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Ukrainian insistence on war might seriously irritate Hungary

By Lucas Leiroz | July 3, 2024

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made a surprise visit to Kiev on July 2 and spoke with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky about the possibility of a ceasefire. The Kiev authorities rejected Orban’s proposal almost immediately, making it clear that there will be no peace and that the country plans to follow the Western directive of fighting “to the last Ukrainian.”

Orban proposed to Zelensky that he take the initiative to establish a ceasefire and then resume peace talks with Russia. In the Hungarian leader’s opinion, a ceasefire would be a fruitful gesture of goodwill for dialogue with Moscow, showing that Kiev is willing to resolve the conflict diplomatically. He believes that, with hostilities stopped, negotiations could advance more appropriately, having more chances for the sides to finally reach a deal.

This was Orban’s first visit to Kiev in more than a decade, which shows how the Hungarian politician was genuinely willing to propose a peace dialogue. However, Ukrainian authorities did not even consider Orban’s proposal, with Zelensky’s aide Igor Zhovkva almost immediately speaking out to reject the initiative.

“[Orban] voiced his opinion (…) This is not the first country that talks about such possible developments (…) [However] Ukraine’s position is quite clear, understandable and well-known (…) [For Kiev, a ceasefire] cannot be considered in isolation,” he said during an official statement.

Zhovkva is wrong when he says that Orban proposed an “isolated” ceasefire. The initiative he proposed is aimed at resuming peace negotiations. Obviously, ceasing hostilities before the talks would be seen by Moscow as a gesture of goodwill, regardless of the final outcome of the discussions. However, this Ukrainian diplomatic impoliteness was really expected.

The neo-Nazi regime has repeatedly made it clear that it is not willing to negotiate peace except on its own terms – which include precisely the regaining of territorial control over the areas liberated by Russian forces. Moscow is obviously not willing to hand over to the enemy territories that have already been reintegrated into the Russian Federation, so dialogue with the Kiev junta is impossible.

In fact, from a realistic point of view, only the Russians can really propose a peace agreement. As the victorious side in the conflict, it is Moscow that decides when to end military action. Kiev can only accept Russia’s conditions or continue fighting even without any chance of victory. For its part, Russia has already proposed a peace agreement, the main points of which are the recognition of the New Regions and Kiev’s promise not to join NATO. Ukraine continues to refuse these conditions, unnecessarily prolonging the conflict.

It is possible to say that Orban did what he could, but his plans were frustrated by the Ukrainian thirst for war. The Kiev junta is obstinate in carrying out all Western orders, with any peace initiatives being fruitless. However, it is important to emphasize how Ukraine’s harsh attitude towards Orban could have serious consequences, since tensions between Kiev and Budapest have been rising steadily in recent times.

Orban has a sovereigntist stance, being a dissident leader in the EU and NATO. He is against arms supplies to Kiev and in favor of peace between Russia and Europe. Recently, Orban accused “EU bureaucrats” of wanting war with Russia and made it clear that he does not want Hungary to be involved in such a situation.

Orban is also deeply concerned about his ethnic Hungarian compatriots under Ukrainian jurisdiction. Just as it does with Russians in Donbass, Kiev is promoting ethnic cleansing in the Hungarian-majority region of Transcarpathia. The Hungarian language has been banned from Transcarpathian schools, and local citizens have been massively sent to certain death on the front lines, being a priority in the forced conscription policy.

Hungary has repeatedly denounced the situation in Transcarpathia, but international organizations remain inactive. Zelensky did not give Orban any explanation on this issue at the recent meeting. This is highly expected to anger the Hungarian leader and encourage him to take increasingly tough measures against Kiev, perhaps by sanctioning it or encouraging the mass emigration of ethnic Hungarians from Ukraine.

In addition, Orban could pursue an even more sovereigntist policy from now on. The Hungarian prime minister has already understood that there is no future in cooperating with the EU and NATO, which is why Hungary may seek strategic partnerships with emerging powers, including Russia.

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

July 3, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

Finland to Offer Bird Flu Vaccine Despite Lack of Safety Testing and Human Infections

By John-Michael Dumais | The Defender | June 27, 2024

Finland is set to become the first country in the world to offer bird flu vaccinations to humans, sparking a heated debate about vaccine safety and necessity.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos or THL) announced plans to begin administering H5N8 bird flu vaccines to select groups as early as next week, despite the absence of human infections in the country.

The unprecedented move comes as global health experts express conflicting views on the threat posed by avian influenza. While Finnish officials cite the need for preemptive protection, critics argue the vaccination program is premature and potentially dangerous.

