers or police officers don’t have one.
“We have guns at home, but they are kept for peaceful purposes,” Martin Killias, a professor of criminology at Zurich University, told the BBC in 2013. “There is no point taking the gun out of your home in Switzerland because it is illegal to carry a gun in the street.”
That’s mostly true. Hunters and sports shooters are allowed to transport their guns only from their home to the firing range — they can’t just stop off for coffee with their rifle.
And guns cannot be loaded during transport to prevent them from accidentally firing in a place like Starbucks — something that has happened in the US at least twice.
