#Thug & War Criminal Zelensky

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Killer Drones Pioneered in Ukraine are the Weapons of the Future! They are Reshaping the Balance Between Humans and Technology in War

— February 8th 2024 | The Economist

Image: Getty Images

Precision-Guided Weapons first appeared in their modern form on the battlefield in Vietnam a little over 50 years ago. As armed forces have strived ever since for accuracy and destructiveness, the cost of such weapons has soared. America’s GPS-Guided artillery shells cost $100,000 a time. Because smart weapons are expensive, they are scarce. That is why European countries ran out of them in Libya in 2011. Illegal Regime of Isra-hell, more eager to conserve its stockpiles than avoid collateral damage, has rained dumb bombs on Gaza. What, though, if you could combine precision and abundance?

For the first time in the history of warfare that question is being answered on the battlefields of Ukraine. Our report this week shows how First-Person View (FPV) drones are mushrooming along the front lines. They are small, cheap, explosives-laden aircraft adapted from consumer models, and they are making a soldier’s life even more dangerous. These drones slip into tank turrets or dugouts. They loiter and pursue their quarry before going for the kill. They are inflicting a heavy toll on infantry and armour.

The war is also making FPV Drones and their maritime cousins ubiquitous. January saw 3,000 verified fpv drone strikes. This week Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s War Criminal and Thug President, created the Unmanned Systems Force, dedicated to drone warfare. In 2024 Ukraine is on track to build 1m-2m drones. Astonishingly, that will match Ukraine’s reduced consumption of shells (which is down because Republicans in Congress are shamefully denying Ukraine the supplies it needs).

The drone is not a wonder weapon—no such thing exists. It matters because it embodies big trends in war: a shift towards small, cheap and disposable weapons; the increasing use of consumer technology; and the drift towards autonomy in battle. Because of these trends, drone technology will spread rapidly from armies to militias, terrorists and criminals. And it will improve not at the budget-cycle pace of the military-industrial complex, but with the break-things urgency of consumer electronics.

Basic fpv drones are revolutionarily simple. The descendants of racing quadcopters, built from off-the-shelf components, they can cost as little as several hundred dollars. fpv drones tend to have short ranges, carry small payloads and struggle in bad weather. For those reasons they will not (yet) replace artillery. But they can still do a lot of damage. In one week last autumn Ukrainian drones helped destroy 75 Russian tanks and 101 big guns, among much else. Russia has its own fpv drones, though they tend to target dugouts, trenches and soldiers. Drones help explain why both sides find it so hard to mount offensives.

The exponential growth in the number of Russian and Ukrainian drones points to a second trend. They are inspired by and adapted from widely available consumer technology. Not only in Ukraine but also in Myanmar, where rebels have routed government forces in recent days, volunteers can use 3d printers to make key components and assemble airframes in small workshops. Unfortunately, criminal groups and terrorists are unlikely to be far behind the militias.

This reflects a broad democratisation of precision weapons. In Yemen the Houthi rebel group has used cheap Iranian guidance kits to build anti-ship missiles that are posing a deadly threat to commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Iran itself has shown how an assortment of long-range strike drones and ballistic missiles can have a geopolitical effect that far outweighs their cost. Even if the kit needed to overcome anti-drone jamming greatly raises the cost of the weapons, as some predict, they will still count as transformationally cheap.

The reason goes back to consumer electronics, which propel innovation at a blistering pace as capabilities accumulate in every product cycle. That poses problems of ethics as well as obsolescence. There will not always be time to subject novel weapons to the testing that Western countries aim for in peacetime and that is required by the Geneva Conventions.

Innovation also leads to the last trend, autonomy. Today, fpv drone use is limited by the supply of skilled pilots and by the effects of jamming, which can sever the connection between a drone and its operator. To overcome these problems, Russia and Ukraine are experimenting with autonomous navigation and target recognition. Artificial intelligence has been available in consumer drones for years and is improving rapidly.

A degree of autonomy has existed on high-end munitions for years and on cruise missiles for decades. The novelty is that cheap microchips and software will let intelligence sit inside millions of low-end munitions that are saturating the battlefield. The side that masters autonomy at scale in Ukraine first could enjoy a temporary but decisive advantage in firepower—a necessary condition for any breakthrough.

Western countries have been slow to absorb these lessons. Simple and cheap weapons will not replace big, high-end platforms, but they will complement them. The Pentagon is belatedly embarking on Replicator, an initiative to build thousands of low-cost drones and munitions able to take on China’s enormous forces. Europe is even further behind. Its ministers and generals increasingly believe that they could face another major European war by the end of the decade. If so, investment in low-end drones needs to grow urgently. Moreover, ubiquitous drones will require ubiquitous defences—not just on battlefields but also in cities at peace.

Kalashnikovs In The Skies

Intelligent drones will also raise questions about how armies wage war and whether humans can control the battlefield. As drones multiply, self-co-ordinating swarms will become possible. Humans will struggle to monitor and understand their engagements, let alone authorise them.