The Finnish announcement comes just two weeks after the European Commission Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HERA) program announced the purchase of 665,000 doses of CSL Seqirus’ H5N8 avian influenza vaccine, with an option to acquire another 40 million doses over the next four years. HERA has already obtained 111 million doses of GSK’s bird flu vaccine.

Finland’s vaccination plan

Finland plans to offer the CSL Seqirus H5N8 bird flu vaccine to approximately 10,000 people deemed at high risk of exposure to the virus.

Mia Kontio, a health security official at THL, told STAT News that the country was awaiting the arrival of 20,000 doses, with plans to administer them “as soon as the vaccines are in the country.”

According to THL’s press release, the target groups for vaccination include:

  • Fur farm workers in contact with animals.
  • Poultry workers in direct contact with birds.
  • Veterinarians.
  • Laboratory workers handling avian influenza samples.
  • Bird ringers and those caring for wild birds.
  • Workers in petting zoos and aviaries.

CSL Seqirus’ vaccine received the European Union’s (EU) marketing authorization in April. The vaccine requires a two-dose series, with the second dose administered at least three weeks after the first.

“The goal is to start vaccinations in the welfare areas as soon as possible, so that the two-dose vaccination series can be offered to the vaccinated before the start of the autumn flu season,” said THL’s expert doctor Anniina Virkku.

Besides protection from bird flu, the vaccination program aims to prevent simultaneous infection with the seasonal flu virus, “which could enable the emergence of a new type of virus.”

THL noted that the vaccination program is targeted at high-risk groups and is not a blanket recommendation for the staff of facilities without contact with infected birds or animals.

‘U.S. has never had a fatal human case of bird flu’

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has caused widespread concern among government health authorities in recent years, leading to the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry globally, according to Reuters.

The virus has expanded its reach, affecting not only birds but also an increasing number of mammals, including cows in the U.S.

In 2023, Finland experienced large-scale deaths of wild birds due to bird flu virus infections, THL said. The virus also spread widely to fur farms, causing high morbidity and mortality in animals.

However, the Finnish Food Agency reported that bird flu cases in wild birds have significantly decreased in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Globally, human infections remain rare. Since December 2021, only eight cases of bird flu have been reported in humans worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

In the U.S., three dairy workers were diagnosed with confirmed infections tied to the recent outbreak among cattle, all experiencing mild symptoms, according to STAT News.

Despite the low number of human cases, health authorities remain concerned about the virus’s potential to mutate and become more transmissible between humans.

However, Dr. Peter A. McCullough, in his Substack post on Monday argued that even if the bird flu crossed to humans, it would be less dangerous. “Increased transmissibility of H5N1 has a tradeoff of decreased virulence,” he wrote.

He said the alarming statistics on human mortality rates are from long-ago cases in Southeast Asia and that such concerns are “not appropriate” for today’s strains.

Furthermore, the U.S. “has never had a fatal human case of bird flu,” he said.

A dangerous vaccine for a disease that does not exist’

Medical freedom advocates and health experts have voiced strong objections to the rapid deployment of the bird flu vaccine.

Internist and bioweapons expert Dr. Meryl Nass pointed out that the product information for the H5N8 bird flu vaccine recently purchased by the EU — the same one being deployed in Finland — includes no clinical data for this specific vaccine strain, meaning it has not been tested in humans.

STAT News reported that the European Medicines Agency approved the H5N8 bird flu vaccine based on immunogenicity studies rather than traditional efficacy trials, as the virus isn’t currently circulating among humans.

Nass noted that scientists don’t have a clear way to measure if the vaccine protects against H5 types of bird flu and that it’s unclear whether the vaccine would work against other similar strains of the virus.

She called the product “a dangerous vaccine for a disease that does not exist.”

Nass also noted that the vaccine contains the adjuvant MF59C.1, which includes squalene, polysorbate 80 and other compounds that could cause autoimmunity.

Jessica Rose, Ph.D., a vaccine analyst and biomathematics specialist, said she has several reservations about the program. “There’s no need for this vaccine, and it poses dangers including tolerization and autoimmune reactions from molecular mimicry,” she told The Defender.

Tolerization (or immunological tolerance) occurs when the immune system becomes less responsive to a particular antigen over time, potentially reducing the vaccine’s effectiveness.

Molecular mimicry refers to similarities between vaccine components and human proteins, which could lead the immune system to mistakenly attack the body’s own tissues, potentially triggering autoimmune disorders.

