Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

Brussels sues Hungary again for new sovereignty law banning foreign funding of political parties

Opposition parties and media received over $10 million from overseas NGOs ahead of the last election, primarily with ties to the US Democratic Party

BY THOMAS BROOKE | REMIX NEWS | FEBRUARY 7, 2024

The European Commission has launched further infringement proceedings against Hungary — this time to contest a new law designed to restrict undue foreign political interference in domestic elections.

In a press release published on Wednesday, the EU executive claimed that the new law on the Defense of National Sovereignty violates “several provisions of primary and secondary EU law” including the democratic values of the Union, the electoral rights of EU citizens, and the right to a private life and the protection of personal data.

Hungarian lawmakers passed the legislation in December last year by a ratio of nearly 3:1. The new law provides for the creation of an independent authority — the Office for the Defense of Sovereignty — to investigate political interference in Hungarian elections, and the bill prohibits political parties or groups from receiving foreign financing.

A commission formed in the wake of Hungary’s election in April 2022 found various left-wing opposition parties and media outlets had received considerable sums of foreign funding before the election, primarily from the United States.

A National Security Committee report revealed that the U.S.-based NGO, Action for Democracy — an organization with close ties to billionaire oligarch George Soros — had donated HUF 1.8 billion (€4.48 million) to opposition leader Péter Márki-Zay’s campaign, while the pro-opposition news outlet, Ezalényeg, raked in HUF 1 billion (€2.57 million) from an unnamed Swiss organization.

Despite the funding, the coalition formed by left-wing opposition parties failed to dethrone Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his governing Fidesz party, as they won a landslide victory.

During the committee stage, ruling Hungarian lawmakers were ordered to drop the bill by the commissioner for human rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatović, after complaining that the new oversight authority could demand personal data from those it suspects to have received foreign funding without adequate safeguards.

The Hungarian government has staunchly defended the new legislation, which came into force on Dec. 22 last year, insisting it was necessary to defend national sovereignty and prevent foreign interference in elections — an issue the European Union has long considered to be of paramount importance when it is Russia being accused of such underhand tactics.

An official report published by the Hungarian secret service links payments made by a U.S. non-profit, which has close ties to the Democratic Party and critics of the Hungarian government, to a movement founded by Hungarian opposition politician Péter Márki-Zay

“Hungary’s sovereignty is impaired – and it also carries a heightened risk to national security – if political power gets into the hands of persons or organizations dependent on any foreign power, organization or person,” the bill read.

Former advisor to Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party in the European Parliament, András László, said the bill is popular among the Hungarian electorate.

“Hungarians are outraged about the massive foreign interference in the 2022 general elections. The left-wing parties, media, and organizations received at least $10 million from the United States and Switzerland. The Biden administration announced more ‘grants’ to left-wing media just a few days ago,” he said.

The Commission stated that it had conducted a thorough assessment of the legislation and considers it to be unacceptable, giving Hungary two months to respond to its formal notice before progressing down the route of litigation in the European Court of Justice.

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Corruption | , , | Leave a comment

America First Legal Challenges Arizona Agencies’ Social Media Censorship in Defense of Free Speech

By Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net | February 7, 2024

As part of a bold move to safeguard free speech and uphold constitutional values, America First Legal (AFL) has initiated a series of public records requests aimed at unearthing the extent of Arizona government agencies’ involvement in controlling social media narratives.

We obtained a copy of the records requests for you here.

These requests target the Center for Internet Security, along with Coconino, Maricopa, and Pima Counties, and the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. The inquiry seeks details on communications and takedown requests pertaining to social media content.

The issue at hand revolves around recent elections, where federal and state entities, notably from Arizona, have actively engaged in monitoring and reporting what they classify as “misinformation.”

Such activities involved the Secretary of State’s Office and county election officials in Arizona, who flagged content to the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center (EI-ISAC).

Coordinated by the Center for Internet Security (CIS), the EI-ISAC acted as a conduit, forwarding these censorship requests to various social media platforms. Additionally, state and local government officials in Arizona have independently reported supposed misinformation directly to these platforms.

This has led to a situation where government officials have been accused of effectively coercing and pressuring social media companies into censoring content and speakers that they deem unfavorable, potentially influencing the outcomes of Arizona’s recent elections.

This entire scenario is seen by many as a glaring infringement of lawful free speech and is considered both unconstitutional and illegal.

