Recently, the U.S. side announced a policy statement regarding its position on maritime claims in the South China Sea and smeared China on many occasions. It is important that we list U.S. false allegations vis-à-vis the facts to debunk the falsehoods and let people know the truth.
China’s Defense Ministry Wednesday firmly opposed an “extremely erroneous” report by the U.S. Defense Department on China’s military, saying it is fraught with a zero-sum game mindset and Cold-war mentality.
The Defense Ministry’s Information Office came in response to the U.S. report that hyped up the so-called “Chinese military threat” and misinterpreted China’s national defense policy and military strategies.
The office noted that the U.S. report had slandered China’s military modernization, defense expenditure and nuclear policy, aggravated tensions across the Taiwan Strait and instigated cross-Strait confrontations.
“China has always pursued a defensive national defence policy and everyone knows that China is a builder of world peace,” Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday, as reported by the Economic Times.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon published its annual study on the evolution of Chinese military power. In this document, the U.S. authorities hold that the Asian country has equaled or exceeded U.S. military capabilities in several areas of defense.
Besides believing that China seeks to double the number of nuclear warheads in its arsenal over the next decade, Washington suggests that Beijing has made significant advances in its technical capabilities to build ships, cruise missiles, and integrated air defense systems.
The Pentagon report was released amid tensions that President Donald Trump has been generating through military exercises in the South Sea and bans to WeChat and TikTok, which the Republican politician considers a threat to his country’s national security.
In recent years, the United States has increasingly more often impinged on sovereignty of other nations, thus flagrantly flaunting just how uncivilized its policies are. Such behavior is exemplified in various ways: diplomatic pressure exerted on policies of other nations; involvement in color revolutions; imposition of unlawful sanctions, and bans on trading with clear rivals to the US (an act that does not comply with existing international laws and the principle of free trade).
All of this is particularly noticeable when it comes to the ever increasing attempts by Washington to stop other nations from purchasing Russian weaponry. The United States must be aware of the fact that Russia’s high quality and fairly inexpensive military equipment is deservedly popular throughout the world. In addition, its export generates considerable revenues for the Russian Federation, and serves as an effective foreign policy tool for the nation, which helps Moscow build and adjust relations with other countries.
It is therefore not surprising that once tensions between Russia and the US arose, Washington began imposing anti-Moscow sanctions, focusing on the Russian Federation’s weapons trade in particular. In fact, a key aim of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which was signed into law in August 2017, was to counter “Russian influence in Europe and Eurasia”. In September 2018, the “US government imposed secondary sanctions under CAATSA” for the first time by punishing Russia’s partners for “engaging in significant transactions with” individuals on the List of Specified Persons. According to a note issued by the US Department of State that month, the aforementioned actions were “not intended to undermine the military capabilities or combat readiness of any country”. Overall, the wording of the Act gives Washington a lot of room for maneuver.
There have been several widely publicized stories in connection with the CAATSA and the sale of Russia’s S-400 air defense systems, which are viewed as some of the more sought after items produced by the Russian Federation’s military industrial complex.
The S-400 Triumf is designed to destroy aircraft (including stealth targets), cruise and ballistic missiles (travelling at a speed of 4.8 km/s). The system’s radars can detect dozens of aerial targets at the same time and subsequently intercept them in various weather conditions. S-400 missile systems have been in service with the Russian Armed Forces since 2007. In fact, they are an essential part of the Russian Federation’s integrated air defense system.
China became the first nation to express interest in purchasing S-400 systems. Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the sale of S-400 Triumf to China in 2014, i.e. long before the CAATSA was passed.
But once the Act was signed into law, the threat of US sanctions against China for its purchase of the missile systems loomed large. In September 2018, despite the fact that the S-400 agreement between the Russian Federation and the PRC had been reached before-hand, the US decided to impose sanctions against China’s Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission and its director, Li Shangfu. In spite of these troubles, “the first regimental set of S-400” had reached China in the spring of 2018. Apart from launchers, the delivery included command and control systems, radiolocation stations and other parts essential for such pieces of equipment. At the end of 2018, the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force tested the S-400 Triumf air defense system by “successfully shooting down a simulated ballistic target almost 250 km away and moving at the supersonic speed of 3 km/s”. Such news was quite impressive and helped promote Russia’s missile system to the world. In January 2020, the Russian Federation “concluded delivery of a second S-400 Triumf missile system regimental set to China”. China also received “more than 120 advanced anti-aircraft guided missiles” at the time.
