Ukraine: US Lies, Provocation, Broken Promises, Fake News

[Anthea]

Moscow Relations With US

"We would not like this kind of development. In general, the severance of diplomatic relations signifies no political means left; only force remains. We do not need this," he said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia

He noted the White House shares this view.

"They confirm that they also need dialogue and channels of communication," the Russian deputy foreign minister emphasized.

As for consultations on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START or START III) were not canceled but "put on pause," he explained.

"I dare not guess when we will propose alternative dates," Riyabkov added.

Earlier, Russia suspended the meeting of the bilateral consultative commission on New START, which was to be held in Cairo between November 29 and December 6.

The START III nuclear arms treaty is currently the only arms control agreement binding the two major powers after the U.S. broke the INF Treaty on medium- and short-range missiles on August 2, 2019.

The nuclear disarmament pact, which expires in 2026, limits the two countries' arsenals to a maximum of 700 deployed missiles, 1,550 nuclear warheads and 800 delivery vehicles deployed and in reserve.

In August, Moscow notified Washington of its temporary withdrawal from inspection activities under the Treaty but would resume them once sanctions-related issues hindering Russian inspection teams' travel to the U.S. were resolved.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Mos ... -0019.html

[Anthea]

Germany arrests far-right group

German police detain 25 people who were members of a far-right terror cell planning coup

Federal prosecutors reported that German police conducted nationwide searches and detained 25 people, including members of a "terror organization," who were thought to be plotting an attack on the parliament.

Prosecutors stated in a statement that members of the "Citizens of the Reich" (Reichsbuerger) movement are suspected of "having made concrete preparations to force their way into the German parliament with a small armed group."

As part of the operation, searches are being conducted in more than 130 houses, offices, and other locations.

Extremists anticipated that some security personnel would show their support for the group, which would result in a coup, as per the statement.

Prosecutors added in a statement that the suspects have formed "a terrorist group by the end of November 2021 at the latest, which had set itself the goal of overthrowing the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with their own kind of state."

Of the 25 arrests, two were overseas in Italy and Austria.

Neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists, and gun enthusiasts who disagree with the validity of the contemporary German republic make up the Reichsbuerger movement.

The Reichsbuerger, once looked down upon as misfits and oddballs, have grown more radical in recent years and are now viewed as a significant security danger.

According to federal authorities, members of the freshly formed terror group are former soldiers.

"The accused are united by a deep rejection of state institutions and the free, democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany," they said.

The suspects were aware that their plan "could only be realized by using military means and violence against state representatives," they added.

On his account, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann hailed the dismantling of the "suspected terror cell" on Twitter, claiming that it illustrated that “Germany was able to defend its democracy”.

It is worth noting that Italy, Austria, and Germany recently voted against Russia's resolution on countering Nazi glorification:

Voting was conducted during a meeting of the UN General Assembly's Third Committee in November. A majority of votes were cast in favor of the resolution.

This is happening as neo-Nazim has been gaining more ground, as it saw an increase in popularity, as was evident in Europe; the war in Ukraine was a peaking point for the far-right. 

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... nning-coup

[Anthea]

Tucker Carlson: Zelenskyy's cabinet is devising ways to punish Christians

phpBB [video]

Direct link if you are unable to view video here:
https://youtu.be/06jNW8cVIVg

Remember: Kiev has been attacking Donbass for many years and tried to ban Russian language, music and culture, the same way countries have attacked Kurds and tried to ban Kurdish music, language and culture

[Anthea]

Merkel confessions grounds for tribunal

The Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson says the confessions of the German ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel on the Minsk agreements are grounds for a tribunal

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that a confession made by German ex-chancellor Angela Merkel concerning the Minsk agreements might be used as evidence in a tribunal against Western leaders for provoking the war in Ukraine between Moscow and Kiev.

In April of 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin explained that the war in Ukraine was due to the failure to implement the Minsk Accords, noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated publicly that Ukraine "does not like" any clause of the Minsk Agreements and "rejected it publicly," at a time where Russia considered it "simply impossible to continue to tolerate this genocide that was going on for eight years [Ukrainian bombing of the Donbas since 2014]."

In an interview with Die Zeit, Merkel openly stated that "the 2014 Minsk agreement was an attempt to give time to Ukraine. It also used this time to become stronger as can be seen today. The Ukraine of 2014-2015 is not the modern Ukraine."

Maria Zakharova, Russian MFA spokesperson, said that Merkel's interview, "horrifyingly” reveals that the West uses “forgery as a method of action." She explained how Germany and France, both of whom were involved in the Normandy format meetings that resulted in the Minsk Agreements, "already knew back then, in 2015, when they were holding hours-long talks, that they would never execute this and that they would pump the Kiev regime with weapons."

Zakharova noted that Kiev continuously stated that they will not implement the Minsk Accords but "the West, those countries and their leaders who were directly involved in the Normandy format have never stated this so clearly." This came to show, according to the MFA spokesperson, "what Berlin really thought" during the drafting of the Minsk Agreements.

More importantly, Zakharova highlighted that the Merkel confessions are "evidence that everything that was worked out and presented to the world as agreements and became part of international law in the form of a UN Security Council resolution, binding on every state, was a fabrication," adding "It was a flirtation with the use of international law for the sole purpose of pumping the Kiev regime with weapons, to prepare politically for the start of hostilities."

Moreover, the MFA spokesperson argued that the West "talks a lot about legal assessments of what is happening around Ukraine, certain tribunals and so on in all sorts of ways," adding that "this is a specific reason for a tribunal.”

“They did not feel sorry for anyone: women, children, the civilian population of Donbass or the whole of Ukraine," Zakharova commented, "They needed a conflict and they were ready for it back then, in 2015."

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... ds-for-a-t

[Anthea]

Is Russia's accession of four

regions justified? How?

Russia’s defiance against Western dominance and ability to follow through with its objectives does demonstrate the emergence of new power centers

Can the accession of the four regions in Ukraine be justified, and what consequences does this have on the global world order and international law?

President Putin declared that four Ukrainian regions were reincorporated into Russia at a ceremony held on September 30, 2022. This accession follows referenda held in each territory.

Including the Kherson region with 87% of the population voting in favor of the accession, the Lugansk region with authorities stating that 98.4% of people voted in favor of joining Russia, Zaporozhye where the figure was 93.1% in favor and the Donetsk where the figure was 99.2%

However, the West has unanimously rejected these referenda and called them a sham. One must consider whether Russia’s recent accessions can be justified or not. According to International law (Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court), an "annexation" is an act of aggression, knowing that "annexation" is the term used by the west to define the four region's accession.

