The Israel Defense Forces opened fire on terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip. This was a response to the attack on Israeli facilities by the Hamas group on Saturday.
It is reported that the rockets launched early in the morning on January 1 fell off the coast near Tel Aviv. The alarm sirens were not activated in accordance with the current protocol.
The IDF attacked military posts and workshops for the production of rockets under the control of the terrorist group Hamas.
Many Ukrainian users called the twenty-minute New Year’s greeting of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky a failure. The head of State was criticized both for the excessive length of the address and for the content of the speech.
Journalist Olga Paliy recalled that 20 minutes of speech is indecently long and called the speech a failure of presidential speechwriters. Ordinary users were tougher in their words: Zelensky was called a hypocrite, reminding him that he had nothing to do with the successes of those people whom he mentioned in his speech.
“It was very boring to listen,” writes one of the commentators of the Ukrainian website. Another characterizes the speech as “typical verbiage”, emphasizing that Zelensky is a good actor, but “no” president.
Former Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Andriy Reva reminded Zelensky of numerous failures of the state, including the emigration of 66 thousand doctors from Ukraine, as well as the dismissal of 34 thousand doctors only in 2020-2021.
The new mayor of New York, Eric Adams, promised that the city would soon overcome the crisis. This became known from his first address to the citizens.
Adams believes that now the largest US city is in crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the “ineffective actions” of the previous leadership of New York. Among the evidence of this, he highlighted the high level of unemployment, crime, economic inequality and racial injustice.
The new head of New York promised to deal with these problems. He recalled plans to carry out police reform and spoke about plans for interaction with both employers and workers. Eric Adams also shared his opinion that the crisis will not rule the city in the future.
The number of drug addicts in Afghanistan currently accounts for about 9% of the country’s population. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Health of Afghanistan Abdul Bari Omar.
Appointed to the post of Deputy Minister of Health of Afghanistan by the Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation as a terrorist organization), Abdul Bari Omar stressed that more than 3.5 million people are addicted to the use of narcotic substances in the country. This is about 9% of the 39 million population of the country.
Recall that the Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation) came to power, including under the slogans of combating drug addiction and drug trafficking. The Taliban accused their predecessors from governments dating back to the Northern Alliance of patronizing drug traffickers and being involved in drug trafficking.
Russia is increasing its achievements in the field of nuclear weapons. The latest torpedo with a nuclear warhead has already been developed, hypersonic missiles have appeared, helicopters and ground-to-air ammunition are being improved. Brian Eastwood, a military columnist for 19Fortyfive, said that Moscow already has five types of weapons that can be called the deadliest.
The first one he mentioned was the Poseidon nuclear torpedo with a huge range. It will be launched from the K-329 Belgorod submarine. “Huge as a bus”, she is able to reach the coast of the USA
The expert considered the S-400 Triumph missile defense system particularly powerful. It can not only destroy manned aircraft and some dons. It can be used to destroy cruise and ballistic missiles at a distance of up to 250 miles. Each battery has eight launch charges of 32 missiles with a radar and a mobile command post.
The Pantsir S-1 mobile launcher has 12 surface-to-air guided missiles and two 30-millimeter cannons. It is capable of shooting down aircraft, ballistic and cruise missiles, high-precision ammunition. Some upgraded variants have improved radar, increased detection range and efficient rotating guns.
Brian Eastwood compared the Mi-28NM Superhunter attack helicopter with the American AH-64 Apache. The Russian helicopter is equipped with sensors that allow you to fly and attack at night. It has the latest radar, which provides an all-round view with a radar image. The Mi-28NM reaches a speed of 186 mph with a range of 280 miles. He has a 30-millimeter cannon, conventional and anti-tank missiles “Attack”. Some helicopters have all-weather functions, which is especially valuable in the Middle East.
The expert also mentioned the Yars missile systems. They are designed to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles. Each system can carry 3-6 warheads with a capacity of 150-200 kilotons. The range is about 10 thousand kilometers. “Yars” is quite difficult to detect, and preparation for the launch of missiles takes seven minutes.
