#Coastal Brigade | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

davidshawnsown · 10 months

Text

USA BASEBALL/COLLEGE SUMMER BASEBALL - and - SAVANNAH BANANAS ONE SHOT RPF - Savannahskaya Kadrovsky??!! -

youtube

(AN: 2022 turned out to be FIRST ever year and now just the only year following one of the more fun teams in college summer ball - the iconic and funny Savannah Bananas of the Coastal Plain League, which in the past few years have spun off two pro teams in theor umbrella playing their own take on baseball, Banana Ball. Now they are committed to play that form year round and leaving the CPL, but the memories of those first years of CPL play will forever go down as part of its history. I therefore present to the fans this one shot RPF featuring these guys from Savannah and the fun ways they have played baseball in these past years up to today and the first Ukraine-set fic of many featuring these guys in yellow, including a full blown RPF fic of their POV of the events in that country. To link up the fics with the wider universe I've included Scott Hatteberg, a former teammate of Eric Byrnes with the A's - and a Team USA Baseball CNT alumnus. This is dedicated to Dalton Maudin and Tanner Thomas - the two members of the Bananas organization and its constituent teams that have been bringing out weekly vlogs on Youtube, you better check them both, as well as Dalton's music there as well and on Spotify!)

SOMEWHERE IN POLTAVA OBLAST

SUNDAY MAY 22, 2022

1400H EEST

"The regiment from Savannah has done it again?!!"

That is the reaction from no less than BG Mark deRosa, the operational commander of US forces in Ukraine under the 46th Command. That regiment, the 716th Savannah, established in the spring of 2015, and led by its now newly promoted commander COL Byrnes, who took over this year from its first commandant, COL Cole, now a honorary Brigadier General and its first ever regimental colonel now retired even at a young age, had been in Ukraine since April, among the first of the collegiate units to be sent to the country to assist the war effort, fight alongside Americans in the International Legion of Territorial Defense and with Ukrainians in the Armed Forces and the National Guard, and also to give the young guys a taste of what their service to the nation entalls.

"Yeah indeed," replied COL Garza. "Those boys whose regiment carries yellow and white colors. They did it again!"

He and others on an ongoing meeting of the command staff in northern Poltava Oblast were referring to those TikTok and Twitter videos, as well as those on Telegram, featuring the boys of this young formation.

It is the sole infantry regiment among the formations of the 351st Southeastern Coastal Infantry Brigade, activated 1997 and whose numeral honors the North Carolina based Coastal Militia Rifles, a militia formation raised in 1935 which in 1936 was granted affilation with what is now the 169th Corps of the 46th Mobilization Command, US Army Reserve, affilated to the Southern Defense Command during the Second World War as a territorial defense brigade which lasted until the early 1950s. Their nickname of Bananas is a nod to the agricultural past of their home city and their full dresss honors partly its Union liberators during the Civil War and its home front efforts in both World Wars.

They began as a ROTC company in late 2015. Almost a year later, the 716th Infantry Battalion was activated, and within 5 years, evolved from a Humvee-armed unit into wheeled mechanized infantry, armed with the Stryker systems, and as a three battalion regiment, with its 2nd and 3rd battalions including minority and immigrant personnel to reflect its home city's character. One battalion each is made up of reservists and the Georgia Army National Guard, making up for a total of 5 battalions.

But these boys' Tiktok combat videos, set to popular Western pop tunes, have got the people motivated to know what is going on in the Ukrainian frontlines. They have been for weeks now in a tense battle for popularity against the Chechen National Guardsmen from Chechnya in Russia, which have been in the Ukrainian front since the onset of the invasion, as well as several of the Ukrainian frontline brigades and militia units, which have similar pop content. These so-called "Yellowshirts" after the yellow and white colors during its foundation today wear the same uniform as those deployed to Ukraine but with a yellow and white armband with the regimental DUI on it as well as the arms of their home city.

The 46th's Ukrainian operational HQ and elements of the 78th Brigade Combat Team had been watching what the boys had been doing on and off the field, while recieving word that their actions in the Soledar front have helped the local Ukrainian forces get motivated to continue the struggle in the weeks prior. Now they have been rotated out with a new assignment north of Kramatorsk City as a reserve formation ready to fight in the Donbas region. They will be on R&R before returning to their then brand new barracks located in Kovel in Volyn Oblast for equipment resupplies as well as to await the arrival of the local maintenance battalion from their home city. The town was chosen as it is a sister city to Chamblee, just northwest of Atlanta, the state capital. Just as in the other American and Canadian formations they were given a Ukrainian advisory team - in that case with officers and NCOs from the 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Volodymyr City, Volyn Oblast.

Thus the brigadier general had during the meeting phoned the now retired BG Jessie Cole, the newly appointed regimental colonel, on what the boys have had been doing in the frontlines. They were there since early April assigned there in Kovel town, with the 2nd battalion of the 72nd Atlanta based there as well and the local battalion based in Savannah from said regiment, both since early May. They chose that city to keep their ties to Georgia state and its traditions while in country as the first of the collegiate summer service units and the only regiment of its kind so far to fight for the cause of Ukraine in the opening months of the war. He had just arrived in Kramatosk that day with his wife Emily to check on the boys before joining them on the journey back to Kovel.

"I have with me one of COL Byrnes' friends and one who served with him in Oakland. This is now LTC Scott Hatteberg. This year I called for the man to return to service after retiring as a battalion XO almost two decades ago in Oakland. He will be our liason officer on behalf of the brigade, Mr. Cole, with your regiment as its new commander was a friend of his," said the brigadier general on the mobile phone.

"Understood Mark, I now will bring in Eric," Jesse responded. As usual he wore his variant yellow working dress but without the top hat he wore replacing the kepi beginning with his early retirement. The kepi had been worn alternately with the bicorne by officers of the regiment when in full dress in ceremonial events to honor the military history of its home city.

"Thanks sir."

Then Eric got on the cellphone.