However, it is possible to argue that "annexation" prohibited under International law implies the use of force by states when the country in question decides to "annex" a territory. In the case of the four regions of Ukraine, referenda were held prior to the regions being "annexed". So, a question arises here: If the "annexation" is based on the results of a referendum, can it still be considered forceful?

Referenda can be perceived as a direct form of democracy since an issue is decided by public vote rather than being decided by representatives (an indirect form of democracy). Therefore, considering that these results are valid and based on the free will of the citizens in these areas, which came overwhelmingly in favor, then the principle of equal rights and self-determination is enshrined in international law and specifically in the UN charter Article 1(2). 

One could further argue that according to International law, citizens within a territory should enjoy equality before the law and are entitled to equal protection against any violence or discrimination. This is enshrined in Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights.

In President Putin’s address on September 30, 2022, he said that for eight long years, since the 2014 Maidan coup, the people of Donetsk were subjected to genocide, shelling, and blockades; whereas in Kherson and Zaporozhye, a criminal policy was pursued to cultivate hatred for Russia, for everything Russian. This is one of the justifications that Russia has given for annexing the territories.

The two separatist areas of Donetsk and Lugansk did indeed oppose the new government installed in Ukraine in 2014, which led to tensions between the Ukrainian government and these two regions.

The Minsk agreement, signed in 2014, was supposed to resolve the conflict between these two areas and the Ukrainian government. Key terms of the agreement included, for instance: ensuring an immediate ceasefire, taking measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Donbass, adopting a program of economic recovery for the Donbass... etc.

This agreement was signed and ratified by Ukraine, however, Russia accused Ukraine of failing to comply with this agreement. If one takes the time to look at the OSCE website, the daily reports highlight the violations of the Minsk agreement, which were recorded by the OSCE.

For instance, if we take January 28, 2022, which was before Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine, they recorded 173 ceasefire violations, including 6 explosions. If we go back to June 30, 2015, the OSCE reported fighting around Donetsk airport. It seems, according to OSCE data, that there were almost daily violations of the Minsk agreement.

Moreover, in 2019, Ukraine introduced legislation that cemented Ukrainian as the primary language and mandated its use in shops, restaurants, and the service industry. Citizens faced fines if they failed to comply with these legislative provisions. As such, it becomes clear that had the West focused on the full implementation of the Minsk agreement initially, then the series of events that led to Russia’s accession of these territories in Ukraine would not have transpired.

The West, over the past few decades or so, has dominated international affairs and the global world order with interventions in countries like Iraq, Syria, and the former Yugoslavia to name just a few. President Putin in his address on September 30, 2022, openly criticized Western hegemony and stated that the West has displayed aggression toward independent states, traditional values, and authentic culture in order to undermine new global currents and international and integration processes that they cannot control. He then went on to state that it is important for the West that all countries surrender to the sovereignty of the US Dollar.

It is hard to argue against President Putin’s claims when we consider Western actions against independent states. The basis for these actions against these states was to coerce them into following Western policy, and when they failed to do so, the West instigated regime change and plundered as much of their resources as possible. Iraq is a prime example of this where Saddam’s challenge to the dominance of the dollar and his decision to trade oil in Euros led to a raft of sanctions and the ultimate removal of power. 

In the cases of conflicts in Iraq, Libya, and the former Yugoslavia, the West’s actions breached international law and were not sanctioned by the UN.

The West has also struggled to effectively manage the consequence of regime changes in countries like Afghanistan and Libya. This has led, in many cases, the West to withdraw from the areas it initially targeted for regime change. These interventions have also had disastrous impacts on the population of western countries themselves with issues such as increased migration and the UK channel's crossings.

However, Russia, by incorporating the four territories in Ukraine and making them part of the Russian Federation, demonstrates its long-term commitment and support to their development. As Putin states in his speech, Russia will definitely rebuild the destroyed cities and towns, residential buildings, schools, theatres, museums, etc. It obviously remains to be seen whether this will be done and only time will prove whether Russia can achieve this.

It is evident from the recent conflict with Ukraine that the West cannot, on the one hand, criticize Russia for failing to comply with International law given its own flagrant disregard for its principles. As the bible states in John 8.7 “Let ye without sin cast the first stone."

The principles of international law must be complied with and respected, otherwise, they are effectively meaningless. Russia has with its actions in Ukraine been able to resist Western dominance, despite the West launching an economic war of attrition against it. Russia’s defiance against Western dominance and ability to follow through with its objectives does demonstrate the emergence of new power centers, as Putin remarked in his speech.

Furthermore, it shows a shift away from Western dominance and hegemony and ultimately may inspire other countries to freely pursue their own political and economic ambitions leading to the collapse of Western dominance and a fundamental change in the world order and the international law and principles which underpin it.

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... tified-how

[Anthea]

United Nations General Assembly

Combating Nazi Glorification

UNGA adopts anti-Nazi resolution US and Ukraine voting against it

Earlier this month US Congress went through with a decision to repeal the ban on Ukrainian neo-Nazi battalions, which essentially paves the way for US financial and military assistance to be sent to these aggressive parties

The Azov and Aidar battalions - two of the most prominent neo-Nazi parties that have been accused of greasing bullets with pig fat to shoot Muslims - have been active on the ground in disenfranchised areas in eastern Ukraine before the said area joined Russia by popular referendum earlier this year.

The Nazi battalions are official bodies within the Ukrainian military

The Nation reports that the Pentagon lobbied the House Defense Appropriations Committee to remove the amendment backed by Conyers and Yoho, arguing that such funding was already prohibited under another law.

The document, titled "Combating the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to the escalation of modern forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," recommends that countries take appropriate concrete measures, "including in the field of legislation and education, in accordance with their international obligations in the field of human rights, in order to prevent the revision of the history and results of the Second World War and the denial of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the Second World War."

The resolution also calls on member states "to take active measures to ensure that education systems develop the necessary content to provide accurate accounts of history, as well as promote tolerance and other international human rights principles."

The resolution was co-authored by Azerbaijan, Belarus, Venezuela, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Cuba, Laos, Mali, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Syria, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and South Africa.

Authors that penned the document strongly expressed condemnation of incidents in which Nazi propaganda was glorified, for instance, pro-Nazi drawings and graffiti drawn on monuments of victims of World War II.

The resolution urges states to eliminate all forms of racism by all appropriate means, including by legislation, in addition to condemning using education and rhetoric to push these forms of racism, discrimination, hate and violence based on religion, belief, ethnicity or nationality.