“Freedom of speech is a core American principle that is the foundation for so many of our other rights and liberties. No government official should ever get involved in policing what American citizens can and can’t say online. Arizona’s elections play an outsized role in national politics right now. State and county officials who have been trying to suppress citizens’ free speech are also unconstitutionally trying to meddle in elections. That sort of activity needs to stop, and these public records requests will help shine a light on the extent of their past activities,” said James Rogers, America First Legal counsel.

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Hamas response to proposed ceasefire has embarrassed Netanyahu

By Motasem A Dalloul | MEMO | February 7, 2024

The Palestinian Resistance Movement, Hamas, has handed over its response to the initial ceasefire deal recommended by a Qatari, Egyptian, French, Israeli and American summit held in Paris last week.

Media reports stated that the proposed deal stipulated a temporary truce for a certain time, during which Hamas, which also represents other Palestinian resistance factions, releases Israeli prisoners in Gaza, in return for a generous flow of humanitarian aid and release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners enduring inhumane conditions in Israeli jails.

Initially, Hamas set its conditions on the deal and said it would study it and consult other factions before giving its final response.

Hamas stressed that it needed a comprehensive cessation of Israeli aggression and a complete withdrawal of the Occupation Forces from Gaza, providing shelter for the displaced people, reconstruction and lifting the 18-year-old Israeli siege and carrying out a serious prisoner exchange.

Israel, the US and others had waited for the response from the Palestinian factions in order to finalise the sought ceasefire deal.

During this time, when Hamas was studying and consulting fellow factions, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, blamed the Palestinian Movement for continuous massacres his country’s army committed against the Palestinians.

At the same time, Netanyahu told families of the Israeli prisoners and other Israeli people and politicians who called for him to stop the war and surrender to Hamas — agree to a prisoner swap — that the ball was in Hamas’s court.

Finally, Hamas handed over its detailed response. It presented a three-stage-deal, with each stage lasting 45 days, starting with the first stage, from cessation of Israel aggression, withdrawal of Israeli Occupation Forces from populated areas, release of batches of prisoners, rebuilding hospitals and important civilian infrastructure, up to the daily entry of 500 trucks of the needed humanitarian aid and fuel.

Hamas stressed, in the second stage, on full cessation of aggression and complete withdrawal of the Israeli Occupation Forces from Gaza, the release of the remaining prisoners, the reconstruction of homes, retention of the flow of humanitarian aid and fuel, as well as guaranteeing unhindered access to the Rafah Crossing for fuel, treatment and other purposes.

The Palestinian Movement stated that the third stage stipulates complete ceasefire, exchange of prisoners’ bodies, accepting a three-year-timetable for the complete reconstruction of Gaza, reassurance of the resumption of all activities of UNRWA and agreeing on a concrete plan for a Palestine State.

Israeli media, including Kan public broadcaster reported that Netanyahu had accepted a potential ceasefire between the stages of the deal without even referring to his war cabinet. He decided to talk to the press on Wednesday. Nothing has yet emerged about his intentions, but analysts and commentators had their say.

Israeli journalist, Moshe Yair, commented: “Hamas embarrassed Netanyahu. It presented a clever response that did not show full acceptance or full objection of the deal. At the same time, it returned the ball to Netanyahu’s court, putting forth its own demands.”

Muna Omari, an Arab-Israeli journalist, said: “Whether it was positive or negative, Netanyahu’s response [Hamas reply] would infuriate the Israelis. “  She stated that, if he accepted Hamas’s demands, he would anger his extremist allies, and if he rejected them, he would anger the Liberals, families of the prisoners, the wounded soldiers, the deep state and the economy.

Even his genocide sponsors, the American administration, put forth several measures in front of him to push him to give up his arrogance. The US administration expressed it optimism about Hamas’s reply; however, it said a deal could be reached in two weeks. The US Congress did not approve the $17 billion aid package to Israel.

The ICJ has changed its head and assigned an Arab Lebanese judge, and Saudi Arabia reiterated its firm stance that there would not be normalisation of ties except after cessation of the aggression on Gaza and accepting the creation of a Palestinian State.

Following Hamas’s reply, Netanyahu has become surrounded by nightmarish and embarrassing scenarios from which he must choose one, and every one of them would cause him a problem.

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , | 3 Comments

Palestinian Information Center director Gharabli martyred in Israeli strike

Palestinian Information Center | February 7, 2024

GAZA – The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) has mourned the tragic loss of its office director in Gaza, Dr. Rizq al-Gharabli, who was martyred on Tuesday during relentless Israeli attacks on Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Gharabli’s death brings to 123 the number of Palestinian journalists who have been martyred since the Israeli occupation state started its genocidal war on Gaza.

