Discussion Page
"Salaries of over 4.5 million people
will grow": Russian government
approves increase in minimum
wage ------ by 18.5% in 2024
by Vladimir Tsegoev &
Ksenia Chemodanova
September 22nd, 6:57pm
(RT.ru)
Starting from January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in Russia
will increase by 18.5% and exceed 19.2 thousand rubles.
This decision -- was made by the Government on behalf
of President Vladimir Putin. In addition, the Cabinet of
Ministers approved the draft federal budget for 2024-
2026. It is assumed that over the next three years,
the state treasury's expenditures will exceed the
amount of revenues, & this difference is to be
covered by borrowing. According to the
government ----- when forming the
document, the main priority was
to fulfill the social obligations
to citizens & the instruction
of the head of state.
Let's explain that the minimum wage sets the minimum salary
level that a full-time employee can receive. In addition, this
parameter is used to calculate temporary disability
benefits, as well as maternity benefits.
In accordance with the Constitution of Russia, the minimum
wage cannot be less than the subsistence minimum (PM) of
the working-age population. Now this amount is on average
15,669 rubles in the country. Authorities use it to assess
the needs of citizens when providing various state
support measures, such as monthly payments to
low-income families with children.
Now the minimum wage exceeds the amount of PM by only
4%. However, in 2024 the difference will have to increase
to 17%, and in the future the authorities plan to raise this
bar above 30%, as previously stated by the head of the
Ministry of Labour, Anton Kotyakov.
''Just three or four years ago, we lived in conditions where the
minimum wage was lower than the subsistence level. The
first criterion that the government's actions were focused
on was bringing the minimum wage to the level of the
minimum wage of the working-age population. To
date, this bar has been passed, we do not stop at
it, we are moving further," the minister noted.
Svetlana Bessarab, a member of the State Duma
Committee on Labour, Social Policy and
Veterans' Affairs:
"The minimum wage, is a standard that all employers must
meet. In practice, the salary of any full-time employee in
the country cannot be lower than this mark. Tariff grids
in the real sector of the economy are expected to be
revised. At the same time, unemployment and
maternity benefits will increase. In general,
the measure should lead to an increase in
consumer activity --- which will have a
positive impact on the development
of the economy and GDP growth
rates," she stressed.
After the meeting, the government approved the draft federal
budget for the next three years. As Mikhail Mishustin noted,
when forming the document, the authorities proceeded
from the need to fully fulfill all obligations to the
Russians and the six priority tasks set by
the president.
"This means --- expanding foreign economic cooperation with
our promising partners from friendly countries, and improving
the necessary mechanisms for this, including transport and
payment components. Plus --- strengthening technological
and financial sovereignty, advancing the construction of
transport, municipal and social infrastructure --- as well
as improving the welfare of citizens, ensuring national
savings, protecting motherhood and childhood, and
supporting families with children," he explained.
According to Mikhail Mishustin, the authorities tried to
minimize the difference between revenues and
expenditures of the treasury, as much as
possible, and plan to cover it mainly
through borrowing.
However, the current size of the deficit is not critical for the
economy, says Alexander Abramov, Head of the Laboratory
for Analysis of Institutions and Financial Markets at the
RANEPA Institute for Applied Economic Research.
"Usually, the deficit is financed by issuing government bonds.
Such a measure does not lead to serious consequences for
financial stability, if there are no significant fluctuations in
interest rates. Moreover, even the current situation, when
the Central Bank tightens monetary policy, is also not
critical. In addition, the government traditionally lays
down a conservative budget ----- with low oil prices.
This is done, so that there is a reserve, and space
for maneuver," Abramov explained.
It should be noted that in the three-year budget, the
authorities.. include the cost of oil in the amount of
$60 per barrel. At the same time - according to the
forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development,
in 2024-2026, quotes will be around the $70 mark.
As part of the implementation of social obligations to citizens,
the government is going to increase funding for medical care
in the regions by 13.5% in 2024. As Mikhail Mishustin noted,
this is necessary - to expand the availability of treatment for
citizens -- to ensure the salaries of doctors & other medical
personnel at a level not lower than that established by the
presidential decree. Separate resources are provided,
for medical rehabilitation..... including for Russians
who have been ill with coronavirus.
"Next year, we will allocate over 130 billion rubles to provide
high-tech assistance not included in the basic compulsory
health insurance program. Also, residents of each of the
Russian regions will continue to have the opportunity
to receive it free of charge --- in federal medical
institutions. This will cost about 214 billion
rubles," Mishustin added.
In addition, within the approved budget, the authorities
are going to allocate more than 1 trillion rubles for the
provision of medicines for certain categories of
citizens. Another 430 billion rubles will be
spent on providing medical care to
people suffering from cancer.
At the same time, payments of a single allowance to
pregnant women in need and parents with children
under 17 -- will continue. In the next three years, it
is planned to allocate 4.4 trillion rubles for these
purposes --- which will allow supporting over
10 million families, every month.
In turn, the budget will allocate about 1.6 trillion rubles for
the provision of maternity capital. It is expected that over
4 million families will use these funds in three years. In
addition, 482 billion rubles are provided for improving
the housing conditions of Russians with children,
and over 100 billion rubles are provided for
supporting low income citizens under
the social contract program.
Significant funds will also be allocated for the construction
and repair of schools, road maintenance, upgrading the
infrastructure of land-based electric transport and
the development of regional airports. Also,
industry will receive additional funding.
"An important priority of the government's work - is creating
modern industry. The bill provides for over 2.7 trillion rubles
to support civil industry. This will support such industries
as the automotive industry," Finance Minister Anton
Siluanov said, during the meeting.
The government is also going to allocate --- a grant of over 5
billion rubles to the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation.
This, as Mishustin noted, will provide support to veterans
of the SVO and their relatives, - including assistance in
medical rehabilitation, employment, training, plus
providing the necessary legal assistance.
Head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Maxim
Reshetnikov says, after a decline of 2.1% in 2022, the
volume of Russian GDP will increase immediately --
by 2.8% in 2023, and in 2024 it will add 2.3%.
"The main thing we see is that the economic growth trend will
continue in 2024, 2025, and 2026... Over the entire medium
term, the growth rate will be above 2%, which is generally
normal in the face of a significant shortage in the labour
market and all the restrictions in logistics, technology
and other areas. Although, of course, we need to
work on increasing the pace, " the head of the
Ministry of Economic Development noted.
According to the agency's assessment, the dollar exchange
rate will fall to 94 rubles by the end of 2023, and over the
next three years it will be in the range of 90-92 rubles.
At the same time, inflation may slow down to 4.5% in
2024, and after that it should return to the target
level of 4%.
"The presented forecast allows us to form a realistic budget
for the next three years. This forecast takes into account
the current dynamics of the economy, the economic
policy measures being implemented, primarily in
the development of the six priorities outlined
by the president," Reshetnikov stressed.
I'd move to Russia, if I wasn't an
old twat ------- what about you?
__________________________________________
The rise of major labour unions in US --
shines a light on grim financial reality
by Shabbir Rizvi
September 18th, 1:28pm
(PressTV)
Americans are well aware of the value of the dollar, at least
when it comes to their own purchasing power at home.
If they didn’t know before, then they certainly
learned this year.
The year 2023 has so far marked rising costs of living
for everyday items amidst a backdrop of massive
government spending on the usual - war,
policing, corporate bailouts
and subsidization.
However, if you were to ask President Joe Biden about the
financial state of the everyday American, he would say
“Bidennomics is working” --- (although he may stare
blankly at you and try to find a teleprompter first).
“Bidenomics” is Washington’s marketing term for the Biden
administration’s business-as-usual plan ---- to convince
Americans that the federal government is taking steps
to ensure their financial situation will improve --- aka
they are not doing anything new or substantial to
address any crisis.
The plan vows - to “grow the economy from the middle out
and the bottom up.” Again, this is nothing for a corporate-
friendly policy that prioritizes the profits of the elite.
Biden administration officials routinely champion the
“success” of this strategy via social media and
through administration-friendly journalists
(corporate stenographers), but taking a
closer look at these claims and figures
reveals a more honest assessment of
the financial status of everyday
Americans.
The reality is that rising costs of living are contributing
directly to the record-breaking $1 trillion in credit card
debt Americans have accumulated. American workers
often have no choice but to resort to credit card use
for necessities, due to higher prices for groceries,
gas, rent and mortgage.
Another 40 million-plus Americans are set to resume student
loan repayments in October after a nearly four-year pause,
which will without a doubt exacerbate the country’s
debt crisis.
Biden administration officials claim their initiatives are adding
more jobs to the economy. These are often vague numbers
that are based on speculation.... rather than
concrete evidence.
Furthermore, jobs are always being created - however, many
Americans are working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.
The quality of the jobs being created isn’t specified and with
the implementation of automation, many of these jobs... will
be rendered obsolete.
Many Americans naturally will not accept these conditions.
In fact, this year has seen some of the most striking (no
pun intended) acts of laboUr resistance in recent
American history.
Industries of different sizes and varieties have taken concrete
steps to challenge these conditions, which are created
primarily by American capitalist greed at the helm,
leaving scraps for the majority of workers.
It is now without question that grim financial conditions have
led to a new-found popularity of unionization efforts, and the
unionization efforts themselves --- have led to massive wins
for American workers.
For example, the Teamsters Union, one of the largest unions in
the world, threatened to go on strike over the summer due to
declining conditions in the workplace.... as well as
stagnant pay.
The Teamsters, which represent UPS workers, could have
shaken the US economy had the strike happened - as
UPS serves hundreds of thousands to millions of
customers and businesses, daily.
The demands ranged from hiring more workers (full and part-
time), increased wages, and even air conditioning in UPS
trucks (which UPS initially refused to provide, despite
the multiple record-breaking days of heat this year
alone - a testament to unhinged capitalist greed).
Eventually, a favorable agreement was met - over 85%
of Teamsters signed, ratifying a 5-year deal.
In post-pandemic America, many workers have begun to
realize their own self-interests can only be achieved by
workplace organization, not relying on this-or-that
politician to bring any substantial change.
Many unions - from the Teamsters to Alphabet workers to
teachers unions such as the Chicago Teachers Union -
held firm on their demands throughout the COVID-19
pandemic and achieved favorable results.
Now, their success is inspiring waves of different
unionization efforts ------ across the country.
Perhaps the most popular recent example of this is
the Starbucks workers union. Starbucks is owned
by billionaire Howard Schultz but his employees
often work in degrading conditions.
Working for minimum wage or sometimes less and relying
on customer tips to get by, many Starbucks employees
(or “Partners”) have now moved to unionize their local
stores demanding fair pay and benefits.
What was seen as a nearly impossible battle to win at the
start of the first Starbucks unionization effort is now
seen as fairly common - over 300 Starbucks stores
are now unionized, and counting.
This has not come easy. Union-busting activities are fairly
common, and the National LaboUr Relations Board has
reported hundreds of union-busting activities, and
often cannot do anything to act against the mega-
corporations seeking to stifle employees asking
for basic wages and protections.
Adding to this is the fact that Joe Biden and his administration
- on paper - claim they support workers’ unions and their right
to organize, however, in practice ------ that is not happening.
Take for example a statement where Joe Biden hopes the
United Auto Workers union can reach a favorable
negotiation with the “Big Three” automakers in
he United States. It implies that the Biden
administration... is hopeful for favorable
negotiations between the two parties
and that they can resolve the issue
without federal intervention.
However, the Biden administration is no stranger to crushing
strikes - as one can recall when Biden signed a bill to put an
end to the railroad strike.
Striking railroad workers had reasonable demands - the ability
to take sick days and schedules that would permit them to
spend time with their families, without fear of owner
retaliation or punishment.
The railroad companies refused to budge, and as the holidays
neared and the threat of mega-corporations being unable to
turn over a profit began to materialize, the Biden
administration swooped in and blocked the
strike, without substantially addressing
the oppressive attendance policy.
Interestingly, this desperate move from the Biden
administration was also an admission of the
immense power unions hold. Had the strike
materialized, the entire economy could
have been halted - right before a
major holiday season.
Now, with the United Auto Worker strike, unions are directly
addressing the Biden administration’s hand ----- in policies
that are impacting their work.
Refusing to endorse Biden for president right before a heated
election season, the UAW president is challenging the Biden
administration to “earn the Union’s support,” while
simultaneously demanding that the workers not
be left behind in the administration’s plans
for a major shift to electric vehicles.
As one can see, the paper policy and the practiced policy
are two different things within the reality of the American
political system - especially when it comes to the
question of organized laboUr.
On paper, every politician - from Democrat to Republican --
wants the union endorsement. However, when substantial
(and just) demands are made --- that contradict the
demands of corporate donors, the politicians
have a major tendency to back the
corporate multi-millionaire to
multi-billionaire demands.
Regardless, unions are making a huge comeback in the United
States - and the renewed laboUr struggle is very much tied to
the declining financial health of the everyday American and
the public realization of just how far American capitalist
greed can go. 2021 saw ---- just below 120 confirmed
laboUr strikes.
As of September 2023, there are close to 250 strikes ----
composed of over 600,000 workers across various
industries and specialties. The growing trend
suggests that the laboUr struggle is just
getting started.
As economic realities remain uncertain and Americans
are forced to choose between which corporate
representatives will lead the nation next year
- one thing they can always count on is that
there is strength --- and power --- in
unified numbers.
Shabbir Rizvi is a Chicago-based political analyst
with a focus on US internal security and
foreign policy.
(The views expressed in this article ---- do
not necessarily reflect those of Press TV)
Good to see US workers uniting
to win. What do you think?
__________________________________________
SwebbTV --- Russia will defeat the
West in the proxy war in Ukraine,
and in open confrontation
September 11th, 2023
(source: SwebbTV
retold by InoTV)
The collapse of the Ukrainian army is only a matter of time,
but the US --- will never allow its formal defeat. For this
reason, the Ukrainian conflict will escalate into an
open war between the US and Russia, but the
West will lose in it, analyst Lars Bern said
in an interview with SwebbTV.
According to analyst Lars Bern, the Western powers "have no
chance" - partly because Russia has much greater industrial
potential. The West cannot defeat Russia with conventional
weapons, so the conflict will turn into a nuclear phase.
In this case... Moscow will use its 100-ton intercontinental
missiles with nuclear weapons, each of which is capable
of destroying entire countries. "The Russians --- have
absolutely grotesque weapons, that they can use
against the West," the expert explained.
Bern claims that the US prestige is at stake in the events
in Ukraine, so they will never recognize the victory of
the Russians, over Kiev. However, the Ukrainian
Armed Forces will have to surrender, as their
"highly hyped in the media" offensive, with
the use of Western weapons "completely
failed", and the Ukrainians "achieved
nothing" on the battlefield, writes
SwebbTV.
As soon as the Western media think that they see even the
slightest success on the part of Ukraine -- they hype it as
a big success, although it may not be at all. This is done
purposefully to ensure that the supply of weapons and
the armed conflict continue. Ukraine succeeds only
in the propaganda war in the West, because Kiev
has already lost on the battlefield,
SwebbTV notes.
It has already reached the point that Ukraine is running out
of men, and now women have to enlist in the ranks of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine. Nevertheless, Bern believes
that, in addition to Ukraine, the Russian Armed
Forces are "on the verge of disarming the
entire NATO," which could lead to an
open war between the US/NATO
and Russia.
According to the analyst, "the proxy war between
Russia and NATO --- is already underway" and
hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian lives
were sacrificed during it.
Nevertheless, even in an open war between the West and
Russia, the Russians will win. According to Lars Bern,
the Western powers --- will be the first to resort to
nuclear weapons, since this is the only way to
try to "save face".
In addition, Russia has hundreds of tons of intercontinental
ballistic missiles capable of carrying up to 15 nuclear
warheads. "A single charge of Sarmat can wipe out
the whole of Great Britain or France," Byrne
warned in an interview with SwebbTV.
A possible nuclear conflict will be existential for Russia,
and Russia will respond ------ with these weapons.
Recently, the former Prime Minister of Sweden, and now
the leader of the opposition Social Democrats party,
Magdalena Andersson, said:: "We can't let Russia
win this war." Bern sharply criticized the
politician's words -- emphasizing that
Andersson's words, automatically
lead to an all-out nuclear war ----
which she does not understand
and which scares the expert,
since "such people"
rule Sweden.
The analyst believes that Swedish politicians are so
blinded by their hatred of Russia, that they do not
notice the Nazi Kiev regime --- and carry out its
mass support, SwebbTV summarizes.
Great article - if you live in the West
and don't mind being irradiated.....
like your food is ------- courtesy of
just one of Margaret Thatcher's
criminal decisions.
What do you think?
______________________________________
"Engaged in mass and methodical
extermination": FSB documents
show Nazi crimes in Donbass
by Svyatoslav Knyazev,
& Elizaveta Komarova
September 7th, 12:15am
(RT.ru)
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Donetsk
from the Nazis ----- the Russian FSB released declassified
documents of the Soviet state security agencies, about
the crimes of the Nazi occupiers in the Donbass during
the Great Patriotic War.