Rose also said, “Intramuscular injections are never the way to deal with pathogens that enter the body via respiration.”

McCullough warned that mass vaccination could lead to a “highly prevalent pandemic” because it “promotes resistant strains of the virus in the vaccinated.”

He suggested alternative strategies, including “dilute iodine nasal sprays and gargles, oseltamivir, hydroxychloroquine and other antivirals” for prevention and early treatment.

McCullough criticized what he called “fear-mongering promulgated by the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex,” suggesting that it is “designed to promote mass vaccination of animals and humans with lucrative pre-purchased contracts to the vaccine manufacturers” and their nongovernmental organization sponsors.

Geert Vanden Bossche, DVM, Ph.D., voiced similar concerns. He told The Defender, “Any large-scale vax program using whatever vaccine administered during a pandemic or a panzootic transmissible to humans is at risk of causing large-scale Ab-[antibody-]dependent enhancement of disease and large-scale immune escape!”

Antibody-dependent enhancement is a phenomenon where antibodies produced by the immune system in response to a vaccine or previous infection can worsen a subsequent infection. Instead of protecting against the virus, these antibodies can help the virus enter cells more easily, potentially leading to more severe illness.

Regarding Vanden Bossche’s concerns over immune escape, he made the same argument for the COVID-19 vaccines, claiming their administration during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak caused the evolution of more transmissible and dangerous viral variants.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

June 29, 2024 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | , , | Leave a comment

The European Mutiny: The Consequences are Just Beginning

By Alastair Crooke | Al Mayadeen | June 26, 2024

In the European Parliament elections this month, voters in most of the European Union’s 27 countries rallied to parties that hold the remote EU Establishment in contempt.

In France, the once-taboo National Rally party outpolled the party of President Macron by more than 2 to 1; in Germany, the party of Scholtz, the SPD (a veteran German party) collapsed to 13% voter support, at the same time that the other components to the governing coalition collapsed. The Greens sank to 12% and the FDP were at borderline 5% of the popular vote (5% is the entry-level to Germany’s parliament).

Much has been written to argue that European Parliamentary Centre ‘held’, yet even that hangs in the balance until the newly-elected MEPs first assemble to approve the clutch of EU top jobs: i.e. the three ‘Presidents’ — Presidents of the Commission, the Council, and of Parliament; plus the High Representative (i.e. the EU’s ‘Foreign Minister’).

For now, the composition of the European Parliament is the subject of intense internecine struggle. These were elections only to the European Parliament — a body that does not initiate legislation in the EU, but which is supposed to exercise a general surveillance.

The real elections in Europe these days are the national elections.

That in itself is a ‘pointer’: Decisive voting is taking place at the national level, and not at the supranational centre in Brussels.

The ‘real’ elections are taking place in France and the UK, despite the latter being outside the EU. The UK vote nonetheless will be an important litmus of European opinion, precisely because its Ruling Strata has become known for its compliance with US policies.

The anti-Establishment and anti-bureaucracy outpouring amongst voters has astonished and disconcerted the élites. The governing party — the venerable Conservative Party — is being routed, and might not survive as a meaningful political entity after 4 July.

In Germany, Scholtz’s ‘traffic light’ coalition also may not survive — following its calamitous EU election. Scholz’s government has a budget shortfall of €40bn. That is the estimated amount Scholz and his coalition partners need to cut in federal spending in order to plug the gap. Within Germany’s ruling parties, there is a consensus forming that the severely weakened coalition cannot survive another grinding dispute on the budget, as happened last year after a ruling by Germany’s top court blew a €60 billion hole in the country’s finances.

Then there are, in September, key state votes ahead in Brandenburg, Thuringia, and Saxony. According to polls, the (populist-rightist) Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is winning in each region, all of which are located in the eastern or central part of the country. Within the Former East Germany, 40% of the votes in the Euro-elections went to either the AfD, or the party of Sara Wagenkecht – a new party espousing contrarian policies.

In France, the situation for the élite class looks equally dire: A series of opinion polls over the past few days reflect the darkening clouds engulfing Macron’s centrist alliance. The polls show the National Rally inching closer to a majority in France’s lower house of parliament, the National Assembly.

If the National Rally does win a majority, the impact of a putative Rally premiership, led by Jordan Bardella, would have major repercussions extending far beyond France — to the EU and beyond. A confrontational stance by the party toward Brussels is a given. And whilst in Italy, Giorgia Meloni has tried to accommodate Brussels on key policy stances, there’s no guarantee Bardella would follow suit.  Or that Meloni will not switch to ally with Bardella.