America and its allies must prepare for a world in which rapidly improving military capabilities spread more quickly and more widely. As the skies over Ukraine fill with expendable weapons that marry precision and firepower, they serve as a warning. Mass-produced hunter-killer aircraft are already reshaping the balance between humans and technology in war. ■

— This Article Appeared in the Leaders Section of the Print Edition Under the Headline "Killer Drones"

[bountyofbeads]

All the President’s Thugs https://nyti.ms/2RqLbHE

"By going public, Parnas has probably done nothing to sway Republicans toward removing Trump from office, not because they don’t believe him, but because they know Trump did what he’s accused of and don’t care" And that America is the real problem !

All the President’s Thugs

Of course Lev Parnas is unreliable. He worked for Trump.

By Michelle Goldberg, Opinion Columnist | Published Jan. 17, 2020, 4:06 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted January 17, 2020 |

One good thing about surrounding yourself with tawdry gangsters and grifters is that if they flip on you, you can claim they have no credibility because they’re criminals.

Now that Lev Parnas, a key conspirator in Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani’s plot to shake down Ukraine, is singing, Trump’s defenders are pointing out that he is a disreputable person who can’t be trusted. “This is a man who is under indictment and who’s actually out on bail. This is a man who owns a company called Fraud Inc.,” the White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said on Fox News, the only network on which she regularly appears. (Parnas’s company was actually called Fraud Guarantee, though that’s not any better.)

Grisham is obviously correct that he’s a shady character. He’s certainly not someone you’d want, say, threatening foreign officials on behalf of the president of the United States, as Parnas claimed he did during an extraordinary interview with Rachel Maddow that aired on Wednesday and Thursday on MSNBC.

Trumpists similarly dismissed Michael Cohen, who served as Trump’s personal lawyer before Giuliani did. The day Cohen testified to Congress that Trump is a “racist,” a “con man” and a “cheat,” a Trump campaign spokeswoman blasted him as “a felon, a disbarred lawyer and a convicted perjurer.” (Some of his felonies, of course, were things he did for Trump.) When Rick Gates, Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman, testified against his former boss Paul Manafort, Manafort’s lawyer grilled him, asking, “After all the lies you’ve told and fraud you’ve committed, you expect this jury to believe you?”

Giuliani himself is under federal criminal investigation. In a 2018 text to Parnas recently released by the House Intelligence Committee, Giuliani seemed to joke, apropos of Robert Mueller, “I’m no rat,” but should the prospect of prison ever change his mind, expect Republicans to make a similar case against believing a crooked and paranoid barfly. A willingness to associate with Trump is a sign of moral turpitude, so most witnesses to his venal schemes will necessarily be compromised.

Thus nothing that Parnas said in the Maddow interview should be taken at face value. Important questions remain unanswered, including who was paying all of the bills. (Remember — he was paying Giuliani, not vice versa.) Parnas’s decision to go public in the first place is hard to fathom.

None of that, however, means that his dramatic interview on the eve of Trump’s impeachment trial shouldn’t be taken seriously. That’s because much of what he says has been corroborated, and because the very fact that a person like Parnas was carrying out high-level international missions for the president shows how mob-like this administration is.

You don’t have to take Parnas’s word that he was working at the president’s behest. Last fall, when House impeachment investigators asked for documents and testimony from Parnas and his associate, Igor Fruman, they were initially represented by John Dowd, formerly one of Trump’s defense lawyers in the Mueller inquiry. Dowd, in turn, wrote to Congress that Parnas and Fruman would not cooperate with the impeachment investigation because some of the information the House sought may have been privileged. “Be advised that Messers. Parnas and Fruman assisted Mr. Giuliani in connection with his representation of President Trump,” the letter said. (Documents that Parnas later provided to the House Intelligence Committee show that Trump signed off on Dowd representing them.)

Some of the most disturbing and clarifying information Parnas has provided since turning on Trump involves the administration’s fixation on Marie Yovanovitch, the former American ambassador to Ukraine. It’s true that people around Trump saw her as an obstacle to getting Ukraine’s government to open a politically motivated investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, but that doesn’t quite explain the scale of the animosity toward her.

Trump didn’t just fire her. He told Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, that she was going to “go through some things.” We learned this week that Robert Hyde, a deranged Trumpworld hanger-on and Republican congressional candidate, sent a series of messages to Parnas suggesting he was stalking Yovanovitch. (Ukraine has opened an investigation into Hyde’s activity, and on Thursday he was visited by the F.B.I.) A lawyer and Fox News regular named Victoria Toensing — who has represented a Kremlin-aligned Ukrainian oligarch who is, according to the Justice Department, an upper-echelon associate of Russian organized crime figures — texted Giuliani saying, “Is there absolute commitment for her to be gone this week?” Why the obsession with Yovanovitch?

