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Jim Jordan Challenges EU Over Its Censorship Laws

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | February 6, 2025

US House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has written to the EU Commission’s Executive VP for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen regarding the bloc’s censorship law, the Digital Services Act.

Jordan wants the EU to, by February 13, inform the committee of how it plans to enforce the law when it comes to US tech companies, and also about investigations that are at this time underway, against Meta and X.

Jordan, as usual, doesn’t mince words and has no problem with referring to the DSA as legislation that has “censorship provisions” – to express what he said was the committee’s serious concern over how those might affect free speech in the US.

Here, he was referring to the nature of social platforms that are global, and how they typically use the same set of policies regarding speech – meaning that if those policies were aligned with the EU’s restrictive legislation, the result could be the setting of “de facto global censorship standards.”

Even though for a long time criticized by speech and privacy advocates, the DSA was flying under the radar of the previous White House, now it is emerging as a significant point, as the two sides clash on a number of issues.

Under the DSA, which the EU and the law’s supporters treat as a set of “moderation” rules for the good of the internet – companies can be forced to pay up to six percent of global turnover or even get blocked.

Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and President Trump have been among those who previously publicly criticized the DSA. Previously, Virkkunen denied that the DSA enabled censorship and even claimed that free speech is “respected and protected” by the law.

Jordan and the commission he heads have been involved in multi-year efforts to expose online censorship practices in the US, but this is not the first time that these investigations have also turned toward the EU.

Last summer, during the presidential campaign in the US, he wrote to then Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton because of this EU official’s scandalous warning issued to Musk regarding a live stream of an interview with then-candidate Trump.

The letter to Virkkunen was reported by Politico, but the EU Commission is yet to publicly comment on its contents.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

UK Government Secretly Orders Apple to Build Global iCloud Backdoor, Threatening Digital Privacy Worldwide

The UK government’s extremism is a global threat to privacy, a new report shows

By Christina Maas | Reclaim The Net | February 7, 2025

Imagine waking up one morning to find out your government has demanded the master key to every digital iPhone lock on Earth — without telling anyone. That’s exactly what British security officials have tried to pull off, secretly ordering Apple to build a backdoor into iCloud that would allow them to decrypt any user’s data, anywhere in the world. Yes, not just suspected criminals, not just UK citizens — everyone. And they don’t even want Apple to talk about it.

This breathtakingly authoritarian stunt, first reported by The Washington Post, is one of the most aggressive attempts to dismantle digital privacy ever attempted by a so-called Western democracy. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect from regimes that plaster their leader’s face on every street corner, not from a country that still pretends to believe in civil liberties.

The Order: Total Access, Zero Oversight

This isn’t about catching a single terrorist or cracking a single case. No, this order — issued in secret last month by Keir Starmer’s Labour government — demands universal decryption capabilities, effectively turning Apple into a surveillance arm of the UK government. Forget warrants, forget oversight, forget even the pretense of targeted investigations. If this order were obeyed, British authorities would have the power to rifle through anyone’s iCloud account at will, no justification required.

The officials pushing for this monstrosity are hiding behind the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, a law so Orwellian it’s lovingly referred to as the “Snoopers’ Charter.” This piece of legislative overreach forces tech companies to comply with government spying requests while making it illegal to even disclose that such demands have been made. It’s the surveillance state’s dream—limitless power, zero accountability.

Apple’s Answer: Thanks, But No Thanks

Apple, to its credit, has not rolled over — yet. Instead of turning itself into an informant for MI5, the company is reportedly considering pulling encrypted iCloud storage from the UK entirely. In other words, British users could lose a major security feature because their government is hell-bent on playing digital dictator.

But even that isn’t enough for UK authorities, who aren’t just demanding access to British accounts. They want a skeleton key to iCloud data worldwide, including in the US That’s right—British intelligence, in a stunning display of overreach, is trying to force an American company to compromise American users on American soil.

