Tag: russia

Biden administration to waive sanctions so Russian energy firm can build Iranian nuclear plant

As we’ve said before, the Biden administration has some mixed feelings about getting into a direct confrontation with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. At first, the administration sanctioned everything but energy and continued buying oil from Russia, with the explanation that the United States imports only 10 percent of its oil from Russia. Then there’s climate envoy John Kerry, who’s counting on Russia to be a partner in things like the Paris Accords. And speaking of Kerry, there’s also his precious Iran nuclear deal to consider.

Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon is reporting Wednesday that the Biden administration’s new Iran deal will remove sanctions so that a Russian energy firm can build Iran a nuclear power plant.

Kredo writes:

Russia’s top state-controlled energy company is set to cash in on a $10 billion contract to build out one of Iran’s most contested nuclear sites as part of concessions granted in the soon-to-be-announced nuclear agreement that will guarantee sanctions on both countries are lifted.

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US senator repeats call to assassinate Putin

US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) is undeterred by the backlash over his suggestion earlier this month that someone should assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin. In fact, he’s ramping up his violent political rhetoric amid the Ukraine crisis.

“I hope he will be taken out, one way or the other,” Graham told reporters on Wednesday in Washington. “I don’t care how they take him out. I don’t care if we send him to The Hague and try him. I just want him to go.”

Graham confirmed that he sees murdering Putin as a desirable option for removing the Russian president, just as he implied in a March 3 Twitter post in which he asked, “Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?” 

At the time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the “hysterical stirring-up” of anti-Russian sentiment in the US, calling it a “Russophobic meltdown” of sorts.

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CIA Brags It Has Trained Ukrainian Troops To Fight Russians Since 2015

A Yahoo News report published Wednesday detailed a secret Central Intelligence Agency training program used to get Ukrainian troops prepared for a war with Russia.

The clandestine operations started soon after Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych was overthrown in a US-backed coup.

According to the Yahoo article, a “select group of veteran CIA paramilitaries” were sent into the Donbas region of Ukraine to train troops in 2015.

The mainstream narrative being promoted by Yahoo is that because America helped, “the Ukrainian military has defied predictions of a rapid collapse, holding key cities against the Russian advance and inflicting punishing losses to Russian troops and materiel.”

Of course, there is no mention of how Russia might feel about American intelligence agencies helping the Ukrainian military with a hot war.

How would America react to Russian or Chinese intelligence training Mexican drug cartels just across the southern border?

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Biden announces $800M in aid for Ukraine hours after Zelenskyy’s plea to Congress

President Biden today announced an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine, bringing the total U.S. security assistance committed to Ukraine to $1 billion in just the past week, and a total of $2 billion since the start of the Biden Administration. The assistance will take the form of direct transfers of equipment from the Department of Defense to the Ukrainian military to help them defend their country against Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion.

The new $800 million assistance package includes:

  • 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
  • 2,000 Javelin, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons, and 6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems;
  • 100 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems;
  • 100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, and 400 shotguns;
  • Over 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds;
  • 25,000 sets of body armor; and
  • 25,000 helmets.

In addition to the weapons listed above, previous United States assistance committed to Ukraine includes:

  • Over 600 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
  • Approximately 2,600 Javelin anti-armor systems;
  • Five Mi-17 helicopters;
  • Three patrol boats;
  • Four counter-artillery and counter-unmanned aerial system tracking radars;
  • Four counter-mortar radar systems;
  • 200 grenade launchers and ammunition;
  • 200 shotguns and 200 machine guns;
  • Nearly 40 million rounds of small arms ammunition and over 1 million grenade, mortar, and artillery rounds;
  • 70 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) and other vehicles;
  • Secure communications, electronic warfare detection systems, body armor, helmets, and other tactical gear;
  • Military medical equipment to support treatment and combat evacuation;
  • Explosive ordnance disposal and demining equipment; and
  • Satellite imagery and analysis capability.

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Ukraine Approves Law Criminalizing Dissent, Punishes Pro-Russia Sentiment with Up to 15 Years in Prison

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has passed a law punishing pro-Russian dissent with up to 15 years in prison.

Zelensky signed a decree claiming that “cooperation with the aggressor state,” which includes pro-Russian statements, could result in up to 15 years in prison.

First Deputy Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Kornienko even wants over 20 “unpatriotic” members of Parliament who have been forced to flee the country jailed for having pro-Russian views.

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Ukrainian TV Host Calls For Genocide of Russian Children

Ukrainian TV host Fahruddin Sharafmal took to the airwaves to demand the genocide of Russian children, quoting top Nazi Adolf Eichmann as he called for “killing children.”

Yes, really.

Sharafmal uttered the vile comments during a segment on the Channel 24 news station.

“I know that as a journalist, I have to be objective, I have to be balanced, in order to report information to you with a cold heart, but to tell you the truth, it’s very hard to hold on now, especially at a time like this, and since we are called Nazis, fascists, and so on in Russia — I will allow myself to quote Adolf Eichmann, who said that in order to destroy a nation, you must destroy, first of all, children. Because if you kill their parents, the children will grow up and take revenge. By killing children — they will never grow up and the nation will disappear,” Sharafmal said.

He then went on to assert that he would personally kill Russian children.

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