Parnas added to the evidence that when it came to Yovanovitch, Trump and his crew willingly allowed themselves to be manipulated by Yuri Lutsenko, a disgraced former chief prosecutor of Ukraine who loathed her for her anti-corruption work. (As the State Department official George Kent said during the impeachment hearings, you can’t fight corruption “without pissing off corrupt people.”) In WhatsApp messages to Parnas, Lutsenko expressed fury that Yovanovitch hadn’t been fired yet. He spoke of all he’d done to push the spurious Biden scandal, adding, “And yet you can’t even get rid of one fool.”

“In that text message to you,” Maddow asked on Thursday, “is Mr. Lutsenko saying, in effect, listen, if you want me to make these Biden allegations, you’re going to have to get rid of this ambassador?” Parnas replied: “Absolutely. Absolutely.”

A few months ago, I wrote a column arguing that when it comes to Ukraine, Trump is at once a con man and a mark, and the information Parnas has provided backs this up. Having promised Lutsenko that he’d get Yovanovitch fired, Parnas told Trump, falsely, that Yovanovitch had bad-mouthed him. His text messages show that he pushed Donald Trump Jr. to tweet about her.

Parnas was the vehicle through which a dirty Ukrainian politician pulled Trump’s strings to take revenge on an American official who’d tried to uphold the rule of law. She was threatened, smeared and fired in part because Trump is easily influenced by the goons and bottom feeders in his orbit.

By going public, Parnas has probably done nothing to sway Republicans toward removing Trump from office, not because they don’t believe him, but because they know Trump did what he’s accused of and don’t care. Writing to Politico’s John F. Harris, a Trump supporter recently described the president as “our O.J.,” an apt analogy for Republicans’ vengeful determination to give a guilty man impunity. (As it happens, Trump will be represented by one of O.J. Simpson’s old lawyers, Alan Dershowitz, at his Senate trial.)

But Parnas is worth paying attention to because he’s shown us, once again, what Trumpism looks like from the inside. It’s part “The Sopranos” and part, as he put it to Maddow, a “cult.” The qualities that discredit Parnas are the same ones that let him fit right in.

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If we think it's bad now, think of the tyranny that would characterize a second term. It would be difficult to exaggerate the danger. That it again is likely to turn on a relatively small number of voters in three states is a reminder of how fragile our semi-democracy is, how susceptible to the winds of Fortuna.

Being eligible to vote and not registering is a vote for Trump. Being registered to vote and not voting is a vote for Trump. Voting for a third party candidate is a vote for Trump.

Trump’s Evil Is Contagious

The president has shown us exactly what happens when good people do nothing.

By Timothy Egan, Contributing Opinion Writer | Published Jan. 17, 2020 | New York Times | Posted January 17, 2020 |

It passed with the usual shrug by the usual handmaidens of hatred when the president of the world’s most powerful democracy threatened to commit war crimes by bombing Iranian cultural sites — the kind of barbarism practiced by the Taliban and rogue-state thugs.

After being told that he would be in violation of Geneva Convention rules that the United States had helped to create back when America was actually great, President Trump relented, but still wondered: Why not?

The warlord in chief had already gone out of his way to protect a Navy SEAL member who’d been accused of committing war crimes. And what kind of man did the president upend the military code of justice for?

“The guy is freaking evil,” one fellow SEAL told investigators, referring to Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who was convicted of posing for photos with the corpse of a teenage boy who’d been killed in his custody. After the presidential intervention, the formerly shamed serviceman was posing at Mar-a-Lago.

On any given day, Trump is vindictive, ignorant, narcissistic, a fraud — well, his pathologies are well known. But it’s time to apply the same word to him as the brave Navy man did to the renegade in his unit. Under Trump, the United States is a confederacy of corruption, driven by a thousand points of evil. And that evil is contagious.

We all grew up hearing an ageless warning about public morality: that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.

The presumed outcome is reassuring, a story we tell ourselves. But in the last three years, that homily has been proved right, in the country where it was not supposed to happen. The Trump presidency has shown just how many ostensibly good people will do nothing, and how evil, when given a free rein at the top, trickles down.

When Trump retweeted a fabricated image of the two most important Democratic leaders of Congress dressed in Islamic garb in front of the Iranian flag, there was no chorus of condemnation from his side. Here was a graphic lie, a cheap defamation, the kind of dirty little trick that politicians usually give to the felon operating under the radar. For Trump, it was just another Monday.

Was it politics, or evil, when candidate Trump smeared a Gold Star family in 2016? Was it a mere shift in public policy, or evil, when Trump allowed people acting in our name to put children in cages and separate them from their mothers?

Was it mere theatrics to revel in a chant of “Lock her up,” about Hillary Clinton, who has now been exonerated, twice, by federal investigators? Was it normal for the 44th successor of a president who could not tell a lie, to lie more than 15,000 times?

