Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

The Zero Emissions Grid Demonstration Project Follies

By Francis Menton | Manhattan Contrarian | August 10, 2024

I claim credit for being the first person to demand a demonstration project to show how a zero emissions electrical grid is supposed to work, before trying to build such a thing for our entire population of three hundred million as involuntary guinea pigs.

How could it be that lots of others haven’t been demanding this for years? It’s like everyone has lost their minds. Before climate hysteria set in, the idea of attempting an engineering project as enormous as a zero emissions electrical grid for the United States, or even for one state, without first having a functioning demonstration project, would have been completely unthinkable. But under the powerful sway of the fear of climate armageddon, the need for a demonstration project to prove feasibility never seems to occur to anybody. And thus trillions of dollars are getting spent — wasted — on facilities that anyone with a brain can easily see will never come close to providing a zero emissions grid — although building these facilities will greatly drive up the cost of electricity to consumers.

Let me then welcome an important new voice to the still tiny chorus of those demanding a demonstration project. The new voice is Congresswoman Harriet Hageman of Wyoming. (Ms. Hageman is the woman who took out the former Wyoming Congresswoman, Liz Cheney, in a primary in 2022.)

Ms. Hageman went public with her demand at a town hall held this past Tuesday, August 6, in Jackson, Wyoming. She proposed that the ultra-liberal town of Boulder, Colorado, step up as the potential guinea pig. Wyoming-based news source WyoFile had the story on August 7, with the headline “Hageman proposes a Boulder, Colorado, fossil-fuel-free experiment.” Excerpt:

[Hageman] proposed a pilot project that would strip Boulder, Colorado, a progressive enclave, of its fossil fuel infrastructure — all to be replaced with windmills and solar panels on the city’s open space. “The pilot project is, you take out all their gas stations,” she said to a crowd of about 70 people in the Teton County Library. “We take away all their internal combustion engines — cars. We take away all of their highways and streets, because that’s all oil-and-gas-produced.” . . . “They’ve been a no-growth city for decades,” Hageman said, “so they have a lot of open space around them. We fill out open space with windmills and solar panels, and we’ll see if we can actually run a city of 100,000 people [with] no fossil fuels whatsoever.”

According to WyoFile, Hageman’s remarks drew a response of “applause and laughter” from the supportive crowd in Jackson. However, the WyoFile reporter took the proposal to a City Councilman in Boulder named Mark Wallach, and asked for comment. Wallach was not amused. Here is Wallach’s reaction:

“One of the things that makes people so leery of politics and politicians is when people make ridiculous suggestions like that,” [Wallach] said in a telephone interview with WyoFile. “Nobody on the Boulder Council suggested we can do without all the fossil fuels at this point,” he said. “We make efforts to do better — to recognize that climate change is real and we do things we can do to combat it.”

Well, Mark, what am I missing? If the good people of Boulder are demanding that the whole country be force-marched to a zero emissions future, why shouldn’t they be willing to step up themselves and show that the goal is feasible to achieve? A simple zero-emissions-grid demonstration project is all that it will take.

And, if I might make a suggestion to Ms. Hageman, there is no need to be punitive about this. The claim of the green energy advocates is that electricity from wind and sun are cheaper than electricity from hydrocarbon fuels, and that electric cars and electric heat will be cheaper and better than the cars and heat we have now. So there is no need to forcibly take away the cars and the gas stations. Just have them build the magical zero-emissions grid and, if they can do it, they will have plenty of electricity to power everything, and the gas-powered cars and gas stations will rapidly fade away.

The problem is that it is not going to be possible to build a zero-emissions grid. However, the people of Boulder clearly think that it is going to be possible, and I am perfectly willing to be proved wrong.

But my confidence that I am right only increases with time. The closest thing that the world has to an attempted demonstration project of a zero emissions grid continues to fail spectacularly. That would be the Gorona del Viento project on El Hierro Island in Spain’s Canary Islands.

I have written about the El Hierro project many times, and will not go into the full background here. Suffice it to say that El Hierro was absolutely intended to be a demonstration of a zero emissions grid. A facility of five large wind turbines and a massive pumped-storage hydro backup facility (Gorona del Viento) was built and opened in 2014. The website of Gorona del Viento continues to proclaim on its opening page: “An island 100% renewable energy.” Hah!