The Government Media Office announced yesterday the martyrdom of Dr. Gharabli in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Khan Yunis.

Last Monday, the International Federation of Journalists organized a rally outside the European Union headquarters in Brussels in solidarity with the journalists in Gaza and in protest at the European silence on Israel’s crimes against civilians, especially journalists.

The participants in the protest carried placards and banners that said “Freedom for Palestinian journalists,” “Israel, stop killing journalists in Gaza” and “Journalists in Gaza, we are with you.”

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | 1 Comment

Saudi Arabia names conditions for Israel deal

RT | February 7, 2024

Saudi Arabia will not establish formal ties with Israel until it recognizes an independent Palestinian state and ceases its “aggression” against Gaza, the Foreign Ministry in Riyadh has said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry revealed it had informed the US “that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and all Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the Gaza Strip.”

“The Kingdom reiterates its call to the permanent members of the UN Security Council… to expedite the recognition of the Palestinian state,” the ministry continued, declaring that this would help ensure “that a comprehensive and just peace is achieved for all.”

The statement did not specify whether Israel must also recognize a Palestinian state in order for a deal with Saudi Arabia to go ahead.

While the US is reportedly considering whether to recognize Palestinian statehood, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to entertain the idea. Instead, he has insisted on “full Israeli security control over the entire area west of Jordan,” a description that includes land considered Palestinian under the 1967 borders.

The term “1967 borders” refers to Israel’s frontiers as they stood before the Six-Day War. A return to these lines would see Gaza expand, while Israel would relinquish its claims to the West Bank, Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem, and would withdraw its security forces and settlers from these areas.

The Saudi statement came a day after White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that talks on a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel were “ongoing,” and that the US had received “positive feedback from both sides.”

Saudi Arabia did not join its neighbors, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, in recognizing Israel under the Abraham Accords, brokered by former US President Donald Trump in 2020.

Riyadh and West Jerusalem were on the cusp of a deal before the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October, with Washington offering the Saudis a defense pact with the US in exchange for recognizing the Jewish state. However, Saudi officials suspended negotiations in response to Israel’s bombing of Gaza, and reports at the time suggested that the kingdom would insist that any future deal include significant concessions to the Palestinians from the Israeli side.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday. A readout of the meeting from the US State Department made no mention of an independent Palestinian state. Instead, it said the pair had discussed the need for “an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza that provides lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

From Rule Britannia to Decrepit Old Bulldog

UK flagship aircraft carrier breaks down before it has even fired a shot. If ever there was a fitting image for its modern true state, this is it.

By Finian Cunningham | Strategic Culture Foundation | February 7, 2024

British rulers think they can start a war against Russia. They can’t even contain Yemeni fighters in the Red Sea. And its top-notch aircraft carrier just got towed away before it even saw action.

Delusions about “Great Britain” and its military power are laughable. Britain is nothing but a rogue state whose arrogance and delusions are – like its American overseer – a danger to global security and peace.

Britain’s Royal Navy flagship, the recently built aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, has embarrassingly been forced to pull out of a major NATO war drill due to a mechanical breakdown.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is supposed to be the showpiece of Britain’s military firepower. Built for $5 billion, the warship is spanking new. It is billed as a “super-carrier”. The vessel is not just a flagship for the Royal Navy. It is a flagship for Britain.

At the last minute, the ship had to cancel participation in the huge NATO war exercises currently underway across Europe. One of its propellers was discovered to be faulty. Instead of leading Britain’s contingency in the biggest NATO mobilization since the Cold War, the aircraft carrier is now laid up in the repair yard.

The weeks-long NATO war maneuvers known as Steadfast Defender are intended as a demonstration of robust military power to Russia. Coming at a time of heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, the NATO exercises across Northern Europe and Scandinavia are viewed by Moscow as a veiled threat. The rehearsal for a war involves 90,000 troops from over 30 nations, an armada of warships, and nuclear-capable fighter jets flown from the U.S.

The failure of HMS Queen Elizabeth to muster at the crucial moment only adds to Britain’s embarrassment. It underscores criticism voiced even by British military experts that the country is not fit to wage a modern war contrary to the bellicose posturing of British politicians and military commanders. Certainly not against Russia whose advanced firepower has been proven against NATO-backed Ukraine.