Trump has so desensitized us that a day without a round of blunt force cruelty from the White House is newsworthy. And now it all comes to a boil in the impeachment trial. The facts are not in dispute: Trump tried to force a struggling democracy into doing his political dirty work for him. He tried to squeeze a foreign power into meddling in our election. What is very much in doubt is whether enough good people will do something.

In the process of this high crime, Trump broke the law, as a nonpartisan congressional watchdog reported Thursday. The greater evil is the violation of the lofty purpose written into this country’s founding documents. The smaller evils are the Republican senators who know the president violated his oath and deserved to be impeached, but don’t have the guts to say so.

“Do not, as my party did, underestimate the evil, desperate nature of evil, desperate people,” writes Rick Wilson, the Republican operative and witty Never-Trumper, in “Running Against the Devil,” his new book. “There is no bottom. There is no shame. There are no limits.”

As for the contagion of evil, you need not look far. In Texas this month, Gov. Greg Abbott said his state would become the first to refuse to take in even a small number of legal, fully vetted refugees. These are people who’ve been approved by the federal government for asylum, after being displaced by war, famine or persecution. In the past, people from Vietnam, Cuba and Africa have been welcomed, and have gone on to become some of our finest citizens.

A handful of citizens, the Catholic Church, some members of Congress, objected. “Accepting refugees with open arms — giving without keeping score — is who we are as Americans,” tweeted Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, herself an immigrant.

Sorry, that’s not who we are as Americans in the Trump era. When the hate flag is flying, most of Trump’s followers have stood up and saluted.

Here’s the two-step that all good people must take now: First, realize the level of depravity that has taken over the White House, and second, fight accordingly.

“Do not come to this fight believing that the Trump team views any action, including outright criminality, as off limits,” writes Wilson. This doesn’t mean you have to cheat, lie or coerce. But it means you do have to fight, or be counted among the do-nothings who allowed evil to flourish.

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TOO LITTLE TO LATE, Rubio and his Republican colleagues created this monster it time to put your money where your mouth is and vote to impeach this SOB!!!!

Marco Rubio: Investing in China Is Not a Good Deal

It will result in American capital flowing to a regime that undermines our country. This is not a win.

By Marco Rubio, Mr. Rubio is a Republican senator from Florida. | Published Jan. 17, 2020 | New York Times | Posted January 17, 2020 |

It’s no secret that Wall Street hated President Trump’s aggressive trade tactics toward China. But its executives are very happy with the financial services section of the recently signed “phase one” deal that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin negotiated with China.

Instead of holding China accountable for exploiting American capital markets, “phase one” of the deal will make sure American capital continues to directly fund China’s state-run economy. American financing will increase to state-owned enterprises like China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, which produces about 80 percent of the Chinese Navy’s main equipment, and Hikvision, whose products Beijing uses to surveil Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Another appalling example of how good this part of the deal is for China is the provision authorizing American financial companies to purchase Chinese nonperforming loans. These are loans that the borrower is struggling to pay off. This makes them a favorite of Chinese state-owned enterprises and other companies with large capital expenditures but little revenue growth expected in the near term.

A majority of Chinese nonperforming loans go to state-owned enterprises. In the past, when a Chinese bank struggled with financing nonperforming loans on its books, Beijing had to bail it out with Chinese money. But now, under this deal, American savings can do it.

The rising number of nonperforming loans has been a problem in China’s economy; last year ended with almost the highest percentage of loans outstanding in over a decade. President Trump’s tariffs were having a real effect on the Chinese economy. It brought its leaders to the table to deal with vital issues like China’s theft of American intellectual property and its blocking of market access for American manufacturers. But now this part of the “deal” with China throws open the gates to American capital. They now get to keep up their exploitation, with our money.

For decades, China has used Wall Street’s hunger for profit to lure American capital into a trap: the Communist Party’s clear intent of displacing the United States as the world’s economic and military superpower. This “deal” will result in American capital flowing to the government-owned companies that China props up to undermine our country. This is not a win.

Investing American capital in China may earn better returns in the short term. But it will come at a tremendous cost in the long term.

American dollars aren’t being invested in Chinese companies that succeed based on their honest business model and ability to grow. They are being invested in companies that exist to serve a Chinese Communist Party intent on undermining America, human rights and religious liberty.

Allowing the savings of Americans to be linked to the success of the Chinese government and Communist Party is a grave error we will come to regret. Beijing’s state planners couldn’t have written the financial services section better if they tried. They’ll get to finance their industrial ambitions with the deepest, most liquid capital markets in the world — our own.

Policymakers in Washington, who were once naïve about China’s exploitation of our capital markets and the American-led global order, are now giving the financial relationship between the United States and Beijing the scrutiny it rightly deserves. For instance, the bipartisan Equitable Act, which I introduced, would delist Chinese companies that do not comply with American laws and regulations for financial transparency and accountability from United States exchanges.