"Morning, sir, Colonel Byrnes here of the 716th Infantry Regiment."

"IS THAT YOU ERIC BYRNES? This is Brigadier General Mark DeRosa of the 78th Brigade Combat Team based out of Cary, NC, I have one of your buddies in Oakland with me who is a graduate of the brigade's training program."

"Yes I am, sir. And is that guy with you, sir, Scott Hatteberg?"

"Affirmative colonel Byrnes. How's your regiment now on R&R after all those weeks in Soledar?"

"Nice so far, the American people and the people of Savannah have enjoyed the antics of the men of the 1st Battalion and also our combat videos all this time, which have awakened Americans on what we are supposed to do to aid Ukraine at this time."

"Regarding those in between combat dancing videos on TikTok and Twitter of your boys, as well as on Telegram, are they all true?!"

"Yes, DeRosa, and the people have loved it."

"Cannot believe this, but you boys are better than those Chechens. Dancing, singing, having fun in the field but fighting better than them and the Russians. And who suggested these?"

"Our first battalion commander LTC Gilliam, who has been with us since it was a battalion, and our long time A Company commander soon to be captain Bill Leroy, who's a 1LT by now alongside his faithful XO 1LT Kyle Luigs. The two began with the regiment on secondment from their colleges, last year, following their graduation, when I was appointed regimental commander to replace Jesse who retired a Brigadier General, he recommended that the two be granted permanent status due to their long service with 1st Battalion, and indeed they were permanenty assigned since then."

"1st Platoon commander?"

"1LT Jackson Olson, sir, joined the regiment early this year."

"2nd Platoon is led by whose officer?"

"1LT Dalton Cornett. All officers, NCO and enlisted here, general, were selected for permanent duty in the years after it became a regiment from being a battalion and these people and others from the past 5 years who served on secondment from their respective colleges and universities before with the local lads recruited from within the state were the once I asked, upon the urging of the regimental colonel, to join the 1st Battalion on permanent status. Some of these officers here in the battalion, DeRo, as well as NCOs and enlisted with no collegiate service here nor even direct ties, were recruited on national lines thanks to the efforts of our depot battalion personnel, while the regiment still retains its seconded personnel from the colleges and universities."

"3rd platoon commanding officer is.."

"Turner Pruitt. Was with the regiment in 2021 and is a 1LT. 2LT Bryce Madron from Cowley College's battalion, seconded from his alma mater's unit, joined the regiment on its Ukrainian deployment as the 4th platoon's commander."

"Your PAO chief?"

"CPT Biko Skalla."

"The A Company first sergeant?"

"SFC Malachi Mitchell."

"Acknowleged colonel, will have to bring in LTC Scott Hatteberg. I am damn proud of all of them for their efforts to help Ukraine's ongoing fight by any means. And regarding retired MSGT Bill Lee, your honorary regimental sergeant major for a few months now, he's at home in Connecticut, but has come to Savannah when the regiment was around for months before the departure to Ukraine, I've been told."

"Mark, Bill Lee was appointed by the regiment to serve in a honorary capacity due to his age, but his strength and fitness was still the same when he served with the 1st Boston and the Montreal City Fusiliers. And sir, he sent you an email yesterday thanking you all in the 78th for the support given to his secondary home of Savannah and the 716th Infantry. He was there in the sendoff ceremony last March. He still takes time to visit Grayson Barracks to visit our depot battalion and those recruits who have finished basic training."

"Was a pleasure. Tell him we are forever grateful for his service with the 846th Command and the 169th Corps and we also congratulate him for his appointment as honorary sergeant major."

"Noted, sir."

Then Scott got the phone to talk to Eric, whom he formerly served with.

"Scott Hatteberg here, Lieutenant Colonel, US Army. Just been returned to service after retirement. Now a part of the 78th Brigade Combat Team. It's because I was a part of the collegiate training unit under that platoon years before. You still remember me from those years?" he started up the chat.

"Yes Scott, this is Eric, I still remember those days in the Oakland barracks and training fields together with others. Glad you're back in uniform again. How's your regiment going?"

"Been a tough few weeks in Soledar, but boy, these were tough but happy days for the boys in yellow. Fighting against Russians and the Chechen allies at the front, but we never waivered, we never gave up hope in the fight with our Ukrainian allies."

"You guys going back to Kovel after this to recharge for the trip home and then to prepare to return here for the summer offensives?"

"You bet we are, Scott."

"I am thankful to you for having been a part of those years I spent in Oakland, as well as to General DeRosa for giving me this chance to coordinate jointly our efforts as well as with the other US and Canadian forces fighting with our Ukrainian allies. I'm sure this is the start of a great partnership together, especially that the general has given me this assignment to coordinate our efforts to help Ukraine fight its way to victory."

"You're welcome Scott, make sure there will be new videos coming out from you guys in the weeks to come." "Yes sir, there's more where they came from, colonel. BTW who was behind all of these aside from those in battalion and company leadership?"

"MAJ Frongillo, part of regimental staff. He's the one who came out with that idea."

"Well, congrats to him as well. I expect more from Zack in the coming weeks as well as to the PAO team led by Biko. Who's the main videographer of the regiment?"

"SFC Breaux. He's in charge of the video and film duties for Public Affairs. Also, I have to inform you that two of the guys in A Company - CPL Maudin who joined last year and was a part of 1st Platoon and CPL Thomas, a newbie of 2nd Platoon and a direct entry corporal with the unit - have been putting in superb combat videos and vlogs on Telegram and Youtube. They and many of the 1st and 2nd platoon boys whose stories have become the living witness to the ongoing war have inspired many not just to continue helping Ukraine but also to encourage others to dedicate themselves in service to the nation. If you check Telegram and Instagram, their English posts have opened many to the reality of the war they are fighting in and many of the young men and women are already following their journey so far."

"All the best for you guys, sir, Hatteberg out."

"Byrnes out sir."