The agency's website has published interrogation protocols
of Nazi criminals, involved in the mass murder of civilians in
Donbass. They contain evidence: that the extermination of
the inhabitants of the USSR by the Nazis was planned and
methodical. Moreover, these crimes were committed not
only by militants of special SS units, but also by
Wehrmacht soldiers.
From the published protocols of interrogations of German
officers, it follows that the destruction of the inhabitants
of the USSR was deliberately planned and based on the
dogmas of Nazi ideology.
"Mobilize the attention of all operational personnel"
On September 8, 1943, the city of Stalino (modern Donetsk)
was liberated from the Nazis. Donbass --- was under Nazi
occupation for almost two years. According to the FSB
of Russia, during this time --- the Nazis and their
accomplices destroyed at least 174 thousand
Soviet civilians and 149 thousand prisoners
of war, in the Stalino region.
One of the places of mass murder -- was
the 4-4 bis mine in the suburb of Stalino.
The leadership of the Soviet special services set their
employees the task, of investigating the crimes that
the Nazis committed in the occupied territories, as
well as identifying and bringing to justice specific
participants in these atrocities.
On January 24, 1944.... the directive of the Directorate for
Prisoners of War and Internees (UPVI) -- of the NKVD of
the USSR: "On identifying participants in committing
atrocities among prisoners of war" --- was issued,
which ordered: "to mobilize the attention of the
entire operational staff of camps" to identify
the participants in committing atrocities,
by operational and investigative means,
and document their criminal activities.
The Soviet secret services carefully checked prisoners of war
who had previously served in the SD, SS, special security and
punitive detachments, police, secret field gendarmerie,
Gestapo and concentration camps. As a result of this
work --- evidence was obtained of atrocities
committed against the civilian population
not only by special SS punitive units,
but also by Wehrmacht soldiers.
"No laws or regulations"
In January 1944, Soviet security forces, detained the Nazi
collaborator Yuri Shcherbakov. He admitted that in 1941
he evaded conscription into the Red Army... stayed in
Stalino, and then joined the Nazis -- first as a police
officer and then as an investigator of the auxiliary
service of the SD --- which killed thousands of
Soviet citizens. Materials of Shcherbakov's
interrogation are published by the FSB.
Stalin's SD team and its auxiliary service, officially called the
"Security and SD Service" for the general district of Stalino,
which had its branches in all major industrial centres of
the Donbass, were engaged in the mass and methodical
extermination of Soviet people --- acting on the orders
of the Hitlerite government... There were no laws, or
regulations in the SD.. Soviet prisoners were loaded
into special trucks and taken to the mine 4-4 bis
"Kalinovka", on the outskirts of Stalino city,
where they were shot, and the corpses
were dumped into the shaft... Many
thousands of Soviet citizens were
thrown into mine 4-4 bis, shot,
tortured, in interrogations, or
killed in the "death chamber"
-- Shcherbakov said, during
the interrogation.
He also named some of the organizers of the mass murder of
Soviet citizens. Among them were the head of the Security
Service and SD for the general district of Stalino —
Obersturmbannfuhrer Kurting, as well as his
deputies Hauptsturmfuhrer Gertig and
Obersturmfuhrer Graf, and the chief
inspector of the SD team ---
Sturmfuhrer Siebert.
According to Shcherbakov, the SD officers, destroyed both
Soviet patriots --- underground fighters and partisans, and
ordinary civilians who had nothing to do with the fighting
at all - from teenagers to the very old. The "investigation"
of their cases, was limited to torture and tortures. Thus,
innocent people, were forced to confess to fictitious
"crimes". The prisoners were beaten with fists,
whips, chair legs, and trampled on them.
Many could not stand the torture and
died during the "interrogations".
Even those who survived the
torture, were unable to
move on their own.
During an interrogation on October 7, 1947, former Wehrmacht
lieutenant, Wolfgang Paul Lesner, stated that, as a member of
the Hitler Youth, he was brought up in a spirit of hatred for
the Slavic peoples: "Even at that time, it was preached
among young people that Germany should become a
"Great Germany", its borders in the east, should be
in the Caucasus, that the Aryan race ---- must be
dominant throughout the world... the Hitlerite
government ------ intensively prepared the
population - and especially the youth -
for a war of conquest, in the spirit of
loyalty to the Fuhrer and hatred of
the Slavic peoples, which was a
confirmation of the mass
destruction of the
Slavic people."
Lesner also said that the German military, according to the
orders of their command, had to show maximum cruelty
towards the civilian population --- to kill, or deprive
them of shelter.
He himself admitted that he took part in these crimes.
In particular --- Lesner gave specific testimony
regarding the mass murder of Soviet
citizens in occupied Stalino.
"On October 13, 1942, at approximately 12 o'clock in the
afternoon, I was given the command by the company
commander --- to leave with three trucks for the
Oberfeldkommendatura of the mountains.''
''Upon arrival at the commandant's office, the cars entered the
courtyard, where people were already under guard, subject to
execution, as I later learned, there were 120 of them. We put
the first batch to the wall of the mine yard, after which I went
up to the machine-gun crew and, at the command of Captain
Waer, I gave the order to the crew to open fire and shot the
crowd of innocent citizens standing at the wall of the mine
yard in long bursts, there was crying, some shouting, but
the roar of the machine gun drowned it all. There were
corpses and blood of people who were shot. Thus a
machine-gun crew, under my command, shot 40
people, whose corpses were thrown into the
shaft of mine 4 bis by a special team led
by Lieutenant Kind," the former Nazi
officer said.
As Dmitry Surzhik, a senior researcher at the Institute of
Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
told RT, in a comment, that the actions of German
punitive bodies and troops in the Donbass,
can be regarded as a manifestation
of genocide.
"Representatives of all nationalities living in the Soviet
Union, were subjected to total extermination in the
Donbas," the expert noted.
According to him, the publication of declassified
documents about Nazi atrocities in the Donbas,
is extremely relevant today.
"The memory of the residents of Donbass ---- about the Nazi
occupation is closely intertwined with the criminal actions
that those who raised the ideology of Bandera and other
Hitler's minions are doing on these lands, today. Today,
Russian investigative agencies, like Smersh 80 years
ago ----- face large-scale war crimes committed by
Ukrainian security services..... in the Donbas. In
addition, the release of declassified documents
is doubly important for us to realize: what a
tough and bloody enemy, our ancestors
defeated, giving us the opportunity
to live," Surzhik summed up.
Please.. defeat these fascists
- only this time - defeat their
backers - these ''elites''
behind the curtain.
_______________________________
Often symbolically: in Germany,
they are persecuted for
supporting the SVO
September 6th, 10:01pm
by Semyon Boikov
(Izvestia.ru)
Public displays of solidarity with Russia — in the form of
statements or wearing certain symbols ----- in Germany
can lead to harassment by law enforcement agencies,
Michael Adam, a lawyer for the human rights
organization VADAR, told Izvestia.
A similar problem was also discussed at the Russian
Embassy in Germany. In addition... the diplomatic
mission noted that attempts to put pressure on
Russian journalists and domestic media
working in Germany... continue.
A similar situation exists in other EU countries, including
the Baltic Republics and the Czech Republic. Local
human rights activists report that public support
for the SVO is fraught with fines --- or even
expulsions from the country.
With German precision
Russian diplomats recorded the largest number of complaints
from Russian-speaking citizens living in Germany about
discrimination on national and linguistic grounds in the
first months after the start of the SVO in Ukraine.
It was mainly about threats, insults, mobbing in educational
institutions, dismissals, property damage, freezing or
closing bank accounts, refusal to provide services,
including medical ones, the Russian Embassy in
Germany told Izvestia.
''The issue... is not completely closed. Public displays of
solidarity with Russia's policies, whether in the form
of statements or demonstrations - car rallies -
sometimes provoke an intolerant reaction
from local authorities --- including law
enforcement agencies. We continue
to record attempts to put pressure
on Russian journalists & domestic
media working in Germany," the
press service of the diplomatic
mission added.
Residents of the Federal Republic of Germany who publicly
express support for the SVO, as a rule --- fall under the
violation of Article 140, of the Criminal Code of the
Federal Republic of Germany (Approval of crimes)
which provides for a fine or imprisonment for up
to three years, a board member of the
Association for the Prevention of
Discrimination and Isolation of
Russian Germans and Russian
-Speaking Fellow Citizens in
Germany (VADAR), lawyer
Michael Adam.
''In my cases, fines were imposed, and I objected to this. The
demonstration of the Z symbol on Facebook (owned by the
Meta company, which is recognized as extremist and
banned in the Russian Federation) or a positive
statement about the beginning of the SVO in
Ukraine... the authorities used as a reason
to impose a fine. They regarded this as
"approval of aggression contrary
to international law," the
lawyer said.
According to Adam, he was able to challenge the court's
decisions. In his argument, the lawyer referred to
international law. He stressed - that only the UN
Security Council can define the armed conflict
in Ukraine as "Russian aggression". However,
no such decision was made at the Security
Council level. However, in some cases it
was not possible to win the case...
because the court brought new
charges ---- under other
criminal articles.
"For example --- people were charged under article 86
of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the distribution
of Nazi symbols in public places," he explained.
More than 140 cases were initiated in Germany on the fact of
supporting the SVO. In most cases, people were persecuted
just for using the letter Z. One of the most high-profile
incidents was the case of a citizen of Ukraine, an
activist of the Russian-speaking community,
Elena Kolbasnikova.
She was charged under Article 140 of the German Criminal
Code and fined €900. A woman was convicted for publicly
speaking out in support of Russia in 2022.
However, different regions of Germany have their own laws
regarding Russian symbols. So... in Cologne and Frankfurt
am Main on May 9, not only the symbols of the USSR, but
also Russian flags --- were allowed. And in the German
capital, the supreme administrative court canceled
the permission to demonstrate the flags of the
Russian Federation on Victory Day. However,
Berlin residents ignored this ban... at their
own peril and risk.
''Despite the ban, both the Soviet banner and Russian flags
were raised, by native Germans and compatriots. And we
were able to create a live St. George's ribbon in Treptow
Park on May 9. But this is now considered a civil feat.
Because domestic intimidation, turns into outright
harassment on the Internet," Vladimir Sergienko,
a local human rights activist and president of
the Russian PEN Centre, told Izvestia.
"I don't see any negative trends in relation to Russian artists"
Singer Dmitry Ulyanov - about the situation in Western
theatres, shouting at si Bekar and Shalyapin's
Russianness. At the same time, German
lawmakers continue to tighten the
Criminal Code.
Last year, lawmakers amended the Criminal Code to impose a
three-year prison sentence for publicly "approving, denying,
or grossly downplaying" genocide, crimes against
humanity, or war crimes.
Izvestia sent a request to the German Interior Ministry
with a request to comment on cases of harassment
for approving the SVO.
Harassment in other EU countries
However, Germany is far from the only country that is being
persecuted for supporting Russia. The gaps are mainly
faced by residents of Eastern European countries.
The Baltic republics have very strict legislation.
Thus, the Lithuanian parliament last year equated support
for Russian actions in Ukraine - with "public approval of
international crimes." Previously --- article 170 of the
Lithuanian Criminal Code applied only to "approving,
denying or belittling crimes committed by the USSR
or Nazi Germany against the Republic of Lithuania
or its inhabitants." Its violation provides for
imprisonment.... for up to two years.
A similar situation has developed in neighboring Latvia. Last
year, the Sejm approved fines for public display of the letters
Z and V. An individual will have to pay up to €350, a legal
entity-up to €2.9 thousand. In addition, the country has
a criminal article... "on the public justification and
glorification of war crimes and crimes against
peace", which is equated with the SVO.
Latvian human rights activist Janis Kuzins told Izvestia
- that many Russian compatriots are being persecuted.
''They just want to expel Russian citizens — there are many
of them in Latvia. They make it so that they can't pass the
state language exam," Kuzins said. ''I myself paid a fine of
€2 thousand for saying something "wrong" to the Russian
media. I had to negotiate with the prosecutor's office.
They said it was either jail or a fine. I decided to find
the money. Plus... I'm on probation for a year.''
"Today in Latvia we have to fight for the right to be
Russian" Russian Ambassador to Riga Mikhail
Vanin - on visa restrictions, the fight against
the Russian language and the demolition
of Soviet monuments.
The situation in Estonia is no less difficult. In this country, too,
in 2022, a law was passed banning symbols associated with
the SVO. For its violation, the fine for individuals is €1,200 or
they will be arrested, and for legal entities-a fine of up to
€32 thousand. A local human rights activist, speaking on
condition of anonymity, told Izvestia that public support
for Russia or its own actions is criminally punishable
in Estonia.
''Even thoughts are punishable, not to mention statements,
publications, or events. The authorities believe that it is
necessary to respond harshly to any activity that splits
the cohesion of society ---- around the adopted anti-
Russian sanctions. The atmosphere of fear and
silence does not contribute to the growth of
legal protection of people who have a
different, but not negative opinion
about Russia," he said.
Speeches in favour of Russia in the Czech Republic are also
criminalized. For this -- you can face a prison term of up to
three years. Support for Russian actions in Ukraine in the
Czech Republic falls under "approval of a criminal
offense committed" and "denial, approval,
justification of genocide."
There is a well-known case of a Czech citizen Jakub Jaszek.
In the spring of this year, he took part in a rally, in clothes
with the image of the letter Z and the emblem of the PMC
"Wagner". Yashek was given a six-month suspended
sentence with a two-year probation period -- for
"denying, approving or justifying genocide".
In addition, he was ordered to pay a fine of 12 thousand
kronor — about $570. The sentence also provides
for a ban on his stay in Prague --- for a year.
Sorry - no discussion on this -
you sickening criminal !
______________________________
GT: Vietnam war veteran tries to stop
the US from repeating the nightmare
with cluster munitions in Ukraine
September 1st, 2023
(source Global Times
retold by InoTV)
US veteran Mike Burton, who himself participated in
bombing -- and witnessed the tragic consequences
of the mass use of cluster munitions, by US forces
during the Vietnam War --- now seeks to prevent a
repeat of this nightmarish experience in Ukraine.
As a retired US Air Force officer told the Global Times,
his participation in the massive bombing of Laos half
a century ago is still a source of the most painful
memories and a reason for regret.
During the Vietnam War, the United States actively used
cluster bombs to launch airstrikes on various targets
in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. During the period
from 1964 to 1973, the United States dropped
millions of tons of shells and bombs on
these countries, of which about 80
million tons did not explode.
Laos has suffered the most from this, which can be called
the country that has suffered the most bombardment per
capita in history, the article says.
Now many fear that Ukraine, which has already received
many cluster munitions from the United States, may
become a new victim, sharing the tragic fate of
Laos, writes Global Times. Burton also shares
these concerns and tries to take measures
to prevent such a development.
Now he heads the organization Legacies of War ("Legacy
of War"), which intends to conduct a campaign in the
United States next year to ban landmines and
cluster munitions.
The mission of this organization is to raise awareness
about the history of bombing during the Vietnam War
and the damage it caused. In a recent interview
with the Global Times, Burton stressed that he
regrets the use of cluster bombs in Laos, and
stressed that Ukraine should not want to
experience such a nightmare as well,
since the consequences will be
disastrous for both the people
of Ukraine and the people of
the United States...... for
decades to come.
The retired US Air Force officer ---- also called on the US
government to show more discretion and responsibility
when deciding how to allocate the $800 million aid
allocated to Ukraine. The White House's
previously announced decision to
include military aid and supplies
of cluster munitions to Ukraine
in this package caused public
condemnation, the Global
Times notes.
Each cluster munition... can contain hundreds of smaller
munitions, which, when launched by aircraft, rockets or
cannons, are dispersed in the air, causing damage and
causing a large number of casualties over a wider
area, the article explains. However, they do not
have a guidance mechanism.
Even more worrying is the fact that if these bombs fall on
wet and soft ground and do not detonate on impact,
a significant portion of them may turn into
unexploded ordnance.
Such projectiles are capable of exploding later at any time
if they are exposed to any external force or changes in
the environment. And this can happen... even several
decades later, if they are not all found & neutralized.
During the massive US bombing of Laos, many villages and
even entire valleys were destroyed, and countless civilians
were killed, Burton recalled, in an interview with the
Global Times.
According to him --- he joined the US Air Force in 1962
and was assigned to the 56th Air Commando Wing in
1966. The main task of this unit then was to stop
the influx of people and supplies coming from
the northern part of Vietnam to the south
through the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", which
almost completely passed through
Laos, Burton explained.
"As I recall, Laos was generally bombed, every 8 minutes, for
24 hours a day, for nine years," said the retired US Air Force
officer. In addition to the aerial bombardment, after
intense battles, a large number of unexploded
shells... also remained in the ground. The
surface of the earth was simply littered
with countless bombs, of all types,
from cluster and artillery shells
to hand grenades,
Burton noted.