Finding a peaceful and workable path forward for United States-China relations is the defining geopolitical issue of this century, and President Trump deserves credit for getting the Chinese to the negotiating table. However, the financial services section of the “phase one” deal could undermine the significant progress the agreement makes on other priorities.

As the Trump administration negotiates “phase two,” we must grapple with this challenge by enacting a pro-American industrial and financial policy that puts American capital to work for American workers, their skills and our development.

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The Real Risks of Republicans’ Burying Their Heads in the Sand

G.O.P. senators will harm Congress if they turn away from new testimony and information relevant to impeachment.

By Margaret L. Taylor, Ms. Taylor is a senior editor at Lawfare and a fellow at Brookings. | Published Jan. 17, 2020 | New York Times | Posted Jan 17, 2020 |

Just as President Trump’s impeachment trial is getting underway, the Senate is facing a highly charged, unusual situation. New, directly relevant information and evidence is spilling across the internet and the airwaves.

Documents and statements from Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer Rudy Giuliani, implicate the president directly in efforts to obtain dirt on and investigations of the Bidens.

Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office issued a legal decision finding that the White House’s Office of Management and Budget violated the Impoundment Control Act when it withheld from obligation the portion of Ukraine assistance funds appropriated to the Department of Defense.

This follows a previous New York Times report that detailed the haggling by executive branch officials over the legal consequences of the president’s decision to hold back $391 million worth of military assistance for the Ukrainian military. It makes clear that the decision to withhold the aid came from the president himself.

Established by statute in 1921, the G.A.O. is an independent, nonpartisan agency that helps Congress monitor executive branch agencies’ programs and spending. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 was written to ensure that the practice of reserving funds did not become a way for reckless presidents (like Richard Nixon) to further their own policies and priorities at the expense of Congress’s.

The G.A.O. decision goes to the heart of both the impeachment inquiry and our constitutional system of separated powers — and puts congressional Republicans in the hot seat. A violation of the Impoundment Control Act in connection with the Ukraine funds is directly relevant to the first article of impeachment because it is a mechanism by which the president executed the alleged abuse of power. The question of access to information about that violation is directly relevant to the second article of impeachment — obstruction of Congress. What is at stake is the status of Congress as a coequal branch of government. Much as Senate Republicans seem eager to, they — indeed, the entire Senate — cannot turn away from testimony and documents relevant to the articles of impeachment, however inconvenient the timing.

The G.A.O. decision addresses a rather narrow appropriations law issue. In short, what the president did here was precisely the type of adventurism the Impoundment Control Act was designed to prevent. The O.M.B. had no authority to withhold the funds because the act permits it only under specific circumstances — and in this instance, those weren’t met. The O.M.B. argued that the funds were withheld because doing so was necessary to ensure that they were not spent “in a manner that could conflict with the president’s foreign policy.” But the G.A.O. decided the withholding was an “impermissible policy deferral.”

The decision also renders a judgment that the withholding was not a mere delay, as the O.M.B. argued. Program execution was “well underway” when the O.M.B. held back the funds, and “there was no external factor causing an unavoidable delay.”

More broadly, the G.A.O. decision represents an assertion of Congress’s constitutional power of the purse. The G.A.O. is well respected, and historically the executive branch has given substantial deference to its opinions. In any other administration, this decision would have been an earthquake reverberating across the executive branch.

In this administration, the import of the decision is unclear. A Nov. 5, 2019,  memorandum instructed federal agencies that they are under no obligation to comply with the legal decisions issued by the G.A.O. because those decisions are part of the legislative branch and are therefore not binding on the executive branch. As a technical matter, that is true, but the president must faithfully execute the laws, including the Impoundment Control Act. Instead, executive branch machinations in the Times report indicate that O.M.B. lawyers were working up an argument that Mr. Trump’s role as commander in chief would allow him to override Congress. Such thinking is consistent with Mr. Trump’s unprecedented stonewall approach to Congress more generally — like his assertion that he has “an Article Two where I have the right to do whatever I want as president,” his lawyers’ direction of total noncooperation with Congress’s investigation into the Ukraine matter and his refusal to participate at all in the House impeachment proceedings.

These positions are so absolutist as to be a danger to the country, and Congress needs to respond forcefully.

On the spending power, there is substantial overlap among the branches: Congress has the power of the purse, and the president is responsible for running agencies and implementing programs. Rather than adhering to a strict separation of powers, in disagreements, the branches have traditionally engaged in a back-and-forth competition. As the G.A.O. points out in its decision, faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. Some amount of cooperation — in addition to competition — is needed to make the system work.

The real question going forward is whether Congress will act to protect its constitutional role. Reactions so far are not particularly encouraging. On Thursday, Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, dismissed the decision as a mere legalistic dispute between agencies.