"I'm sure there's more of that coming up," Scott stated to the gathered personnel from brigade command after watching the video of elements of A Company and the battalion staff dancing with their regimental commander and regimental colonel from his cellphone. And that was after Jesse spoke on video to those who have followed their journey so far on Tiktok and Twitter, as well as on the regiment's Telegram channel, expressing his gratitude and that of COL Byrnes to everyone who have supported them in every way possible on their journey to fight Russians in Ukrainian lands together with elements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as to those who have already given their time to support the country in her time of need. That short dance clip stunned everyone watching and confirmed everyone of what the online world had been talking about. He finishes with "I am certain the regiment has been going good in the PAO side of things and am glad to report that their regimental depot battalion CO has emailed me that their efforts, as well as the stories they shared online, has led up to a massive recruitment effort there in the city not just for this regiment but for the other military units in Savannah. And many who are trying to join the 716th are coming from all over the country!"

"That's incredible news," BG Maxwell stated.

"So are you sure that these new recruits, after finishing basic training and getting assigned here on their own wishes, will be serving in Ukraine with the regiment soon?" asked SGM Pollock.

"Affirmative, they will be there soon."

And when asked by COL Bianco on whose concept it was, the LTC replied that it was an officer of regimental staff, MAJ Traczuk, who helped the sergeant first class pitch that idea to Public Affairs and it was based on the post-exercise recreation and fun the boys had stateside since it was a battalion.

COL Bloomquist added, "You have a tough job ahead of you, colonel. But soon you will learn more about those boys."

"Got that, one day I will check them before they leave for home to welcome a new batch of summer enlistees who will be serving this time, given that the regiment is forward deployed to Ukraine, with the 4th and 5th battalions based stateside."

These boys from Savannah, who were selected from every corner of the nation to fight in this ongoing war, are not just contributing to the fight for Ukraine's independence, they are dancing their way to victory.

"And one thing's for sure," adds the lieutenant colonel from Salem in Oregon, "Dalton and Tanner, and the rest of their company, will lead more young people in realizing Ukraine and democracy all over the world are both worth fighting for, and we have to help defend Ukraine and our allies no matter what it takes. I'm sure you all watched their appeal to the people of Savannah and the nation lately. Now that I've been appointed liason to this unit and those units preparing to serve in Ukraine whose personnel are either ROTC or college regiment personnel, I will do my best to coordinate our efforts towards this goal."

@kiinghanalister @travisdermotts @lukeexplorer

#savannah bananas #baseball rpf #ukraine au #baseball fanfiction #ukraine war au #ukraine conflict #ukraine war #baseball au #baseball fanfic

18 notes · View notes

mayertis-not-a-user · 9 months

Text

Today is the Day of Naval Fleet, and it made me think about Sark's actual status

As Wikipedia says: "Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ... Commander is a rank used in navies, but is very rarely used as a rank in armies. In most armies, the term "commander" is used only as a job title like "platoon commander", "brigade commander" and "squadron commander".

Actually, Naval Commander (Royal Navy, US Navy) is equal to Lieutenant colonel (Army) and Captain 2nd rank (Soviet/Russian Naval Fleet).

Captain 2nd rank is the commander of a ship of the same rank: large amphibious, missile and destroyers. BUT, as you know, Sark's ship is an entire aircraft carrier. That's a 1st rank ship so Sark cannot command there as his rank would be too low for that. The ship is commanded by the 1st rank senior officer (captain 1st rank).

An aircraft carrier is a large surface ship of special purpose designed to provide air cover for the connection of ships, the landing of amphibious forces, air strikes on the connection of ships and individual enemy ships, on its coastal coastal defense, as well as for the transportation of goods and people, communication between the ships of the connection. Equipped with means to ensure the basing and functioning of aircraft. The main armament of an aircraft carrier is deck-based aircraft and helicopters (in case of the classic Grid - recognizers).

So Sark's status of a Commander might be just a job title but not the real rank.

#sark #commander sark #sarklives #sark lives #commandersark #random thoughts #tronblr #random theory #tronlives #tron lives #tron 1982 #tron1982 #classic tron #размышления ко дню вмф

14 notes · View notes

awesome-casuallyfamouscollector · 11 months

Photo

Destroyed BTR-80 № 113 of Russia's 126th Separate Guards Coastal Defence Brigade, 22nd Army Corps, Black Sea Fleet, Ukraine, 2023. Source: Naalsio26

P.S. Though destroyed as of Autumn 2022, this loss has remained undocumented until now.

#Ukraine #russian invasion #BTR-80 #armored personnel carrier #russian defeat #russian losses #russian armor #russian attack on europe #russian war crimes #ukrainian independence war #military history

21 notes · View notes

workersolidarity · 6 months

Text

[Footage from the Israeli Defense Ministry of initial Israeli ground incursions launched into Gaza]

🇮🇱🇵🇸 💥ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES LAUNCH GROUND INCURSIONS INTO GAZA, RELEASE VIDEO OF OPS💥

Israeli Occupation Forces have begun ground incursions into the northern Gaza Strip overnight and into Tuesday morning, releasing video showing Israeli Forces securing buildings and moving tanks and other military assets just inside the border fence separating the outdoor prison of the Gaza Strip from Israeli occupied Palestine.

According to reports, the Israeli Military has said it is engaged in "fierce battles deep" inside Gaza territory over the last few hours.

In a post on the social media app X, an Israeli Military spokesperson gave an update on Israeli military operations, saying, "Our troops are on the ground, we are expanding our activity in Gaza. We've conducted a few raids over the last days, we've expanded those now and Israeli troops are in various parts of northern Gaza, operating."

"The situation on the ground is that we continue to strike Hamas. We are striking in all parts of the Gaza Strip. We have said before that we will continue to strike. We will focus our activities on the northern part of Gaza. That is the center of gravity for Hamas and that is where we're attacking now, but we are also continuing to strike in other parts of Gaza."

