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Zelensky Shuns Talks with Russia

RT — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 10:54:50 +0000

FILE PHOTO: Vladimir Zelensky. © Mert Gokhankoc / dia images via Getty Images

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has cast doubt on the possibility of direct peace talks with Russia, citing the lack of trust between the two countries. His comments come as Moscow has accused Kiev of repeatedly violating a US-mediated agreement not to strike energy facilities.

Speaking in an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Zelensky accused Russia of numerous atrocities during the conflict, stating that Moscow’s recent strikes showed that “we can’t trust negotiations with Russia.”

Zelensky was referring to a Russian strike on the city of Krivoy Rog earlier this month which Kiev claims resulted in the death of 19 people. Moscow, however, has said that the attack targeted a meeting of Ukrainian commanders and Western instructors, claiming that up to 85 soldiers and officers were killed. The Kremlin has also insisted that only military-related facilities are being targeted.

The Ukrainian leader also noted that his personal view of Russian President Vladimir Putin was defined by “100% hatred,” but acknowledged that “this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to end the war as soon as possible and transition to diplomacy.”

Zelensky also warned that without American backing – which has been called into question since US President Donald Trump returned to office – Ukraine could suffer severe consequences. “Without the United States, we will suffer great losses. Human and territorial. So, I wouldn’t like to consider that,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader went on to lament that the “Russian narratives are prevailing in the US,” adding “this speaks to the enormous influence of Russia’s information policy on America, on US politics, and US politicians.”

While Moscow has repeatedly said it is open to negotiations, Zelensky signed a decree banning talks with the Russian government in 2022 after four former Ukrainian territories voted to join Russia.

After Zelensky’s presidential term expired last year and he refused to hold a new election, citing martial law, Moscow declared him “illegitimate,” insisting that the legal authority now rests with Ukraine’s parliament.

Putin has said that any documents outlining a potential peace settlement could be signed only by the legitimate Ukrainian authorities.

Zelensky’s comments come as Russia has accused Ukraine of repeatedly violating a Trump-brokered moratorium on attacks on energy infrastructure. Moscow has said that while it reserves the right to retaliate against the strikes, it has chosen to honor the agreement as a sign of improving relations with Washington.

As for the terms of a potential peace deal, Moscow insists that any agreement must address the root causes of the conflict, including NATO’s expansion toward its borders. It also continues to demand that Ukraine renounce its ambition to join the bloc and formally recognize Crimea and four other regions as Russian territory.

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Xi Warns US Will Isolate Itself

RT — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 13:50:21 +0000

Chinese President Xi Jinping. © Ken Ishii – Pool/Getty Images

The United States risks isolating itself by pursuing unilateral trade restrictions, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Friday during a visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Beijing.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has launched an escalating tariff war with China, imposing a total of 145% in duties on Chinese imports this week. Beijing has retaliated by hiking tariffs on American goods to 125%.

“There are no winners in the tariff war and standing against the world ultimately results in self-isolation,” Xi said, as cited by Xinhua news agency.

Xi called on China and the European Union to “jointly resist unilateral bullying” in order to protect their legitimate rights and interests, and uphold international rules and order.

The EU, which has been targeted with a 20% tariff by the US, has warned of significant global economic repercussions and has vowed to take countermeasures. Earlier this week, Trump declared a 90-day pause on reciprocal duties for most US trading partners, including the EU, allowing a window for negotiation.

Brussels has adopted a policy of “de-risking” towards Chinese imports, balancing protective trade measures such as tariffs on electric vehicles with efforts to maintain constructive economic relations.

The Chinese president also stated that regardless of changes in the external environment, the country would remain steadfast, focused, and would efficiently manage its own affairs.

“For over seven decades, China’s growth has been fueled by self-reliance and hard work, never depending on favors from others and never backing down in the face of unreasonable suppression,” Xi explained.

Trump argues that the increased duties are needed to address trade imbalances and stop China from “ripping off the USA.” Earlier this week, he opined that the “proud” Chinese would have to “make a deal at some point.”

China has slammed Trump’s “abnormally high tariffs” on Chinese products as “unilateral bullying and coercion.” The move by the US president represents “a serious violation of international economic and trade rules, as well as of basic economic laws and common sense,” Beijing stressed.

The trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies has disrupted global markets, sent oil prices to four-year lows and caused concerns over global supply chains.

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Erdogan Rival Arrested Days before Becoming Presidential Candidate

RT — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 14:30:02 +0000

Ekrem Imamoglu © Getty Images / Photo by Oliver Berg/picture alliance

Turkish authorities detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Wednesday, accusing him of corruption and connections to terrorist organizations. The arrest comes just before the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was set to nominate him to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 2028 election.

Imamoglu, a leading figure in the CHP, gained prominence after winning the Istanbul mayoral election in 2019, ending over two decades of control by Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the city of 19 million. Recent opinion polls have indicated that Imamoglu could defeat Erdogan in a presidential vote.

On Wednesday morning, as authorities arrived to detain him, Imamoglu shared a video on X declaring, “We are facing great tyranny, but I want you to know that I will not be discouraged.”

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel condemned the arrest, describing it as “a coup against our next president.” Despite the detention, CHP plans to proceed with its scheduled primary on March 23.

The Turkish government has denied opposition allegations of political interference, asserting that the judiciary operates independently.

The arrest has sparked protests across Istanbul. Authorities have responded by banning demonstrations in the city for four days and reportedly restricting access to social media platforms.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office stated that approximately 100 people, including journalists and businessmen, had been taken into custody on suspicion of criminal activities related to municipal tenders. They also said a separate investigation had resulted in charges against Imamoglu and six others, accused of aiding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated a terrorist organization in the country.

The arrest followed the revocation of Imamoglu’s degree by Istanbul University, citing “nullity” and “clear error” in his 1990 transfer from a private institution in northern Cyprus. Imamoglu has said he will challenge the move in court. If upheld, the cancelation effectively disqualifies him from running for president, as Turkish law mandates that candidates hold a valid university degree.

In a show of solidarity, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas announced on Tuesday that he is suspending consideration of his own run. Yavas stated, “I am announcing to the public that I am suspending my decision to evaluate my presidential candidacy… until this unlawfulness is eliminated.”

Following the arrest, the country’s financial markets experienced significant turmoil. The Turkish lira depreciated by up to 14.5% against the US dollar, while the BIST 100 equity index dropped 5.9%.

The next Turkish presidential election is scheduled for 2028. Erdogan has reached his two-term limit and is ineligible to run again unless the constitution is amended or an early election is held. In the 2019 municipal elections, Erdogan’s AKP party suffered significant losses, with the CHP winning major cities, including Istanbul and Ankara.

Erdogan himself began his political career as mayor of Istanbul. He also spent time in jail in 1999 for reciting a poem that a court ruled incited religious hatred.

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This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Trump Threatens Russia with New Sanctions

RT — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 16:19:33 +0000

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump © Global Look Press / CNP / Al Drago

US President Donald Trump has threatened Moscow with a new round of “large-scale” sanctions until a Ukraine ceasefire is reached. The restrictions would target the Russian banking sector and include tariffs on the country’s foreign trade, he announced in a post on Truth Social on Friday.

According to Trump, the Russian military “is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now.” Based on that, he said he was “strongly considering” slapping Moscow with another round of sanctions until “a cease fire and final settlement agreement on peace is reached” in the Ukraine conflict. The US president demanded that both Moscow and Kiev “get to the [negotiating] table right now, before it is too late.”

This comes after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the sanctions imposed under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, “egregiously weak.” Washington is prepared to tighten them, the official told the Economic Club of New York on Thursday. The Trump administration “will not hesitate to go ‘all in’ should it provide leverage in peace negotiations,” Bessent said.

In February, Trump extended certain sanctions against Moscow for another year. He then suggested that they could be lifted “at some point” during peace talks. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Western nations might need to reconsider the restrictions imposed against Russia to secure an “enduring, sustainable” resolution to the Ukraine conflict.

On Friday, the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia called on Washington to ease sanctions on Russia, particularly in the fields of aviation, investment, and banking, claiming that they have been harming both Russian and American businesses.

The Kremlin also said this week that Western sanctions against Moscow would have to be lifted to mend relations between the US and Russia. Both nations agreed to work on restoring ties following a high-level meeting in Saudi Arabia last month.

Russia has repeatedly stated that it was open for peace talks, but has opposed a temporary ceasefire with Kiev, arguing that a true settlement of the conflict requires a permanent long-term solution addressing its root causes.

Russia demands that Ukraine demilitarize, denazify, adhere to a position of neutrality, and recognize the territorial “realities on the ground.” It also opposes any NATO presence on Ukrainian soil.

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EU’s Von der Leyen Issued with Colonial Reparations Demand

RT — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:44:49 +0000

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen @ Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been told that former colonial powers must apologize and pay compensation for their historical involvement in the enslavement of Africans.

Addressing the 48th meeting of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) heads of government in Barbados on Thursday, which was attended by von der Leyen, Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell urged Western leaders to recognize slavery as a crime against humanity and ensure appropriate reparations are made to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities.

“I don’t mean to be impolite,” Mitchell told von der Leyen. “But I will say it to you: the issue of reparations… is an issue we will take up with you.”

The transatlantic slave trade saw millions of Africans taken from their homeland, bought by European merchants, forcibly transported to the Americas and sold into slavery. Between 1517 and 1867, around 12.5 million people were forced to endure the so-called Middle Passage across the Atlantic, enduring cruel treatment and disease. Only about 10.7 million survived the journey, with nearly 40% sent to work on sugarcane plantations in Brazil.

Demands for reparations for slavery and colonialism have been ongoing for years but are gaining increasing support worldwide, especially among Caricom and the African Union (AU).

Caricom has outlined a reparations plan that includes calls for technology transfers and investments to address health crises and illiteracy. Meanwhile, the AU is in the process of developing its own strategy.

“We owe it to ourselves and future generations of humanity to ensure [slavery] is accepted as a crime against humanity, and that appropriate apology and compensation is paid, and that the international community accepts this should never happen again,” Reuters quoted Mitchell as saying.

Von der Leyen responded to Mitchell but did not mention reparations, only saying that “slavery is a crime against humanity… and the dignity and universal rights of every single human being is untouchable and must be defended by all means”.

Echoing Mitchell’s remarks, the Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, told the Guardian that the Caribbean states were not seeking “a handout” but an “apology for the wrongs of their forebears.”

No specific figures for reparations have been agreed upon yet, according to Caribbean leaders, but the priority is constructive collaboration on the issue. Following the event in Barbados, the issue of compensation was discussed during closed-door meetings, which were also attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

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Germany Issues Warning to US

RT — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 23:10:07 +0000

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. © Johannes Simon/Getty Images

Europe should not hesitate to put pressure on the US if it fails to fall in line with “liberal democracies,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday. The diplomat made the remark following talks between the US and Russia that excluded representatives from the EU and Ukraine.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Potsdam on Friday, the Green politician stated, “We’re increasing pressure on the Americans [so they know] they have a lot to lose if they don’t stand on the side of Europe’s liberal democracies.”

With respect to EU-US relations, Baerbock warned against drawing any precipitous conclusions, remarking that “nothing has been decided there.”

“No one can decide about war and peace for the Ukrainians or us Europeans, and this is the clear German stance,” she insisted. Baerbock also warned against forcing Kiev into a “phony peace” or “capitulation,” which she said would only invite further “war and violence.”

A rift has opened up between Washington and Brussels since US President Donald Trump took office last month. Trump has taken a tougher stance on trade with the EU by threatening tariffs and demanded that its European-NATO partners boost spending on collective defense.

Addressing Munich Security Conference attendees last Friday, US Vice President J.D. Vance delivered a sobering speech to Europe’s political elites, suggesting that the biggest threat the continent is facing is one coming from within – the erosion of democracy.

“In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” the official stated, concluding that “if you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.”

The speech sent shockwaves across governments, with leaders, including Germany’s Olaf Scholz, scrambling to rebuke Vance’s assertions.

The fallout was further highlighted when Washington and Moscow held high-level talks in Saudi Arabia this week without bothering to invite EU representatives. This perceived slight prompted an outpouring of anguish and indignation on the continent.

Trump blasted Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky this week, branding him a dictator without elections, but a number of European leaders have rejected the US president’s assertion that he lacks legitimacy.

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump said he sees no point in having Zelensky involved in peace talks with Russia. He also insisted that French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer “haven’t done anything” to put an end to the bloodshed in Ukraine for the three years since it started.

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Germany Issues Warning to US

RT — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 23:10:07 +0000

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. © Johannes Simon/Getty Images

With respect to EU-US relations, Baerbock warned against drawing any precipitous conclusions, remarking that “nothing has been decided there.”

The speech sent shockwaves across governments, with leaders, including Germany’s Olaf Scholz, scrambling to rebuke Vance’s assertions.

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“No specific signals” from US on Resuming Dialogue – Moscow

RT — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 20:26:43 +0000

Russia is open to dialogue with the US, including on Ukraine, but has not yet received any “specific signals” from Washington’s new administration on resuming contacts, Moscow’s envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said on Sunday. In an interview with RIA Novosti, the diplomat stressed that Moscow is actively monitoring Washington’s rhetoric on Ukraine and Russia.

Nebenzia’s remarks follow statements made by US President Donald Trump, who reportedly told the New York Post on Saturday that he recently held a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Trump did not disclose any details of the reported call, but claimed that the conversation focused on the Ukraine conflict and that Putin “wants to see people stop dying.” He added that he had a plan for ending the hostilities, also without providing details. The Kremlin neither confirmed nor denied the phone call.

Nebenzia did not comment on the reported contact between Trump and Putin, but noted that despite the US president’s repeated pledges to swiftly end the Ukraine conflict, Moscow has yet to see a clearly formulated American plan.

“We are closely monitoring the rhetoric of US President Donald Trump and his team… As for specific signals on resuming contacts, including on the situation around Ukraine, they have not yet been received,” he stated, adding that “for now, we only hear slogans.”

Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s position that any potential settlement should eliminate the root causes of the conflict, which he said were previously neglected by Washington, such as NATO’s eastward expansion.

“We heard Donald Trump’s statements that during [former President] Joe Biden’s tenure in office, grave mistakes were made in Ukraine… I hope that in the near future we will see whether the Trump administration is interested in eliminating these mistakes,” Nebenzia stated.