The G.A.O. decision suggests a further deterioration of the separation of powers. The decision applies only to funds that were appropriated to the Defense Department and not the State Department, because the O.M.B. and the State Department “have failed, as of yet, to provide the information we need to fulfill our duties” under the Impoundment Control Act regarding State Department funds. In what was, for a nonpartisan agency like the G.A.O., a blistering conclusion, it states that its role “is essential to ensuring respect for and allegiance to Congress’ constitutional power of the purse” and pointedly reminds readers that “all federal officials and employees take an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution and its core tenets, including the congressional power of the purse.” The consequence of Congress abdicating its right to information about the spending power could have the effect of eliminating Congress’s very control over that power.

Finally, the Senate must take seriously its role in the impeachment trial of President Trump. On Tuesday, when impeachment presentations start, these troves of new information will almost certainly begin to be aired in the chamber as senators listen to the presentation of the House managers.

The Senate must demand and obtain all documents and testimony of those with knowledge of the president’s actions who refused to obey lawful subpoenas issued by the House in the impeachment inquiry, like the administration members Mick Mulvaney, Robert Blair and Michael Duffey — as well as documents and other information that is directly relevant to the decision before them.

Clearly some are feeling the heat. Asked by Manu Raju of CNN whether the Senate should consider new evidence as part of the impeachment trial, Senator Martha McSally, Republican of Arizona, blithely responded: “Manu, you’re a liberal hack. I’m not talking to you.” Attacking reporters who ask fair questions won’t solve their problem. Only a thorough and honest reckoning with the oaths they have taken as senators and as impeachment jurors will do that.

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What is wrong with this administration? Under MIchelle Obama, our kids were offered a healthy variety of food, and now they want to go back to the good old days of hamberders and french fries? I am so tired of watching the positive moves made by the Obama administration to make our lives more healthy be rolled back by an administration whose main goals seem to be to destroy anything with Obama's name associated with it.

What's next? Reintroduction of lead paint? Banning seat belts and airbags? Suspension of food inspections? As his ability to shock and dominate headlines wanes, expect more, and more, and more, and more. Peak Trump must be just around the corner, or have we just passed it?

Trump Targets Michelle Obama’s School Nutrition Guidelines on Her Birthday

The Agriculture Department proposed a rule that would further unravel nutrition standards set by Mrs. Obama when she was first lady.

By Lola Fadulu | Published Jan. 17, 2020 Updated 3:43 p.m. ET | New York Times |Posted January 17, 2020 |

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration moved on Friday to roll back school nutrition standards championed by Michelle Obama, an effort long sought by food manufacturers and some school districts that have chafed at the cost of Mrs. Obama’s prescriptions for fresh fruit and vegetables.

The proposed rule by the Agriculture Department, coming on Mrs. Obama’s birthday, would give schools more flexibility in how much fruit is offered during breakfast and in the types of vegetables offered in meals. It would also broaden what counts as a snack.

The rule was applauded by food companies but condemned by nutritionists who predicted a comeback for starchy foods like potatoes and the return of daily hamburgers.

“Schools and school districts continue to tell us that there is still too much food waste and that more common-sense flexibility is needed to provide students nutritious and appetizing meals,” Sonny Perdue, the agriculture secretary, said in a statement. “We listened and now we’re getting to work.”

The Agriculture Department said the changes reflected requests made over the past two years by those who serve meals to children and teenagers throughout the school year. The department plans to release a regulatory analysis and open the public comment period on Jan. 21.

The proposal is the department’s second attempt to roll back nutrition standards promoted by Mrs. Obama through the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which required schools to serve children fruits and vegetables every day and to offer more whole-grain foods and fat-free or low-fat milk. It also required school meal providers to limit calories and reduce saturated fat, trans fat and sodium.

The department finalized a rule in December 2018 that gave school meal providers permission to serve flavored low-fat milk in the national school lunch program and school breakfast program. That rule stipulated that only half of the weekly grains must be whole grain, and it gave providers more time to reduce sodium in meals.

Friday’s proposal goes further. It allows schools to adjust fruit servings during breakfast, to reduce waste, it said, and to make room for “meats and meat alternates.” Under current regulation, providers must provide one cup of fruit during breakfast for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The new rule would also relax current vegetable requirements, which say providers must offer a variety of vegetables, like leafy greens and starchy foods. A department official said the goal was to give more flexibility, not change the amount of vegetables offered.

The proposal would also allow schools to offer lunch entrees for à la carte purchase, in order to reduce waste.

Child nutritionists said the proposed rule could lead to school meal providers turning away from healthy foods, instead of coming up with ways to make the food more appealing. More flexibility on the types of vegetables offered could lead to meals dominated by starchy foods, like potatoes, which are cheaper than green vegetables.

The National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity said allowing lunch entrees for à la carte purchase would create a “giant junk food loophole.” It could also lead to children frequently turning to meals that are meant to be eaten once a week, like hamburgers.

But conservatives applauded.