The next country that decided to purchase the S-400 system was Turkey. After Turkey signed the relevant agreement with Russia in September 2017, Washington and other NATO members began criticizing Ankara’s decision. Since that time, the United States has been trying to convince and force Turkey to drop the deal.
In July 2019, the United States removed Turkey from the F-35 joint strike fighter program, which meant that Ankara would “lose its production work on the jet by March 2020”. In addition, six F-35s meant for Turkey were never delivered by the United States.
After Ankara received the air defense systems from Russia, Turkey conducted its first test at the end of November 2019. Various aircraft, including US-made F-16 fighter jets, were scrambled near Ankara to test the ability of the Russian-made air-defense system to track and intercept such fighters. USA’s F-16s are quite popular in the Middle East and Europe. In fact, the air forces of Israel and Greece (Turkey’s potential enemies) are equipped with such fighter aircraft.
Despite all of its threats, the US is in no hurry to impose more painful sanctions against Turkey in addition to removing it from the F-35 program because the United States does not wish to spoil its relationship with an important partner, such as Ankara. After all, Turkey is an influential nation among the Muslim-majority countries as well as a NATO member. In fact, the nation has allowed the US military to conduct operations in the Middle East from its territories. In turn, Ankara, with its ambitions to become a leader in the region, is trying to show, in every possible way, its independence from Washington. It is worth reminding our readers that, in recent years, Turkey–United States relations have soured because of the ongoing conflict in Syria. For instance, Washington supports Syrian Kurds fighting for their independence, while Ankara views them as its enemies.
At the beginning of July 2020, Turkey conducted more tests of its S-400 Triumf systems despite the possibility of the US imposing additional sanctions against Ankara. Yet again, Turkey used the good-old F-16 as training target.
Yet, it was reported that during the exercise, as reported by the local media, S-400 managed to track F-35 Stealth that were flying over the Black Sea at a distance of some 200 kilometers from the radar station. These were the very fighters that Turkey wasn’t able to purchase because of the S-400. As mentioned above, these aircraft are made with the use of advanced stealth technology, which makes its stealthy capabilities the main selling point. Thus, in addition to the reputational blow that Turkey’s purchase of Triumphs inflicted on America, the S-400 damaged the reputation of American military technology.
In July 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was urged by US Senators to impose sanctions on Turkey over its actions in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
It would seem that Turkey has no intention of ridding itself of the Russian missile systems for now. And hopefully, the S-400 Triumf will continue to reach new markets.
After Turkey, India (USA’s strategic partner in South Asia) decided to purchase Russia’s air defense systems. Since the alliance with New Delhi is extremely important for Washington, the latter expressed its opposition to the aforementioned deal but did not take any measures to punish India.
There have been reports that Iran is interested in buying S-400 Triumf from Russia too. The country has managed to survive sanctions imposed against it by the US and other nations over its nuclear program for quite some time. In fact, Iran is a key rival of the United States, which is why Washington would not be happy if Iran were to purchase such effective air defense systems.
In fact, there is more bad news for the United States with regards to S-400 systems in other parts of the world. The fact that F-35 fighters were detected by Turkey’s Triumf missile defense systems during recent tests could be viewed as a blow to the US designers of these aircraft. In addition, the US may face more serious troubles in the future. Some believe that Turkish servicemen were, in fact, able to obtain important information about the US fighter jets and their movements during the tests.
China’s purchase of S-400 Triumf could have especially negative consequences for the United States. In fact, China’s air defense capabilities have improved on account of the new system. Its range now covers the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea (claimed by both China and Japan) and parts of Taiwan, viewed as either a separate country or a part of China. Hence, Russia’s missile systems could strengthen Beijing’s positions in the region, as a whole, as well as in its territorial disputes.
The author could, therefore, conclude that USA’s concerns about Russian-made Triumf systems are indeed justified. As S-400s gradually become common place throughout Asia, they not only help strengthen air defenses of certain nations and generate earning for the Russian government, but they could also facilitate global political changes.
Germany is treating the Navalny case as an “attempted murder by poisoning,” and is waiting for Russia to explain its position and provide answers, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters shortly after Berlin’s announcement that a toxicology test had shown ‘undeniably’ that Navalny had been poisoned by “a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group,” Merkel said that there are now “very serious questions that only the Russian government can answer and must answer.”Merkel confirmed that the Russian ambassador to Germany had been informed about the test results, and said that “we now expect that the Russian government will make a declaration on this incident.”
