Bkk Brian

April 30 Assessment Highlight: #Russian forces appear increasingly unlikely to achieve any major advances in eastern #Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces may be able to conduct wider counterattacks in the coming days. https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-30

Yea and good riddance to them, who wants to be stuck with Russians in a space station after this has happened Russia Will Quit International Space Station Over Sanctions The head of Russia’s space program said Moscow will pull out of the International Space Station, state media reported, a move it has blamed on sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. “The decision has been taken already, we’re not obliged to talk about it publicly,” Tass and RIA Novosti reported Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin as saying in an interview with state TV on Saturday. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-30/russia-will-quit-international-space-station-over-sanctions

PCR test positive cases, total of 11,535 official new infections. 91 official covid deaths recorded. Rapid tests positive cases, 9,924 bringing the total of PCR and ATK results to 21,459 https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/ OWD rolling 7 day average, cases and deaths up to 29th April https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/thailand

Ukrainian authorities are now refusing to exchange prisoners with Russia without women on the list. Currently, more than a thousand hostages are in Russia, including almost 500 women – Iryna Vereshchuk 1/2 Vereshchuk adds that during last exchange, 9 civilians returned to Ukraine with serious injuries, including amputated limbs and signs of torture. In addition, Russia tries to exchange Ukrainian civilians for Russian prisoners of war which is prohibited by Geneva Convention 2/2

Indeed it feels wrong, at the very least sanctions need to stay in place until every single Russian murderer has left the soil of Ukraine, compensation is paid for Ukraine's rebuilding and compensation paid to those civilians and children who have lost loved ones, been raped and tortured. Zelenskyy: Some will wait for an international tribunal, others will wait “for the night” to take revenge on occupiers According to Zelenskyy: "I know that there are people in our society who will seek out every [Russian soldier who has committed mass murders of Ukrainian civilians - ed.]. Nothing can be done about it. This is not a threat. I’m telling you frankly, as a father, as a husband. I know that there are many people who feel like that in Ukraine.

How anyone cannot get emotional on whats going in Ukraine baffles me. I just watched the John Kirby press conference at the Pentagon. Probably one of the most heartfelt emotional words by a hardened ex military Pentagon spokesman. "Depravity" "I don't think we appreciated he would visit that kind of violence and cruelty and as I said depravity on innocent people with utter disregard for the lives taken. There's not even an attempt by Russia to be precise in their targeting"

Excess deaths average is calculated over a 5 year average. Thailand only updates this once a month but thats enough to gauge the true number of deaths over a short time frame. The UK updates weekly.

If this happens and what it will mean in terms of escalation is the question. In one sense it would give him legitimate grounds to call in hundreds of thousands of conscripts but without effective military hardware then that's not much help to him? There's already reports of the tanks in storage being unusable and they are already running out of precision missiles. So my guess is more indiscriminate bombing in residential areas all over Ukraine. UK's Wallace says Putin preparing to formally declare Ukraine war in May President Vladimir Putin is preparing to use Victory Day celebrations on May 9 to tell the Russian people he is conducting a war — not a special military operation — in Ukraine, Britain’s defence minister has said. Ben Wallace said the Russian leader will have no choice but to come clean about the reality on the ground if he needs more conscripts to be pushed to join the fight under a formal declaration of hostilities between the two nations. Russia running short of precision missiles and lacks ability to manufacture enough to meet demand, hampering its efforts to gain territory in eastern Ukraine Russian commander ‘killed himself after learning 90% of his tanks were useless’ The update said: ‘Currently, the enemy RVB is trying to put into operation a significant amount of equipment coming from long-term storage facilities. ‘The condition of this equipment is mostly extremely unsatisfactory, which makes its full use impossible. ‘At present, plans to transfer equipment taken from storage to the front have actually been thwarted.’