The “Appeal” Process: A Kafkaesque Farce

Technically, Apple has the right to challenge this order. But in true dystopian fashion, its only option is to plead its case before a secret technical panel, which will then determine if the request is too expensive. If that doesn’t work, Apple can go before a judge, who will decide whether the demand is “proportionate” to the government’s needs. Because if there’s one thing we know about government surveillance, it’s that it’s always reasonable and restrained.

Meanwhile, Apple has refused to comment, likely because doing so would be a criminal offense under UK law. That’s right — even talking about the demand could land Apple executives in legal trouble. Nothing screams “free society” like threatening jail time for discussing government overreach.

Here’s the wider issue: even if Apple were to challenge this draconian demand, it wouldn’t matter. The law requires immediate compliance — meaning that even as Apple fights the order, it would still be forced to hand over the keys in the meantime. It’s the legal equivalent of being forced to serve a prison sentence while appealing your conviction. By the time the courts make a decision, the damage is already done.

Apple, to its credit, saw this Orwellian nightmare coming from a mile away. Last year, it explicitly warned British lawmakers that such a demand would be nothing less than an assault on global privacy. The company made its stance clear:

“There is no reason why the U.K. [government] should have the authority to decide for citizens of the world whether they can avail themselves of the proven security benefits that flow from end-to-end encryption.”

In other words: Who the hell does Britain think it is? The UK government, in its wisdom, apparently believes it should have the power to determine how encryption works for everyone, everywhere, not just in its own backyard. Because why stop at surveillance when you can have global surveillance?

The Official Non-Denial Denial

Of course, when asked about this breathtakingly bold power grab, the UK Home Office fell back on the bureaucrat’s favorite escape hatch: refusing to confirm or deny reality itself.

“We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.”

In other words, “We won’t admit we’re demanding this, but we won’t deny it either.” Because why be transparent when you can keep the public guessing?

How the UK Plans to Kill Encryption by Exploiting the Cloud

For those still clinging to the idea that end-to-end encryption will protect their messages from prying eyes, here’s the bad news: the UK government already has a backdoor, and most people don’t even realize it.

Yes, apps like iMessage, WhatsApp, and Signal use end-to-end encryption, meaning only the sender and recipient can read the messages. But the moment you back up those encrypted chats to the cloud? They become fair game. Law enforcement can demand access through legal orders, bypassing encryption entirely.

Apple’s Advanced Data Protection was designed to close this loophole, giving users a way to keep their cloud backups as secure as their messages. And that, of course, is precisely why the UK wants to kill it.

Because for governments that dream of unlimited surveillance, letting people secure their own data is simply unacceptable.

The UK Is Now Outpacing the US in Anti-Privacy Extremism

For years, the US has led the charge in trying to undermine encryption, with the FBI repeatedly demanding backdoors and government officials throwing tantrums whenever a tech company refuses to play ball. But even America has never gone this far.

Now, Britain is attempting to leap ahead, pushing for surveillance powers that would force not just UK companies, but global tech giants to comply — regardless of where their users live. And Apple? It’s just the first target.

Google, which has offered default encrypted backups for Android since 2018, could easily be next. When asked whether the UK or any other government had made similar demands, Google spokesperson Ed Fernandez gave a carefully worded response:

“Google can’t access Android end-to-end encrypted backup data, even with a legal order.”

That’s a fancy way of saying “We don’t have the keys, and we’re not planning to give them up.” But how long until the UK demands that Google build a key, just like it’s demanding from Apple?

And then there’s Meta. WhatsApp’s encrypted backups are another thorn in the side of surveillance-hungry governments. When pressed on whether they had received any secret orders for access, Meta, predictably, refused to comment.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

Australian Tribunal Rules Against eSafety Commissioner’s “Informal” Censorship of X Post

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | February 7, 2025

An Australian woman whose X post was censored based on what are known as “informal” notices, issued by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant to social platforms, has appealed against the decision and won.

This was more of an uphill battle than getting censorship decisions revoked usually involves: the “informal” nature of the notices means that normally they cannot even be appealed – and eSafety’s main argument was that the appeal should not even be considered.