“We are open to contacts, but on an equal basis and with the obligatory consideration of Russian interests. We are waiting for the corresponding signals from the American side,” he added.

The diplomat stressed that regarding the Ukraine conflict, it is “fundamentally important” for Russia that any potential peace deal is legally binding and signed by the legitimate Ukrainian leadership. He noted that this could present a challenge given that Vladimir Zelensky’s term as president officially expired in May last year. Another problem hindering any diplomatic moves is Zelensky’s decree banning negotiations with Moscow, Nebenzia noted.

In an interview with Britain’s ITV news network on Sunday, Zelensky said he would agree to negotiations with Russia if the US and EU offer Kiev firm security guarantees. He earlier named Ukraine’s NATO membership as one of them, a notion Moscow has repeatedly opposed.

Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, on Sunday signaled that Washington plans to attempt to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table, but wants the EU to provide Kiev with security guarantees going forward. Waltz said the issue will be discussed later this week when top US officials visit Europe to attend the Munich Security Conference.

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Canadian Police Treating Nazi Monument as War Memorial – Media

RT — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 17:00:30 +0000

View of the Ukrainian memorial to Nazi military unit, the 1st Galician Division, at St. Michael’s Cemetery in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. © Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Police and prosecutors in the Canadian province of Alberta have classed a monument to Ukrainian veterans who fought for Nazi Germany as a protected “war memorial,” for the purpose of charging a journalist who allegedly defaced it, according to news website The Maple.

The Canadian government has previously been accused by Russia of protecting Nazi war criminals who emigrated to the country after WWII.

Police in the city of Edmonton in the province of Alberta claim that journalist Duncan Kinney vandalized the structure in St. Michael’s Cemetery. The monument honoring Ukrainian veterans of the SS “1st Galician Division” was sprayed with the words “Nazi Monument 14th Waffen SS” in August 2021.

The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS consisted mostly of Western Ukrainians, and was implicated in war crimes. Many of its members immigrated to Canada after WWII.

According to police, Kinney was also arrested and charged in October 2022 with one count of “mischief relating to war memorials” for allegedly spraying the words “Actual Nazi” on a statue of a Ukrainian nationalist and Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevych located at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in Edmonton.

Shukhevych was involved in the massacre of tens of thousands of Poles and Jews during the Second World War.

The monument to Roman Shukhevych near the Ukrainian Youth Association in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. © Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The journalist has denied the allegations and is contesting the charges in court, The Maple wrote. If found guilty, he could be sent to prison for up to 10 years. Kinney’s legal defence has argued that he has been deliberately targeted by police for investigating “numerous” cases of misconduct in the force.

According to Polish-born former Alberta deputy premier and cabinet minister Thomas Lukaszuk, the authorities are misinterpreting the law by extending the protection it offers to Canada’s wartime enemies and those who committed war crimes.

“I think it clearly shows that Edmonton police and the Crown prosecutor’s office… are lacking, grossly, in historical knowledge,” Lukaszuk told The Maple.

The monument to Ukrainian SS veterans, allegedly defaced by Kinney, has a family link to Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, The Maple noted.

Freeland’s maternal grandfather, Michael Chomiak, served as a Nazi propagandist in occupied Poland during the war and helped to raise the money for the monument, journalist and author Peter McFarlane told the outlet.

One member of the 1st Galician Division was 99-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, who received two standing ovations in the Canadian parliament in September 2023 during Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s visit. The parliamentary speaker later resigned over the incident, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology.

Russia has accused Canada of “whitewashing” the crimes of Adolf Hitler’s regime by failing to prosecute the former Nazi soldier, and rejecting a request by Moscow to extradite Hunka.

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Maori MPs Perform War Chant in Parliament

RT — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:49:49 +0000

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke performs a Haka in parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, November 14, 2024 © X / @StrayDogNZ

New Zealand’s parliament was suspended on Thursday after lawmakers from the Maori Party tore up a copy of a controversial bill on tribal rights and performed a traditional war chant in the legislature.

For nearly two centuries, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi has guided relations between New Zealand’s native Maori people and its white settlers. The treaty promised the natives that they would keep their lands and customs in exchange for accepting British rule, and has since been interpreted by parliament and courts to guarantee the Maori a broad range of rights – including hiring quotas and financial reparations.

The libertarian ACT party, part of the country’s governing coalition, has argued that that the treaty discriminates against non-Maori people, and has put forward a bill that would dramatically narrow its interpretation.

During a vote on the bill on Thursday, Maori Party MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke tore up a copy of the legislation before breaking into a Haka, a traditional Maori war chant. Maipi-Clarke’s colleagues rose from their seats and joined in the chant, as did opposition lawmakers and spectators in the gallery.

Unable to quiet the shouting MPs, Speaker Gerry Brownlee cut the hearing short and suspended Maipi-Clarke from parliament for a day.

Despite the Maori Party’s opposition, the vote passed and the bill will now proceed to a public consultation process. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon opposed the bill, but his National Party voted to support it under the terms of an agreement signed with ACT last year. The National Party is the largest faction in New Zealand’s coalition government, with ACT and New Zealand First serving as junior partners.

Thursday was not the first time that Maori Party MPs have broken into Hakas in parliament. Back in 2021, party co-leader Rawiri Waititi was ejected from the legislature for performing the ceremonial chant after a National Party MP argued that implementing a separate healthcare system for the Maori community was discriminatory.

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WaPo Putin-Trump Call Claim “Pure Fiction” – Kremlin

RT — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 18:22:01 +0000

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. © Chris McGrath/Getty Images

US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not have a phone conversation about the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

The Washington Post claimed on Sunday that Trump called Putin after winning a new term as US president to discuss his vision regarding how the Ukrainian crisis could be deflated. Peskov said on Monday that the article was a “vivid example of the quality of information published by even some respectable outlets.”

“This absolutely does not correspond to reality. This is pure fiction. This information is simply false,” he told the press.

Kiev previously denied the claim made by the Washington Post in its piece that the Ukrainian government was informed about the phone call beforehand and gave its consent to the US-Russian engagement.

“Reports that the Ukrainian side was informed in advance of the alleged call are false,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman told Reuters on Sunday.

Trump had claimed while on the campaign trail that he could end the Ukraine conflict “in 24 hours,” if US voters grant him a second term in office. He reportedly intends to leverage US military and financial aid to Ukraine to pressure both Moscow and Kiev to achieve a compromise.

Russia, which currently has the advantage on the battlefield, has said that it will only accept an outcome that addresses the core causes of the Ukraine conflict. Those include NATO’s enlargement in Europe and Kiev’s discriminatory policies against ethnic Russians, according to Moscow.

The Washington Post reported a phone call between Trump and Putin based on accounts by sources “familiar with the matter,” who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Russia threatens EU country with racism lawsuit

RT — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 20:47:58 +0000

Closeup of the Latvian flag hanging above the AB dam in Riga – stock photo © Getty Images

Russia has threatened to file a lawsuit against Latvia in the UN International Court of Justice for allegedly racially discriminating against its Russian-speaking population, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced on Wednesday. Ethnic Russians make up nearly a quarter of the country’s population.

Speaking at a press briefing, Zakharova claimed that Russophobia had reached “a qualitatively new level, particularly in the Baltics” and that Moscow would seek to take “offensive actions to hold accountable states that violate their international obligations in the area of eliminating all forms of racial discrimination.”

Moscow has already filed pre-trial claims against Riga for its failure to comply with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1965, Zakharova noted.

“We are talking about open discrimination against Russians, the glorification of Nazism, which are systemic in nature, and part of the targeted state policy of the Latvian authorities,” she explained.

She specified that these Russophobic policies are expressed in the disadvantaged status of non-citizens, the ban on education in Russian and its exclusion from all spheres of public life, the persecution of those who fought against Nazism – namely veterans of World War II – Riga’s attempts to erase the historical memory of the fight against Nazism, allowing annual marches of Latvian SS veterans, and the glorification of Nazi criminals.

“In order to hold Latvia accountable internationally for these violations, the Russian Federation has invoked the official dispute resolution procedure under Article 22 of the Convention,” Zakharova said, adding that Latvia will have to answer to the UN-based International Court of Justice if it continues to violate provisions against racial discrimination.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis in 2022, relations between Russia and the Baltic states have significantly deteriorated. Latvia in particular has introduced a number of restrictions on Russian citizens.

These have included amendments to the country’s migration laws that make it more difficult for Russians to obtain extended residence permits, as well as extensive bans on the use of the Russian language – the second-most spoken language in the country – in nearly all spheres of life.

Earlier this year, one activist was even sentenced to three years in prison for displaying pro-Russian flags in her windows, while the Latvian National Theater has imposed a blanket moratorium on any performances in Russian.

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Multipolar World Order, Leading Role of Emerging Economies, and Western Debt: Key Takeaways from Putin’s BRICS Address

RT — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:06:00 +0000

President of Russia Vladimir Putin during an expanded meeting of BRICS leaders during the 16th BRICS summit in Kazan. © Sputnik / Stanislav Krasilnikov

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a meeting of leaders at the BRICS Summit in Kazan on Wednesday. In his speech, he focused on the growing role and prospects of the economic group, and warned about the risks to the global economy from Western sanctions and protectionist policies.

Putin also announced Russia’s initiatives within the BRICS framework, including the formation of a grain exchange and a new investment platform.

Here are the key takeaways from the president’s address.

Multipolar world order being formed

World trade and the global economy as a whole are undergoing significant changes, the Russian president told the extended-format BRICS meeting. The center of business activity is gradually shifting towards developing markets, he added. “A multipolar model is being formed, which is launching a new wave of growth, primarily due to the countries of the Global South and East – and, naturally, the BRICS countries.”

Leading role of BRICS

The BRICS economies have been demonstrating “sufficient stability” due to responsible macroeconomic and fiscal government policies, the Russian leader said, noting accelerated growth rates are expected in the medium term. Putin cited preliminary estimates that average BRICS country economic growth in 2024-2025 will be 3.8%, compared to global figure of 3.2-3.3%.

The BRICS countries’ share of global GDP in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) will amount to 36.7% by the end of 2024 and will continue to expand, Putin predicted. Meanwhile, the share of the Group of Seven (G7) leading Western economies is projected to account for slightly above 30%.

“The trend for the BRICS’ leading role in the global economy will only strengthen,” Putin said, citing population growth, capital accumulation, urbanization, and increased labor productivity, accompanied by technological innovations as key factors.

West’s unilateral sanctions and debt burden

The Russian president warned of a potential new global crisis, citing the growing debt burden in developed countries, unilateral sanctions, and protectionist policies as key threats. “These factors are fragmenting international trade and foreign investment, particularly in developing nations,” Putin said.

He also pointed to high commodity price volatility and rising inflation, which are eroding incomes and corporate profits in many countries. Putin’s remarks also highlighted concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions and their impact on global economic stability.

New BRICS investment platform as a powerful tool

The Russian leader said that to fully realize the potential of the BRICS countries’ growing economies, the member states should intensify cooperation in areas such as technology, education, resources, trade and logistics, finance, and insurance, as well as increasing the volume of capital investment many times over.

“In this regard, we propose creating a new BRICS investment platform, which would become a powerful tool for supporting our national economies and would also provide financial resources to the countries of the Global South and East,” Putin said.

BRICS-based grain exchange

The Russian leader proposed a common BRICS grain exchange to protect trade between members from excessive price volatility. BRICS countries are “among the world’s largest producers of grain, vegetables, and oilseeds,” he noted. Such a bourse could be expanded to trade in other major commodities such as oil, gas and precious metals, Putin said.

The initiative is aimed at protecting national markets from negative external interference, speculation and attempts to cause artificial shortages of food products, according to Putin.

AI alliance of BRICS

Putin also proposed a BRICS AI alliance to regulate the technology and prevent its illegal deployment. “In Russia, the business community has adopted a code of ethics in this area, which our BRICS partners and other countries could join,” Putin noted.

Other proposals

The president also spoke about increasing transport connectivity between BRICS countries, saying this could provide additional opportunities for growth and diversification of mutual trade.

“Such promising projects as the formation of a permanent BRICS logistics platform, preparation of a review of transport routes, opening of an electronic communications platform for transport, and establishment of a reinsurance pool are being discussed,” Putin said.

The issues related to the transition of the global economy to low-emission development models are very important, according to the Russian president. The BRICS contact group on climate and sustainable development is closely involved in this work and will continue to counteract attempts by some countries to use the climate agenda to eliminate competitors from the market, he said. “We consider the initiatives on the BRICS partnership on carbon markets and the climate research platform to be promising,” Putin concluded.

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Armed Raid on Cathedral in Ukraine

RT — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 22:46:47 +0000

Armed men raiding the St. Michael’s Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in the Ukrainian city of Cherkasy. © The Union of Orthodox Journalists

Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right, the UN Human Rights Office has stressed in a comment to the Russian newspaper Izvestia following an armed raid on a church in central Ukraine earlier this week.

On Thursday, videos emerged on social media showing dozens of armed men in military-style clothing clashing with believers at St. Michael’s Cathedral, belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), in the city of Cherkasy.

The unidentified raiders reportedly used tear gas, smoke grenades and fired a gas pistol into the crowd. Icons, documents and some $60,000 – raised by the congregation for the needs of the church – were reportedly stolen. At least 12 people were hospitalized as a result of the standoff, according to the UOC. It blamed the attack on “schismatics” from the Kiev-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

A representative of the UN Human Rights Office told Izvestia on Friday that “while we cannot yet confirm the specific details of these events, we emphasize that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right.”

“Attacks on civilian believers are prohibited under international human rights and humanitarian norms,” the representative was quoted as saying.

Ukrainian diocese ‘goes underground’ after raid on cathedral

The Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is currently working to establish additional details on the incident, the official added.

In an earlier comment to TASS, the press service of the UN Human Rights Office called the videos of the church raid in Cherkasy “alarming.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Moscow calls on “the relevant international human rights organizations” to look into the attack.

“The Kiev regime is doing everything it can to outlaw and disband the canonical church [UOC]. And [Ukrainian leader Vladimir] Zelensky’s Western backers continue to indulge in deepening the religious schism in Ukraine,” Zakharova stressed.

Ukraine has been gripped by religious tensions for years, with two rival entities claiming to be the country’s true Orthodox Church.

The Kiev government supports the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which was created only in 2018 and which the Russian Orthodox Church considers schismatic. Zelensky has explained the moves against the UOC by citing its alleged links to the Moscow Patriarchate and the need to protect Ukraine’s “spiritual independence” and deprive Russia of an opportunity to “to manipulate the spirituality of our people.”