According to his estimates, 30% to 40% of cluster munitions
did not explode during their fall. And he was very nervous
himself, because he realized that the bombs dropped by
the pilots indiscriminately fell on rice fields and other
places where people might be.
"We estimate, that there may be up to 80 million individual
projectiles scattered all over the land, and some of them
will never be eliminated," Burton warned.
According to available data, cluster munitions have a higher
destructive power than conventional ones, and since the
Second World War - they have already caused the death
of from 56.5 thousand to 86.5 thousand civilians. The
US military actively used cluster munitions during
the wars in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo,
Afghanistan and Iraq.
This resulted --- in significant damage to infrastructure in
these countries, as well as numerous civilian casualties
and injuries, the Global Times reminds.
The bombing during the Vietnam War.... became widely known
only through congressional hearings in 1971 and subsequent
media reports. However, the true extent of the destruction
and disasters caused to the people of Laos by this
"secret war" is still largely unknown to the US
public, the article says.
According to Burton, he witnessed tragic incidents both on
the ground and in the air, and returned from the war "with
very bad feelings about what we had done --- and what
happened there." Often, small unexploded ordnance
was accidentally picked up by children who lost
their arms, legs, eyesight, or even their lives,
as a result.
"I saw this destruction with my own eyes from the air and on
the ground. I have seen Lao children and adults with their
limbs torn off, no eyes, and their faces disfigured by the
explosion of untimely detonated ammunition. Our
decision to drop cluster bombs on Laos also
caused a flood of refugees fleeing death
to head to the United States," Burton
told the Global Times.
This year marks 50 years since the last US bombs were
dropped during the Vietnam War. However, this period
is still a source of the most difficult memories for
Burton. The US veteran told reporters how he
suffered both mentally and psychologically,
trying to cope with the burden of his guilt
after returning from the war.
For 14 months, he underwent a special therapy course
organized with the assistance of the US Department
of Veterans Affairs. "Many of the young people who
returned were later addicted to alcohol and drugs,
and suffered from fits of anger. Statistics on
Vietnam veterans are pretty poor --- from
suicides, to broken marriages, broken
families, and the like, " Burton said.
"I am very sorry about the time I spent in the war; I try not
to think about many things," the veteran also admitted in
an interview with Global Times. According to him, he
seeks to make amends by all means and actively
advocates for preventing the recurrence of
such tragedies in the future.
In 2022, Burton returned to Laos and felt a deep sense of
sadness as he looked out of the plane at this land pitted
with many giant craters. "The wounded earth is a
reminder of America's deadly mistake, a
reminder of the lives we have taken
and the ancient landmarks we
have wiped off the face of
the earth," he said.. in an
interview with reporters.
According to the Lao Government, less than 10% of the
country's unexploded ordnance has been found and
neutralized so far. This is a very tedious, time-
consuming and dangerous job, said Burton,
who was also personally involved in it
in 2022.
In addition, he founded the Committee for Immigrants and
Refugees, which provides assistance and support to
various groups of migrants and refugees from all
over the world.
In general, about four dozen human rights organizations
have publicly opposed the supply of US cluster
munitions to Ukraine. They warn ------ that
numerous unexploded cluster munitions,
even many years after the end of the
conflict, will pose a significant
threat to the population and
cause huge harm to many
civilians, the article says.
In early July of this year, the Ukrainian authorities assured
Washington, that they would not use cluster munitions in
populated areas. However, once these bombs are used,
no one will be able to give a clear answer about
whether such a promise was strictly fulfilled,
experts emphasize.
"Probably, weapons manufacturers are already standing at the
door of the Pentagon and saying: hey, we are here with a new
contract that you need to sign, just sell all our supplies to
Ukraine. But I want to stop them from doing that,"
Burton explained.
In his opinion, if the US authorities still continue to supply
Kiev with cluster munitions, then they should sign a
public document stating -- that they undertake to
compensate for the consequences, after the
end of the conflict -- and will take lifelong
care of all adults and children who will
become disabled, due to the use of
such weapons.
"And I want us to take responsibility for this,"
the veteran concluded, in an interview with
Global Times.
Aahh.... repentance. Good.
But better to stop doing it.
_______________________________
"Victory is Russia's
return to its roots"
by Ksenia Krikheli
August 20th, 10:01pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Philosopher Alexander Dugin - about the most important clash
with the West in history, the terrorist nature of Kiev and the
real murderers of his daughter.
The real customers of the murder of Daria Dugina, who died
during the terrorist attack on August 20 last year, should be
sought in the leadership of Western special services, says
philosopher Alexander Dugin. After the victory of Russia,
there will also be organizers of other terrorist attacks
committed by Kiev, he is convinced.
The true victory for our country will be the process
of returning Russia and the Russian people to
themselves and their roots, Dugin said, in
an interview with Izvestia.
During the conversation, the political scientist assessed
the scale of the civilizational conflict with the West,
gave an explanation of the actions of Ukrainians
in Europe and named the conditions for
completing the SVO.
"For me, the nightmare keeps repeating itself"
A year has passed since the tragedy. Dasha is not forgotten,
streets are named after her, and a university named after
her has appeared. How did you live this year? What has
it changed for you? How have you changed?
''It is very difficult for me to talk about this topic. I've
never been in such a state in my life as this year.
This is no longer called life, and nothing can
replace Dasha either as a daughter, or as
a person. For me -- the nightmare that
happened a year ago, on August 20,
at the festival "Tradition", repeats
and repeats. The people who
wanted to hurt me... got
their way.''
''I'd rather be killed a billion times over. I'd give anything to get
in that car myself. It doesn't go away, and it probably won't.
Nothing and no circumstances will ever be able to
compensate for this loss, will not help to come
to terms with it.''
''I remember this female killer... who came up to me a few
minutes before the murder with her daughter. She took
a picture of us and said that she had come from
another city to listen to my lecture. This
cynicism, this endless cruelty of the
enemy. I honestly didn't expect
it to be like this.''
''I was ready to die -- and I am still ready to die -- for a just
cause. I believe that soldiers who fight for their country,
for their faith, for their country, for their people, they
should be ready to die. Yes, their death is always
a tragedy.''
''But such a cynical murder of a daughter in front
of her father, the murder of a girl who did not
take part in any military operations -- never
called for reprisals, against those who are
our civilizational enemies.... called in her
interviews and speeches to understand
the enemy, to understand women from
that side... There is something
satanic in this.''
''I was giving a lecture on the devil in history at the festival.
Just imagine, the devil sat and listened to my lecture and
then he killed my daughter. I do not know — you can
probably die and experience terrible suffering
without ever approaching this nightmare,
which I would not wish on anyone.
I said how I felt. I can't say any
routine phrases about Dasha
being a great person.''
''People put up monuments to her, paint pictures, compose
poems, compose music, listen to it. We.. have published
her diary, and the book "Eschatological Optimism" will
be published soon — this was Dasha's main idea. We
are preparing the third book... from her articles and
speeches, decoding her lectures. It will be called
"The Russian Frontier" - practically her will,
although, of course, she was going to live
for a long time and stood at the origins
of her existence. I am very grateful to
the people who do not forget Dasha,
who pray for her, remember her,
study her ----- discover her for
themselves. But, it is a drop
in the ocean of what it was
....and what it should
have become.''
"The Ukrainian idea itself is pure terrorism"
In the realities of 2023, statements are already being made
at all levels, that Ukraine is a terrorist state. I remember
Mikhalkov's film "Sunstroke", where his hero says:
"How did it happen and when did it happen?"
''The Ukrainian idea itself - that is, Ukraine as an idea of a
separate, independent state is a terrorist idea. This was
not a good Ukrainian state ---- and then it turned into a
terrorist one. The Ukrainian idea, has a property only
in hatred for Russians, for Great Russians. In Poland,
for example, hostility to us has historical roots once
the Poles were an independent state --- sometimes
even more successful - in the Kremlin during the
Time of Troubles, as we know, there was a
Polish garrison.
But we have no such history of relations with the Ukrainians.
Simply because Ukrainians are a part of us. And now the
idea of terrorism, has emerged in some of our people.
Although we are brothers --- and we live in the same
state, we actually won these lands from the same
Poles, Austrians, and Turks. And this nation is a
brotherly one - we liberated it. He lived in the
same place where he had lived, only freely,
without masters ------ because a brother
cannot buy his brother out of slavery.''
''Ukraine became a terrorist state even before its appearance.
The Ukrainian idea itself, is pure terrorism, the embodiment
of hatred, racism, unfounded hostility to one's brothers, the
revision of all historical episodes, the creation of an
absolutely false, fictional, monstrous, aggressive,
mythological story.''
''The emergence of the Ukrainian state, meant the
beginning of terror - and it was inevitable. Sooner
or later, the Kiev regime would have turned into
the terrorist entity that it is now. In 1991, we
created this terrorist enclave with our
own hands.''
''The time has come, and this contagion of terrorism has
spread from Western Ukraine to Central Ukraine, then
partly to Eastern Ukraine. The fact that we have not
countered this for 30 years, in fact, puts this blame
on us too. You can't say: "Here they are — bad".
''From the very beginning, when they started talking about
"independent Ukraine" — everything, at that moment it
was necessary to send troops, because then what we
see now will happen. There will be atrocities, terror,
violence, genocide ---- of those they consider
their enemies.''
''Ukrainian statehood must cease to exist. It cannot be
anything other than a terrorist one. And if we set our
selves the task of denazification & demilitarization,
then we can only achieve this by establishing full
control over this land. Above our land, where
Ukrainians have always lived freely. And
this is their soil, this is their homeland.
We are not encroaching on this home
land. We are attacking the terrorist
ideology that prevails there.''
"We are a different civilization"
You have repeatedly said that the SVO is one of the largest
attacks on the collective West in the history of Russia.
Have we made any progress in this offensive? And
how far do we want to go... and can we go?
''We really entered into a conflict - a civilizational conflict with
the West. It is no coincidence ---- that our president said that
we are opposed to Satanic civilization. The modern West
is a civilization of Satan. Never before, has Western
civilization attacked us --- so directly. The French
were abandoned.. but then the British were not
on Napoleon's side. Hitler was abandoned, but
America and Britain were not on his side. That
is, the West attacked us in parts, and now it
is attacking us globally and frontally. And
that is what makes this conflict perhaps
the most important in history. Because
this is a clash with the Western entity,
which today is really becoming open,
totalitarian, Satanic. Anti-human —
in the full sense of the word.''
''As for how far we can go... Despite the fact that we oppose
the West, we do not directly threaten them. And the borders
of the Lviv region and Galicia will stop us, we will not go
further. They will stop it if it is not already a full-fledged
pan-European conflict with us, if NATO troops are not
sent there. But we can and must, reach the western
border of Ukraine. This is our trait. If we don't reach
that border, we will die. We cannot stop somewhere
in the middle, somewhere in the territories that we
have liberated. Or somewhere near them. Half
measures won't work anymore. In 2014, we
decided on half measures — and here's
what we got.''
''Any truce concluded before the complete liberation of
Ukraine is a catastrophe, irreversible and final. And
the victory in Ukraine is a fundamental opportunity
for us to be a civilization ---- historically, a Russian
Eurasian civilization. If we hesitate - it will be the
end of us. The odds in this case are not equal.
We have everything at stake. For the West,
this is a struggle under the slogan "to
have or not to have." And for us —
"to be or not to be."
''And after that, the West will not go anywhere -- because
Ukraine is a bargaining chip for it. He'll lose a pittance.
We risk losing everything, in this confrontation. In this
respect, I think this is just the beginning. Our victory
in Ukraine will be the beginning of a different
relationship with the West.''
Is this what you call a clash of civilizations?
''Yes, this is a real clash of civilizations. The world was
already heading for this clash, but it could have been
gradual if there were rational pragmatists like Trump
instead of extremist forces like Biden and globalists
in the West. I think we could have come to a clash
of civilizations in a much milder way. We could find
some kind of modus vivendi. [way of life, living]''
''At the same time, we still do not recognize Western values,
and no matter how universal, unique, and exemplary they
may be, we reject this. We have different values, we are
a different civilization.''
"Victory cannot be the result of a reaction"
You have a theory of the victory party that will help Russia
win. In your opinion, what should be done to achieve this?
''It seems to me that now to win -- you need a strategic
dimension, strategic depth. We, our government, our
authorities, the military - are always responding,
constantly catching up with the processes that
someone else is starting. That is, we are
reacting -- our policy is reactive. If we
had not been provoked by NATO and
the Ukrainians to this conflict, we
would not have started it of our
own free will.''
''This means that we only intuitively approach the
fact that we are an independent civilization, that
we actually considered ourselves part of the
Western world --- until recently.''
''It was just that some aspects of it were unacceptable
to us, some conditions we rejected, but, in general,
we considered ourselves... a Western civilization.
Our elite, at least. The people don't. And not the
patriots, not the victory party. But the elite - no,
no, and again, in their minds, in their ideas,
goes over to the side of the West.''
''And so, we don't have the strategic depth of planning. We
are responding. We are attacked — we fight back, we are
insulted — we get into a conflict, we are insulted — we
respond. When the conflict has already begun — and
not before it - we begin to carry out measures to
mobilize society, to raise patriotic awareness.
Its been going on for a year and a half, and
we are still afraid to let it enter the
consciousness of our society,
pretending that nothing
is happening.''
And yet, what is strategic depth?
''This is when we go to our goal, not paying attention to what
is imposed on us, having our own internal civilizational
agenda. When it doesn't matter whether we agree with
the West now --- or not. We will go towards this goal in
any case, we must have strategic plans in the work
of the government, in building the army, in the
economy, education, upbringing, culture, and
art. That is what victory depends on, right
now. It cannot be achieved...... by purely
technical means. Victory ---- in the
situation we are already in --- can
never be the result of a reaction.
Even the most effective one.
This is the concept
I propose — the
victory party.''
''Victory is an internal concept. Victory is the return of
Russia, the Russian people, the Russian state, and
Russian culture to themselves, to their roots. Of
course, it will be achieved and achieved on the
fronts at any cost. I have quoted many times
a wonderful Serbian poet who said: "I give
my life for you, my Fatherland. I know
what I give and what I give for." So
we need to know what people are
fighting for now.''
''And in no way should our people, returning from the front
as invalids, feel alien & incomprehensible in a peaceful
collective. We have a front & a rear. And nothing else
...no peaceful life. It seems to me, that the idea of
preserving normality is a false goal. We — our
hearts - need to be rebuilt in a new way.''
"Both of them believe that Russia is weak"
You read the news and get the feeling that Kiev's terrorist
actions are beginning to irritate the West — Zelensky is
increasingly being "exposed" for his methods. Do you
think this is really true, or is it all part of the
same game?
''I am convinced that Ukraine does not have any special
methods, they operate under the direct supervision of
Western special services. They don't do anything
without consulting the decision-making centres
in the Anglo-Saxon world. But there is more
than one centre.''
''In the West itself ---- there is, for example, a more moderate
faction that believes that Russia is already in fact defeated
and it is not necessary to anger it, provoke strikes and any
other harsh actions on our part. They believe, that these
kind of audacious terrorist antics do nothing to achieve
long-term goals. They believe that, by giving us such
irritating terrorist jabs --- Ukraine will not achieve
results, that is, it will not be able to destroy us.''
''And there are those in the West who believe that we have not
just lost, but collapsed altogether & demonstrated weakness.
The withdrawal from Kherson, grain deals; all this is seen by
the radical wing of the West as our complete defeat. And so
they are pushing the Ukrainian terrorist regime... to launch
more and more strikes - believing that we will not respond
in any way, that we are ready for a truce.''
''That is, there are two "parties" there: one radical --- which
pushes Ukrainians to terrorist actions, and the other more
moderate, which scolds them for the sake of appearance.
This is a pure performance. And.. the Ukrainians are only
an instrument of this globalist war. Kiev in this story, as
an independent subject, simply does not exist. There
are two decision-making centres outside of Kiev.''
Are we talking about those "geopolitical chess games" that
you have repeatedly mentioned before? Is there a division
in them into black and white? Conditionally to those who
believe that Russia is weak, and to those who believe
that Russia can respond?
''Both of them believe that Russia is weak. Only some believe
that Russia is very weak and therefore it can be finished off,
while others believe that it is weak, but - in agony - it can
suddenly use some resources, means - nuclear weapons
and so on. That is, some are more radical, others are
less radical. But everyone --- is against us.''
''There is, of course, a third pole, but it is not the centre of
decision-making in the West. For example, people like
Trump who don't care about Russia. They are not for
Russia, they don't like us either, but they believe
that there are other problems... besides us.
Therefore it is irrational to set themselves
the task of destroying Russia - at any
cost, and it does not correspond to
the interests of the global West. In
their opinion - this can be done,
but absolutely not in this way,
not now and not --- in the
first place.''
What is the significance of this third pole?
''You can't underestimate it. Just now... it is under attack in
the States themselves. These are traditional Republicans,
these are the so-called paleoconservatives, that is... old
conservatives who believe that Russia is not in charge.''
