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German chemicals giant reveals details of downsizing

RT | September 23, 2026

German chemicals giant Evonik is overhauling its domestic operations amid what it has described as a “structural and economic crisis” in the industry.

The German and wider European chemical sector has been hit by plant closures, job losses and high energy costs following the loss of cheap Russian supplies; the US-Israeli war with Iran has added new pressure.

The measures, announced on Tuesday, include site closures, job cuts and a reshaping of Evonik’s six main German plants, even as the company considers increasing investment in Asia and the Americas, where it sees “good opportunities for growth.”

Evonik’s plans to eliminate 2,150 jobs in Germany through 2029 have drawn criticism from industrial policy spokesman for the opposition Left Party (Die Linke) Mirze Edis, who called the cuts “a damning indictment” of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Economy Minister Katharina Reiche.

“Their inaction regarding chemical industry sites has now become a nationwide economic risk,” Edis said.

Evonik produces chemicals and additives used in everything from car tires and plastics to cosmetics and medicines, making it a key supplier across the economy.

Germany’s chemical sector has been among the hardest hit by the country’s energy problems. Berlin moved to end its dependence on Russian energy following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and turned to alternative suppliers, leaving energy-intensive manufacturers facing substantially higher costs.

Evonik said at the time that it consumed around 15 terawatt-hours of natural gas annually, more than a third of it in Germany, and warned that losing Russian supplies could “seriously jeopardize chemical production” in the country.

The war with Iran and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have added to the pressure this year. While Germany gets most of its LNG from the US rather than the Persian Gulf, the de facto closure of the strait disrupted flows accounting for almost 20% of the global LNG supply, tightening the market and driving up European prices.

The crisis extends beyond Germany. Permanent chemical plant closures across Europe have surged sixfold from pre-2022 levels amid high energy costs, weak demand and cheaper overseas competition, according to the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic).

British chemicals giant INEOS said this week it would close its three acetyl plants in Hull, the last major facilities of their kind in Europe, blaming soaring energy costs and carbon taxes. It said natural gas in Europe now costs 12 times as much as it does in the US, making even highly efficient plants uncompetitive.

September 23, 2026 Posted by | Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity, Russophobia, Wars for Israel | | Comments Off on German chemicals giant reveals details of downsizing

Finland’s Stubb tells European leaders to calm down

RT | September 22, 2026

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has pushed back against warnings from fellow European leaders that Russia could attack NATO in the near future, saying Helsinki’s intelligence sees no evidence of an imminent military threat.

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed claims that it intends to attack NATO. Russian officials have argued that Western governments are exaggerating the prospect of a confrontation with Moscow to justify increased military spending and continued support for Ukraine.

Stubb made the comments in an interview with Politico on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, after several European officials suggested that Moscow could target members of the US-led military bloc within months.

“We don’t see the evidence of that,” Stubb said. “In our intelligence we see that there is activity but no imminent military threat right now.”

“It is not in the interest of Russia nor in the capacity of Russia to go full-scale,” he added.

Stubb’s assessment contrasts with increasingly urgent warnings from several other European officials.

Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed Russia could fire drones or missiles into NATO countries backing Ukraine in “the next few months.” French President Emmanuel Macron described Tusk’s warning as “sound and well-documented.”

The head of the Czech Republic’s BIS security service, Michal Koudelka, likewise suggested that possible Russian actions could include “a limited incursion, false-flag provocations, [or] a massive influence campaign,” saying such scenarios could unfold within “months, not years.”

Stubb, whose country shares a 1,340-km (833-mile) border with Russia, described predictions that NATO countries could soon be targeted as an “overreaction” and urged his European counterparts to remain “cool, calm, and collected.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that “some European leaders are openly declaring that they are preparing for war with Russia,” accusing them of seeking to “salvage their declining ratings by covering up mistakes in their economic and social policies.”

“Instead of stopping and listening to their citizens, who have made it clear during the elections that they don’t want any war with Russia, these leaders continue to escalate the situation,” Putin said.

Finland abandoned its longstanding policy of military non-alignment and joined NATO in 2023, following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict the previous year.

Despite Stubb’s assessment that there is no imminent military threat, Helsinki has continued expanding its defense and civil preparedness. Earlier this month, Finland staged what AP described as Europe’s largest civil-defense exercise since World War II, involving more than 2,000 participants.

September 22, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , | Comments Off on Finland’s Stubb tells European leaders to calm down

Defeating Russia on battlefield impossible – Fico

By Lucas Leiroz | September 22, 2026

Not all NATO countries are willing to support the alliance in its relentless pursuit of conflict with Russia. In a recent statement on the matter, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico made it clear that he disagrees with NATO’s current policy regarding Russia. He described the war plans pursued by some of the bloc’s leaders as absolutely irrational and asserted that Russia cannot be defeated on the battlefield.

Fico made his statement in a video posted on social media. He commented on the situation in extremely realistic terms, asserting that there is no supranational force capable of compelling Russia to abandon the territories it has already reintegrated. Furthermore, he emphasized that Ukraine missed a major opportunity for peace back in 2022, when the Kiev regime refused to sign a peace agreement with Russia in order to follow the guidelines of what he calls the “Russophobic West.”

Not only that, Fico also made it clear that the Western strategy of continuing to fight in the long term – “to the last Ukrainian” – has already failed completely. According to him, it is unreasonable to insist on sending military and financial support to Ukraine when doing so merely prolongs the conflict indefinitely, further increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people and creating serious tensions between Europe and Russia – thereby jeopardizing the entire regional security architecture.

However, the most important point of Fico’s speech was his criticism of NATO’s current attempt to escalate the war into a stage of direct confrontation with Russia. The Slovak leader stated that, given the impossibility of NATO defeating Russia through Ukraine, some bureaucrats within the bloc are now trying to heighten tensions to create a pretext for a direct conflict. He described these bureaucrats as “war hawks” who “have gone crazy.”

“There is no supranational force to compel Russia to withdraw from the militarily controlled Ukrainian territory (…) Ukraine made a huge mistake in April 2022, a few months after the start of the conflict, by listening to the Russophobic West and not signing the prepared peace agreement (…) [Western strategy] to support the war in Ukraine to the last Ukrainian soldier and defeat Russia has completely failed (…) Several politicians in the West believe that if it (victory over Russia) cannot be achieved through the Ukrainian army and its full support, everything must be done to provoke a conflict between NATO and Russia (…) some war hawks in NATO are trying at all costs to turn this war into a conflict between Russia and NATO (…) Someone must have gone crazy here [because] Russia cannot be defeated in a conventional war,” he said.

Subsequently, in another social media post, Fico stated that NATO’s attempt to wage war against Russia is actually a distraction intended to mask the current Western liberal order’s inability to address the real problems of the contemporary world – such as energy security and illegal migration. European leaders who support a conflict with Russia ultimately seek to hide their own inability to solve the problems currently affecting Europe.

Furthermore, he emphasized that while he holds the office of Prime Minister, he will not allow Slovakia to participate in these war plans. He vowed to prevent Slovak soldiers from being mobilized to fight in a conflict that does not concern the country’s interests.

“The West’s military rhetoric and the search for a pretext for a military conflict with Russia are intended to distract from the liberal world’s inability to address basic challenges such as the price and availability of energy and fuel, as well as illegal migration. As long as I am Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, I will not agree to Slovak soldiers taking part in any military adventure provoked by anyone within NATO,” he added.

Fico’s words sound like a sign of rationality amidst the current Russophobic frenzy. Few leaders in Europe are willing to criticize the Western bloc’s war plans; Fico stands as an example for other Europeans to follow regarding his willingness to establish a sovereign, pragmatic, and pro-peace foreign policy.

Unfortunately, however, most countries in the Western alliance – especially the UK and key EU members – persist in escalating tensions with Russia. Moscow is doing everything possible to prevent a worst-case scenario from becoming reality, yet European hostility is creating a serious security crisis on the continent.

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

You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.

September 22, 2026 Posted by | Russophobia | , , | Comments Off on Defeating Russia on battlefield impossible – Fico

NATO member warns bloc seeking pretext for war with Russia

RT | September 18, 2026

Europe is moving dangerously close to a direct clash between NATO and Russia, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned, accusing the West of seeking a “pretext” for a major conflict between the two sides.

Fico made the comment in a Facebook post on Thursday, which accompanied the remarks he delivered before traveling to Ukraine for a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky and several European leaders.

“I am deeply concerned that they are merely looking for a pretext for a major conflict between NATO and Russia,” he wrote.

Reflecting on the Ukraine conflict, Fico said that the hostilities had “gotten out of control,” while accusing European nations of engaging in increasingly bellicose rhetoric which he said risked dragging the continent into a broader war. “The situation has never been as serious and tense regarding the possibility of a pan-European war conflict as it is now,” he said.

Fico also warned that Bratislava could face pressure from NATO to commit troops if the bloc’s Article 5 – a collective defense clause applied if a member state is attacked – is invoked. “Can anyone imagine being told to prepare 5,000 soldiers, 10,000 soldiers, and that they would go somewhere to fight? We don’t know with whom, why, or for what reason,” Fico said.

“I don’t want Slovakia to be part of any military conflict because of some Article 5,” he stressed, adding that, though his country still “cares about collaboration and fulfilling obligations”. “As prime minister, I will do everything to ensure that Slovakia is never drawn into a war,” Fico stressed.

Fico has consistently opposed military support for Ukraine since returning to office in 2023 while halting government weapons shipments to Kiev. He has also opposed Kiev’s accession to NATO, and insisted that Ukraine’s EU membership is only possible if it meets all the requirements.

He has also argued that the West’s strategy to “bring Russia to its knees” had “completely failed.” “The European Union does not need more weapons and Russophobia. The European Union needs more diplomacy and concrete plans to help the economy,” Fico said last month.

Russia has accused the EU of rapid militarization, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the bloc is directing increasing military capabilities against Moscow while portraying it as an enemy.

President Vladimir Putin has consistently rejected claims that Moscow intends to attack NATO countries, but warned last week that deploying European forces to Ukraine “would mean war with Russia.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also stressed that Russia has no intention of attacking the West but warned that if Europe attacked first, the resulting conflict would be “very short.”

September 18, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , | Comments Off on NATO member warns bloc seeking pretext for war with Russia

Russia’s SVR: NATO Found No Russian Link to Leipzig Airport Incident

Sputnik -15.09.2026

NATO intelligence services found no evidence whatsoever of Russian involvement in the drone incident at Leipzig Airport and informed their authorities accordingly, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.

They also pointed to multiple signs of a Ukrainian footprint in the incident.

NATO intelligence therefore recommended that the authorities refrain from accusing Russia, the SVR added.

Ignoring the advisory, the German authorities blamed Russia outright — chiefly to justify the “mega-spending” on Germany’s militarization, the Foreign Intelligence Service said.

On August 5, Leipzig police said an airport employee had discovered a drone carrying an unidentified explosive device in the cargo aviation security zone. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt blamed Russia without providing any evidence.

September 15, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Militarism, Russophobia | , | Comments Off on Russia’s SVR: NATO Found No Russian Link to Leipzig Airport Incident

Nonsense Drones and Novichok

By Craig Murray | September 3, 2026

Europe urgently needs to re-establish access to Russian oil and gas. Gas prices are high – as all UK energy consumers know – and German gas storage is at a record low for September. Gulf production is degraded, supplies are cut off and its long-term strategic stability undermined.

German manufacturing already suffered a 9.5% production loss from 2022 to 2026 following the Russian gas shutdown, with the loss in energy-intensive manufacturing (inc petrochemicals, chemicals, metals, glass/ceramics/stone, paper, mineral oil etc.) at 15.2%.

Western Europe can regain access to Russian hydrocarbons either by accepting a negotiated peace in Ukraine, or by attempting regime change in Russia. The political class in Europe have evidently decided to go all out for regime change.

It would of course be much easier, and much safer, to settle the Ukrainian conflict. We can identify the following reasons the European political “elite” is not taking that path:

  • Loss of face and political capital by in situ leaders who have gone all in for conflict with Russia – von der Leyen, Kallas, Merz, Rutte, Stubb etc
  • Generational family and national hatred of Russia by those wanting to reverse World War II in Eastern Europe – von der Leyen, Kallas, Merz, Stubb etc
  • Deep common interests between the political personnel and the military-industrial complex

Note that none of these motives has anything to do with the welfare of their people, and still less “democracy.” I find it very hard to think of any occasion when a drive towards war had such little foundation.

Consider this. The United Kingdom, like many Western countries, is openly supplying the Ukraine with long-range missiles, manufacturing plans for long-range missiles, and personnel to service them, in the full knowledge that Ukraine is using those missiles in an attempt to devastate civilian infrastructure deep within Russia, killing many Russian civilians in the process.

Yet we are repeatedly told by both politicians and the media that Russia is the threat to the UK, when very plainly it is the opposite which is the truth. Until this year, Russia had in three hundred years of history never had any plans to invade or occupy the UK – while the UK invaded Russia in 1854 and 1917. I presume the Russians are currently working on defensive plans against the UK, given the disgraceful warmongering of our government.

The notion that the boundaries of a Ukrainian state, which had never existed in history until 1991, are so sacrosanct they cannot be adjusted to avoid World War III, is mad. They were only ever internal Soviet boundaries. Ukrainian is a new nationality, but the Ukrainians are entitled to a state if they wish one. What they are not entitled to do is insist on the old Soviet boundary, when they have:

  • closed Russian schools, universities, bookshops, theatres, cinemas, libraries, kindergartens, banks and churches
  • banned the Socialist Party, Communist Party, Left Party, eleven other parties and eight trade unions
  • continued the systematic glorification of Nazi and genocidal figures from Ukraine’s past – alienating Poland in the process.

The notion that nuclear war should be fought over who is Mayor of Lugansk has so little public support that Russophobia is being assiduously stoked by Western governments and the EU itself.

The latest episode is the extraordinarily thin gruel of the “Leipzig airport attack” story. Yesterday we had the most incredible release of coordinated statements by Western European leaders all telling us that the evidence is plain of a “hybrid attack” by Russia.

All accompanied by no evidence whatsoever.

The German state of course has history with this sort of false flag. On the night of 31 August/1 September 1939 it staged false flag attacks by Polish forces on the German border post at Gliwice (Gleiwitz), and a couple of other locations. Murdered corpses of political prisoners were dressed in Polish uniforms and spread around. A radio broadcast was transmitted in Polish. This “attack” was the justification for the German invasion of Poland the next day.

Now the “Russian attack” on Leipzig Halle airport was on 4 August, and yet the carefully coordinated attribution to Russia, with identical statements from all western European powers, was not launched until 1 September. I have seen it suggested that this was deliberately on the anniversary of Gliwice. That seems to me unlikely, and yet not to have at least avoided the date of perhaps the most famous false flag in history – by the same state – is very curious, when the date was so obviously voluntary for an attack that occurred four weeks before.

If you reject the warmongers’ logic for a moment, the actual scandal is that there were Ukrainian aircraft in Leipzig stacked with German weapons to kill Russians, not that an amateur toy drone allegedly tried to stop them.

To be told that this is a Russian attack by precisely the same set of goons who lied to us that it was Russia that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipeline, is testing not just the gullibility of the public, but its patience.

In the UK the purveyors of Russophobia – including government ministers – fall back repeatedly on the farcical “Russian novichok on Salisbury” story to explain why we should prepare for war with Russia.

Nobody has ever even pretended to answer the dissection of the official line I published in my article Pure – Ten Points I Just Don’t Believe. I am now able to add a further point I was not aware of at the time, thanks to Tim Norman and his coverage of the Sturgess Inquiry. The use of a judicial inquiry to determine official cause of death, rather than a coroner’s court which exists for that specific purpose, is almost always a sign of a government cover-up – see also the Hutton Inquiry and the murder of David Kelly.

But one thing the inquiry did receive was the toxicology report on Dawn Sturgess from the NHS central toxicology lab in Birmingham. This is what it found in Dawn Sturgess’ blood.

It is worth noting that fentanyl was also found, but this was removed from this list presented to the inquiry as she had been given fentanyl in hospital. That does not, of course, mean there was, or was not, already fentanyl in her bloodstream. But what you do have for sure is cocaine, plus a synthetic opioid given by the NHS to heroin addicts, plus gin and tonic, plus two different antidepressants, plus sleeping tablets.

What you don’t have is novichok. The idea that the NHS central toxicology lab cannot detect organophosphate poisoning, or was not testing for it in the blood of someone in Salisbury when the entire media was already screaming novichok, is arrant nonsense.

Only the Ministry of Defence laboratory at Porton Down claimed to find novichok – and controlled the samples which the OPCW (an equally corrupt institution) got.

Dawn Sturgess was a frail, known long-term drug addict. The combination in her bloodstream could kill anybody – of course depending on the quantities. The astonishing thing is that the pathologist at the inquiry stated he had been given no quantities or concentrations for these substances. He was therefore in no position to say they did not kill her.

This is incredible. There is no such thing as a toxicology report which does not quantify concentrations. Otherwise the information is clinically meaningless. I have spoken with three doctors, two nurses and a senior NHS administrator. All say it is impossible the toxicology report came without quantification. I assume the pathologist was not lying; so they must have been deliberately deleted. Only government can do that, and the obvious motive is to cover up the actual cause of death.

Let us face it: from that list of substances in her blood the actual cause of death is extremely obvious.

The great structural weakness of the inquiry was that nobody had the job of scepticism about the official story. The only non-governmental representative was Michael Mansfield, who represented Dawn Sturgess’ family, and his brief was to argue that Dawn Sturgess was not a drug addict. That – I am sorry to say, completely untrue – version of events fitted the story which both the government and Sturgess’s family wished to be put forward.

I am genuinely upset to have to relate unpleasant things about a dead woman who was a victim of circumstance in her life, in order to tell the truth, but you don’t get cocaine and buprenorphine in your blood by accident. We therefore had the farce of the police apologising at the inquiry for having called Dawn Sturgess a drug addict.

So we have alleged novichok in Salisbury which killed nobody, and an explosive drone, or possibly two, in Leipzig which did not explode. To counter this massive threat, we need to push an entire continent to nuclear war. As a first step, we need to cut health and social spending to give trillions more to arms manufacturers, and prepare our children for conscription, to die on the battlefield.

Forgive me if I am not convinced.

September 10, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Militarism, Russophobia | | Comments Off on Nonsense Drones and Novichok

Moldova debunks drone threat to Zelensky’s plane

RT | September 10, 2026

Moldova has dismissed a claim by Norway’s prime minister that Vladimir Zelensky’s plane was nearly struck by a UAV while leaving Chisinau, saying the aircraft was never in any direct danger.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told broadcaster NRK on Wednesday that Zelensky’s plane “was almost hit by a drone” as the Ukrainian leader traveled from Moldova to Oslo for the funeral of King Harald V.

Before any evidence was produced, Store’s claims were widely picked up by Western media outlets, who tried to frame the incident as evidence of a supposed Russian drone threat to Europe.

On Thursday, however, Moldova flatly rejected that account, with government spokesman Dumitru Ciorici saying Zelensky’s flight had been delayed because the country temporarily closed its airspace following a drone alert.

He stressed that there had been “no direct threat” to the aircraft, which remained on the ground throughout the airspace closure. The drone that had allegedly entered Moldova’s airspace ended up crashing and exploding near a village around 160km from Chisinau airport, causing no casualties, Moldovan authorities said.

Meanwhile, former Moldovan President Igor Dodon has accused the authorities of concealing from the public a separate incident involving a Ukrainian national allegedly caught at the border with a drone and explosives.

“We see more and more attempts and provocations to involve the Republic of Moldova in everything that is happening in Ukraine,” Dodon said, urging Chisinau to stay away from Kiev’s “war strategy.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also dismissed the alleged threat to Zelensky’s plane as “ephemeral,” saying it “did not exist” and noting that even Ukrainian sources have acknowledged there was no direct danger.

Moldova, whose pro-EU government under President Maia Sandu has moved closer to Brussels and NATO while severely downgrading relations with Moscow, has repeatedly joined other pro-Ukraine governments in blaming Russia for drone incidents before producing evidence.

Similar accusations across Europe have frequently collapsed under scrutiny, with investigators in several cases finding no proof that Russian drones were involved and some incidents later traced to Ukrainian UAVs or even misidentified aircraft.

Moscow has accused Kiev of repeatedly staging drone provocations in an effort to draw its Western backers deeper into the conflict.

September 10, 2026 Posted by | Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Russophobia | | Comments Off on Moldova debunks drone threat to Zelensky’s plane

It’s OK to fight for a foreign army (as long as they’re our friends)

That’s the unwritten rule for Britain’s media

By DES FREEDMAN | Declassified UK | September 2, 2026

The death of a British national, Bradley Townsend, killed in Ukraine in June while fighting for Russian forces has been widely reported in the media.

“British traitor who joined Vladimir Putin’s army ‘killed by Ukraine drone’” splashed the Daily Star while former security minister Tom Tugendhat told LBC that Townsend was “extremely misguided” for “engaging in an army that is committing the most barbarous war crimes that the world has seen in decades.”

Compare this to the far more positive coverage in the media of individual British nationals who have served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a genocide that has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians.

When Declassified, for example, revealed exclusively that more than 2,000 British subjects had joined the IDF since October 7, the only reference to this in the mainstream media was a short article in The London Standard.

There are, however, no stories describing British nationals as ‘traitors’ for joining the IDF, nor ministerial condemnations of subjects taking part in what the United Nations has described as “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”.

On the contrary, British subjects enlisting in the IDF are routinely humanised and their justifications reported without criticism.

A Times story in October 2023, headlined “Meet the Britons defending ‘the only place Jews feel safe’”, described IDF soldier Sam Sank as a Tottenham fan and dog owner while also referring to another dual national, Joe, as a “Chelsea fan… camping out with an emergency supply of PG Tips tea.”

BBC News interviewed British-Israeli soldier Alex Moeller on 17 November 2023 drawing on his experience in an ‘IDF anti-terror unit’.

Moeller spoke, without rebuttal, about how Israeli forces had committed to “minimise civilian casualties and obviously minimise humanitarian impact”.

He opposed a ceasefire, describing it simply as a ‘tactical’ ploy by Hamas.

There was a marked distinction in the reporting of British nationals fighting for Russia, which is extremely negative, describing them as “thugs”, “yobs” and seriously misguided people.

For example, the Sun reported in November 2024 on Jay Fraser, the “Scots mercenary fighting for Vladimir Putin” while the Observer described him as a “university dropout” who was “captivated by ‘manly’ Russia”.

In March 2024, the Mirror reported on the “British traitors” fighting on the Russian side, Ben Stimson and his best friend Aidan Minnis, describing the latter as a “former National Front member and convicted thug.”

The article quotes former British army commander Colonel Richard Kemp: “These two are an absolute disgrace and are traitors who upon their return to the UK should be arrested and jailed.”

It then carries a Home Office statement saying that: “Any person who travels from the UK to conflict zones to engage in unlawful activity, should expect to be investigated upon their return.”

There are no stories that reveal similar threats being made against dual nationals fighting for the IDF other than a single reference on late-night BBC radio on 22 July 2025.

Defence journalist Tim Ripley suggested that the UK government could use a law to stop British citizens “commuting to the war in Gaza”.

The suggestion was not explored afterwards by any outlet.

Heroes in Ukraine

In contrast to the coverage of pro-Russian Britons, articles on British subjects fighting on the side of Ukraine have been far more positive.

The Sunday Times, for example, reported sympathetically about the case of ‘Baby’, a young Scot who signed up for Ukrainian forces but who, on his return from the frontline, was prevented from joining Police Scotland.

There was also blanket coverage in February 2025 – including on the BBC and Sky – of former Tory MP Jack Lopresti who joined Ukrainian forces after losing his seat in the 2024 general election.

This includes particularly sympathetic profiles in the Telegraph and Mail. The Guardian was equally positive in its account which highlighted Foreign Office advice that “it is illegal for British citizens to fight in Ukraine”.

Even though it was revealed in February 2026 that Lopresti had joined the neo-Nazi Azov Brigade, the Telegraph then carried a story the following month with the headline: “Jack Lopresti is a rare example of a politician who puts his money where his mouth is”.

The article was written by Colonel Richard Kemp, the same person who had called for the jailing of the two Britons fighting on the Russian side.

September 8, 2026 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite, Russophobia | , , , | Comments Off on It’s OK to fight for a foreign army (as long as they’re our friends)

After historic German election, will the AfD rule Saxony-Anhalt?

Remix News | September 7, 2026

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) just won the largest share of any party in a German state election in the party’s history. Despite the historic result, which has sent shockwaves through the German political establishment, lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund in Saxony-Anhalt still fell short of an absolute majority needed to govern.

That gap, three seats in an 83-member Saxony-Anhalt Landtag, is now the focal point of unfolding drama in the capital city of Magdeburg, where the future direction of the state, and perhaps even of the country, will be decided. AfD has a political mandate and a number of options that could produce dramatic results. Here are three possible scenarios.

An AfD and BSW coalition?

On the preliminary official count, the AfD took 43.8 percent and 39 seats. The threshold for an absolute majority is 42. The BSW scraped in with 5.3 percent and five seats. Together they would have 44. Everyone else together also has 44. Without the BSW, the chamber splits 39–39.

The BSW has already been open that it is willing to pursue a coalition with the AfD, but this is not a comfortable coalition for the AfD.

Siegmund spent the campaign insisting he would not take office without a stable majority of his own. After election night he kept the hard line in one respect and loosened it in another. He still rejected the BSW’s preferred model, a non-partisan minister-president governing with shifting majorities, as messy power politics.

Siegmund called the offer “nonsense” and said he did not want to give up the AfD’s goals and values in the face of “power games.”

He still said the AfD would not trade away its program for power, but he also said he would extend a hand to anyone prepared to deliver a “fundamental political change,” including, if necessary, individual deputies rather than whole parties.

If that fails?

“In an emergency, there will simply be new elections.,” he said. In such a scenario, he predicts the AfD would score “50 to 55%.”

The question is whether cooperation with the BSW on some level is possible. Sahra Wagenknecht framed the result as a chance for a change of course on energy, Russia sanctions, education, and public broadcasting. State-level BSW figures say they will not join a “firewall” coalition against the AfD. They also say they will not elect Siegmund. Their offer is a third way, involving a new leader both parties can agree on, plus issue-by-issue majorities that could include the AfD.

However, the BSW is already hinting they may be willing to give up even more for an AfD government.

BSW’s lead candidate, Thomas Schulze, suggested that in the third ballot for minister-president, the BSW may abstain from the vote, which in theory, could let Siegmund through to become the state leader.

What the BSW would obtain in return remains to be seen.

However, despite the differences between the AfD and BSW, the two parties have much in common. The overlap involves a strict crackdown on migration, tackling energy costs, shifting policy on Ukraine, and hostility to the public broadcasters.

At the same time, BSW politicians have already flagged education policy and parts of the AfD’s economic and social agenda as unacceptable. A formal coalition was ruled out by Wagenknecht before the vote. What remains is only a quasi gray zone where both parties can exist together a vote a time.

For Siegmund, the political costs of that gray zone are obvious. He ran as the man who would reshape the state standing alone. Accepting a non-AfD premier, or even a minority premiership propped up only with the support of Wagenknecht’s left-wing party, would look like the opposite. However, stepping back from the deal would leave his party out of the halls of power once again.

AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel both appear eager for Siegmund to take the deal. Chrupalla has already talked up the possibility of a minority government that would seek majorities case by case.

Peel off CDU MPs?

Siegmund’s second option may prove even more explosive for German politics. He spoke of not working with parties, but with individuals from the parties. He suggested individual deputies could “support an AfD government.” Some in the AfD’s federal circle even talk about CDU members crossing the floor to the AfD camp, and there are even suggestions that some MPs may defect.

If any CDU politician defected to the AfD, there would be a national firestorm. While if only one vote was needed, this might be in the realm of possibility, but finding three such MPs may prove a very tall order. The CDU has tried to build the firewall into its DNA, and if three CDU members helped bring the AfD to power in a state, it may be enough to collapse the federal government and end the chancellorship of Friedrich Merz.

Regardless of whether the AfD can peel off three CDU votes, the pressure on the party is tremendous after it collapsed to a mere 17.2 percent, effectively halving its support. The CDU is almost assured to continue facing a political reckoning in the future, which means the dam may break at some point, and CDU politicians may be more and more willing to jump ship to the AfD.

A repeat election possible?

An anti-AfD government is mathematically possible but politically? It would be a total mess.

It would need the CDU, SPD, Greens, Left, and BSW — five parties, two of which spent the campaign treating each other as the problem. The CDU already ruled out coalitions with both the AfD and the Left Party. The BSW campaigned to push the CDU out, with Wagenknecht also calling another firewall coalition an affront to voters.

That does not mean it cannot be attempted, and it very well might be, even despite the potential consequences for all the parties involved. If that project forms and then staggers, Siegmund’s threat of new elections stops being a far-fetched scenario. A second vote in such a scenario could indeed catapult the AfD above the 50 percent mark.

Procedurally, the clock is already running, as the new Landtag must convene by Oct. 6. The strongest group proposes the Landtag president in the first round. The minister-president is elected by secret ballot, with no fixed deadline once nominations begin. While the first ballot requires a majority of all votes, in the final round, a simple majority of votes cast can suffice to elect a new minister-president.

As far as the best outcome for the AfD, it is hard to argue against CDU defectors handing the AfD the keys to victory. It would allow the AfD to take control with a like-minded party on paper while sparking a major crisis for the ruling CDU.

However, remaining outside government also comes with plenty of bonuses, and as Remix News previously wrote, avoids serious pitfalls that the federal government and even the EU can put up against an AfD government.

Despite falling short of an absolute majority, the AfD appears to be in the driver’s seat.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Militarism, Russophobia | | Comments Off on After historic German election, will the AfD rule Saxony-Anhalt?

‘Russophobia a national sport’ – Polish party rallies against push to war

RT | September 7, 2026

Polish protesters have accused Warsaw of whipping up anti-Russian hostility and dragging the country toward war as the government continues to arm Ukraine and deepen confrontation with Moscow.

Supporters of the Confederation of the Polish Crown party marched through Gniezno on Sunday behind a banner reading “Poland for Peace,” carrying Polish and party flags.

“They’re trying to turn Russophobia into our national sport. But we won’t give in,” activist Marta Czech told the crowd, urging “prudence” as tensions with Russia continue to rise.

Another speaker, Lukasz Pakulski, accused the authorities of frightening Poles with talk of tanks, nuclear weapons, and a wider conflict. “They are pushing us into war,” he said, declaring that “Poles stand for peace.”

The Crown is a traditionalist, Euroskeptic party founded by MEP Grzegorz Braun. It campaigns for tighter immigration controls, less power for Brussels, and Poland’s withdrawal from the EU, while opposing deeper Polish involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

The protest comes as Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government has continued to support Kiev, arguing that Ukraine’s security is inseparable from Poland’s own. Warsaw has provided around $6.8 billion in aid to Kiev since 2022, including more than $5 billion in military assistance. Poland also hosts around 961,000 Ukrainians under temporary protection.

However, public enthusiasm for the policy has been fading, with a July poll finding that 52% of Poles opposed accepting more Ukrainian refugees, while another survey showed 67% backed deporting unemployed Ukrainian men of military age.

Another survey found 27% believed Western aid to Ukraine was too large, compared with 22% who wanted more, while opposition to Ukrainian EU membership reached a record 40%.

Relations between Warsaw and Kiev have also recently deteriorated over historical grievances after Vladimir Zelensky named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which Poland holds responsible for massacring up to 100,000 ethnic Poles during World War II.

President Karol Nawrocki later stripped Zelensky of Poland’s highest state honor, while other politicians have called for an end to free weapons deliveries to Kiev.

Moscow has consistently accused Warsaw of deliberately stoking anti-Russian sentiment while supporting Kiev’s war effort.

Russian officials have also highlighted the Kiev-Warsaw UPA dispute, arguing that even one of Ukraine’s strongest backers can no longer ignore Kiev’s embrace of neo-Nazi ideology and glorification of figures linked to wartime atrocities.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , | Comments Off on ‘Russophobia a national sport’ – Polish party rallies against push to war

Europe enters winter with ‘dangerously low’ gas reserves amid Persian Gulf supply shock: Report

The Cradle | September 3, 2026

Europe is heading into winter with dangerously low natural gas reserves, Bloomberg reported on 3 September, amid high prices driven by the US-Israeli war on Iran and rising competition for supply in the global market.

According to the European Commission’s most recent update, gas storage levels in the EU are at 65 percent.

To meet its lowest storage target of 75 percent, Europe will need to purchase 100 terawatt-hours of gas before the end of the year, Bloomberg calculations show.

Such purchases would cost more than $8 billion at current prices, making stockpiling uneconomical.

Governments and utilities across Europe have delayed natural gas purchases in hopes that additional supply becomes available and prices fall in time to refill before winter.

Gas prices have doubled since February due to the US-Israeli war on Iran as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut, disrupting exports of gas from Qatar, a major international supplier.

European countries have sought to build inventories ahead of each winter following natural gas shortages resulting from the Russia–Ukraine war that began in 2022.

Europe has deliberately sought to limit its own purchases of Russian gas in response to the war. Additionally, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, which supplied cheap gas from Russia to Germany, was destroyed in September 2022 under mysterious circumstances benefiting the US, Ukraine, and Poland.

US natural gas producers have benefited from both the destruction of Nord Stream and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The US has become the world’s top exporter of natural gas after rushing to fill the gap in lost Qatari and Russian gas supplies by providing more expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipped by tankers across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to Europe and Asia.

Germany and other EU nations are not expected to suffer gas shortages this winter, as they can pay for the needed gas supplies despite the higher prices.

However, late European purchases at high prices could cause shortages and energy blackouts in poorer countries that lack the funds to compete to purchase the same LNG cargoes.

“The potential for a global ‘fight for fuel’ is there, particularly in a colder winter,” stated Go Katayama, principal insight analyst for LNG at maritime data tracking platform Kpler.

Bangladesh and Pakistan are among those countries most vulnerable to shortages. Both countries suffered blackouts and factory closures after the natural gas crisis in 2022.

However, more expensive gas purchases will drive higher inflation in Europe and expand the risk of a long period of stagnation, sluggish growth, and de-industrialization.

September 3, 2026 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia, Wars for Israel | , , , | Comments Off on Europe enters winter with ‘dangerously low’ gas reserves amid Persian Gulf supply shock: Report

NATO Frantically Seeks Excuses to Prolong Its ‘Artificial Existence’ — Lavrov

Sputnik – 03.09.2026

NATO is pushing deeper into Asia and looking for new justifications to preserve itself, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

The alliance should have dissolved itself alongside the Warsaw Pact after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but instead kept searching for new missions.

After NATO’s campaign in Afghanistan “ended badly” and its forces fled, the alliance replaced the Soviet threat with an invented “Russian threat,” Lavrov said.

NATO is now seeking to establish its infrastructure in Asia, while the US Congress has considered the concept of an Indo-Pacific treaty organization.

Lavrov warned that such plans would reproduce “NATO ideology” and “NATO mentality” in the Asia-Pacific region.

September 3, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia, Sinophobia | | Comments Off on NATO Frantically Seeks Excuses to Prolong Its ‘Artificial Existence’ — Lavrov

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