The persecution of the UOC intensified after the outbreak of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. Several of its churches have been seized by force, and criminal cases have been opened against clerics. A law banning the activities of the UOC in Ukraine officially came into force in late September.

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Russia Confirms Liberation of Key Donbass Town

RT — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 23:36:39 +0000

FILE PHOTO. © Sputnik/Alexey Maishev

Russian forces have completely liberated the town of Ugledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Defense Ministry in Moscow has confirmed.

Ukrainian forces had controlled the settlement since 2014, when the DPR declared independence following a US-backed coup in Kiev. Ugledar was a strategically important position, featuring high-rise buildings overlooking the surrounding plain.

“As a result of conclusive operations by the units of the ‘East’ group of forces, the town of Ugledar in the DPR has been liberated,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Thursday.

Video footage and images of Russian troops in control of Ugledar appeared on social media on Wednesday, showing a flag raised over its administration building. Later in the day, the Ukrainian high command said it had ordered “a maneuver of withdrawal” from the town. It was unclear whether any units had actually been able to leave the operational encirclement.

According to a security source who spoke to TASS news agency, Russian forces had almost completed “mopped up” the Ukrainian resistance as of Wednesday afternoon. Some of Kiev’s units had suffered “huge losses” after not being able to leave, the source added.

The 72nd Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was stationed in Ugledar, had reportedly sought permission to retreat last week, as Russian troops cut off their supply lines and placed the town under siege. According to multiple Russian military correspondents, their requests were denied because losing Ugledar would look bad while Vladimir Zelensky was visiting the US.

Russian forces had tried to take Ugledar on several occasions in the past. The most promising attack saw them capture the adjacent cottage district, but ultimately failed because of Ukrainian artillery support located in Kurakhovo to the north. In recent weeks, however, Russian advances collapsed the Ukrainian front north of Kurakhovo and threatened that town as well.

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Hezbollah Military Leadership Nearly Wiped out – Israel

RT — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 15:57:17 +0000

Officials in West Jerusalem shared a list of more than a dozen top commanders who have been killed in recent weeks.

Nearly all of Hezbollah’s military leaders have been eliminated in recent Israeli strikes, officials in West Jerusalem have claimed, after the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in a bombardment of a compound in Beirut.

In a post on X on Saturday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry released a diagram of what it said was Hezbollah’s military chain of command. All of the 18 high-ranking members – including Nasrallah and Ali Karaki, the commander of Hezbollah’s Southern front, and the heads of several units – are said to have been “eliminated.”

A separate post by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) listed 11 senior Hezbollah members, ten of whom were also described as “eliminated.” Only Abu Ali Rida, the commander of the Bader unit, has survived so far, according to the list. The IDF list largely mirrored the ministry’s, but included two additional names – Ibrahim Muhammad Qabisi, the commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile force, and Hussein Srour, the head of the Aerial Command – both of whom are also presumed dead.

Israel appeared to have trumpeted its successes against Hezbollah after announcing that Nasrallah had been killed in a powerful air strike in Beirut. Nasrallah, who led the group for more than 30 years, was widely regarded as an icon of resistance to Israel who oversaw the growth of Hezbollah’s power and influence.

Hours after West Jerusalem said it had killed the group’s leader, Hezbollah confirmed the death, pledging to continue “its jihad in confronting the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people.” At the moment, it is unclear who will succeed Nasrallah.

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NATO Using AI against Russia – Top Official

RT — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 17:55:02 +0000

FILE PHOTO. David van Weel. © Getty Images / Anadolu Agency / Omer Taha Cetin

NATO is utilizing artificial intelligence to track Russian aircraft and fueling stations, the US-led bloc’s Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber, David van Weel, has revealed.

Speaking at the NATO-Ukraine Defense Innovators Forum at AGH University of Krakow, Poland, the top official pledged to deepen cooperation with Kiev, with a new agreement on “battlefield innovation” already in sight.

“The energy for more collaboration between Ukrainian and Allied innovation ecosystems was contagious, and is exactly why Allies and Ukraine are working together on a new innovation agreement in the NATO-Ukraine Council,” van Weel stated.

As an example of the integration of various AI solutions, he said the bloc utilizes it to analyze satellite imagery in order to track and count Russian aircraft and fueling stations. The assistant secretary general said that using AI in such a manner was in accord with NATO’s principles on ethical Al use.

“It’s low-risk,” van Weel said. “Nobody gets killed if you get the number off.”

In recent months, Ukraine has reportedly ramped up its effort to strike Russian airfields, both those close to the combat zone and deep inside the country’s territory. Moscow appears to have significantly expanded its use of frontline aviation as well, primarily to launch aerial bombs fitted with UMPK (Universal Glide and Correction Module) winged guidance kits.

Various Ukrainian military sources have noted the growing use of UMPK-fitted bombs by Russia, attributing frontline setbacks to the effectiveness of the weapon.

UMPK modules, widely regarded as an analogue of US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits, fit most freefall bombs in Russia’s arsenal. They are frequently upgraded with thermobaric and cluster munitions, which have already been observed being used on the frontline.

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US Court Convicts Trump

RT — Fri, 31 May 2024 03:17:35 +0000

Former US President Donald Trump arrives to Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024 in New York City. © Justin Lane / Getty ImagesFormer US president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump has been found guilty of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election, in a case related to alleged ‘hush money’ payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, charged Trump last year with 34 counts of criminal behavior, alleging that the Republican politician sought “to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.”

The jury deliberated for two days and returned the verdict just before 5pm on Thursday: guilty on all counts, making Trump the first US president to ever be convicted of a felony.

“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump told reporters after the verdict was announced. “The real verdict will be on November 5, by the people. And we will keep fighting, and we’ll fight till the end and we’ll win.”

The 34 counts refer to 11 invoices, 12 vouchers and 11 checks of Trump’s monthly reimbursement payments to his then-layer, for the $130,000 paid to Daniels. According to Bragg, this amounted to “falsifying business records.”

The case was based on claims by Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, that Trump instructed him to pay $130,000 to the adult film actress so she would keep quiet about an alleged affair with the presidential candidate. Trump has denied any relationship with the porn star. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to charges of campaign-finance violations as well as tax and bank fraud, and spent two and a half years in a federal prison. He also lost his New York bar license.

Numerous Republicans have denounced the trial as a farce, saying that Merchan violated the state constitution by taking the case even though his daughter works for the Democrats.

If Trump is acquitted, “the country will see the damage done to our country by corrupt prosecutors,” former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told Fox News ahead of the verdict. “If he’s found guilty, they’ll see that a man is being sentenced for a crime that no one can actually name.”

“Either way, the real verdict is in November,” Ramaswamy added, referring to the date of the presidential election pitting Trump against the incumbent Joe Biden.

“Even a cursory review of the evidence shows this case does not have a leg to stand on,” Jonathan Turley, a Georgetown University professor and constitutional scholar, argued in a blog post. Turley pointed out that Bragg revived what could at best be an expired misdemeanor by claiming that it was done to influence the election, describing the entire argument as “so circular as to produce vertigo.”

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US Court Convicts Trump

RT — Fri, 31 May 2024 03:17:35 +0000

The jury deliberated for two days and returned the verdict just before 5pm on Thursday: guilty on all counts, making Trump the first US president to ever be convicted of a felony.

Numerous Republicans have denounced the trial as a farce, saying that Merchan violated the state constitution by taking the case even though his daughter works for the Democrats.

“Either way, the real verdict is in November,” Ramaswamy added, referring to the date of the presidential election pitting Trump against the incumbent Joe Biden.

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Iran Confirms Launching “Extensive” Strike against Israel

RT — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 22:06:03 +0000

FILE PHOTO. © Global Look Press / Iranian Army Office

An operation has been carried out against Israeli targets in the Occupied Palestinian territories, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Monday night. The drone and missile strike was a response to “numerous crimes” supposedly committed by West Jerusalem, the statement said, among which was an attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, it added.

“In response to the Zionist regime’s numerous crimes … and the martyrdom of a number of our country’s commanders and military advisors in Syria, the IRGC’s Aerospace Division launched tens of missiles and drones against certain targets inside the occupied territories,” the statement said.

The exact targets of the strike remain unknown. It is also unclear if the IRGC was referring to the Occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank or Israeli territory when announcing the strike. Several media outlets earlier reported that multiple drones were targeting Israeli territory. Tehran said it would provide further details about the operation “soon.”

The development came two weeks after an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The attack, which took place on April 1, killed seven officers of the IRGC’s Quds Force, including two generals.

Following the incident, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to deal Israel a “slap in the face.” US officials also warned West Jerusalem on Friday that Tehran could be preparing a massive strike against Israel over the weekend.

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Three Injured in Ukrainian Attack on Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant

RT — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 14:00:25 +0000

FILE PHOTO. © STRINGER / AFP

Multiple explosive-laden Ukrainian drones targeted the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant on Sunday, hitting several parts of the facility, Russia’s nuclear energy agency Rosatom said in a statement. At least three employees were injured in the attack, the agency added.

According to a Telegram post by the facility’s Russian management, one kamikaze UAV struck near the power plant’s canteen, damaging a nearby truck. Another drone exploded in the vicinity of the cargo port. The attack on the plant’s canteen left at least three employees injured, Rosatom said in a separate statement.

“20 minutes before the attack, [International Atomic Energy Agency] experts were conducting an inspection of this territory,” the management said.

The nuclear power station, the largest in Europe, was integrated under Moscow’s control in 2022, early in the Ukraine conflict. Rosatom formally took it over after Zaporozhye Region was incorporated into Russia following a referendum in the autumn of that year.

Kiev has repeatedly claimed that Moscow keeps heavy weaponry on the premises of the power plant. Russia has accused Ukraine of shelling the facility and risking a major nuclear incident.

The power plant’s representatives accused the Ukrainian military of targeting the dome of the sixth power unit, but no critical damage or casualties were reported. It also reported that radiation levels around the power plant remained normal.

The management of the facility stressed, however, that “no nuclear power plant in the world is built to withstand full-scale fire impact by an armed force.”

On Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on the “IAEA and its leadership to actively use the experts present at the station to publicly record all cases of attacks from the Ukrainian side and clearly state where the threat to the safe operation of this facility really comes from.”

Commenting on Ukrainian strikes earlier this week, which threatened to cut off the power plant from its source of electricity needed for cooling, the international nuclear watchdog said it was aware of the incident and was studying it.

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Putin Officially Declared Russia’s President-elect

RT — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 21:11:54 +0000

Vladimir Putin has won a landslide victory in the presidential election, Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has officially announced. The inauguration of the president-elect is scheduled for May 7.

The CEC head, Ella Pamfilova, revealed on Thursday that more than 76.2 million Russian voters cast ballots for Putin, giving him 87.28% of the vote.

Meanwhile, Putin’s opponents in the race, Communist Party candidate Nikolay Kharitonov, Vladislav Davankov of the New People party, and Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democrats, received 4.31%, 3.85%, and 3.2%, respectively, Pamfilova added.

Russia has a total of 112 million eligible voters out of a total population of 146.2 million people, according to official data. The last figure, however, does not take into account the four former Ukrainian territories that joined Russia in the fall of 2022.

The presidential election in Russia, held between March 15 and 17, was marked by record-high voter turnout, surpassing 77%.

A KGB agent during the Soviet era, Putin was first elected president in 2000, remaining in office for two four-year terms until 2008. Between 2008 and 2012, he served as prime minister under President Dmitry Medvedev.

During Medvedev’s tenure, the Russian constitution was amended to extend the presidential term from four to six years. Putin returned to the presidency in 2012 and was reelected in 2018. A constitutional reform in 2020 established a two-term limit but “nullified” Putin’s previous terms, enabling him to run once more for the highest office.

The inauguration of the president-elect is scheduled for early May, to coincide with the resignation of the Russian government. The constitutional deadline for forming a new government is one month.

On Thursday, Putin thanked all those who went to the polling stations regardless of what candidate they voted for, adding that the election showed that Russia is “one big and tightly-knit family.”

He also noted that the results “demand even more commitment and efficiency” from him and his team, promising to do his best to meet public expectations.

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South Africa Will Arrest Citizens Fighting for Israel – official

RT — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 22:07:09 +0000

FILE PHOTO. © Aris MESSINIS / AFP

South Africans fighting alongside the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza, where thousands of civilians have been killed since October, will be arrested when they return home, Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has warned.

She reportedly made the statement at a Palestinian solidarity event in the South African capital, Pretoria, over the weekend. Pandor added that IDF troops with dual nationality would be stripped of their South African citizenship as punishment.

“I have already issued a statement alerting those who are South African and who are fighting alongside or in the Israel Defense Forces. We are ready. When you come home, we’re going to arrest you,” said the foreign minister, according to the Associated Press.

Pretoria previously warned South Africans against joining the IDF in the Israel-Hamas conflict last December, citing the risk of violating domestic and international law. According to the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, people must obtain government approval before joining Israeli forces, and failure to do so will result in criminal prosecution.

More than 31,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli air and ground attacks in Gaza since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the Palestinian militant group’s cross-border attack on October 7.

Hamas launched raids on southern Israeli villages, killing more than 1,100 people and taking hundreds of hostages back to Gaza. According to the UN, 570,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory are starving, with up to 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents displaced by Israel’s five-month-long bombing campaign.

The Israel-Hamas war has strained diplomatic relations between Israel and South Africa, which has long supported the Palestinian struggle for sovereignty, comparing it to Pretoria’s own battle against Apartheid in the 20th century.

Pretoria has filed a legal action at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for allegedly committing “systematic” war crimes in Gaza. The top UN court has yet to issue a final ruling but it ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide and improve humanitarian conditions for Gaza’s population in January.

Last month, the South African government accused Israel of violating the ICJ order. Pandor also claimed that Israeli intelligence had been attempting to intimidate her in response to the genocide investigation.

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Defund UN and Give Cash to Israel – US Lawmaker

RT — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 23:35:28 +0000

US Representative Matt Gaetz speaks at the CPAC conference on Friday in suburban Washington. © Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

US Representative Matt Gaetz has called for withdrawing from the UN and cutting off funding to the global body to free up money to support Israel’s war effort against Hamas.

