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West ‘playing with fire’ – Moscow

RT | May 18, 2024

The West only risks further escalation by arming and encouraging Kiev to strike Russian territory, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

The warning comes as Ukrainian strikes against Russian cities intensify on the backdrop of Kiev losing ground in the Kharkov Region.

“The profile of the American and British handlers of the [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky regime is clearly visible behind these barbaric attacks,” Zakharova told reporters. “They are not only providing longer-range missiles and heavy weapons, but are giving a green light to their use against Russia.”

“Once again, we would like to unequivocally warn Washington, London, Brussels and other Western capitals, as well as Kiev, which is under their control, that they are playing with fire. Russia will not leave such encroachments on its territory unanswered,” the spokeswoman stressed.

On Thursday and Friday, the Ukrainian troops launched a combined assault on Crimea, Krasnodar and other Russian regions using UAVs and naval drones. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, more than 100 drones were intercepted mid-air, while six unmanned boats were destroyed by the Black Sea Fleet.

During its briefing on Friday, the MOD added that over the course of the week Russian troops had intercepted dozens of US-made ATACMS missiles, as well as nearly 200 rockets, including projectiles fired from US-made HIMARS and Czech-made Vampire launchers. The Hammer guided bombs delivered by France, the Storm Shadow cruise missiles made by the UK, and nearly 330 UAVs were also used in the attacks, it said.

A total of 19 civilians were killed in Russia’s Belgorod region on May 12 alone, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. On Friday, Gladkov wrote on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone hit a civilian car, killing a mother and her four-year-old daughter.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that the shelling of residential areas is pushing Moscow to create a buffer zone along the border with Ukraine. “If this continues, we will be forced to create a security zone. This is what we are doing,” he said during his trip to China.

Last month, the New York Times cited senior Pentagon officials as saying that the US had allowed Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles against targets in Crimea. British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed to journalists on Tuesday that London allows Kiev to strike Crimea with UK-supplied weapons.

The largely Russian-speaking peninsula voted in 2014 to leave Ukraine and join Russia following the Western-backed coup in Kiev that took place earlier that year.

May 18, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

“Ukraine is bleeding to death” – retired German general calls for a way out of Ukrainian conflict

By Ahmed Adel | May 17, 2024

Retired German general Roland Kather, on the TV channel Die Welt, called for examining possible scenarios for exiting the Ukrainian conflict. On the same day as Kather’s comments, retired colonel and former Swiss intelligence officer Jacques Baud said that US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin could not define what would be considered a victory in Ukraine.

“Ukraine is gradually running out of blood. It does not have enough personnel to create an appropriate reserve,” Kather noted, adding that Ukrainian soldiers are “tired, weak,” and their morale has fallen.

The presenter asked Kather if it is necessary to start “at least thinking” now about what the exit scenarios for this “war of attrition” might be.

“For months, we can say, since the beginning of this terrible war of attrition, I have always advocated that behind the scenes – at least not publicly, not in the media – think about, as you said, what exit scenarios are possible,” said the general.

However, Kather acknowledged that this would be “very difficult” if one side or the other saw military opportunities for progress.

It is recalled that in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that negotiations with Ukraine in 2022 were almost completed. However, after the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kiev, the Ukrainian side “threw away” all agreements, and later, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky legislatively banned any negotiations with Russia.

Kather’s comments come as Baud said in an interview with the YouTube channel Dialogue Works that US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has failed to define what victory over Russia in Ukraine means to him.

During the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin was asked to determine what would be considered a victory in Ukraine, and he was unable to answer the question, the expert noted.

Baud stressed that if the West does not know why it is fighting in Eastern Europe, it will not be able to conduct combat operations and prevail. According to him, without a strategy, tactics are just noise before defeat. The former military officer said this is exactly what we are witnessing in Ukraine with the North American and Ukrainian approaches.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on May 13 that Moscow is ready if the West wants to resolve the Ukrainian crisis on the battlefield. Russia’s top diplomat also highlighted that the conference on Ukraine in Switzerland, scheduled for mid-June and to which Russia was not invited, is only for drawing up an ultimatum for Moscow.

Although Switzerland has not invited Russia to the conference, China, Brazil, and other major Global South countries have been pushing to involve Moscow in the process. Russia said it is not against peace negotiations, but even if invited, it would not participate because it does not consider Switzerland a neutral actor since the country joined US-led sanctions against Moscow, discrediting its role as a mediator to the conflict.

Effectively, Switzerland’s neutrality is a sham, and the peace conference will achieve nothing in ending the war since Russia was obviously not invited despite being in control of the situation on the ground and continuing to liberate territory. Therefore, while Switzerland and the West will pretend to work for peace in Ukraine and give self-adulation, Ukraine will continue “running out of blood,” as Kather highlighted.

Last month, former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu revealed that Ukraine had suffered half a million personnel losses since Moscow launched its special military operation in February 2022. 215,000 Ukrainian soldiers were lost in 2023 alone. This is a calamitous loss of life or permanent injury for survivors.

Despite self-adulation and promises of never-ending support for Ukraine, the US and Europe will not be able to continue providing endless cash flow to Ukraine since they are already struggling with economic crises, growing unemployment, and multiple social issues. This reality once again raises questions about the purpose of the Swiss peace conference since Russia is not participating.

Yet, with the Ukrainian military “running out of blood,” President Volodymyr Zelensky is refusing to accept reality. Instead, according to The Guardian, the Kiev regime believes they can win the war. The British newspaper said, “Nonetheless, it is true that the prospect of some decisive breakthrough routing Russian troops from Ukrainian soil looks more remote than ever.” Essentially, the longer Zelensky and the West allow the war to go on, the culling of young Ukrainians will continue at a catastrophic rate.

Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

China slams US for ‘shifting blame’ over Ukraine conflict

RT | May 17, 2024

US policies are directly responsible for the Ukraine crisis, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday, reacting to the latest accusations from Washington of Beijing’s supposed complicity in the conflict.

On Thursday, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel claimed that China can’t enjoy strong relations with Europe and the collective West while “continuing to fuel the biggest threat to European security” by “fueling Russia’s defense-industrial base.”

In turn, Wang urged the US to “stop shifting the blame on China [and] not try to drive a wedge between China and Europe.”

“This is a reflection of the Cold War mentality that still dominates US thinking, which bears unshirkable responsibility for the eruption and escalation of the Ukraine crisis,” he stated. The spokesman argued that Washington is clearly “looking for enemies instead of seeking peace” in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

He further urged US authorities to stop “fueling the flame” with unfounded accusations and instead “start making real contribution to finding a political solution” to the crisis.

“China is not the creator of or a party to the Ukraine Crisis. We have been on the side of peace and dialogue and committed to promoting peace talks. We actively support putting in place a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture,” Wang stated.

Beijing has maintained a policy of neutrality on the Ukraine conflict and has rejected Western pressure to place sanctions on Russia, instead continuing to bolster economic ties with Moscow and expanding mutual trade. Consequently, Washington and its NATO allies have accused China of fueling Russia’s military effort by supporting its weapons manufacturing through the sale of dual-use components. The US has repeatedly threatened to place more sanctions on China if it does not stop these exports.

China staunchly denies the allegations, with officials repeatedly stating that the country is not selling weapons to either Russia or Ukraine. In an earlier statement, Wang accused the US of hypocrisy for providing billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine while “unreasonably” criticizing the “normal” trade and economic relations between Russia and China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently on an official visit in China, where he has met with President Xi Jinping. In a joint statement on Thursday, the two leaders expressed firm commitment to continue bolstering ties between their respective countries. They also reiterated their stance on the Ukraine conflict, stating that it “must be resolved by political means.”

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Vulcan Program’s Delay Shows US Can’t Even Copy, Much Less Replace, Russia’s Rocket Engine Know-How

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 14.05.2024

A senior US Air Force official has sent defense contractors a strongly worded letter over delays to the Vulcan Centaur heavy-lift launch vehicle program – initiated to replace the workhorse Atlas V, which uses Russian-made RD-180 engines. The delay signals the US’s inability even to copy Russian-made equipment, a leading space researcher says.

US Air Force Assistant Secretary Frank Calvelli has sent the heads of Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s United Launch Alliance space divisions an “unusually blunt” appeal highlighting Pentagon concerns over the years-long delays to the Vulcan rocket project.

“I am growing concerned with ULA’s ability to scale manufacturing of its Vulcan rocket and scale its launch cadence to meet our needs. Currently there is military satellite capability sitting on the ground due to Vulcan delays,” Calvelli complained.

“As the owners of ULA, and given the manufacturing prowess of Boeing and Lockheed Martin corporations, I recommend that you work together over the next 90 days to complete an independent review of ULA’s ability to scale its launch cadence to meet” contract requirements, the official urged.

Calvelli expressed concerns about the ULA’s poor flight record to date, pointing out that to meet its contract obligations, it would have to launch 25 missions for the Pentagon by the end of 2027. The alliance, separately bound to launch 38 rockets for Amazon’s Kuiper internet satellite constellation, launched only three missions through 2023.

“Launch is critical to our ability to transform our space architecture. We are counting on Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the ULA team to be successful in getting critical capabilities into space for our warfighters,” the assistant secretary wrote.

The United Launch Alliance kicked off the Vulcan’s development a decade ago amid a push by Washington to phase out the purchase of Russian-made RD-180 engines used on the Vulcan’s predecessor, the Atlas V, to put satellites into orbit. The Vulcan has a stated launch capacity of 27.2 tons, and an estimated expected cost of $100-$200 million per launch, compared to 8.2-18.85 tons and $1090 million per launch for the Atlas V, depending on variant.

Initially projected to start flying in 2019, the Vulcan program has faced half a decade of delays, owing partly to major issues with the rocket’s BE-4 engines, developed by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company. The first Vulcan rocket successfully launched in January of this year, but quickly ran into new problems, including delays to the development of the Air Force’s Soviet-inspired Dream Chaser spaceplane.

The program will require a second flight before it can be certified by the Pentagon for use for national security and intelligence collection-related missions, with ULA expecting the program’s second launch to take place sometime later this year.

Calvelli did not elaborate on the nature of his concerns with the Vulcan program, instead shifting the discussion to national security and the US’s strategic competition with Beijing.

“The United States continues to face an unprecedented strategic competitor in China, and our space environment continues to become more contested, congested and competitive. We have seen exponential growth of in-space activity, including counterspace threats, and our adversaries would seek to deny us the advantage we get from space during a potential conflict,” he wrote.

ULA assures that it’s on track to ramping up its rocket production capabilities, with CEO Tony Bruno telling media that the Vulcan “is much less expensive” than the Atlas V with its Russian-made RD-180s, and that future plans to reuse the new, American-made engines will result in “economies of scale” that will make it “cheaper over time.”

Boeing responded to Calvelli’s letter by promising to get “on more of a wartime footing to stay ahead of the threat,” and agreed with the senior Air Force officer’s sense that “a quicker and more reliable launch cadence is critical to meeting that need.”
Rocket Science

The problems surrounding the Vulcan rocket and its engines signal major issues for US space rocket engineering, with the ULA delay demonstrating that American rocket scientists currently can’t even effectively copy Russian engines, much less create safe, reliable engines of their own, says Dr. Natan Eismont, a leading researcher at the Russian Academy of Scientists’ Space Research Institute, told Sputnik.