The Israeli Military spokesperson goes on to say, "We are hunting their commanders, attacking their infrastructure, and whenever there is an important target that is related to Hamas, we strike. Now we do so with professionalism. Hamas is the enemy, not the civilian population and we focus our military efforts on Hamas."

"Operations continue, we continue to strike and our troops are on the ground, enhancing the activities that we are conducting," said the Israeli spokesperson.

In a separate interview with BBC News, official Israeli Military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht says that ground operations are expanding and intensifying in the Gaza Strip.

"We are now expanding our operations, intensifying our operations, on the ground, in the air, and at the sea," Lt. Col. Hecht said.

In the same interview, Hecht claims that Israel is not targeting civilians, and that the Israeli Military is doing, "everything we can to minimize collateral damage to civilians," before blaming Hamas for civilian casualties.

"They're firing from mosques, from schools, international establishments inside the Gaza Strip, so it's very very complicated."

Hecht goes on to describe the continued rocket launches by Palestinian Resistance Forces into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.

"We're still getting multiple salvos of rockets that are being fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel everyday, all the way up to Tel Aviv. So they're still activating from everywhere within the whole Gaza Strip and firing at Israel," Hecht told the interviewer.

"Again we are moving meticulously and slowly. We're doing everything we can to minimize damage," Lt. Col. Hecht said.

According to Hamas reports, their armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades says they've attacked Israeli tanks and armored vehicles advancing into northwest Gaza, and claimed to have eliminated an "Israeli Force" inside a building in northern Gaza.

According to an Al Jazeera News correspondent on the ground in Gaza, “On the other side of Gaza City, in the southeast, tanks have crossed from the eastern side heading towards the coastal road. They are halfway between Salah al-Din street and the coastal road."

“In case they reach that road, that would mean … they would be dividing the north from the south.”

In another Al Jazeera News report, journalist Alan Fisher says, "It’s not just street to street battles, it’s been described as 'face to face'. They say this will cause continued concern for the Israeli public because it carries a 'heavy price', but it is important to continue this sort of fighting in the streets."

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's Safwat Kahlout has said that Israeli tanks have now pushed into Gaza City, and claims that, "Israeli forces have entered residential areas in Gaza City for the first time since they started ground operations, calling it the most 'serious' development so far."

“They have crossed the village of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip and are now stationing at one of the main roads in Gaza City called al-Nasr street,” he said.

“Witnesses have told us there is a heavy exchange of fire between the fighting groups and the Israeli troops who entered the edge, or outskirts, of Gaza City.”

#source1

#source2

#source3

@WorkerSolidarityNews

8 notes · View notes

softsoundingsea · 2 months

Text

Uruma residents unconvinced by briefing on new SDF training site

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

URUMA, Okinawa Prefecture—The Defense Ministry tried to reassure residents here about safety and other issues concerning a planned new Ground Self-Defense Force training site, but the explanation was met largely with skepticism.

The ministry held a briefing session for about 280 residents on Feb. 11 about the project planned in their city. Local neighborhood associations, concerned about noise and accidents, have already demanded that the plan be scrapped.

The GSDF training site, adjacent to a residential area, will be part of the “southwest shift” of Japan’s defense capabilities, with China in mind.

The ministry said it will buy a 20-hectare former golf course in fiscal 2024, conduct a survey design in fiscal 2025, and start construction for the GSDF training site in fiscal 2026.

The acquisition cost was included in the proposed budget for the new fiscal year and communicated to the Uruma city and Okinawa prefectural governments. The budget amount has not been disclosed because negotiations with landowners are pending.

The planned site is designed for helicopter operations and training of new SDF members. They will not be firing live ammunition.

“We will do our best to minimize the impact on the surrounding area,” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said at a news conference.

During the briefing, ministry officials emphasized that “no U.S. military training is envisioned,” and that helicopters will only fly in time of disaster or emergency.

Some residents raised questions.

One said: “It is strange to give an explanation after the planning decision has been made. Will the residents’ opinions be reflected from now on?”

Another resident criticized the ministry’s explanation as “completely unreliable,” citing the fact that its plan to deploy missile and other units at a GSDF garrison in Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture, was decided after the coastal surveillance unit was set up.

The development of the Uruma training site was initiated after three revised security-related documents were issued in December 2022. The documents included a policy to upgrade the Naha-based 15th Brigade, with about 2,000 personnel, to a division with more SDF members.

“In terms of defense strategy, it is highly significant to have a training site near the troops,” a senior ministry official.

However, the planned site is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and a prefectural youth facility, where elementary, junior high, and high school students stay and study.

In January, two local neighborhood associations passed a resolution opposing the construction of the training site, citing concerns about noise and accident risks associated with helicopter drills.

A council consisting of 15 neighborhood associations in the former Ishikawa city also unanimously voted against the project.

A 71-year-old resident who lives nearby said the training site “will destroy our lives.”

“The noise and accidents caused by the U.S. military alone are unbearable, and it is outrageous that the SDF will further increase the burden with the base,” he said.

The planned site is also in the district of Miyamori Elementary School, where 18 people, including children, were killed when a U.S. military jet crashed in 1959, before Okinawa’s reversion to Japan.

Many people still remember the tragedy.

The 71-year-old man was a first-grader in the area at the time.

“Every time there is an accident involving the U.S. military, it brings back memories of those days. I fear that the same thing may happen again,” he said.

In addition, a surface-to-ship missile unit will be deployed in March at the GSDF Vice Camp Katsuren in Uruma, located about 15 kilometers southeast of the new training site.

Deployment of long-range missiles at the site, for possible strikes against enemy bases that are attacking Japan, is also being considered.

The ministry said it has not yet decided on the deployment site for such missiles. But some Uruma residents are concerned the area may become a target of other countries in the event of a military emergency.

Uruma Mayor Masato Nakamura has yet to indicate his approval or disapproval of the planned GSDF training site.