''There are neoconservatives - these are former Trotskyists
who became supporters of hyperliberalism.... because of
Trotsky's hatred of Stalin, Trotskyists for Stalinism, and
the Soviet period. They have shifted their beliefs --- to
the new geopolitical environment --- and are the core
of our most radical opponents.''
''And the paleoconservatives.. take the position that it's not
about Russia - at all. There are many other problems that
the West must deal with. These... are the three decision
-making centres. Now, of course, our radical opponents
and moderates set the tone, but such indifferent ones
--- they, practically, do not exist in the West.''
The "fifth Column - is a piece on the chessboard
that the West is moving against us" Do we have
such centres?
''There are also three centres on our side of the chessboard.
One centre is the traitors who, together with our radical
opponents, dream of Russia's immediate defeat. As a
matter of fact, this is a "fifth column" that has long
escaped and simply works for the Kiev terrorist
regime, for the Western special services. But
until recently, they were part of our political,
cultural, and intellectual elite. These were
respected people who appeared on all
channels, were experts, published
their books and set the tone. We
can not say... that these are
some kind of marginals.''
''They are simply part of our establishment, but only now
have these people revealed themselves - as radical
opponents of Russia, our people, and everything
related to our culture, civilization, and values.''
''They didn't become like this after the beginning of the SVO
------ they always were. We have many athletes, politicians,
cultural figures, and oligarchs just like that. Someone has
already made this Nazi pro-Ukrainian coming-out, that is,
said that he spat on Russia. The "fifth column" is one of
the pieces on the chessboard, that the West is moving
against us. This is an opportunity to influence our
chess --- from the inside out.''
''There is a second force — those who consider Russia part
of the Western world would like to conclude an immediate
truce with the West on any terms, but are loyal to Putin.
Such people understand that this is impossible. They
represent "sleepers". This is part of the elite, which
does not directly rebel against the government, but
is ready to do so at any time, if there is at least
some chance.''
Is the second power less dangerous?"
''It's a very dangerous current. Yes, these people are not open
enemies. Yes, they are now saying that they are for the SVO,
for Russia, but they are doing everything to prevent us from
concentrating all the necessary resources - to mobilize
society, to win. They are, in fact, a kind of centre of
sabotage - invisible, indirect. They say: "Yes,
Vladimir Vladimirovich! Give us this
assignment, and we will be the
first to execute it. Just don't
give it to this one.. because
it's not the same. Just give
it to me and I'll do it!"
''And then begins the coordination of the task with the
interests of the West --- their own personal interests.
Sometimes they overlap, and the mobilization of
our society is sabotaged.''
''But there is a third figure. This is the victory Party, this is the
people, this is the president, these are patriots. I liked how
someone wrote in one Telegram channel: Narod-front.
That is, the people and the front are now one. This is
us. We are both the people and our Russian warrior.
That's one thing now. This victory party is certainly
led by the President and his truly civilizationally
loyal associates. Not all of our elite is rotten,
there are absolutely convinced carriers of
the Russian spirit.''
''The most important thing is that he stands on this side of the
victory party, but historically he has got such an elite, and he
is trying to manipulate it somehow. He himself said that a
different elite is needed — from the people who are at the
front, from the front that is among the people. That is,
from the mobilized. Putin said bluntly: people will
come with their own freedom, and they should
be the ruling elite -- and not those who found
themselves in it, during the most decadent,
treacherous periods of our recent history.''
"The fool was admitted to the society of gentlemen"
''Russophobia has become one of the signs of modern history.
Recently in Kiev, for example, they decided to ban the font
"Izhitsa", because it is of Russian origin.''
''Russophobia in Kiev has already crossed all borders. I
don't think even just watching the pigs go berserk, is
worth it. Imagine: a person is in a psychiatric clinic,
he is a maniac, he has a seizure. Are we going to
watch him gnaw on the battery - with his teeth,
scratch his face, yell something unintelligible?
There is something pathological about
watching this scene.''
''Unfortunately, we can't introduce a cure and stop the
black postmodern spectacle that represents the
shameful, shameless rage of this Nazi regime.
But it's also unhealthy, to explore its details.
Let's just win in the end and be done with it.
Let's forget it like a bad dream and not think
about these perversions anymore. We'll just
start building a healthy, normal society, in
a healthy direction.''
What is the real purpose of Ukraine in this conflict?
''I think that we are deeply mistaken when we believe
that Ukraine sets itself the goal of restoring its
territories, sovereignty or strengthening
its statehood.''
''It had all this - before the conflict began. There was full
control over the territories. There was a national state.
Russia did not attempt to kill it. And suddenly at some
point, Ukraine — at least this part of the obsessive
Ukrainian Nazis — begins to do everything to stop
being so. So that Crimea secedes, so that the
Donbass rises up, so that we send in troops
and liberate two more regions that voted
with pleasure to become part of the
Russian Federation.''
''There is some logical discrepancy here. If we are dealing
with nationalists who want a strong national state, they
should have gone towards this goal. But here it's the
other way around. They had a national state with
Crimea, Donbass, Kherson and Zaporizhia. And
the actions of the nationalists, which were
supposed to strengthen the government,
led to the fact that these territories do
not exist. There are no other peoples.
The industry is destroyed. The
question arises: do we
understand correctly,
what Ukraine wants?''
''Does Freud have a phrase Was will das Weib? — What does
a woman want?" And all of Freudianism is built on trying to
answer this very complex, fundamental question. What
does Kiev want? This is definitely not a national state,
because it is its policy that has led to destruction,
destruction, undermining, dismemberment.
And will lead to its end.''
Then what do they want in Kiev?
''The answer occurred to me ---- that they had fallen into the
pursuit of success, a nation of clowns, a nation of buffoons
who only needed attention. They need to be talked about,
shown and invited to - high-level meetings. And for this
fame and popularity, they are ready to give their state,
their people ------ their society. That is, it is a kind of
hypertrophied desire for success. And everything
falls into place. Why - do people choose a clown?
Because only clown people can choose a clown.''
''How does Ukraine behave? She goes to great lengths to
court the applause of either side. That is --- it suits any
antics, any performances, any actions. And there is no
real, far-reaching goal — state building, the return of
Crimea, the establishment of Kiev's power over the
eastern territories - already our lands - and even
more so, an attack on Russia, this goal is not
worth it!''
''Ukrainians just want to call attention to themselves, and
I must say that they are getting their way. It is only
necessary to change this goal-setting, and the
logic of the behaviour of the Kiev regime
becomes completely clear.''
''We are dealing with such crazy actors who are ready to do
anything just to be applauded and helped, just to be loved.
And when someone gets bored with them, they come up
with new tricks and do it quite inventively. If this trick is
war, they go to war, to murder, to torture. That is, it is
a bloody circus.''
''That is why they are now throwing a huge amount, of what
they are already beginning to say is meat into the counter-
offensive. Why do they process Ukrainians? Because it
draws attention to this bloody fog. If you look at how
the president of this country, even when he was a
fairly harmless ordinary comedian, starred in a
video, participating in a homosexual dance on
stilettos in leather underwear, it becomes
clear: he can change into anyone, can
play any role.''
''But that's what other Ukrainians do, too. When they come to
a Western country, they organize a performance. For what?
Just to get some attention. Thus, we are dealing with a
crazy clown. With the people who became the people
of crazy clowns.''
Here you can recall, not Mikhalkov,
but, for example, "Joker".
''I think that the authors of "Joker", who made this film, just
decided to project this figure on the whole country. In order
to humiliate them, and through them to humiliate us, to kill
us, to engage in this monstrous dialogue with this
absolutely crazy society, which is ready to
sacrifice everything for a photo, for
applause, for likes, for attention,
including its own country.''
''No one has ever heard of any Ukraine before. Only, perhaps,
some ethnographers knew. And so, the Ukrainians decided
to make themselves felt. Yes they have attracted attention.
And they are very happy --- when their president travels
around the world, sits, hugs with the leaders of the
Western world. In fact, this is a terrible thing —
the fool was allowed into the society
of gentlemen.''
''There is such a cruel Anglo-Saxon entertainment ---- dinner
with an idiot. When a group of people, of more or less the
same social level, invites someone deliberately stupid, to
dinner and they all sit there, pretending to have ordinary
conversations. But one of them is a complete idiot. And
he doesn't know... he's an idiot. This gives others a
special perverse, anti-humanistic pleasure. They
systematically abuse a person. Cold, consistent
--- not spontaneous. They are preparing this
humiliation, making it out. As well as
what Ukraine is involved in.''
''The idiot was invited to the higher realms to behave as he
behaves. And everyone likes it. But when the idiot leaves
-- people exchange impressions about his intellectual
qualities --- and then pay tribute to him, behind his
back. A cynical practice, in my opinion. But the
Ukrainians want it: well, well, let the idiots, if
only we were invited to this dinner.''
Why, in your opinion?
''It's not about money, you know. There are different ways to
make money: you can kill Russians, you can kill yourself,
you can sell organs, you can set up some businesses,
you can build something. As a result, you can steal
something. In other words, money can appear in
different ways.''
''We should not reduce the explanation of the behaviour of
Ukrainians to the desire for money. They want attention.
They want applause and glory. The idea of profiting
from war, from the suffering of others, and from
your own, is probably present in this, but... it is
not the dominant one. This is very important
--- otherwise, we will not understand them.''
''By the way, here's the mistake. We thought, that their fate
was corruption. And their fate is clowning. Bloody. This is
really a society that has really gone mad. Here, we say it
as a metaphor. But they don't really fool around. They're
sick. And the way they fight, is a real obsession. We're
dealing with obsessive clowns.''
"To find the real killers, even
taking Kiev is not enough"
Concluding the conversation, I would like to return to the
topic, with which, we started. Has there been any
progress in the investigation of the terrorist
attack against Dasha over the past year?
''The investigation... is underway, but the case was solved
almost from the very beginning. A Ukrainian terrorist on
the assignment of Budanov (head of Main Intelligence
Directorate of Ukraine) carried out a terrorist attack
then disappeared - her accomplices helped her.
Small performers, partially found, there are
courts. The case continues. Another
question is that the success in its
completion will be the capture of
Kiev, for example. Then we can
really talk about the triumph
of justice.''
''And indeed, it will be really possible to raise the question:
who and from whom specifically in the West received
carte blanche for this, which of the special services
helped? The question is not about the performer.''
''If you make fake license plates and passports - while being a
police officer, if you transfer information about the movement
of my car - or Dasha's car - to Ukrainian terrorists ---- at
their request - for money, then you are participating in
a terrorist attack. But this is a completely different
responsibility. We need to get to our customers.''
So far, we can see a chain of performers, but they are
still only switchmen. Even Budanov, is a switchman,
because it is not in his competence - to make such
radical decisions. This is a much higher level of
responsibility. Therefore --- the New York
Times, almost immediately --- hastened
to disown it: they say the Ukrainians
did everything themselves.''
''They also tried to disown the explosion of the gas pipeline,
the attacks on the Crimean Bridge. But it is quite obvious:
to find the real culprits, the real killers, even taking Kiev
- is not enough.''
''Many people write to me: "It's a pity that we didn't avenge
Dasha!" But you see, even if the performer is found, tried
and executed, there will still be no justice. First of all,
Dasha is priceless. There is no price that can be paid
for this horror to be balanced --- in any way. But
secondly, there are people who know: they
were the ones who sacrificed her, they
gave the order. And we'll find them
sooner or later.''
''Specific customers and real killers, of course, are
located outside the territory of Ukraine, in the
leadership of Western special services,
Western political instances. We will
find them. In the meantime, the
preparatory stage.''
The West has manufactured this rope
and as its neck feels the noose
tighten... some will feel pity.
What we could do, is repent.
______________________________
While Ukrainians --- die on the frontlines,
Zelensky is lobbying US financial firms
August 20th, 11:59am
by Shabbir Rizvi
(source: PressTV)
As the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia dwindles
to a screeching halt, failing to achieve its objectives,
many questions are being raised about the former
Soviet republic’s future.
Will the Kiev regime concede defeat? Will Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky fight Russians.. until the last Ukrainian?
How much of Ukrainian land will actually remain Ukraine's?
The question of disputed territory is a sensitive topic. NATO
military alliance officials are even floating the idea of giving
up significant Ukrainian territory to end the war and usher
in peace, an idea that may have been unimaginable prior
to the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Although one can speculate back and forth about what land
will become Russian and what land will stay Ukrainian,
something far more sinister is happening beyond the
public eye of what will happen to the territory that
remains Ukraine.
While media pundits are busy tracking the territorial losses
and gains Ukraine is making, the Kiev regime is meeting
with American financial firms to sell off Ukrainian land
and infrastructure.
Even before Russia’s “military operation” completed its first
year, Zelensky had been meeting with various American
investment firms in order to “rebuild Ukraine.”
To the uninitiated, “rebuild Ukraine” sounds like a completely
logical and legitimate initiative in the wake of a devastating
war. However, Zelensky hasn’t been meeting with any
average firm.
He has been actively preparing the ground... for New York-
based investment firm BlackRock to take over significant
swaths of Ukrainian finances, primarily playing a leading
role in advising Kiev on how to handle its post-war
investments and funding.
BlackRock is a notorious “investment management” firm
that has worked closely with the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to hyper-privatize public
assets, land, and infrastructure.
The world’s largest “asset manager”, it manages trillions
of dollars in assets across the West and even acts as an
advisor to European banks. Naturally, it is also involved
in lobbying Western officials, essentially dictating and
creating policy for its own benefit.
However, with NATO encroaching east, it is expected that
countries would surrender their public institutions even
further to Western capitalists as they embrace
neoliberal policies.
It is in recorded history ---- that, during Ukraine’s 2014
Maiden Coup, the United States was closely involved.
The then US Assistant Secretary of State Victory Neuland
was directly on the ground supporting the fascist
overthrow of the neutral Ukraine government
for a pro-Western one.
Later, a leaked phone call revealed that Neuland was
picking and choosing which Ukrainian officials were
best to enter the new coup-installed regime.
It’s no surprise that Ukraine was headed towards a long road
of privatization - supporters of the new regime even burned
down a trade union building --- with people inside.
To this day, the victims have not seen
justice - as the perpetrators are free.
Now, under the guise of war, the Kiev regime has taken
significant steps to further bear the rotten fruits of the
Maiden Coup. Zelensky’s wartime powers have
allowed him to ban all opposition parties.
In August of 2022, Kiev ratified “Law 5371,” which strips
all labour protections – impacting around 70 percent of
Ukraine’s workforce.
Many neoliberals would argue that it is necessary to maintain
control of Ukraine’s exports during the war, but the law was
first introduced in 2021 and could not be passed then
due to trade union opposition.
Adding to it is the fact that Zelensky and his inner circle
were notorious for their corrupt financial affairs.
Prior to the war, it was revealed by the Pandora Papers that
Zelensky and his allies had swaths of money ....hidden in
offshore bank accounts. This money could not be traced
to them, and ignoring the fact that Zelensky’s allies
were involved, local institutions would find it
difficult to trace how they obtained it.
With trade union power dissolved and opposition parties
out of the way, the Kiev regime moved to auction off
their state enterprises.
It is important to note that there were multiple attempts
to auction off some of the same assets, prior to the
2022 military operation, to no avail.
The investment wasn’t as attractive to American capitalists
because there were still many hurdles - primarily legal - that
would make Ukrainian state assets an attractive investment.
With labour unions and political opposition away, foreign
penetration will now ...not only become easy, but even
competitive, and therefore profitable - not only for the
American capitalists but for those who would
eventually benefit from lobbying for money -
Zelensky and Co.
The foreign aid given to Kiev to fend off Russians also does
not come without a price. While the US sees fighting
Russians as money well spent, Washington still
expects an extra return on investment.
Highlighted in the National Recovery Plan are various figures
that address auctioning off state investments, paying back
IMF loans, and opening the country to foreign penetration.
Firms like BlackRock will play a key role in ensuring
every last available asset is sold and privatized.
Zelensky has taken Ukraine to the natural conclusion of
the US-backed Maiden Coup. A once neutral country
now turned into a vassal state of the US, Kiev has
not only sacrificed thousands of Ukrainian men
on the altar of US imperialism, it has --- quite
literally --- sold the entire country to
US capitalists.
With multiple meetings between BlackRock, JP Morgan, and
other investment firms to “rebuild Ukraine,” the fate of the
country - no matter what it looks like after peace is
reached - will be up to the ruling class of the
United States.
Zelensky, instead of searching for peace, is actively acting
as a salesman while thousands of his countrymen are
being slaughtered on the frontlines.
He was even quoted as saying that this situation is “the
greatest opportunity in Europe since World War Two,”
in reference to the incoming post-war investment.
Very little stands in the way for Western capitalists to swoop
in -- and hyper-privatize what is left of Ukraine post-invasion
- with BlackRock at the forefront, advising Ukraine’s foreign
investments and labour opposition completely eviscerated.
Clearly, this was the pathway for Ukraine when the 2014
coup regime announced its various intentions to fight
off the labour movement.
For the corrupt lot in Ukraine and the financial ruling class
in the US, the Russian military operation provided a
unique opportunity to become richer and filthier.
