An Israeli anti-torture body has referred its own country to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after concluding that Israel is “not interested and unable to stop the use of torture against Palestinians”.

An Israeli anti-torture body has referred its own country to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after concluding that Israel is “not interested and unable to stop the use of torture against Palestinians”. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) said on Friday it had demanded that Israelis involved in torture be tried as part of an investigation by the Hague-based ICC over suspected war crimes committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. It said that after 30 years of fighting torture it had “reached the unfortunate conclusion” that Israel has no wish to end torture, honestly investigate victims' complaints and prosecute those responsible. "For us, this is a necessary and obligatory step today in our struggle for the moral image of Israeli society, and for the sake of justice for the victims we represent," it said in a statement.

[T]he truth is, once we have eliminated all the impossible scenarios, the least improbable outcome of the war in Ukraine is a Russian victory.

Andrew Latham | Note that I did not say such an outcome would be desirable. Russia’s inevitable victory is anything but. Nor did I say it would be total. The outcome of this war is going to fall far short of the Kremlin’s initial hopes and expectations. Nor, finally, did I say it would be without significant cost. Any conceivable Russian victory now will entail such a loss of blood and treasure that it will have to be judged Pyrrhic at best.

[...] And that leaves only one other conceivable outcome: a fragmented and partly dismembered Ukraine, neither fully part of the West nor entirely within the Russian sphere of influence. A Ukraine fragmented in that the whole of the Donbas and perhaps other territories will be left beyond Kyiv’s control; partly dismembered in that Crimea will remain part of Russia (at least in Russian eyes); and not fully part of the West in that it will not be free to join NATO or even to have a meaningful partnership with the EU. Simply put, this outcome is not only not impossible, it’s not even improbable. And when this final scenario comes to pass, who will have won the war in Ukraine?

As the ravaging war in Eastern Europe continues to escalate unabated, Russia has accused Poland of seizing territories in western Ukraine. Speaking at a meeting on national security in the Volga region, Nikolai Patrushev, Russian Security Council Secretary, stated that the so-called western allies of the Kyiv regime are also not opposed to taking advantage of the current situation for their own gain, and have special plans for Ukrainian territory. He further claimed that Poland appears to be going forward with plans to capture western Ukrainian territory.

"A clear confirmation of this was the Polish President Andrzej Duda's recent visit to Kyiv, as well as his statements that the Polish-Ukrainian border would soon cease to exist," Patrushev said, as per Interfax news agency. Earlier in May, President Dauda proposed a new friendship deal between Poland and Ukraine, saying that the two nations' borders should unite rather than divide. Meanwhile, Patrushev further warned that a lot of countries are already working to "dismantle Ukraine." Further, he claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy intends to offer Poland a special status, including the right to hold leading public positions.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue attack aimed at threatening the civilian population and destruction of civilian infrastructure in the DPR and LPR.

On June 11, the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic reported that Ukrainian armed formations fired over 180 shells from MLRS “Grad”, 155-, 122-mm caliber artillery, as well as 120 and 82-mm mortars on the territory of the DPR. Districts of 8 settlements were shelled. Four civilians were injured, 16 residential buildings and 3 civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged. In the Luhansk People’s Republic, Ukrainian armed formations have been shelling the settlements of Pervomaisk and Rubezhnoye. Tank shells and mines were used during the attacks. As a result, the building of the local administration in Pervomayskoe, as well as the Zarya house of culture and leisure, an art school, a shopping complex and an apartment building were damaged. During the day, about a dozen of civilians were wounded.

“War not in the name of democracy”, “Will democracy arsenals benefit Ukraine?” these and other similar headlines mirror Middle Eastern views on the situation in Ukraine. They address a key narrative of the Western world: Ukraine allegedly has become a flashpoint where war “between Western democracy and Russia’s authoritarianism” rages on.

💬 "According to a Bahraini political scientist, the events in Ukraine have debunked Western narrative about freedom, exposing the arrogance of its politicians and merchants of deaths. Mountains of lies and speculations are piled up by the Western media against Moscow under a “digital dictatorship”.