It’s an island of about 10,000 people. Average electricity demand is 4-5 MW, and peak demand is about 7.5 MW. Roger Andrews did an independent analysis of the project for the Energy Matters website back in 2017. They built wind turbines with nameplate capacity of 11.5 MW on a mountainside in the trade-winds zone — about the most favorable wind conditions in the world. The hydro storage facility has a capacity of some 270 MWh, which is about 54 – 68 hours of average usage. (By contrast, New York governor Kathy Hochul has a big storage initiative to spend about $10 billion to build one hour of storage.). Doesn’t it sound like El Hierro has what they need to make this work?

Here are the latest statistics from Gorona del Viento, for the full year 2023. The percent of electricity for the island supplied by the wind/storage system for the full year was 35%. The other 65% came from the backup diesel generator. The best month for the wind/storage system was July, when it supplied 62% of the island’s electricity. But then there was October, when it only supplied 10%.

How could they be failing so completely with so much excess generation capacity and a huge storage facility that no one in the world can duplicate? You’ll have to ask them. I’m just reporting the statistics they put out themselves.

This is the best that anyone in the world can do, at least so far. Boulder: it’s up to you to show how this can be done!

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity | 1 Comment

COVID-19 Vaccines Cause far More Myocarditis than Infection, Overall Risks Greatly Outweigh Theoretical Benefits

BREAKING PUBLICATION

By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH | Courageous Discourse™ | August 19, 2024

When the Springer Nature CUREUS Journal of Biomedical Sciences retracted one of the most comprehensive and valid risk-benefit analyses of the COVID-19 vaccines, they probably had no idea the message would be greatly amplified and now fully published in a pair of papers in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research.

This manuscript evaluated all of the published data and has completely overturned a false narrative held by government agencies and the American College of Cardiology who erroneously assert that SARS-CoV-2 infection poses a greater risk of heart damage than vaccination. Mead et al importantly conclude the vaccines cause actual adjudicated and oftentimes fatal myocarditis while the infection remains a theoretical risk without adjudicated, autopsy proven cases.

COVID-19 Modified mRNA “Vaccines”: Lessons Learned from Clinical Trials, Mass Vaccination, and the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex, Part 2. (2024). International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research , 3(2), 1246-1315. https://doi.org/10.56098/w66wjg87

The paper goes into great depth to enumerate harms from the shot along the lines of six domains where observed adverse events greatly outweigh claimed, theoretical benefits:

“We then categorize the principal adverse events associated with the modmRNA products with a brief systems-based synopsis of each of the six domains of potential harms: (1) cardiovascular, (2) neurological, (3) hematologic; (4) immunological, (5) oncological, and (6) reproductive. We conclude with a discussion of the primary public health and regulatory issues arising from this evidence-informed synthesis of the literature and reiterate the urgency of imposing a global moratorium on the modmRNA-LNP-based platform.”

The final call is clear, the COVID-19 mass, indiscriminate vaccination campaign should come to an end and with it, the four-year long false “safe and effective” narrative from the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex.

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | | Leave a comment

Majority of Jewish Israelis oppose prosecution of soldiers for raping Palestinian detainees: Poll

The Cradle | August 19, 2024

A new poll conducted by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University has revealed Israeli Jews’ opinions regarding whether Israeli soldiers should be prosecuted for raping Palestinian detainees and whether Israel should launch a wide-scale war against Hezbollah and Iran.

The poll asked a question regarding the five soldiers recently accused of torturing and sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee at the notorious Sde Teiman camp.

The poll stated, “If it is found that there is a basis for suspicion against the five suspects, how should they be treated?”

A large majority of Israeli Jews, 65 percent, responded, “They should be disciplined at the command level only.”

In contrast, only 21 percent said they should be prosecuted. The remaining 14 percent said, “I don’t know.”

The poll also asked, “Do you think Israel should or should not obey international law and maintain moral values in war?”

In response, 47 percent of Israeli Jews said the army “Doesn’t have to obey.” Only 42.5 percent said it “Must obey.” The remaining 10.5 percent said, “I don’t know.”

The poll also asked, “What do you think Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s attacks should be?”

In response, 52 percent of Israeli Jews said, “Israel must initiate broad military activity even at the cost of regional war.”

This included the 27 percent who said the regional war should also include “the occupation and certain control of the territories of southern Lebanon.”

In contrast, 17 percent of Israel Jews responded that “Israel should respond locally to all attacks and avoid an escalation and deterioration into a wide-scale war as much as possible.”