This ‘mutiny’ has been long in the making:  EU policies such as immigration, Green farm policies, and heavy-handed bureaucracy have ignited huge anger; but there is one burning issue that largely is kept under the table, and spoken of in hushed tones — Ukraine.

The Biden-faction within Brussels is wholly invested in the US project for escalation of the war in Ukraine against Russia (at least until November), and thereafter Europe is expected to prepare for a later full-scale confrontation with Russia — possibly mounted to mesh with US military action against China, for which the Pentagon is busy preparing.

Of course, ‘all’ hangs on the US election outcome.

The elephant in the ‘planning room’ is that Europeans do not want war with Russia — however hard it is pushed by the Ruling Strata. It is manifestly not in the European interest.

The National Rally is opposed to support for Ukraine, and even Scholtz, the most faithful leader to a Washington ‘lead’ admitted in an interview on Sunday, that the SPD had as little as 7% support in some parts of eastern Germany, which traditionally has been more positively predisposed toward Russia.

“Something is going on there; No way around it”, Scholtz exclaimed.

He then acknowledged that the dire ratings for the SPD stemmed from the fact that “many people do not agree with the support for Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia. This is also reflected in the [wider, poor] election results”, Scholz stated. “There is no alternative [but] to changing that”. 

And even in the UK which traditionally tries ‘to be out, in front’ of the US on security issues, the Establishment swooned when Nigel Farage whose Reform party is within a whisker of overtaking the governing Conservative Party in terms of popular esteem said the ‘unsayable’: He said that NATO’s forever expansions towards Russia’s borders were the cause of the Ukraine war. You (metaphorically) could ‘hear a pin drop’ as he broke ranks and uttered the unsayable.

Now, Farage – whether you like him or not – is a consummate politician — unlike Sunak or Starmer, who are anything ‘but’. Farage knows how to tell which way the wind blows.

France and Germany together, historically provide Europe’s engine. For years, however, the EU has built itself by usurping the prerogatives of Europe’s nation-states, only to reinvest them at the supra-national level — for ever.

By the start of this century, London, Berlin, Rome and Athens were much less self-governing than they used to be — to the alarm of voters: Brexit was one result.

“Europeans”, C. Caldwell writes in the New York Times, “for the most part, were not aware that they had been enlisted in a project that has as its end point the extinction of France, Germany, Italy and the rest of Europe’s historic nations – as meaningful political units. Brussels has been able to win assent to its project only by concealing its nature. Europe’s younger generation appears however to have seen through the dissembling. We are only at the beginning of the consequences”.

Brussels may try to claim that the ‘Centre held’; that their Ukraine, Green immigration and centralizing policies can continue unaffected. But Caldwell is correct: we are only at the beginning of the consequences, should they try to insist. The “real problem with the union [is] not what it does but what it is … a ruthless state-building project like those of Cardinal Richelieu under Louis XIII”.

The European Union’s governing machinery in Brussels has never been where voters’ interests – or hearts – lie.

June 26, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

EU Accelerates De-Dollarization by Stealing Russian Money

By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 25.06.2024

The EU will send €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in profits from the frozen assets of Russia’s Central Bank to the “European Peace Facility” in order to meet the Kiev regime’s military needs.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced on June 24 that the bloc has approved grabbing windfall income from frozen Russian assets.
According to Borrell, €1.4 billion will be available in the course of the next month, and another €1 billion by the end of the year.

“The decision is shameful,” Gilbert Doctorow, an international relations and Russian affairs analyst, told Sputnik. “It is totally hypocritical to assign to a “Peace Facility” the role of financing arms and war. The ultimate goal of this ‘peace initiative’ is to prolong the war, at least till after the American elections in November for the sake of Mr Biden’s personal ambitions.”

Ninety percent of the revenues will be spent on arms and just 10 percent on construction projects in Ukraine.

Going against the usual requirement for unanimity between its members, the EU snubbed Hungary’s veto by using a legal “loophole”.

“New billions for Ukraine. This time by kicking up the European rules and leaving out Hungary,” Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó commented earlier on Monday.
He slammed the “shameless breach of common European rules,” stressing in a social media post that “This is a clear red line.”

After the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, the EU and G7 countries froze almost $300 billion in Russian assets. Around $207 billion are held at Euroclear, a clearinghouse based in Belgium.