Some Uruma city assembly members affiliated with the Liberal Democratic Party are sympathetic to the neighborhood associations.

Transcending party lines, a group of city assembly members plans to submit a petition opposing the project to the February assembly session.

In recent years, the GSDF has opened garrisons in the Sakishima isles, including on Yonagunijima, Miyakojima and Ishigakijima islands.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said such moves make “the people of the prefecture feel danger and anxiety.”

Regarding the new training site in Uruma, Tamaki urged the ministry and the GSDF to “show respect for the wishes of the local community.”

(This article was written by Kaigo Narisawa and Satsuki Tanahashi.)

#Okinawa #Uruma #Yonaguni #Okinawa Prefecture #News #Politics #Japan #SDF #Asahi Shimbun

3 notes · View notes

warningsine · 9 months

Text

Violent wildfires, fuelled by climate change, have killed scores of people across the Mediterranean.

Deaths have been reported in Greece, where a plane dropping water on the blaze crashed, killing both pilots.

Yet, the heaviest death toll so far is in Algeria where there have been 34 victims, including 10 soldiers surrounded by flames during an evacuation in the coastal province of Bejaia, east of Algiers.

Two people died in southern Italy on Tuesday.

Scorching temperatures have blasted several countries across the Med for days now, creating tinder box conditions.

Extreme weather events such as these are linked to human-induced climate change. Scientists warn they will only grow more frequent, severe and longer unless people and governments drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Algeria

In Algeria, firefighters continued to tackle 11 fires ravaging the northeast, after managing to put out around 80% of the deadly blazes that killed at least 34 people over the last three days.

Local media images show fields and bushes on fire, charred cars and shops reduced to ashes.

In Toudja, a badly hard-hit area in the northeast, the fire was almost entirely stopped, despite a few persistent outbreaks. Sixteen people died here.

Firefighting planes dropped water for two days on this wooded area, located on the shores of the Mediterranean.

Fires have also raged in neighbouring Tunisia, where 300 people had to be evacuated from the coastal village of Melloula.

Greece

Greece has been particularly hard hit, with authorities evacuating more than 20,000 people in recent days from homes and resorts on the holiday island of Rhodes.

Two Greek airforce pilots - aged 27 and 34 - died yesterday when their water-dropping plane, crashed on the island of Evia, east of Athens.

Savage forest fires have ravaged the country for ten days, with firefighting teams from around Europe scrambling to help.

On Tuesday, temperatures were pushed back into the 40s, with strong winds whipping by the flames.

With apocalyptic images of decimated forests continuing to shock Greece, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned the struggle against wildfires would remain "difficult".

In reference to the dead pilots, he said: “They offered their lives to save lives.”

“They proved how hazardous their daily missions in extinguishing fires are ... In their memory, we continue the war against the destructive forces of nature.”

Successive evacuations of locals and holidaymakers have been ordered on Corfu, Evia and Rhodes. Tourist flights have now largely been cancelled, though some providers were still running flights in affected areas.

Italy

While storms batter the north, parts of southern Italy are going up in flames.

Firefighters on Tuesday battled wildfires in Sicily, one of which got so close to Palermo airport it was shut down for several hours on Tuesday morning.

The tarmac melted and authorities urged people not to come to the airport for “security reasons.”

At least 1,500 people have so far been evacuated from the Palermo area. The national fire brigade, Vigili del Fuoco (VdF), said the situation was “critical” in five areas around the city, where several houses had been affected by the fires.

Sicily's civil protection agency reported temperatures of up to 47.6 degrees Celsius in Catania on Monday.

The bodies of two septuagenarians were found charred in a house engulfed in flames and an 88-year-old woman died near Palermo, media reported on Tuesday evening.

The president of the Sicilian region, Renato Schifani, has indicated that he wants to ask the government, which meets on Wednesday, to declare a state of emergency on the Mediterranean island.

In Italy's northern Lombardy region, a powerful storm accompanied by heavy hail caused flooding and power outages and was blamed for the death of a 16-year-old girl at a scouts' camp.

France

Firefighters fought in overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday a virulent fire threatening three villages in Haute-Corse, south Corsica.

The fires were close to three villages, Corbara, Pigna and Santa-Reparata-Di-Balagna.

Parts of two hamlets have "many sensitive points, dwellings, religious points", according to the firefighters.

Some 130 hectares of vegetation have already been ravaged by the flames according to a latest assessment.

Croatia

Flames came within 12 km of Croatia's medieval town Dubrovnik late on Tuesday.

Dubrovnik was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979 recognition of its outstanding medieval architecture and fortified old town.

Turkey

In Turkey, authorities evacuated a dozen homes and a hospital as a precaution on Tuesday.

Wildfires are raging through a rugged forest area near the Mediterranean resort of Kemer, in Antalya province.

Another wildfire in the western province of Manisa was brought under control a day after it burnt at least 14 homes.

#wildfires #mediterranean #news #climate change

2 notes · View notes

playitagin · 10 months

Text

1948 -Palestinian expulsion

Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion orders the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla.

The 1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle, also known as the Lydda Death March,[1][2] was the expulsion of 50,000 to 70,000[3] Palestinian Arabs when Israeli troops captured the towns in July that year. The military action occurred within the context of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The two Arab towns, lying outside the area designated for a Jewish state in the UN Partition Plan of 1947, and inside the area set aside for an Arab state in Palestine,[4][5] subsequently were transformed into predominantly Jewish areas in the new State of Israel, known as Lod and Ramla.