“There have been attempts to copy RD-180 engines from the moment they were sold to the Americans,” Eismont recalled. From the early 2000s onward, “launches were carried out using the Atlas III, and then a lot using the Atlas V, [which] provided for nearly half of all American launches. This is significant…There were attempts to copy the RD-180 from the start, and to this day they remain just that – attempts. The Americans haven’t been able to create an engine with characteristics close to matching the RD-180.”

Created in the 1990s, the RD-180 is a derivative of the legendary RD-170/171 series of rocket engines, developed in the 1980s by Energomash for the super-heavy Energiya launch vehicle, which was designed to shuttle up to 100 tons of useful cargo into Low Earth Orbit, to launch the Buran space shuttle, and deploy the next generation of space station components, and pieces of large, Moon and Mars-faring spacecraft of the future.

With the Soviet space program curtailed dramatically after the USSR’s collapse, budding cooperation with the US in the 1990s instead led to the development of the RD-180, and the export of over 120 of these engines to the US between 2000 and 2021.

The question of why the Americans have not been able to develop an engine with characteristics comparable to the RD-180, or even copy the Russian-made engine, stems from a problem which has plagued the US going back almost to the start of the space age, Eismont says.

“Efficiency is measured by specific thrust [the ratio of net thrust/total intake airflow, ed.], which for the RD-180 is 400 tons from the Earth’s surface, and 430 tons in a vacuum. These characteristics are generally achievable. But there’s also the specific impulse [a measure of how efficiently the engine generates thrust, ed.] and here, no rocket apart from ours has been able to achieve comparable parameters. Because to obtain characteristics comparable to those achieved by the RD-180, one must use a fairly high level of pressure in the combustion chamber – more than 200 atmospheres,” which can be dangerous if done improperly, the academic explained.

“At the same time, high-frequency oscillations arise,” Eismont added. “The secret lies in determining the moment during testing after which these fluctuations become possible, and immediately turning off the engine at that precise moment. How to do that – what parameters are necessary here, what parameters are acceptable, and how issues can be overcome – it appears that no one apart from our specialists knows this. Simply handing over the engine with all its documentation is not enough. Because there are subtleties in the manufacture of the engine which are difficult to convey using documentation.”

That’s not to say that American rocket scientists will not be able to ever overcome these difficulties, the observer emphasized. They can and will, but doing so “requires a lot of money and time,” and knowledge enough to pinpoint when testing enters the danger zone to prevent the destruction of “very expensive” test equipment.

Solving this issue will be “critical” for the Americans, Eismont believes.

“Here, [the ULA] can turn to [Space X CEO Elon] Musk, where, in general, the same tasks were set, and the company has its own rocket engine. For Musk too, everything didn’t work out straight away or to the end. Here, in general, we can say that Musk has not achieved the required level of reliability. SpaceX’s engine is in fact also an attempt to copy the RD-180… They are probably further along than say Boeing or others involved [in the Vulcan program, ed.]. But nevertheless, he had to come to terms with the fact that he could not manage without accidents. That is, the process turned out to be slower and more expensive than planned,” the academic explained.

Besides documentation, what US rocket scientists are really lacking is specialists, who can’t be replaced by imported engines, technical or even testing documentation.
“What you need are people involved in the project. Who will give the Americans these people? No one,” Eismont said.

This isn’t anything new, the academic recalled, pointing out that the US has had problems with its rocketry programs going back to the Apollo program and the days of the Saturn 5 rocket. “If you look at the technical characteristics of these American engines, they were strikingly worse than those that the USSR had at the time,” he said.

“It’s difficult to say why this was, but the Americans lagged behind here from the start. As for Soviet and Russian engines, they display an exceptional level of reliability. From the time that the Americans purchased these particular engines from us, they have not had any accidents. That is, the entire program was developed and carried out in accordance with the experience accumulated by that time by Energomash. Here, they really are ahead of everyone else.”

Ivan Moiseev, the head of the Russian Institute of Space Policy, echoed Eismont’s assessment regarding the RD-180, telling Sputnik that this is an “excellent” engine, with “not a single failure in over 100 launches.”

“The contract was concluded in 1996 and completed in 2021 – three years ago. Accordingly, the Americans still have some engines, they can still launch the Atlas V,” Moiseev said.

After that, it will be anyone’s guess how the Pentagon plans to get its payloads into orbit, unless ULA get its act together, or Washington pulls the plug on the whole thing and puts all its spacefaring eggs in Musk’s SpaceX basket.

May 14, 2024 Posted by | Timeless or most popular | , | Leave a comment

Russia’s Belousov, Shoigu to Take Part in Informal Putin-Xi Meeting – Kremlin Aide

Sputnik – 14.05.2024

MOSCOW – Andrei Belousov, the candidate for the post of Russian defense minister, and newly-appointed Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu will participate in the informal meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday.

The informal Putin-Xi meeting will take place on May 16 during the Russian leader’s visit to China. Other members of Russian government, including acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and acting Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will participate in the meeting.

“We invited, naturally, the new defense minister, Belousov, to participate in this program, who, together with Lavrov and me, will participate in this meeting on the evening of May 16 that will be held in the very narrow format. Also, in continuation of our contacts with Chinese colleagues, we included Security Council Secretary Shoigu in the delegation — he should be a part of 1+4 [meeting],” Ushakov said.

“Most likely, the main and most important issues of foreign policy cooperation will be discussed during the informal meeting of leaders, which will take place at the end of the first day of work,” the official shared.

The mutual visits of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping confirm the priorities of bilateral relations, the aide noted.