Calling the information about Navalny’s alleged poisoning “depressing,” Merkel added that her government would consult with its NATO allies and Germany’s European Union partners on how to respond.
“We will inform our partners in the EU and NATO on the results of the test. We will have a joint discussion… and make a decision on a proportionate [response] in a joint statement,” the chancellor said.
Russia Responds
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the German government’s new allegations later Wednesday, saying that no traces of any poisonous substances were found in Navalny’s system before his transfer to Germany.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a separate statement, saying its diplomatic mission in Berlin hadn’t received any information or documents regarding Navalny, and accused Germany of making ‘loud statements’ without any evidence to back them up.
The ministry added that it made sense for Germany to appeal to the EU and NATO if its main goal was to substitute “some pre-prepared ‘response measures'” for normal cooperation.
Navalny’s Treatment in Germany
Navalny was flown to Germany from a hospital in Omsk, Russia, where he was hospitalized on August 20 after falling into a coma during a Moscow-bound flight from Tomsk. The politician and blogger, arguably the best-known Russian opposition figure in the West, was transfered to Berlin aboard a chartered jet on August 22 for further treatment, and granted the status of ‘chancellor’s guest’ by Merkel, ostensibly ‘for protection’.
Navalny’s spokesperson began speculating that he may have been poisoned almost immediately after he fell ill. However, doctors in Omsk said no traces of poison were present in the blood and urine samples they had taken. Later, doctors postulated that Navalny may have a metabolic condition which caused a severe drop in his blood sugar levels and led him to lose consciousness and go into a coma. Navalny reportedly didn’t eat or drink before boarding the flight or on the plane, apart from tea purchased for him at the cafe in Tomsk’s airport.
Novichok
The so-called ‘Novichok’ group of binary chemical weapons was developed in the USSR between the 1970s and early 1990s in an effort to maintain parity with the US chemical weapons programme. The agents were never called ‘Novichok’ by Soviet or Russian biowarfare specialists, and were given their names by Western experts after the USSR’s collapse.
‘Novichok’ made international headlines in March 2018, after former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury, southern England. The UK almost immediately blamed the Russian government of ‘poisoning’ the Skripals, and announced that ‘Novichok’ had been used in the attack. Moscow, categorically denied the allegations, asked for access to the investigation, and pointed out that it had destroyed the last of its Soviet-era chemical weapons stockpiles in 2017 under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Russian officials and media also pointed out that the US and its allies, including Britain, have had access to ‘Novichok’s’ formulas since the late 1990s. Nevertheless, London and its allies responded to the alleged attack with new sanctions and expulsions of Russian diplomats, prompting Moscow to respond in a tit-for-tat fashion. The Skripals have since disappeared from public view, with UK media reporting that they may have fled to New Zealand. Viktoria Skripal, Sergei Skripal’s niece, said she had no information to corroborate these reports and has repeatedly asked to be allowed to contact her family members.
The owners of four cargoes carrying Iranian fuel that was looted in high seas by the United States last month have mounted a legal challenge to reclaim them, a report says.
The US government has said it seized 1.116 million barrels of fuel because it was bound for Venezuela which is under American sanctions as part of Washington’s bid to topple President Nicolas Maduro, but the owners have disputed it.
According to a filing with the US District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday, “at the time they were seized, the Defendant Properties were destined for Trinidad for sale to customers in Peru and Colombia.”
When the news of the loot was first broken last month, Iran put down its foot to assert that neither the ships were Iranian nor their owners or their cargo had any connection to the Islamic Republic.
US reports had also claimed that the ships were owned by Greece, but the court filing on Tuesday showed otherwise.
United Arab Emirates-based Mobin International Limited said it was the owner of the cargo aboard the Bella and Bering tankers, UK-registered Oman Fuel said it owned the cargo aboard the Pandi and Luna tankers, and Oman-registered Sohar Fuel said it part-owned the cargo aboard the Luna.
The companies said they had sold the cargoes onwards to UAE-based Citi Energy FZC, but payment was due upon delivery, which was disrupted by the seizure, Reuters reported.
“Therefore, Claimants Mobin, Oman Fuel, and Sohar Fuel retain a financial stake in those agreements and have immediate right to title, possession, and control of the Defendant Properties,” they wrote in the filing.