Speaking at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event on Friday in suburban Washington, the Florida Republican demanded that Washington account for all new spending on foreign aid by making equivalent cuts to the federal budget. Gaetz made his comments as US President Joe Biden’s administration continued to scold Republican lawmakers for failing to approve an emergency spending bill that includes about $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel.

“We shouldn’t have any foreign aid to any other country without corresponding cuts to our own bloated federal budget,” the congressman told a cheering CPAC crowd. “If you want to send aid to Israel, fine, pay for it by defunding the United Nations.”

I want the UN to be zeroed out in our budget. The US should be out of the UN, and the UN should be out of the US.”

Gaetz and other conservative lawmakers have balked at approving additional support for Kiev, saying Biden is merely prolonging Ukraine’s conflict with Russia while providing no plan for ending the bloodshed. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a $14.3 billion aid bill for Israel in November, but Biden has insisted that assistance to West Jerusalem be bundled with military funding for Ukraine and Taiwan.

The White House admitted last month that it had run out of money for Kiev after burning through $113 billion in previously approved funding. Biden has claimed that Republicans are blocking aid to Ukraine at the behest of Donald Trump, his likely opponent in this year’s presidential election. He told supporters this week that GOP politicians are worse than the racist segregationists he worked with decades ago in the Senate. “These guys do not believe in basic democratic principles.”

Gaetz said Washington’s previously approved Ukraine aid packages are now “slushing around the money-laundering capitals of the world.” He noted that amid Western outrage over the death earlier this month of Russian activist Alexey Navalny in a Siberian penal colony, the media should be reminded that American journalist Gonzalo Lira died in a Ukrainian prison.

The congressman added that wealthy European allies have relied on Washington to fund their defense. “What’s really left unsaid in this Ukraine aid debate is that Europe’s fecklessness is a direct result of them becoming national security welfare queens, largely at your expense.”

Quitting the UN would be a logical way to free up funds for Israel, Gaetz argued. “How about take the money away from the entity that had some of their own people attacking and killing Israelis?” he asked. “It seems like a good offset.”

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North Korea Must Be Ready to “Occupy” South – Kim

RT — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:31:02 +0000

Pyongyang must be prepared to seize South Korean territory in the event of an “emergency,” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said.

In a speech marking the 76th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean Army on Friday, Kim praised the military for “firmly protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the country” from “imperialist military threats, blackmail, and the risk of war.”

Commenting on the increasingly tense relations with Seoul, the North Korean leader said his country has “summarized the history of our people’s division and confrontation and defined [South] Korean puppets as the most harmful and unchangeable enemy” of Pyongyang.

Against this backdrop, Kim stated that in the event of an “emergency,” North Korean policymakers had “made a national decision to occupy and pacify [South Korean] territory.”

The warning comes after the North Korean leader ruled out reunification between Pyongyang and Seoul in late December, arguing that the two neighbors adhere to diametrically opposed principles. Last month, Kim also called on the national parliament to label South Korea the “number one hostile country.”

Pyongyang and Seoul never signed a peace treaty after the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which divided the peninsula, and tensions remain high. In recent months, North Korea has conducted numerous missile launches while criticizing its southern neighbor for holding joint military drills with the US, which has some 30,000 troops stationed on the peninsula.

Citing US officials, the New York Times reported in January that Washington is worried that North Korea could “take some form of lethal military action” against Seoul. The paper’s sources, however, doubted that Pyongyang would risk anything resembling a full-scale attack.

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Arab States Call for Israel Football Ban

RT — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 15:10:51 +0000

Football federations from a dozen Middle Eastern countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have written to global governing body FIFA to demand that Israel be banned over its offensive in Gaza, Sky News reported on Thursday.

In a letter obtained by the British news outlet, the West Asian Football Federation, led by Prince Ali bin Al Hussein – half-brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah II – urged FIFA and member associations such as European governing body UEFA to form “a united front in isolating the Israeli Football Association from all football-related activities until these acts of aggression cease.”

It further called on the global governing body to take a “decisive stand against the atrocities committed in Palestine and the war crimes in Gaza by condemning the killing of innocent civilians including players, coaches, referees, and officials, [and] the destruction of the football infrastructure.”

The Israeli Football Association responded by calling the letter “cynical and shameless,” and urged football authorities to reject calls to ban its teams from international tournaments. “I am trusting FIFA not to involve politics in football,” Israeli FA CEO Niv Goldstein told Sky News.

“We are against involving politicians in football and being involved in political matters in the sport in general,” he added, stating that he is “looking forward to world peace.”

Meanwhile, UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis told the outlet there are currently no discussions on excluding Israeli teams from European competitions. He also dismissed accusations of taking a special approach to Israel, given that UEFA has suspended all Russian teams over the Ukraine conflict.

“They are two completely different situations between the two countries,” he claimed.

While FIFA has yet to officially respond to the letter, the organization has also faced accusations of making a politically driven decision by banning Russian teams after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict flared up in October after Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on Israeli territories that left 1,200 people dead and saw more than 200 others taken hostage. The Israel Defense Forces responded by launching a siege on the Palestinian enclave and vowing to eliminate all Hamas militants in the region. Gaza health officials have estimated that over 27,000 Palestinians have so far been killed in the Israeli response.

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Assange Faces Torture and Suicide in US – UN

RT — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 23:50:18 +0000

Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11, 2019 in London, England © Getty Images / Jack Taylor/Getty Images

The United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture has called upon authorities in the UK to block Julian Assange’s possible extradition to the United States to face espionage charges. Britain could be violating human rights laws by turning the WikiLeaks founder over to the US, due to his fragile mental state, UN expert Alice Jill Edwards warned on Tuesday.

Ahead of Assange’s final appeal against extradition this month, Edwards has warned that Assange’s “precarious mental health status” could mean that transferring him to US custody could endanger his health.

“Julian Assange suffers from long-standing and recurrent depressive order,” Edwards said in a statement published on the website of the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday. “He is assessed as being at risk of committing suicide.”

Assange, now 52, came to international prominence in 2010 when he published a series of leaks from US Army intelligence operative Chelsea Manning in what was referred to as the largest disclosure of classified documents in history. He faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted of a string of espionage charges.

Edwards added that Assange is also at “risk of being placed in prolonged solitary confinement” and could receive a “potentially disproportionate sentence” in a US courtroom if extradition is approved.

She also urged London to ensure “full compliance with the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of refoulement to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

A final decision on Assange’s possible extradition is expected to be made in London’s High Court on February 20 and 21. He faces a total of 18 criminal counts in the United States over his supposed role in leaking classified documents via the WikiLeaks platform, including some that exposed alleged war crimes.

Assange has been hailed by his supporters as an anti-establishment hero who is being persecuted for exposing US military wrongdoing, and his prosecution would be an attack on journalism and free speech.

“The last four and a half years have taken the most considerable toll on Julian and his family, including our two young sons,” Assange’s wife Stella, whom he married in prison, said last year. “The persecution of this innocent journalist and publisher must end.”

Assange has been detained in the UK since 2019 and is currently being held at Belmarsh Prison in London. Prior to his detention, he spent nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in the English capital after being granted political asylum by the South American country.

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Assange Faces Torture and Suicide in US – UN

RT — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 23:50:18 +0000

Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11, 2019 in London, England © Getty Images / Jack Taylor/Getty Images

She also urged London to ensure “full compliance with the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of refoulement to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

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Russian Economy Growing Faster than Main Western Rivals – Putin

RT — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 17:09:34 +0000

The Russian economy keeps growing and has already become the largest in Europe and the fifth largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), President Vladimir Putin said while speaking at the ‘Everything for Victory’ forum in the city of Tula on Friday.

PPP is a metric popular with many economists that compares economic productivity and standards of living between countries by adjusting for the differences in the cost of goods and services.

According to the Russian leader, the country’s economy has demonstrated stability, unlike those of the US and the EU, which are currently in decline. “The fundamental principles of the US’ and EU’s economies are good, they [economies] will rise, but today they are at the bottom, while we are rising,” Putin said.

According to the World Bank, in 2022 China was ahead of the US in terms of PPP, while India and Japan were a respective third and fourth. Russia rounded out the top five, while Germany was in sixth place. Meanwhile, Putin’s top economic adviser, Maksim Oreshkin, said recently that Russia “is already breathing down Japan’s back in the race for fourth place.”

This week, the IMF significantly raised its growth forecast for the Russian economy, projecting that the country’s GDP will grow by 2.6% this year. The estimate is a sharp increase from its October forecast of 1.1% growth. The forecast for 2025 was also increased by 0.1 percentage point from the October estimate, to 1.1%.

The Russian Economy Ministry expects the country’s GDP to expand 2.3% this year, following 3.5% growth in 2023, according to the preliminary reading.

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Three West African States Quit Regional Bloc

RT — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 14:04:36 +0000

FILE PHOTO: Colonel Amadou Abdramane. © ORTN – Télé Sahel / AFP

The military governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have announced their exit from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), claiming the regional bloc has become a tool for foreign powers, posing a threat to member states.

The decision was made public on Sunday in a joint statement by the coup leaders, who have faced increasing pressure from ECOWAS to transition to democratic rule.

Following the overthrow of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum last July, the latest coup in the West African region, the bloc threatened to use force to restore democratic rule after multiple attempts to persuade military rulers to reverse the coup failed. Both Mali and Burkina Faso have warned against the France-backed military action in Niger, claiming that any such move would be interpreted as an act of war against their countries.

The 15-nation economic group has sanctioned Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, including suspending them in response to the takeovers. The alliance has said it does not recognize the military-led regimes, and has vowed to no longer tolerate power grabs in the region, which has also witnessed a successful coup in Guinea and a recently attempted one in Guinea-Bissau.

However, Ouagadougou, Bamako, and Niamey have unified against ECOWAS, repeatedly accusing it of acting under Western influence. Late last year, the military rulers of the three former French colonies signed a charter that formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), committing to help each other, individually or collectively, in the event of an external attack or internal threats to their sovereignty. All three have also severed military ties with France, citing meddling and the failure of French troops to defeat Islamic insurgencies in the Sahel region, despite more than a decade of involvement.

On Sunday, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger denounced ECOWAS for failing to support them in fighting the region’s decade-long jihadist violence.

“When these states decided to take their destiny into their own hands, it [ECOWAS] adopted an irrational and unacceptable posture by imposing illegal, illegitimate, inhumane, and irresponsible sanctions in violation of its own principles,” the military leaders stated.

“After 49 years of existence, the valiant people of Burkina, Mali, and Niger note with great regret, bitterness, and great disappointment” in ECOWAS and have “decided in complete sovereignty on the immediate withdrawal” from the bloc, according to the statement.

In a response on Sunday, ECOWAS said it had yet to receive formal notification from the military authorities regarding their withdrawal.

Andrei Maslov, head of the Center for African Studies at Russia’s Higher School of Economics, told RT: “ECOWAS’ desire to make money from donor programs and cooperation with the EU and other Western institutions prevented the organization from pursuing policies in the interests of member states.”

ECOWAS has failed to capture its full potential and become a genuinely independent regional organization, Maslov claimed.

Maslov believes that the exit of the three countries from the bloc would provide them with more decision-making freedom.

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Belgorod Plane Attack: Kiev Deliberately Shot Down Plane Carrying Its POWs, Moscow Says

RT — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 22:22:31 +0000

Kiev’s forces knowingly downed a Russian plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war that crashed on Wednesday, killing all on board, in order to pin the attack on Moscow, the Defense Ministry has said, adding that Kiev had once again shown its “true colors”.

In a statement following the incident, the ministry revealed that a Russian IL-76 cargo plane had crashed in Belgorod Region, claiming the lives of 65 Ukrainian POWs, as well as six crew members and three Russian soldiers.

The Defense Ministry claimed that the “Kiev regime committed a terrorist act” by targeting the plane, which was transporting POWs for a further prisoner exchange, from the Chkalovsky military airbase near Moscow to Belgorod.

Russian officials stated that the plane had been hit at 11:15am local time by Ukrainian air defense forces stationed in Kharkov Region, adding that the military had registered the launch of two missiles.

Confirming that everyone aboard was killed in the attack, the ministry said that the Ukrainian leadership was well aware of the flight and its mission. It noted that Moscow and Kiev had agreed to conduct a prisoner exchange later on Wednesday near the Russian border village of Kolotilovka in Belgorod Region.

Nevertheless, the Nazi Kiev regime [carried out this attack] in a bid to accuse Russia of killing members of the Ukrainian military. By committing this terrorist act, the Ukrainian leadership showed its true face, disregarding the lives of its citizens.

Russian officials stated earlier that the attack used either US-made or German air defense systems, with State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin urging Kiev’s Western backers to finally realize that they are backing a “Nazi regime.”

Russian MP Andrey Kartapolov said a second plane had been carrying another 80 captured Ukrainian troops, which was swiftly diverted from the danger zone after the first aircraft was attacked.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has so far declined to comment on the incident, saying only that it was looking into the matter. However, Andrey Yusov, a spokesman for Kiev’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR), confirmed that Russia and Ukraine were indeed scheduled to carry out a prisoner exchange on Wednesday, adding that it had since been canceled.

Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda initially reported, citing unnamed defense officials in Kiev, that the IL-76 was destroyed by the country’s military. Later, however, it removed the mention of Kiev’s role in the attack.

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North Korea Test-fires New Hypersonic Missile

RT — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 23:46:47 +0000

North Korea has tested a solid-fuel ballistic missile armed with a hypersonic warhead, the Korean Central Telegraphic Agency (KCTA) reported on Monday.

The launch was conducted amid growing tensions with Pyongyang’s southern neighbor, after Seoul recently conducted military drills with the US near the North’s border.

“On January 14, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s [DPRK] Missile General Bureau performed a test launch of a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile with a hypersonic maneuverable warhead,” the KCTA said, adding that the launch was successful.

The test launch had no impact on the security of neighboring countries and had nothing to do with the “regional situation,” according to the news agency.

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accused Seoul of being “most hostile” and of trying to overthrow the leadership in Pyongyang.

South Korea had earlier ordered the evacuation of some of its border islands as North Korea conducted live-fire drills near their volatile maritime border. The maneuvers came shortly after joint US-South Korean drills in the region, which the North called “reckless.”

Seoul’s Defense Ministry condemned the recent launch, saying South Korea would provide an “overwhelming response” if the North commits a “direct provocation.”

The ministry also noted that as part of joint efforts to counter Pyongyang’s military threats, Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo are exchanging real-time data on the North’s missiles. Pyongyang conducted a series of weapons tests in 2023, including its first solid-fuel ICBM.