A further 26 percent of Israeli Jews said, “Israel should initiate military activity limited to harming Hezbollah.”

The poll further asked, “Under the current circumstances, is it advisable for Israel to take direct military action against Iran?”

In response, 52 percent of Jewish Israelis answered positively with “yes” or “I think so.”

In contrast, 37.5 percent said “no” or “I don’t think so.” The remaining 17.5 percent said they didn’t know.

In another question, the poll asked, “What worries you more, security threats to Israel from outside, or socio-religious tensions within Israel?”

In response, 39 percent said security threats to Israel from outside worry them more. Some 51 percent said socio-religious tensions within Israel are more worrying.

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Colombia bans coal exports to Israel

MEMO | August 19, 2024

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro signed a decree banning coal exports to Israel, Bloomberg reported, adding that this is an effort “to pressure the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the conflict in Gaza.”

The Columbian president said that Israel uses Colombian coal to make bombs to kill Palestinian children.

Since the beginning of the war on Gaza, the Colombian president has repeatedly stressed that Israel is committing genocide, calling on the world to put an end to Netanyahu’s violations.

At the end of February, Petro announced the suspension of arms purchase deals from the occupation, following the flour massacre in Gaza when 118 Palestinians were martyred while waiting for an aid convoy near the Nabulsi roundabout in the northern Gaza Strip.

Petro also announced in May that his country has severed its diplomatic relations with Israel and that the countries of the world should not be passive towards what is happening in Gaza.

Colombia is Israel’s biggest coal supplier, having sold it about $450 million of the fuel in 2023, according to Bloomberg News.

It had suspended coal exports in June.

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Lavrov accuses West of ‘childish babble’

RT | August 19, 2024

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky would not have attacked Russia’s Kursk Region unless he had direct orders from the US, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

Speaking to Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin on Monday, the foreign minister stated that throughout the Ukraine conflict, Washington’s attempts to deny responsibility for Kiev’s actions have “evolved” from claiming it has nothing to do with them to accusing Ukrainian military commanders of disobeying orders.

“Listen, this is childish babble,” Lavrov said. “Everyone understands perfectly well that Zelensky would never have decided on this if the United States had not instructed him to do this.”

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide and former Security Council secretary, Nikolay Patrushev, also accused Washington of playing a role in Kiev’s incursion, stating in an interview with Izvestia that “the US leadership’s claims of non-involvement in Kiev’s actions in Kursk Region do not correspond to reality.”

“Without their participation and direct support, Kiev would not have ventured into Russian territory,” Patrushev said, adding that “the operation in Kursk Region was also planned with the involvement of NATO and Western special services.”

Kiev launched its incursion into Russia almost two weeks ago, reportedly deploying over 10,000 troops armed with Western-supplied heavy weapons. Zelensky has stated that the purpose of the attack is to establish a “buffer zone” in Russia and inflict military and economic damage on the country.

While Western officials have publicly expressed support for Ukraine’s incursion, none, including the US, have admitted to having prior knowledge. Washington has insisted that it was not informed or involved in the preparation of the cross-border attack.

Zelensky aide Mikhail Podoliak, however, has contradicted these claims, telling The Independent last week that Kiev had discussed the operation with partner forces, “just not on the public level.”

While Kiev’s forces continue to occupy several settlements in the border region, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported that the advance has been halted. Moscow has estimated that Kiev has lost more than 3,400 troops and around 400 armored vehicles in the operation.

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | 1 Comment

NATO’s War on Russia

From covert war in 2014 to the invasion of Russia in 2024

By Glenn Diesen | August 19, 2024

The use of NATO weapons to attack Russia is a controversial topic due to the ambiguity about the role of NATO. The common argument by the Western political-media elites is that Ukraine was attacked in an unprovoked Russian invasion, and NATO has every right to assist Ukraine with weapons to defend itself. This is an appealing narrative that serves the purpose of manufacturing consent from the public to send weapons worth billions of dollars to fight Russia. If one accepts this narrative, it is even seen to be immoral to put restrictions on Ukraine in terms of where these weapons are used as the country is correctly fighting for its survival. The problem with this narrative is that NATO is not a passive non-participant in this war.