US claim of victory dealt a blow
The legal challenge puts yet another damper on the US government’s victory lap which came with the much-hyped claim that Washington had finally found a way to block Iran and Venezuela from evading American economic sanctions.
Over the past two years, the Trump administration has repeatedly placed sanctions on Iran’s oil and other lucrative industries with the express aim of shutting Tehran out of global markets and causing an economic collapse.
But far from collapsing as American leaders had predicted, Iran’s economy keeps humming and is getting back on its feet.
Meanwhile, Iran sent five oil tankers 1.5 million barrels of gasoline and diesel fuel to Venezuela in May and June despite American threats to stop them.
“We showcased our might, and our biggest display of power was the imposition of our will and the sailing through high seas from the Persian Gulf to Venezuela,” Major General Hussein Salami said last month.
An Iranian news agency said Iran’s naval forces were preparing to target US commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf in case US forces interfered with Venezuela-bound Iranian oil tankers.
When the New York Times first reported the seizure of the four cargoes last month, the newspaper headlined it as a “diplomatic doubleheader” which blocked Iran and Venezuela from evading American economic sanctions.
Iranian officials brushed aside the claim, with Iran’s Ambassador to Venezuela Hojjat Soltani saying the report was an “act of psychological warfare perpetrated by the US propaganda machine” trying to compensate for the Trump administration’s “humiliation and defeat by Iran using false propaganda.”
“The United States is seeking to contrive a victory for itself. Neither did the ships nor the cargo belong to Iran,” Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh told reporters in Tehran.
Aiming to cut Iran’s sales to zero, Washington in May 2019 ended sanctions waivers for importers of Iranian oil. Tehran reacted with typical defiance, saying it would find ways to sell its oil.
Last month, NBC News cited data from online service TankerTrackers.com showing that Iran was exporting a lot more crude oil than US figures suggest.
According to the data, Iran is exporting as much as 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil – thrice more than an estimate of 227,000 bpd made in a US congressional report.
Iran, NBC News said, is coming up with more innovative techniques in wiggling its way around the draconian American sanctions.
Iranian officials have said the country is in an economic war with the United States which has forced international payment networks to cut off the Islamic Republic, making trade all but impossible.
$10 billion of oil, petrochemical investment in 5 months
On Tuesday, Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum said oil and petrochemical investment in the country has reached $10 billion since the beginning of the Iranian calendar year in March.
The government plans to officially launch 17 petrochemical projects, which are expected to produce 100 million tonnes annually and generate $25 billion per year in revenues by the end of the year, it said.
Iran also plans to launch by the end of its current calendar year in March 2021 an oil terminal designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz for Iranian oil exports.
The country has already started building an onshore oil pipeline worth $1.8 billion to Jask which sits just east of the Strait of Hormuz. As much as $700 million of the investment will go to develop the port terminal.
The 1,100-kilometer pipeline will be capable of carrying 1 million bpd of crude oil from the Goureh oil terminal in the northwest to Jask on the Sea of Oman, without the need to have tankers travel through the Strait of Hormuz.
Last month, Iran said it had signed a total of 13 oil contracts with 14 domestic firms, which will raise the Islamic Republic’s oil production capacity by 185,000 barrels per day.
On Monday, July 27, a group of physicians called The Frontline Doctors met on the steps of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington DC for a press conference, discussing their experience in treating patients with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).
Shortly thereafter – but not before the video has received more than 70 million views on Brietbart livestream and 17 million viral shares – the hammer of Big Tech went to work, attempting to crush all evidence of the doctors’ compelling plea to make HCQ, an inexpensive and extremely effective medication, available to all. Big Tech – including Google, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo and even the website host Squarespace – didn’t stop with only scraping the physicians’ press conference off the internet. No, they punished others for even TALKING about the press conference. Breitbart was censored for days and even Donald Trump, Jr. was put into Twitter jail for mentioning HCQ.
And then, a mere 48 hours after the press conference and censorship storm, (on Wednesday evening July 29), the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy’s ruling (Rule 4729:5-5-21) that was written and approved on July 20, was published with a plan to go into effect following morning. This arbitrary rule prohibited doctors from prescribing and pharmacies from dispensing chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine “for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19” – unless the patient was enrolled in an institutional review board (IRB) qualified clinical trial.
The rule went further: All previous approvals for the use of these two medications were to be voided. Did that mean the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of patients across Ohio whose rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions had been successfully treated for years with Plaquenil, the trade name for hydroxychloroquine, were going to be denied medication too?