“The result will be to sharply reduce use of the Euro as a reserve currency by countries of the Global South, who all fear the kind of arbitrary and illegal confiscation of their national wealth by European governments whenever it suits their purposes,” Doctorow warned.

Brussels’ decision is “bad” in every respect, said Adriel Kasonta, a London-based foreign affairs analyst and former chairman of the International Affairs Committee at the Bow Group think-tank.

“First of all, it is illegal, if we take into account the violation of the principle of sovereign immunity of the sovereign country, which is the Russian Federation,” Kasonta told Sputnik.

“It exposes the western double standard when it comes to the rule of law and the application of the rules to the countries equally,” he continued.

That “is clearly detrimental because it serves as a boost to the de-dollarization movement,” the expert stressed. “It will… accelerate the movement of abandoning the currency of the dollar and euro in international transactions.”

Russia has repeatedly warned it will take retaliatory measures in response to any attempts to expropriate its financial resources by the West, and that it would perceive any form of grab as “theft”.

Any actions with Russian frozen assets will trigger a symmetrical response, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Sputnik in late February, adding that a similar quantity of foreign assets have been frozen in Russia.

Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a press briefing that Russia could take a wide variety of measures to respond to the G7 decision to fund Ukraine using profits from frozen Russian assets.

June 26, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

New law ‘pushing Georgia away from EU’ – Borrell

RT | June 25, 2024

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has warned Georgia that its potential accession to the bloc is in jeopardy after Tbilisi adopted a controversial ‘foreign agent’ law earlier this month. The US has also indicated it will not hesitate to penalize the former Soviet republic unless it walks back the legislation.

Known officially as the Transparency of Foreign Influence Act and spearheaded by the ruling Georgian Dream party, the law came into force earlier this month despite opposition protests and a veto by President Salome Zourabichvili.

The legislation requires NGOs, media outlets, and individuals who receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as entities “promoting the interests of a foreign power” and to disclose their donors. Those who fail to comply will face fines of up to $9,500.

While opponents of the bill have described it as “Russian” and an attack on democracy, supporters have insisted it is similar to what numerous Western nations, including the US, have in place.

On Monday, Borrell said the foreign ministers of EU members had held “a lively debate on Georgia” for the second time in less than a month. Citing “worrying political developments,” the diplomat warned that “this law and all the negative developments around it are pushing Georgia away from the European Union.”

“If the government does not change the course of action, Georgia will not progress on the European Union path,” Borrell insisted.

According to the EU foreign policy chief, the law goes “against the will of the overwhelming majority of the Georgian population.” Brussels is planning to “increase our support to civil society and media” in the former Soviet republic, he added. The EU will also downgrade political contacts with Tbilisi and consider “putting on hold our financial assistance to the government,” Borrell stated.

Earlier this month, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller claimed the ‘foreign agent’ law “moves Georgia away from its democratic trajectory” and “fundamentally alter[s] the US relationship with Georgia.” “We have not yet announced individual sanctions… but we have made clear that we would not hesitate to impose them,” the official stated.

Late last month, Washington announced that it would start restricting visas for Georgian politicians who played a role in passing the legislation. In November 2023, the European Commission recommended granting Georgia candidate status “on the understanding that the government takes important reform steps.”

June 26, 2024 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite | , | Leave a comment

Russia retaliates against EU’s latest media ban

RT | June 25, 2024

Russia is restricting access to more than 80 EU media outlets on its territory that have been involved in spreading disinformation about the Ukraine conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

According to a statement issued on the ministry’s website, the move comes in response to the EU’s latest crackdown on Russian media.

In May, the European Council banned four media outlets from reporting to audiences in the EU, including leading Russian news agency RIA Novosti, as well as newspapers Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The ban also applies to the relatively small Czech-based portal Voice of Europe, which the EU has described as a “Kremlin-linked propaganda network.” The restrictions on the media outlets came into force on June 25.

“The Russian side has repeatedly and at various levels warned that politically motivated harassment of its journalists and unfounded bans on Russian media in the EU will not go unnoticed,” the ministry said, noting that Brussels and other EU capitals had chosen to take the path of escalation with their latest illegal ban despite warnings, forcing Moscow to take mirror countermeasures.

“Responsibility for such a development of events lies solely with the leadership of the European Union and the countries of the bloc that supported such a decision,” according to the ministry.

The list of EU media outlets that “systematically disseminate false information” about the progress of Moscow’s special military operation includes 81 organizations from 25 member states. They include Germany’s Der Spiegel, Spain’s El Pais, Italy’s La Stampa and La Repubblica newspapers, the French Agence France-Presse, Le Monde, Liberation, as well as the pan-European Politico and EUobserver.