Moreover, several independent military analysts contend that the entire U.S.-led NATO alliance is no match for Russia, nor China for that matter. After all, the U.S. and NATO allies were forced to retreat from Afghanistan in 2021 unable to defeat Taliban insurgents despite 2o years of occupying that country.

During the past two years of conflict in Ukraine, Russian forces have been able to destroy a vast array of weapons supplied by NATO. Admittedly, the Ukrainian regime has occasionally been able to inflict grievous damage on Russia. The killing of 28 people at the weekend in the city of Lysychansk with U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets is a case in point. The shooting down of a Russian transport plane with U.S. Patriot missiles on January 24 with the loss of 74 onboard is another example.

Nevertheless, the NATO arsenal at the disposal of Ukraine has not succeeded in enabling any strategic gain against Russia. As former Pentagon advisor Doug Macgregor and others have noted, Russia has all but won the proxy war. The implication is that the U.S. and its NATO allies are outgunned by superior Russian military technology.

Therefore, the deployment of NATO’s forces in the current war maneuvers in Europe is something of a toothless tiger. That said, however, the provocation to Moscow is still a dangerous escalation in hostilities considering the potential for miscalculation between nuclear powers.

The saga of Britain’s super aircraft carrier is an apt metaphor. Britain and its NATO allies are more and more a projection of image without substance. It’s more psychological operation to intimidate rather than actual effective offensive capability.

Soon after completing sea trials only a couple of years ago, HMS Queen Elizabeth’s first assignment was a world tour to show off “Global Britain”. For post-Brexit Britain with the bumptious Boris Johnson in Downing Street, the spectacle was meant to advertise “Rule Britannia” in the modern age. The nostalgia for former imperial glory is cringe-making but it is essential to the British myth of “greatness”.

Fast forward to the present, Britain’s navy is deployed in the Red Sea helping the Americans bomb Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab region. The Anglo-American duo are supposedly defending international shipping from Yemeni forces who have interdicted the vital sea route in an act of solidarity with Palestinians being slaughtered in Gaza by U.S.-armed Israel.

After the last salvo of missiles on Yemen at the weekend, British Foreign Minister David Cameron warned the Yemeni armed forces “to stop” targeting merchant ships trying to transit the Red Sea. Who does “Lord Cameron” think he is? The Yemenis have told the Eton-educated ponce to shove his edicts. They say their blockade on shipping will continue until Israel’s genocidal offensive in Gaza is ended. The United States and Britain could stop the Gaza horror immediately if they ceased supporting Israel with weapons and political cover.

The Yemeni Ansar Allah government is allied with other “resistance” groups in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon as well as Iran. They all say it is the United States and Britain who are destabilizing the region with their “reckless aggression” and support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The Biden administration is currently bombing three countries: Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and threatening to attack Iran – all in support of Israel’s criminal annihilation of Palestinians.

Britain has deployed a guided-missile destroyer HMS Diamond to hit Yemen along with American warships. Turns out though that the British destroyer does not have the missiles capable of striking Yemeni land from the sea. The Royal Air Force is having to fly Tornado fighter jets to Cyprus in the East Mediterranean from where they take off to drop bombs on Yemen. That’s roughly a 10,000-kilometer round trip. This “show of might” is farcical if not pathetic.

For such a supposedly “vital” defense of international shipping, one would think that Britain should have dispatched its flagship aircraft carrier to partner with the American counterpart USS Dwight Eisenhower in the Red Sea.

Just as well London did not. With a broken propeller, the HMS Queen Elizabeth would have been a sitting duck for the Yemenis. Rather than the Union Jack, the Brits would have quite possibly been running up the white flag.

Several respected military analysts say the American and British forces in the Red Sea have badly underestimated the Yemeni operation. Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson and former U.S. Marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter have both said that the Yemenis possess drones and ballistic missiles capable of sinking the U.S. and British ships. With mounting attacks by the Yemenis, it’s only a matter of time before one of the American or British warships is sunk.

The multiple barrages that the U.S. and Britain have carried out on Yemen since January 12 – at least 16 rounds of air strikes on dozens of locations – have not deterred the Yemenis in the slightest. Scott Ritter says that is because the Yemeni weapons are buried deep underground or are highly mobile systems that can evade strikes.

To say the least, Britain has a serious image and reality problem. It proclaims to be defending freedom of navigation and international law. The reality is Britain is once again acting as America’s attack dog – as it always does. This time, the Brits are more like an old bulldog whose legs are gone.