The war began in February 2014 when Western governments backed the coup in Ukraine that removed the democratically elected President of Ukraine and replaced him with a government hand-picked by Washington.[1] On the first day of the new Ukrainian government, a partnership was established between the CIA, MI6 and the intelligence services of the new government in Ukraine installed by the US.[2] This happened before there were any conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, and it resulted in 12 secret CIA bases along the Russian borders. Over the next 8 years, the US instigated tensions with Russia, armed Ukraine, and sabotaged the Minsk peace agreement to extend and weaken Russia.[3]

The US developing Ukraine as a proxy against Russia was the reason for the Russian invasion in 2022. As reported by the New York Times : “Toward the end of 2021, according to a senior European official, Mr. Putin was weighing whether to launch his full-scale invasion when he met with the head of one of Russia’s main spy services, who told him that the C.I.A., together with Britain’s MI6, were controlling Ukraine and turning it into a beachhead for operations against Moscow”.[4]

When Russia invaded in 2022, it contacted Ukraine on the first day after the war to start negotiations to impose a peace agreement that would restore Ukraine’s neutrality.[5] The US and UK sabotaged the Istanbul peace agreement by promising Zelensky all the weapons he would need if he would walk away from the peace talks and fight. Both the Israeli and Turkish mediators confirmed that the US chose war as it saw an opportunity to fight Russia through a proxy and thus weaken a strategic rival. Numerous American leaders have since expressed that this is a great war as they get to weaken Russia without losing any American troops. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has dismissed diplomacy and insists that “Weapons are the way to peace”.

Niall Ferguson wrote in Bloomberg in March 2022 that US and UK officials had confirmed that the only acceptable outcome for the war was the military defeat of Russia and regime change in Moscow. The objective was for “the conflict to be extended and thereby bleed Putin” as “the only end game now is the end of Putin regime”.[6] The US Helsinki Commission argued in March 2022 that peace must be achieved by “decolonising” Russia, the destruction of Russia by Balkanising it.[7] The President of Poland (Andrzej Duda) and the incoming Foreign Policy Chief of the EU (Kaja Kallas) have also defined victory in Ukraine in terms of breaking Russia into many small nations.

NATO is providing weapons, ammunition, training, war planning, intelligence, target selection, management of complex weapon systems, and mercenaries to fight Russia – all under the guise of “helping Ukraine” to defend itself. NATO has authorised the use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russian territory and provides its support in the invasion of Russian territory. From Britain to Germany, the success of conquering Russian territory is openly used as an argument to send more weapons.

In this context, if we look at the actual objectives of the US and NATO, rather than the childish assertion that the US is merely attempting to protect democracy, then one can only conclude that NATO has gone to war against the world’s largest nuclear power.

Russia’s dilemma: Emboldening NATO or risking nuclear war

The insanity of NATO’s relentless escalations in the Ukraine proxy war rests on the narrative that Russia will not defend its red lines as it is deterred by NATO. This delusion exists because all Russian responses are presented as “unprovoked” and thus occur seemingly in a vacuum. Yet, when the Western government toppled the Ukrainian government in February 2014 and subsequently threatened the Russian naval base in Sevastopol, Russia responded by seizing Crimea. When Western governments sabotaged the Minsk agreement for 7 years and then refused to give Russia any security guarantees in December 2021, Russia responded by invading Ukraine in 2022. When NATO began to send weapons to Ukraine to fight Russia, Russia responded by annexing four oblasts – Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhiya, and Kherson.

How will Russia respond? Russia is faced with a dilemma: It has been restrained as retaliations could easily escalate into a NATO-Russia nuclear exchange, yet the failure to retaliate will only embolden NATO. Western media refers to the failure of Russia to respond as a reason for why NATO can continue to escalate, as Russia is not retaliating. Yet, with every step up the escalation ladder, the pressure mounts on Russia to restore its deterrent.

The retaliation will come, but Russia keeps its head cool to decide when, where and how it best serves Russian interests. The Western media is obsessed with the objective of humiliating Putin without considering the possible consequences. Anyone calling for a return to common sense is denounced as being soft on Russia, and the recognition of Russia’s nuclear deterrent is framed as accepting Russia’s “nuclear blackmail”. Consequently, warmongering is celebrated as morality while advocating for diplomacy is denounced as appeasement. In our narrative-driven media, even arguing that NATO has gone to war against Russia is deemed treasonous as it is depicted as “taking the side of Russia”.

The propaganda prevents us from asking the most important question: How exactly do we think this escalation will end? Irrespective of what narrative we have sold to our own public about defending democracy, from Moscow’s perspective, NATO has now placed itself in the same category as Napoleon and Hitler. Let’s pick up a history book and ask ourselves how Russia will likely respond: capitulation or a powerful response?