“This tradition is a clear confirmation of the high level of bilateral relations, the priority attention paid by both sides to the Russian-Chinese partnership. And this certainly also reflects the relations that have developed between the two leaders of our states,” he told reporters.

The cooperation between Russia and China is developing in all areas, and this partnership is a paragon of interstate relations, Ushakov emphasized.

“Today, cooperation is steadily developing in all areas, and as our leaders have repeatedly stressed, and, above all, [Chinese] President Xi, this partnership is a paragon of interstate relations in the 21st century,” he said.

The partnership between Moscow and Beijing also demonstrates resistance to any external pressure and is one of the stabilizing factors in international affairs in general, the official added.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang to visit Russia this summer

The Kremlin aide also mentioned that Moscow and Beijing are cooperating in high-tech industries as well, including in creating a lunar station and drafting projects related to nuclear power plants.

“I have already mentioned that our governments [Russia and China] actively cooperate, the main thing is that the governments meet regularly. The visit of the head of the Chinese government is already scheduled for this summer,” Ushakov said.

“We note Beijing’s balanced position on the Ukrainian crisis, Beijing understands the true causes of its occurrence,” he noted.

China also emphasizes that without Russia it is counterproductive to discuss anything in the context of the Ukrainian crisis, the official added.

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will discuss international cooperation, including within the UN and BRICS.

“There will be an in-depth exchange of views on cooperation in various international organizations and structures, including the UN, where Russia and China stand in solidarity on almost all topics of the UN agenda. Naturally, cooperation between the two countries within the framework of BRICS will also be touched upon,” Ushakov told reporters.

The Chinese side has given a preliminary agreement to come to the BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan, the official added.

According to Ushakov, during Putin’s visit to Harbin (China), the Russian president will be accompanied by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng.

Newly appointed members of the Russian government will accompany President Vladimir Putin during his visit to China and participate in the negotiations.

“Then an expanded composition with the participation of representative delegations of the two parties, including members of the Russian government in an updated composition and their counterparts from the State Council of the People’s Republic of China [will meet],” he pointed out.

Russian deputy prime ministers, including First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov Dmitry Chernyshenko, Yury Trutnev, Tatiana Golikova and Alexander Novak will speak at the Russia-China meeting in expanded format as chairs of bilateral commissions, Ushakov added.

Russia’s major businesspeople, including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref, VTB Bank CEO Andrey Kostin, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, and Leonid Mikhelson, the co-owner of Russia’s second-largest natural gas producer Novatek, will also accompany Putin in his trip to China.

Preparations for the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Russia are underway, Yury Ushakov also noted.

“Yes, active preparations are underway,” he mentioned.

In early April, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal said that the date of Abbas’ visit to Russia will be set “soon.”

“We have some international trips planned in the near future,” Ushakov told reporters, when asked about Putin’s potential international trips, including his visit to Turkiye.

May 14, 2024 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

15 nations have made their position on the WHO sovereignty grab public before the WHA meeting commences

How many other countries are entirely fed up with the World Stealth Organization’s misleading spin about “equity”?

BY MERYL NASS | MAY 12, 2024

The negotiations have been controlled by globalists, not nations, from day one.

Eleven nations informed the UN General Assembly they were not going along with the UN’s support for the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Agenda last September. In alphabetical order:

  1. Belarus
  2. Bolivia
  3. Cuba
  4. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
  5. Eritrea
  6. Islamic Republic of Iran
  7. Nicaragua
  8. Russian Federation
  9. Syrian Arab Republic
  10. Venezuela
  11. Zimbabwe

The Netherlands’ government has been instructed to delay the WHO votes or vote No by the lower house of Parliament.

Slovakia said it will not sign current drafts of both documents.

Croatia’s new majority party is against the WHO’s pandemic preparedness plan

Italy’s Senator Borghi said Italy will vote No on the treaty and furthermore that there are 10 more months in which to reject the IHR Amendments.

It is very unusual to have this level of disagreement made public even before the start of the World Health Assembly meeting. And with “hybrid negotiations” aka backroom horse-trading, leading right up to the meeting, nobody will have time to consider the treaties before they are due to be voted on. It has been a corrupt process from start to finish. It could only succeed with stealth (no one knowing what is really in the treaties) and bribes.

Now that the US has announced that 100 countries are being paid off to develop their pandemic preparedness agenda, will the bribes be enough to get these treaties across the finish line? Will the unbribed be miffed? How much will it cost the US taxpayer for the world’s nations to agree to dictatorial control of pandemics and health information going forward?

May 12, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Science and Pseudo-Science | , , , , | Leave a comment

Kiev conducts ‘terrorist attack’ against Belgorod – MoD

RT | May 12, 2024

Kiev conducted a cross-border “terrorist attack” on residential buildings in the Russian city of Belgorod using Tochka-U ballistic missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The capital of Belgorod Region was targeted with Tochka-U ballistic missiles and rockets from Olkha and Vampire multiple rocket launchers, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Six Soviet-era Tochka-U missiles, four Vampire rockets and two Olkha projectiles have been intercepted by Russian air defenses, it stressed.

“Fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles damaged a residential building in Belgorod,” the ministry said.

The Tochka-U is a mobile launch system developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Russia has phased out its use in favor of more advanced Iskander ballistic missiles, which were introduced in the mid-2000s. However, Kiev still has Tochka-Us in its arsenal and has used them repeatedly during the conflict with Moscow.

Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said earlier that “an entire section of an apartment building – from the tenth to the first floor – collapsed as a result of a direct hit” during the Ukrainian bombardment of the city.

According to Russia’s acting health minister, Mikhail Murashko, 17 people have been hospitalized as a result of the incident.

There has so far been no official data on the number of fatalities. According to Mash, a Telegram channel, at least seven people have been killed. The rescuers have been able to recover 12 residents from the debris, but another ten could still be trapped inside, it said.

At some point, the roof of the damaged building collapsed while the rescuers were clearing the rubble underneath. A source in the governor’s office told Mash that no one was hurt, but Shot reported that one of the emergency workers suffered a leg fracture and two others were lightly wounded.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has said that a criminal terrorism case was launched following the strike on the apartment block.

May 12, 2024 Posted by | War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

How Britain Sabotaged Ukraine Peace

By Kit Klarenberg | Al Mayadeen | May 11, 2024

On April 16th, Foreign Affairs published an investigation, documenting in forensic detail how in May 2022 Kiev was a signature away from a peace deal with Russia “that would have ended the war and provided Ukraine with multilateral security guarantees,” which was scuppered by Western powers. The outlet attributes the failure of negotiations to “a number of reasons” – although it’s unambiguously clear the biggest was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offering President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the blankest of blank cheques to keep fighting.

For two years, claims and counterclaims have abounded about these peace talks, initiated almost immediately after the conflict began, and why they collapsed. Independent journalists and researchers, the Kremlin, and some foreign officials involved, assert that a favorable settlement was within reach, only to be scuttled at the 11th hour by Western actors. By contrast, Kiev, its supporters, and proxy sponsors have strenuously denied that negotiations were ever taken seriously by either party, while claiming Moscow’s terms were completely unacceptable.

Foreign Affairs has now validated what anti-imperialists have consistently contended. Amicable peace could’ve been achieved in Ukraine at the earliest stages of the proxy conflict, on terms favourable to both parties. Western powers responsible for sabotaging negotiations in service of weakening Russia knew that all along. Yet, they kept this inconvenient reality consciously concealed until now, when the war is unambiguously an unwinnable lost cause for all concerned, bar Moscow.

Still, to have the truth confirmed by Foreign Affairs – an elite US journal published by the notorious, highly influential Council on Foreign Relations – is hugely significant, and the narrative threat posed is evident. Within hours of release, Polish think tank operative Daniel Szeligowski took to X to rubbish the investigation at length, reinforcing the established Western fable that negotiations could never have succeeded, due to Kremlin intransigence, and Ukrainian resolve, in the face of industrial scale Russian war crimes.

Such pushback is only to be expected. After all, Foreign Affairs has raised a number of troublesome questions about the proxy war. In particular, why it continues to grind on today at unsustainable human and financial cost for Kiev and its foreign sponsors. The investigation also confirms Western governments that pushed Ukraine into conflict with its neighbor and historic ally were completely unwilling to come to the country’s rescue, in the event Russia responded to their provocations.

Talks begin, major concessions offered

Foreign Affairs bases its investigation on multiple “draft agreements exchanged between the two sides, some details of which have not been reported previously,” and interviews “with several participants in the talks as well as with officials serving at the time in key Western governments.” It offers a granular timeline of events, “from the start of the invasion through the end of May, when talks broke down.”

Before then, Vladimir Putin and Zelensky reportedly “surprised everyone with their mutual willingness to consider far-reaching concessions to end the war.” This included peacefully resolving “their dispute over Crimea during the next 10 to 15 years.” Talks began four days after the invasion in Belarus, with President Aleksandr Lukashenko playing mediator.

Putin appointed a negotiating team led by Vladimir Medinsky, a senior adviser to the Russian president who previously served as culture minister. By his side were deputy ministers of defense and foreign affairs, among others. Kiev dispatched Davyd Arakhamia, parliamentary leader of Zelensky’s political party, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, and other senior officials. The individuals involved amply underlines how seriously negotiations were taken by both sides.

By the third round of talks, drafts of a peace treaty began to circulate. Many more materialized over subsequent weeks, as the two sides sought to overcome “substantial disagreements”, refining details face-to-face in a variety of international venues, and via Zoom. In brief, Kiev would accept various limits on the size of its Armed Forces, striking range of any missiles sited on its territory, and number of tanks and armored vehicles it could maintain.

Most crucially, Ukraine would implement the Minsk Accords, “renounce its NATO aspirations and never host NATO forces on its territory,” accepting permanent neutrality. In return for ensuring Russia’s “most basic security interests”, Kiev was free to pursue EU membership, and “security guarantees that would oblige other states to come to Ukraine’s defense if Russia attacked again in the future.”

Those guarantees could extend to “imposing a no-fly zone, supplying weapons, or directly intervening with the guarantor state’s own military force” – “obligations…spelled out with much greater precision than NATO’s Article 5,” Foreign Affairs observes. The outlet suggests this component was the undoing of negotiations, due to Kiev’s “risk-averse Western colleagues”:

“Kyiv’s Western partners were reluctant to be drawn into a negotiation with Russia, particularly one that would have created new commitments for them to ensure Ukraine’s security.”

Whitewashing Johnson’s Kiev visit

Foreign Affairs notes that Naftali Bennett, Israeli premier while the talks were ongoing, who was “mediating between the two sides”, has said that he “attempted to dissuade Zelensky from getting stuck on the question of security guarantees.’ He explained, “There is this joke about a guy trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to a passerby. I said, ‘America will give you guarantees? It will commit that in several years if Russia violates something, it will send soldiers? After leaving Afghanistan and all that?’ Volodymyr, it won’t happen.’”

Of course, several of Ukraine’s “Western patrons” have sent soldiers to assist in the proxy conflict – most prominently Britain, which in January signed a wide-ranging “security cooperation agreement” with Kiev. Foreign Affairs references Boris Johnson’s visit to the country in April 2022, and how Davyd Arakhamia has claimed the then-Prime Minister “said we won’t sign anything at all… let’s just keep fighting.”