But the X user, Celine Baumgarten, managed to convince the Administrative Review Tribunal the censorship notice should not be considered “informal” and that her complaint was therefore within the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

Baumgarten’s post from May 2024 detailed a “queer club” in Melbourne that was operating in a primary school, organized for children 8 to 12 years old.

“There is absolutely NO place for any type of LGBTxyz club in a PRIMARY SCHOOL, or any school for that matter,” Baumgarten, herself a bisexual and an activist, wrote at the time, adding, “Children should NOT be learning about sexualities at such a young, impressionable age. This is foul. Leave the kids ALONE.”

Next, in swooped Grant’s office, with what they maintain was no more than a “complaint alert” to X – as opposed to a removal notice – referring to “adult cyber-abuse material” as the reason to have Baumgarten’s post blocked for X users in Australia.

eSafety essentially tried to “sneak in” censorship under the guise of an “informal notice” – aware that an official takedown request was impossible given that they found their own rules were not violated, not in the entirety of their many parts.

X erred on the side of censorship and blocked the post for two months, to then inform Baumgarten this was done “in error.” Interestingly, Instagram, which received the same eSafety notice, ignored it.

And now the tribunal has done much more than vindicate Baumgarten; the judge broke down eSafety’s process to reveal that while asserting that the notice was “informal” and referring to the terms of use X has for itself – the complaint was actually lodged via X’s channels “for use by government authorities to submit valid legal requests for the removal from X of potentially illegal content.”

All this was interpreted by Justice Emilios Kyrou to mean that the censorship notice was clearly official and therefore eligible to be appealed.

Since eSafety prefers what it calls “informal” to “official” takedown notices (several hundred vs. three or four just over the past year), the implication of the ruling could be significant – prompting a review of other such “informal” reports.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | 2 Comments

Israel used toxic gas to suffocate Palestinian resistance fighters, captives in Gaza’s tunnels, report finds

MEMO | February 7, 2025

Israeli occupation forces bombed Gaza and “intentionally weaponised toxic byproducts of bombs to suffocate” Palestinian resistance fighters they believed were hiding underground, an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call revealed yesterday.

The report is based on information obtained from 15 Israeli Military Intelligence and Shin Bet officers who have been involved in tunnel-targeting operations since 7 October 2023. It found that occupation forces tried to “compensate for the army’s inability to pinpoint targets in Hamas’ subterranean tunnel network”.

This policy allowed for the killing of “triple-digit numbers” of Palestinian civilians as “collateral damage”, while senior Hamas commanders were being sought out.

The report highlighted that some of these strikes “which were the deadliest in the war and often used American bombs, are known to have killed Israeli hostages.”

“Pinpointing a target inside a tunnel is hard, so you attack a [wide] radius,” a Military Intelligence source told +972 and Local Call. This radius would be as large as “tens and sometimes hundreds of metres,” meaning these bombing operations collapsed multiple apartment buildings on their occupants without warning. This was referred to by Palestinians as “fire belts”.

Bunker-buster bombs release the lethal gas carbon monoxide as a byproduct, which can kill people inside a tunnel through asphyxiation even at a distance of hundreds of metres, the report adds, explaining that Israel has known about this since 2017.

“The gas stays underground, and people suffocate,” Brigadier General (reserves) Guy Hazoot said. “[We realised] we could effectively target anyone underground using the Air Force’s bunker-buster bombs, which, even if they don’t destroy the tunnel, release gases that kill anyone inside. The tunnel then becomes a death trap.”

Three Israeli hostages — Nik Beizer, Ron Sherman and Elia Toledano — were definitively killed by asphyxiation as a result of a 10 November 2023 bombing that targeted Ahmed Ghandour, a Hamas brigade commander in northern Gaza, the report said.

Military officials told +972 and Local Call that the intent was to use the chemical byproduct solely to kill Hamas operatives “who intended to fight the IDF [Israeli occupation forces].”