I was on the Indian TV channel WION discussing NATO weapons being used to target Russian territory.

[1] Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call – BBC News

[2] The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

[3] Read the RAND report on how to overextend Russia: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3063.html

[4] The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

[5] Address by the President to Ukrainians at the end of the first day of Russia’s attacks — Official website of the President of Ukraine

[6] Niall Ferguson: Putin and Biden Misunderstand History in Ukraine War – Bloomberg

[7] Decolonizing Russia: a Moral and Strategic Imperative – CSCE

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, Video | , , , , | Leave a comment

Clooney Foundation declared ‘undesirable’ in Russia

RT | August 19, 2024

The Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) has been designated as ‘undesirable’ in Russia, the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office has announced. The label means that the organization is essentially banned from operating in the country and is considered a security threat.

In a statement on Monday, the Prosecutor General’s Office said that the CFJ, founded by actor and filmmaker George Clooney and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, “has been working to discredit Russia in a Hollywood fashion.”

It also accused the foundation of supporting “pseudo-patriots who have fled the country” as well as those involved with extremist and terrorist organizations.

“Under the guise of humanitarian ideas, the ‘fighters for justice’ from Madison Avenue support the campaign to prosecute Russia’s top leadership, and publicly disseminate negative pseudo-expert assessments of Russian legislation on foreign agents and NGOs,” officials added.

The CFJ has repeatedly condemned Russia’s military operation against Ukraine and supported its prosecution for alleged war crimes, which Moscow has consistently denied.

In May, Anna Neistat, the legal director of the foundation’s Docket project, said the CFJ wanted the West to prosecute “Russian propagandists,” particularly journalists covering the Ukraine conflict. The controversial remarks sparked a backlash from Moscow, which described the foundation as “madmen” and urged international organizations to investigate “a judicial safari targeting Russian journalists.”

Faced with criticism, Clooney himself downplayed the controversy, suggesting that “someone in our foundation misspoke.” “We at the Clooney Foundation would never go after journalists, even if we disagree with them,” he added.

The word ‘undesirable’ is a legal term applied to foreign organizations deemed to pose a threat to Russia’s constitutional order, defense, or security. Organizations given the label are banned from holding public events and distributing promotional materials in Russia, and face heavy fines or criminal charges if they breach the terms of their designation.

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance | | Leave a comment

Nord Stream 2: Is the Bus Coming for Zelensky and Duda?

By Hans Vogel | ARKTOS | August 17, 2024

Just a few days ago, a former German spy chief stated that the sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was planned and ordered by Ukrainian satrap Zelensky and Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Now that the elaborate US narrative on the war in the Ukraine is beginning to come apart at the seams, now that the ultimate defeat of the Ukraine puppet government is becoming ever more apparent, the hour is approaching to throw Zelensky, that talented little piano player in his green T-shirt, under the bus.

With some two thousand Ukrainian soldiers being sacrificed on a daily basis on the altar of the Wall Street Money Gods, the Ukraine will soon have to perish. Now that the Kursk operation, planned on the Potomac and carried out by Western mercenaries, has failed, now that the inferiority of Western arms can no longer be hidden from the public, something was needed to divert attention.

This was done by dusting off an older issue: Nord Stream 2. Joe Biden once threatened to blow it up. However, when it was actually blown up, all of Washington’s lackeys in Europe pointed their little fingers at Russia. It was Putin who did it! Although the German economy was hit the hardest when competitively priced Russian natural gas, vital for its industry and keeping warm in winter, stopped flowing, the German government seemed at a loss. What would their masters in Washington allow them to say and do?

The Scholz government also began to divert the public’s attention, relying chiefly on two apparently mentally retarded, but nonetheless vocal cabinet members. One is Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a bimbo of unparalleled imbecility, who tours the world making utterly dumb statements. The other is Robert Habeck, the Minister of Economics, who at least seems to have one brain cell more.

After US media suggested it was the Ukrainians who destroyed the pipeline, the former German spy chief joined the chorus, adding that Zelensky did it together with Duda.

Since his reelection in 2020, Duda initially seemed quite OK on account of his unflinching support for the Ukraine, especially after the start of the Russian Special Military Operation in February 2022. With much of the Ukraine historically having been part of Poland at different moments in history, Polish support for a Ukrainian government is always just a bit suspicious. Especially since many Polish nationalists have a very strong historical awareness and continue to regard the Ukraine as part of Poland.