The UNGA expressed deep concern about the glorification of the Nazi movement, neo-Nazism, and former members of the Waffen SS organization - the military branch of the Nazi party - including the erection of monuments and memorials, holding public demonstrations to glorify the Nazi past, movement, or neo-Nazism

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... azism-raci

[Anthea]

Israel and Ukraine; two sides

with one ideology

It was the Russians who defeated Nazism in WWII, losing over 25 million of its people in the process. Without Russia, Europe would be today under the jackboot of the Third Reich.

Who would ever have believed in a million years or in a parallel universe that in the year 2022 anyone could write an article comparing Israel with Ukraine’s resurgent fascism?

Well, let's begin. Shall we?

Let us see if there is a comparison.

Let’s see if that comparison is valid.

The Israeli entity was established in bloodshed in 1948.

Not the anti-colonial revolutionary bloodshed of Egypt, Ireland, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, or Kenya, to mention but a few. No, "Israel" was "born" in colonial bloodshed.

It didn't come from a risen people shaking off the chains and shackling of imperialist military occupation from the French, the British, the Spanish, the Dutch, or the Portuguese. No, these Israelis were colonial occupiers.

They were alien settlers using brute force, military superiority, ethnic cleansing, rape, murder, mutilation, and other barbaric methods of extermination to cleanse what they claim to be “their land" of its indigenous population.

The first Zionist Congress in Basel Switzerland was established in 1897 by Theodore Herzl.

Its aim was to create a "homeland" for the Jewish people; a land where Jewish people could live “in peace” and “free from the threat of violence or discrimination," which is a laudable goal considering that Jews had suffered disproportionately from pogroms and racist violence in many European countries, from European rulers, who in the main were the unelected Christian Monarchies of the time.

Many Jews were forced out of Spain in 1492; they emigrated and were welcomed into West Asia.

Palestine and most of the countries in the region already had settled ethnic indigenously-assimilated Jewish communities.

There were Iraqi Jews, Syrian Jews, Persian Jews, Yemeni Jews, Libyan Jews... etc.

Judaism is a religion; it is not an ethnicity

If you are born in America, then you are American, if you’re born in Russia, you are Russian, or French, or British, or Canadian... etc. based on where you are born.

You may be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or Shinto, but religion alone is not a defining national characteristic.

Indeed, nearly all the earliest converts to this political ideology they called Zionism were atheists.

They did not believe in organized religion.

They did, however, believe in organized violence.

From 1902, the Jewish National Fund began to confiscate lands in Palestine, then under Turkish Ottoman occupation, and without going into a more in-depth analysis of what else transpired, the rest is history, as they say.

Sadly, it is still a living history for the Palestinians of today.

Their homes were demolished, their dreams stolen, their land sequestered, and their children imprisoned, beaten, and killed. In fact, over 50 Palestinian children have been brutally murdered by the Zionist IOF this year alone.

The West Bank is under illegal occupation with nearly 1 million illegal Zionist settlers trying to steal as much land as possible from the native Palestinians, while Gaza is home to 2.2 million indigenous. Nearly all refugees are from previous Zionist wars of aggression. These Palestinians are living under an inhumane illegal occupation, besieged by land, sea, and air.

While it is true that the early Zionists were not religious, they were happy to use the Jewish religious card while deciding where to "build their new utopia, a new Babylon, a second Temple Mount."

Palestine was not the first nor the only choice for the new "Israel".

As they scoured the maps of the world looking for a safe haven, they considered the following among others: Ararat City in the United States, the British Uganda program, The Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the USSR, Fugu, the Japanese Plan, Madagascar, British Guiana, Italian East Africa, and even Port Davey, Australia.

To the detriment of the Palestinian people and the wider regional collective, the cancer of Zionism was planted in Palestine by the Zionists with the help of the Jewish National Fund, watered by Zionist financiers and fertilized via the Balfour Agreement when the British government acceded to give a part of Palestine to the Zionist movement for the expressed purpose of building a Zionist Jewish "homeland".

They claimed it was a land without a people for a people without a land.

Nothing could have been further from the truth! On May 15, 1948, 750,00 Palestinians were expelled from their homes, town, cities, and villages.

“Israel” was born in bloodshed in 1948 and continues to wallow in bloodshed over 74 years later.

Ukraine has been invaded, governed, occupied, and subjected to foreign rule by many of its closest neighbors over several centuries.

It joined the USSR in 1922 after Ukrainian Bolsheviks took power from the Ukrainian Nationalists.

After the downfall of the USSR in 1991, caused in part by the cold war, European and American sanctions, the continuation of the arms and space race, and the huge physical space that was the USSR, which came under increasing internal and external economic pressures, Ukraine became an independent state.

While many working classes of former soviet citizens wished to see the return to communism, those days ended when oligarchs and pro-Western political apparatchiks in charge of the USSR decided to reform the Soviet economies.

They made economic peace with the West and embraced free market reform by adopting the privatization system. However, some of them realized then that the genie had been lost from the lamp and the cold war launched by America and its western imperialist and NATO allies would come to fruition, as the nationalized state utilities of the former Soviet Union became the property of the now newly liberated constituent parts of the USSR.

These are now self-governing national bodies; they led to a new class of oligarchs, capitalists, foreign investors, and global corporations who would collectively steal the wealth of the nations that rightly belonged to peoples.

While NATO promised not to encroach one centimeter eastward toward Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has actually done the complete opposite and now nuclear weapons sites are bordering the Russian Federation

As part of this encroachment, Victoria Nuland, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden spent over 5 billion dollars promoting, financing, and, some even claim, arming the fascist coup plotters of the Maidan Square riots in 2014 to overthrow the democratically elected leader and government of the Ukrainian people in order to install a fiercely anti-Russian pro-NATO cabal at the head of state.

A coup inflamed the dying members of the conflict from World War II. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian nationalists joined Hitler’s Nazi battalions and killed their fellow Ukrainians. Ukrainian nationalists sent their Jewish Ukrainian friends to death camps. There were Russian-speaking Ukrainians and gypsies all over the country

It was the Russians who defeated Nazism in WWII, losing over 25 million of its people in the process. Without Russia, Europe would be today under the jackboot of the Third Reich

Europeans have forgotten the debt of freedom they owe to the Russian people.

With the fascist coup of 2014 came the open resurgence of fascism on the streets and in the armed forces of Ukraine.

A schism erupted between the anti-Russian fascist forces in Kiev and the ethnic Ukrainian Russian-speaking citizens in Eastern Ukraine, specifically the Donbass region and Crimea, which borders Russia.

Kiev sent in tanks, guns, bombs, and aircraft to subdue, oppress, murder, and occupy its own citizens.

Literally, no one in Ukraine voted for the coup. Very few people actually support it even today.