All it cost was the mere price of hundreds of thousands
of lives lost and a country that was once sovereign to
become a playground for the US financial class.
As peace brokers devise a plan on what the new borders of
Ukraine will likely look like, one thing is for certain - the
new face of Ukraine within its borders... will be
completely made by and for Western elites.
Shabbir Rizvi is a Chicago-based political analyst with
a focus on US internal security and foreign policy.
(The views expressed in this article do not
--- necessarily --- reflect those of Press TV.)
These views do reflect a growing
number of people's though.
What --- do you think?
________________________________________
Russia's Central Bank controls
the situation with the ruble,
madness is observed
only in the West
August 16th , 2023
(Source - Redacted
InoTV translation)
The dollar is up 60 percent against the Russian ruble, which
has been gaining strength -- since the start of the conflict in
Ukraine. So what's going on? We were told that everything
is fine with the ruble, but now it seems that this may not
be entirely true. Therefore, we would like to get an
expert opinion on this issue.
If you keep an eye on these things, usually a dollar has cost
about 80 rubles in recent months. And this week it jumped
over the mark of 100 rubles, and then fell just below
a hundred. The Russian Central Bank held an
emergency meeting this week and raised
the interest rate from 8.5 percent
to 12 percent.
Redacted correspondent Mike Jones lives in Russia,
follows East-West relations and will tell us more
about this issue. Thank you so much for
joining us.
MIKE JONES, Redacted correspondent:
''Always a pleasure.''
So, what is it? A complete economic
collapse, or can you give us
some context?
MIKE JONES: ''No, not in Russia. This is very closely
monitored by the Russian Central Bank. Madness is
observed in the West. Both Politico & economists,
who, apparently, do not understand the Russian
economy at all. The Russian Central Bank has
decided to raise this interest rate. And it is
worth remembering that they have not
changed rates since September last
year, from the level of 8.5.
''I will just quote the Central Bank's statement, they are very
straightforward about some of the factors that influenced
their decisions. For example, ''...when oil prices rise, the
ruble strengthens, which reduces the risk of over
heating of the economy. And when oil prices fall,
the ruble weakens, which plays into the hands
of domestic producers, by increasing exports
and stimulating import substitution.''
''Only this quote -- gives a good idea of the past year in
Russia and why the ruble was allowed to reach such
a level. But when it got to a hundred --- that's what
seems to have triggered the so-called emergency
meeting at the Central Bank. The West took it
as a panic, they are sure that the ruble
is falling rapidly.
''And this is not the case. Even if you go to the sitexe.comand
if you follow the ruble, you will see that the decline is gradual
and steady. The drop happened in March 2022, and there was
an obvious drop. As we know, oil prices have played a major
role. All these Western articles somehow do not mention
the restriction of oil prices.
''We heard about it, and then it, somehow, disappeared from
the news. Why? I suspect that around mid-July, Russian
oil, or more precisely Urals crude, was trading above
the agreed price limit of $ 60.''
Limiting the price of the oil --- you mentioned. This is meant
when the European Union decided: "Yes -- we will continue
to buy Russian oil, but we will introduce price restrictions."
And Russia said, " Well, it doesn't really work that way."
Is that what you're talking about?
MIKE JONES: ''Let's look at India. The Financial institute of
Kiev is now accusing them of inflating the cost of supplies
in order to circumvent these measures. I would not want to
pay too much attention to oil, because of course, Russia is
already called a gas station masquerading as an economy.
''One of the big changes, and I've already discussed it with
Clayton, was the grain deal. Since 2014 and the first
wave of sanctions, which were a good lesson for
Russia, it has withstood. Until 2014, Russia was
an importer of food products. Fast forward to
today, Russia is already an exporter of food.
''It exports, of course, grain and animal feed to Africa, and
Egypt is one of the major buyers. Of course, this affects
the price of agricultural feed, which increases this
influence in Western economies ....and in the
reaction of the West.
''The point is, that a weakened ruble means that Russia
receives more rubles from exports. It's the same with
food and oil. This was in the interests of Russia, but
now, as the Central Bank admitted, it has reached
the point where the domestic industry can no
longer expand --- to meet the requirements
of consumers.
''As a result, imports are already growing, which,
they admit, has driven up inflation. Hence the
measure --- that should handle this through
the interest rate.''
That's reassuring... what do you think?
___________________________________________
You can not pardon: the US
Ambassador to Australia
allowed the transfer of
Julian Assange to his
homeland ----------- if
he admits his guilt
by Alexander Karpov
August 14th, 10:01pm
(RT.ru)
The US' Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, has
suggested that a potential plea deal could allow
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to return
to his homeland.
Kennedy added that the conclusion of such an agreement
ultimately depends not on diplomats, but on the position
of the US Department of Justice, but a solution is
"absolutely possible."
Earlier, the head of the US State Department, Anthony
Blinken, said that the question of Assange's future, is
very sensitive for Washington. Political analysts note
that the talk about the likely extradition of Assange
occurs ------ against the backdrop of the political
rapprochement between the US and Australia...
but the WikiLeaks founder is unlikely to return
to his homeland as he caused too serious a
damage to the reputation and national
security of the US.
"In fact, this is not a diplomatic issue, but I think it is
absolutely possible to find a solution," Kennedy
said, in an interview with Australian media.
Endless Trial
Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, while on
a visit to Canberra, said that the question of the future
fate of the WikiLeaks founder --- is very sensitive
for Washington.
"Mr. Assange has been charged with very serious criminal
acts in the United States in connection with his alleged
role in one of the largest breaches of classified
information in the history of our country,"
Blinken said, after talks with the
Australian leadership.
In turn, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said
that his government will continue to seek the release
of the WikiLeaks founder.
"We remain very firm in our opinion and consistent in our
statements to the US government, we will continue to
seek his release," TASS quoted the head of the
Australian cabinet as saying.
The statement of the US ambassador about the possibility
of extradition of Assange to his homeland --- caused some
optimism among supporters of the WikiLeaks founder ---
and a number of Australian politicians.
So, Assange's brother, film producer Gabriel Shipton, believes
that --- in this way --- Washington is looking for a way out of a
situation, in which all the facts of corruption and crimes of
the US authorities will again be announced in the court to
which Assange will be tried, upon extradition to the US.
"This suggests that they do not want this story to develop
in American courts, especially during the electoral cycle.
Therefore ---- the US leadership is actually looking for an
opportunity to distance itself from what is an extremely,
extremely controversial prosecution that violates
media freedom," Shipton said, in a conversation
with Sky News Australia.
According to him, if Assange is indeed extradited to Canberra,
he should be released immediately, as he has already spent
enough time in prison.
And Australia's Shadow Immigration Minister, Dan Tehan,
said Canberra would welcome an end to the prosecution
of Assange, but the final decision on this issue, remains
with the US Department of Justice.
"The most important thing, I think, is that we should take into
account.. their justice system and processes. But, at the
same time, if it was possible to achieve the completion
of this incredibly long case, then we would all be
only for it," the politician said.
Recall - that Washington began the prosecution of Assange
in 2010, when hundreds of thousands of documents were
published on the WikiLeaks portal, including those
related to the actions of the US army in the Middle
East and other controversial steps of Washington,
which were hidden from the public, under the
pretext of protecting national security.
In 2012, the journalist lived in the UK. Fearing extradition to
the US, Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy, in
London, where he applied for political asylum. In 2019, the
then President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, announced that
he was denying the journalist political asylum and
depriving him of his Ecuadorian citizenship.
After seven years of isolation in the diplomatic mission,
the WikiLeaks founder was arrested and imprisoned
in London's Belmarsh prison.
Washington has been seeking Assange's extradition to
the US for more than four years, where he faces a
prison sentence of up to 175 years on
18 charges against him.
In turn, Assange's defense team is trying to prevent his
extradition to the US authorities. In 2022, a UK court
blocked the extradition of Assange --- granting the
appeal of his lawyers. However, this decision
was later reversed, and the British Interior
Minister, Priti Patel, approved the
extradition of the WikiLeaks
founder to the US.
In June of this year, the wife of Julian Assange announced
that her husband would use the last opportunity to block
his extradition to the US, through a UK court.
"A blow to reputation"
The statement of a US diplomat about a possible
deal, indicates that the US has begun to realize
the reputational harm from the prosecution of
Assange, political analyst Malek Dudakov
noted, in a conversation with RT.
"The Americans are quite aggressively trying to get Assange
extradited to their justice system. However, the talk about a
deal with justice shows that the United States is aware of
the reputational losses caused by attempts to send to life
imprisonment a person who is obviously persecuted for
political reasons and suffered for disclosing the facts
of war crimes," the expert explained.
However, the option of a deal in which Assange will be
returned to his homeland and then be released,
does not seem realistic today, Dudakov added.
"The ideal scenario would be Assange's admission of guilt
and return to Australia, maybe under house arrest or
restriction of freedom, but I'm not sure that this
is realistic," the source said.
The main problem with implementing such a scenario is the
fact that Canberra is not an equal partner of Washington
and has no leverage on it, but can only ask the United
States to meet it halfway, the political scientist said.
"There is a certain rapprochement between them,
but Australia is not a player of such a level, that
itcan bargain with the Americans in something.
Canberra can voice its wishes, but in the end,
Washington will do as it sees fit, given that
now Australia is largely dependent on the
United States in the military sphere,"
Malek Dudakov commented.
In turn, Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute
for Humanitarian and Political Studies, believes that the
WikiLeaks founder will sooner or later be extradited
to the US and spend the rest of his life in prison.
"Assange will never be returned to Australia. After some
time, he will be extradited to the United States. This will
not happen immediately --- another appeal will be
considered, and during this time he will remain
in a UK prison," the expert stressed, in an
interview with RT.
The US wants to punish Assange significantly, as he
caused damage to their reputation and the national
security system, Bruter explained.
"Assange cannot be released, his actions are categorically
unacceptable ------ from the point of view of the US political
establishment, and he must be demonstratively punished.
If he is released and speaks freely with the media and in
public, it will be a blow to Washington's reputation as a
global hegemon. It turns out that a certain private
person can tear off the covers from the secret
affairs of Washington and he will not get
anything for it. It is very important for
the US, that all such individuals are
punished in the most severe way.
The situation was similar... with
Snowden, only he disappeared
beyond the reach of American
extraterritorial justice," the
political scientist noted.
No charges have been brought against Assange in
Australia, and no court cases have been opened,
so his transfer to Canberra would effectively
mean his release, Bruter said.
"For the United States, this will be a significant political
defeat. While he is in a British prison, this is not such a
crucial moment for Washington — they know that the
British authorities will not release him. In addition,
London gives the whole process legitimacy,
pretending that there is some kind of
objective judicial procedure, with
appeals and their consideration.
But they won't let him go to
Australia ---- even though
Washington & Canberra
have recently become
.....very close," the
expert concluded.
Everyone playing games.
The US ---- according to
world polls, is already
the most hated state
in the world. If.. they
continue destroying
this journalist they
will just be hated
a little bit more.
Let us keep sending pleas through
our representatives - and pray for
a miracle... or can YOU think of
a solution?
____________________________
IMF varnishes the
“Kosovo picture”
August 11th, 10:52am
https://en.news-front.info/
The servants of the New World Order have long been trying to
lure mankind into their fictional reality. For this purpose, they
use the media & international organisations -- through which
they spread total lies (mixed with a drop of truth, of course).
Serbian Kosovo is a perfect example of the lies of the
globalists. The creation of a 'state' in the place of a
region almost taken away from the Serbs is a poor
solution. That is why behind the political decision
the economic card is played -- a way to convince
the whole world of the stability & attractiveness
of the region. However the political verbiage or
simply --- lies uttered by the globalists, should
be studied, not even by masters of linguistic
juggling, but by psychiatrists.
Gabriel Di Bella --- a representative of the International
Monetary Fund team, believes that the EU’s restrictive
measures against Kosovo may become an obstacle
for foreign investments (!) in the region. Di Bella (a
truly telling surname for Russian ears) said that
“recent events in four northern municipalities
..have led to limited economic and financial
co-operation with the unrecognised state”.
So, your eyesight has not failed you. Di Bella is talking about
some kind of investment in a failed state called Kosovo. In
the very “Kosovo”, which for the last decades was built on
the blood and suffering of Serbs, against all principles of
international law. The very same “Kosovo” that is run by
terrorists and bandits who have made their fortunes by
seizing Serbian property, trafficking in drugs, human
beings.. and human organs. The very “Kosovo” from
which Albanians themselves are fleeing en masse
because economic life in the region is simply
unbearable --- precisely, in the Serbian
municipalities … Obviously, Di Bella
is fulfilling the task of varnishing
the “Kosovo picture”, perhaps
not least, in order to use the
money of the same IMF.
The report of the working group presented by Di Bella
states that “macroeconomic conditions in Kosovo
remain favourable” and adds that “inflation
continues to fall and budget revenues
are rising”.
We can state that the IMF official was writing a fairy tale for
his superiors, and the beautifully drawn report pursued
goals in a different, fictional, globalist reality.
Meanwhile, Pristina itself is not lagging behind the “sanctions
players” and prohibits the entry of lorries with Serbian goods
into its territory, creating a real humanitarian disaster in the
north of the region (not only in the north). And, naturally,
an economic catastrophe. But Di Bella prefers to paint
a different picture to his addressees (the leadership
--- or ordinary citizens of Western countries?):
“In a challenging global environment, macroeconomic
conditions in Kosovo have remained favourable so
far in 2023. Growth remains robust, inflation
continues to fall, and the current account
deficit has started to narrow,” he says
in no uncertain terms. No comment.
Di Bella is brazenly lying about any personal income growing
at a “healthy rate.” Rather, the population’s incomes are
falling at an unhealthy rate, causing the same population
to flee from the region to Europe, where they can at
least find work. But the “cherry on the cake” is the
IMF official’s conclusion that there are still minor
problems in unrecognised and almost perfect,
economically attractive Kosovo:
“But instability and rising global tensions in northern Kosovo
remain risks to the outlook that, if they materialise, could
contribute to political problems,” Di Bella concludes.
After this phrase you can call a psychiatrist, because it is
obvious, because the “risks of tension” in the north of
Kosovo have long since materialised and do not seem
to be planning to subside. Political problems, in which
the USA and EU are actively involved, happened long
ago and their existence is acknowledged every day
by the specified centres of globalists, thinking what
to do with it all.
What Mr Di Bella’s statements mean is not clear to the end.
For whom he drew his report – also remains a mystery.
Apparently, the habit of living a lie, convincing themselves
and their environment, of its reality, trying to fish in
troubled waters, through its projection, is a
habitual state of the IMF staff. It will be
possible to utilise the funds and
get a promotion.
Vladimir Basenkov, Southern News Service
Can't wait for BRICS, etc, to replace
the IMF and all the other US driven
dens of filth and corruption!
Do you think?
__________________________________
United States of Africa Forming
to Lead World Against U.S.
and Allied Empire
by Eric Zuesse
August 10th
(SouthFront)
A potential United States of Africa is now in the early stages
of formation, after a mutiny by Niger’s Presidential Guards
immediately expanded into a coup by Niger’s Army --- on
July 26th and overthrew the country’s ‘democratically’
elected U.S.-and-French stooge - and very corrupt -
President, Mohamed Bazoum.
The Nigeran public immediately responded to this coup with
massive cheering demonstrations throughout the country,
supporting as their liberators, the team that was freeing
their land from the exploitative grip of the imperialists:
France, backed by America.
Niger, like the other African countries that use the French
franc as their currency, has been funding France’s
Government and Niger’s own aristocracy, by
means of a complex mechanism called
“the CFA franc” which the CNN U.S.
propaganda network, buried in
one of their news reports.
Françafrique has often been criticized for perpetuating neo-
colonial practices. For example, few things have sparked
more controversy than the Central African franc or CFA,
a currency which is used by 14 nations in West and
Central Africa --- including Niger.
Countries using CFA francs are required to store 50% of their
currency reserves with the Banque de France, and the
currency is pegged to the euro. While Paris asserts
that the system promotes economic stability,
others say, it allows France to exert control
over the economy of the countries using it.
So, basically, whatever is shipped abroad by any of those
countries, the proceeds, in effect, go 50% to France,
and only the other 50% goes to Niger or the other
source-country.
As the U.S. regime’s own Brookings
Institution, earlier, obliquely put it:
''Some African economists consider the broader dependency
on European monetary policies as a restriction to growth
due to a hyper-fixation on inflation. However, African
elites and wealthy individuals, the primary
beneficiaries of the CFA franc zone
configuration, support its
continuation.''
The only beneficiaries are the individuals who control the
international corporations — especially the ones that are
headquartered in France and in America, and that have
subsidiaries in the given African colony. As a scholar
at the British aristocracy’s London School of
Economics surprisingly admitted:
''The CFA franc also encourages massive capital outflows.