Arrogant, delusional British politicians haven’t realized yet that “Great Britain” is nothing but a broken-down has-been empire whose heyday was over a century ago. Its economy and society are decrepit and falling apart from a failed capitalist system that generates rampant inequality and poverty.

There was a distant time when Britain was a formidable naval power.

Now its flagship aircraft carrier breaks down before it has even fired a shot. If ever there was a fitting image for modern Britain’s true state, this is it.

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Timeless or most popular | | Leave a comment

Hersh: West’s Hesitance to Conclude Nord Stream Probe Implicates Culprits

By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 07.02.2024

Sweden’s decision to abruptly quit an investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage attack raises new questions about who the real culprits behind the blast are, and turns the spotlight on the German probe.

Almost a year ago, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published his bombshell story about the US’ and Norway’s participation in the September 26, 2022, sabotage attack on Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.

To date, none of the Western countries involved in the subsequent investigation – Sweden, Denmark, and Germany – have presented explanations of what happened or named a culprit. Moreover, Sweden announced on February 7 that it would drop its investigation into explosions.

Sweden and Denmark announced they would conduct an inquiry within days of the attack, Hersh recalled in his Tuesday’s piece. Germany followed suit on October 2, 2022.

Remarkably, very soon, Sweden said it would not join any joint investigations because “it would involve the transfer of information related to Sweden’s national security,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist pointed out.

“Nothing more about the cause of the underwater bombings has been heard since from either Sweden or Denmark, although both nations knew, as I have written, that the US was practicing underwater diving in the Baltic Sea for months before the explosions,” Hersh wrote. “The failure of the two nations to complete their inquiry may have stemmed from the fact, as I was told, that some senior officials in both countries understood precisely what was going on.”

For its part, the Kremlin announced on September 28, 2022, that Russia was ready to consider applications from EU countries for a joint investigation into the Nord Stream incident. However, not only did the West reject Moscow’s request but also blamed Russia for destroying its own pipelines. On October 12, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin qualified the incident as “an act of international terrorism”.

However, it was not only Sweden and Denmark that demonstrated little if any curiosity in digging to the bottom of the incident. The US also seemed uninterested, according to Hersh.

“After the explosions, which became an international sensation, it took four days for a White House correspondent to bring up the Nord Stream issue,” Hersh wrote.

He particularly cited the White House stating at the time that it would not make a “definitive determination” until its allies in the region concluded their work.

“There is no evidence that President Biden, in the sixteen months since the pipelines were destroyed, has tasked its experts to conduct an all-source investigation into the explosions,” Hersh wrote.

Moreover, “the US has since vetoed at least one attempt by Russia to get an independent United Nations investigation into the explosions,” he added.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist pointed out that despite Germany suffering the most from the blast (which deprived its industries of the source of relatively cheap and reliable energy flow from Russia), Chancellor Olaf Scholz or any other senior German leader didn’t make any significant push to determine who did what.

“A subsequent investigation sought by some members of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, was undertaken but its conclusion has been withheld from the public for what are said to be security reasons,” Hersh pointed out.

The investigative journalist pointed out that the US and German mainstream media were circulating the story of “a 49-foot yacht said to be the vessel for the high-risk technical diving involved” instead.

In his previous articles, Hersh debunked the Andromeda yacht plot, suggesting that the CIA invented the story and fed it to the Western press to distract the public attention from his bombshell. Remarkably, some Western media soon found numerous gaps in the Andromeda story and called them out.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist believes that “the sabotage in the Baltic Sea was the result of a long-standing US policy of driving a wedge between Russia and Western Europe.”

He quoted Emmanuel Todd, a French demographer and political scientist, who said in his recent interview that “one of the great goals of American politics, and therefore of NATO, was to stop the inevitable reconciliation of Russia and Germany.” Therefore, according to Todd, Washington “blew up the Nord Stream pipeline.”

“At the time Biden ordered the destruction of the pipelines, the American fear was that [German] Chancellor Scholz, who at the request of Washington had shut off 750 miles of Russian gas in the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was ready in the fall of 2021 to be delivered to a port in Germany, might change his mind and let the gas flow, easing German economic worries and reinstating an important energy force for German industry. That would not be allowed to happen, and Germany has been in economic and political turmoil since,” Hersh concluded.

Having dropped the probe Sweden is expected to hand evidence uncovered in the probe over to Germany.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 7 that Russia would watch closely how German investigators proceed with the probe.

