Geopolitical situation
On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, the head of the United Nations warned that the media is under attack in all corners of the world. He called on all countries to stop the persecution of the truth and those who speak it. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the 50% increase in the number of murders of media workers by 2022 "unbelievable" and stressed that press freedom "is the foundation of democracy and justice", which is under threat.
At least 67 media workers were killed in 2022. In addition, digital platforms and social media have made it easier for extremists to spread false narratives and harass journalists.
"Disinformation and hate speech, which seek to blur the lines between fact and fiction, between science and conspiracy, are a threat to the truth," Guterres said in a video message to mark the 30th anniversary of the UN's World Press Freedom Day. The day was first proclaimed in December 1993 by the UN General Assembly, which called for it to be celebrated on 3 May each year.
Guterres also said that the media is increasingly concentrated in the hands of "the few".
We will take the UN Secretary-General's advice. Sadly, the truth is increasingly being monopolised around the world, and the inherent right to an independent opinion is being bought, blackmailed, raped and murdered. The media industry is becoming less and less distinct from the manufacturing industry, which is focused on consumption, and which uses highly manipulative marketing tools to promote it.
In this world of interdependence on social status, money and material wealth, and political influence, the objective and impartial voice is not only attacked directly, but also criticised by the masses, who are fed information manure every day by the headline-drug dealers. Intoxicated by surrogate news, misinformed but caffeinated news consumers hang the independent speaker on the forks of verbal aggression.
Long poisoned by information surrogates of distorted facts, propaganda and lies, fellow citizens are a threat to the free people who proclaim the truth and the facts and to the security of the state.
Significant developments
Shoigu, the head of the Russian Ministry of Terrorism and War Crimes, has called on the state-owned Tactical Missile Corporation to double its production of missiles "in the shortest possible time", as a possible counter-attack by Ukraine looms. A client of the Hague tribunal, speaking at a meeting with top military officials, said that the state-owned company was fulfilling its contracts on time, but that this was not enough.
Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defence noted in an assessment published on Tuesday that "logistical problems remain at the heart of Russia's difficult campaign in Ukraine". "Russia does not have enough ammunition to succeed in an offensive", it said.
In the absence of missiles, terrorist Russia launched an air strike on Ukraine tonight with Iranian drones. The unmanned kamikazes were launched from the northern Bryansk region and from the south - the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov. In total, Russia launched 26 Shakhed-136/131 strike drones. Twenty-one unmanned aerial vehicles were successfully destroyed, the air force reported. Anti-aircraft missile armament, aviation and mobile firefighting teams were deployed in the Air Command Centre, Eastern and Southern areas of responsibility.
All drones were shot down over Kyiv and its region. Seven were shot down over the Dnipro region. One of them broke through an air defence and hit an administrative building in Dnipro, where a fire broke out, but fortunately there were no casualties.
Meanwhile, in Kherson region, the Russian occupation troops fired 106 times. The terrorists fired 485 shells from heavy artillery, Grad, tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles and aviation. The town of Kherson was shelled nine times by the enemy. Residential areas in the centre of the region were hit. Four people were killed and seven others injured, including a child.
Briefly
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden began a three-day state visit to Estonia on Tuesday, their first official visit in more than 30 years.
Denmark announces its largest military aid package to Ukraine, worth nearly $250 million. The money will be used to buy air defence, ammunition, armoured vehicles and other equipment.
Ukraine is now capable of offensive operations, Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Foreign Affairs. He added that Kyiv also has sufficient defence resources, which have increased significantly over the past year. At the same time, the US General did not specify a possible date for the launch of an offensive operation, noting that the decision would be made by Ukraine itself.
On the night of 3 May, 5 drones attacked a Russian military airfield in the Briansk region. No one knows where they came from. Well, simply - UFOs!
Lithuania
On 3 May 1791, the four-year Seimas adopted the first constitution in Europe and the second in the world (the US adopted it on 4 March 1789).
Its eleventh section stipulated that military power belonged to the people, not the king. This established that every citizen must defend the country and his freedom. A later amendment stipulated that all citizens of the ATR had to serve five years in the army.
Five years, dear.
Then and now, Russia terrorized the world. Only today we are considering that maybe there is no need for general conscription, perhaps the few thousand who will be trained to defend their freedom and the freedom of their country in six months will be enough.
Pictured here, is a street battle in the ruins of Bakhmut.
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