Israel’s efforts to maximise the chances of killing senior militants hiding underground also included attempts to crush parts of a tunnel network and trap the targets inside.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Ex-Israeli war chief confirms issuing Hannibal Directive to kill own civilians, soldiers

The Cradle | February 7, 2025

Former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has acknowledged ordering the army to use the Hannibal Directive to kill Israeli civilians and soldiers during the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.

During an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 on 7 February, Gallant admitted to ordering the controversial protocol that involves killing captives along with their captors.

When asked whether an order was given to implement the Hannibal Directive, Gallant responded:

“I think that, tactically, in some places, it was given, and in other places, it was not given, and that is a problem.”

Israel claims Hamas killed roughly 1,100 Israeli civilians and soldiers during its attack on Israeli settlements and military bases on 7 October as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

However, Israeli forces killed large numbers of their own civilians and soldiers during the attack. The army dispatched attack helicopters, drones, and tanks on its own territory to respond to the attack, killing not only Hamas fighters but also Israeli civilians and soldiers that the Palestinian fighters attempted to take as captives back to Gaza.

Israeli helicopters also killed Israeli civilians at the Nova festival, which took place near the Re’im military base.

Gallant also criticized former police security minister Itamar Ben Gvir for his provocative storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, stating that it “was like detonating the situation.”

Gallant made the comments in his first interview since being dismissed as defense minister in November.

The former defense minister said that the current ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza is nearly identical to an earlier proposal that Hamas was willing to agree to in April last year.

Gallant accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of delaying the ceasefire deal, adding that had he agreed to it at that time, Israel could have brought back more living captives while releasing fewer Palestinian security prisoners, Gallant said.

Many of the 251 Israeli soldiers and civilians successfully taken captive by Hamas were later killed by Israeli airstrikes and friendly fire from soldiers.

“I think that the Israeli government did not do everything it could have to return the hostages,” Gallant stated.

In January, Israel’s top general, Herzi Halevi, resigned. He cited the “terrible failure” of security and intelligence related to the Hamas attack.

Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza has killed at least 47,000 Palestinians, with some estimates suggesting that the death toll exceeds 200,000.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

US Envoy Ortagus Meets President Aoun, Imposes Dictations on Lebanon

Al-Manar | February 7, 2025

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met on Friday with US Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus who said that Washington has set a “red line” over participation of Hezbollah in the new government.

“We are grateful to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah,” Ortagus said in a press conference, following a meeting with President Aoun.

“It is thanks to the Lebanese President Aoun and the Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam and everyone in this government who is committed to an end of corruption, who is committed to reforms and who is committed to making sure that Hezbollah is not a part of the new government in any form,” the US diplomat added.

“We have set clear red lines from the United States that (Hezbollah) won’t be able to terrorize the Lebanese people and that includes by being a part of the government,” she added, as quoted by Associated Press.

Ortagus’ remarks sparked ire in Lebanon, with some commentators, even those who oppose Hezbollah, considering them as imposed dictations and a violation to the Lebanese sovereignty.

For his part, President Aoun, emphasized that “permanent stability in south Lebanon is closely linked to the completion of the Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied during the last war, and the full implementation of Resolution 1701, including the provisions of the November 27 ceasefire agreement.”

“The release of Lebanese prisoners is an integral part of this agreement,” the president added, as cited by Lebanon’s National News Agency.

Later on Friday, the Lebanese Presidency Press Office issued a statement in which it said: “The presidency is not concerned with some of remarks made by US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus in Baabda.”

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Iran condemns ‘illegitimate’ US sanctions targeting oil exports

Press TV – February 7, 2025

Iran has strongly condemned new sanctions slapped by the administration of US President Donald Trump on the country’s oil industry, saying they run contrary to international rules and standards.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei denounced the bans as “completely unjustified” on Friday.

The remarks came a day after the US Treasury Department targeted more than a dozen individuals and companies, as well as vessels, claiming that they are facilitating the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China.

The sanctions were the first on Iran after Trump restored his so-called “maximum pressure” campaign on the country.