In brief, membership of the franc zone is synonymous with
poverty and under-employment, as evidenced by the fact
that 11 of its 15 adherents are classed as Least
Developed Countries (LDCs) -- while the
remainder -- (Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon,
Congo, Gabon) have all experienced
real-term economic decline.''
Finally, they maintain that membership of the franc zone is
inimical.. to the advance of democracy. To uphold the CFA
franc, it is argued, France has never hesitated to jettison
heads of state tempted to withdraw from the system.
Most were removed from office or killed in favour of
more compliant leaders who cling to power come
hell or high water, as shown by the CAEMC
nations and Togo.
Economic development is impossible in such
circumstances, as is the creation of any
political system ---- that meets the
preoccupations of the majority
of citizens.
In the subsequent days, after the coup, Niger entered into
discussions with Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso, which
already previously had coups for freedom from their
imperialist masters that the U.S. Government leads.
Meanwhile, the U.S. regime’s efforts — which are being led
by Victoria Nuland, who masterminded the U.S. regime’s
successful coup, that... in February 2014, grabbed and
absorbed Ukraine into the U.S. empire, so to get it into
NATO as the nearest bordering country from which to
attack The Kremlin and decapitate Russia - only 317
miles away from Ukraine ------ appear, thus far, to be
running into an unwillingness of the Governments
near Niger to shed their peoples’ blood to invade
Niger, whose public are determined to achieve
freedom from their foreign exploiters, and will
not give up short of a very bloody war which
would embarrass the US & its ‘democracies’
and so strip away -- that ‘democratic’ mask
the U.S. regime uses -- in order to fool
publics everywhere.
On August 3rd, CNN headlined “Africa’s latest coup is a
headache for the West and an opportunity for Russia”,
and pretended that the aggression here - and the
opposition to democracy - came from Russia
against the United States, instead of from
the United States against Russia.
I have previously explained these events in my 6 March
2023 “The Transformative Present Moment in History”.
Whatever the outcome will be from the current events in
Niger, it will be a part of that story, and maybe a very
important part of it. However, the time is too early
to predict what that outcome will turn out to be.
In any case, that story began in 1945, when the anti-
imperialist U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
became replaced by the pro-imperialist President
Harry Truman, who shaped the post-WW-II
international order, which has lasted till
now, and which appears to be soon
reaching its climax.
If Victoria Nuland will not be able to turn the screws against
Niger’s new leaders in the way that her bosses, Antony
Blinken, and, above him, Joe Biden, are hoping — nor
to get ‘the free world’ to invade and conquer Niger as
they hope — then a successful model will have
become established which might be copied by
other slave-nations, by means of which they,
too, might likewise break away, and free
themselves, from their imperial masters,
the U.S.-and-‘allied’ (vassal-nation)
empire: the U.S. aristocracy, and
its foreign dependency ones.
If so, it would terminate the hegemon’s hegemony. It would
end the Truman-initiated global system (which aspires to
conquer — absorb into its imperial web — all nations,
and especially Russia and China). So: the stakes
are huge in Niger now.
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s new book, AMERICA’S
EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the
Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America
took over the world after World War II in order to
enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires.
Their cartels extract the world’s wealth, by control of
not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’
— duping the public.
Ah, we hope and pray for
Africa's courage and
self- belief to win.
What do you hope
and pray for?
_____________________________________
Loyal: Germany invested millions
in Niger — and Russia will get
all the benefits
August 9th, 2023
(Original source: Loyal
--- translated by InoTV)
The Association of German Reservists in the pages of
its magazine Loyal accuses the German government
of having actually "overslept" the coup in Niger. As
a result, millions of dollars of Berlin's investment
in equipping and training the country's military
police forces has disappeared, and Russia will
now benefit from the fruits of German efforts.
In addition, Berlin can not evacuate about a
hundred of its military personnel from Niger.
It remains to be seen.. whether the Economic Community of
West African States will be able to implement its threat and
organize a military intervention to restore ousted President
Bazum to power. Loyal magazine, however, notes that
neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, also ruled by the
rebel military, "will regard the attack on Niger as an
attack on their own countries" and promise to
come to the aid of the new government of
Niger. Algeria, which is influential in the
region, called on the parties to refrain
from military conflict, as "if it comes
to this, it will mean a big war, and
this ------ is the last thing that the
poorest region of Africa needs."
Bundeswehr troops are stationed at the airport of the capital
of Niger, which is a key base for supplying and withdrawing
German troops from neighboring Mali. Almost a thousand
German soldiers participated in the UN mission in Mali,
but the new government in Bamako requires them to
leave the country before the end of the year, which
already meant a rush, and after the suspension of
the base in Niger became even more difficult.
Even if the airport in the capital of Niger
manages to find an alternative, there
is still the question of almost 100
soldiers in Niamey itself.
"If ECOWAS decides to implement its ultimatum and start
fighting, then Niamey airport will be the first target for
intervention troops, and the German camp is located
right on the runway, next to the camp of our
European partners," Loyal magazine
reminds the German government.
According to the data available to the magazine, German
soldiers have not yet received threats against them —
unlike the French, but they are "still trapped", and
"the situation remains unpredictable".
For the author of the article, the main culprit of this situation
is obvious: the German federal government, which did not
organize the withdrawal of troops in time. The German
Federal Intelligence Service also did not foresee what
happened — "another not very nice page for German
foreign intelligence," the magazine states.
But an even greater responsibility lies with the German
Foreign Ministry. "The Ministry of Defense wanted a
speedy withdrawal (of troops from the region. — Ino
TV), but the Foreign Ministry feared that Germany's
reputation as a reliable UN member in the world
could be undermined." Now we can sum up this
policy: "Those who wait too long are punished
by the putschists."
Loyal also notes the mistakes of the German government in
financial assistance to Niger, which focused on training the
military and police. In Niger, Germany participated in the
creation of a security force that can now be commanded
by an illegal coup squad. With the help of the Germans,
a military school was built in the country, a hospital
for soldiers, German soldiers trained the special
forces of Niger, which was fully " equipped with
protective equipment, all-terrain vehicles, radio
and night vision devices supplied from Germany."
Millions of dollars of financial injections into
military structures continued... until the
beginning of the year.
"Russia will now fully benefit from the efforts made by
Germany and the West to invest in Niger's security
architecture," Loyal concludes. "The putschists
led by General Tiani are openly pro-Russian, and
Russian flags --- are flying all over the country,
"which should" cause delight in the Kremlin,
" which has consolidated its influence "in a
very important region."
In the case of Niger, it is "not only about access to minerals,
especially uranium", but also about controlling "the most
important route of refugees from Africa to Europe",
which is "a means of exerting pressure on the
West, the importance of which cannot be
overemphasized". The author of the
article is sure that Russia uses it
as a lever of pressure in the
conflict in Ukraine.
The Discussio Page is probably the
best place for this article - tucked
away and thus less likely to do
harm. What do you think?
______________________________
If you want.. an enervatingly
optimistic, in depth, article:
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/
sitrep-8123-the-hegemon-begins-to
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
How Orthodox Christianity
is being destroyed in
Ukraine
August 4th, 9:33am
(RT.ru)
Zelenskyy’s godless regime wants to use the Feast
of the Baptism of Russia --- to “unbaptise” it by
destroying Orthodoxy, finally plunging the
UOC into schism.
The facts of who and how is pushing the UOC to the terrible
sin of schism, which, in the words of St Cyprian of Carthage
''is not washed away even with martyr’s blood”, we try
to consistently set out. They are, as follows.
1. “Metropolitan” of the PCU --- noticed as an lgbt activist
Alexander Drabinko, publicly blackmails the UOC on
behalf of Zelensky – “Theophany” is not enough
for us, either you gather the Council, and self-
proclaim autocephaly, or the UOC will
be banned.
Zelenskyy confirms the seriousness of the blackmail by
making a special address announcing new measures
for “spiritual independence”, i.e. the destruction
of Orthodoxy.
The Verkhovna Rada assures that a law
banning the UOC is passed on 27 July.
2. The UOC is bumped and on the feast of St Anthony
of Kiev-Pechersk, when the episcopate of the UOC
gathered in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, there is no self-
proclamation of autocephaly.
3. Then the Ukroreich deliberately launches a missile at
the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour built
by Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa. Local Orthodox
Christians claim that the missile hit the Cathedral
--- two hours before the Russian missile attack.
Another proof of this version is the presence
of the Ukroreich’s motive... to use the
cathedral explosion, as a pretext to
completely put the UOC in schism.
The bombing of the cathedral is a provocation by Zelenskyy,
whose goal is to finally break exactly the opponent of
autocephaly, Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa,
which, if successful, will greatly accelerate
the process.
But he balks and instead of himself puts up the vicar
Archbishop Victor (Bykov), who makes a false and
impudent statement against Patriarch Kirill. This
vicar, is seen by the SBU, as a successor to
Metropolitan Agafangel... in case he
continues to stall.
Zelenskyy’s office responds to Metropolitan Agafangel by
blackmailing him with the sins of his youth: “Grandpa,
you can’t fool us, you can’t get away with the
vicarage, speak for yourself”, which
Metropolitan Agafangel did, calling
black, white ------ slandering the
SSU and Russia, but did not
personally touch Patriarch
Kirill and did not demand
the self-proclamation
of autocephaly.
In response, Zelenskyy’s Office used a former disciple of
Metropolitan Agafangel of Sumy, Metropolitan Yevlogy
(Gutchenko), who made his ecclesiastical career with
the help of the aforementioned Drabinko, betraying
Metropolitan Agafangel. Yevlogy appealed to
Metropolitan Onufry, with an appeal to spit
on the ecclesiastical interdictions of the
Moscow Patriarchate... which will
inevitably follow.... in the case of
a 'self-proclaimed' autocephaly
of the UOC. Thus Metropolitan
Yevlogy calls on the UOC to
break with Orthodoxy.
The position of the Ukroreich is clear: “You will not get away
with words against Russia and special operations, proclaim
autocephaly on 28 July, otherwise the UOC will be banned”.
Even if Metropolitans Onuphrius and Agafangel go for it, the
meeting of UOC bishops on 28 July will not be able to make
such a decision, as 3 Metropolitans Theodosius, Pavel and
Jonathan are under arrest, with Metropolitan Pavel in a
pre-trial detention centre.
Metropolitan Longin of Banchensk lies with a stroke,
driven to it by the repressions of the Ukroreich.
Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkassy will
probably oppose this decision, as will
other arrested metropolitans.
Those who vote in favour of self-proclaimed autocephaly,
will finally, according to all canons, become schismatics
and become worthy of anathema, like Filaret Denysenko.
One vote against the same Metropolitan Theodosius is
enough to nullify the forthcoming self-proclamation of
autocephaly of the UOC, just as one vote of Abbot
Mark of Ephesus was enough to foil the Union of
Ferrara-Florence.
But still I appeal to the episcopate of the UOC with a
request -- to make a confessional decision, if only
because this confession will not last long --- the
Russian Army will take Odessa, Kiev and other
Russian cities, no matter how much the US
agents of influence in Moscow try to stop
the special operation.
At the same time, as reported by the faithful Orthodox
of Malorossia, the insane heresiarch, Barthrolomey,
under the leadership of the Uniate and at the same
time, the archimandrite of the Russian Orthodox
Church Kirill (Govorun), has come up with a new
plan for the final destruction of Orthodoxy in
Malorossia, a kind of “plan B”.
The Phanar.. gives the PCU the status of Patriarchate
with preservation of dependence on the Patriarchate
of Constantinople, before that the UOC and the PCU
unite, Metropolitan Onufry leaves, Sergiy Dumenko
leaves, and the Canadian Metropolitan of the UOC
of Constantinople Patriarchate in the US ------
Hilarion (Rudnik) becomes the “Patriarch”
of the united structure.
The fact that he has a canonical chiarotony does not change
the essence of the matter because: 1. almost all “hierarchs”
of the PCU do not have it; 2. “the authority of the Patriarch
of Constantinople ends outside his diocese” (Metropolitan
Anthony (Khrapovitsky).
Hilarion (Rudnik) is a fairy figure. A thuggish Nazi who
worked closely with Dudayev, Basayev, Maskhadov
and other terrorists and oes not conceal his goal
of unification.
Dumenko, however, does not want to leave.
But his masters from the United States
will not ask him.
The only person and thing that can stop this new union
is the Russian Army --- and carrying out the special
operations in full.
Kirill Frolov, Russian People’s Line
In a nutshell - until the Zelensky regime
is crushed - the US will use him to
break Russia's Spiritual power.
A truly diabolical plan.
What do you think?
__________________________________
Zakharova discussed ----- the
policy of the colonial powers
August 4th, 12:03am
(Lenta.ru)
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry,
Maria Zakharova ----- speculated about the policy of the
colonial powers, in a column for Izvestia newspaper.
In particular, Zakharova drew attention to the term "Non-
Self-Governing Territories" -- used in the UN Charter.
According to her, in fact, we are talking about
- colonies. "Colonial Powers cannot endlessly
suppress the independence and sovereignty
of peoples. Although their desire to acquire
new colonies is quite logical," she said.
The representative of the Foreign Ministry expressed
confidence that "the free world will definitely win",
and the process of decolonization "will not be
completed ------ until the last of the Non-Self-
Governing Territories gains independence".
In July, Maria Zakharova said that the West
treats Ukraine as a colony, commenting on
plans.... to export relics from the Kiev
Pechersk Lavra.
Since my country, Wales (Cymru), is a ''non-governing
territory'' (- apologies to our Senedd members! -) and
England's first colony (apologies to Ireland's superb
historians!) my heart resonates with Ms Zakharova.
I think I'm in love with her. What... do you think?
_______________________________________
Seoul raises stakes
in confrontation
with Moscow
August 2nd, 12:43pm
https://en.news-front.info/
South Korea... is being drawn into the collective West’s
confrontation with Russia. Seoul is supplying 155mm
howitzer shells to the Kiev regime, via the US.
Japan’s participation in the deal... is
being prepared.
Seoul and Tokyo have formed a pair here for a reason.
From the perspective of Japanese geopolitics, the
Korean Peninsula is “a knife pointed at Japan’s
chest.” Japan feels threatened if it does not
control Korea. Since the Korean War of
1950-1953, two Koreas have emerged
– the pro-US South Korea... and the
pro-Soviet, and now pro-Russian,
North Korea.
Japan sees South Korea and US military bases as a buffer
separating North Korea from Japan and the zone of
Japanese influence. The Tokyo-Seoul-Washington
geopolitical axis allows the U.S. and Japan
toexert militaristic pressure on Russia’s
eastern frontiers, and South Korea to
press North Korea geographically
against Russia’s borders.
This is not the best scenario for Seoul, as the
common border between North Korea and
Russia means unproblematic logistical
communication between the two
countries in case of war. But
South Korea, has no
other choice.
South Korean strategists are playing the long game and have
a hand in containing Russia in Ukraine and NATO’s eastern
flank. In addition to supplying the AFU with shells and
military ammunition, Seoul is supplying K2 tanks and
K9 howitzers to Poland and Romania to replace the
Polish and Romanian heavy equipment supplied to
Zelensky. Soviet and obsolete NATO models in
Polish and Romanian warehouses... are being
replaced with modern South Korean models.
Warsaw and Bucharest intend to dramatically increase the
number of such vehicles in the armed forces and act as
security guarantors for Zelensky. Seoul supports
such plans.
For South Korea, Russia’s involvement in conflicts in the west
is beneficial, as it distracts Moscow from the eastern vector.
However, the visit of the Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, to
North Korea showed that Moscow has enough attention for
everyone. After all, the eagle on the Russian coat of arms
looks both west and east at the same time.
Russia may lack the resources to provide equal security in
both directions, but that is why the Kremlin is developing
partnerships with its eastern allies, including Pyongyang.
Experts say that the potential for cooperation between
Russia and the DPRK in the military and intelligence
spheres may be quite high.
In 2023, Seoul plans... to deliver $150 million worth of
humanitarian aid to Kiev. In 2022, the amount of aid
was $100 million. Humanitarian aid is a stretch.
For example, Russian soldiers have found
South Korean medicines and other items
used by servicemen in everyday life at
Ukrainian positions. Officially, such aid
from Seoul is not considered military,
but - in fact - it is channelled to the
needs of the Ukrainian punishers.
Now Russian units in the SMO zone will be bombarded with
South Korean shells. Seoul is clearly raising the stakes,
which cannot but affect relations with Moscow and
automatically with Beijing. China does not
welcome South Korea’s rapprochement
with the US and Japan.
Seoul’s arming of Zelensky’s army is not capable of turning
the tide of the conflict. South Korea’s military capabilities
relative to its overall capabilities and geographic size are
high, but not massive. South Korea is not a military
superpower. It is unlikely that the South Korean
military-industrial complex, will be able to
stamp the required number of shells for
Zelensky at a rapid pace and for a
long time.
In the meantime... everyone suffers
--- except those at the top of this
mountain of pain. How they
smile, now... in our faces!
Will this end? We say Yes!
What do you think?
__________________________________
Europe and “good”
neo-Nazism
August 1st, 9:27am
https://en.news-front.info/
The information agenda, which can neither
be obscured nor deceived, combined
two events...