There is, however, another side to Duda: he is a devout Roman Catholic and as such not to be regarded as a complacent and cooperative adherent of gender lunacy. Since this gender lunacy, represented by the LGB-whatever rainbow flag flown at US embassies, is a cornerstone of US foreign policy, the leader of a US satrapy cannot be allowed to ignore this issue or to oppose it! God of Money forbid!

Yet this is precisely what Duda has done. Correctly branding gender lunacy a “foreign ideology,” he was set on changing the Polish Constitution in order to prohibit lesbian and gay couples from adopting children.

Another stain on Duda’s reputation is his failed attempt to make it illegal to blame the Polish nation for anything unpleasant that happened on Polish territory to Jews during the years 1939-1945.

The fact Duda has been indicated as an accomplice in the Nord Stream 2 sabotage provides a nice insight into the way the Empire works. When there is a problem somewhere out there in the imperial boondocks, the local underlings are instructed to take care of the issue, and that way the imperial leadership does not need to soil its own hands.

When the bus arrives, it will crush Zelensky, but quite likely the Polish President as well. Two birds with one stone.

One has to admit, that took some shrewd and refined planning!

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Economics, False Flag Terrorism | , , , | Leave a comment

Russia to Respond Properly If Poland Attempts to Intercept Russian Missiles Over Ukraine

Sputnik – 19.08.2024

MOSCOW – Moscow will give a specific and adequate response if Poland attempts to intercept Russian missiles over Ukraine, Oleg Tyapkin, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Third European Department, said in an interview with Sputnik.

“If official Warsaw succumbs to an adventurous impulse and decides to attempt to intercept long-range weapons legally used by our armed forces to neutralize military threats emanating from Ukrainian territory to Russia, then the response to them will be adequate and quite specific. Russian diplomacy has repeatedly pointed out the risks that potential direct participation of Western states in military actions on the side of the Kiev regime entails,” the Russian diplomat said.

“There are no negotiations on this issue with anyone. Our position is well known to both Warsaw and NATO,” he added.

Earlier, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Warsaw was considering the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine.

Kiev previously called on Western countries to shoot down missiles over Ukraine from their territory. French media, citing Ukrainian officials, reported in late June that Kiev was pushing European allies to create a no-fly zone in western Ukraine by deploying air defense systems in Poland and Romania.

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin said its goal was “the protection of people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” He noted that the special operation was a forced measure, Russia “was left with no chance to act differently, the security risks were such that it was impossible to respond by other means.”

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Germany must provide full disclosure over Nord Stream bombings – Lavrov

RT | August 19, 2024

Germany must stop concealing facts about the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines and must provide full transparency over its investigation into the incident, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has insisted. Moscow has already filed an official complaint against Berlin’s probe into the bombings.

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which were used to transport Russian natural gas to Germany and other parts of Western Europe, were sabotaged in September 2022 in a series of explosions under the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm. The perpetrators have yet to be officially identified.

Moscow has accused Washington of orchestrating the attack, while Kiev has maintained that Russia blew up its own infrastructure. Sections of the Western media, meanwhile, have claimed that the sabotage was carried out by a “pro-Ukrainian group.”

In an interview with Izvestia published on Monday, Lavrov stressed that Germany, which has been investigating the incident, must “stop categorically refusing to present the facts that it couldn’t have failed to discover.”

He also suggested that when information formally requested by Russia is not presented officially, but instead appears in news articles, it raises “suspicions that all of this is staged” and that “the entire operation is designed to somehow divert public opinion” from the “true perpetrators, culprits, and clients [of the attack].”

Moscow will formally insist on a transparent international investigation into the bombings, Lavrov noted, claiming that it was “shameful” for Germany to “silently accept” that it had been deprived of a long-term energy supply crucial for its development as a country.

“Germany has swallowed it silently, without any comment,” Lavrov said.

Russian Foreign Ministry official Oleg Tyapkin told RIA Novosti that Moscow has officially filed a complaint with Berlin over its investigation into the Nord Stream bombings, and has “raised the issue of Germany and other affected countries fulfilling their obligation stemming from UN anti-terrorist conventions.”

He noted that the German authorities have issued a warrant for just one suspect in the attack, a Ukrainian citizen who is allegedly part of a group from the same country. Meanwhile, according to Tyapkin, German media have continued to suggest that the suspects may not even be connected to any particular country.