While many doctors I know were scrambling to find a way to fight this rule, the next morning Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued a written statement:
“The Board of Pharmacy and the State Medical Board of Ohio should revisit the [restrictive rule] issue, listen to the best medical science, and open the process up for comment and testimony from experts. I agree with the FDA commissioner, Stephan Hahn, who said the decision whether a person should take hydroxychloroquine should be made between a doctor and a patient.”
I personally thought DeWine was simply issuing a political statement to make him look more open-minded and perhaps more Republican and right-leaning. But low and behold, within a few hours, the Ohio Pharmacy board issued the following statement:
“As a result of feedback received by the medical and patient community and at the request of Governor DeWine, prohibitions on prescribing chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in Ohio for the treatment of COVID-19 will not take effect at this time. Licensees should be aware that emergency rule 4729-5-30-2 is no longer effective and the requirements of that rule, including the inclusion of a diagnosis code on any prescription for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are no longer applicable.”
“The physician’s ability to exercise their professional, clinical judgment (including consideration of potential risks on a case-by-case basis) in the assessment and management of the medical needs of their patients.”
So is it about drug safety or is it about politics?
If a state pharmacy board, a governor and a state medical association can do a complete 180-degree turn-around, from banning a drug to freely using it, in less than 24 hours, I hope that anyone who is paying attention can FINALLY see that these rules and mandates have nothing to do with drug or patient safety, nothing to do with scientific evidence and nothing to do with effectiveness.
It is all purely about power and control.
Why are they fighting against HCQ so vehemently? If an inexpensive drug with a long history of safe use can treat and prevent the syndrome called COVID-19 caused by a virus called SARS-CoV2, it would completely upend the necessity of a coronavirus vaccine. All that money, all those plans and all that power-grabbing effort on the part of the globalists would be wasted. The Plandemic would be over and humanity would be free.
Without the Plandemic, the coordinated tracking databases being built to accommodate initiatives such as COVIPASS and Time Stamp would fade away. Time Stamp, first launched in 2018, is a total identity platform integrated into the GAVI-Mastercard “Wellness Pass.” It will house your digital vaccination records and also be linked to Mastercard’s click-to-play system. The system is powered by an AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning technology called NuData. Trust Stamp intends to be the primary technology used by governments for contact tracing and used by law enforcement for surveillance and futuristic “predictive policing” – the implementation of the Thought Police.
For those who don’t know, or don’t remember, the concept of the Thought Police comes from the 1949 George Orwell novel, “1984.” The Thought Police, called the Thinkpol, were the secret police who were instructed to discover, apprehend and punish any person whose thoughts were unapproved by the government.
Thinkpol is eerily similar to present tense surveillance systems that use criminal psychology, informers [contact tracers], and cameras with microphones [ie. your iPhone]. Citizens are being monitored and those who challenge the status quo and the authority of Big Brother are starting to be arrested…. is Room 101 next?
How did we get here?
It is remarkable that in a mere 100 days, a series of planned events and unified messages about hydroxychloroquine appeared across the US, Canada, Australia, NZ and most of western Europe. The message? A long-used generic and inexpensive drug called hydroxychloroquine is dangerous and should not be used to treat a potentially fatal disease, COVID-19, for which there are no reliable or otherwise “approved” treatments.
Even though hydroxychloroquine has been prescribed safely for 65 years and used successfully by many millions of patients, the message was hammered home that the drug is safe for its other uses, but dangerous when used for Covid-19. This doesn’t make sense, but it seems to have worked as doctors stopped using their critical-thinking skills and fell into lock-step compliance.
In the US, the “Never Trump” message morphed into “Never Hydroxychloroquine,” meaning, the pandemic will be “Never Over” unless, of course, you are vaccinated.
Outrageous statements such as this are gifts that keeps on giving.
Let’s check the facts:
1) wildfires less than 20% of earlier 20th century in acreage burned.
2) Hurricane ace index/storm near record lows this year, Globally no increase. EPAC/WPAC well below average So is total Global production this season.
3) Much worse storms than what we see now have always run rampant. The list is legion and too numerous to name.
4) Heatwaves are nothing compared to the 1930s , and if you didn’t have rolling blackouts due to energy policy, there would be less problems, Why the rest of the nation would want to adopt the example of California is beyond any rational person. Besides cold kills more than warm, another fact ignored.