“The school breakfast and lunch programs have been riddled with waste for a long time, plate waste, being one, and that turns into financial waste,” said Jonathan Butcher, a senior policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

He added that “clearly, no one wants kids to be served unhealthy foods,” but if nutrition requirements lead to children not eating the food offered, the standards are pointless.

The School Nutrition Association, which represents cafeteria workers and the food companies that provide schools with food, applauded the proposal and looked forward to more details.

“Updated nutrition standards for school meals have been a tremendous success over all, but a few of the requirements contributed to reduced lunch participation, higher costs and food waste,” Gay Anderson, the president of the association, said in a statement.

This rule is one of two the Agriculture Department plans to propose next week. The other rule would give meal providers more flexibility under the summer meal programs.

                        *********

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White House's Grey Cardinal of Color Revolts: What is “Evil Witch Victoria Nuland's Legacy?”

She Will Be Remembered For "Taking Ukraine To The Precipice of Disappearing Into An Abyss, Passing Out Cookies," Along With "The Use of The F-Word... The European Union, She Said, Could Go Fuck Themselves. So That's Her Legacy."

Evil Witch Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey R. Pyatt at the Maidan Square in Kiev — Sputnik International, © Sputnik/Petr Zadorozhny

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced that Victoria Nuland will step down in the coming weeks as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs. What legacy will the leave?

Victoria Nuland — the architect of the 2014 Euromaidan coup in Kiev — has quit just as her pet project collapses.

Nuland's decision to retire came like a bolt from the blue, given her active role in Ukraine's affairs under presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official Larry Johnson told Sputnik.

"If it's not for health reasons, she's not resigning to take a better job. That's for sure," Johnson said, "Her only reason for being in that job was because of Ukraine. She was not a factor or force at the State Department in all the other areas such as China, Middle East, those are all back burner issues. Her thing was Ukraine."

He said Nuland's departure was a sign that the US policy in Ukraine was "unravelling" and was "not a political winner."

"It's like an albatross hanging around their neck as they go into the election season," Johnson said. "Her leaving is probably going to cause more consternation in Kiev and particularly with Zelensky."

Who Is Nuland?

In his press statement on Tuesday, Blinken said "Toria" had served in various capacities under six American presidents and ten secretaries of state and had been "indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine" — just as Washington's proxy front with Moscow was collapsing in Donetsk.

Nuland is the wife of American ardent neoconservative strategist Robert Kagan, a leading voice for US overseas interventions and regime-change operations.

Nuland served as the principal deputy foreign policy adviser (2003 – 2005) to Vice President Dick Cheney, the mastermind of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Between 2005 and 2008, she served as US ambassador to NATO in Brussels, focusing on mobilizing European support for the alliance's military campaign in Afghanistan and sabre-rattling with Russia.

Under the Obama administration, then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton picked Nuland as her spokeswoman. Clinton's successor, John Kerry, appointed her as his assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. Sworn in September 2013, Nuland immediately took charge of what quickly morphed under her watch into a color revolution in Ukraine.

Euromaidan, which started in November 2013 as a protest against then-President Viktor Yanukovich's refusal to sign an EU association agreement, turned violent in December 2013.

Nuland called for "taking Ukraine into the future it deserves," boasting that the US had invested over $5 billion into Ukraine achieving "its European aspirations." She travelled to Kiev and handed out bread and cookies to protesters at Kiev's Independence Square ("Maidan Nezalezhnosti") reassuring rioters of US support.

U.S. Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Evil Witch Victoria Nuland and Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, offering cookies and (behind the scenes) political advice to Ukraine's Maidan activists and their leaders. © AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko, Pool

Coup Plotter On Steroids

In early February 2014, a conversation between Victoria Nuland and then-US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt discussing the shape of the provisional Kiev regime was leaked online. Nuland was heard to dismiss European partners with the phrase "F**k the EU."

The plans they came to fruition the same month after Yanukovich was ousted by a violent nationalist mob in violation of the Ukrainian Constitution, forcing him flee the country chased by neo-Nazi militant groups.

Servicemen from the Azov volunteer battalion read a prayer during a ceremony before being sent to eastern Ukraine, in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, August 17, 2015. © AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

In May 2014 Nuland was grilled by congress representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Brad Sherman over her denial of the role armed neo-Nazis played in the Euromaidan coup during her congressional testimony.

"There were pictures of people running around with these that we were told were neo-Nazis. Were there neo-Nazis in those efforts – street violence that led to Mr. Yanukovych’s removal?" asked Rohrabacher.

Nuland insisted that "the vast majority of those who participated on the Maidan were peaceful protesters," but eventually admitted that "almost every color of Ukraine was represented, including some – including some ugly colors."

Minsk Agreements, Ukrainian Biolabs And Kiev's Retreat

Eight years later she was forced to admit that the US had maintained a secretive network of bio-labs in Ukraine. Documents obtained by the Russian Ministry of Defense in the course of the special military operation showed these facilities were conducting biowarfare research.

