Scott Ritter: Israel failing in global PR campaign to demonize Hamas

The Israeli government has reached for comparisons to some of the most notorious international antagonists of recent years in its effort to demonize Hamas so as to avoid a substantive conversation about the ultimate cause of decades of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, an expert told Sputnik.

Check out his full comment on Sputnik's website

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Russian authorities have successfully managed the economic shocks following the commencement of the special military operation in Ukraine. As a result, people who had left the country have begun to return, as reported by the Financial Times.

The newspaper conducted interviews with several Russians who had left the country during the events in Ukraine but have now decided to return. One of them stated, "Job opportunities outside the country are not as good as they could be."

Another interviewee highlighted that in their homeland, "Life goes on, and business continues to develop."

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

It seems that the total failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive has made Western leaders think twice about further providing Kiev with massive military support, former Pentagon officer David T. Pyne told Sputnik

According to Pyne, the West is “confronted with the stark reality that Ukraine has exhausted its counteroffensive capabilities and thus its forces must be redeployed to more defensible positions to guard against an expected Russian winter offensive which they believe could succeed in taking back significant amounts of Ukrainian territory” over the next several months.

The ex-Pentagon analyst also noted that the US’ recent decision to focus on providing Kiev with more essential and defensive weapons instead of so-called "hi-tech" and offensive ones is “likely a recognition of the catastrophic failure of the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive.”

He suggested that Ukraine might receive “far fewer artillery systems and munitions from the US in the future as those systems are now in short supply. The outbreak of the war in Israel has shown the need for the US to maintain a significant reserve stockpile of such munitions rather than ship them all to Ukraine to fight an unwinnable war” against Russia.

The latest 48th package of US military aid to the Kiev regime was worth just $200 million, the same amount that was registered in 2021, before the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Russian Defense Ministry says downed two Ukrainian ATACMS missiles for first time

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The video presented by Israel as evidence of Palestinian involvement in a rocket attack on a Gaza hospital does not actually show who was responsible for the tragedy, the New York Times reported after its own investigation

According to the New York Times, the Al-Jazeera video that Israeli authorities are using as the main evidence of Palestinian involvement in the hospital explosion has nothing to do with it. In the video, the rocket detonated "about two miles" above the ground and could not have caused the explosion.

The Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital in Gaza was hit on October 17. The Gaza Health Ministry said 471 people were killed and more than 300 injured, most of them women and children.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 If the Czech Republic stands for justice, it should return the Sudetenland to Germany, said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, commenting on Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky's statement on Crimea

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Key points of the Russian Defense Ministry briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️The Russian Army shot down two Ukrainian MiG-29s, a Su-25 attack aircraft and an L-39 combat training aircraft;

▪️In the Kherson direction, in the areas of Aleshkinsky Island and the small railroad bridge over the Dnieper River, exposed concentrations of enemy personnel were defeated, and the Armed Forces lost more than 110 men;

▪️In the direction of Kupyansk, Russian forces repulsed 15 attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 145 servicemen;

▪️Near Krasny Liman, Russian forces repelled three attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 30 servicemen;

▪️Towards Donetsk, the Russian Army repelled five attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 500 servicemen;

▪️In the southern Donetsk direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to 160 servicemen;

▪️In the Zaporozhye direction, the Russian Army repelled five attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 85 servicemen.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

As Ukrainian air force sustains heavy losses in recent days, it becomes increasingly apparent that Russian air defense systems, such as the S-400 Triumf, are not to be trifled with.

▪️The S-400 is an advanced Russian mobile surface-to-air missile system that can defend against a variety of airborne threats, including combat aircraft and cruise missiles.

▪️An S-400 can simultaneously track and engage multiple targets, including those flying at altitudes of up to 30 kilometers and at speeds of up to 4,800 meters per second.

▪️S-400 missiles are launched vertically, allowing the air defense system to engage targets coming from any direction without bringing the launchers to bear on them.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇸🇰 President of Slovakia appoints Robert Fico as Prime Minister

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Meet Erez Calderon-Dan, a 12-year-old boy, who has spent his entire life with his large family on an Israeli kibbutz called Nir Am.

On October 7, he was kidnapped by Hamas, along with his father Ofer and elder sister, Sahar. His grandma Carmela and cousin Noya were murdered in cold blood by Hamas that ominous morning.

“It turned out that an elderly woman that needed anti-dementia as well as heart treatment and [a] girl with autism were brutally murdered. Ofer, Sahar and Erez are kidnapped. We are grieving and at the same time struggling to return the abductees home,” said Noam Calderon-Dan, Erez's uncle and father of Noya, who was murdered.

He also pointed out that all their family is "grieving and at the same time struggling to return the abductees home".

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

“People forget that Iran not only has good air defenses, they also have outstanding variety of all kinds of operational tactical and ballistic missiles. And these are not Katyusha missiles, but very serious and highly sophisticated missiles with great targeting. [So if the US attacks], Iran can literally blow up every single American base in the Middle East in retaliation,” Andrei Martyanov, military analyst, told the New Rules podcast.

👉 The looming Israeli ground offensive in Gaza, Iran’s formidable military potential, why the Biden administration is heading for a geopolitical disaster of historic proportions: You can find the full episode on Rumble