The outlet adds that “already on March 30, Johnson seemed disinclined toward diplomacy, stating that instead ‘we should continue to intensify sanctions with a rolling program until every single one of [Putin’s] troops is out of Ukraine.’” So it was that he arrived in Kiev on April 9, “the first foreign leader to visit after the Russian withdrawal from the capital.” Johnson reportedly told Zelensky:

“Any deal with Putin was going to be pretty sordid… some victory for him. If you give him anything, he’ll just keep it, bank it, and then prepare for his next assault.”

Yet, Foreign Affairs downplays Johnson’s intervention, claiming allegations the British premier sabotaged negotiations are “Putin’s manipulative spin.” In support, the outlet notes how despite Moscow’s withdrawal from the northern front resulting in “the gruesome discovery of atrocities that Russian forces had committed in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Irpin,” talks continued thereafter. The two sides worked “around the clock on a treaty that Putin and Zelensky were supposed to sign during a summit to be held in the not-too-distant future”:

“The sides were actively exchanging drafts [and] beginning to share them with other parties… the April 15 draft suggests that the treaty would be signed within two weeks. Granted, that date might have shifted, but it shows that the two teams planned to move fast… work on the draft treaty continued and even intensified in the days and weeks after the discovery of Russia’s war crimes, suggesting that the atrocities at Bucha and Irpin were a secondary factor in Kyiv’s decision-making.”

‘Bucha Effect’ leads to ‘frozen negotiations’

Bucha may have been a “secondary factor” in Ukrainian decision-making, but it wasn’t from the British government’s perspective. Unmentioned by Foreign Affairs, days before Johnson landed in Kiev, he boldly declared the alleged massacre of civilians in the town by Russian forces didn’t “look far short of genocide,” and “the international community – Britain very much in the front rank – will be moving again in lockstep to impose more sanctions and more penalties on Vladimir Putin’s regime.”

While a subsequent UN investigation failed to validate charges of genocide by Russia in Ukraine, once Johnson deployed the term, many Western officials followed suit. As a result, widespread public and state consent for keeping the proxy war going was very effectively manufactured across Europe and North America. To even speak of a negotiated settlement publicly became beyond the pale. Meanwhile, Britain’s shadowy, spook-infested Counter Disinformation Unit, which censors social media, began policing content related to Bucha online.

What happened in Bucha remains extremely murky. At the time, an anonymous US Defense Intelligence Agency official told Newsweek that civilian deaths could have resulted from “intense” ground combat over control of the town: “We forget two peer competitors fought over Bucha for 36 days, the town was occupied, Russian convoys and positions inside the town were attacked by the Ukrainians and vice versa.” They further warned the “Bucha Effect” had “led to frozen negotiations and a skewed view of the war”:

“I am not for a second excusing Russia’s war crimes nor forgetting that Russia invaded the country. But the number of actual deaths is hardly genocide. If Russia had that objective or was intentionally killing civilians, we’d see a lot more than less than .01 percent in places like Bucha.”

Such anxieties fell on deaf ears, although they reflect a broader resistance to escalating the proxy war on Washington’s part. In December 2022, the BBC reported that British officials were intensely worried about the “innate caution” of US President Joe Biden, “who is… concerned about provoking a wider global conflict.” A nameless state apparatchik revealed that London had “stiffened the US resolve at all levels”, via “pressure.”

Leaked material shows senior British military and intelligence officials leading London’s contribution to the proxy war are committed to challenging the “US position… firmly and at once.” One can only speculate whether incidents such as the Kerch Bridge bombing, which these officials secretly planned and helped Kiev execute – despite reported US opposition – were intended to escalate the conflict further, and keep Washington embroiled in the quagmire.

We are also left to ponder whether those officials played any role in the massacre of civilians in Bucha, whose names Ukraine refuses to release despite formal Russian requests. Kremlin apparatchiks, and Aleksandr Lukashenko, have claimed to possess evidence British special forces were responsible for the killings. None has emerged since, although why Britain prevented an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Bucha requested by Russia in April 2022 going ahead remains an open question.

May 11, 2024 Posted by | False Flag Terrorism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Britain At War-The Final Warning

By Christopher Black – New Eastern Outlook – 11.05.2024 

On May 26, 2023, I wrote an article titled, Britain At War-Provoking the Consequences, attempting to warn the people of Britain and the West that their role in the war against Russia makes them a direct party to the conflict and that, as a consequence, Russia has the right to attack them. It seems the warning has to be repeated because the British, along with the rest of the NATO alliance of aggression, have increased their direct role in the Ukraine conflict and are threatening to escalate the war further. In reaction, Russia has had to call in the British ambassador and issue another warning, likely the last one they will receive, that Russia will act against them if they continue to do all they can to attack Russia and its people.

Russia is no longer in a forgiving or tolerant frame of mind after the terrible attack on the Crocus Concert Hall, an act of sheer terrorism carried out by assets of the Kiev regime with the probable support of the UK and the US special services and with express approval of the western media which celebrated the attack as a demonstration of “Putin’s weakness.” That terrorist attack changed everything. Russia states it will go after everyone involved. The Western nations involved should believe them. But they evidently are incapable of thinking about their actions and the consequences.

This infantile and criminal attitude is maintained in all the NATO states, even through changes in the personalities making up their governments. In Britain, defence and foreign ministers change, but the thinking remains the same. In the US, the Democratic and Republican Parties, despite their squabbling over how to make “America great” are, in fact, a single War Party, and, as in all their wars, free speech and assembly are victims of police aggression against citizens.