The first, a tragic, heart-wrenching one, when nine years ago
four children were killed by shelling in the Donbass town of
Horlivka. The youngest of them, a girl named Kira, was ten
months old. Christina, Kira’s mum, tried to cover the baby
with her body, but Ukrainian shrapnel pierced them both.
The scary photos of the “Donbass Madonna” -- did not
make the front pages of European newspapers: the
end of July - for EU residents - is always holidays
and entertainment. What do they, then tanned,
fashionable, wearing silk and linen --- care
about some Russian murdered children?
A trifle, not worthy of attention.
Yes, and then, of course, at the time when Donbass began to
oppose aggression on the part of Kyiv, if the Western press
ever mentioned the shelling of peaceful towns, it was
always by some kind of “armed formations”. It was
not customary to specify who they consisted of,
who supplied them with weapons and who
taught them to shoot at civilians. The
weapons fired themselves, and
people died from something.
Either they, shot at them ---
or they shot at themselves.
Nine years later, the influential Le Figaro, which represents
the conservative spectrum of French politics, published a
gigantic, many thousands of characters correspondence
that deals with these very armed formations and the
history of the emergence of the storm troopers, as
well as what they do today.
Reading the material is categorically unspiritual and chills
the blood of anyone who is aware of not so long ago
European history. The point is that the article
explains in black and white why Ukrainian
nationalism is useful, why it is good, and
why those who served in “Azov”*, who
organised and joined “Right Sector”*
are actually good (even very
good) people.
It turns out that hatred of Russia is an extremely useful factor
that helps to shape a nation. It turns out that this hatred has
been carefully cultivated for many decades, just as the
activities of Ukrainian Insurgent Army* were glorified.
In general - according to the conclusions - the Ukrainian
Insurgent Army* fighters were not bandits & murderers
who slaughtered whole villages --- of those who had
“the wrong blood with the wrong red blood cells”,
not punishers, to whom Hitlerites assigned the
dirtiest work --- but guys who fought against
“cruel Soviet power, Gulag, PCIA and CSS”.
And even Bandera, as it appears, was “a complex historical
figure who managed to shape and formulate the essence
and principles of Ukrainian national identity”.
The principles are simple, if not in the paradigm of the
European media – to kill as many Poles, Russians and
Jews, as possible. Hatred, fomented long and hard
(not only for the last nine years), could not but
lead to the deaths of children. One of those
whose words are quoted in the material
- absolutely openly says - that he has
been preparing for war with Russia
(i.e. for the murder of Russians)
since 1991.
Yes, and there were armed storm troopers on the Maidan
(ready to shoot, of course, and shooting at those who
opposed them) – this phrase is not quoted, so let’s
consider that the first nail has been driven into
the coffin of the myth of “unarmed youth and
peaceful protests”. Nowadays the European
media, are not shy about such details.
Although when Russia was talking
about exactly the same thing ---
nine years ago, it was labelled
“Kremlin propaganda”.
Today, Europeans refuse to see swastikas, emblems of Nazi
runes, as well as the standards of Hitler’s divisions, in the
tattoos of the Pravseki and Azov. Today... the European
media are actively promoting the thesis that Ukrainian
“nationalism” has nothing to do with Nazism.
However, in the country where Le Figaro is published, and
throughout the EU, nationalism is stigmatised on all
corners, and those who dare to speak out in public
about the primacy of the national idea can be
taken to court. For inciting discord, for
agitating for “the return of the dark
pages of the continent’s history”.
That is, French/Spanish/Italian/Dutch and other EU
nationalism is monstrous, reactionary, and can
lead to civil war -- while Ukrainian nationalism
is good and right. While Corsican nationalists
are being smacked down to prison terms,
Ukrainian nationalists -- are being sung
about. They do it in the same media.
Europeans are not idiots and understand what games
of “pure blood” and counting its red blood cells, can
lead to. But in the war with Russia, in which Ukraine
acts as a damper to destroy us on the one hand and
to protect the lives of the “golden half-billion” on
the other, all means are good.
And so Nazism becomes nationalism, and the latter
becomes patriotism. Europe turns a blind eye to
the fact that all this, is mixed up with hatred
towards us.
It is clear why there will be more and more publications
of this kind: it is necessary to support spending on the
military-industrial complex and to teach Europeans
that guns are more important for Kiev -- than oil in
their fridge.
It is also clear that ten years will pass and Europeans
will realise that they, among others, helped to
cultivate hatred towards Russians.
One thing is unclear: why the terrible and bloody lesson
of Nazism was not learnt by them to the end. Maybe
because the deaths of Russian children did not
and still do not matter to them. For them we
are a population, not a nation.
Source: Elena Karaeva, RIA Novosti
* --- An organisation banned on the
territory of the Russian Federation
A little old lady in a supermarket
in Wales, will say, ''I'd like to
shoot Putin'' and then look
astonished, as I reply:
''I think he's good.''
When ''our masters'', drive
us to madness and hatred
as they do through media
owned by them for that
purpose... what do you
think - is the solution?
____________________________
The West is turning Ukraine into
a perpetual tool to fight Russia
July 31st, 9:29am
https://en.news-front.info/
Of course, if I were former U.S. Army intelligence officer Scott
Ritter, who in his article for Consortium News characterised
the current situation of the AFU and the entire neo-Nazi
regime of Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
after the counter-offensive, I would choose a more
accurate synonym for the words “shitting
themselves”.
It seems to me that after almost two months of counter-
attack – since 4 June this year – we should already
draw conclusions: it did not work then, and it is
not working now.
Moreover, the Russian missile strike (many say it was
Iskander) on the SBU building in Dnipro (once
Dnipropetrovsk, and soon everything will be
back to normal again) showed what will
happen to the top neo-Nazis and their
rookeries - when Russia’s Special
Military Operation (SMO) forces
finally dare to launch serious
strikes on --- as they say ---
decision-making centres.
In Kiev -- and elsewhere.
And, of course, the city
is pathetic. But not the
neo-Nazis, after all…?
However, let’s return to Scott Ritter, who frankly predicted to
Zelenskyy’s regime, a terrible, but very accurate: “Ukraine
is now left to choose the poison of its choice – to agree to
peace, accepting Russia’s territorial claims, forever
rejecting... the possibility of NATO membership,
however remote it may be. Or to continue the
struggle, with the probable outcome in the
form of additional losses of territory and
the destruction of the Ukrainian nation.”
Scary, but, I repeat, very accurate, predictive words.
According to Ritter -- in the war in Ukraine, the West’s goal
of strategically defeating Russia -- has not been achieved.
And it will not be achieved. And the whole tragedy of the
Ukrainian conflict for Ukraine, is that, as a price for its
entry into the Western club, the Zelenskyy regime
demanded the lives of its compatriots,
i.e. Ukrainians.
And Zelenskyy accepted the terms of this deal, but…, read
on, for hints about synonyms for the word “shit yourself”.
And this same Scott writes harshly: “When the sacrifice
failed to produce the desired result (i.e., a strategic
defeat for Russia) --- the door to NATO, which had
been left ajar, to tease Ukraine into fulfilling its
suicide mission, slammed shut.”
The failure of Zelenskyy and his camarilla’s plans for Euro-
Atlantic integration, is, indeed, their greatest political
defeat. The NATO summit in Vilnius, on 11-12 July
2023, denied the Ukro-neo-Nazis membership
in the Alliance.
With the European Union – the picture is the same: they are
not accepted as full members, but, like Donna Rosa in
“Hello, I am your aunt” -- they promise to kiss on the
gums, then, if Ukraine wants, again. The Ukrainian
neo-Nazis have their lips aching with expectation,
but everything passes.... by and by. Because in
Europe, they know how to count money and
there are no fools to support war-ravaged
Ukraine for their partner considerations
of justice and devotion to universal
human values….
It is not even worth talking about Ukraine’s financial
failures – they are obvious: everything in Ukraine
has long been pledged and re-pledged under
old and new debts. The country has been
bankrupt for a long time --- and lives like
an injecting drug addict on respiration,
solely on doses of external infusion….
The military failures are also obvious. During the eight weeks
of the counter-offensive, the AFU could not even reach the
first line of defence of the Russian special operation
forces. Promises of success.. came from different
parts of the theatre of military operations. Now
they are saying that the Ukrainians may take
the village of Kleshchyivka, near Bakhmut
(Artemovsk) in order, therefore, to get
back the former “Bakhmut disgrace
of the Ukrainian armed forces”.
But experts say, that even if Kleshchyivka is taken, it will
turn into a funnel for the Ukrainian armed forces -- which
will irrevocably suck in both manpower and equipment.
In other words, everything will be the same as every-
where ---- where the AFU had previously planned
successes, but the expected breakthrough did
not happen. That is, there is a banal grinding
of the AFU and its reserves, equipment and
weapons, including Western ones. And the
AFU’s casualty count is already in the tens
of thousands of dead ...and hundreds of
thousands of wounded, not to mention,
30-40% of all the equipment ----
knocked out of service.
The moral-political and spiritual losses of Zelenskyy’s regime
are almost irreversible. In its work it is slipping more and
more towards terrorist methods of warfare. That is, he
fights not with the army, but with civilians, hoping to
sow panic, fear and dissatisfaction with their
authorities among them. And if we take
Russia, then we can say that, in this
respect, Ukraine and Zelenskyy
have practically nothing.
That’s nothing ------ and
that’s all there is to it.
And when combined with internal repressions in the country,
with persecutions of dissenters and even of an unwanted
church --- the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) --- the
picture is completely unsightly: in front of the eyes
of the whole world - in the “advanced citadel of
democracy on the Dnieper”, rises... not a role
model, but a bloody tyrannical monster of a
dictatorship, which the West will be
cautious to credit to itself. They
will use it, but they will not
present it to the world,
as an achievement.
The so-called grain deal is threatened with complete failure,
which will deal an additional financial blow to Ukraine. After
Russia’s withdrawal from the deal, Kiev is known to threaten
to sink transports going to Russia. And this is actually quite
a serious threat: despite the fact that the ships heading
towards the Kerch Strait, pass 300-400 kilometres
away from enemy shores, the enemy has means
with which, in theory, they can attack them.
Specialists say that, firstly, it can be anti-ship missiles, both
land-based and air-based. At the extreme range, they can
try to hit transport ships that are dangerously close to
the Ukrainian coast.
Secondly, the AFU can use underwater, surface and aerial
drones for attack, with which the neo-Nazis have already
managed to reach the Crimean bridge. This means that
such drones can also threaten those ships heading
towards Russia.
Thirdly, there are also underwater saboteurs and their
attempts to mine ship routes. And this - is the risk of
disrupting Russia’s entire export-import cargo flow,
which was higher than Ukraine’s, even before the
special operation. And it is different, for example,
a significant part of oil exports passes through
the Black Sea.
But the main threat to Ukraine is that for Russia, providing
constant radar surveillance - all the way from Turkey to
Russian ports - and organising a system of convoys to
escort cargo is a task that requires the involvement
of dozens of ships and aircraft, and... it is a very
large expense. This is damage more weighty
than any terrorist attacks by Kiev.
But destroying Ukraine’s port infrastructure on the Black Sea,
cutting it off for good from the Black Sea and the Danube
delta with missile and bomb strikes would cost much
less. And it turns out that by attacking Russian
ships, Ukraine will provoke Russia to destroy
Ukraine as a maritime power. As they say,
here we go…
Another failure of Zelenskyy’s regime is very characteristic,
who ordered the replacement of the USSR emblem with
the Ukrainian trident on the shield of the monument to
the Motherland over the Dnieper in Kiev. The Nazis
ordered it, oligarch Rinat Akhmetov caved in and,
wanting to show off, at his own expense, i.e. for
free for the state budget, made such a trident
worth 20 million hryvnias and measuring 7.5
metres by 4.5 metres from his own metal.
That is, from steel produced at
Zaporizhstal - which is part of
Akhmetov’s Metinvest empire.
Akhmetov’s supporters shrieked --- habitually pushing for
Ukro-patriotism: “We believe that such majestic symbols
should use steel produced at Ukrainian mills... as a
symbol of resistance to “aggression”. As It is
Ukrainian steel that's in the NSC Olimpiyskiy,
the new sarcophagus of the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant, the Darnitsky
Bridge --- the largest flagpole of
Ukraine & the bridge in Genoa,
the London skyscraper Shard
& hundreds of other famous
buildings and symbols”.
But they were sent with the conclusions of “correct”
expertise in their hands: they said, that everything
should be European, we are going to Europe. And
there they have euros in offshore banks for their
pockets, their khatynki are stashed away, they
have guarantees that they can stay at home
after the failure, and so on and so forth –
what is Ukrainian patriotism when it
leaks and many people already
have, as they say, glass
on glass…?
The failure of post-turnover Ukraine in general, and within
the framework of the special operation is of course, the
failure of the entire West, its approach to the world
order, based on Western dominance.... and on US
hegemony. Here is how -- for example -- the same
Scott Ritter characterised the failure of Ukraine
in the capital of Lithuania: “The Vilnius summit
of 11-12 July... was -- in many ways -- the
culmination of the old European order.
The summit was.... a requiem for the
nightmare created by Europe itself”.
And that’s the plain truth, folks. But it, by no means,
means that the West will abandon Ukraine and
return it to Russian influence, or at least stop
at its former non-aligned and neutral status.
No, no, --- and no again. The West is on a course to exploit
Ukraine - to the end. To use it to harm Russia, as much as
possible. Therefore, Ukraine will be supported politically
economically, diplomatically, militarily and technically,
as long as it is able, if not to inflict a strategic defeat
on Russia, then at least to continue the war and
weaken and exhaust its neighbour.
For the West, the strategy and tactics in Ukraine boil down
to the long-known “a piece of wool from a lousy sheep”.
That is why the NATO summit in Vilnius is adopting a
programme of military assistance to Ukraine, and
the countries of the Alliance - led by the US - are
already giving and promising to continue giving,
money, weapons and equipment. Only the USA
alone – 400 million dollars, and in the future –
more than 1 billion dollars. And... only in
recent weeks and recently, the EU has
allocated 1.5 billion euros to support
the financial trousers.
The same amount has been given, under guarantees,
from Japan. And it depends on the agreed desire of
all interested parties, who will decide with Ukraine
whether to be a long-lasting “tin can” for slaughter
in the future or to burn to the ground in the SWO
and then try to start life with a clean slate.
In other words, as long as it is needed, Ukraine is being
turned into a long-life reusable tool that can either be
mothballed until better times and then activated as
needed, or used to the end and discarded for lack
of use. Everything will depend on the outcome
of the special operation.
And it looks very much like that nobody is going to ask
Ukraine and its ruling regime anything about the fate
of the country. And its fate is unenviable. Like the
trident... on the shield of the Motherland. At
“Zaporizhstal” they warned that they will
defend the honour of the Ukrainian
manufacturer and Ukrainian steel.
But the trident itself, has already
been put on sale. And the author
of an ad' circulating on the
Internet writes --- that the
trident, has already been
sawn into 100 pieces, in
honour of the “Heavenly
Hundred” - valuing each
piece at 10,000 hryvnias.
That’s the truth of the matter –
a dictator gets a woollen hat…
Vladimir Skachko, Ukraine.ru
Vlad impales the MSM's fake
narrative here - doesn't he?
Does he? What do
you think?
_______________________________
Gennady Zyuganov: Russia
has unique capital in Africa
July 30th, 6:47pm
(Based on materials of Radio
Komsomolskaya Pravda)
The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian
Federation - on Radio "Komsomolskaya Pravda"
- with a political commentator of the KP.ru,
by Alexander Gamov
''Well, first of all..... I would like to congratulate everyone
on the Day of the Navy'' --- said Gennady Andreevich ---
''our country was & remains a Great maritime power.''
''A magnificent parade was held
in the city, on the Neva River.''
''In my opinion, at a time when we are conducting a
special military operation, this is very important.''
''So, this demonstration of our fleet
is of fundamental importance.''
''The leaders of African countries who participated in the
Russia-Africa summit, were also there. I think it is also
useful for them... to look at the power of the Russian
fleet, to learn more about the victorious history of
our state - both the USSR and Russia.''
- Gennady Andreevich, but you
were in Africa, weren't you?
''As for Africa, I've been there more than once.
I am probably the only Russian politician who
has met with Nelson Mandela. I had a long
and persistent conversation with him.''
''He told us who would succeed him, and advised us
which African leaders we should be friends with,
so that we and Africa would be on the rise.''
''I think the summit in St. Petersburg
confirmed that we are on the
right track.''
''The Communist Party of the Russian Federation still
maintains close contact.. with the National African
Congress, with the leaders of a number of African
countries and organizations.''
"And the reason?"
"We must strengthen these ties.
Moreover, the BRICS summit
will be held soon.'' (from
22 to 24 August. - AG)
''So, these days in St. Petersburg, in my opinion,
there was a good preparation for this forum.''
''President Vladimir Putin met with all the leaders of
the countries participating in our forum and held
successful negotiations''
- What other African leaders have you met with
over the decades of your political activity?