“The decision of the new US administration to put pressure on the Iranian nation by preventing Iran’s legitimate trade with its economic partners is an illegitimate, illegal and wrongful act, whose responsibility lies on the US government,” Baghaei added.

“The Islamic Republic holds the US accountable for the consequences of such unilateral and bullying measures.”

On Tuesday, Trump signed the presidential memorandum reimposing a tough anti-Iran policy, which he practiced in his first presidential term after unilaterally withdrawing Washington from the historic 2015 nuclear deal.

In an X post, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Trump’s measure a failed experience.

He said the decision to restore maximum pressure policy will only compel “maximum resistance” on the part of Iran again, adding, “Smart people ought to choose ‘Maximum Wisdom’ instead.”

During his campaign trail for a second term, Trump had stated at an event in New York in September that, if re-elected, he would minimize the use of sanctions. He argued that employing sanctions excessively “kills your dollar and it kills everything the dollar represents.”

“Look, you’re losing Iran. You’re losing Russia. China is out there trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency, as you know better than anybody,” Trump remarked.

On Tuesday, The New York Times said Trump had also implemented a strategy of maximum pressure in 2018, following his decision to withdraw the US from the nuclear accord with Iran that had been established under the Obama administration three years earlier.

“Mr. Trump still claims that was a major victory, but most outside analysts say it backfired,” the newspaper wrote.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Wars for Israel | , , | Leave a comment

Khamenei: Negotiations with US have no effect on solving problems

Press TV – February 7, 2025

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says experience has shown that negotiations with the US have no effect on solving Iran’s problems.

His remarks in a meeting with Air Force personnel in Tehran on Friday came hours after the US imposed its first sanctions in the wake of President Donald Trump’s signing of an order to reimpose his “maximum pressure” on Iran.

“Some people pretend that if we sit at the negotiating table, some problem will be solved, but the fact that we must understand correctly is that negotiating with the US has no effect on solving the country’s problems.”

He cited the experience of 2015 when Iran and six other countries, including the US, signed the now-dormant Joint Comprehensive of Plant of Action (JCPOA) after two years of negotiations, only to be discarded by President Trump in 2018.

Ayatollah Khamenei recalled the grueling back and forth, which included a 15-minute stroll by then-US Secretary of State John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif in downtown Geneva and along the Rhone River which landed the former Iranian foreign minister in hot water.

“Our government at the time sat down and negotiated – they continued to come and go, they sat down and stood up and negotiated, they talked, laughed, shook hands, made friends, everyone worked, and a treaty was formed.

“In this treaty, the Iranian side was very generous, giving many concessions to the other side. But the Americans did not implement the same treaty,” the Leader said.

“The same person who is in office now tore up the treaty. He said he would tear it down and he did; they didn’t act upon” the agreement, he said, referring to Trump.

“Therefore, negotiating with such a government is unwise, unintelligent and dishonorable and there should be no negotiation with it.”

Before Trump, even the US administration which had accepted the agreement, did not comply with it, the Leader said, referring to the government of president Barack Obama which had signed it.

“The treaty was meant to lift US sanctions, but they were not lifted. Adding insult into injury, they had the UN to have a constant threat hanging over Iran. This treaty was the product of negotiations that lasted about two years.”

Iran is currently in the midst of celebrations marking the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution which sealed the fate of the US-backed Pahlavi regime in 1979.

Every year on February 8, Iranian Air Force personnel meet the Leader to relive the historic allegiance of Air Force officers with the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini in 1979. The event is viewed as a turning point which led to the victory of the Islamic Revolution three days later.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Americans are busy working “on paper to change the map of the world”, with Iran also being the subject of their plans.

“Of course, it’s only on paper, it has no reality. They also talk about us, make comments, and threaten us,” the Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei said, “If they threaten us, we will threaten them. If they put their threat into practice, we will do the same. If they attack the security of our nation, we will attack their security without hesitation.”