“Of course, now we need to see how Germany itself reacts to this, as a country that has lost a lot in relation to this terrorist attack,” Peskov said. “Taxpayers in Germany suffer, German firms and companies suffer, lose their competitiveness, lose their profitability without this gas. It will be interesting to see how scrupulously the German authorities will conduct this investigation.”

February 7, 2024 Posted by | False Flag Terrorism | , , | Leave a comment

White House denies ‘ridiculous’ Tucker Carlson claims

RT | February 7, 2024

Allegations that the administration of US President Joe Biden tried to stop journalist Tucker Carlson from interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin are “ridiculous”, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a daily press briefing on Tuesday.

The former Fox News host interviewed Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin has confirmed. Carlson however, has claimed that Washington has consistently attempted to block his overtures to the Russian president.

”Almost three years ago, the Biden administration illegally spied on our text messages and then leaked their contents to their servants in the news media. They did this in order to stop a Putin interview that we were planning,” he asserted. “Last month, we’re pretty certain they did exactly the same thing once again. But this time, we came to Moscow anyway.”

Asked about Carlson’s allegation, Jean-Pierre initially said she would “absolutely not” comment, but later changed her mind.

”It’s a ridiculous premise and a ridiculous statement that was made about this administration,” she said.

Carlson has claimed on several occasions that while trying to arrange a one-on-one with Putin, he found out from a source that his communications were being intercepted by US intelligence. He said his messages were quoted back to him verbatim, confirming the surveillance.

The NSA has denied targeting the journalist, but the Axios news website has partially corroborated his story, citing unnamed US government officials who said the government indeed had learned about his efforts to secure an interview with Putin. The outlet suggested that “US-based Kremlin intermediaries” contacted by Carlson had leaked the communications.

The journalist, how hosts a show on X (formerly Twitter) stated in his preview that the American media were failing to properly inform the public about the nature of the Ukraine conflict and the wider confrontation between the US and Russia. He said he had the backing of X owner Elon Musk, who vowed not to block the interview on his platform.

”Western governments, by contrast, will certainly do their best to censor this video on other, less principled platforms, because that’s what they do. They are afraid of information they can’t control” he predicted.

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

EU may sanction Tucker Carlson over Putin interview – Newsweek

RT | February 7, 2024

American journalist Tucker Carlson could be banned from visiting the European Union after interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin, Newsweek said on Wednesday, quoting one former and two current MEPs.

The former Fox News host was spotted in Moscow last weekend and revealed on Tuesday that he would be interviewing Putin. The interview will be posted on X (formerly Twitter), with the platform’s owner Elon Musk guaranteeing it won’t be censored, Carlson said.

Former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, now a member of the European Parliament, has already called for Carlson to be banned from the bloc.

“As Putin is a war criminal and the EU sanctions all who assist him in that effort, it seems logical that the External Action Service examine his case as well,” Verhofstadt told Newsweek. The EAS is responsible for the bloc’s foreign policy and can recommend sanctions, which need to be approved by the European Council.

Verhofstadt is best known for having served as the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, and for championing the idea of the bloc becoming an “empire.” He is not a lone voice in demanding a ban on Carlson, however.

The journalist “is no longer a newsman, but a propagandist for the most heinous regime on European soil,” former Spanish MEP Luis Garicano told Newsweek. The London School of Economics alumnus now teaches at two US universities.

“Carlson wants to give a platform to someone accused of crimes of genocide – this is wrong,” Estonian MEP Urmas Paet told the outlet, falsely characterizing the International Criminal Court (ICC) claims against the Russian president. Moscow has rejected the case as politically motivated.

“So, for such propaganda for a criminal regime, you can end up on the list of sanctions. This concerns primarily a travel ban to EU countries,” added Paet, the former foreign minister of the Baltic state.

Announcing his interview on Tuesday, Carlson said “We’re not here because we love Vladimir Putin. We are here because we love the US and want it to remain prosperous and free.”

Americans were ignorant of “history-altering developments” arising from the Ukraine conflict, because English-language media have lied to them, mostly by omission, Carlson said. “That’s wrong. Americans have the right to know all they can about a war they are implicated in.”

The US and its EU allies have sent over $200 billion in military and financial aid to Kiev since the conflict escalated in 2022, while arguing they are not directly involved.

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Russophobia | , | 2 Comments

Carlson Interview With Putin Could Topple Western Elites, End Ukraine War

By Martin Jay | Strategic Culture Foundation | February 7, 2024

In the seventies, when the cold war was at its peak, Donald Rumsfeld was convinced that the Atlantic Ocean, off the U.S. coast, was teaming with Russian submarines. The U.S. navy couldn’t detect them because, he was convinced, the Soviets had a new ‘acoustic technology’ which made them effectively invisible. Rumsfeld went ahead and ploughed billions of dollars into developing a new technology which could detect the non-acoustic subs. But that failed and is still costing the U.S. taxpayer today. The truth was in fact, the Soviet subs just weren’t there.