Obviously the person making this statement either does not know these facts, or does and simply seeks to hide them to push a false missive. There can be no other conclusion.
Apparently Kamala Harris does not understand that previous times as warm as today were known as climate optimums, not climate emergencies. We can go on and on, but in this case brevity makes the point.
The Philippines says it will not comply with the United States’ sanctions against China over regional disputes in the South China Sea, even though Manila itself is involved in one such dispute with Beijing.
Philippine presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced during a Tuesday press briefing that President Rodrigo Duterte would not comply with unilateral US sanctions against Chinese firms involved in constructing artificial islands in the South China Sea.
Roque said Manila would make its own decisions and would not follow those of a foreign country.
“We are not a vassal state of any foreign power and we will pursue our national interest,” the Philippine presidential spokesman said. “Our national interest is to ensure flagship projects are completed.”
He said the Chinese firms would continue working on infrastructure projects in the Philippines. The Philippine government is trying to make progress in a 180-billion-dollar overhaul of the country’s infrastructure.
The remarks came despite statements made last week by the Filipino foreign minister that he would recommend that the government abandon the deals with the Chinese companies.
The US — a defense treaty ally of the Philippines — last Wednesday announced sanctions against 24 Chinese companies and individuals over what Washington alleged to be involvement in constructing military facilities on submerged reefs in disputed waters of the South China Sea.
China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei, besides the Philippines, have overlapping claims with China to parts of the sea. The United States, an extra-territorial force, has been stirring regional tensions by provoking China’s rival claimants and conducting routine sails or fly-overs in the sea.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have dropped to the lowest level in decades since US President Donald Trump came to power. The two countries are currently at loggerheads over numerous issues, including trade, technology, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the East and South China Seas, and most recently, the coronavirus pandemic.
The US has been significantly ratcheting up the tensions with China in all of those areas recently.
UN reports revealed that the Saudi-UAE coalition has recently used internationally banned weapons in its military operations in the Hudaydah Governorate, western Yemen.
The United Nations report expressed the organisation’s “concern” after it revealed the use of cluster bombs by the Saudi-Emirati coalition in Yemen in one of the air strikes that targeted the Hudaydah Governorate.
The head of the United Nations mission to support the Hudaydah agreement, Abhijit Guha, said in a statement that he is concerned about the repeated air strikes in the Al-Arj area between the city of Hudaydah and the port of Salif between 16-23 August, according to the Yemeni Al-Mahrah Post website.
Guha, who chairs the redeployment committee, indicated that the heavy fighting that broke out around Hudaydah city on Thursday morning, is of “special concern”, in addition to “reports of the use of cluster weapons during one of these air strikes.” Guha called on the parties to the conflict in Yemen to “desist from any measures that harm the implementation of Al-Hudaydah agreement that was reached in Stockholm on 13 December 2018.”
The UN official urged the parties to the conflict in Yemen to “refrain from any other activities that put the lives of civilians in the governorate in danger.” The Houthi group, through an official source in Hudaydah, accused the Saudi-Emirati coalition of using a cluster bomb on 23 August, on a farm in the Al-Arj area, Bajil District.
Paris will slap Lebanese elites with sanctions and could even withhold crucial financial aid if Beirut fails to implement reforms, the French president has warned.
The upcoming months would be “fundamental” for what he described as “real change,” Macron told Politico as he was heading to Beirut for a second visit in a month. Should he be not satisfied with the reforms made within the set period of time, punitive measures will follow, he added.
The list of such measures ranges from personal sanctions against members of the Lebanese political elite, to blocking an international financial bailout – vital for a country gripped by a prolonged economic and political crisis, and struggling with the aftermath of the recent major explosion in the capital.
During Macron’s previous visit in early August in the wake of the devastating blast which killed almost 200 people, the French president called for a new, interim government, as well as for an audit of the nation’s central bank and parliamentary elections within a year. Now, he says he wants “credible commitments” from the Lebanese political parties that they will stick to the plan – including a timetable for holding the legislative vote within “six to 12 months.”
The horrific blast aggravated existing problems and provoked violent anti-government demonstrations, forcing Prime Minister Hassan Diab to dissolve the cabinet in early August. A new government has however been slow to emerge, prompting President Macron to intrude on the affairs of the former French protectorate.