It appears likely that the German investigation “will be closed without identifying the true culprits behind the Nord Stream bombings,” Tyapkin stated, stressing that Russia would not accept this outcome.

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Deception, False Flag Terrorism | | Leave a comment

Moscow denies Washington Post claims about secret Russia-Ukraine talks

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova © Sputnik / Sergey Bobylev
RT | August 18, 2024

Russia and Ukraine have not been involved in any “direct or indirect” talks that could have been derailed by Kiev’s cross-border incursion into Kursk Region, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists on Sunday.

She was asked to comment on a Washington Post article which claimed, citing sources, that the Ukrainian attack thwarted secret indirect negotiations between Moscow and Kiev regarding a potential moratorium on striking energy infrastructure. The supposed talks were said to be mediated by Qatar, the outlet wrote on Saturday.

“No one has derailed anything,” Zakharova said, explaining that the two sides have not discussed any “security regimes” for critical infrastructure facilities.

She went on to say that threats to energy facilities such as the nuclear power stations in Zaporozhye and Kursk come from Kiev, not Moscow.

Earlier, a Russian journalist had reported that Kiev was plotting a “false flag” attack involving a dirty nuclear bomb either at the nuclear plant in Zaporozhye or Kursk. Commenting on the matter, the Russian Defense Ministry said it takes such reports seriously and vowed a swift and harsh response to any such attacks. Moscow has called on the UN to condemn the alleged plot, while Kiev has denied the claims.

According to Zakharova, Moscow and Kiev have not engaged in any talks since spring 2022, except for prisoner exchanges facilitated by third-party mediators. Peace talks held over the first months of the conflict collapsed after Kiev withdrew from them due to what Moscow claims was Western interference.

Ukraine had “all the chances” to resolve the conflict through negotiations, the spokeswoman said. Moscow repeatedly stated that it was ready to enter into negotiations at any moment as long as the situation on the ground was taken into account.

Kiev banned any talks with the current Russian leadership at the national level through a presidential decree signed in 2022. The move came after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.

This June, Moscow put forward another peace initiative, Zakharova noted. At the time, President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to immediately open peace talks with Kiev if it withdrew its troops from the four regions that joined Russia in 2022 and committed to maintaining neutral status.

According to Zakharova, Kiev reacted to this “goodwill gesture” by launching an incursion into Kursk Region, where Ukrainian forces were “deliberately killing medics, rescuers, and volunteers, as well as attacking civilian transport.” In the wake of the attack, Putin said there can be no talks with those “who conduct indiscriminate strikes on civilians.”

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , | Leave a comment

South Korea, US Begin Annual Major Joint Military Exercises

Sputnik – 18.08.2024

SEOUL – South Korea and the United States are beginning the annual major joint military exercises Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) to strengthen their joint defense readiness and ability to counter “threats from North Korea.”

The Yonhap agency previously reported citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) that the UFS exercises would be held from August 19-29, and would include a major command post exercise based on computer simulation, field training, and civil defense exercises.

The exercises are based on a full-scale war scenario, using various means, including land, sea, air, cyber, and space. It is reported that the exercises should further strengthen the potential and readiness of the South Korea-US alliance to respond to “any provocations by North Korea” and defend against weapons of mass destruction.

This year’s UFS will see allies train to counter threats in all domains, including North Korean missiles, GPS jamming and cyberattacks. The drills will also incorporate lessons from recent conflicts around the world.

The scale of the exercises will be similar to last year’s, with about 19,000 South Korean troops taking part. The training will include 48 field exercises, such as amphibious landings and live-fire drills, 10 more than last year. The number of brigade-level exercises will also increase, from four last year to 17 this year.

North Korea has denounced the joint South Korean-US drills as a simulation of an invasion of North Korea and a “nuclear war rehearsal.” The North Korean Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies denounced on Sunday the UFS as “military exercises in preparation for aggression.” Seoul and Washington reject this, calling the exercises “defensive” in nature. Pyongyang considers these exercises to be “the most offensive and provocative military exercises in preparation for aggression in the world.” North Korea will continue to make decisive efforts to build up a powerful defense potential to reliably protect state sovereignty, security, interests and territorial integrity and will change the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region in its favor, it said.

At the same time, the South expects the North to respond to the exercises. Last week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Kim Myong-soo ordered the troops to immediately take retaliatory measures in the event of any provocations, saying that North Korea is likely to use the UFS exercises as a “pretext for provocation.”

August 19, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment