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The Holy Quadripartitus of Piffle is Exploding

Reviewing the Four Pillars of the Biden years

By John Leake | FOCAL POINTS | February 26, 2025

Back in September 2023, I posted a report about an American transgendered woman named Sarah Ashton-Cirillo who claimed to be a soldier and an official spokesman of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces. She was in the news because of a publicized spat she had with then Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who has made an inquiry to determine is Sarah Ashton-Cirillo really is an official English language spokesman for the Ukrainian TDF. She really was.

Vance became aware of Ashton-Cirillo after he saw a video of the spokesman announcing that journalists who disseminate Russian propaganda will be hunted down and killed. In this video, she proclaims:

Next week, the teeth of the Russian devils will gnash ever harder, and their rabid mouths will foam in uncontrollable frenzy as the world will see a favorite Kremlin propagandist pay for their crimes. This puppet of Putin is only the first. Russia’s war criminal propagandists will all be hunted down and justice will be served.

In response to Senator Vance’s query, Ashton-Cirillo posted yet another video in which she proclaimed her support of the First Amendment, but hastened to add that reporting Russian propaganda was not protected by the First Amendment.

Back then I posed the question: Who adjudicates what is Russian propaganda and what is merely critical reporting of the Ukrainian government and its U.S. government supporters?

The question touched on something I have frequently written about on this Substack—namely, the strange rise of ORTHODOXY in recent years.

There are, we are told, certain major issues in which Orthodox—that is, official U.S. government and MSM representations—cannot be questioned or criticized. Those who do question these orthodoxies will be censored, censured, or—if Ashton-Cirillo has her way—hunted down and killed.

The top four orthodoxies back in 2023 were what I called the Holy Quadripartitus of Piffle. They were:

1). COVID-19 vaccines are saving mankind. Anyone who questions the safety and efficacy of the vaccines is guilty of heresy.

2). The U.S. proxy war in Ukraine is a sacred mission and no negotiated settlement with Russia shall be countenanced. Anyone who criticizes the Ukrainian and U.S. governments, and any attempt to understand the war from the Russian point of view, is guilty of heresy.

3). Human induced climate change will soon destroy the earth if trillions aren’t spent to overhaul our entire energy policy. Anyone who questions this proposition is guilty of heresy.

4). The concept of biological sex is a mere “construct.” Skilled surgeons and endocrinologists can transform a boy into a girl or vice versa. Anyone who questions this assertion is guilty of heresy.

As I noted back then, the Holy Quadripartitus of Piffle was an orthodoxy of fanatical, obscurantist insanity. I am pleased to report that, less than two years later, it appears that the doctrine is exploding.

March 1, 2025 Posted by | Russophobia, Video | | Leave a comment

EU’s Kallas blasts Trump over ‘Russian talking points’

RT | February 28, 2025

The European Union’s top diplomat has suggested that US President Donald Trump has adopted Russian narratives about the Ukraine conflict. Kaja Kallas also expressed concern over Washington’s supposed drift away from its long-time European allies.

Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and former Estonian Prime Minister (2021-2024), is known for her hawkish views on foreign policy.

In an interview with the media outlet Axios on Thursday, she said it had been “uncomfortable” to hear Trump and other senior US officials “repeating Russian narratives and talking points” in recent weeks.

“The statements made towards us are quite strong. The statements regarding Russia are very friendly. It is a change,” Kallas observed. She claimed that if Russia is allowed “back around the international table like nothing has happened,” more armed conflicts will follow, and not only in Europe.

The diplomat also insisted that while US officials are free to “talk with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin all they want… in order for any kind of deal to be implemented, they need the Europeans.” Failure to include the EU and Ukraine in negotiations would prevent any agreement from being implemented, Kallas argued.

Both the bloc’s representatives and officials from Kiev were excluded from the US-Russia negotiations held in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. Washington and Moscow have argued that no other parties were invited because the talks centered on first restoring bilateral relations.

Kallas also balked at criticisms regarding the state of democracy in the EU voiced by US Vice President J.D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference – a speech praised as “brilliant” by Trump. “I refuse to accept that criticism, because it’s just simply not true,” she said.

On Monday, the diplomat similarly remarked that “if [we] look at the messages that come from the US, then it is clear that the Russian narrative is there, very strongly represented.”

Last week, she warned Washington against walking “into the Russian traps,” alleging that Moscow had emerged as the “winner” from the talks in Riyadh.

In recent weeks, Trump has made several critical remarks toward the Ukrainian leadership, characterizing Vladimir Zelensky as a “dictator without elections,” and suggesting that Kiev bears responsibility for letting the hostilities flare up in 2022. While the US head of state has since somewhat toned down his comments, a marked departure from the policy course pursued by his predecessor, Joe Biden, remains evident.

February 28, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Militarism, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: The EU in Panic as Peace May Break Out

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs with Prof. Glenn Diesen
Glenn Diesen | February 26, 2025

I spoke with Professor Jeffrey Sachs after his speech at the European Parliament. How did we end up in a position where the EU has become the leading actor to oppose diplomacy and negotiations, and instead aims to prolong a war that devastates Europe and cannot be won? How did the Europeans reach a consensus on absurd notions such as Russia should not have a say in where NATO expands, and that the Europeans cannot sit down and talk to Russia without Ukraine? Professor Sachs attended the Istanbul negotiations in early 2022, but why are these negotiations now largely absent in the EU’s war narrative?

Jeffrey Sachs’ Explosive Address at the EU Parliament Sends Shockwaves Across Europe!

Putin invaded Ukraine ‘to stop NATO’, alliance chief tells EU

Jeffrey Sachs’ Full Address

February 28, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia, Video | , , , | Leave a comment

America as Republic, not as Empire – Europe’s “sound and fury” after jaw-dropping pivots in U.S. policy

By Alastair Crooke | Strategic Culture Foundation | February 26, 2025

The bits are falling into a distinct pattern – a pre-prepared pattern.

Defence Secretary Hegseth at the Munich Security Conference gave us four ‘noes’: No to Ukraine in NATO; No to a return to pre-2014 borders; No to ‘Article 5’ peacekeeper backstops, and ‘No’ to U.S. troops in Ukraine. And in a final flourish, he added that U.S. troops in Europe are not ‘forever’ – and even placed a question mark over the continuity of NATO.

Pretty plain speaking! The U.S. clearly is cutting away from Ukraine. And they intend to normalise relations with Russia.

Then, Vice-President Vance threw his fire cracker amongst the gathered Euro-élites. He said that the élites had retreated from “shared” democratic values; they were overly reliant on repressing and censoring their peoples (prone to locking them up); and, above all, he excoriated the European Cordon Sanitaire (‘firewall’) by which European parties outside the Centre-Left are deemed non-grata politically: It’s a fake ‘threat’, he suggested. Of what are you really so frightened? Have you so little confidence in your ‘democracy’?

The U.S., he implied, will no longer support Europe if it continues to suppress political constituencies, arrest citizens for speech offenses, and particularly cancel elections as was done recently in Romania. “If you’re running in fear of your own voters”, Vance said, “there is nothing America can do for you”.

Ouch! Vance had hit them where it hurts.

It is difficult to say what specifically most triggered the catatonic European breakdown: Was it the fear of the U.S. and Russia joining together as a major power nexus – thus stripping Europe from ever again being able glide along on the back of American power, through the specious notion that any European state must have exceptional access to the Washington ‘ear’?

Or was it the ending of the Ukraine/Zelensky cult which was so prized amongst the Euro-élite as the ‘glue’ around which a faux European unity and identity could be enforced? Both probably contributed to the fury.

That the U.S. would in essence leave Europe to their own delusions would be a calamitous event for the Brussels technocracy.

Many may lazily assume that the U.S. double act at Munich was just another example of the well-known Trumpian fondness for dropping ‘wacky’ initiatives intended to both shock and kickover frozen paradigms. The Munich speeches did exactly that all right! Yet that does not make them accidental; but rather parts that fit into a bigger picture.

It is clear now that the Trump blitzkrieg across the American Administrative State could not have been mounted unless carefully pre-planned and prepared over the last four years.

Trump’s flurry of Presidential Executive Orders at the outset of his Presidency were not whimsical. Leading U.S. constitutional lawyer, Johnathan Turley, and other lawyers say that the Orders were well drafted legally and with the clear understanding that legal challenges would ensue. What’s more, that Trump Team welcome those challenges.

What is going on? The newly confirmed head of the Office of Budget Management (OBM), Russ Vought, says his Office will become the “on/off switch” for all Executive expenditure under the new Executive Orders. Vought calls the resulting whirlpool, the application of Constitutional radicalism. And Trump has now issued the Executive Order that reinstates the primacy of the Executive as the controlling mechanism of government.

Vaught, who was in OBM in Trump 01, is carefully selecting the ground for all-out financial war on the Deep State. It will be fought out firstly at the Supreme Court – which the Trump Team expect confidently to win (Trump has the 6-3 conservative majority). The new régime will then be applied across all agencies and departments of state. Expect shrieks of pain.

The point here is that the Administrative State – aloof from executive control – has taken to itself prerogatives such as immunity to dismissal and the self-awarded authority to shape policy – creating a dual state system, run by unelected technocrats, which, when implanted in departments such as Justice and the Pentagon, have evolved into the American Deep State.

Article Two of the Constitution however, says very bluntly: Executive power shall be vested in the U.S. President (with no ifs or buts at all.) Trump intends for his Administration to recover that lost Executive power. It was, in fact, lost long ago. Trump is re-claiming too, the Executive’s right to dismiss ‘servants of the State’, and to ‘switch off’ wasteful expenditure at his discretion, as part of a unitary executive prerequisite.

Of course, the Administrative State is fighting back. Turley’s article is headlined: They Are Taking Away Everything We Have: Democrats and Unions Launch Existential Fight. Their aim has been to cripple the Trump initiative through using politicised judges to issue restraint orders. Many mainstream lawyers believe Trump’s Unitary Executive claim to be illegal. The question is whether Congress can stand up Agencies designed to act independently of the President; and how does that square with the separation of powers and Article Two that vests unqualified executive power with one sole elected official – the U.S. President.

How did the Democrats not see this coming? Lawyer Robert Barnes essentially says that the ‘blitzkrieg’ was “exceptionally well-planned” and had been discussed in Trump circles since late 2020. The latter team had emerged from within a generational and cultural shift in the U.S.. This latter had given rise to a Libertarian/Populist wing with working class roots who often had served in the military, yet had come to despise the Neo-con lies (especially those of 9/11) that brought endless wars. They were animated more by the old John Adams adage that ‘America should not go abroad in search of monsters to slay’.

In short, they were not part of the WASP ‘Anglo’ world; they came from a different Culture that harked back to the theme of America as Republic, not as Empire. This is what you see with Vance and Hegseth – a reversion to the Republican precept that the U.S. should not become involved in European wars. Ukraine is not America’s war.

The Deep State, it seems, were not paying attention to what a posse of ‘populist’ outliers, tucked away from the rarefied Beltway talking shop, were up to: They (the outliers) were planning a concerted attack on the Federal expenditure spigot – identified as the weak spot about which a Constitutional challenge could be mounted that would derail – in its entirety – the expenditures of the Deep State.

It seems that one aspect to the surprise has been the Trump Team’s discipline: ‘no leaks’. And secondly, that those involved in the planning are not drawn from the preeminent Anglo-sphere, but rather from a strand of society that was offended by the Iraq war and which blames the ‘Anglo-sphere’ for ‘ruining’ America.

So Vance’s speech at Munich was not disruptive – merely for the sake of being disruptive; he was, in fact, encouraging the audience to recall early Republican Values. This was what is meant by his complaint that Europe had turned away from “our shared values” – i.e. the values that animated Americans seeking escape from the tyranny, prejudices and corruption of the Old World. Vance was (quite politely) chiding the Euro-élites for backsliding to old European vices.

Vance implicitly was hinting too, that European conservative libertarians should emulate Trump and act to slough-off their ‘Administrative States’, and recover control over executive power. Tear down the firewalls, he advised.

Why? Because he likely views the ‘Brussels’ Technocratic State as nothing other than a pure offshoot to the American Deep State – and therefore very likely to try to torpedo and sink Trump’s initiative to normalise relations with Moscow.

If these were Vance’s instincts, he was right. Macron almost immediately summoned an ‘emergency meeting’ of ‘the war party’ in Paris to consider how to frustrate the American initiative. It failed however, descending reportedly into quarrelling and acrimony.

It transpired that Europe could not gather a ‘sharp-end’ military force greater than 20,-000-30,000 men. Scholtz objected in principle to their involvement; Poland demurred as a close neighbour of Ukraine; and Italy stayed silent. Starmer, however, after Munich, immediately rang Zelensky to say that Britain saw Ukraine to be on an irrevocable path to NATO membership – thus directly contradicting U.S. policy and with no support from other states. Trump will not forget this, nor will he forget Britain’s former role in supporting the Russiagate slur during his first term in office.

The meeting did however, underline Europe’s divisions and impotence. Europe has been sidelined and their self-esteem is badly bruised. The U.S. would in essence leave Europe to their own delusions, which would be calamitous for the Brussels autocracy.

Yet, far more consequential than most of the happenings of the past few days was when Trump, speaking with Fox News, after attending Daytona, dismissed Zelensky’s canard of Russia wanting to invade NATO countries. “I don’t agree with that; not even a little bit”, Trump retorted.

Trump does not buy into the primary lie intended as the glue which holds this entire EU geo-political structure together. For, without the ‘Russia threat’; without the U.S. believing in the globalist linchpin lie, there can be no pretence of Europe needing to prepare for war with Russia. Europe ultimately will have to come to reconcile its future as a periphery in Eurasia.

February 26, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Militarism, Russophobia | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Merz adopts nationalist rhetoric to legitimize his anti-Russian plans

New German leader may be more bellicose than his predecessor

By Lucas Leiroz | February 26, 2025

The European sovereignty agenda is being hypocritically used by liberal leaders to fight Donald Trump’s policies. In Germany, the potential new chancellor is publicly advocating for Berlin’s “independence” from the US. Although such independence is indeed necessary, European liberals have anti-sovereign intentions in adopting these agendas.

Friedrich Merz is indicated by preliminary data as the winner of the German parliamentary elections. Leading the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Merz is expected to receive around 28,5% of the vote, becoming the country’s prime minister. His victory means that Germany will continue to be governed by a warmongering and anti-Russian political elite, with no significant change in Berlin’s foreign policy.

Merz, however, often seems to have an even more aggressive stance than Olaf Scholz. He has made it clear that he does not intend to engage in dialogue with Russia, which represents a setback for Germany, since Scholz himself, who is one of the most warmongering leaders of the EU, had taken the initiative to talk directly to Trump.

The possible new German chancellor has also been harshly critical of the US and Donald Trump. He has described American interference in European affairs as “outrageous” and “dramatic”. Merz believes that Trump is indifferent to Europe, not caring about the stability of his own allied countries. For this reason, he has called on Germany to achieve “independence from the US”, freeing itself from the negative external influence of Washington.

“The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic, drastic, and ultimately outrageous than the intervention we saw from Moscow (…) The Americans, at least those in the current government, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe (….) (Germany must) gradually achieve independence from the US (…) I would have never thought that I would have to say something like that on a TV show,” he said.

It is curious to see pro-war European leaders using this kind of narrative, since the struggle for European sovereignty contradicts the entire Western agenda advocated by the EU. It seems that the liberal politicians of the European bloc are trying to change their rhetoric towards the US just to react to Donald Trump’s nationalist and isolationist policies.

It is impossible to talk about sovereignty in Europe and support the continuation of the war against Russia at the same time, since NATO’s anti-Russian campaign was supported by the EU precisely in a gesture of subservience to Washington. The anti-Russian economic sanctions, for example, were imposed by the US and adopted by the Europeans even though it has been proven that such measures harm European strategic interests.

Europe has been harmed in all areas of its economy and diplomacy since the beginning of the special military operation. If it had adopted a sovereign and neutral stance, respecting Russia’s right to protect its people in the neighboring country, Europe would have avoided the serious economic crisis it is currently experiencing.

Without sanctions and preserving its strategic ties with Russia, the EU would have become a relevant power in the multipolar world. However, instead of acting sovereignly, European liberals have taken all sorts of irresponsible actions, dipping the continent into an unprecedented crisis.

Until then, there was almost complete alignment between all American and European decisions, but now this situation has changed. Trump fulfilled his promise to resume diplomatic dialogue and simply excluded the belligerent European countries from the talks. EU leaders are outraged by such an American decision – not because they feel their sovereignty is being compromised, but simply because they are against ending the war with Russia.

Europeans and Americans are falling out of alignment simply because Europeans do not agree with the American decision to pursue diplomacy and peace. By speaking of “German sovereignty,” Merz is not advocating the historical struggle of Europeans to end American influence. He is simply saying that Germany must continue to fight Russia regardless of American involvement.

It is possible to say that liberals are trying to co-opt a nationalist rhetoric typical of European conservative groups. The aim is to use the genuinely sovereigntist sentiments of ordinary Germans and Europeans to legitimize the advancement of an even more “globalist” and anti-sovereigntist agenda – which internationally materializes in even more military interventionism, aid to Ukraine and escalation of hostilities against Russia.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Associations, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

You can follow Lucas on X and Telegram.

February 26, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Miscalculation: An Autopsy of NATO’s Failed Strategy for a Long War

Prof. Glenn Diesen
Glenn Diesen | February 18, 2025

To preserve the international system based on US hegemony, the US has to prevent the rise of other centres of power. The China-Russia partnership has become the key challenge to US hegemony. The strategy by the Biden administration was to use Ukraine in a proxy war against Russia to knock it out from the ranks of great powers, so the US could focus on China. As NATO lost the proxy war, the US began shifting toward a new strategy of winning Russia over to its side of the ledger and creating some divisions between Russia and China.

February 26, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia, Timeless or most popular, Video | , , , | Leave a comment

How President Trump is well placed to secure a deal with Russia to end the war

By Ian Proud | Strategic Culture Foundation | February 25, 2025

Media coverage of America’s recent talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia focussed almost exclusively on the prospects for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Russia and the U.S. probably want different outcomes from the talks. But President Trump is better placed to reach a deal with President Putin that he was in his first term.

The speed with which America has moved to reestablish diplomatic contact with Russia has left European leaders breathless and flatfooted. Zelensky has also been damaged by a needless public fight with President Trump that he could not win, after accusing him of living in a Russian disinformation bubble.

Donald Trump has arrived in the White House, for the second time, following a collapse in U.S.-Russia relations under a preceding Democratic Party President. What seems different today is that the politics of Washington have made it easier for him to engage with President Putin.

In 2017, Russia undoubtedly hoped for a potential reset of relations with the United States after a general collapse in engagement under President Obama. In Obama’s final foreign policy fling on 29 December 2016, he expelled 35 Russian diplomats, in response to the so-called Russiagate allegations.

In my view, Obama hoped these expulsions would make it harder for President Trump to engage with President Putin, if Russia retaliated with reciprocal diplomatic expulsions. But, Putin deliberately paused on retaliating, waiting to see what Trump might offer.

The real obstacle to engagement in 2017, which doesn’t seem to exist today, was the bipartisan resistance in Washington to President Trump improving relations with Russia in any way.

Just one day after Obama expelled the Russian diplomats, the rabidly anti-Russian late Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) were in Kyiv. There, they pressed for even tougher sanctions against Russia, and more support for Ukraine.

Even before President Trump had been sworn in, moves were being made by representatives of his own political party, to hem him in. The vehicle to achieve this was the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which imposed sweeping new sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea.

This sanctions act was so punitive, allowing the U.S. to sanction European countries that did business with Russia, that several EU leaders were furious and lobbied hard for it to be watered down.

On 31 July 2017, within days of Congress approving the CAATSA act, President Putin finally chose to retaliate, evicting seven hundred fifty five staff from U.S. diplomatic missions.

Two days later, when President Trump signed the CAATSA Act into Law, he noted that the bill was ‘seriously flawed.. because it encroaches on the executive branch’s authority to negotiate.. This bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people, and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together.’

Whether or not you agree with sanctions against Russia, it would take a confident person today, to say that Russia, China and North Korea weren’t closer now than they were eight years ago.

Back in 2017 the CAATSA Act was a hammer blow to President Trump’s efforts to reengage. President Putin’s retaliation gutted America’s diplomatic network in Russia.

I was Charge d’Affaires at the British Embassy at the time and took the short walk most days to the U.S. Embassy to help the Deputy Chief of Mission as he grappled with the dreadful choice of which of his diplomats to send back to America.

I could have taken a car, but I wanted to walk in and out each day, under the watchful gaze of the Russian state apparatus, as a small sign of solidarity.

The main U.S. Embassy site in Moscow sits behind the White House, which the Russian army famously fired at by Russian army tanks during the 1993 parliamentary rebellion. In 2017, a cavernous new, glass and steel Consular Services building had recently erected which even today sits largely empty, as the U.S. shut down practically all visa processing in Russia.

I recommended a plan – successful as it turns out – to prevent closure of the Anglo-American school of Moscow, under the cover of the mass expulsions. The school had first opened in 1949, as a place for the children of American, British and Canadian diplomats to get an education. That school finally closed it doors in May 2023, having supported diplomatic children – including my two – for seventy-four years without interruption.

Both are small signs of just far low U.S.-Russia day to day diplomatic ties have fallen.

The talks that took place between in Saudi Arabia on 18 February between Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov focused in significant part on a process gradually to return diplomatic relations to a more normal footing.

In my experience, Russia places considerable value on day-to-day diplomatic collaboration across social, cultural, scientific and other fields. Even NASA had a liaison in Moscow while I was there.

It is no great secret that the intelligence services of both sides work relentlessly to spy on the other. But this softer diplomatic engagement is a huge help in moderating some of the ‘bad stuff’.

President Trump would like the war to end, but Russia holds the upper hand on the battlefield and can play for time in suing for peace. Russia would undoubtedly like a more normalised diplomatic relationship with the United States of America.

Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov has said he is not interested in a quick ceasefire that allows Ukraine to rearm and come back later for another war.

Any negotiation depends on knowing what both sides want and what you can offer without diminishing your own goals. There is little appetite on the Hill to pump further billions into the Ukraine war effort. With over 20,000 sanctions imposed on Russia already and with its economy still robust, there is no benefit in pushing more sanctions.

Taking small steps to redress the awful day-to-day diplomatic relations between both countries seems a good place to start as both sides look to broker a lasting peace. And with President Trump not held back by dissenters in his own party, he appears strongly placed to agree a deal with President Putin.

February 25, 2025 Posted by | Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

EU’s “Democracy Shield” faces backlash over sovereignty concerns, double standards, and proposed intelligence agency

Opponents argue the initiative is a tool for political gatekeeping, not just election integrity

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | February 22, 2025

The EU’s “Democracy Shield,” is presented as a way to strengthen information integrity online, especially in the context of elections – but which opponents believe is another way for the bloc’s bureaucracy to tighten the screws on tech giants, speech-wise – is facing vocal opposition in the European Parliament (EP).

The initiative’s first monthly meeting heard criticism in particular from MEPs that come from conservative and sovereignty parties, who wanted to know what exactly qualifies as “foreign interference in elections” – and why the double standard in the way social media content is treated compared to legacy, corporate media.

Namely, while the latter, in Europe at least almost without exception aligned with those in power, is free to publish any opinion, including those that are biased and could be reasonably expected to impact the outcome of an election, social media accounts get banned, while platforms are forced to change algorithms to limit the reach of any content branded as “foreign interference.”

To this point, some MEPs asked if only Russia is to be considered as a possible “election meddler” – or if other countries, the US included, can play the same role in some scenarios – and, that could be true of the EU itself.

According to European Conservative, MEP Fidias Panayiotou gave an example: “In my country, Cyprus, in 2004, through USAID, the US spent $60 million on the referendum for reunification.”

The main topic of the meeting is the now long-contested presidential election in Romania, where the “surprise” victory of Calin Georgescu got annulled as Brussels went all-in trying to make sure he is not eventually elected (that crisis is ongoing.)

The fact that Georgescu is not to the establishment’s liking, caused him to be labeled “pro-Russian” and, “ultra-nationalist” – while his use of social platforms to get the message across was condemned as some sort of “foreign interference.”

But “Democracy Shield’s” opponents are warning that – yet again – there is an attempt to misuse the term “disinformation” to undermine people’s, and country’s rights, namely their sovereignty.

In the context of elections, sovereignty is further threatened by initiatives such as setting up a new EU intelligence agency – that critics say may result in even more “centralization of electoral control in the hands of EU institutions.”

February 22, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Progressive Hypocrite, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

EU keeps trying to escalate Ukrainian conflict

By Lucas Leiroz | February 20, 2025

While the US and Russia are engaged in an incipient diplomatic process, taking the first steps towards a peaceful future, European countries continue to try to escalate the Ukrainian conflict, taking provocative measures to worsen tensions. Recently, European leaders announced a new aid package to the neo-Nazi regime, which shows how the EU is not interested in any diplomatic negotiations – despite hypocritically complaining about not being part of the talks in Riyadh.

Western media recently reported that a new pro-Ukrainian military aid package is being prepared by the EU. The aid is valued at more than 6 billion euros, making it one of the largest packages in the entire European support campaign for Kiev since 2022. The plan is believed to involve the supply of weapons such as artillery shells, missiles and air defense systems, among other lethal equipment. The approval of the package is expected to be announced on February 24, during the three-year anniversary of the special military operation – when a delegation of EU’s high officials will be in Kiev.

“EU countries are preparing a military aid package worth at least €6 billion for Ukraine as it seeks to shore up Kiev’s strategic position at the outset of U.S.-led talks with Russia, according to three EU diplomats. The package, which should include everything from 1.5 million artillery shells to air defense systems, would mark one of the EU’s largest military aid packages since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and could be unveiled ahead of a highly symbolic visit by European commissioners to Kiev on Feb. 24,” Politico reported.

The EU is not only sending more weapons to Ukraine, but it is also further tightening anti-Russian measures. The bloc has agreed on a new package of coercive measures against Moscow – the 16th since the start of the special military operation. Even though all the sanctions imposed on Russia have so far proven futile, Europe continues to pursue a boycott strategy against Moscow, thus damaging its own strategic interests – as the sanctions obstruct energy cooperation, affecting industry and several other important sectors.

It is important to remember that, in parallel to all this, European countries continue to hold discussions about “sending troops to Ukraine”. Even though Moscow has made it clear many times that it will not accept the presence of Western forces in the conflict zone, considering any foreign soldiers as legitimate targets – the EU insists on worsening the scenario.

In fact, the entire European aid campaign for Ukraine is useless. Kiev does not gain any strategic benefit with the arrival of new European weapons, since this equipment will not be enough to reverse the tragic military situation of the Ukrainian forces – which are rapidly losing ground due to the strong Russian advance. Like all NATO weapons previously sent to Ukraine, the new European artillery systems will most likely be quickly destroyed by Russian high-precision bombings, generating zero impact on the battlefield.

In the same sense, after three years of repeated sanctions against Russia, it already seems clear that Moscow knows how to deal with this situation, circumventing the effects of coercive measures and making the economy grow despite Western aggression. The country is definitely growing, with the economy reaching increasingly better numbers, which is why new sanctions are not a cause for concern for the Russians, but rather for the Europeans themselves, who are more and more being harmed by the side effects of their own measures.

Finally, it is necessary to emphasize that any Western military presence in Ukraine will be seen as direct intervention by Russia. Moscow has already repeatedly said that European soldiers on the battlefield will be legitimate targets for Russian troops. In practice, any Western military operation in Ukraine will be a real suicide, since foreign soldiers will be priority targets for the Russian armed forces.

Instead of trying to escalate the war, Europe should take advantage of the current situation of diplomatic progress to reverse the mistakes made over the past three years. European countries now have the opportunity to lift sanctions, stop engaging in the war and re-establish ties with Russia. Previously, the Democrats were pressuring Europe to get involved in the war. With Trump and the Republicans, this pressure no longer exists, and the EU can simply change everything it has done so far.

However, unfortunately, the Europeans seem to be much more aggressive than the Americans themselves. The EU’s goal seems to be in taking the conflict to its ultimate consequences, even if European own interests are harmed by such irresponsible measures.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.

You can follow Lucas on X and Telegram.

February 20, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , , , | Leave a comment

Russia and US will have to ‘clean up’ after Biden – Lavrov

RT | February 19, 2025

Moscow and Washington need to “clean up the legacy” left by the former US President Joe Biden’s administration that ruined the ties between the two states, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

Speaking at the Russian State Duma on Wednesday, having returned from talks with US diplomats in the Saudi capital on Tuesday, Lavrov described the meeting in Riyadh as a first step toward rebuilding relations between the countries. The bilateral negotiations were led by Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and aimed to lay the groundwork for ending the Ukraine conflict and normalizing ties between Russia and the US.

“We have started to move away from the brink of the abyss to which the Biden administration had led us, but these are only the first steps,” Lavrov told lawmakers, commenting on the talks.

“For now, we need to ‘clean up’ the legacy of the Biden administration, which did everything to destroy… the foundation of a long-term partnership between our countries,” he added. According to the diplomat, “the movement towards normalizing relations in all areas is beginning.”

“There is, at least, a declared readiness to start on this course. And to resolve not only the Ukraine crisis, but to create conditions for the restoration and expansion of partnership in trade, economic and geopolitical spheres,” Lavrov stated. He noted that Washington’s representatives expressed marked interest in removing “artificially created” obstacles to potential joint initiatives with Russia in many areas, including economic and foreign policy.

Among other things, the sides agreed to restore embassy staffing and form high-level teams to begin work on the potential Ukraine peace settlement.

“We welcome this,” Lavrov said, noting that the countries could eventually return to the state of cooperation they had prior to the Ukraine conflict and the West’s sanctions war on Russia.

“There will always be problems, but the main thing is to meet, listen and hear one another, make decisions that will be realistic with regard to the partners they concern,” he stated.

Tuesday’s negotiations have been described as “truly monumental” in Washington.

Following the talks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also acknowledged that the West would need to address the sanctions imposed on Russia in order to reach a lasting solution to the conflict and to restore relations. Later on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump told journalists he felt “much more confident” about the prospects of a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine amid the budding rapprochement with Moscow.

February 19, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , , , | Leave a comment

EU Elites Are in Panic Over the US Leaving Ukraine and Europe

Professor Glenn Diesen & Pascal Lottaz
Glenn Diesen | February 17, 2025

I had a conversation with Pascal Lottaz at Neutrality Studies regarding the panic in the EU as the US made it clear it no longer considers Europe to be a priority. For years, the Europeans failed to establish the continent as an independent pole of power by neglecting to define their security and economic interests separate from the US. Europe is subsequently now a divided continent at war, in economic decline and with diminishing relevance in the world. The US must address multipolar realities by restoring a workable relationship with Russia and pivoting toward Asia. The comfortable ideological bubble has been burst, yet there is still a reluctance to deal with uncomfortable realities.

February 19, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Progressive Hypocrite, Russophobia, Video | , , , | Leave a comment

EU to uphold Russia sanctions regardless of US – commissioner

RT | February 18, 2025

The EU has no plans to lift sanctions against Russia even if the US decides to do so, and is working on the next raft of measures, EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has said.

The bloc has proposed a 16th round of sanctions on Russia to be imposed next week for the third anniversary of the start of the Russian military operation against Ukraine on February 24. Along with the US, the EU has slapped numerous rounds of sanctions on Russia since 2022 in a bid to isolate the country, cutting it off from the Western financial system and freezing its foreign reserves.

Asked if the EU would lift its sanctions on Russia if the US eases its restrictions in exchange for a potential ceasefire in Ukraine, Dombrovskis stated that Brussels would pursue an independent sanctions policy.

“It’s very clear with the moves of the current Trump administration that the EU will have to take issues related to the EU’s security more in its own hands. It also concerns the sanctions policy as you know the work continues on preparing the 16th package,” the commissioner said.

Last month, the EU extended its existing sanctions against Russia until the end of July. The restrictions already target a broad range of sectors and include trade embargoes, travel bans, and individual sanctions against Russian businessmen and public officials.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in an interview with Franceinfo on Tuesday that the EU’s upcoming batch of measures will primarily target Russia’s energy sector.

Barrot claimed the new package aims to “force [Russian President] Vladimir Putin to sit down at the negotiating table,” adding that the EU will continue to “raise the cost of the war” for Moscow. The sanctions will also target countries that facilitate bypassing the restrictions, the minister said.

Earlier this year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban renewed calls on the EU to lift its sanctions on Russia in order to align the bloc’s policies with the new US government. Budapest has long criticized Brussels’ approach to the Ukraine conflict as being incapable of ending hostilities and damaging to the bloc’s member states.

Last week, Orban predicted that Russia will be “reintegrated” into the world economy and the European energy system once the Ukraine conflict ends.

Moscow has condemned Western sanctions as illegal, repeatedly arguing that they have failed to destabilize Russia’s economy or isolate it from the global financial system.

February 18, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

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