PCR test positive cases, total of 12,888 official new infections. 126 official covid deaths recorded. Rapid tests positive cases, 12,399 bringing the total of PCR and ATK results to 25,287 https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/ OWD rolling 7 day average, cases and deaths up to 29th April https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/thailand

Foreign Secretary @TrussLiz will send a team of war crimes experts to support Ukraine with investigations into Russian atrocities. She is also in the Hague for talks at the @IntlCrimCourt We will hold Putin’s regime to account for its actions.

Thats interesting as Zelensky is also invited: Russia-Ukraine War: Zelensky, Putin Invited to G20

Head of RT news and Russian lawmakers on state TV don't seem to care about death as a result of a nuclear war, in fact they seem to be priming everyone up to accept it as they, the Russians will go immediately to heaven....., I kid you not.....lol Putin’s puppets have now surrendered to the idea of nuclear apocalypse, because at least they’ll “go to heaven.” Russian state TV is raging about WWIII and an inevitable escalation over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Citizens are being primed to believe that even the worst outcome is a good thing, because those dying for the Motherland will skyrocket to paradise. Disturbing that they are normalizing conversations about having a nuclear war.

I don't know how SARS-CoV-2 will evolve, that's the problem, nobody does, to say its all over and there will not be more contagious variants however is just plain wrong, even scientists can't state that all we can do is hope. “Omicron is certainly not the last variant. At this point, it would be hard to tell what the next variants will be like.”

As in the article you quoted however and as I pointed out, it directly contradicts your conclusions.

Your concluding good news summary bares no resemblance to the article you linked to in its conclusions which are: "Future variants, if and when they appear, may have yet other modifications to their structures and abilities. “I’m not confident that we can rest on our laurels and say this is all over,” Barclay says. With infections continuing to spread and evolve among many populations around the world, the virus is going to come up with more ways to transmit—including ones that scientists haven’t even thought of yet."

What I regard as a symbolic act of terror by Putin that was purposefully intended to show Secretary-General -Antonio Guterres what he really thinks of the talks they had the day before in Moscow, absolutely disgusting. After Guterres trip to Moscow for a meeting with Putin at the 20 meter long table for attempts at peace talks and a humanitarian corridor for those trapped in Mariupol, he then travels to Ukraine. Guterras: "I imagine my family in one of those homes, now destroyed and black. I see my granddaughters running away in panic. There is no way the war can be acceptable in the 21st century," @antonioguterres said on his visit to the earlier hard-hit #Borodianka near #Ukraine's capital. Putins response, greetings from Russia with missile strikes near the hotel that Guterres is staying at. "UN Secretary General tells me he’s shocked by Russia carrying out a missile attack on Kyiv while he’s on the city for talks with President Zelensky. Ukraine calls it a ‘heinous act of barbarism’ - and a ‘postcard from Moscow’ Meanwhile Russia ups the anti again threatening Nuclear strikes

UK to send 8,000 soldiers to eastern Europe on expanded exercises About 8,000 British army troops will take part in exercises across eastern Europe to combat Russian aggression in one of the largest deployments since the cold war. Dozens of tanks will be deployed to countries ranging from Finland to North Macedonia this summer under plans that have been enhanced since Russia invaded Ukraine. Joining them will be tens of thousands of troops from Nato and the Joint Expeditionary Force alliance, which includes Finland and Sweden https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/28/uk-to-send-8000-soldiers-to-eastern-europe-on-expanded-exercises

PCR test positive cases, total of 14,053 official new infections. 129 official covid deaths recorded. Rapid tests positive cases, 12,233 bringing the total of PCR and ATK results to 26,286 https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/ OWD rolling 7 day average, cases and deaths up to 27th April https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/thailand

I normally ignore your inane comments following my posts as they add so little to this thread but I'll make an exception on this case. A sovereign nation's law makers making a decision on a legal matter regarding definitions of crimes does not mean it is about to declare war independently. Canada happens to be now the third country to declare genocide being committed by the Russians and that is a decision they took based on the evidence they had to hand. Ratcheting up the war rhetoric is much the same as the Kremlin line, its like you want it to happen. Thats me signed out of further replies to you until you start offering something of value to this important thread.

Ukraine is a slaughterhouse': Amal Clooney describes war crimes in speech to UN – video Human rights lawyer addresses economic and social council at the UN on the situation in Ukraine. Clooney is a part of a legal taskforce advising Ukraine on 'securing accountability' for war crimes that could be pursued at a national level as well as at institutions such as the international criminal court https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2022/apr/28/ukraine-is-a-slaughterhouse-amal-clooney-describes-war-crimes-in-speech-to-un-video? “We have credible information that a Russian military unit operating in the vicinity of Donetsk executed Ukrainians who were attempting to surrender, rather than detaining them,” Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack said at the UN today.

Moscow Has Deported 500,000 People to Russia, Ukraine Lawmaker Says BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Moscow has deported 500,000 people from Ukraine to Russia, a leading member of the parliament in Kyiv told European lawmakers on Wednesday, calling on the Red Cross to establish contact with those missing. "Half a million of Ukrainian citizens were deported from Ukraine to the Russian Federation without agreement from their side," said Mykyta Poturayev, the head of the Ukrainian parliament's humanitarian committee. War in Ukraine: Ukrainians deported to Russia beaten and mistreated The BBC has spoken to the families of more than a dozen people who have been taken hostage by Russian troops. Only a few have returned. The majority are still missing, like Yuliia Payevska. Her husband Vadym told us she was captured by Russian forces on 14 March when she was working as a paramedic in Mariupol, helping evacuate injured soldiers and civilians. Canada Lawmakers Vote Unanimously to Label Russia's Acts in Ukraine as 'Genocide' (Reuters) -Canadian lawmakers voted unanimously on Wednesday to call Russia's attacks in Ukraine a "genocide", with members of parliament saying there was "ample evidence of systemic and massive war crimes against humanity" being committed by Moscow. The Canadian House of Commons' motion said war crimes by Russia include mass atrocities, systematic instances of willful killing of Ukrainian civilians, the desecration of corpses, forcible transfer of Ukrainian children, torture, physical harm, mental harm, and rape.

Actually the Russian Ministry of Defense did publish official figures a week ago, but a few hours later deleted them, another one of their slip ups Russian Defense Min starts admitting really casualties numbers. Estimates around 20,400. (7000 MIA + 13400 Verified Dead) And the real fighting is about to begin.

Not sure how you find that so clear on how they record deaths that way in Thailand. If I was you I would leave it to the professionals that are well aware of the complexities in recording the causes of a death and if covid was the cause or a contributory cause then that will be mentioned on the death certificate. If not then it would be an incidental case. Unless of course you expect each death certificate to be published. The UK ONS reports are clear how they report covid deaths with covid as a cause on the death certificate or not as the case maybe. Thailand has also changed its system back in early March, "Thai government to change how Covid-19 deaths are recorded" and now ensures that covid deaths reported are only those where covid is a cause.

Some eerie goings on at Gazprombank, when something involves Russia trust nothing. Putin-linked Gazprombank vice president found dead alongside his family was ASSASSINATED and did not carry out 'murder-suicide', colleague claims Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Kremlin official who also served as vice-president at the bank, appeared to have taken his own life after shooting dead his wife Yelena, 47, and daughter Maria, 13, on the 14th floor of his luxury Moscow penthouse this month. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10758177/Gazprombank-chief-dead-family-murder-suicide-ASSASSINATED-colleague-claims.html Gazprombank executive signs up to fight for Ukraine, says fellow top executives were murdered Igor Volobuev, the vice-president of Gazprombank, has announced that he left Russia in March to fight with Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Force. He denounced the war with Ukraine, and also said that he thought a series of deaths of Russian top executives were linked. https://www.intellinews.com/gazprombank-executive-signs-up-to-fight-for-ukraine-says-fellow-top-executives-were-murdered-242688/

PCR test positive cases, total of 14,437 official new infections. 127 official covid deaths recorded. Rapid tests positive cases, 11,396 bringing the total of PCR and ATK results to 25,833 https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/ OWD rolling 7 day average, cases and deaths up to 26th April https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/thailand