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Putin Names Russia’s Real Enemies

RT — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:33:16 +0000

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with participants in the special military operation at Vishnevsky Central Military Clinical Hospital in Moscow, Russia. © Sputnik/Kristina Kormilitsyna

Ukraine is a mere tool in the hands of the collective West which is using it to fight Russia, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. He was speaking at a military hospital in Moscow where he met servicemen wounded during the ongoing conflict.

Asked about the enduring Western support for Kiev, the president said the elites of the collective West were actually the true enemy of Russia, rather than Ukraine itself.

“The point is not that they are helping our enemy, but that they are our enemy. They are solving their own problems with [Ukraine’s] hands, that’s what it’s all about,” Putin stated.

The conflict between Moscow and Kiev was orchestrated by Western elites, who seek to defeat Russia, he suggested. However, the collective West has been unable to achieve its goals, with the failure already showing in the change of its rhetoric on the conflict, the president explained.

Those who only yesterday were talking about the need to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia are now looking for words on how to quickly end the conflict.

“We want to end the conflict too, and as quickly as possible, but only on our terms. We have no desire to fight forever, but we are not going to give up our positions either,” Putin said.

The battlefield situation is now changing, despite all the aid Kiev has received from the West, the president observed. Russia has been effectively outproducing the entire Western alliance militarily, he suggested, with the country’s output destined to grow even further.

“Despite the fact that from time immemorial [the West] has had such a goal – to deal with Russia, it looks like we will deal with them first,” Putin stated.

“You probably see it on the battlefield that they are gradually ‘deflating’. When a shell flies, it is probably difficult to tell whether they are ‘deflated’ or not, but in general you probably know: the situation on the battlefield is changing. And this is happening despite the fact that the entire so-called civilized West is fighting against us,” he told the servicemen.

According to Russia’s latest estimates, over 380,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded during the conflict. Ukraine has also sustained heavy materiel losses, with an estimated 14,000 tanks and other armored vehicles destroyed. Nearly 160,000 troop losses were during Kiev’s botched counteroffensive, launched in early June last year, Moscow claims.

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Korean Unification “Impossible” – Kim

RT — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 21:37:55 +0000

FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Lang Son, Vietnam on February 26, 2019 © Getty Images / Linh Pham

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said it is impossible to achieve reunification between Pyongyang and Seoul because South Korea’s principles are directly opposed to those of his country.

Addressing a meeting of the ruling Workers Party, Kim said the two states’ relations had become “hostile to each other” and no longer “consanguineous or homogeneous,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sunday.

Kim declared Pyongyang’s approach to national reunification based on “one nation and one state with two systems” to be in sharp contradiction with Seoul’s “unification by absorption” and “unification under liberal democracy.”

South Korea is currently a “colonial subordinate state” whose politics are “completely out of order” and whose defense and security are totally dependent on the US, the agency said, citing Kim.

Kim said Washington had turned Seoul into its military base and nuclear arsenal, and that the number of joint military exercises between the US, South Korea and Japan in 2023 had doubled from last year. He said this fact “clearly shows” that the US is aiming for military confrontation.

Kim argued that “war may break out” on the Korean Peninsula at any time due to the “enemies’ reckless moves.” If Washington and Seoul attempt a military confrontation with Pyongyang, its “nuclear war deterrence will go over to a grave action without hesitation,” Kim stressed.

The remarks followed North Korea’s statement on Wednesday that the military situation on the Korean peninsula had become “extreme” because of “unprecedented” confrontational moves by the US and its regional allies.

In 2018, North and South Korea signed the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), agreeing to “completely cease all hostile acts against each other.” However, last month, Seoul suspended part of it and resumed aerial surveillance. In response, Pyongyang vowed to restore all measures suspended since 2018.

The Korean Peninsula was divided in 1953 after an armistice was signed, halting the hostilities between North and South that had begun three years before. Technically, Pyongyang and Seoul still remain at war.

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“We are Completely Shocked by the Damage”: What are Ordinary People in Gaza Saying about Israel’s Retaliation?

RT — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 22:58:08 +0000

A woman reacts after Israeli fighter jets destroyed a building following the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood launched by Hamas in Rafah, Gaza on October 08, 2023. © Abed Rahim Khatib/Getty Images

Since the beginning of its ‘Iron Swords’ operation on Saturday, Israel has destroyed or damaged more than 400 sites in Gaza. Over 300 Palestinians have been killed, many of whom were civilians. At least 1,990 have been wounded.

Sanaa Kamal, a resident of Gaza who also works as a local reporter, has seen and covered a number of confrontations between Israel and the Palestinian military factions. But she claims she has never seen destruction greater than that inflicted by Israel on Sunday, following the infiltration of Israel’s southern communities by dozens of Hamas militants.

So far, according to official data, more than 500 have been murdered at the hands of Palestinian militants. Over 1,900 others have been wounded, and 100 are reportedly being held by Hamas, a group considered terrorists by Israel, inside Gaza.

“We are completely shocked by the damage Israel has caused. There is literally no street in Gaza that has remained intact. Every street and every corner has been destroyed or damaged. Some of them had just been reconstructed and now they have turned into ruins again,” she said.

Since Saturday, Israel has struck more than 400 targets it says are ‘linked’ to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This is not unusual in itself. This time, however, jets have also been targeting the houses of top Hamas commanders and political leaders, sending a message to the group that their whereabouts are well known. Parallel to that, the IDF have also been bombing the exclave’s infrastructure, including mosques, residential buildings, roads, banks and hospitals.

Kamal hasn’t slept and says the heavy bombardment has prevented her from disconnecting. Her family and everyone around her, she admits, are afraid they may become the latest number in the long series of Palestinian casualties.

She is far from the only resident who is concerned about what she sees. Maram Faraj says she also failed to sleep and was tormented by thoughts of her journalist friend who has been lost.

“My friend went together with Hamas militants into one of the Israeli settlemts to provide better coverage. Since then, I haven’t heard back from him and we suspect that he was shot by the Israelis, together with other operatives,” Faraj told RT.

The Palestinian health ministry has already stated that more than 300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza. More than 1,990 have been wounded. Many of these, Hamas claims, were civilians who were buried under rubble.

Who’s to blame?

Looking at the destruction around her, Kamal points the finger at Israel and its “stubborn” leadership that refuses to make concessions to Palestinians, and that refrains from resolving the decades-long conflict. But she also criticizes Hamas for putting the Palestinian population through yet another ordeal.

Since 2007, when Hamas took control over Gaza, the Islamic group has been involved in a number of armed confrontations with Israel. All have caused irreparable damage to the exclave. The most traumatic of these – Operation Protective Edge – took place in 2014 and saw more than 2,000 Palestinian casualties. But Kamal is fearful that the current situation will only deteriorate further and might reach even greater numbers.

“If the two sides do not sit down for negotiations any time soon, we will see more casualties of civilians on both sides. And this is why we need Arab and European negotiators to put maximum pressure to stop the hostilities.”

On Saturday, an Egyptian delegation made its way from Cairo to Israel to urgently start negotiations. Other mediators, including Qatar and a number of European states, are also involved. However, so far those efforts have not bore fruit as both sides vow to inflict damage on their enemy.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to fight until all his goals are reached, with Israeli experts suggesting that these might include a ground invasion shortly after all pockets of militants in the southern communities are cleared. Hamas isn’t showing any sign of bending either, saying the war against “the occupation” has just begun.

“Here in Gaza, I am hearing experts saying that Hamas has planned [the attack] to abort the … normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” said Kamal.

“I don’t know if this is true. But I support this normalization, and even more so, I support normalizing Palestinian relations with Israel because at the end of the day we all share this area and we need to get along,” she concluded.

Just like Kamal, Faraj also believes in co-existence. She says both sides need to exhale, sit down for talks, exchange prisoners, and reach an agreement. But as the fighting rages on, and with Israel officially declaring a war, sending thousands of troops and consignments of jets and military equipment closer to the Gaza border, this scenario seems to be nowhere in sight.

By Elizabeth Blade, RT Middle East correspondent

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Arab states react to surprise attack against Israel

RT — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 02:05:45 +0000

07 October 2023, Israel, Sderot: Israeli officers secure the area following the attacks of Hamas © Getty Images / Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images

A number of Arab states have called for “restraint” and a de-escalation of violence following the launch of the largest attack in years on Israeli territory early on Saturday morning.

Qatar, a Gulf state that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, issued a statement through its foreign ministry on Saturday in which it said that the ultimate responsibility for the so-called ‘Al-Aqsa Storm’ operation conducted by Hamas lies with the Israeli government.

Doha added in its statement its desire for both sides in the conflict to exercise restraint, and called on the international community to ensure that Israel does not use the event as an excuse for a “disproportionate” response against Palestinians in Gaza.

Saudi Arabia, another state that does not currently have formal ties with Israel, also released a statement on X (formerly Twitter) to say that it was “closely following up on the unprecedented developments” between “Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupation forces.”

The Saudi foreign ministry also said it had repeatedly “warned of the dangers” that might occur “as a result of the continued occupation” and for “depriving the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights.”

In recent weeks, the leadership of both Saudi Arabia and Israel have signaled a desire to normalize relations, with the United States understood to be actively negotiating the details. Earlier this week, Hamas expressed its “unwavering position of rejecting all forms of normalization and contact with the Israeli occupation.”

Early on Saturday, Hamas militants entered Israeli territory and have appeared to gain a foothold of control in some communities in the south of the country. Israeli authorities said more than 2,000 rockets had been launched from Gaza. At least 40 people have been killed, Israel’s health ministry said on Saturday afternoon, with more than 500 people injured. Reports have also said that an unknown number of Israeli citizens and soldiers have been taken captive.

Egypt, meanwhile, cautioned of potentially “grave consequences” that might emerge from a further escalation of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. Its foreign ministry also called on both sides to exercise “maximum restraint and avoid exposing civilians to further danger.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday during a congress of his AK Party in Ankara that both sides in the conflict “must refrain from aggressive acts.” He also warned against “any kind of attempt” to damage or harm the “historical and religious status” of Al-Aqsa mosque in the occupied territory of East Jerusalem.

The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah also issued a statement on Saturday to indicate that it was “in direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance.” It added that Hamas’ assault could be viewed as a “decisive response to Israel’s continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalization with Israel.”

However, Hezbollah’s statement stopped short of expressing an intention to militarily support the attack.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Ukrainian Troops Surrendering En Masse – TASS

RT — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 10:21:54 +0000

FILE PHOTO. Ukrainian servicemen. © Getty Images / Anadolu Agency / Wolfgang Schwan

Large numbers of Ukrainian troops have surrendered to the Russian military in recent weeks, using a special radio frequency designed for fighters willing to lay down arms, TASS reported on Wednesday.

The frequency, 149.200 call sign ‘Volga’, was set up by the Russian military during the summer. Thus far, it has been used by more than 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen who were subsequently taken into Russian custody, according to a source with knowledge of the situation cited by TASS. The person added that the radio frequency is active along the entire front line.

“More than 10,0000 Ukrainian soldiers have chosen life and used the 149.200 ‘Volga’ frequency to surrender. The prisoners are well-fed and are provided with all the necessary medical care,” the source stated.

The process has seemingly accelerated recently as Ukrainian troops have surrendered in groups rather than individually, particularly around Rabotino, according to the TASS source. The village in Zaporozhye Region has become the scene of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in recent weeks.

Rabotino remains one of the major flashpoints of the conflict, with the area repeatedly subjected to attacks during the long-heralded Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in early June. The push has thus far failed to yield any tangible results, while reports have indicated that Ukrainian forces are sustaining heavy personnel and materiel losses in the process.

According to Moscow’s latest estimates, Kiev has lost more than 17,000 servicemen this month alone. The total number of Ukrainian troops killed since the counteroffensive began has now surpassed 83,000, with over 10,000 pieces of heavy military hardware also destroyed, according to the Russian military.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Wake up, Uncle Sam: Is the US Military Ready to Take on Russia and China?

RT — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 17:37:05 +0000

FILE PHOTO. © Luke Sharrett/Getty Images

The failure of Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive – which began in June of this year and has stuttered for over three months – has by now become a universally recognized fact. It has been acknowledged not only by Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, but also by Western media and experts. However, the summer campaign has made the world reconsider not only the capabilities of Kiev’s armed forces, but also the power of the country’s main sponsor – the United States, when it comes to waging a large-scale war with a modern enemy.

Unexpected news? Not really. Various analytical reports have repeatedly stated that the US, despite a mind boggling annual financial outlay, may have trouble confronting a major power. A number of American experts, whose opinions will be mentioned below, have warned that Washington’s superiority in terms of precision weapons, intelligence, and targeting may not be enough, when facing a really large enemy – as opposed to a third world country or an insurgent formation.

Nevertheless, for a long time these warnings were ignored. Washington overestimated its own capabilities and underestimated those of the enemy (in this case, Russia) and as a result, its assistance to Ukraine turned out to be insufficient. Meanwhile, the US and its NATO allies are not ready to provide more aid, since this would greatly weaken their own military power. So how did Washington’s military machine get into this situation?

How the US Army evolved

After Germany and Japan were vanquished in 1945, the development of the US military may be clearly divided into several cycles. The first started with the Cold War in the second half of the that decade. Up until the mid to late 1960s, it was characterized by preparations for World War III. This was imagined as a replica of the Second World War, only with the USSR as the main enemy and the concept that it would be nuclear.

In that period, local conflicts, including the Korean War, did not significantly influence military development and were conducted using the same forces that were supposed to be used in a major war. Nevertheless, the US drew certain conclusions. For example, after the Korean War, it became obvious that using piston-engined bombers as carriers of nuclear weapons was pointless, and this significantly accelerated the transition of the US Strategic Air Command to jet aircraft.

The second period started when the United States understood the realities of a confrontation in conditions of strategic parity: the massive nuclear arsenals of the USSR and the USA made the outcome of a potential war between the two countries meaningless, given mutually assured destruction. The preparations for a potential confrontation continued, but at the same time things started moving closer to a peaceful resolution. This finally happened when treaties on the limitation and reduction of nuclear arsenals were signed.