“This is a lesson taken from the Qur’an and the teachings of Islam, and it is our duty to act as such. We hope that God Almighty will make us successful in carrying out our duties,” he added.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

USAID or SorosAid? How US Tax Dollars Fund Chaos Worldwide

By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 07.02.2025

Soros’ vast NGO network has spent over $20 billion since 2000 on radical liberal causes across the world. Tens of millions or even billions of US taxpayer dollars were funneled through USAID, observers suspect.

  • The Soros-linked East-West Management Institute received over $260 million from USAID to influence foreign affairs in Georgia, Uganda, Albania, and Serbia.
  • Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, backed by Soros, began receiving USAID grants in 2014 – the same year the US-backed Euromaidan coup ousted elected President Viktor Yanukovych with neo-Nazi support. Over $1 million has been funneled by USAID to the center.
  • In August 2024, a coup against Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina was allegedly fomented by USAID, IRI, and Soros-linked groups. Her successor, Muhammad Yunus, is a known Clinton and Soros ally. According to The Grayzone, US taxpayer money funded rappers, transgender activists, and LGBT initiatives to create a “power shift.”
  • Soros and USAID have long sought to unseat Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, who has actively opposed the globalist billionaire since 2017. During the 2022 elections, the Soros-linked NGO Action for Democracy funneled $7.6 million to his opposition.

Election Meddling at Home?

  • Soros-linked groups, backed by USAID, led resistance efforts against Donald Trump during his presidency, influenced the 2020 election through Black Lives Matter protests, and worked to flip battleground states in 2020–2021.
  • Soros funded the Electoral Justice Project, Black Lives Matter’s voter mobilization effort, and gave $22 million to Tides Advocacy, which supported the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s pre-election nationwide protests aimed against Trump in 2020.
  • USAID and Soros allegedly spent $27 million on anti-Trump prosecutions, claims journalist Mike Benz. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was also accused of being “bought” by Soros.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Serbia will revisit foreign agents law – deputy PM

RT | February 7, 2025

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has vowed to keep pushing for a law which would brand foreign-funded NGOs as ‘foreign agents,’ amid Belgrade’s claims that protests rocking Serbia are being funded from abroad.

Vulin’s Movement of Socialists (PS) party, a junior member of the ruling coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), proposed the legislation in November. The same month, the country was hit with a wave of protests, apparently sparked by the collapse of a concrete canopy at a railway station in Novi Sad which killed 15 people.

The demonstrations, primarily involving students, have since spread to the capital Belgrade, leading Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to claim that foreign agitators were behind the unrest.

“PS will not give up its intention to pass the law on foreign agents. Color revolutions cannot be carried out without a lot of money, and it is allocated and distributed through NGOs,” Deputy PM Vulin told Izvestia in an interview published on Thursday.

“There is the experience of Russia, China, Belarus and other countries that have defeated the West’s attempts to destroy them in the streets,” he said, adding that he will continue pushing for the law, despite the current lack of support from the ruling coalition.

Vulin added that he “will not stop opposing Soros and the Western intelligence services that are destroying us.”

Hungarian-American investor and billionaire George Soros is well known for financing liberal movements and political candidates across the Western world, including in Serbia.

According to a January 2001 article in the Los Angeles Times, “his Soros Foundations Network helped finance several pro-democracy groups, including the student organization Otpor, which spearheaded grass-roots resistance to the authoritarian Yugoslav leader” Slobodan Milosevic.

The proposed legislation would require NGOs receiving over half their funding from abroad and engaging in political activities to register as foreign agents.

In December 2024, the Serbian President said that he would not support the bill. “My answer is no,” Vucic told reporters when asked if he would endorse the draft, but added that parts of it based on its US, European and Russian counterparts could be accepted.

Brussels has expressed deep concern over the bill, stressing that as an EU candidate, Serbia is expected to uphold the bloc’s principles.

The European Economic and Social Committee has stressed that such legislation is incompatible with “the fundamental values of the European Union,” comparing such a development to the divisive foreign agents law in Georgia.

