Crimea: Ukraine targets and strikes the Kerch Bridge again.

(Kerch Strait) one of the reasons Putin launched his invasion of the Ukraine was to capture a land bridge to the Crimea which he failed to do when he annexed the Crimea in 2014. This resulted initially in everything been flown and shipped in (at great expense) which was alleviated somewhat when at great expense Russia constructed the 19km Kerch Bridge 

Consisting of a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in Russia and the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea construction began in 2016, with the road bridge completed in 2018 followed a year later by the rail bridge.

The Bridge is the major supply route into Crimea for everything, which is why the Ukraine targeted in last Oct knocking the road bridge out till feb 2023 and the rail bridge to May. Well last night the Ukraine targeted the bridge yet again knocking out one of the road bridges.

Initially the Russians refused to admit that the bridge had been hit, simply claiming that an emergency had closed the bridge. But now they have claiming that the Ukrainians did indeed target and strike the bridge. According to state-backed Russian media, Vladimir Konstantinov said Ukraine had committed a "new crime" by targeting what he called a "civilian" facility.  It never fails to amaze me how bully’s always play the victim card when their victims fight back.

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Interlude: Kid Creole & The Coconuts : "I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby"

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Iran: Seizes oil tanker Advantage Sweet. claiming it carried out a hit and run.

(Gulf of Oman) The Iranian navy has released a video of its commandos landing on and capturing a Chinese-registered oil tanker in the gulf of Oman. The excuse Tehran has given for doing so is they claim the 159058 tonne Advantage Sweet carried out a hit and run on an Iranian Ship injuring seven crew members

The only problem there is, huge oil tankers are usually afforded the right of way at sea simply because they are that big, it takes time and distance for them to change direction, never mind stop. So there is an international hierarchy regards the rules of the road at sea and by the looks of things the Advantage Sweet should have been at the top of the pecking order.

But as this is Iran, they haven’t provided any evidence of a damaged ship, so basically it appears that the mad mullahs in Iran are playing silly buggers yet again.

Interlude: A Flock Of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song

South Africa: Backtracks on quitting ICC, blames communications error

(Bloemfontein) South Africa is not planning to quit the International Criminal Court (ICC) as suggested earlier by President Cyril Ramaphosa, his office says, citing a communication error from his ruling ANC party. Hours earlier, Ramaphosa had said the African National Congress had decided to withdraw South Africa from the court, which last month issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The presidency wishes to clarify that South Africa remains a signatory”

to the ICC, Ramaphosa’s office said on Tuesday in a late-night statement. It said the “clarification follows an error in a comment made during a media briefing held by the governing African National Congress”. The ICC warrant means South Africa – due to host this year’s BRICS summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – would have to detain Putin on arrival.

South Africa: To leave ICC so as avoid having to arrest Putin.

(Bloemfontein) South Africa is part of the 5 nations economic group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) who refer themselves by the acronym BRICS formed by the first letter of each country. In June, South Africa is hosting a BRICS summit and as such it leaves South Africa in a dilemma. You see South Africa  signed up to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998 ratified in 2002, became law in 2002 and so if the leader of Russia happens to attend the June summit, it would legally have to enforce the arrest warrant issued for Putin by the ICC over his invasion of the Ukraine. In response South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa shas stated that he is going to have South Africa leave the ICC. Well I suppose that’s one way to be able to invite Putin for tea.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa attend a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa July 26, 2018. 

Russia: Deploys its latest T14 tank to the Ukraine

(Moscow) The Russian media has revealed that it has deployed its latest Main Battle tank to the Ukraine, albeit in an indirect fore role and not in a tank offensive capability.  The news report states that the tank crews have undergone extensive training before hand and that the tanks have received additional protection.

Initially seen as a game changer when revealed to the world in 2015, that POV has slowly dissipated after Moscow suffered numerous set backs resulting in the 2500 tanks Moscow was supposed to have received by 2020, getting pushed back with no set date for  said delivery, as of 2023 , Russia is said to have received 40.

The problem that Moscow faces, is if the Ukrainians manage to knock out the T14 tank and display its wreckage to the world, then that will be a huge blow to the Russian arms industry which this past year has already suffered a huge setback due to the poor showing of Russian weapons inside the Ukraine.

Sudan: Why is it up in flames?

The current bunfight inside the Sudan is between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) a paramilitary force set up by Bashir in 2013 out of the Janjaweed militias who ran riot inside Darfur Since its birth, it has seen combat in Libya and Yemen. Interestingly the RSF has the support of the UAE and Wagner and on the other side of the table we have the Sudanese military.

Sudan has been in political turmoil after the ousting of  Omar al-Bashir (who ruled Sudan from 1993 to 2019) in 2019 which saw him removed by a coup that year, followed by an attempt by his supporters in Sept 2021 and a successful one a month later in Oct which included the RSF

The military seeing that the RSF was a loose cannon set in motion a plan for it to be fully absorbed into the Sudanese military in Feb this year. Whilst the RSF publicly agreed to this, they started recruiting heavily paid for by goals mines they had captured in Darfur and started massing forces at strategic points around the country, on the 15th of April the RSF carried out a pre-emptive strike at Sudanese military bases across the country and here we are today.
Both sides of the bunfight are heavily armed, which includes aircraft and anti-aircraft weaponry, with reports that civilian aircraft have been fired upon (Saudi airliner on the 15th, a Indian one which saw 3 people killed)

The situation inside the Sudan has been on a downward spiral since Bashir was removed from power in 2019. Which explains the battle for hegemony which whoever wins, won't be the last

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