Direct military clashes were now limited to local conflicts, and these required new approaches, since many strategies intended for a global nuclear war could not be applied to low-intensify conflicts. When it came to military equipment, economic parameters like long-term service, the ability to modernize, and total life cycle cost became important. Previously, none of this had fit into the concept of “equipment built to burn in the furnace of a nuclear war in five minutes.” Some socio-economic parameters also changed – the idea of a conscript army was rejected, the number of army reserves was reduced, and so on.

These changes became even more apparent after 1991, when local conflicts became the main scenario in military planning, while the idea of a confrontation between the great powers was discarded as outdated.

The future seemed bright and predetermined – the superiority of the US army in terms of intelligence, management, targeting, and its ability to act in any weather and at any time of day, were supposed to provide an advantage over any enemy, as was demonstrated in Iraq and Yugoslavia. The fact that this superiority did not guarantee victory – or at least not always – became clear in the 1990s, following the operation in Somalia. However, private conversations with representatives of the US expert and military communities have revealed that Washington considered this episode a “misfire.”

A world without rivals

The downsizing of the US Army was accompanied by a massive reduction in weapons and equipment stocks. In America itself, the situation was not as radical as in Europe, where in some cases entire categories of military equipment disappeared. But in absolute terms, given the scale of the military, the reductions were huge – thousands of tanks, planes, artillery pieces, hundreds of ships, millions of tons of ammunition, and other military property items were sold or liquidated.

This did not give rise to any political or military fears, since in the first post-Soviet years, Russia expressed no desire to replace the USSR as the “preferred enemy” of Washington. China did not seek any confrontation either, but only strived to effectively fit into the global economy which then provided it with rapid industrial growth and technological advancement. And apart from Moscow and Beijing, Washington did not have any potential rivals at all.

It must be noted, however, that some experts assumed that this situation could change in the coming decades. For example, back in 1997, US diplomat George Kennan warned that the expansion of NATO was a major mistake that could radically worsen relations between Russia and the United States in the future. The authors of the 1997 issue of Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) also said that “In the period beyond 2015, there is the possibility that a regional great power or global peer competitor may emerge. Russia and China are seen by some as having the potential to be such competitors, though their respective futures are quite uncertain.”

However, at the time, these warnings sounded too vague, and the prospects for their implementation were too remote to have a significant impact on the planning and decision-making processes in Washington. As a result, by the 2010s, when the rivalry between the great powers resumed, the Americans and their closest allies found themselves unprepared for it.

The views of the US military-political leadership changed a lot in the early ‘90s, and this had wide-ranging consequences. The military industry slowed down, equipment inventories were reduced, and there were changes in military statutes – for example, field fortification manuals were no longer updated, and for a long time, “fire power” was excluded from the parameters defining “combat power” in the Army Field Manual FM 3-0 “Operations.”

After the army was downsized, so was combat training; maneuvers were now considered “large” when a division was represented by one brigade with reinforcement units and under the control of the division headquarters. War games utilizing large ground forces (corps and larger) against an equivalent enemy were practically eliminated, and remained mostly in the form of “games on maps.” Along with the downsizing of reserve formations and reductions in equipment and ammunition stocks, this had two key consequences. Firstly, the army itself shrank in size. And secondly, the US lost its ability to quickly accumulate sufficient forces, since it no longer had enough people capable of managing large numbers of troops and would need to train them from scratch.

The changes affected not only the Army, but also the Air Force and Navy.

The idea of supplying all types of troops with high-precision long-range weapons looked good in theory. However, in practice, it turned out that there were not enough of them. Even the number of jets wasn’t sufficient – for example, the 1991-type grouping used during Operation Desert Storm might not be possible today, and even then would require the Air Force and Navy to concentrate all available forces.

An accumulation of high-precision long-range weapons can probably help in a local conflict (although, as practice shows, even the ability to hit any target in some small remote place does not guarantee victory). However, these weapons are clearly not enough for a war with a major power. Renowned US military expert Mark Gunzinger in his November 2021 report “Affordable Mass: The Need for a Cost-Effective PGM Mix for Great Power Conflict,” noted that in the event of a clash with Russia or China, the US Air Force would have to strike a huge number of targets (100,000 and more) at various distances. This requires a large arsenal of various high-precision weapons, and the production rates for each type of weapon should range from several thousand units to tens of thousands of units annually.

At the same time, as CSIS vice-president Seth Jones noted in his report titled “Empty Bins in a Wartime Environment: The Challenge to the U.S. Defense Industrial Base,” the US inventory of conventional long-range missiles of the JASSM, JASSM-ER, and LRASM type will number about 6,500 units by 2025. And this stock could be depleted within eight days of a conflict against a major power.

US Navy: power without a foundation

The US Navy ran into similar problems. The development of its fleet from the 1940s to the present day has also been cyclical. In the first stage – from the Korean War to the early 1970s – it was oriented towards fighting an enemy on the coast since it did not have any major rivals at sea. As the United States prepared for a possible confrontation with the USSR’s Navy, it mainly focused on anti-submarine defense, and – closer to Soviet waters – on repulsing attacks by naval missile-carrying aviation.

In the early 1970s, after a series of incidents in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the United States realized that the USSR had a modern, substantial fleet with both surface-launched and submarine-launched missiles. This armada could pose a serious threat to carrier strike groups which at the time did not have adequate protection from salvo launches of anti-ship missiles. The situation required a change in naval development concepts, and for the next 20 years, the US Navy focused on defending its supremacy at sea, which was challenged by the Soviet Navy.

After the USSR collapsed, the US Navy resumed “fighting on the coast” and considerably cut its fleet – from almost 600 ships in the second half of the 1980s to less than 300 by the end of the 2000s. The ability of the US to conduct naval combat against a strong enemy fleet also decreased – the navy did not receive a new generation of anti-ship missiles and after RGM/UGM-109B Tomahawk TASM missiles were removed from service – it only developed the lightweight Harpoon anti-ship missile defense system. The escort forces of the US Navy, intended to fight enemy submarines, were also significantly reduced.

This strategy was understandable, since there was no rival in sight – globally speaking, the Soviet Navy had ceased to exist, while China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy was more of a coastal self-defense force until the 2010s. However, by the early 2020s, it turned out that Beijng had a rapidly growing surface fleet capable of challenging Washington in its effort to hold dominance in the Indo-Pacific, and the US found this challenge difficult to respond to. The Chinese fleet is greater in number than the American equivalent, and although it has fewer large ships – like aircraft carriers, cruisers, and nuclear submarines – this gap could be compensated for by other means. A key region for China, where the PLA intends to challenge the dominance of the US Navy, is the western Pacific Ocean. These are its home waters, and Beijing can concentrate its entire fleet there while Washington, due to its global commitments, may accumulate only part of its forces. Meanwhile, close to its own coast, China’s shortage of large ships can be compensated by a superior fleet of smaller vessels, as well as coastal missiles and aviation.

Similar to the situation in the US Air Force and Army, the reduced combat potential of the US Navy was accompanied by the loss of production output and potential. Once the world leader in commercial shipbuilding, Washington lost its dominance. The industry stalled, facing issues such as a significant shortage of modern production facilities and personnel. Today, three East Asian countries account for over 93% of the world’s commercial shipbuilding: China (47%) South Korea (30%) and Japan (over 17%). South Korea and Japan are US allies and unsurprisingly, both possess a rapidly growing fleet. But as military powers, they are not large enough to support Washington in its goal of retaining maritime supremacy.

Meanwhile, the US itself is not able to quickly increase production output to equip, arm, and provide its Army, Air Force, and Navy with everything they need to wage a large-scale war with a modern enemy, particularly one with a substantial combat-ready army.

Rivals and prospects

All of the above does not mean that the rivals of the US don’t have problems of their own. Of course they do. The Russian Armed Forces, which survived the collapse of the USSR, are now undergoing a long-term and at times, inconsistent, reform. The country’s military industry also has notable issues with developing modern systems, particularly in the fields of intelligence, communications, and targeting.

All things considered, however, Russian military planners never completely dismissed the threat of large-scale land warfare and this led to a different attitude when it came to weapons storage and the capacity to quickly boost military production.

Over the past year, there’s been a joke going around in Russian military circles: “In 1993, we looked at the endless fields of stored weapons with countless tanks, guns, and ammunition boxes, and asked ourselves, ‘My God, why do we need all this, what are we going to do with it?’ And now we look at these stocks of weapons (considerably less full, but still there) and say, ‘Oh, so that’s why!’.”

A big war was not considered probable until NATO began to set it sights on Ukraine, and Moscow started to take the threat from the military bloc seriously. In the West, however, the seriousness of the situation was apparently underestimated, and so was Russia’s readiness to deploy its armed forces. What would the conflict have looked like if the West had understood Russia’s readiness to act? Would it have started at all, or could there have been serious talks on how to avoid it? No one knows for sure.

Meanwhile, the combat readiness of China’s armed forces is more theoretical than practical, since they were last tested back in 1979 – and that was small conflict with Vietnam. Nevertheless, Beijing has largely borrowed its military culture from Russia, and takes the quantitative aspect very seriously. We cannot say how well the PLA will use its weapons, but there is no doubt that Beijing will make sure that it has a lot of them.

*****

In 1941, the British Empire’s inability to defend itself in the Far East while simultaneously fighting for maritime supremacy in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic forced Winston Churchill to sign the Atlantic Charter, asking the US for assistance on conditions that eventually led to the end of the British Empire. But London, at least, had the opportunity to turn to Washington for support. The US economy was more powerful than those of Germany and Japan, and, combined with the USSR and UK, it formed an alliance of three of the four largest economies in the world.

The industrial capabilities of the present-day United States, however, are inferior to those of China, and its standing in the financial and technological spheres is also being challenged. Therefore, Beijing, is a much more substantial strategic rival than Germany was in the 1940s.

By Ilya Kramnik, military analyst, expert at the Russian International Affairs Council and researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

China Strengthens BRI in Africa and BRICS

RT — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 13:51:52 +0000

Carl Zha talks to RT about Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi visiting Kenya and vowing to strengthen trade ties and Belt and Road Initiative partnership. How China investing and infrastructures across Africa is strengthening BRICS and bringing on the multipolar world.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Prigozhin’s Wagner Coup in Russia

RT — Sat, 24 Jun 2023 20:03:05 +0000

RT talks with Carl Zha about the Wagner PMC group leader Prigozhin’s bid for power by launching a coup against the Russian government, from RT studio in Moscow.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Prigozhin’s Wagner Coup in Russia

RT — Sat, 24 Jun 2023 20:03:05 +0000

RT talks with Carl Zha about the Wagner PMC group leader Prigozhin’s bid for power by launching a coup against the Russian government, from RT studio in Moscow.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Assange tests positive for Covid-19 in prison

RT — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 03:47:49 +0000

© Getty Images / Guy Smallman

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has tested positive for Covid-19 and is being kept in total isolation at Belmarsh Prison as he continues to fight extradition to the US, his wife Stella told media on Monday.

“The next few days will be crucial for his general health,” the lawyer, who married Assange in March, told reporters, adding “He is now locked in his cell for 24 hours a day.” Assange became sick on Friday with a cough and fever and was given paracetamol before testing positive for the virus the following day, she said.

The Australian native applied in early 2020 to be released on bail due to a chronic lung condition he has suffered from for over a decade, placing him in a high-risk category for Covid-19 infection. However, his request was declined, and a UK court ruled earlier this year that he can be extradited to the US to face espionage and hacking charges for making classified Pentagon documents public.

The Wikileaks publisher’s health has suffered noticeably during his confinement in Belmarsh, where he has been confined since the Ecuadorian government revoked his asylum status in 2019. He lost a significant amount of weight and the ability to speak coherently following his incarceration, leading prison authorities to move him to the hospital wing. In December, he suffered a stroke, leaving him with a drooping eyelid, memory problems and apparent neurological damage, according to his wife, who said the incident was triggered by the stress of ongoing extradition proceedings.

Prior to his arrest, Assange spent seven years under de facto house arrest in London’s Ecuadorian embassy, having fled there to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex crimes charges that have since been dropped. While he has long since served time on the only charge brought against him in the UK – bail-jumping regarding the no-longer-extant Swedish case – he remains incarcerated pending extradition to the US.

While a UK court initially ruled in his favor against extradition, agreeing with his lawyers that he would be kept in conditions in the US that would easily provoke suicide, that ruling was reversed last year.

Assange faces a 175-year sentence on charges he leaked secret documents he received from a US Army analyst regarding the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Wikileaks supporters have argued that he was only practicing journalism by publishing the documents, which were redacted to remove some sensitive information, and accused Washington of retaliation against the outlet for exposing its own war crimes.

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Assange Supporters Surround UK Parliament

RT — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 13:37:40 +0000

Julian Assange supporters hold ‘Free Assange’ placards during the protest.

Supporters of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange gathered outside the UK Parliament in London on Saturday to protest his impending extradition to the US, where he faces espionage charges that carry a prison sentence of up to 175 years.

Videos posted on social media show hundreds of people, including former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, having formed a human chain that spanned the parliament’s perimeter and wound across the nearby Westminster Bridge to the other side of the Thames River.

The protesters held signs reading ‘Free Assange, No Extradition,’ ‘Journalism is not a crime’ and ‘Prosecute war crimes, not Assange‘.

Stella Assange, the journalist’s wife, also participated in the demonstration. She said that the UK government should communicate with the US authorities to end the extradition request, which was filed in 2019.

“It’s already gone on for three-and-a-half years. It is a stain on the United Kingdom and is a stain on the Biden administration,” she stressed.

Corbyn, now an independent MP, also weighed in, arguing that if Assange is extradited, “it will set forth fear among other journalists” who are seeking to learn the truth.

“It becomes a self-censorship of journalists all around the world. They’ll say, ‘hang on, I’m not touching that, look what happened to Julian Assange’,” he added.

A similar demonstration took place in Washington DC. Activists gathered in front of the Justice Department building, where they called on the government to drop its extradition bid, arguing that Assange would not be treated fairly by the judiciary.

Assange has effectively been in confinement since 2012, when he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges, which have since been dropped. In 2019, Ecuador revoked Assange’s asylum status, after which he was transferred to the maximum-security Belmarsh Prison, where he has remained ever since.

A British court initially refused to surrender Assange to the US, citing fears that he would be subjected to inhumane treatment. Later, Washington managed to convince the British judges that the journalist’s rights would be respected, which prompted the UK to greenlight the extradition in mid-June. Since then, according to media reports, Assange’s legal team has filed two appeals to fight the decision.