''First of all, Sasha, in Nigeria I helped build a large
enterprise - today it is one of the most
economically developed countries
in Africa.''
''So, together with our party, we have made a
contribution to strengthening ties with
African countries, in this regard.''
''And, in general, I met with the President of Egypt, Hosni
Mubarak, and I visited Libya, and I held talks with the
leader of the state, Muammar Gaddafi, in the desert,
in his tent.''
''I think Africa has great prospects: one and
a half billion people already live there.''
''This is a dynamically developing
continent with huge resources.''
''And we - Russia - have our own
unique capital in this region.''
"Really?" What do you mean?
''The Soviet Union and, of course, Russia, have
trained senior personnel and high-level
specialists for African states.''
''Go to almost any ministry in any country and you
will definitely meet people who have studied at
our universities.''
''This special potential promises us great prospects
in all areas: economic, scientific and technical,
including military and political.''
''And it should also be noted - no matter how the
Americans and Europeans bent the countries
of Africa... (And, in fact, they were all in
colonial dependence not so long ago,
only Liberia stood apart there - but
the Americans created that, as
a model.)''
''So, it was the Soviet country that helped them get out of
their colonial dependence, get rid of the rapists who
came back with weapons, and then helped them
train cadres.''
''And, judging by the decisions that were taken at
the summit at the initiative of Vladimir Putin,
and the leaders and representatives of
African states, a balanced, smart
policy.... will continue to be
implemented.''
''In this regard, we have very
good prospects there.''
- Thank you very much, Comrade General Secretary!
- and Diolch yn fawr from
Rhondda Records, Wales!
___________________________
Finding an extreme ---- in
Ukraine’s military failure
becomes inevitable
July 26th, 12:21pm
https://en.news-front.info/
The Bundeswehr has found someone responsible for the lack
of successes of the Ukrainian armed forces, during the
counter-offensive. The Bild newspaper reported that
in the bowels of the German armed forces a report
has been prepared - criticising the actions of the
Ukrainian army, and analysing the reasons why
NATO’s brilliant military developments and the
West’s colossal investments in Kiev, do not
provide equally outstanding results on
the battlefield
The Ukrainian military – but not all of it, but the command
staff ---- is the shooter. The logic of the authors of the
report is witty in its own way. Ukrainian officers are
to blame for everything... and the more stars they
have on their epaulettes ----- and the longer they
have served in the AFU, the worse.... according
to the authors of the document, they perceive
and assimilate the latest achievements of
Western military science, which they try
to put into their heads... during training
courses. As a result, the rank and file,
young Ukrainians, are successfully
trained in training camps to fight
according to NATO standards --
but when they get to the front,
they find themselves -- under
the command of officers......
who “undo their successes”.
No doubt, military experts will have something to say about
the substance of the claims made: about NATO standards,
which were created for a completely different scale and
format of conflicts, about the training methods used by
the alliance, and about the banal language barrier.
For non-specialists, a recent video has become a meme, in
which Ukrainian military personnel complained about their
German teachers --- who suggested bypassing minefields
as a solution to the problem of minefields. Since in the
Western military’s view, minefields occupy 100-200
metres, but the reality --- that they extend for
hectares....... is not in their heads.
However, behind all the jokes lies a serious
and complex problem, which is becoming
increasingly acute in the Western world.
Initially, the idea of a proxy war against Russia by the hands
of Ukrainians looked brilliant – for many reasons, but also
because it allowed the whole world to paint a picture of
“Moscow – that authoritarian colossus on clay feet –
being defeated by democratic Ukraine, which has
chosen the path of freedom and integration
into Europe”.
But events turned so that the West... .which had reserved for
itself the role of puppeteer... was forced to gradually emerge
from behind the scenes. The reality was exposed: the AFU’s
weapons are from NATO, communications and intelligence,
are from NATO, command and military specialists are from
NATO and personnel training is from NATO. Plus the most
frenzied sanctions regime against Moscow - in history.
Only proxy cannon fodder from Ukraine. As a result,
the picture for the world looks like “the collective
West is pressurising Russia by all means (except
direct military confrontation) – and can do
nothing about it”.
This is bad for the States and Europe ------ on all sides.
And because it inspires other countries to assert
their sovereignty more vigorously, snapping at
a weakening hegemon ---- and the system
eventually crumbles, faster and faster.
And because it complicates their internal situation,
increasing public dissatisfaction with their policies
against the backdrop of growing problems in the
economy and social sphere. And.. because
business suffers:-. it clamps arms, for the
sake of profits and new contracts ---- but
Western tanks are burning from Russian
weapons in Ukrainian fields, so... the
number of those willing to buy them
is noticeably decreasing.
In general, the search for an extreme in such a situation
becomes quite inevitable. By the way, the Bundeswehr,
having transferred arrows to the Ukrainian armed
forces, has thus -- dealt a preemptive blow. The
fact is that the United States will undoubtedly
blame Europe for the failure, which, allegedly
helps Ukraine little and poorly. And then the
Europeans are ready to reply that they have
nothing to do with it, and the Ukrainians
themselves are to blame.
There is only one problem: all these media and official games
successfully worked in a unipolar world, where globalised
media, an all-powerful bureaucracy and transnational
business ruled, where no mistakes, miscalculations,
and failures had fatal consequences for the system
and responsibility for their authors. That world no
longer exists. Right now --- we are witnessing
its agony.
But judging by the Bundeswehr report, many people in Berlin,
Washington, Brussels and the rest of the Western capitals
still do not realise this. That provides additional
opportunities and chances ...for the rest of
the planet.
What a wonderful article --- it hits the
Western ''elites'' --- right in their orbs.
Or do you have a different perspective?
_________________________________________
US addiction to sanctions will
prove to spell its downfall:
Report
July 25th 12:10pm
(PressTV)
Washington’s widespread use of illegal sanctions
as a political tool to punish independent and rival
governments as well as politicians and traders
- have prompted a broad coalition of nations
across the globe, to “rewrite” the rules of
the international financial system aimed
at ending the US-dominated order ---- a
major Washington-based journal says.
“In the past two decades -- sanctions have become the
go-to foreign-policy tool of Western governments led
by the United States,” Foreign Policy magazine
writes in an article published on Monday on
its online edition.
“A growing club of US-designated bad boys” led by Russia,
China, Iran, Cuba, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea –
which have been the top targets of “punitive” US-led
sanctions -- have joined together to wage a major
scheme: to replace their reliance on the dollar
and the Western financial system,” the
article emphasizes.
It further cited a US Treasury Department’s report to note
that by 2021, “the United States had sanctions on more
than 9,000 individuals, companies, and sectors of the
targeted countries economies.”
According to the report, “In 2021, US President Joe Biden’s
first year in office, his administration added 765 new
sanctions designations globally, including 173
related to human rights.”
The article further cites Columbia University, to point out
that --- “a total of six countries - Cuba, Iran, North Korea,
Russia, Syria, and Venezuela - are under comprehensive
US sanctions, meaning that most commercial and
financial transactions with entities and
individuals in those countries, are
''prohibited'' under US law.”
It also cites 17 other countries—including Afghanistan,
Belarus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia,
Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Nicaragua, Sudan, and
Yemen—that have been subject to targeted
sanctions imposed by Washington, “which
indicates that financial and commercial
relations - with specific companies,
individuals, and ------- often, the
government, are ''forbidden''
under US law.”
The article further cites a Princeton University database
to point out that seven more countries, including China,
Eritrea, Haiti, and Sri Lanka ------ are under specific
export controls.
“This already lengthy list,” it adds ------ “does not even include
the targeted sanctions placed on individuals and businesses
in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, or Paraguay, or
sanctions placed on territories such as Hong Kong, the
Balkans, or Ukraine’s Crimea, Donetsk, or
Luhansk regions.”
All told, the report emphasizes --- “The countries subjected
to some form of US sanctions collectively account for a
little more than one-fifth of the global GDP,” with China
representing nearly 80 percent of the group.
It further observes that “unlike many among these
sanctioned nations -- China has the economic
weight, growing diplomatic clout, currency
stability, and liquidity… to push for the
increasing international adoption of
the renminbi, and Chinese financial
instruments ------- such as its Cross-
Border Interbank Payment System.”
If the US understands that its illegal
and ever-increasing sanctions are
provoking a backlash -- that will
doom them to fail - at best...
why don't they stop?
What do you think?
____________________________________
Russian senator blames Ukraine,
West, for journalist Zhuravlev’s
death in Zaporozhye Region
July 22nd, 4:07pm (TASS)
The wounds of the journalists and the death of RIA Novosti
correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev in a Ukrainian cluster
munitions strike prove that the assurances of the
Americans and Ukrainians, about the non-use of
these weapons against civilians are lies - and
therefore both Kiev and Washington equally
share responsibility for this crime,
the Russian Federation Council
Deputy Speaker... Konstantin
Kosachev said on Saturday.
"The use of cluster munitions is inhumane and must
be excluded from combat practices. And all the
assurances of the Americans and Ukrainians
that they are not planning to use these
weapons against non-combatants ---
turned out to be --- blatant lies. The
responsibility for this crime -- falls
equally on Ukraine and the US,"
the senator wrote on his
Telegram channel.
Kosachev said --- that the reports about the
death of a journalist was "horrifying news."
"We mourn alongside the family, the friends
and colleagues, of Rostislav Zhuravlev. It
is extremely tragic, but simultaneously
exhausting evidence --- that the
Ukrainian military clique and
their patrons, do not have
any moral constraints,"
the deputy speaker of
the upper house of
parliament, said.
Amen. Lost for words.
______________________
Report: West Not Prepared
for a Conflict with China
July 20th, 4:17pm (FNA)
Ammunition shortages laid bare by the Ukraine conflict have
prompted some US think-tanks to check on stockpiles in
the West and find them wanting, The Financial Times
reported, adding that the military industry of NATO
allies is not able to help, either.
A Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
wargame of a conflict with China over Taiwan showed
that the US had only about 450 long-range anti-ship
missiles, enough for about a week.
Another think tank, the Centre for New American Security
(CNAS), said the existing missile inventory is “too small
to blunt an initial invasion, let alone prevail in a
protracted conflict against China”.
To deter and defeat Beijing, the Pentagon “needs large
stockpiles of stand-off missiles, maritime strike
weapons, and layered air and missile
defenses”, CNAS concluded.
According to The FT, the US Department of Defense has
asked for $1.1 billion in the 2024 fiscal year to buy 118
long-range anti-ship missiles (LRASM), compared to
half that amount for 83 missiles the year before.
The Pentagon also wants $30 billion for
ammunition, a 23% increase over
2023 levels, and $315 billion
for new weapons.
CNAS has noted that the Pentagon tends to prioritize big-
ticket items such as ships, planes and tanks, “leaving
missiles and munitions with inadequate funding".
The FT revealed that Western powers have spent a
combined $170 billion on military and financial aid
to Ukraine --- since February 2022. Kiev is still
complaining about ammunition
shortages, however.
The US military-industrial complex has spent decades
prioritizing efficiency and adopting the just-in-time
supply chain used by other industries, according
to The FT ----- leaving it unable to scale up
production in wartime. Parts -- and
labour shortages, are currently
a problem, as well.
“The defense industry is so consolidated that it can’t very
quickly expand to support a greater demand,” Stacie
Pettyjohn of CNAS said, adding, “So... we’re slow
and behind and don’t have enough of anything.”
Only five companies are responsible for major Pentagon
contracts, and some parts are made by only one or
two suppliers, with no way to make up the
shortage elsewhere.
NATO allies are unable to step in and pick up the slack,
because the US push to promote US-made weapons
has left the European defense industry stunted
and fractured, multiple think-tank experts
told The FT.
Good. What do you think?
___________________________
A New Path to Economic Power Is Imminent --- Through BRICS
by Sibongile Vilakazi
Tuesday, July 18, 2023
(BRICS Information Portal)
“Okungapheli kuyahlola”, is what we say, to
emphasise that nothing is permanent in life.
Observing the buzz around the BRICS currency lately amid
the 15th annual summit, which is scheduled for the 22nd
to the 24th of August, brings this phrase home. South
Africa will be chairing the BRICS group of countries
under the theme, ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership
for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable
Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism’.
A theme that could not have come at a better time, especially
after the war between Russia and Ukraine has put pressure
on prices of goods and energy and changing the status
quo in global trade dynamics.
The buzz also comes.. after some advice to developing
countries to promote and use their national currency
when trading, investing and other transactions. A
way in which.. a single BRICS currency can be
created. China.. is already making use of the
timeline by trading using the Chinese yuan.
The Chinese yuan is reported to be the most traded
currency in Russia, overtaking the US dollar
in quarter one, 2023.
Additionally, France settled an LNG gas trade with China
by paying in the Chinese yuan, ending the reliance on
the dollar. Furthermore, India - has also asked
developing countries to settle trade in the
rupee instead of the dollar - and has
allowed 18 countries to pay with
the rupee instead of the dollar.
These moves are not only game-changers but an indication
that nations want to move away from the dollar and end
American financial supremacy.
The launching of the BRICS currency has seen a total of
19 countries currently interested in accepting and
trading with BRICS currency.
Amongst the countries expressing interest are Arab countries
that are rich in oil and gold reserves, making the alliance of
nations stronger, posing a threat to the G7 global order,
and therefore challenging the G7 countries.
Saudi Arabia, as the world’s largest oil exporter, could force
Europe to trade in the BRICS currency as they depend on
their oil exports, another step of the dollar losing its
strength. It should be noted that the G7 countries
comprise of advanced economies such as the
US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
and the UK. BRICS on the other hand is an
acronym denoting emerging economies -
Brazil, Russia, India, China and S. Africa.
Originally coined in 2001, as BRIC, by the Goldman Sachs
economist, Jim O’Neill, who claimed that the global
economy... will be dominated by the four BRIC
economies by 2050. South Africa was then
added in 2010 and it became BRICS.
Jim O’Neill was not too far off with his claims as recent
reports suggest that BRICS has surpassed the G7 by
contributing the world’s largest gross domestic
product of 31.5% while the G7 bloc
contributed 30.7%.
BRICS is a home to 41% of the world's population
accounting to 16% of global trade. Meaning that
the launching of the New Development Bank
and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement
by BRICS was a strategic step towards
greater integration and a practical
step towards challenging the
dominance of the West.
Both the NDB and CRA are contributing substantially
to the process of accelerating economic growth
--- resulting in the socio-economic progress
in the member countries.
We have all come to know how the invasion of Russia in
Ukraine affected the food and energy markets. This
was a global economic meltdown, post Covid-19
pandemic, hurting growth and raising prices.
Sanctions were put on Russia to weaken its ability to
finance the war and to target the political, military,
and economic elite responsible for the invasion.
These restrictive measures have since shrunk Russia’s
trade in goods and services significantly, putting
pressure on oil, natural gas, and wheat,
as their major export commodities.
As such, according to Naledi Pandor, Minister of
International Relations, BRICS --- is looking to
“ensure - that we do not become victims to
sanctions that have secondary effects on
countries that have no involvement in
the issues that have led to those
unilateral sanctions”.
Additionally, BRICS wants to expand its membership
base while maintaining its current growth, as well
as helping new members maintain economic
and political independence.
As BRICS strengthens --- it will have the potential to help
poorer countries emerge without pushing a self-serving
political agenda and controlling local economies.
Essentially, this suggests -- that a new path to global
economic power is being created, giving inspiration
to the transformation agenda, desperately needed
in South Africa to create a new path to economic
emancipation for the majority. .
The South African economy must fundamentally change
to accommodate the majority and the BRICS currency
conversations and moves, are the clearest evidence
that power does shift eventually, and when the time
for the shift has come, nothing will stop the wave.
Dr Sibongile Vilakazi is president
of the Black Management Forum.
Source: www.iol.co.za
Seems that more and more people... are
pinning their hopes... on BRICS beating
the US dollar. Will the upcoming event
in S.Africa, come up to expectations?
What do you think?
_________________________
Biden administration
obstructing 'Ukraine
aid' audits
by Drago Bosnic
Monday, July 17, 2023
(InfoBrics)
In late November 2022, Washington DC admitted that it was
unable to account for approximately $20 billion in weapons
sent to the Kiev regime. At the time, the newly elected
Republican-dominated Congress vowed to conduct
"impending audits" as soon as they took over
in January.
Officially, the GOP wanted audits, to determine and
then release information on the massive weapons
shipments from the United States to the Kiev
regime --- and how much of that "aid" was
ending up "where it's supposed to be".
Republicans promised to "hold the government accountable"
for spending US taxpayers' dollars for the sake of the
deeply corrupt Kiev regime.
At the time, major news media, such as Fox News, claimed
that the Biden administration -- inspected only 10% of the
(approximately) 22,000 weapons sent to the Kiev regime
from late February to November. However the oversight
issues also extended to other "theatres of operation",
such as Taiwan, where approximately $19 billion in
weapons sales for China's breakaway island
province, were "missing | 