The exodus, constituting "the biggest expulsion of the war",[7] took place at the end of a truce period, when fighting resumed, prompting Israel to try to improve its control over the Jerusalem road and its coastal route which were under pressure from the Jordanian Arab Legion, Egyptian and Palestinian forces. From the Israeli perspective, the conquest of the towns, designed, according to Benny Morris, "to induce civilian panic and flight",[8] averted an Arab threat to Tel Aviv, thwarted an Arab Legion advance by clogging the roads with refugees – the Yiftah Brigade was ordered to strip them of "every watch, piece of jewelry, or money, or valuables"[9] – to force the Arab Legion to assume an additional logistical burden with the arrival of masses of indigent refugees that would undermine its military capacities, and helped demoralise nearby Arab cities.[10][11] On 10 July, Glubb Pasha ordered the defending Arab Legion troops to "make arrangements ... for a phony war".[12] The next day, Ramle surrendered immediately, but the conquest of Lydda took longer and led to an unknown number of deaths; the Palestinian historian Aref al-Aref, the only scholar who tried to draw up a balance sheet for the Palestinian losses, estimated 426 Palestinians died in Lydda on 12 July, of which 176 in the mosque and 800 overall in the fighting.[13] Israeli historian Benny Morris suggests up to 450 Palestinians and 9–10 Israeli soldiers died.[14]

Lydda's residents began moving out on the morning of 13 July. They were made to walk, perhaps because of their earlier resistance, or simply because there were no vehicles left. They walked six to seven kilometers to Beit Nabala, then 10–12 more to Barfiliya, along dusty roads in temperatures of 30–35°C, carrying their children and portable possessions in carts pulled by animals or on their backs.[72] According to Shmarya Guttman, an IDF soldier, warning shots were occasionally fired.[73] Some were stripped of their valuables en route by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints.[73] Another IDF soldier described how possessions and people were slowly abandoned as the refugees grew tired or collapsed: "To begin with [jettisoning] utensils and furniture, and in the end, bodies of men, women, and children, scattered along the way."

#Jul.12.1948 #1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle #Lydda Death March #Nakba #1948 Palestine war #history today

2 notes · View notes

ausetkmt · 1 year

Text

As Vélina Élysée Charlier ventured on to the streets of her conflict-stricken city last week, she encountered scenes that will haunt her for many years to come.

Armed civilians dragging bodies through the streets. Smouldering corpses. Young men with machetes chasing suspected gangsters they planned to kill.

“I’ve seen enough dead people for many lifetimes,” said the Haitian human rights activist. “Since Monday, if you get killed, you get burned. It’s kill, burn, kill, burn … It’s nothing I would want anyone else to witness. It stays with you … It’s hell, you know?”

The nightmarish events unfolding in Haiti’s coastal capital, Port-au-Prince, began before dawn on Monday when members of one of its notorious gangs reportedly tried to seize control of the city’s Turgeau area.

“What they didn’t count on was the population striking back,” said Charlier, who works in the neighbourhood.

Over the coming hours, civilians brandishing knives, rocks and handguns rose up against the heavily armed criminals who control more than 80% of Haiti’s capital and whose activities have led the United Nations to compare the situation there to a war.

As the sun rose, the bloodshed spread. In the Canapé-Vert neighbourhood, 13 suspected gangsters were beaten, stoned to death and burned after their minibus was stopped by police. In Turgeau another six men were reportedly set on fire.

The violence continued on Tuesday as Canapé-Vert’s residents formed self-defence brigades and took to their barricaded streets with rocks and knives.

“We are planning to fight and keep our neighbourhood clean of these savages,” one vigilante, a 37-year-old called Jeff Ezequiel, told the Associated Press.

On Wednesday, as groups sprang up in other communities, another lynching was reported: this time, eight suspected criminalsin the community of Debussy.

“We’re already dead, so we might as well die fighting,” Charlier remembered one person in Turgeau telling her.

The lynchings have sparked a strange and disturbing mix of horror, fear and optimism in Haitian communities fed up with being terrorised by the gangs.

“Seeing the population fighting back – even though there are lots of human rights violations, even though justice by the people is never the way to go because it just spirals into a cycle of violence that never stops – gives you ... the sense that people are as mad as you are,” said Charlier. “What’s happening is giving hope to the population that they can fight back.”

“It is obscene,” the author and activist Monique Clesca said of the lynchings. “But that’s what these bandits have pushed us to.”

“It’s more than frustration ... [Rage] is the only word,” Clesca added, blaming the surge of mob justice on years of elite political corruption and connivance with organised crime.

Daniel Foote, the outspoken former US special envoy to the Caribbean country, said he was also unsurprised at the violence, given the police’s failure to bring the gangs to heel.

“At some point I thought they were going to start to take matters into their own hands because they’ve got no choice. They’ve got nothing else,” Foote said.

“The Haitians, like anybody, can only take so much. The gangs have stolen their lives from them,” Foote added, as a spokesperson for Haiti’s embattled and enfeebled national police force implored citizens to stop. “Do not take justice into your own hands,” Garry Desrosiers told reporters on Wednesday.

That plea looks likely to fall on deaf ears, given the scale of the security catastrophe facing one the Caribbean’s largest cities, which was levelled by an earthquake in 2010 and has been struggling to find its feet ever since.

As people in Port-au-Prince fought to reclaim their communities, the UN secretary general’s special envoy to Haiti offered a chilling overview of the country’s “rapidly deteriorating security situation” and the parallel humanitarian crisis that have left almost half of Haiti’s 11 million citizens going hungry.

María Isabel Salvador told the UN security council that March had seen Haiti’s highest number of reports of murders, rapes, kidnappings and lynchings since 2005. Children had been shot in classrooms and snatched at school gates. Snipers had indiscriminately targeted civilians. Women had been terrorised by “multiple-perpetrator” rape.

“Faced with these increasingly violent armed gangs vying for control of neighbourhoods of the capital, with limited or no police presence, some residents have begun to take matters into their own hands,” the Ecuadorian diplomat reported. “These dynamics lead unfailinglyto the breakdown of social fabric with unpredictable consequences for the entire region.”

The human rights activist Rosy Auguste Ducéna called the lynchings a “worrisome” development. Her group had been unable to calculate the exact death toll. But some suspect dozens, perhaps scores, have been killed in recent days.