Assange has been a target for the US since 2010, when WikiLeaks released a trove of classified documents that depicted alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has since been accused of conspiring to hack Pentagon computers and is charged under America’s Espionage Act over the publication of classified materials.

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Russia Challenges Western Accusations at UN Security Council

RT — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 04:37:37 +0000

Caleb Maupin reports on the recent allegation of Russian missile targeting an shopping center in Ukraine, dismissed by Russia at the United Nations.

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This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Phone Call Records Appear to Cast Doubt on Ukrainian Claims of Russian Atrocities

RT — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 21:36:37 +0000

Ukrainian and Western media outlets have accused Russian troops of killing civilians in Bucha and other towns around Ukraine’s capital, Kiev in the past month. Excerpts of phone calls obtained by RT, however, appear to contradict some of the allegations and seem to paint a different picture of the situation on the ground.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed, on Thursday, that the situation in settlement of Borodyanka is “much more disastrous” than that reported in Bucha, about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles), to the southeast. Moscow has strongly denied the allegations and accused Ukraine, and its Western backers of trying to “frame” its personnel.

RT was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the recordings. In what appears to be an excerpt from a satellite phone call, an alleged reporter identified only as ‘Simon’ tells his colleagues he visited Borodyanka and found that “there’s no bodies in the streets at all,” contrary to what he was led to expect.

The town has been “shelled to pieces,” he outlines, “but there’s no evidence of any rights abuses here at all.” Simon claims that he and his crew interviewed multiple residents who said the Russian troops had been very friendly and gave them food and water and other supplies. “And we got quotes on camera for that,” he adds.

“I don’t know what the prosecutor was talking about, but we have seen nothing like that at all. It’s a completely different picture,” he continues, adding that a French journalist may have seen the body of someone killed by shelling, but “no executions.”

The alleged reporter ends the call by saying he was going back to Bucha, to “try and find some more evidence of extrajudicial killings there, but there’s no sign of any of that here.”

Ukraine accused Russia of murdering over 400 civilians in Bucha before retreating from the town near Kiev last week. The US and its allies have backed Kiev’s claims, citing them as reasons to impose more sanctions against Russia.

Moscow has categorically denied the accusations, saying that Russian troops pulled out of the town on March 30, and that claims of killings appeared only four days later – after Ukrainian security forces and TV cameras arrived in the town.

Another recording obtained by RT seems to depict a conversation between two Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) officials. The SBU is the local successor agency to the Soviet KGB.

They discuss the situation in Kukhari, a town about 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of Bucha, and seem to contradict the prevailing media narrative coming from Kiev and the NATO capitals.

“From March 24 to April 3, after we pushed the ‘orcs’ away from here,” says a person only identified as Sergey Anatolyevich, speaking to someone named Lesogor and using a derogatory Ukrainian term for Russians. “After the unit that pushed them out moved on, the territorial defense came from Malin … and marauded during that time. Looted everything they could. Broke down doors, everything. Safes were opened, cars were stolen. They stuffed the cars with everything worth anything and took it away,” he adds.

“It turns out the ‘Moskals’ took nothing, but ours went in and looted everything,” Sergey Anatolyevich adds, using another derogatory term for Russians. Malin is a nearby town southwest of Kukhari, held by the Ukrainian military.

When Lesogor asks which unit was looting, Sergey Anatolyevich replies that no one really knows. “Some say Volhynian, others say someone else,” he says, referring to a region in western Ukraine.

Moscow attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to regularize the status of the regions within the Ukrainian state.

Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two regions by force.

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This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Russia Presents New Evidence on Ukraine Biolabs, Comments on Links to Biden and US

RT — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:07:12 +0000

The Russian military has presented documents showing Ukraine’s interest in using drones to deliver weaponized pathogens developed in US-funded biolabs. Names of US officials involved in the biolabs projects, and the role the current US president’s son played in the program, were also made public during the special briefing on Thursday.

One of the key pieces of evidence was a letter from the Ukrainian company Motor Sich to the Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar Makina – makers of the Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci UAVs – dated December 15, 2021. The Ukrainians specifically asked if the drones could carry 20 liters of aerosolized payload to a range of 300 kilometers – putting them in range of a dozen major Russian cities and almost all of Belarus.

“We are talking about the development by the Kiev regime of technical means of delivery and use of biological weapons with the possibility of their use against the Russian Federation,” said Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces.

Kirillov also referenced a US patent (No. 8,967,029) for a mechanism to deploy aerosolized pathogens from a drone. The US response to a 2018 Russian inquiry about this patent did not deny its existence, but claimed that it technically did not violate Washington’s obligations under the treaties banning chemical and biological weapons, he pointed out.

Kirillov showed signed contracts between US government agencies – Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Pentagon, the Department of State – and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, as well as the specific facilities inside Ukraine. The Pentagon spent more than $30 million for biological research at just one Ukrainian facility, the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health, according to the Russian military.

DTRA official Robert Pope was “one of the key figures” in the program, and “the author of the idea of creating a central depository of especially dangerous microorganisms in Kiev,” Kirillov said. The Pentagon’s biological projects in Ukraine were coordinated by Joanna Wintrol, head of the DTRA office in Kiev, until she left in August 2020. She directly supervised projects UP-4, UP-6, and UP-8 to study deadly pathogens, including anthrax, the Congo-Crimean fever, and leptospirosis, according to Kirillov.

The US agency’s point of contact was Ukraine’s Health Minister (2016-2019) Ulyana Suprun, herself a US citizen, Kirillov noted, while a major go-between was the private contractor Black and Veatch, whose Kiev office was headed by Lance Lippencott. Another Pentagon contractor, Metabiota, also had a role in the project.

Kirillov said that Hunter Biden – son of the current US President Joe Biden – played “an important role in creating a financial opportunity to work with pathogens on the territory of Ukraine,” pointing to several emails between him and executives of Metabiota and Black and Veatch. In particular, he described the Metabiota VP as “a confidant of Hunter Biden,” based on their correspondence. According to the general, the “Western media” has confirmed the authenticity of these emails – presumably a reference to materials published last week by the British newspaper the Daily Mail.

Even Kiev was concerned about the biolabs, according to a memo Kirillov showed. A 2017 letter from the Kherson department of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said that DTRA and Black and Veach intend to “establish control over the functioning of microbiological laboratories in Ukraine conducting research on pathogens of particularly dangerous infections that can be used to create or modernize new types of biological weapons.”

Pointing to a June 2019 document from the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Kirillov wondered why it insisted on secrecy and required that “serious” incidents “including the death of the subjects” had to be reported to the US bioethics authorities within 24 hours – when other documents about that specific program only reference standard blood sampling work.

“We do not exclude that the official research program is only the ‘visible part of the iceberg’, while in practice, volunteers were infected with the Congo–Crimean fever virus, hantaviruses and the causative agent of leptospirosis,” the general said, accusing the US of “a dismissive attitude towards the citizens of Ukraine,” and treating them as guinea pigs for biological and medical experimentation.

The US has long claimed that allegations about Pentagon-funded biolaboratories in Ukraine were “Russian disinformation.” Earlier this month, however, US diplomat Victoria Nuland testified before the Senate that “biological research laboratories in Ukraine” did exist, and that Washington was working with Kiev “to ensure that the materials of biological research do not fall into the hands of Russian forces.”

According to Kirillov, all pathogenic biomaterials stored in Ukraine were “transported by military transport aircraft to the United States via Odessa,” in early February 2022. On February 24, as Russian troops entered Ukraine, the ministry of health in Kiev ordered the remaining strains to be destroyed, the general said.

Kirillov said that the Russian intervention halted activities at five Ukrainian biolabs that had been working with anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, and African swine fever.

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This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

Author Confronts Canadian FM for “escalating” Russia-Ukraine War

RT — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 03:43:52 +0000

Writer and activist Yves Engler interrupted a speech by Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, accusing the authorities in Ottawa of escalating the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and increasing the risk of it turning into a global confrontation.

Engler shared a clip of himself confronting the foreign minister on Twitter on Tuesday.

It showed the leftist writer entering the conference hall and walking towards the stage, shouting: “Stop escalating the war. Stop sending arms to Ukraine… You’re going to push us to World War III.”

Canada, which along with the US and other Western nations backs Ukraine in the ongoing conflict, has sent so many rocket launchers, grenades, and other equipment to Kiev that it has “exhausted” its own military’s stockpile of weapons, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said last week.

Today I interrupted foreign minister ⁦@melaniejoly⁩ to challenge Canada’s escalation of violence in Ukraine, weapons deliveries & NATO. pic.twitter.com/1Glb0kdfpz

— Yves Engler (@EnglerYves) March 22, 2022

“Why didn’t you push Kiev to sign the Minsk accords?” Engler asked, addressing Joly.

The Minsk agreements, which were signed with the mediation of Russia, Germany, and France in 2014, were designed to regulate the status of the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as part of Ukraine.

However, shortly before Russia launched its military operation in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the accords “incompetent” and made it clear that Kiev wasn’t going to fulfill them.

“Stop using Ukraine as a proxy against Russia,” the author said, repeating some of his statements in French and then managing to flee the room before security could apprehend him.

In an article published on his website on Monday, Engler condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine, but pointed out that NATO’s eastward expansion had increased the likelihood of an armed conflict between the two nations. A declaration of Ukraine as a neutral state which will never join the US-led military bloc has been one of Moscow’s key demands during the ongoing peace talks with Kiev.

“Peace minded Canadians should redouble our efforts to get Canada out of NATO,” he said.

Engler, who is the author of a dozen books, also actively protested the involvement of Canada in the coup in Haiti in 2004. At the time, he crashed a press conference by then-Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew and poured cranberry juice on him, symbolizing the blood of the Haitian people.

He is also a strong supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which calls for measures against Israel over its occupation of Palestinian lands.

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US Military Defends Strikes on “Armed” Women and Children

RT — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 23:15:23 +0000

A US military spokesperson has defended a series of strikes on civilians in Syria, which killed 80 people including women and children, claiming they were in self-defense and that no disciplinary measures were necessary.

The US military found itself at the center of controversy after the New York Times reported that it had covered up a 2019 strike on Syrian civilians which left at least 80 dead. After the report went viral, US officials finally acknowledged the casualties in a statement and claimed that 16 of those killed were allegedly Islamic State fighters and 4 were civilians.

Upon being asked about the other 60 casualties, which apparently included women and children, US Central Command told the New York Times that it “was not clear” whether they were civilians “in part because women and children in the Islamic State sometimes took up arms.”

On Sunday, a US Central Command spokesperson defended the strikes in a statement to the BBC, claiming they were in self-defense. Captain Bill Urban said the military could not “conclusively characterize the status of more than 60 other casualties,” because “multiple armed women and at least one armed child were observed in the video.”

“The exact mixture of armed and unarmed personnel could not be conclusively determined,” Urban argued, hypothesizing however that it was “likely” a majority of the casualties “were also combatants at the time of the strike.”

It is also highly likely that there were additional civilians killed by these two strikes

Despite acknowledging that the strikes killed civilians, including women and children, Urban claimed their investigation concluded the strikes “were legitimate self-defence strikes” and that “no disciplinary actions were warranted.”

According to the New York Times’ report, even US military officers were shocked and disturbed by the strikes, which they observed live from a drone camera feed, and some questioned whether the incident could be considered a war crime. The entire incident, however, was reportedly soon covered up and reports of the casualties were classified.

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US Extradition: “If Julian Assange Dies, He Would Have Been Tortured to Death!” — Nils Melzer

RT — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 01:27:47 +0000

We speak to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer on the trial of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. He discusses his assessment that Julian Assange has been psychologically tortured by UK authorities, why it has become harder for the UK courts to refuse the US extradition request, the parallels between the video of the murder of George Floyd and Julian Assange’s revelations and what Julian Assange’s persecution means for the average citizen’s rights.

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The Julian Assange Case

RT — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 14:27:31 +0000

Chris Hedges talks to documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist John Pilger about the upcoming appeals hearing in London for the Julian Assange case.

On Sept. 26, Yahoo! News published “Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA’s secret war plans against WikiLeaks.” The article detailed discussions within the CIA to kidnap or assassinate Julian Assange. The revelations came a month before a hearing in Britain’s High Court that will see the U.S. government appeal a decision that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be sent to the United States to face espionage charges. These revelations also coincided with the arrest of an Icelandic man who played a major role in the FBI’s case against Assange and who has now admitted he lied in his testimony about Assange to U.S. federal investigators. The most recent revelations, coupled with the numerous legal anomalies of the Assange case, including leaks that show that the Spanish security firm at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London where Assange sought refuge for seven years, turned over recordings of his meetings with his lawyers to the CIA, amply illustrate that the judicial pantomime carried out against Assange is a political persecution led by the U.S. government and the CIA because of embarrassing and damaging revelations about the inner workings of the US military, intelligence agencies and the political class repeatedly exposed by Assange and WikiLeaks. The goal of the U.S. government is to shut down WikiLeaks, and organizations like WikiLeaks, and to make an example of Assange, who if he is extradited to the United States faces 175 years in prison, to dissuade others who might consider replicating his courageous reporting. The upcoming appeals hearing is on October 27 and 28 at Britain’s High Court, London.

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The US Cannot Defend Taiwan, and China Knows It

RT — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 18:57:45 +0000

The US is playing a dangerous game of putting a public face on a policy of defending Taiwan from China, for which it has zero capability to implement.

Following a recent escalation of tensions between Beijing and Taipei, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Saturday to pursue “reunification” with Taiwan by peaceful means and warned foreign nations about meddling in the issue.

For the past several years, the air force of the People’s Republic of China has been flying sorties into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, as a means of sending a signal to Taipei that China does not recognize its claims of independence and, as such, any notion of an ADIZ is null and void. These incidents, which have been escalating over the years, recently reached a crescendo: China, according to Taipei, flew 38 aircraft in two waves into Taiwan’s ADIZ on October 1, 39 more on October 2 (also in two waves), and 16 the following day.

In response, the US State Department spokesman Ned Price issued a statement.

The United States is very concerned by the People’s Republic of China’s provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan.

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying replied

Taiwan belongs to China and the US is in no position to make irresponsible remarks. The relevant remarks by the US side seriously violate the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiqués and send an extremely wrong and irresponsible signal.

On October 4, Taipei said that China sent its largest wave of aircraft yet into Taiwan’s ADIZ, some 56 in total, including 36 J-16 and Su-30 fighter jets, 12 nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, 2 Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft and two KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.