Washington sanctioned officials from the ruling party in Tbilisi and froze around $95 million of aid in response, while the EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process. Tbilisi has accused Western countries of interfering in its home affairs, and trying to start a color revolution.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | , , | Leave a comment

UK trying to prevent peace – Ukrainian MP

RT | February 7, 2025

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s recent visit to Kiev was an attempt to disrupt potential peace negotiations with Russia on the settlement of the Ukraine conflict, according to jailed Ukrainian MP Aleksandr Dubinsky.

Britain’s foreign secretary visited Kiev on Wednesday and announced a further 55 million pounds ($68.7 million) in financial aid.

Dubinsky, an opposition lawmaker who has been held in custody since November 2023 on a litany of charges, including high treason, claimed on his Telegram channel on Thursday that the actual purpose of Lammy’s trip was to disrupt a nascent peace process.

According to him, Lammy’s “urgent” visit to Kiev as well as Vladimir Zelensky’s “urgent” interview with British media “were necessary to prevent a peaceful settlement” and to “discredit” a US-backed push for a ceasefire being led by President Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg.

“What is needed for this? An urgent counteroffensive. I believe Zelensky has been brought his plan,” Dubinsky stated.

Kellogg is expected to present a peace plan at next week’s Munich Security Conference, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, citing insiders. However, in an interview with Newsmax on Wednesday, the envoy clarified that while he will be holding discussions with EU leaders in Germany, he will not publicly unveil any proposition.

Any deal would instead be presented by Trump himself.

Last Friday, Trump said that communication is ongoing between his administration and the Russian government and reiterated his goal of putting a swift end to nearly three years of hostilities.

During his Kiev visit Lammy also met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrey Sybiga, who urged the UK to scale up investment in Ukraine’s weapons industry. London has already beefed up its backing for Ukraine. Last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a £4.5 billion package which includes the procurement of hundreds of air defense systems and drones.

The so-called Istanbul round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine was scrapped in April 2022, despite having reached a draft agreement, following then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s surprise visit during which he pledged continuous military support and urged Kiev to keep fighting.

David Arakhamia, then head of the Ukrainian delegation at the negotiations, later acknowledged Moscow’s claims that Johnson had played an influential role in scuppering a peace deal that would have seen Kiev retain territories it has since lost.

While the controversial British politician denied the claims, former US undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland later confirmed that the negotiations fell apart due to US and UK pressure on Kiev to continue with warfare and reject the Istanbul deal.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Corruption, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

French ‘Mirage’ 2000-5 for the Kiev regime, yet another ‘game changer’ or more?

By Drago Bosnic | February 7, 2025

On February 6, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced that the first “Mirage” 2000-5 fighter jets were delivered to the Kiev regime. According to his post on X, the aircraft promised by French President Emmanuel Macron on June 6 last year finally arrived after at least eight months of training programs for the Neo-Nazi junta’s pilots. It’s safe to assume that such training lasted much longer, as it takes time for the staff to learn how to use them.

There’s no precise information on how many of these jets were delivered, nor the exact version of the “Mirage” 2000-5. In addition, there was an announcement that Dutch F-16s were also delivered on the same day. The mainstream propaganda machine was quick to proclaim that both types will be “game changers” and “greatly contribute” to fighting off the “evil Russian invaders”.

However, while this sort of superficial enthusiasm might make one think that the “Mirage” 2000-5 is some groundbreaking “wunderwaffe”, the reality is that it’s a largely outdated aircraft. Designed in the 1970s by the French Dassault Aviation, “Mirage” 2000-5 is a multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation fighter jet, largely analogous to the American F-16. This suggests that it will most likely play a similar (if not identical) role to the US-made jet, although some argue that it has better ground attack options due to French insistence on multirole (or omnirole, as they say) capabilities. Considering the number of available aircraft around the world (assessed at approximately 600 in eight countries), the Kiev regime is likely to experience even greater problems with operating and maintaining them, especially in comparison to the F-16s.

Namely, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin manufactured well over 4,600 units, with new deliveries still ongoing. There are currently more than 2,000 F-16s in active service. In practice, this means that spare parts and support for the US-made jet are much more readily available, while the “Mirage” 2000-5 hasn’t been in production since 2007.