The fascists seized power under American direction. The people of Eastern Ukraine refused to recognize a coup that encapsulated the soon-to-be persecution of Russian-speaking, Orthodox Ukrainians.

People have the right to defend their democracy against a foreign-inspired illegal coup. Don't they?

The people said no, so Kiev sent in the neo-Nazis, and civil war in Eastern Ukraine ensued.

For 8 years, the people of Donbass, Lugansk, Donetsk, and Crimea resisted neo-Nazi occupation

The Minsk Agreements 1 and 2 were negotiated to bring peace to the country.

Zelensky was elected with a mandate of bringing peace to the region.

Instead, and in order to gain power, he lied. He told the people what they wanted to hear. They wanted peace, but what did he give them? A build-up of arms, men, and equipment.

A 5 billion dollar war was bought and paid for in 2014 on the streets of Kiev on Maidan Square.

The most corrupt government in Europe was expending its natural resources in a war on behalf not of the Ukrainian people, but in favor of the American, Western, and NATO capitalism.

The only victors are the Military Industrial Complex, its lobbyists, its shareholders - to include politicians and their families - and the moneylenders we call banks: the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum... etc.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "it is the bankers behind me I fear, more than the Confederates in front of me."

Finally, let us compare Israeli Zionism with Ukrainian neo-Nazism.

"Israel" wants a "Nation State" with complete loyalty as an "ethnically homogenous Jewish entity."

Ukraine wants a Nation State with complete loyalty to the state as an ethnically Ukrainian Catholic entity.

Israel discriminates against its Arab Palestinian citizens, treating them as second-class citizens, and would, if it could, get rid of the entire Palestinian population.

Ukraine treats its Ukrainian Russian-speaking citizens as second-class citizens and would, if it could, get rid of its Russian-speaking citizens.

While Israel ethnically cleanses the land of the Palestinian population and bombs Gaza routinely, we can recognize the same cause-and-effect pattern being used in Ukraine against Donbass.

While Israeli settlers burn down olive groves and attack, injure, and maim the indigenous Palestinian population, we could see similar events in Ukraine too.

The Massacre in Odessa in the trade union building is one example.

The routine execution, dismemberment, and torture of Russian-speaking Ukrainians are perpetrated by the fascist forces of Kiev.

The Israeli occupation forces are made up of those born in occupied Palestine after 1948 and those from around the world who wish to migrate to "Israel" alongside political Zionists who believe the end justifies the means and thus join the IOF for ideological reasons.

We see the same modus operandi working in Ukraine. Fascists from around the globe flock to Ukraine to murder Russians and consolidate the fascists in power.

America is supplying Ukraine with weapons, financing war, and giving political cover to the Zionists of Israel.

The US is giving political cover to fascist Ukraine.

Israel is governed by an elected right-wing semi-fascist, Zionist government

Ukraine is governed by an elected right-wing semi-fascist, neo-Nazi government

Both leaders are zionists, indeed Zelensky has stated publicly he wants to turn Ukraine into a second "Israel", and I assume by extension, he wants to turn Eastern Ukraine into a second Gaza.

To complete the analogy and the irony of how the devil makes strange political bedfellows. Let us recap

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian nationalists and European Nazis joined Hitler in his fight against Russia, against communism and took an active part in the wholesale slaughter and destruction of the Jewish people on the European continent.

It was the Russians and the Russian-speaking Ukrainians who fought and died to liberate Ukraine and Europe from the cancer of Nazism

It was the Russians who saved and freed the Jews in Auschwitz and who saved Europe from fascism

These facts are seldom alluded to or remembered in Israel or Europe.

Today, the descendants and worshippers of the Banderite slaughtering fascists continue to pursue their ideological supremacy over and extermination of Russian slaves, the inferior race that must be demonized, ostracized, and exterminated.

Surely these values are the very antithesis of Zionism, what it stands for, and a reminder of how European Jews died at the hands of these very same ideological thugs and governments.

Apparently, Israeli soldiers and mercenaries are fighting side by side with neo-Nazis, while Israel supplies weapons of mass destruction to Ukraine and welcomes Kiev's fascist leader Zelensky to occupied Palestine?

Zionism is a cancer in West Asia, and its twin is fascism in Europe, and both must be treated aggressively, or they will kill the host body.

Ukraine and Israel, Israel and Ukraine; two sides with one ideology, both pariah apartheid bodies.

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... e-ideology

[Anthea]

Click Photo to Enlarge:

Azov Battalion i Ukraine
YOUR TAXES FUNDING THIS IN UKRAINE

Due to all the INTERNATIONAL support NAZIS are receiving:

Violent right-wing communities growing

Europe's policing agency warns of the threat posed by content related to terrorism following the rise of right-wing extremist attacks

Following an operation that uncovered more than 800 instances of violent or terrorism-related content, Europe's policing agency issued a warning on Monday that the threat posed by transnational right-wing extremist communities online is growing.

Recent shootings in Slovakia and the United States "show a worrying development of violent right-wing extremist and terrorist operations on a global scale," according to Europol.

"The perpetrators of these attacks were part of transnational online communities and took inspiration from other violent right-wing extremists and terrorists," it added in a statement.

Last Thursday, police from 13 member states of the European Union and from the United Kingdom participated in a "referral action day" to flag extremist and violent right-wing material online, such as livestream broadcasts, manifestos, and claims and celebrations of attacks.

The Hague-based body said in a statement that police subsequently forwarded the content to online service providers, and their responses to the referrals were assessed.

"The activities resulted in the referral of 831 items to 34 affected platforms," Europol said, stressing that “the threat posed by violent extremism and terrorism is still on the rise."

Two assaults that were attributed to violent right-wing extremism and may have been influenced by online content were highlighted by Europol.

The first was the self-declared white supremacist Payton Gendron's murder of 10 Black individuals in Buffalo, New York, in the United States, in May of this year.

The second incident took place when a "radicalized teenager", believed to be the son of a prominent member of a far-right party, shot dead two men outside a bar in Slovakia's capital Bratislava in October.

According to Europol, these acts have brought to light the crucial role that online propaganda played in their radicalization process.

"This shows how the abuse of the internet continues to be an important aspect of violent right-wing radicalization and recruitment," it added.

After the arrest of 25 suspected coup plotters in Germany earlier this month, when prosecutors claimed they were preparing to remove the government and install their own, another recent instance of escalating right-wing violence in Europe occurred.

At the time, anti-terrorist experts argued that the group was influenced by online conspiracy theories, such as the QAnon hypothesis, and was "seriously convinced" that a "deep state" was in charge of running Germany and needed to be overthrown.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... e:-europol

[Anthea]

Note:

Zelensky is a comedic actor who played the part of Ukrainian President in two TV series and a film. Because of Zelensky's acting experience he was able to sound believable but in fact he has totally lost the plot and US is no longer able to control him. Zelensky has now become a figure of fun and is on the way out

General Valery Zaluzhny, the well known NAZI head of the Ukrainian armed forces, is likely to take over from Zelensky. Zaluzhny is far more capable of sitting down and negotiating with Russia

In the meantime the Ukrainian forces are still bombing the innocent civilians in DONBASS

OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine

The SMM gathers information and provides impartial fact-based reports on the security situation on the ground (including specific incidents), monitors and supports respect for human rights commitments, and works to establish contacts and facilitate dialogue, with the aim of reducing tensions. Facilitating the implementation of the Minsk agreements is a major part of its work

In Donetsk region, in violation of the Minsk agreements between the evenings of 18 and 20 February, the SMM recorded 2,158 ceasefire violations, including 1,100 explosions

The FACT that the Ukrainian Regime has attacked the DONBASS on an almost daily basis for more than 8 years and is still attacking innocent civilians in DONBASS is well-known and well documented

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) started its activities on 21 March 2014 and discontinued its operations on 31 March 2022

The SMMwas deployed following a request to the OSCE by Ukraine’s Government and a consensus decision by all 57 OSCE participating States. 

The SMM was an unarmed, civilian mission, operating on the ground 24/7 Ukraine. Its main tasks were to observe and report in an impartial and objective manner on the security situation in Ukraine; and to facilitate dialogue among all parties to the conflict.

As you see the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine was shut down, perhaps it was shut down in the hope nobody would notice Ukraine's 8 years of attacks on DONBASS

The impact of mines, unexploded ordnance and other explosive objects on civilians in the conflict-affected regions of eastern Ukraine

This report is a follow-up to the Mission’s December 2019 report on the impact of mines, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and other explosive objects on civilians in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine. It covers the period from November 2019 to March 2021 and highlights the dangers these objects pose to civilians

GUESS WHAT

The links to the reports do NOT work

[Anthea]

Click Photo to Enlarge:


'Israel' honors Nazi Azov battalion

The Azov delegation arrived in "Israel" on Thursday, and was led by Ilya Samoilenko, who led the battles in Mariupol at the Azovstal steel factory

In recent days, a delegation of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion - an openly neo-Nazi battalion - has met with Israeli officials in the military and the establishment, in Israel.

The Azov and Aidar battalions - two of the most prominent neo-Nazi parties that have been accused of greasing bullets with pig fat to shoot Muslims - have been active on the ground in disenfranchised areas in eastern Ukraine before the said area joined Russia by popular referendum earlier this year. The battalions are official bodies within the Ukrainian military. 

The Azov delegation arrived in Israel on Thursday, and was led by Ilya Samoilenko, who led the battles in Mariupol at the Azovstal steel factory. Yulia Fedosyul, who is the deputy head of the 'Association of Azovsatal Defenders' Families', also joined the delegation. 

Samoilenko was a former prisoner taken by Russia, freed upon a prisoner exchange. He came to Israel to advocate for Azov prisoners still taken as prisoners, whom he called "proud men and good fighters."

— Асоціація родин захисників «Азовсталі» (@AzovstalFam) December 15, 2022

The Israeli Friends of Ukraine organization initiated the visit, it being backed by the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel and the Nadav Foundation. Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an international Zionist NGO, refused to condemn the Pentagon's honoring of a veteran of the Azov Battalion who dons Nazi-inspired tattoos

.The delegation also visited Masada on Saturday, where "Jewish rebels held out against the Roman army in 73 CE," for historical context. 

The delegation said: "When today in Israel we talk about the defense of Mariupol, the Israelis, understanding, first of all, the military differences between the war 2,000 years ago and today, constantly repeat: 'Mariupol is your Masada.' And we will definitely return there."

Meeting with Israeli reservists during their visit to "Israel" the Azov delegation discussed their similarities with the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), in addition to similarities and differences between the Ukrainian and Israeli militaries. 

A founder of Israeli Friends of Ukraine, Anna Zharova, said the visit is the organization's "most important project since the beginning of the war."

In May, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced the battalion, arguing that "Israeli mercenaries are actually shoulder-to-shoulder with the Azov militants.”

Officials in the regiment claim that the battalion "has changed" and that it is not neo-Nazi anymore. 

In October, Stanford University in the US also welcomed the Azov Battalion at a university event. Their appearance at one of the most prestigious colleges was only one of the group's recent stops in the United States. The organizers of a prior gathering in New Jersey stated that they sought to "dispel the Russian agitprop that the Azov regiment is Nazi" and collect donations for them.  

The United States and Canada over the years have aided the neo-Nazi units with weapons and training, strengthening their presence in Ukraine 

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israel-welcomes-honors-nazi-azov-battalion

[Anthea]

Click Image to Enlarge:

The EU’s Lost the Plot
By Alastair Crooke

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master – – that’s all." ~ Lewis Carroll's 'Through the Looking-Glass'

Simply put: the EU insists (and believes) that it possesses meaningful political agency. But it has no political or military power per se (it being a US vassal).

The EU, with much ado, this week announced the NINTH sanctions package on Russia. What is it about sanctions the EU doesn’t ‘get’? Russia has comfortably survived Western financial sanctions (even the fervently anti-Putin Economist concurs). Perhaps it is the tech sanctions which ultimately will ‘strangle Russia’. Good luck with waiting that one out! Who ends up strangling whom? 

The EU still is busy trying (“legally”) to annex any, and all, Russian assets in Europe. And what Russia targets has the EU found to sanction? Well, that was no easy hunt, as so much has already been sanctioned. So the focus is on making illegal any last remaining Russian voice still extant in Europe. 

Yes, we Europeans have been so afflicted by "head-spinning" disorientation through the rain of state disinformation, and by outrageous, obvious lying, that many have begun to question their own and surrounding levels of sanity. In their bemusement, they have come to see the "messaging" of endless sanctions as "perfectly rational". They have been hypnotised into "You are either ‘with the narrative’ or ‘against it’."

So, clearly, all Russian discourse within Europe must be eliminated: 

Last week the EU General Council put out a statement that it is "concerned Turkey is maintaining a close partnership with Russia, despite the war in Ukraine and tough Western sanctions against Moscow." The deepening economic ties between Turkey and Russia are “a cause for great concern”,

EU foreign policy chief Borrell said in a letter to the European Parliament. Also “of concern” was Turkey's continued policy of “not joining the EU's restrictive measures against Russia", the letter said. It was important that Turkey not offer Russia any workarounds to sanctions, Borrell cautioned. 

To which, President Erdogan riposted: “It's an ugly statement. Borrell can’t define and formalize our relations with Russia. He has neither the qualifications nor the ability to make such decisions. Who is he to assess our relations with Russia with respect to sanctions?” 

Then, on 12 December, Borrell announced that the EU will agree on a “very tough” package of sanctions against Iran: "We are going to approve a very tough package of sanctions. [The EU] will take any action we can to support young women and peaceful demonstrators. And we will try to agree further sanctions on Iran over the supply of drones to Russia."

Put plainly, the EU doubles-down; nay, triples-down: spraying its sanctions toward anyone ‘not with the narrative.'

It is surprising (or maybe ‘not’), that the EU is not reading the runes on Ukraine accurately, in terms of the struggle over Ukraine policy taking place in Washington. Loosely put: the élite US Realist constituency, together with Henry Kissinger -- a ‘hawk’, sometimes posing as a Realist -- is going head-to-head with the Russophobic constituency within the élite, hinting that the latter covet a bigger war (which US would be ill-advised to wage).

Although the notion would be no surprise to most readers, Kissinger -- in saying that a dismemberment of Russia or the destroying of its ability to conduct strategic policy is a ‘no-no’ -- implicitly strips naked the neo-conservative constituency by putting their covert aims into objective consciousness (the latter has always denied their aim being to dismantle Russia into inconsequential statelets and then to seize its resources). Kissinger at least ‘outs’ the issue. 

So far, this maneuvering between US élite constituencies is more about preparing the ground within the US foreign policy discussion groups, than birthing a new policy. (It is too early for that, perhaps?). 

The EU however, wants to ‘mark its territory’, but does not think things through. Olaf Scholz, limp-wristed, mutters about a ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

The British PM, however, has poured cold water on any ceasefire: The West should consider any Russian call for a cease-fire in its war against Ukraine “completely meaningless” in the current circumstances, Rishi Sunak said on Monday. 

Well, even if there were a withdrawal to positions of 24 February 2022 (the Kissinger proposal), that just won’t work as the basis for a ceasefire, but rather highlights the naïvety of EU ‘thinking’. 

The EU wraps the Ukraine into a fantasy of a like-minded democratic state struggling for its independence against an overweening ‘big brother’. This is nonsense:

Ukraine is ethnically, linguistically, culturally and affiliationally divided. It is in midst civil war. It has been in civil war for decades. Tens of thousands dead 

Simply to pretend that this fundamental fact does not impinge on any ceasefire framework is ridiculous. The armed nationalist siege lines are arrayed within rocket range of those northern (culturally Russian) civilian cities (such as Donetsk) the radical nationalists wish to conquer and subdue. 

Such a ceasefire would be analogous to re-inserting the Catholic Irish Republican Army (IRA) forces under the nose of the Protestant Northern Ireland paramilitaries. Does anyone believe that London would be able to just abandon the Protestants to such a prospect?

Well, neither can Moscow allow the ethnic Russians (particularly in lands which have been a part of Russia for centuries) be allowed to swing in the wind of a ceasefire in which all is restored to ‘as it was’ (i.e. when the nationalist forces were freely treating Donetsk City as a coconut shy). 

To give Kissinger his due, he recognises the ceasefire's implausibility by referring to the possible partition of Ukraine (via referenda) becoming a necessity -- were his ceasefire proposal prove impossible. (The EU are miles off such thinking.) 

Rather, the EU has dug itself into a ‘Bakhmut trench’ with its Ukraine “must win”, and “we must support Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes’”. The EU acts as if it believes itself to be in control; that is, that the EU will decide whether ‘to confer a ceasefire’ on Russia -- or not.

Most likely, the EU will be a bystander watching events from the outside. It will not have a seat at the table.

And there may never be a formal ‘ceasefire’. Diplomats are overly fond of saying that conflicts are never resolved by military means -- but that is quite untrue. Often a demonstration of military strength is required, precisely in order to catalyse and bring about a tectonic shift.

Or, simply, the outcome may emerge from the ‘inside-out’: i.e. from a bottom-up, or outside-in, leadership realignment occurring inside Kiev or in the Ukrainian military -- separate from any EU or US direct involvement. The possibility should not be overlooked. 

The consequences to these EU high pretentions of having agency in respect to events in Ukraine are not trivial, but of a strategic order. The most immediate is that the EU’s fanatical support for Kiev has moved ethnically ‘anti-Russian Ukraine’ further and further away from any possibility of serving as a neutral or buffer state.

Pari passu for any EU role. It has burnt any bridges as mediator. Why would ethnically Russian Ukrainians trust the EU (when the Kremlin doesn’t)? 

The fanning -- by Ukraine ‘activists’, inside the EU leadership class and at the highest level of the EU -- with toxic anti-Russian sentiments inevitably has plumbed a bitter fault line in Ukraine.

Yet, not one confined to Ukraine alone: It is both fracturing Europe, and creating a strategic fault line between the EU vs the rest of world.

President Macron said this week that he sees ‘resentment’ in President Putin's eyes. -- “a sort of resentment" directed at the Western world, including the EU and the US, and that it is fueled by “the feeling that our perspective was to destroy Russia”.

He is right. The resentment however, is not confined to Russians who have come to despise Europe; it is rather, that across the globe, resentment is bubbling up at all the destroyed lives strewn in the wake of the western hegemonic project. Even a high-ranking French Ambassador now describes the rules-based order as an unfair “Western order” based on “hegemony”.

Angela Merkel’s interview to Zeit Magazine confirms for the rest of world that EU strategic autonomy always was a lie. She admits that her advocacy of the 2014 Minsk ceasefire was a deception.

It was an attempt to give Kiev time to strengthen its military -- and was successful in that regard, Merkel said. “[Ukraine] used this time to get [militarily] stronger, as you can see today. The Ukraine of 2014/15 is not the Ukraine of today”. 

The EU posits itself as a strategic player; a political power in its own right; a market colossus; a monopsony with the power to impose its will over whomsoever trades with it. Simply put: the EU insists (and believes) that it possesses meaningful political agency. But it has no political or military power per se (it being a US vassal). Rather, its influence derives from its economic breadth -- and that has been wasted through self-harm. 

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... t-the-plot

[Anthea]

Merkel confesses NATO

plans in new interview

Germany's ex-chancellor Angela Merkel reveals in an interview that for NATO, the Cold war never ended since Russia was never 'pacified'

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, earlier in December, confessed that the Minsk agreements were only "meant to give Ukraine time" said on Tuesday that the question of whether or not she will be participating in a possible Ukrainian reconciliation process "has not been raised."