Ducéna blamed the government of the prime minister, Ariel Henry – who took power after the 2021 assassination of the then president, Jovenel Moïse – for the uprising as it had failed to dismantle and prosecute gang members and surrendered many areas to their rule. “There is a certain complicity between [the gangs] and the state authorities,” Ducéna said, adding that “permanent calm” would only come if authorities stopped protecting criminal groups.

Clesca said it was hard to know where the nascent anti-gang insurrection would lead. “They are small [incidents], but they are significant. Will they multiply? What will happen? I think we have to watch and we have to be very sensitive to that,” she said, predicting the coming weeks would see “more people, cities and towns rising up and saying: ‘We are not taking this. Enough is enough.’”

Foote also wondered whether the rebellion might signal a new phase in Haiti’s political, humanitarian and security crises, “because this is the first time that people have really taken matters into their own hands, which is how the Haitians won independence [in 1804] and have kept their independence a number of times since then”.

The dire outlook has prompted calls for an international intervention – a call repeated by Salvador at the UN. “The Haitian people cannot wait. We need to act now,” she said, calling for the urgent deployment of “an international specialised force” to fight gangs.

Foote said he was “100% ideologically opposed” to another foreign intervention, given the miserable track record of previous efforts including the 2004-2017 UN stabilisation mission, whose peacekeepers brought cholera to Haiti and were accused of sexual abuse and exploitation.

“But I believe that they’re going to need an intervention. It’s just that bad, to be honest with you,” Foote said. “It’s not Haiti any more; it’s a prison … People stay in their houses and only leave if they absolutely have to … It is dangerous as fuck.”

Charlier rejected calls for a foreign intervention. “I recognise the police cannot deal with this alone,” the activist said, but nor did she want thousands of heavily armed foreign troops to return “to put a Band-Aid on a cancer”.

After navigating six vigilante roadblocks to reach work on Thursday morning, Charlier voiced despair at how the bloodshed would affect Haitian children. “Kids are going to school witnessing dead burning bodies on the side of the road … I cannot even think about the collective trauma we are going to have to deal with in a couple of years,” she said, comparing parts of her city to a war zone.

“Honestly, I don’t know [how I feel]. I just hope this is going to end very soon because I’m mentally drained and I’m exhausted,” Charlier said before concluding with a grim prophecy.

“What we are seeing in Haiti will end in blood and in ashes,” she warned. “In people being killed and in houses being burned.”

#haiti #violence in hatit #‘It’s hell’: vigilantes take to Haiti’s streets in bloody reprisals against gangs #gang violence in Haiti

2 notes · View notes

ukrainenews · 2 years

Text

Daily Wrap Up June 25, 2022

Under the cut: Russia says it has full control over Sievierodonetsk; The US has announced that it will provide 18 patrol boats to Ukraine as part of the 13th security package promised on Thursday; Ukraine will receive a grant of 1 billion euros from Germany; Greece will no longer grant visas to Russians; Russian missiles hit military facilities in northern and western Ukraine; Russia will send missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the next few months.

“Russia says it has full control over Sievierodonetsk. Russian forces have established full control over the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk and the nearby town of Borivske, a senior defense ministry official said in a statement on Saturday.

Reuters reports:

Ukrainian officials said earlier in the day that their troops had withdrawn from Sievierodonetsk after a prolonged battle with regular Russian troops and fighters from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).

“As a result of successful offensive operations, units of the people’s militia of the LPR, with the support of Russian troops ... completely liberated the cities of Severodonetsk and Borivske,” said defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

He said the attack had thwarted what he called an Ukrainian attempt to turn the city’s Azot chemical plant into a stubborn centre of resistance.

Konashenkov said LPR fighters now controlled the plant, where several hundred citizens had been sheltering. He made no mention of their fate.”

-via the Guardian

After weeks of bloody street fighting and months of withering bombardment, Sievierodonetsk is now “fully occupied” by Russian forces, its mayor, Oleksandr Stryuk, said on June 25.

With Ukrainian troops’ withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk, the fighting now shifts to neighboring Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian-held city in the region. Capturing Sievierodonetsk brings Moscow closer to taking full control of Luhansk Oblast, 95% of which is already under the control of Russian forces.

The mayor’s report came a day after Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai announced that Ukrainian troops would retreat from the charred ruins that were once home to over 100,000 people. The retreat was a “tactical withdrawal” to be able to launch more effective counterattacks from Lysychansk, according to Kharyton Starskyi, a press officer with the Rapid Response Brigade of Ukraine's National Guard.

Starskyi said Ukraine had begun withdrawing troops from Sieverodonetsk days ago, to preserve their lives.

Lysychansk sits on the opposite bank of the Siversky Donets River from Sieverodonetsk. The Russian forces have taken many losses in their attempts to ford the river over the past two months of fighting. Ukraine will utilize Lysychansk's higher ground to defend against the continued Russian onslaught, Ukraine's intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told Reuters.

-via Kyiv Independent

“The US has announced that it will provide 18 patrol boats to Ukraine as part of the 13th security package promised on Thursday.

“Included in the package announced Thursday are two 35-foot, small-unit riverine craft; six 40-foot maritime combat craft; and ten 34-foot, Dauntless Sea Ark patrol boats,” the Department of Defense said on Thursday.

A senior defense official at the Pentagon said, “These are largely to protect the riverways and to enable Ukraine to maintain its control of the riverways. They can also be used in ... close-in coastal areas.””-via The Guardian

“On June 24, the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko and the Federal Minister of Finance of Germany Christian Lindner signed an Agreement between the Governments of Ukraine and Germany on the provision of 1 billion euros in grant funding to Ukraine. The funds will be directed to the state budget of Ukraine to finance priority social and humanitarian expenditures during martial law.

These funds will be directed to Ukraine through the mechanism of the administrative account of the International Monetary Fund.