Read also Americans appreciated negotiations with Russia and urged to forget about Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded state awards to two high-ranking Russian diplomats and a public figure from Germany. This follows from the relevant decree published on the legal information resource of Russia.
The Order of Friendship was awarded to the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Canada Oleg Stepanov. Vladimir Leontiev, Deputy Director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, was awarded the Order of Honor.
In addition to Russian diplomats, the Order of Friendship was also awarded to Helmut Hahn, a citizen of Germany, who heads the R.Koch and I.I. Mechnikov Forum public organization in Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory telegram to People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Sergey Shakurov on his 80th birthday.
“You are distinguished by your bright dramatic talent, loyalty to the best traditions of the national acting school,” the head of state noted in his message.
Putin noted that Shokurov had gained popularity and the love of viewers of different generations thanks to his sincere and convincing performance of roles.
The President wished Shakurov health and creative longevity.
Thousands of people, convicted or just arrested, are being tortured. This has been happening for many years, but the authorities did nothing, because it was believed that these were “isolated cases”. Indeed, it was very difficult to prove such a “case”.
She was adopted in the USA. Now she is a world champion.
But not so long ago there was a leak – thousands of hours of video, where horrific tortures are visible with all the details. As a result, at the meeting of the President with the Human Rights Council, this topic was heard all over the world.
These words were uttered by the President on December 9, and an official reaction followed on December 20.
The co-author of the document, the head of the Duma committee on state construction and legislation Krasheninnikov explained: “We agreed to send it out for three weeks. On January 10, the deadline will end, we will hold a committee after that, consider the feedback.”
The second co-author of the bill on strengthening responsibility for torture – the infamous Senator Klishas explained: “I believe that the amendments can be adopted already in the spring session.”
What is the “spring session”? Is it March? or April? or May? The spring session has a pre-established legal deadline. In 2022, this is from January 10 to July 31. If we count from the New Year, then 7 months, and if we count from the presidential decree, then all eight. That is 240 days.
For an important law, it’s pretty fast. Especially if you don’t think that all this time the torture continues. And they continue; maybe less massively, but for a person who is being tortured, this is little consolation.
There are, however, examples when a bill turned into a law somewhat faster. This happened with the law on the extension of presidential and deputy powers, which was proposed by President Medvedev on November 11, 2008.
By this time, Medvedev had been president of Russia for only six months, that is, he had nowhere to hurry. However, the process went like an express. Submitted to the Duma on November 11. The first reading is on November 14. The second is on November 19. The third is November 21. Federation Council — November 26. And then signed by the president.
Let’s pay attention to the details. The co-author of the law on torture Klishas on December 20 reports that the draft is sent to the mailing list until January 10, after which reviews will be “considered.” That is, the deputies will have three weeks to delve into the document. The extension of the deadlines was thought out faster: three days passed from the introduction to the first reading. That’s how quickly the deputies of that time got acquainted, got into it and responded.
From the introduction of the law on extension to the approval in the Federation Council, it took only 15 days. Although, as already mentioned, there was absolutely nowhere to hurry. However, it seems as if an air-raid siren howled, and the deputies, having abandoned everything, rushed to the bomb shelter. Oh, no, they’re heroes – so they rushed to the roofs to extinguish lighters.
A unique episode in legislative activity? No. Here is another example: the law of “Dima Yakovlev” (which is more correctly called the “law of cannibals”— is a law prohibiting the adoption of Russian orphans by US citizens (all orphans, even terminally ill and crippled – without arms, without legs, etc.).
The draft law was introduced on December 10, 2012. The first reading was on December 14 (that is, it took 4 days to get acquainted). The second reading is on December 19. The third reading is on December 21. On the 26th – the Federation Council, signed by the President on December 28. Everything in 18 days.
I must say that even here the deputies had absolutely nowhere to hurry — after all, they did not adopt the law on immediate assistance to the seriously ill and dying. On the contrary, they left sick and dying orphans in a helpless position. Even those for whom foster parents have already been found and all the documents have been issued. But the door slammed shut.
If we were making a movie about this law, then every time the vote and signing would be accompanied by the clang of an iron prison door.