In an interview with the Italian Corriere della Sera, the ex-chancellor first noted that she is oblivious about how the war in Ukraine will come to an end, arguing that "it will eventually end in negotiations," adding that "wars normally end at the negotiating table." 

However, she further explained that "there is a difference between a peace that was imposed - which many people, including me, do not want to happen - and open, friendly negotiations."

Merkel then stated, "I don’t have anything else to add," before going on to further explain, in detail, her government's policy toward Russia and Ukraine.

Merkel argued that the logic of her decision-making process, at the time, "still seems rational" to her today, and noted that "it was all about preventing a war, similar to the conflict that is unfolding now. We failed, but it does not mean that it was wrong to try."

She also reaffirmed her statements from her Die Zeit confessions and said that the "Minsk Accords of 2014 were an attempt to give Ukraine time. Ukraine used this period to become stronger, as seen today," and insisted that "the country of 2014/15 is not the country of today. And I doubt NATO could have done much to help Ukraine, as it does today."

Merkel uncovers Putin plan since 2007

During the Corriere della Sera interview, Merkel was asked why she adopted an energy policy that made Germany, and Europe as a whole, so dependent on Russia when she realized, as declared in Merkel's first post-Chancellor public appearance in 2007 that Putin only understood the language of force given his view of Europe.

In response, Merkel explained "we all knew that it was a frozen conflict [the Ukraine-Russia gas dispute], that the problem was not solved, but it was precisely this that gave Ukraine precious time."

To put Merkel's confessions in context, it is worth noting that in 2004, the US-led "Orange Revolution" took place in Ukraine and brought President Viktor Yushchenko to power. Between 2005 and 2006, the then-new Ukrainian President attempted to withdraw Ukraine from Russia’s "sphere of influence." 

And in 2007, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law that banned the privatization, sale or lease of gas pipelines. This decision came after Russia had suggested creating a consortium to run the gas distribution system.

Why was Nord Stream 2 authorized?

In what followed, Merkel rhetorically asked, given the aforementioned, "Why was the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline approved in such a situation?" 

The ex-chancellor noted two conflicting opinions that existed at the time. On the one hand, she stated, "Ukraine considered it very important to maintain its role as a transit country for Russian gas as it wanted the gas to pass through its territory and not through the Baltic Sea."

She added that "Today it seems that every molecule of Russian gas is the devil. It wasn't like that then, gas was disputed."

On the other hand, Merkel confessed that authorization for Nord Stream 2 was not requested by "the Federal Republic of Germany," but rather " 2, it was the companies."

That said, the ex-chancellor noted, that "for the government and for me it was a matter of deciding whether or not, as a political act, to promulgate a new law to deny authorization to Nord Stream 2."

And in that regard, Merkel argued that "a refusal, combined with the Minsk Accords, would have exacerbated relations with Russia."

These statements link back to the intentions Merkel, and Germany as a whole, had when they pushed for the Minsk accords, to which she confessed earlier in December, and the value they brought for the current war in Ukraine.

On the other hand of the equation, laid the question of Russian gas dependency which the ex-chancellor explained, "energy dependence arose because there was less gas coming from Holland and Great Britain and the quantities extracted in Norway were limited."

Merkel's self-criticism: Cold War never really ended

When asked for self-criticism, Merkel confessed "I haven't done my utmost on a daily basis to support this cause [containment of Russia]." She further added, "the Cold War never really ended," and that's a fact she argued, stating that this assessment stemmed from the other fact that "ultimately, Russia was never pacified."

Merkel explained that "when Putin invaded Crimea in 2014, he was excluded from the G8," adding that also "NATO deployed troops in the Baltic region, to demonstrate its readiness to intervene."

Furthermore, she argued that, at the time, "we decided to allocate 2% of GDP to military expenditure for defense." This German decision was only kept in the government program by the CDU and CSU, Merkel noted. However, she claimed that even they "should have reacted more quickly to Russia's aggressiveness."

She explained that "Germany fell short of its 2% target," and she confessed, "I haven't done my utmost on a daily basis to support this cause either."

When asked why so, Merkel showed that she always put Germany first. She said she did not secretly think it was unnecessary, but rather she "acted according to Kohl's principle: what matters is the result [Helmut Kohl was her predecessor]."

She highlighted that "to do all one can do for a cause and then failing would not have helped the state budget."

NATO's Russian containment

Merkel revealed NATO's clear set policy for Russian containment since 2007 when she said that "if I search history for recipes for success, I find the double NATO decision," meaning the decision to pursue democracy and rearmament.

She elucidated that "the clever aspect in the NATO double decision was precisely the dual approach, involving rearmament and diplomacy," which allowed the time to prove, going back to the 2% target note, that the "increase in defense spending was not enough of an intimidation."

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... in-new-int

[Anthea]

Zelensky’s propensity for war

By ignoring Kissinger’s prescription, what Kiev is actually doing is turning a blind eye to the harrowing possibilities of a nuclear conflict which has ironically been cited by Zelensky’s own officials as an existential threat

It is clear that Ukraine does not desire peace and has made no notable contribution in achieving it. This is evident in the Kiev regime’s brazen denunciation of veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger’s proposal to pursue negotiated peace with Russia in order to reduce the risk of a devastating world war.

Kissinger, who is a geopolitical consultant and former United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the Ford and Nixon administrations, has been subject to unwarranted castigation and censure over calls to peace and acknowledging Russia’s contributions to the global equilibrium in an opinion piece published in the Spectator Magazine in the United Kingdom. 

The rationales presented by Kiev for denouncing the proposals can be construed as hollow, narrow and parochial. Kissinger’s analysis acknowledges the need to build on strategic changes which have been accomplished and integrating them into a new structure through negotiations that lead to peace.

He flags the fact that the preferred outcomes for some are a Russia rendered impotent by war which he disagrees with given its global nuclear reach. There is little if anything to suggest that such calls are not based on principles of conflict resolution and de-escalation which is crucial for peace to take its course and return to Eastern Europe.

Yet erroneously, the Ukrainian establishment has labeled such calls as ‘appeasement’ towards the aggressor, when history clearly suggests that Kiev’s nefarious designs contributed significantly to the current quagmire, the lingering humanitarian crisis and the global effects of the war on populations across the world. 

One such example, which is not promoted by Western media outlets is the negative, regressive and controversial role played by Ukraine’s ‘Azov Battalion’ which is a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine and is created to fight Russian forces in the Donbas region. Its notoriety stems from Ukraine and its allies inability to reign in the group despite its continuing association with far right groups and neo-Nazi ideologies.