In Canada, the same, though here the government has been assigned the role by Washington of slandering China for the purpose of making the Chinese people “the other” so that they can be attacked. The West prepares for general war. China and Russia are left trying to bring sense to insanity but are forced to act to defend themselves. Just days after the US Secretary of State, Blinken, abused his visit to China by threatening it about its relations with Russia, further hostile threats were made in the days after he left. President Xi then travelled to Europe to try to get them, at least the French, to see sense, with no concrete result, but in Serbia paid respects not only to their resistance against NATO but to the Chinese victims of the NATO attack against China in 1999 when NATO bombed the Chinese embassy.

Now, just a year after the Russian government warned the UK that its hostility towards Russia and its aggression against it in Ukraine will lead to severe consequences, prompting my earlier article, the UK has again been warned.

On May 6, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned both the British and French ambassadors in reaction to the bellicose statements of their governments against Russia. But for the British there was a special warning, which needs to be read, since it is not reported in the Western media, or only in part. The Foreign Ministry Press Release states,

“On May 6, UK Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to be delivered a strong protest against the recent statement by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in an interview with the Reuters news agency regarding Ukraine’s right to strike Russian territory using British weapons. The Ministry firmly pointed out to Ambassador Casey that Cameron’s hostile outburst directly contradicts the British side’s earlier assurances during the transfer of long-range cruise missiles to the Kiev regime that they would under no circumstances be used to strike Russia’s territory. By doing so, the head of the Foreign Office disavowed this position and admitted his country was a de facto party to the conflict.

The ambassador was told that the Russian side considered Cameron’s words as evidence of a serious escalation and confirmation of London’s growing involvement in combat actions on Kiev’s side. Nigel Casey was warned that any UK military facilities and equipment on Ukrainian territory and beyond could be hit as a response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with British weapons. The ambassador was urged to consider the inevitable disastrous repercussions of such hostile steps by London and to urgently refute in the strongest and most unequivocal manner the bellicose provocative statements by the head of the Foreign Office.”

We note further that the German ambassador to Russia has been recalled to Berlin, an ominous sign, though perhaps it was to provide an excuse not to attend the formal ceremony of President Putin assuming office. Most western ambassadors to Moscow refused to attend, though interestingly the French did, experts since the days of the Sun King and Napoleon in tricks and subterfuge.

But, on May 8th, the British, instead of reacting with reason and reflection, after receiving the Russian warning about their completely irrational hostility towards Russia, and direct role in the war against Russia, provoked the situation even further by declaring the Russian Defence Attaché in London to be persona non grata and threatening Russian owned diplomatic properties in the UK by removing their diplomatic status, indicating they may make a move to seize them. As I write this, we await Moscow’s reaction to this step. But we can anticipate that it will be one of contempt and will only confirm Russia’s resolve to act against them if the warning is ignored.

In conjunction with the Russian warning to Britain, Russia and Belarus placed their tactical nuclear forces in a state of readiness, as a warning to the West about directly sending in NATO forces and F16’s which will be considered to be nuclear armed, and so the bases from which they fly, legitimate targets. This action can also be viewed as a further warning to Britain.

The British people should be alarmed at the road the British government is taking them down. But they seem oblivious to the risks they face, and the antiwar movement is totally fixated on the Israeli massacres in Gaza, a worthwhile cause, another crime against humanity of the US and the West generally, but it will pale in comparison to what state the world will be in when Russia acts on its warning. I say “when”, not “if” as the British, along with the Americans, are incapable of understanding reality, and the British démarche of May 8th indicates that they will ignore the Russian warning and continue their escalation. They have committed themselves to the madness of war and nothing, it seems, can cure them, except war.

What Russia will attack, only the Russian General Staff knows. Logical targets can be found in the British base in Cyprus, and other foreign installations but the UK itself can be targeted. The British dismiss the possibility. The Russians would not dare. So they think; a delusion that will lead them to disaster.

The Russians have every right to act against the UK under international law since it is a co-belligerent in the Ukraine conflict. It could have acted against it before now, but the Russians have been very patient, and cautious, trying to avoid a general nuclear war. But, now, too many lines haven been crossed, too many warnings ignored, too may crimes against Russia committed.

And if the people of Britain think that they are protected against attack, I remind them that The National and Defence Strategies Research Group, based in the UK, stated in a report on Britain’s air defences in 2016 that,

“Since the withdrawal from service of the Bloodhound missile system in the 1980s, the UK’s Air Defence posture has diminished to mainly a homeland benign airspace policing and point defence posture for deployed forces. The UK no longer has a comprehensive, integrated, or robustly layered short to long-range Air Defence capability, nor a credible or enduring operational capacity.”

Nothing has changed since then, except to get worse. In other words, the UK is defenceless against modern Russian standoff weapons.

I can remember, as a boy, my mother taking me several times on a bus through London. It must have been 1955 or so and I can remember mile upon mile of burnt-out blackened buildings, as far as the eye could see, especially in east London where entire districts were levelled by German bombs. The country, despite its air force, could not stop the bombing and then missile attacks which went on for five years.

The British government assured the people before that war, that all would be well, that they would have peace in their time. But they lied to the people then, as they are lying to them now. Britain was never the same after that war. It never really recovered from it.

Once again, the British government, ever saluting the masters in Washington, leads the British people into a dangerous war, which they were never asked about, and which they do not want. It lies to them about the causes, it lies to them about the fighting, and it lies to them about the dangers they face, placing them in a distant future, and hides from them the consequences of its actions. The British people must be warned. Britain is at war, and no amount of bluffing and lying can protect them from the consequences their government is provoking. They are predictable and they will be catastrophic. They have received the final warning.

Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer based in Toronto. He is known for a number of high-profile war crimes cases and recently published his novel Beneath the Clouds. He writes essays on international law, politics and world events.

May 11, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

UNGA backs membership for Palestine

RT | May 10, 2024

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution accepting Palestine as the 194th member of the world body on Friday. The US has previously vetoed Palestinian statehood at the Security Council, however.

Palestine has been a non-voting observer in the global body since 2012. The new resolution would grant it “new rights and privileges,” as well as full membership if approved by the Security Council. It was adopted with 143 votes in favor, nine against, and 25 abstentions.

US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said his government was opposed to the resolution, indicating that Washington would veto Palestinian membership at the council again – as it did last month.

Friday’s resolution included an expression of “deep regret and concern” by the General Assembly that the US had vetoed the admission of Palestine on April 18, and urged the council to “reconsider the matter favorably” in line with the UN Charter and decisions by the International Court of Justice.

The General Assembly voiced its “unwavering support for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders, based on the pre-1967 borders.”

Though Israel has nominally accepted the idea of Palestinian statehood in the abstract, the government in West Jerusalem has rejected its implementation in practice. During last month’s Security Council debate, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan described the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, as “a terror-supporting entity that does not deserve any status in the UN.”

Israel has also vowed to completely destroy Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, after last year’s October 7 attacks.

After exercising his veto last month, Ambassador Wood said that the US action “does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgement that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties,” adding that Palestine can’t join the UN so long as Hamas is in control of Gaza.

Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia has accused the US of holding the Security Council “hostage” over events in the Middle East. He also argued that Palestinian statehood and UN membership would “equalize the starting negotiating positions of the parties.”

An estimated 1,200 Israelis died in the October 7 attacks by Hamas. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent Israeli offensive, which is presently targeting the city of Rafah in the south of Gaza. Israel has pressed the attack despite the reservations of the US, made known at official levels.

May 10, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

US losing ground globally to Russia and China – report

RT | May 9, 2024

While both China and Russia have improved their standing in the world over the past year, the US has seen its approval rating deteriorate in the Middle East and even in Europe, according to respondents from 53 countries.

Dubbed Democracy Perception Index 2024, the survey was compiled by the German company Latana, on behalf of Alliance of Democracies, a NGO headed by former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Russia and China are now viewed as positively as the US in most of the surveyed countries in Asia and the Middle East/North Africa (MENA), as Washington’s approval plummeted due to the conflict in Gaza. Things aren’t looking up for the US in Europe, either.

“For the first time since the start of the Biden administration, many Western European countries have returned to net negative perceptions of the US,” according to Frederick DeVeaux, the senior researcher at Latana.

The reversal of previously positive attitudes has been “particularly stark in Germany, Austria, Ireland, Belgium and Switzerland,” DeVeaux said.

America’s global reputation took a beating since last year, in particular in Muslim-majority countries surveyed – Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, and Türkiye. The researchers attributed this to President Joe Biden’s unequivocal support to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Meanwhile, sentiments about Russia and China in every region except Europe are steadily getting more positive.

The European region is the only one besides the US that still supports cutting economic ties with Russia over the Ukraine conflict, while the rest of the world prefers to keep doing business with Moscow. The world is also divided “between the West and the rest” when it comes to possibly sanctioning Beijing if it were to “invade” the island of Taiwan.

The Democracy Perception Index is an annual survey carried out in 53 countries. This year’s research canvassed some 63,000 respondents for opinions about “democracy, geopolitics and global power players.”

May 9, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Russophobia, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

EU agrees to tap Russian assets to arm Ukraine

RT | May 9, 2024

The European Union has agreed on the expropriation of profits from frozen Russian assets to continue funding and arming Kiev, Brussels announced on Wednesday. The bloc’s ambassadors agreed on the course of action “in principle,” but the legal text is still to be ratified by the EU Council.

The proposal targets proceeds from some €191 billion ($205 billion) in Russian funds currently held immobilized in the Belgian clearing house Euroclear. In total, Western states froze an estimated $300 billion of Moscow’s sovereign capital abroad soon after the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.

“EU ambassadors agreed in principle on measures concerning extraordinary revenues stemming from Russia’s immobilized assets,” the Belgian Presidency announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.

Euroclear generates somewhere between €2 billion and €3 billion ($2.15 billion to $3.22 billion) in profits annually from the Russian money, depending on the interest rates, according to CEO Valerie Urbain.

Under the proposal, the EU hopes to send 90% of those profits towards purchasing armaments for Ukraine, and 10% towards non-military aid, with the first tranche expected in July.

In the meantime, Belgium will continue levying a 25% corporate tax on the revenue, while Euroclear would keep 10% before the money is sent to the EU, to provide the clearing house a buffer against ongoing and future litigation by Russia. Euroclear would also keep 0.3% of future profits as an incentive fee.

The move follows months of deliberation among Ukraine’s Western backers on how best to utilize Russia’s frozen funds. The US – Kiev’s biggest war sponsor – had proposed seizing the assets entirely, but had faced pushback from the EU thus far.

Euroclear’s CEO likened the confiscation of frozen Russian funds to “opening Pandora’s box.” Speaking to L’Echo on Tuesday, she warned it could cause “major international investors to turn away from Europe,” as they could no longer trust that their own assets could not be confiscated.

Russia stressed that seizure of its sovereign capital or any similar action would not only amount to theft and violate international law, but undermine trust in both Western currencies and the global financial system, shaking the world economy.

If the frozen Russian capital is seized, Moscow will retaliate in kind, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned in February. Total foreign direct investments in the Russian economy by the EU, G7, Australia, and Switzerland were estimated to be around $288 billion at the end of 2022.

May 8, 2024 Posted by | Economics | , | Leave a comment

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