Two headlines on the same day

US to leave Iraq

- The Iraqi Foreign Minister and his American counterpart will hold a press conference in Washington next month to announce an official statement marking the end of the mission of the international coalition forces in Iraq.

- The withdrawal of the international coalition forces from all parts of Iraq, except the KRI, will begin in September 2025

- The international coalition forces will withdraw from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in September 2026

https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2024/08/11/3138208/exclusive-end-of-us-military-presence-in-iraq-to-be-declared-soon

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors examined the aftermath of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' kamikaze drone strikes at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Experts visited the site of the Ukrainian drone strike and the fire at the plant's cooling tower.

The plant's director reported that the speed and scale of yesterday's fire at the Zaporizhzhya NPP indicate that the Ukrainian drone that attacked the cooling tower was carrying flammable liquid. According to preliminary data, the supporting structures of the structure are not damaged, but the plastic separation devices have completely burned out.

https://news.1rj.ru/str/izvestia/181663

IAEA at #ZaporizhzhiaNPP

#ZaporizhzhiaNPP

🇺🇦TG:

"Rumors started circulating that Zelensky has not abandoned his backup plan to attack Energodar and Zaporizhzhya NPP, as colleagues had written earlier.

The situation in Energodar is difficult, the attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces have become systemic : they are striking infrastructure almost every day, said the city's mayor.

Perhaps Zelensky's Kursk adventure was precisely needed to provoke the Russians to withdraw reserves from the Zaporizhzhya region, but as we can see, this has not happened yet, which means the attack on Energodar is in question.
If it doesn't happen by the beginning of October, it won't happen at all."

🇷🇺 Interview by Acting Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Roman Ustinov to RIA Novosti news agency

❓Will the Permanent Mission of Russia bring up for discussion new strikes by the Ukrainian side on the Zaporozhskaya NPP at the site in Vienna and when?

💬 Of course, we will do this. All relevant information is communicated to the IAEA management and will be distributed among all Agency member states. We are also determining the optimal steps to sharpen these reckless actions of the Ukrainian side within the IAEA Board of Governors. There may be various options here, including the possibility of convening an extraordinary session of the IAEA Board of Governors. However, the main thing now is to achieve a clear assessment of what happened from the IAEA leadership

❓When will IAEA inspectors be able to get to the scene? Have they already received the relevant materials from the Russian side?

💬 Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi, in his operational statement on the situation around the Zaporozhskaya NPP, which was released on the evening of August 11, emphasized the importance of quickly providing access to the cooling tower that was shelled for IAEA experts located at the plant. Such access, it seems, would really be important so that the Agency could assess the situation on the spot, the damage caused and report on it publicly, including in the interests of dispelling murky speculation about the causes of the incident that appear in the Ukrainian media. Judging by reports directly from the Zaporozhskaya NPP, IAEA experts have already received the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the consequences of the Ukrainian drone strikes

❓What prevents the IAEA from indicating from where and who carried out the strikes?

💬 I would really not like to think that the only thing that prevents the IAEA from indicating where and who is carrying out the strikes on the Zaporozhskaya NPP is the political conjuncture. At first, the Agency said that the IAEA does not have the function of attributing guilt. This is true. However, after the IAEA Director General announced his «five principles» for ensuring nuclear safety and security at the Zaporozhskaya NPP on May 30, 2023 in the UN Security Council and pledged to report on their violations, the Agency actually acquired such a function in relation to this plant. After the drone attacks in April this year, the Agency, however, did not name the guilty party, but referred to the lack of solid material evidence that it was Ukraine. Let's see how the IAEA will behave this time. It is obvious to us that the lack of indication of the guilty party only fuels the Ukrainian sense of permissiveness and leads to new similar attacks

❓Are preparations underway to organize the visit of IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to Moscow? When can it take place?

💬 As you can see, there are enough issues to discuss within the framework of traditional consultations between the IAEA leadership and the Russian interdepartmental delegation, so we do not rule out that the next contact may take place before the regular session of the IAEA Board of Governors opening on September 9. It is not necessary that it will be in Moscow

EU crackdown on freedom of speech + censorship

"It's amazing how everything they say, it's always the opposite: "ensuring freedom of expression and of information are protected" = "censor anything we, an unelected group of ultrawealthy technocrats, disagree with" - Zerohedge (X)

🇺🇦TG:

Inside
Our source in the General Staff said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not control Sudzha, and that our units are currently located along the southwestern perimeter of the city and are waiting for reserves to storm it. At the moment, there are battles along the entire contact line in the Kursk region, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces assault groups are unable to advance deep into Russian territory and are trying to consolidate their positions.