Their controversial orientation dates back to 2014 while a 2016 report from the United Nations accused the organization of violating international humanitarian law by citing timeframes from November 2015 to February 2016, where its cadre embedded weapons and forces in civilian buildings and displaced residents after looting civilian properties while fighting against Russia.

Harrowing details of torturing and raping detainees in the Donbass region has also been documented, while its purported beliefs align with white supremacist terrorist, Brenton Tarrant’s rationale for massacring 49 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019.

Yet the regiment operates in Mariupol with impunity and Russia’s claims of ‘De Nazifying’ Ukraine carries significant merit

After being incorporated into the Ukrainian government’s state structures in 2014, partisan warfare from the Azov has continued in 2022. This debunks the narrative promoted by Kiev of Henry Kissinger appeasing the aggressor.

Furthermore, Ukraine’s contribution to the war is it’s receipt of advanced weaponry ranging from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) from the United States as well as confirmations from Washington D.C. that Ukraine will be transferred Patriot Air defense missile systems as part of a $1.85 bn military aid package. All this amounts to prolongation, not diffusion of the conflict. The Patriot Air defense missile system is also part of an advanced surface to air defense system which is capable of striking aircraft and cruise missiles.

For Presidential aides such as Mykhailo Podolyak to claim that peace agreements with Russia amounts to negotiating with a ‘terrorist regime’ or appeasement of Nazi Germany as Zelensky stated himself, Kiev is sidestepping its own contribution of prolonging the war. 

Despite his polarizing nature, few can question the merits of Kissinger’s diplomacy. The former US Secretary of State was instrumental in pursuing détentes with China in 1971 and the 1969 negotiating strategy during the Vietnam War to have the United States and North Vietnam withdraw from the South to ensure that a coalition government prevails in the country.

His credentials of promoting peace and diffusing heightened tensions have been acknowledged even in the United States where he is often viewed as a controversial and divisive figure. Ukraine on the other hand is parroting the same narrative of refraining from negotiations with Russia despite the fact that armed conflict has not yielded the desired results for stakeholders and the international community in the form of economic slowdowns, supply side shocks and heightened tensions akin to Cold War 2.0.

As Zelensky visits Washington D.C. the mantra emanating from Kiev is the same. Prolong the war, turn a blind eye to neo-Nazi tactics, build up advanced weaponry to fuel the conflict and deny space for dialogue or negotiations to take place

By ignoring Kissinger’s prescription, what Kiev is actually doing is turning a blind eye to the harrowing possibilities of a nuclear conflict which has ironically been cited by Zelensky’s own officials as an existential threat. Kissinger in fact warned Ukraine and those calling for escalating the war against Russia, that Moscow’s military setbacks have not eliminated its global nuclear reach. He is not wrong. 

In many ways, ignoring strategic wisdom is also heightening tensions on the nuclear front, particularly as global security remains in peril. Denuclearization efforts and the spirit of the Non-Proliferation Treaty has already been threatened by toxic security pacts such as AUKUS between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States with nuclear-armed submarines in the Asia Pacific, now becoming a reality that the international community has to contend with. 

AUKUS aside, what is more evident is the fact that Ukraine is now a net contributor to war and has conveniently bypassed Kissinger’s prescriptions of peace. That is not a recipe for success. 

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... astigation

[Anthea]

Israel donating weapons to Ukraine

The Israeli occupation is donating money to buy Ukraine weapons from third countries, a Russian intelligence source told Al Mayadeen on Thursday

"Tel Aviv" is using third countries to conceal its bias toward Ukraine, the source noted, highlighting that "Israel" was giving Ukraine non-lethal aid, but several Israeli armored vehicles have been detected in Ukraine.

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported last month that the occupation spent millions of dollars to appease its western partners by procuring undisclosed strategic materials for Ukraine after "Tel Aviv" faced pressure to send the arms to Kiev via a third country.

Reportedly, the United States is the party that pressured the occupation, which had to go against its proclaimed stance to only send humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

Israeli occupation media reported in mid-September that an Israeli arms manufacturer was supplying anti-UAV systems to Ukraine via Poland, with the sales conducted through Warsaw to circumvent "Tel Aviv's" refusal to sell advanced arms to Ukraine.

The firm reportedly informed the Israeli Ministry of Security that it was selling arms to Poland, though it pretended not to know the latter was then giving the weapons to Kiev to use against Russia.

The Biden administration demanded the occupation to switch from strictly providing humanitarian supplies and expanding its assistance to Ukraine and give military equipment, prompting "Tel Aviv" to fund the purchase of strategic materials for Ukraine, including air defense systems, Haaretz said

Former Russian President and senior Russian Security Council member Dmitry Medvedev in October warned "Israel" against providing weapons to Ukraine threatening that any move to boost Kiev's arsenal would severely damage bilateral relations.

The Israeli occupation also agreed to allow NATO to supply Kiev with weapons that have Israeli-produced components, such as optical equipment and fire monitoring systems, media said.

Following Russian threats to "Tel Aviv", senior advisor to the Ukrainian President, Mikhail Podolyak, slammed the Israeli decision not to supply Ukraine with air defense systems, stating that "Israel chose to be on the wrong side of history," and that it, "causes great disappointment in Ukrainian society."

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... ries:-excl

[Anthea]

Russia No. 1 oil supplier

Oil prices will not be decided on the basis of any ceilings or restrictions that cannot be compatible with the context of market pricing

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has recently said "Russia is one of the largest oil exporters and it will always be," in response to the introduction of a cap on oil prices.

Concerning the recently implemented oil price ceiling, the Minister added, "Prices will be established on the basis of market principles, and not on the basis of any ceilings or restrictions that cannot work within the context of market pricing."

It is worth noting that an embargo on Russian maritime oil supply to the European Union went into effect on December 5. 

At the time, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the attempt to control gas prices is unacceptable, stressing that Moscow will make the proper decision, as it did with the regulation on oil.

The EU, the Group of Seven (the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, France, and Japan), as well as Australia, agreed on a price cap of $60 per barrel for Russian oil delivered by sea. 

The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have prohibited their companies from providing transportation, financial, and insurance services to tankers carrying oil from Russia at a price higher than the agreed-upon threshold.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Western nations have been seeking methods to reduce Russia's revenue from oil and gas exports. The G7 finance ministers asked all countries to endorse the idea in September by confirming their determination to set a price ceiling on Russian oil.

Today, the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia are damaging the Europeans themselves and are being rebuffed by an increasing number of citizens of the EU member states. Simultaneously, thousands have been protesting across Europe against skyrocketing energy prices, inflation, and arms deliveries to Ukraine.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/eco ... ap:-minist

NOTE:
There is a strong chance Russia will demand payment for oil in GOLD