The aforementioned variant of the French jet was introduced in the late 1990s, with improvements to avionics and weapon systems. Perhaps the most prominent of these is the Radar Doppler Multitarget (RDY), a multimode look-down/shoot-down pulse-Doppler radar designed by Thomson-CSF (now Thales). Although certainly potent when it was introduced, RDY is by no means a match for the target acquisition systems used by modern Russian fighter aircraft.

Worse yet, in terms of air-to-air ordnance, the “Mirage” 2000-5 is even more heavily outclassed, as its older R.550 “Magic” and earlier iterations of MICA missiles are no match to the plethora of Russian long-range munitions, particularly the now legendary R-37M used by the Su-35S air superiority fighters and the superfast, high-flying MiG-31BM interceptors (to say nothing of Moscow’s unrivaled air defenses). These Russian jets are also far more potent in terms of pure kinetic performance and are flown by highly experienced pilots. They also carry more weapons without the need for external fuel tanks, while the French jet cannot match their range even with those (which also means reduced payload capacity). However, the “Mirage” 2000-5 makes up for this with the ability to deploy a number of advanced air-to-ground munitions.

Namely, it can use the “Storm Shadow”/SCALP-EG ALCMs (air-launched cruise missiles) and AASM-HAMMER guided bombs. From a purely military standpoint, using the French-made jets as platforms for launching such weapons is much more sensible than trying to challenge Moscow’s air dominance. The Neo-Nazi junta’s propaganda (until recently funded by the infamous USAID) claims that the “Mirage” 2000-5 will primarily be used in an air defense role, intercepting missiles and drones.

However, this is not exactly the purpose its designers had in mind, so it’s questionable how successful it could be. On the other hand, strike missions make more sense, albeit these would also be limited by the number of available aircraft. Officially, France has at least 40 “Mirage” 2000-5F jets in its inventory, of which only 28 are still in active service.

Although some have reportedly been modernized, Paris was planning to retire these jets by the end of the decade. This could certainly free up most of them for the Kiev regime forces. However, there’s another, far more disturbing element to this story. As previously mentioned, the conventional capabilities of the “Mirage” 2000-5 are by no means the supposed “game changer” touted by the mainstream propaganda machine.

On the other hand, the French military operates the nuclear-capable “Mirage” 2000N variant (75 have been produced and most are reportedly still in service). Considering the Neo-Nazi junta’s insistence on acquiring nuclear weapons (Zelensky reiterated it in his latest interview with NATO propagandist Piers Morgan), this possibility certainly shouldn’t be discarded. The Kremlin itself has been warning about this for years.

This includes both President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Notably, several other NATO member states with nuclear-capable jets (namely the Dutch and Belgians) have pledged and delivered them to the Kiev regime. These countries have engaged in harsh rhetoric and even threats to Moscow, with France being no exception. What’s more, its troops have been present in NATO-occupied Ukraine even before the special military operation (SMO), while their numbers have only increased ever since (as have their already heavy casualties).

Russia and France are now engaged in a geostrategic duel in Africa, where Moscow supports at least a dozen countries that want to break free from the (neo)colonialist chokehold Paris has kept them in since the 19th century (and this is certainly not going very well for the latter).

If it wants escalation in Ukraine, France could either deliver some of its “Mirage” 2000Ns while insisting they’re actually the 2000-5 variant (the less likely option) or it could possibly modify the latter to also make them nuclear-capable (the more viable alternative). For the time being, there’s no concrete evidence for this, but the rhetoric coming from the most prominent NATO members (including the US) certainly suggests that the Kremlin is ready for any eventuality.

With the possible strategic paradigm shift under the new American administration, both Brussels and the Neo-Nazi junta are desperate to keep the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict going for as long as possible. However, the rapidly deteriorating capabilities of the Kiev regime forces stand in the way, meaning that the political West believes nuclear weapons could be the last resort.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.

February 7, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

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