Moscow may reconsider its decision in relation to the media outlets if restrictions on Russian media are lifted, according to the statement.

Brussels had already barred several Russia-associated media from engaging with audiences in member states due to the Ukraine conflict. Even platforming content from the targeted organizations is illegal in the bloc. Those sanctions included RT and Sputnik, suspending their TV broadcasting licenses and blocking both websites for readers across the EU.

Moscow has accused Brussels of duplicity and attacking freedom of speech with its restrictions. The campaign to undermine the work of Russian news organizations long predates the Ukraine conflict and is aimed at preventing European citizens from hearing opinions that their governments deem undesirable, Russian officials have claimed.

June 25, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

EU ‘crossed a red line’ by banning Hungary from latest Ukraine vote, says Foreign Minister Szijjártó

BY DÉNES ALBERT | REMIX NEWS | JUNE 25, 2024

The European Union crossed a red line by prohibiting Hungary from voting on the use of the proceeds from frozen Russian bank accounts, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó on Monday.

Speaking during a break in the meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council, the Hungarian minister said an additional €1.4 billion from the European Peace Facility would be used for arms transfers to Ukraine, despite Hungary’s disagreement.

“This €1.4 billion is effectively the amount of the proceeds of the seized or frozen Russian assets, and since Hungary abstained in the first vote on their use, the Council’s legal service, Brussels, the bureaucrats, and some member states considered that this was a sufficient basis for ignoring Hungary’s right to decide, and so they decided to use €1.4 billion from the European Peace Facility to finance new arms shipments to Ukraine, ignoring Hungary’s position,” he said.

“This is a clear red line. Never before has such a shameless breach and disregard of common European rules been shown. Moreover, it is precisely those who are pushing for the rule of law procedures at full volume and talking about the endangerment of democratic values who are breaking European rules,” he continued.

“The self-proclaimed warriors of democracy and the rule of law have now flouted the rules in the most shameless way possible by excluding Hungary from this decision. So the pro-war fervor has effectively blinded the decision-makers,” he added.

Szijjártó underlined that the EU clearly wants to continue crossing red lines, as evidenced by the fact that High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has this time come up with a proposal to allow the training of Ukrainian soldiers by European troops on Ukrainian territory.

“This is an extremely dangerous proposal. It is a proposal that would cross another red line. We remember the statements of leading Western European politicians during the European Parliament election campaign that European soldiers could and should be stationed, deployed, and sent to Ukraine. And here is the first step,” he said.

“They want to send military trainers to Ukraine. This is unacceptable to us, and we are protesting against it with all means at our disposal because the deployment of EU trainers in Ukraine would create another extremely serious risk of further escalation of the war,” he warned.

June 25, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Militarism, Progressive Hypocrite | , | Leave a comment

EU accuses Telegram of hiding its reach

European Commission vice-president for values and transparency Vera Jourova, March 14, 2024. © Getty Images / SOPA Images / Contributor
RT | June 24, 2024

Telegram underreports its user numbers to avoid being targeted by EU regulators, the vice-president of the bloc’s Commission for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova, has alleged. She also accused Moscow of using the platform to spread “disinformation” among Russian-speaking EU residents, claiming that the Baltic nations, Poland, and Bulgaria are among the most exposed.

“I don’t trust Telegram, I don’t think they only have 42 million users,” Jourova said in an interview with Suddeutsche Zeitung on Sunday. She added that the European Commission is convinced that Telegram’s audience amounts to more than 45 million people – the threshold for regulatory control.

The commission is currently examining whether it should investigate the platform, Jourova revealed.

Last month, Bloomberg cited anonymous sources as saying that EU lawmakers were considering listing Telegram, founded by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov less than ten years ago, as a “very large online platform.” The move would open the privacy-focused messaging app up to strict censorship regulation.

As of February 2024, Telegram had an estimated average of 41 million monthly active EU users over the preceding six months. The figure is lower than the threshold required for social media platform to be subject to more specific obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The regulation requires companies located outside the bloc to have legal representation in one of its member states.

The DSA, which came into force in February, allows the bloc’s regulators to fine platforms as much as 6% of their global annual turnover if they are found to have broken its rules. The regulation also provides the EU watchdog with the right to ban repeat offenders from operating in the bloc.

According to Durov, Telegram respects the rights of its users to privacy and freedom of expression. In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Durov said he had rejected requests from Washington to share user data with US authorities or to build so-called surveillance “backdoors” into the platform.