"Mr. Lindner, thank you personally, your team and everyone involved in the process, thanks to whose efforts we structured this agreement very quickly. We hope to receive funds in the near future. This grant is an extremely important contribution to support our state in this difficult time. We highly appreciate the assistance from the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, "Serhiy Marchenko said during the signing of the Agreement.”-via Ministry of Finance of Ukraine official page (Ukrainian source)

“Greece on Saturday suspended visa applications for Russians for an indefinite period, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia reported. The decision came months after Greece announced that Russians will no longer be eligible to apply for, hold, or renew investment-based residence permits in Greece. The Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum suspended the program for citizens of Russia “until a further notice” in response to its brutal invasion of Ukraine.”-via Republic World

“Russian missiles hit military facilities in northern and western Ukraine. Russian missiles have hit military infrastructure in northern Ukraine, local officials have said.

Reuters reports that Vitaliy Bunechko, governor of the Zhytomyr region in the north of the country, said strikes on a military target killed at least one soldier.

“Nearly 30 missiles were launched at one military infrastructure facility very near to the city of Zhytomyr,” said Bunechko, adding that nearly 10 missiles had been intercepted and destroyed.

In the northern Chernihiv region, governor Vyacheslav Chaus said the small town of Desna came under “massed” rocket strikes on Saturday morning. There were no casualties and he did not specify what had been hit, adding only that there had been “infrastructure damage.”

The missile strikes in northern Ukraine come as in the country’s west, Lviv governor Maxim Kozitsky said that four were wounded in an attack on the Yavoriv military facility.”-via The Guardian

“Russia will send missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the next few months, Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Saturday while hosting Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

“In the coming months, we will transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin said.

He also offered to upgrade Belarus’ warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons, amid soaring tensions with the West over Ukraine. Lukashenko has previously asked Putin to “adapt” the planes.

“Many Su-25 (aircrafts) are in service with the Belarusian military. They could be upgraded in an appropriate way,” Putin said, adding, “This modernisation should be carried out in aircraft factories in Russia and the training of personnel should start in accordance with this,” he added.

“We will agree on how to accomplish this,” Putin said.

Lukashenko said last month that his country had bought Iskander nuclear-capable missiles and S-400 anti-aircraft anti-missile systems from Russia.”-via The Guardian

#Daily Update #Ukraine #Russia #War in Ukraine #Belarus #Severodonetsk #sieverodonetsk #Lysychansk #greece #germany #US

12 notes · View notes

quicksiluers · 2 years

Photo

Andrew Atkinson Humphreys (November 2nd, 1810 - December 27th, 1883) was born to a family prominent in naval architecture. His grandfather, Joshua, designed the USS Constitution. He graduated from West Point in 1831, ranked 13 out of 33 in his class. He saw combat in the artillery in the Seminole Wars and then garrison duty. he resigned in 1836 to become a civil engineer for the government. Two years later, he was back in the army as a 1st lieutenant in the Topographical Engineers and worked on bridges, harbors, and coastal and railroad surveys. He spent much of the next 30 years as a civil engineer in the Army, with his service involving topographical and hydrological surveys of the Mississippi River Delta. At the outbreak of the Civil War, H

Humphreys was promoted to major and became the Chief Topographical Engineer for Major Gen. George B. McClellan's in the Army of the Potomac. Initially involved in planning the defenses of Washington, D.C., by March 1862, he shipped out with McClellan for the Peninsula Campaign. He was promoted to Brigadier General of volunteers and on September 12, assumed command of the new 3rd Division in the V Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He led the division at Antietam and Fredericksburg.

Although respected by his men for his bravery under fire, Humphreys was not well liked by them. In his mid-fifties, they considered him an old man, despite his relatively youthful appearance. He was a taskmaster and strict disciplinarian.

At Chancellorsville, his division did little, principally because most of his soldiers were near the ends of their enlistments.

On May 23, 1863, Humphreys was transferred to the command of the 2nd Division in the III Corps, under Major Gen. Daniel E. Sickles. When Meade assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, he asked Humphreys to be his Chief of Staff, replacing Brigadier Gen. Daniel Butterfield, who was considered to be too close politically to the previous commander, Major Gen. Joseph Hooker. He declined the opportunity to give up his division command.

Humphreys' new division immediately saw action at Gettysburg where, on July 2, Sickles insubordinately moved his corps from its assigned defensive position on Cemetery Ridge. Assaulted by the division of Major Gen. Lafayette McLaws, his 2 brigades were demolished. He put up the best fight that could have been expected and was eventually able to reform his survivors on Cemetery Ridge, but his division and the entire corps were finished as a fighting force.

Humphreys was promoted to major general of volunteers and finally acceded to Major Gen. George G. Meade's request to serve as his Chief of Staff because he did not have much of division left to command. He served in that position through the Bristoe Campaign, Mine Run Campaign , and the Overland Campaign and the siege of Petersburg in 1864. In November 1864, he assumed command of the II Corps, which he led for the rest of the siege and during the Appomattox Campaign. On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier General in the Regular Army for his actions at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, and then to major general for Sayler's Creek. He helped pursue Gen. Robert E. Lee to Appomattox Court House and was there for Lee's surrender.

After the war, Humphreys commanded the District of Pennsylvania. He became a permanent Brigadier General and Chief of Engineers from 1866-79. He retired on June 30, 1879, serving during this period on lighthouse and other engineering boards.

Humphreys studied philosophy and was one of the incorporators of the National Academy of Sciences. His published works were highlighted by his 1867 "Report on the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River," which gave him considerable prominence in the scientific community. He also wrote personal accounts of the war, "From Gettysburg to the Rapidan" and "The Virginia Campaign of '64 and '65"

He is buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C..

#american civil war #andrew a humphreys #us civil war #civil war #us history #acw #i believe charles dana said that humphreys was the worse swearer in the army of the potomac #and by 'worse' that meant he did it A LOT lol #i was reading about a small interaction with him and sheridan and to be in that area...i can just imagine the swearing going on #amazing really

10 notes · View notes