Political scientist and scientist Yevgeny Satanovsky said that in the coming 2022, all those who wanted something new will get it. At the same time, he recalled the famous saying “Be afraid that your wishes will come true.”
According to the expert, everyone has desires and they are all different and often diametrically opposed. “As a result, what comes true will come true. It remains to come to terms with the circumstances and try to turn them in your favor,” he said.
Satanovsky also congratulated subscribers of his Telegram channel on the New Year.
In Russia, it turns out, a moratorium on the death penalty can be lifted (purely theoretically, but many of our current practitioners are yesterday’s theorists). This idea was expressed in his new book by the chairman of the Constitutional Court of Russia Valery Zorkin, which shocked Russians, whose imagination is already inflamed by recent events.
Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
“If the idiot who urinated on the portrait of a veteran was given four years in prison, then they will now be shot for really serious crimes! And how many innocent people are executed by mistake or malice?” – individual citizens reacted to the sayings of the “chief judge of the country”.
In general, at no other time would the media have quoted a book in the news (even if of such authorship). But the moment turned out to be, frankly, very “suitable”. And although Zorkin himself did not mean anything bad (we hope), his words were perceived as a warning.
To begin with, it would be correct to quote the Chairman of the COP in full. “The fact that the Constitutional Court has made a decision making it impossible to apply the death penalty in Russia at this historical stage of its development does not exclude the possibility of a return to this measure of punishment in the future.” That is, nothing concrete, just a hypothetical possibility. Moreover, Zorkin further explains: “I really hope that the departure made by our country from the law in the direction of those moral and religious views,those who stand on the positions of principled rejection of the death penalty will be successful for Russia.” Let’s try to analyze what the head of the Constitutional Court said. And he said literally the following: while the decision of the Constitutional Court is in effect, according to which it is impossible to execute, but who knows what awaits us in the future? That is, he warned that this decision could be changed. What if he thereby signaled that such initiatives are already coming from certain forces and that the return of the death penalty is quite real? I’m afraid that’s exactly the case.
I have heard more than once or twice from high-ranking security officials that it is time to stop “coddling all kinds of criminal trash”, that there is no need to try to correct someone, and even more so it is not worth supporting those who are currently serving a life sentence at the expense of the state. They seriously believe that the death penalty will solve almost all problems. Is this a sincere delusion or a deliberate lie?
To begin with, a return to the death penalty would be a violation of international agreements. In this case, in the eyes of the world community, we would look both madcaps and savages at the same time. Today, after all, there is a tendency towards further humanization, when progressive countries are already seeking the abolition of not only the death penalty (where it has been preserved), but even life imprisonment (for example, Portugal and the whole of South America).
Secondly, criminologists have proved that in states where the death penalty remains, no less crimes are committed. Strict punishment, contrary to popular opinion, does not contribute to reducing the criminalization of society. Want an example? The crime rate in Iran, where the death penalty is practiced, is the same as in the Scandinavian countries, where there is not only it, but also in principle cruel punishments. During my journalistic activity, I have talked with many scarycriminals. So, none of them at the time of the crime was thinking about punishment, and the realization that they could be executed would not have stopped him. Crime is influenced not by severity, but by social, economic and other factors. As the famous criminologist Danil Sergeev said: “Those who commit crimes are not at all afraid of punishment, and those who do not commit it are not doing it out of fear of punishment.” It turns out that those who advocate the death penalty are simply engaged in substitution of concepts.
As for the maintenance of life convicts. In fact, there are not so many of them — about 2000 people, and in most colonies they work, in fact, they pay the costs of their maintenance. Besides, how many of them could be innocent? No one will tell you that. But as long as they are alive, they have a glimmer of hope for justification.
The quote from Zorkin’s book was distributed in the media not by chance. People live in suspense: what kind of cruelty will the security forces come up with? Now they are clearly winning: people are not being released from arrest, human rights organizations that helped citizens are being liquidated or recognized as foreign agents, sites on human rights topicsthey’re closing it. Against the background of all this, the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty will plunge society into a state of stupor. In this case, no one can guarantee that he will not be arrested and executed for someone’s malicious intent. The most paradoxical thing is that even those security forces who “drown” for maximum severity and cruelty cannot guarantee this.