Brussels has already launched investigations into X (formerly Twitter) over alleged breaches of EU rules in areas linked to risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency, and data access for researchers. Similar probes have been opened in relation to TikTok and Meta, the latter of which is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

June 24, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

EU to bypass Hungarian veto on tapping Russian assets – FT

RT | June 24, 2024

The European Union has developed a scheme to use profits from frozen Russian assets to secure a $50 billion loan for Ukraine, which will be used to purchase arms, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell and other sources. The loophole effectively bypasses Hungary’s opposition to legislation that would have allowed the EU to hand over interest accrued on Russian funds to Ukraine.

In an interview with the FT, Borrell said that since Budapest had opposed an EU agreement to transfer revenue to Ukraine, it “should not be part of the decision to use this money.” He added that the bloc’s workaround was “sophisticated as every legal decision, but it flies.”

The West froze around $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets when the Ukraine conflict escalated, trapping around $280 billion in the EU.

Earlier this year, Brussels proposed seizing the interest earned on the assets to acquire weapons for Ukraine. The suggestion faced resistance from Hungary, a vocal critic of the West’s approach to the Ukraine conflict, particularly its arms shipments to Kiev.

Under the US-led initiative, proceeds generated by Russia’s frozen assets from next year will be used to pay off the loan.

The legal loophole allowing the EU to tap Russian assets is likely to suffice in guaranteeing the payout of the loan, the outlet said, citing officials familiar with the matter.

However, Budapest can still block an EU decision to extend sanctions on Russian funds, which has to be renewed every six months by the bloc’s 27 members, the officials added.

To placate Hungary, the EU proposed a deal under which its share of the bloc’s funds would not be used to purchase weapons for Ukraine in exchange for not vetoing other members transferring the revenue to Kiev, according to Borrell.

“We have offered Hungary: your money will not be used to support Ukraine in any means. Not just lethal, but on anything,” Borrell said. The proposal, however, has been rejected by Budapest.

Moscow has denounced the decision to transfer profits from its assets to Ukraine as a blatant and illegal “expropriation.”

June 24, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

EU’s Mass Surveillance Faces Fierce Resistance

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | June 21, 2024

The European Union (EU) has managed to unite politicians, app makers, privacy advocates, and whistleblowers in opposition to the bloc’s proposed encryption-breaking new rules, known as “chat control” (officially, CSAM (child sexual abuse material) Regulation).

Thursday was slated as the day for member countries’ governments, via their EU Council ambassadors, to vote on the bill that mandates automated searches of private communications on the part of platforms, and “forced opt-ins” from users.

However, reports on Thursday afternoon quoted unnamed EU officials as saying that “the required qualified majority would just not be met” – and that the vote was therefore canceled.

This comes after several countries, including Germany, signaled they would either oppose or abstain during the vote. The gist of the opposition to the bill long in the making is that it seeks to undermine end-to-end encryption to allow the EU to carry out indiscriminate mass surveillance of all users.

The justification here is that such drastic new measures are necessary to detect and remove CSAM from the internet – but this argument is rejected by opponents as a smokescreen for finally breaking encryption, and exposing citizens in the EU to unprecedented surveillance while stripping them of the vital technology guaranteeing online safety.

Some squarely security and privacy-focused apps like Signal and Threema said ahead of the vote that was expected today they would withdraw from the EU market if they had to include client-side scanning, i.e., automated monitoring.

WhatsApp hasn’t gone quite so far (yet) but Will Cathcart, who heads the app over at Meta, didn’t mince his words in a post on X when he wrote that what the EU is proposing – breaks encryption.

“It’s surveillance and it’s a dangerous path to go down,” Cathcart posted.

European Parliament (EP) member Patrick Breyer, who has been a vocal critic of the proposed rules, and also involved in negotiating them on behalf of the EP, on Wednesday issued a statement warning Europeans that if “chat control” is adopted – they would lose access to common secure messengers.

“Do you really want Europe to become the world leader in bugging our smartphones and requiring blanket surveillance of the chats of millions of law-abiding Europeans? The European Parliament is convinced that this Orwellian approach will betray children and victims by inevitably failing in court,” he stated.

“We call for truly effective child protection by mandating security by design, proactive crawling to clean the web, and removal of illegal content,  none of which is contained in the Belgium proposal governments will vote on tomorrow (Thursday),” Breyer added.