The error on the part of Rumsfeld, it could be argued, still paid dividends as scaring the American public into believing a threat is real and imminent – on your doorstep in fact – is very profitable for a government which wishes to achieve two clear objectives: pouring billions into the pockets of defence contractors; and secondly whipping up fear of an imminent war with an enemy, with the sole objective of distracting the public away from a failing economy and abysmal foreign policy.

It’s happening today. If we look at the mainstream news all we see is talk of war with Russia. And yet there isn’t a single shred of intel which these outlets can offer to substantiate this claim. It will remind many of the weeks leading up the Iraq invasion in 2003 when the U.S. and UK faked intel to show that Saddam Hussein had WMDs.

Western elites are guiding journalists to write this nonsense as their bigger plan is to stir up a frenzy of war talk so as to prepare the public for much bigger defence spending and, in the case of the UK, even conscription. This is really about covering up one of the biggest cock-ups in contemporary history which western governments have made – sanctions against Russia and the NATO campaign in Ukraine – which have backfired so spectacularly that the Biden administration and a number of EU governments are united in this scaremongering, believing it’s a winner.

Of course the “we’re going to war with Russia” comes from the White House. Where else? Only the U.S. has that sort of power with an increasingly craven, pathetic EU which is now so servile to the Biden administration that it’s beginning to make the UK look less of a poodle to the Americans.

The whole scam is American and the Europeans are obliging with it in a big way. The only real threat the plan has of not working is if a few, remote feral corners of the media – or mavericks who were fired by media giants – make a stand and call it out for what it is. Which is why Tucker Carlson’s trip to Moscow where he intends to interview Putin is so important and such a threat to the Biden administration and western elites as a whole. When Carlson interviews the Russian leader and it becomes clear that western media have been lying for so long about the Ukraine war and even this latest ruse of Russia wanting to invade eastern Europe, then the whole scam will collapse.

Clearly the West is worried about the interview. They have already wheeled out enough congressmen on social media to try and brandish Carlson as some sort of traitor who should not be allowed back into the U.S. Western media will probably not report on the interview but this will only make it a bigger hit on social media. The interview is really the only single opportunity for this mad war machine to be halted, for the lies to be exposed and for a more salient approach to East-West relations to begin. It should not be underestimated. But the knifes are out. Watch in particular the embedded western media correspondents who live in Moscow push the blade into Carlson’s back and mock the interview in a bid to discredit the whole thing. Scores of millions of Americans are about to be enlightened on a whole plethora of issues which, until now, their own media have lied to them about. To call this interview a bombshell would be an understatement. Tucker Carleson is about to bring the truth to the American people. But are they ready for it?

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Russophobia | , , , | Leave a comment

EU nation kicks out Orthodox Church leader

Metropolitan Eugene of Tallin and All Estonia during a service. © Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
RT | February 7, 2024

Metropolitan Eugene, the head of the self-governed Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, has been denied a residency permit by the Baltic nation, forcing him out of the country this week. Tallinn has claimed that his public statements undermined national security.

The senior bishop, who has Russian citizenship, was elected head of the Estonian church in 2018. Local authorities announced last month that his request to renew his two-year residency permit had been denied, with the deadline to leave the country expiring on Tuesday.

After a church service on Sunday, he told other clerics and parishioners that it was the last time he would be conducting the ceremony for the foreseeable future. In his farewell address, Eugene said no person is given a cross that he or she is unable to bear, and urged the congregation to seek solace in the fact that the Christian faith has survived far worse times.

”This is not the time to be desperate. Not the time, because there are no persecutions during which blood is shed. And every time is a blessing in its own way,” he said.

The Church said its leader was given a final formal rejection of his residency application on Monday.

The Estonian Police and Border Guard Service, which took the decision, claimed in its January announcement that the cleric was deemed undesirable by the government due to unspecified public statements supposedly supporting Russia in the Ukraine conflict.

He “would not change his behavior despite numerous warnings given to him,” a district head of the agency, Indrek Aru, claimed, adding: “This decision does not affect in any way the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and believers”.

