Tag: russia

Will Average Western Citizens Pay the Price for G7’s Theft of Russian Funds?

Analysts worry Thursday’s announcement could spell dire consequences for the economic stability of the United States and its allies, as G7 leaders reached a deal this week to seize the interest from Russian assets to fund the ongoing proxy war in Ukraine.

News of the development emerged Thursday, although the group of Western economies has yet to formally approve the action. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed the reports, drawing a distinction between the expropriation of earned interest and the outright seizure of Russian savings held in European banks. “We are certainly not talking about confiscating these assets,” Meloni claimed at the G7 meeting in Fasano.

But the move is nonetheless highly controversial in the precedent it sets, claims analyst Dr. George Szamuely, and may be seen as a prelude to the wholesale theft of the funds. The analyst at the London-based Global Policy Institute joined Sputnik’s The Final Countdown program on Thursday to discuss how the development will harm financially strained Western citizens.

“It doesn’t in any way conform to international law,” said Szamuely of the G7’s plan, “and let’s keep in mind this has never been done before.”

Keep reading

NATO Seeks to Set Up 3 Bases in Member States to Coordinate Arms Supplies to Ukraine – Orban

NATO seeks to create military bases in Poland, Romania and Slovakia as part of its mission in Ukraine to coordinate arms supplies to Kiev, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.

Orban stressed that should this bases be established in countries bordering Ukraine like Poland, Romania and Slovakia, they “will become military targets”. Prime minister underscored that Hungary is worried about its security and will not take part in these activities anyhow.

Keep reading

US Senator Says Ukraine Is ‘Gold Mine’ with $12 Trillion of Minerals ‘We Can’t Afford to Lose’

Aprominent US lawmaker has referred to Ukraine as a “gold mine”, insisting the West must maintain access to its estimated $12 trillion worth of critical minerals.

US Senator Lindsey Graham made these comments in a June 10 interview on the CBS program “Face the Nation”.

“They’re sitting on $10 to $12 trillion of critical minerals in Ukraine”, Graham said.

“They could be the richest country in all of Europe. I don’t want to give that money and those assets to Putin to share with China”, he added.

Graham, a Republican, recalled that, when Donald Trump was president, he sent Ukraine military aid in the form of loans.

The senator strongly implied that Ukraine should pay the West for weapons shipments with its large mineral reserves.

Keep reading

Russia just let the world know they will NOT protect Big Pharma’s predatory patents

At the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), a Russian Member of Parliament (MP) sparked international debate by prioritizing the protection of Russian lives over the enforcement of intellectual property rights for Western pharmaceutical giants. During a panel discussion on drug security within BRICS nations, MP Aleksandr Petrov emphasized Russia’s commitment to safeguarding the health and well-being of its citizens and allies, even if it means challenging predatory patent laws and erecting a national drug manufacturing apparatus.

Russia takes hard stance against Western pharmaceutical companies

Petrov’s stance resonated with many, underscoring the significance of national health priorities and sound economic policies over crony corporate interests that are bankrupting medical systems in the West. Petrov cautioned Western pharmaceutical companies against overly relying on patent laws, stating, “When it comes to the lives and health of our citizens and those of our allies, we will break it.”

Petrov’s position isn’t endorsing intellectual piracy but instead advocating for legal mechanisms to ensure access to vital medications, particularly in the face of rising prices for essential drugs and while facing a barrage of economic sanctions that threaten equitable access to lifesaving drugs for the Russian people.

A focal point of the discussion was the case of Ozempic, a crucial anti-diabetic medication manufactured by Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk. Following disruptions in the drug’s supply due to Western sanctions, Russia responded by issuing emergency licenses to produce generic versions right in Russia. Petrov commended the rapid response of Russian pharmaceutical firms, highlighting their ability to mitigate shortages and uphold national drug security.

Keep reading

There Are Only Downsides To Prolonging The War In Ukraine

Last week, President Joe Biden and a number of top American and European officials met in Normandy to attend a ceremony marking the eightieth anniversary of the D-day invasion. In a pair of speeches, Biden recounted the operation that he said marked the beginning of the “great crusade to liberate Europe from tyranny” before drawing a direct connection to where things stand with the war in Ukraine.

Biden called Russian president Vladamir Putin a tyrant who invaded Ukraine simply because he is “bent on domination.” Biden then renewed one of his favorite tropes, asserting that if Ukraine falls, its people will be subjugated, its neighbors will be in immediate danger, and all of Europe will be threatened by Putin’s aggressive ambitions.

But the West’s chosen depiction of Putin as a tyrant bent on conquering the entire European continent suffered its latest setback last month when it came out that the Russian president is interested in halting the fighting and negotiating a deal that recognizes the current battlefield lines.

Putin is showing this interest even though the Russian military is in a strong position that seems likely to get even stronger. Last year’s long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive was meant to drive Russian forces out of Ukraine. But since its launch last summer, Ukraine has lost more territory than it has gained. Recently, the Russians even launched a brand new incursion into territory around the northeastern city of Kharkiv—territory that had already been recaptured by the Ukrainians in late 2022.

Russia’s minefields, artillery, and punishing glide bombs have not only kept Ukrainian forces from advancing but left them struggling to hold their positions along the current front line. Meanwhile, Russia has significantly boosted war-related production far beyond anything we’re seeing from the West, which, while bad for the Russian economy in the long run, ensures the intensity of Russia’s bombing and shelling will not cease anytime soon.

At the same time, the Ukrainian government is facing a serious shortage of soldiers that no amount of foreign aid or equipment transfers can do anything to alleviate. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law that sought to boost conscription rates by making it easier for the government to find and identify draft-eligible men. But the problem persists, leading Ukrainian officials to tap into the country’s prison population, cut consular services to military-aged Ukrainian men living abroad, and forbid men who are dual citizens from leaving Ukraine. As the country’s supply of young men runs low, the average age of a Ukrainian soldier has climbed to forty-three years old.

What makes Ukraine’s situation even more tragic is how easily it could have been avoided. One month after Russia invaded in early 2022, both sides reached an agreement where Russia would pull back to preinvasion boundaries and, in return, Ukraine would agree to not seek NATO membership.

The deal could have put an end to the fighting and handed Kyiv control of all the land Russia had just seized. But, according to senior negotiators on both sides and high-level mediators from the various countries facilitating the talks, officials from the United Kingdom and the United States convinced the Ukrainians to walk away from the deal and fight.

Keep reading

US-NATO Threats Ignore ‘Red Lines’ in Ukraine

Front lines are collapsing for the Ukrainian army, whole units surrendering. Top commanders are fired. Faced with complete disarray of the U.S.-NATO instigated war in Ukraine, U.S. militarists are doubling down.

According to the Ukrainian constitution, President Volodymir Zelensky’s term in office is over. But he remains in power by martial law. This has led Ukrainian workers to hold strikes and work stoppages. But this news is ignored in the Western media.

A national truckers’ work slowdown inside Ukraine moved traffic to a 5-mile-an hour crawl and halted grain exports based on national anger at the expanded draft mobilization made by Zelensky, now an unelected president. (yahoonews.com, May 18)

Ukraine’s combat units are so severely understaffed that the government would have to triple its mobilization in order to continue the current level of fighting, according to Eric Ciaramella, former U.S. National Intelligence Council official. The draft can’t fill the current gap, nor can even kidnapping men off the streets.Lockhart, PaulBest Price: $17.49Buy New $24.31(as of 05:02 UTC – Details)

U.S. Failure on Two Fronts

U.S. efforts to dismember Russia appear to have utterly failed. Economic sanctions, price caps, the protracted war on Russia’s border and tens of billions of dollars, along with hundreds of U.S. and other NATO member troops sent as trainers, plus mercenary contractors can’t hold the corrupt Ukrainian military machine together.

At the same time, on the world stage the one strategic ally of the U.S. in Western Asia, Israel, has utterly failed in its genocidal war on Gaza. Both setbacks mean that U.S. political dominance is being challenged in fundamental ways.

U.S. strategy toward Russia aimed to partition and dismember the country, destabilize the border and block China’s Belt and Road development plans in Central Asia.

U.S. strategists considered all these steps crucial in preventing People’s China from surpassing the U.S. economically. The opposite has happened. What imperialist strategists have warned about for decades and sought to prevent is now the reality.

China and Russia’s relations of intense cooperation and a merge of common interests is unfolding steadily. This was further cemented during the very warm state meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on May 16.

That means U.S.-NATO plans are in total disarray. Rather than reconsider their strategy, which has brought setbacks and defeats in Ukraine and for Israel in Gaza, this has led to an ominous escalation in U.S. military threats.

The threat to dangerously escalate the war in Ukraine arises from the plans to give Ukraine high-speed missiles and allow the Kyiv regime to use the weapons to strike inside Russia. This threat is not just from a single statement or one delivery of weapons.

The statements promoting strikes with the U.S.-supplied weapons to targets inside Russia are being made directly by President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is a former prime minister of Norway, but acts as if he were a U.S. official.

Keep reading

Are There Saboteurs Operating In The United States?

“Preventing War is Much Better than Protesting War. Protesting war is too late.”

– Nhat Hanh

Is the United States sleepwalking its way into a hot war with Russia? Over the last three years the United States has provided over $175 billion in military assistance to the Ukraine1. This military assistance prolongs a war on Russia’s border which has killed over 50,000 Russian Soldiers2. Has Russia passively accepted this military assistance to its enemy on the battlefield or are they doing anything about this? Over the last three years there have been many explosions, train derailments, bridge collapses and other incidents within American infrastructure which point to an organized effort to disrupt American production and the export of important material overseas.

A Motive for Sabotage and Some Recent Examples

There is a rich history of the use of saboteurs to disrupt a nations ability to produce materials which support war. Prior to the U.S. entry into World War II the Germans inserted saboteurs in the United States to disrupt American transportation, manufacturing and electrical distribution systems3 in a clandestine operation code named Pastorious. Please don’t be fooled into believing that the dastardly Nazi’s are the only nation to employ these techniques. As another example, in Iran over the last two decades numerous nuclear scientists have been assassinated4 and the digital malware Stuxnet was utilized to retard the Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons. The clandestine techniques of sabotage are widespread and often occur as a precursor to open warfare. It is only logical to believe that if a nation wants to prevent another nation from having a military advantage it would strike at those technological or logistic sites which provide this advantage. This technique has been used throughout history, and I suspect is occurring in our homeland today.

Over the last three years there have been numerous train derailments, fires and explosions at food production sites and factories which produce ammunition and other materials. Within the last month there have also been well publicized incidents on our riverways and ports that have disrupted transportation networks. Of interest these incidents are occurring in both the United States and in other NATO countries. Specifically, these incidents include a fire at the Scranton Pennsylvania ammunition plant on the 15th of April and a fire at another ammunition factory on the 17th of April in Monmouth England5. What is interesting is both these ammunition plants produce 155-millimeter howitzer rounds which are in great demand in the Ukraine. In mid-April 26 barges became unmoored and created havoc to shipping on the Ohio river6. Most recently another barge struck a bridge and caused a collapse of the bridge connecting Galveston and Pelican Island7.

Keep reading

Lindsey Graham on the Real Reason Behind Ukraine

What happened to the story that “Putin attacked Ukraine unprovoked, and Ukraine was just defending itself, etc”? Now, suddenly, the problem is the natural resources in Donbas, not Ukraine itself. The first victim in war is always the truth. These people have NEVER told the truth about any war EVER!!!!!!

I have stated before that there is a huge natural gas reserve under Crimea. All the Neocons are doing is constantly trying to conquer Russia and bankrupt it so they can invade, and it has been the same scenario constantly. Obama wanted to invade Syria, and Putin came to their aid. This was all about a pipeline they wanted to put through Syria to cut off Russian energy sales to Europe. The Neocons orchestrated the blowing up of Nord Stream. That undermined Germany and Europe – but as Victoria Nuland famously said, “Fuck the EU.”

The question of Palestinian reserves was confirmed back in 2019. I covered the gas reserves in Syria’s occupied Golan Heights in 2017 involving Genie Oil. Obama wanted to invade Syria all for pipelines. What the press reports never connects the dots. Obama was pushing for a pipeline through Syria to stop Russia from supplying energy to Europe. This has been a war against Russia for decades.

The Neocons after blowing up Nord Stream, promised to pay for a pipeline from Nigeria to Europe. When the Niger coup took place, that is why Victoria Nuland was on a plane to Niger. US taxpayers fund the Neocon dreams of war. We blow up Nord Stream and then pay for a pipeline from Nigeria.  The deal with Nigeria was that they had to be the first Digital Currency guinea pig, and the US taxpayer would fund a pipeline from them to Europe to cut off energy sales from Russia.

Now, Lindsey Graham has come out and admitted that the “resources” under Crimea are worth $10 to $12 trillion, and this is again to stop Russia from gaining that natural gas.

Keep reading

Europe preparing for war as Ukraine conflict looms large, report finds

More than three-fourths of European countries spent more on their militaries in 2023, a report has found, as the world’s most peaceful region fears a possible expansion of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The 18th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI), produced by the Australia-based Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), warned on Tuesday the world was at a crossroads, with the global number of conflicts reaching 56, the most since World War II.

Ninety-seven countries deteriorated in peacefulness in 2024, more than any year since the inception of the report in 2008.

Wars have also become more international, with 92 countries involved in conflicts outside their borders, the most since the GPI began recording peacefulness.

“Over the past decade, peacefulness has declined in nine out of the 10 years. We are witnessing a record number of conflicts, a rise in militarisation, and heightened international strategic competition,” said Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of IEP.

“It is imperative for governments and businesses worldwide to intensify their efforts to resolve the many minor conflicts before they escalate into larger crises,” Killelea said.

While Europe is home to seven of the 10 most peaceful countries, 23 out of 36 countries in the region have become less peaceful.

Keep reading

German government approves new plans for war, including food rationing and compulsory conscription

Germany is preparing for an all-out war in Europe with Russia, finalizing a new 67-page defense plan full of strict wartime measures that make it clear they are expecting the worst.

The new measures come in the form of updates to Germany’s Framework Directive for Overall Defense of 1989, which outlines the measures the country will take should a war break out. The new defense framework was approved by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s cabinet this week and replaces the previous guidelines.

Not surprisingly, a return to compulsory conscription features prominently in their plans, which means that citizens could be drafted at any time during the war. This compulsory military service was abandoned by the country in 2011, but Germany is now one of several nations that is talking about bringing it back.

In addition to the military draft, the guidelines state that skilled citizens over the age of 18 could be forced to work in some types of civilian jobs that would be deemed useful in wartime, such as nursing or baking bread. Meanwhile, hospitals must prepare to take on a significant influx of patients.

In a statement about the new guidelines, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: “As a result of Russian aggression, we have a completely changed security situation in Europe.”

Parts of Germany could be fully evacuated, and the country will advise its citizens to shelter in “solid-construction” basements, subway stations and underground garages for protection during air raids; they note that attacks could take place with “sometimes extremely short warning times.”

Keep reading