And who better to assess the danger of online surveillance than the man who revealed its extraordinary scale, Edward Snowden?

“EU apparatchiks aim to sneak a terrifying mass surveillance measure into law despite UNIVERSAL public opposition (no thinking person wants this) by INVENTING A NEW WORD for it – ‘upload moderation’ – and hoping no one learns what it means until it’s too late. Stop them, Europe!,” Snowden wrote on X.

It appears that, at least for the moment, Europe has.

June 21, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | | Leave a comment

Czech populists pull out of liberal Renew group in EU Parliament over disastrous Green Deal and migration

BY THOMAS BROOKE | REMIX NEWS | JUNE 21, 2024

Euro MPs from Czechia’s populist ANO movement have renounced their affiliation with French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renew Europe political grouping in the European Parliament, citing irreconcilable differences over the Green Deal and mass immigration.

ANO leader and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš announced the decision to withdraw his lawmakers from the liberal political group during a press conference on Thursday.

“We went to the polls to fight against illegal migration, to change the Green Deal, which is destroying European industry and agriculture and has a negative impact on our citizens,” Babiš told journalists.

“Based on the negotiations, we came to the opinion that Renew simply has a different position than the ANO movement,” he added.

“Above all, we want the Czech Republic to remain a sovereign country,” the former Czech leader told followers on his X account, hinting at the European liberals’ desire for an “ever-closer union” and a road towards a federal Europe.

It means the Renew Europe group will be seven MEPs fewer after the withdrawal of its Czech faction and makes it even more likely the group will be overtaken by the center-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group as the third-largest in the European Parliament.

The move has possible ramifications for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who is seeking reelection among the newly-elected parliamentarians and the arithmetic is becoming problematic.

The old guard of the European People’s Party, Socialists & Democrats (S&D), and Renew is losing control of the narrative in the European Parliament and von der Leyen needs almost all of the votes from these respective parties to guarantee her reelection.

Should 13 percent of the voting bloc refuse to endorse her candidacy, a figure previously seen during her first term and for the election of former president, Jean-Claude Juncker, von der Leyen would fall short of the support she needs to remain in post.

On the future of the ANO and its European affiliation, Babiš remained coy about what was next for his party, but did rule out joining the ECR, which includes lawmakers from Czechi’s governing ODS party.

“ECR is certainly not a solution for us. Representatives of other Czech political parties have a big say in the factions, and the ECR is certainly not our choice. We’ll see, maybe a new faction will emerge,” he said.

“We will now look for partners in the European Parliament with whom we can promote our program,” he added.

June 21, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity | | Leave a comment

Hungary ‘won’t ride NATO war train’ – Orban

RT | June 21, 2024

The US appears intent on continuing to fight Russia in Ukraine and hopes to win, but Hungary is acting to counter this destructive policy, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

The vocal opponent of the Western approach to the Ukraine conflict expressed fresh criticism during a weekly interview on Kossuth Radio on Friday.

“It appears that the Western world, led by the Americans, wants to defeat Russia, with the Germans playing the role of extras,” Orban claimed. He described the strategy as “hopeless,” adding that it is disastrous for the Ukrainians and Russians dying on the battlefield and is potentially escalatory.

The Hungarian leader claimed, however, that “we have already slowed the train to war,” citing the outcome of the recent European Parliament elections in which his party enjoyed success while some pro-Ukrainian groups suffered setbacks.

The Hungarian government has secured assurances from both outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his presumed successor, Mark Rutte, that Budapest will not be dragged into a “mission” that the US-led bloc is establishing in Ukraine, the prime minister said. Hungary will not contribute troops, weapons, or money to the plan, Orban vowed.

“I can pull the emergency brake. The train will stop, and we Hungarians will get off this train,” he said. “And if we become very strong and the stars are lucky, we will convince the driver not to go any further.”

Moscow has described the Ukraine conflict as a US-initiated proxy war. After several member states publicly said this month that they will allow Kiev to strike targets deep inside Russia with Western-supplied weapons, President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow could supply similar arms to enemies of the West.

French President Emmanual Macron, who has called on NATO countries not to rule out troop deployments to Ukraine, was among the EU leaders to have suffered the biggest in the European Parliament elections. He subsequently dissolved the French parliament, and is facing the threat of becoming a lame duck for the rest of his term as his political alliance contemplates a potential wipeout in the national legislature.

Supporters of the NATO involvement in the Ukraine conflict say its mission will be limited to training Ukrainian troops on the country’s soil.

June 21, 2024 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , , | Leave a comment

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