According to Estonian media, in 2022 Eugene called for an end to the Ukraine conflict, which he described as fratricidal, and refused to put the blame solely on Russia for its outbreak, contradicting the position of the Estonian government.

Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets has branded Eugene a “Kremlin man” boosting Russian messaging, and claimed that the bishop answered directly to Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church.

His de facto expulsion gives the Estonian Church “an opportunity to find a new leader, who shares our values and breathes in rhythm with the rest of the Estonian society,” the official declared, after denying that his government was interfering in religious affairs.

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Fears growing in Germany – NATO may not survive Trump’s re-election

By Ahmed Adel | February 7, 2024

There is growing concern among the German leadership that NATO will not survive if Republican front-runner Donald Trump is re-elected as US president and that Russia will set its eyes closer to Berlin after Ukraine, writes The New York Times. This alarmist fake news comes as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is using “fiscal policy trickery” to ensure that his government can continue supporting Ukraine despite budgetary restrictions and the rise of the Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany (AfD).

In a speech to his supporters in Las Vegas in January, Trump said: “We’re spending – we’re paying for NATO, and we don’t get so much out of it,” adding that “if we ever needed their help, let’s say we were attacked, I don’t believe they’d be there [to help].”

The former US leader has repeatedly accused NATO allies of failing to meet budgetary requirements and even proclaimed in 2017 that the military bloc was “obsolete.”

Trump remains in the lead for the nomination as Republican presidential candidate in the November elections, especially after several candidates dropped out of the race. The article notes that senior German officials fear there are significant doubts about whether NATO could survive a second Trump term.

“Their immediate concern is growing pessimism about the United States continuing to fund Ukraine’s struggle,” writes the NYT, referring to a months-long impasse in the US Congress over the latest $60 billion package proposed for Kiev by President Joe Biden. Republicans made the approval of more military aid to Ukraine contingent on the administration’s agreement to tighten controls at the US-Mexico border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

More alarming from the article is the fake news peddled by German officials who say that it is impossible to return to previous relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that they are afraid of the consequences of Russia’s win. Unnamed German officials stated to the newspaper that if American funding dries up and Russia prevails, its next target will be closer to Berlin, something which obviously will not occur as Moscow has repeatedly stated it has no interest in conflict with NATO.

The ruling German government has an all-time low approval rating, mostly related to economic issues, with many of these stemming from the reckless sanctions imposed on Russia. Nonetheless, Scholz said during a press conference on January 24 that he expects Kiev and Berlin to agree on security guarantees “soon.”

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, sources in Berlin said the agreement between Ukraine and Germany “should be signed on February 16 during the Munich Security Conference.”

Since the launch of the Russian military operation, Germany has supported Ukraine with weapons and equipment deliveries and is the second largest donor of military aid after the US.

Berlin has thrown away billions of euros to Ukraine, creating much outrage and why it took the German parliament until February 2 to approve this year’s ruling coalition’s budget. The approval ended a spending crisis that shook Scholz’s government after Germany’s constitutional court ensured a €60 billion hole in the country’s finances in November, forcing the ruling coalition to cut spending. This triggered infighting among the ruling Social Democrats (SPD), Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens.

Notably, though, Germany’s 2024 budget includes a fallback clause that allows a potential debt brake suspension for 2024 — should the war escalate or the US reduce their support for Ukraine, something likely if Trump is elected in November, which could prompt Germany to increase its support.

“If the situation worsens as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, for example, because the situation on the front deteriorates or because other supporters reduce their aid to Ukraine or because the threat to Germany and Europe increases further, we will have to respond to this,” Scholz told reporters back in December.

Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democrats, exposed Scholz’s reasoning in parliament for suspending the debt brake over Ukraine aid as “fiscal policy trickery,” pointing out that it would allow the government to use the war to justify more spending in other areas. “The trick is obvious.”

Germany’s economy contracted in the final quarter of 2023, narrowly avoiding a recession spurred on by low global demand, high inflation, and energy costs. Yet, under these difficult economic conditions, which are hurting everyday Germans, Scholz is using “trickery” and alarmist fake news to justify his unhinged anti-Russia policies and support for Ukraine.

Scholz has sent €27.8 billion to Ukraine thus far, and all at a time when Germans are struggling, explaining why the AfD is now the most popular political party in the country. Although NATO will likely survive a Trump presidency perfectly fine, the purpose of Scholz’s fake news agenda is to create an alarm to try and justify his reckless policies. However, as the rise of the AfD attests, the Germans see his trickery.

Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.

February 7, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , , | 1 Comment

« Previous Entries