Macron stated he is not known for being soft and is not going to back down in Lebanon but is still wary of using what he calls France’s full force and locking horns with Hezbollah. The French president meanwhile blamed Lebanese protesters for the failure to produce a leader powerful enough to bring the country’s political elites under control.
“A name works if the street knows how to produce a leader who leads the revolution, and breaks the system. It didn’t work, at least not today, maybe tomorrow or after tomorrow it will,” he said, commenting on public discontent over the choice of a new prime minister.
Diplomat Mustapha Adib was agreed as the new head of the government just hours before Macron’s arrival in Beirut. However, his candidacy apparently did not sit well with at least some members of the public and Macron was at some point met by a crowd chanting “Adib won’t do!” and “We want Nawaf Salam!”
Salam – a judge with the International Court of Justice – lacks support among the political elites of Lebanon and would hardly be able to fulfil his role as a head of government, Macron said while also explaining that it was not him, who chose Adib and it was not his job “to interfere or approve.”
Hamas Palestinian Resistance group said it accepted a ceasefire agreement with the Zionist entity on Monday night, ending a nearly month-long round of tensions along the Gaza border.
After talks with Qatari envoy Mohammed El-Emadi, “an understanding was reached to rein in the latest escalation and end [Israeli] aggression against our people”, the office of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said on Monday.
The announcement came after three weeks of tensions that saw Israeli strikes on the besieged enclave and the launch of hundreds of explosives-laden and incendiary balloons were launched toward the occupied territories.
According to Hamas, the new understanding includes “a number of projects that serve our people in the Gaza Strip and would help them cope with the outbreak of the coronavirus.”
The Israeli regime, on his part, did not explicitly confirm the existence of a deal, but in a tacit acknowledgment said it would fully reopen the fishing zone off the coast of the Strip and the enclave’s border crossings beginning Tuesday.
“This decision will be tested on the ground: If Hamas, which is responsible for all actions that are taken in the Gaza Strip, will fail to meet its obligations, Israel will act accordingly,” the Zionist entity’s military liaison to the Palestinians said in a statement.
The occupation army has carried out attacks on Gaza almost daily since August 6 in what it says is a response to the airborne incendiary devices and, less frequently, rockets launched into the occupied territories.
Russia has accused the US of “escalating tensions in Europe” by holding live-fire exercises “in the immediate vicinity” of its borders. The Defense Ministry also denied a NATO accusation that a Russian jet entered Danish airspace.
In a statement the Russian embassy in Washington said it considers the use of multiple launch rocket systems by US armed forces during the exercises in Estonia to be provocative and extremely dangerous for regional stability, “Russia has repeatedly proposed to the United States and its allies to limit training activities and to divert the exercise zones from the Russia-NATO contact line,” the text reads. “Why do this demonstrative saber-rattling? What signal do the NATO members want to send us? Who is actually escalating tensions in Europe? And this is all happening in the context of an aggravated political situation in that region of Europe [in Belarus].”
“A rhetorical question is – how would the Americans react in the event of such shooting by our military at the US border?” the embassy added.
From September 1 to 10, joint war games by an infantry brigade of the Baltic Armed Forces and the 41st Field Artillery Brigade of the US Army will take place in Estonia. This is the first live firing exercise by US artillery outside their permanent bases in Europe.
On Tuesday morning, the Defense Ministry explained that an Su-27, scrambled to identify a US Air Force strategic bomber, flew over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, without violating the Danish border. The comments came in response to a NATO charge that the Russian fighter followed the B52 well into Danish airspace over the island, committing a significant violation of the airspace of a NATO member.
“The Defense Ministry has denied the statement of the North Atlantic Alliance about the violation of the Danish state border by the Russian Su-27 fighter,” an official said. They added that the flight was carried out in strict accordance with international airspace regulations.
On Monday, Russian airspace control over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea detected three air targets approaching the Russian border, the Ministry outlined, as cited by the TASS news agency. To identify them, three Su-27s from the air defense forces of the Baltic Fleet were scrambled. The crews of the Russian fighters identified the aerial targets as US Air Force B-52H strategic bombers. Russian fighters returned to their home base after the American aircraft left the Russian state border.
Americans may be surprised to learn from Alan Dershowitz that their constitution is far more intrusive and oppressive than what they and their forefathers have believed for generations. The law ‘scholar’ declared yesterday that “you have no (constitutional) right to not be vaccinated.” … continue
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The word “alleged” is deemed to occur before the word “fraud.” Since the rule of law still applies. To peasants, at least.
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