Alarmed by these developments, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen declared that

Taiwan does not seek military confrontation. It hopes for a peaceful, stable, predictable, and mutually beneficial coexistence with its neighbors. But Taiwan will also do whatever it takes to defend its freedom and democratic way of life.

‘Whatever it takes’, however, is an infinite concept backed up by the finite reality that Taiwan has a military of about 165,000 active-duty troops and about 1.6 million reserve soldiers which has been equipped with billions of dollars of advanced American-made military equipment.

While Taiwan’s military may look good on paper, it is ill-prepared for the realities of the kind of full-scale combat that will be directed at them if China ever decides to go through with an invasion. As the world learned in Afghanistan, impressive numbers on paper do not automatically translate into an impressive fighting force on the ground. And China would be delivering violence on a scale several orders of magnitude above what the Taliban could ever contemplate.

If China ever decided to invade Taiwan, the working assumption would be that it had conducted an extensive intelligence-based assessment of its chances of victory, which would have to be near-certain in order for China to undertake an action that would bring with it the condemnation of much of the world. China would have located with pin-point precision the garrisons and deployment locations of every major Taiwanese ground combat unit. It would have done the same with every combat-capable aircraft in the Taiwanese inventory. And it would have identified the logistics bases used by Taiwan to sustain its frontline combat forces. All of these would be subjected to extensive pre-assault bombardment by the Chinese air and ballistic missile forces.

Any surviving Taiwanese units would then be faced with the daunting task of repelling a massive invasion which would likely comprise a combination of amphibious and air assault forces. Assuming enough units survived the pre-assault bombardment to put up a competent defense, they would rapidly run through their on-hand stocks of ammunition, fuel, and food. Units that were cut off from resupply would begin to surrender, and the notion of surrender would become contagious. Pockets of die-hard defenders could survive to fight on for a period, but the reality is that Taiwan would fall in less than a week.

Much has been made about the US ability to come to Taiwan’s defense. While the US may have made great waves sailing its navy through the Taiwan Strait, such a maneuver would be suicidal in a time of conflict. The US Navy would be relegated to standing by far to the east of Taiwan, out of the range of China’s deadly ballistic missile capability, launching aircraft which would have limited combat capability given fuel and weight limitations. The same holds true for the US Air Force. The fact is, any aircraft the US dispatched to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion would be rapidly attritted, with no replacements available in a time frame that could change the course of the battle on the ground in Taiwan.

Much has been made about media reports concerning the presence of US forces in Taiwan for the purpose of training the Taiwan military. These forces are not part of any formal alliance or defense pact, but rather part of what is known as “foreign internal defense” training missions, in this case involving a few dozen US Special Forces and US Marines doing small-unit training. This is not the kind of large-scale operational training undertaken by formal alliances such as NATO, where interoperability is essential for any joint combat operations.

The best the US could hope to do when it comes to defending Taiwan would be to modify existing warplanes for the reinforcement of South Korea. This war plan, known as OPLAN-5027, has a subsection known as a Time-Phased Deployment List, or TPFDL, which has identified the forces and equipment necessary to reinforce South Korea in time of war. At one time, the TPFDL had earmarked 690,000 troops, 160 Navy ships, and 1,600 aircraft for deployment from the US to South Korea within 90 days of a war breaking out on the Korean peninsula.

Two things come to mind—by the time the US cavalry was ready to arrive in Taiwan, they would be about 83 days too late. And, more importantly, China would have consolidated its hold on Taiwan making any US effort to retake it suicidal. OPLAN-5027 envisions US forces flowing into South Korean ports that are controlled by the South Korean government. It is not an amphibious assault plan, and any effort to transform it into one would fail.

This is the reality-based state of play today when it comes to the defense of Taiwan by the US. The only alteration that could be made would be for the US to use nuclear weapons in defense of Taiwan. This, of course, would trigger a general nuclear war with China, and the US is not prepared to commit national suicide for a nation it doesn’t even have a formal defensive pact with.

Ned Price might want to keep all of this in mind the next time he approaches the microphone to speak about defending Taiwan. He and the rest of the US government are writing checks with their mouths neither Taiwan nor the US military can cash. A better course of action would be to work with China and Taiwan toward the goal of peaceful unification which preserves intact the democratic system of government that exists in Taiwan.

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This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

BBC Admits Its Douma Chemical Attack Report Did Not Meet Own Accuracy Standards

RT — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 21:46:21 +0000

The BBC has admitted that a documentary on an alleged chemical attack in Syria in 2018 contained serious inaccuracies, suggesting that an informant known as ‘Alex’, who claimed the 2018 chemical weapons attack on Douma was staged, may have been motivated by financial reward.

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This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by RT.

“US goal is an endless war, not a successful war” – WikiLeaks Co-founder Julian Assange

RT — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 01:31:13 +0000

WikiLeaks is drawing attention to its past revelations about ‘America’s longest war’ as US chaotically withdraws from Afghanistan.

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Why Is No One Talking About Whistleblower Daniel Hale?

RT — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 01:46:23 +0000

Daniel Hale, a former US air force intelligence analyst, leaked information about how trigger happy the US military was when it came to drones and innocent civilians in Afghanistan. Aaaaaand for having a conscience, he’s been slapped with a 4 year prison sentence! As RT’s Polly Boiko explains.

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US Sells Millions of Barrels of Seized Iranian Oil

RT — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 17:12:37 +0000

American side hustle

by RT / February 13th, 2021

Need an idea for a side hustle? Put sanctions on a country, pirate its oil exports, then sell it! That’s what the US did with a million barrels of Iranian oil.

This article was posted on Saturday, February 13th, 2021 at 9:12am and is filed under Crimes against Peace, International Court of Justice, Iran, Oil, Gas, Coal, Pipelines.

Explosive Video Exposes MI6 Links to Alexei Navalny

RT — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:12:45 +0000

by RT / February 1st, 2021

RT’s Murad Gazdiev reports on new evidence of links between MI6 and Russian opposition figure and activist Alexei Navalny. Then author and professor of international human rights Dan Kovalik joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the role of the US and UK in fomenting political discord in Russia and other countries.

This article was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2021 at 6:12pm and is filed under Espionage/”Intelligence”, M16, Russia, United Kingdom, Video.

Journalists Angered by Assange Ruling

RT — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 01:26:50 +0000

by RT / January 4th, 2021

A London court has ruled against those seeking Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition to the US. Assange is charged with 17 counts of espionage as well as hacking.

This article was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2021 at 5:26pm and is filed under Julian Assange, Political Prisoners, United Kingdom, Video, WikiLeaks.

Who’s Killing Iranian Nuclear Scientists?

RT — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 16:11:19 +0000

by RT / November 29th, 2020

Israel denies being behind the assassination of top Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and the US is keeping quiet. But the fact remains, Iranian scientists have been continuously and mysteriously murdered for at least a decade now. Who do you think is doing it?

This article was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2020 at 8:11am and is filed under Assassinations, Iran, Israel/Palestine, Terrorism (state and retail), Video.

Yemen: Where America Tests its Weapons

RT — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 21:11:35 +0000

by RT / November 28th, 2020

The US spends more on military aid to Saudi Arabia than on humanitarian aid to Yemen as the former continues to wage war on the latter. RT America’s Alex Mihailovich reports. Then former UK MP George Galloway weighs in on the conflict and why it is met with such widespread ignorance and apathy in the West.

This article was posted on Saturday, November 28th, 2020 at 1:11pm and is filed under Hunger, Militarism, Saudi Arabia, Video, War Crimes, Weaponry, Yemen.

The My Lai Massacre, Babies Thrown onto Bayonets

RT — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 14:43:00 +0000

Seymour Hersh on US War Crimes in Vietnam

by RT / November 24th, 2020

A throwback to legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh discussing exposing the My Lai massacre by American soldiers in the Vietnam War, among other war crimes.

This article was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2020 at 6:43am and is filed under Classism, History, Video, Viet Nam, War Crimes.

US Election History Marred by Fraud and Controversies

RT — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 15:27:39 +0000

Nothing new

by RT / November 14th, 2020

Republicans supporting Trump’s fraud allegations are putting democracy ‘on a dangerous path’ according to Barack Obama. But the US election system has been questioned for decades.

This article was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2020 at 7:27am and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Elections, Video.

The Job is Done, Corbynism is Defunct

RT — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 16:25:14 +0000

by RT / November 11th, 2020

The job is done, Corbynism is defunct, and now Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is coming for all of those who were close to him. What of Emily Thornberry? She’s keeping quiet.

This article was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2020 at 8:25am and is filed under Politics, United Kingdom, Video.

Trump “Wanted to Assassinate” Assad

RT — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 15:14:02 +0000

by RT / September 16th, 2020

In a new interview, Donald Trump has confirmed “he wanted to assassinate” Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad despite 2 years of flat-out denials the option was even discussed.

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This article was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2020 at 8:14am and is filed under Assassinations, Donald Trump, Syria, Video.

Julian Assange: The Trial of the Century

RT — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 15:42:57 +0000

by RT / September 12th, 2020

George Galloway makes cystal clear what is a no-brainer: Julian Assange revealing war crimes is the real reason for extradition.

Unable to be convicted for journalism, he stands accused of trumped-up charges in what is the trial of the century.

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This article was posted on Saturday, September 12th, 2020 at 8:42am and is filed under Journalism, Justice, Political Prisoners, Video, War Crimes.

Lee Camp: Why Sanders is Wrong to Endorse Biden

RT — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:12:01 +0000

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The RT network now consists of three global news channels broadcasting in English, Spanish, and Arabic. Read other articles by RT, or visit RT’s website.

This article was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2020 at 9:12am and is filed under “Third” Party, Democracy, Democrats, Video.

Trump Cuts Funding to the World Health Organization amid Pandemic

RT — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:59:38 +0000

by RT / April 15th, 2020

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Caleb Maupin is a widely acclaimed speaker, writer, journalist, and political analyst. He has traveled extensively in the Middle East and in Latin America. He was involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement from its early planning stages, and has been involved many struggles for social justice. He is an outspoken advocate of international friendship and cooperation, as well 21st Century Socialism.

This article was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2020 at 2:59pm and is filed under China, COVID-19 (coronavirus), Donald Trump, Video, World Health Organization (WHO).

What Governments Aren’t Telling You about the COVID-19 Pandemic

RT — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 16:07:18 +0000

by RT / April 9th, 2020

RT’s On Going Underground speaks to legendary journalist and film-maker John Pilger about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. He discusses the fact that the Conservative government was warned about shortages leaving the NHS vulnerable in pandemics 4 years ago, the damage privatisation has done to the National Health Service, budget cuts which have seen bed capacities fall to record lows, his criticisms of the Boris Johnson administration’s response to Coronavirus, the lack of mass-testing in the U.K. which has been seen in other countries such as Germany, South Korea and China, the government blaming China for the Coronavirus crisis, the threat to Julian Assange’s life as he is denied release from prison as Coronavirus claims its first victim in Belmarsh Prison and more!

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This article was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2020 at 9:07am and is filed under Austerity, COVID-19 (coronavirus), Health/Medical, Incarceration, Julian Assange, Neoliberalism, Political Prisoners, United Kingdom, Video, WikiLeaks.

What is Being Done to Chelsea Manning is “Revolting” – Lee Camp

RT — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 21:31:14 +0000

by RT / March 12th, 2020

US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning is recovering in a Virginia hospital after a suicide attempt, according to her lawyers. Manning was found in contempt of court in recent months for refusing to testify against WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, in the government’s case to extradite him from London. Penalty fees have been mounting over her months of imprisonment and yet she is still expected to appear in court tomorrow. Redacted Tonight host Lee Camp weighs in.

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This article was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2020 at 2:31pm and is filed under Chelsea Manning, Incarceration, Political Prisoners, Video, Whistleblowing.

Why are 1000s of Americans Being Detained for Dissent?

RT — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 16:04:41 +0000

Author and civil rights attorney John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the enduring effects of the PATRIOT Act and erosion of civil liberties in the US. He also explains “Operation Vigilant Eagle,” a surveillance program to keep tabs on US veterans and track what they say online.

Assange Hearing Descends from Tragedy to Farce – George Galloway

RT — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 15:18:56 +0000

by RT / March 1st, 2020


        Attorneys for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange are citing a 20-year-old extradition treaty between the US and UK at day four of the embattled journalist&rsquo;s extradition hearing. The treaty prohibits extradition for political offenses. Former UK MP and friend of Julian Assange George Galloway discusses the implications.

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This article was posted on Sunday, March 1st, 2020 at 7:18am and is filed under Julian Assange, Justice, Legal/Constitutional, Political Prisoners, United Kingdom, Video, WikiLeaks.


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Scott Ritter Explains Warring in Syria WMD Lies

RT — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 01:46:49 +0000

Leaked documents from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) suggest that high-level officials manipulated or ignored the findings of those actually on the ground to investigate the alleged chemical attack that killed dozens of people in Douma, Syria in 2018. Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter shares his insights. He argues that the OPCW failed to maintain an adequate chain of custody when collecting evidence in Douma, relying instead on opposition-aligned White Helmets to gather it.

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The RT network now consists of three global news channels broadcasting in English, Spanish, and Arabic. Read other articles by RT, or visit RT’s website.

This article was posted on Tuesday, February 11th, 2020 at 5:46pm and is filed under Disinformation, Militarism, Syria, Video.

Israel’s Use of Airline as Human Shield is “a War Crime” — George Galloway

RT — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 21:01:19 +0000

by RT / February 7th, 2020


        A passenger plane carrying 172 people from Tehran has been forced to make an emergency landing after almost being hit by Syrian air defenses in response to an Israeli airstrike over Damascus. Former UK MP George Galloway joins In Question to discuss.

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This article was posted on Friday, February 7th, 2020 at 1:01pm and is filed under Israel/Palestine, Video, War Crimes.


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Assange Said, “I’m slowly dying here”

RT — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 15:56:22 +0000

Friend recounts Christmas Eve call with WikiLeaks founder

        by RT / December 31st, 2019

        

            WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims he’s ‘slowly dying’ in a UK jail and is often tranquilized and kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. He made the disturbing revelations in a phone call to his friend Vaughan Smith on Christmas Eve.

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Read more: https://on.rt.com/a85u

This article was posted on Tuesday, December 31st, 2019 at 7:56am and is filed under Incarceration, Julian Assange, Political Prisoners, United Kingdom, WikiLeaks.