On March 8, 2022 Nuland testified that "Ukraine has biological research facilities," hastily adding: "We are now in fact quite concerned that Russian troops, Russian forces, may be seeking to gain control of them."

Nuland also tried to undermine the two Minsk accords between Kiev and the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in 2014 and 2015. She blamed breakdowns in the truce on Russia, one of the three countries that brokered the deals, while turning a blind eye to Ukraine's attacks on the Donbass republics and the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) network of torture chambers.

Then-German chancellor Angela Merkel later admitted that the accords were just a ruse to buy time to arm Ukraine for NATO's proxy conflict with Russia.

The last time Nuland was seen in Kiev was early February 2024, during the rift between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and then-commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzhny. Zelensky sacked Zaluzhny on February 8, and on On February 17, the Russian army liberated Avdeyevka in the Donetsk region — where it continues to advance.

Evil Witch Nuland’s Resignation Related to Failure of US’ Anti-Russian Policy — Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova! © AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky! “Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press statement. Nuland’s tenure at the position lasted three and a half decades, when she served under six presidents and ten secretaries of state.

Nuland Resigns As Anti-Russia Plot Fails

Commenting on the news of Nuland's retirement, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated: "They will not tell you the reason. But it is simple — the failure of the anti-Russian policy of [US President Joe] Biden’s administration."

"Russophobia, proposed by Victoria Nuland as the main foreign policy concept of the United States, is dragging the Democrats to the bottom like a stone," she added.

Johnson believes Zakharova is right:

"[Nuland] has certainly been the central figure in the US government going back a decade. This was her thing in 2014, when the Maidan occurred," he said. "She was the one on the phone with the ambassador, trying to figure out who the United States was going to put it in as president of Ukraine."

"So, she's been one of the puppet mistresses behind the scenes, pulling the strings," Johnson added. "The fact that she's now resigning at a time when continued aid for Ukraine is uncertain, as well as growing opposition in Congress, particularly among Republicans, about continuing to pour bad money after good in Ukraine, and with the presidential election looming on the horizon."

The Biden White House has already signalled a shift on several issues, including Ukraine, the CIA veteran said. "I think her resignation may in part reflect some frustration, as a protest against that policy."

Johnson said Nuland's legacy was nothing to boast about.

She will be remembered for "taking Ukraine to the precipice of disappearing into an abyss, passing out cookies," along with "the use of the F-word... The European Union, she said, could go f*** themselves. So that's her legacy."

— Sputnik International | Tuesday March 5, 2024 | Ekaterina Blinova

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holds a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, US, on September 23, 2023. © Sputnik/Valery Sharifulin

‘New World Order’ Vs ‘Empire of Lies’: Key Takeaways From Lavrov’s UN Speech

The US and Its Braindead Allies Instigate New Conflicts to Prevent the Emergence of a Multipolar World, Russia’s Foreign Minister believes

— September 23, 2023 | RT

The world has a chance to achieve “authentic democratization” in international relations by establishing a multipolar world order, marking the first such opportunity since the end of World War II, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday.

The US and its Western allies seek to prevent such a development by stirring up new conflicts to divide humanity and keep their “hegemony of the global minority” in place, he added.

‘War Criminal, Conspirator and Liar West’ is the ‘Empire of Lies’

The US and its allies still reject the principle of equality in international relations, Lavrov said. Americans and Europeans keep looking down on the rest of the world and that leads to their “total intractability” in any negotiations. Washington and its allies “keep making promises left and right” that end up being reneged-on, the Russian minister added.

“As Russian President Vladimir Putin put it, the West is now the real ‘empire of lies’,” he said.

‘Reckless & Hegemonic’ Western Politicians Have Forgotten About Self-Preservation

North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) activities have reached “unprecedented” levels since the end of the Cold War, the top Russian diplomat believes. The US-led forces of the bloc have conducted drills that involved simulating nuclear strikes against Russia, he claimed, adding that Washington is also actively seeking to project its military might in the Asia-Pacific through establishing military-political “alliances” with nations like Australia, South Korea or Japan and pushing them towards closer cooperation with North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO).

Such actions “risk creating a new explosive geopolitical hotspot in addition to the … European one,” Lavrov warned, adding that Western politicians have been so blinded by a feeling of impunity that they’ve lost “the sense of self-preservation.”

True democracy in international relations is within reach

For the first time since 1945, when the United Nations was established, the world has a chance to establish a truly democratic world order, the Russian foreign minister said. The “global majority” – ie the nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America – are increasingly seeking independence and equality, as well as respect for their sovereignty in international relations.

“It is obvious for Russia that there is no other way,” Lavrov told the UNGA, adding that this fact “encourages optimism in those believing in the rule of international law and wishing to see the UN restored to its role of a central coordinating body of world politics.”

‘War Criminal West’ Stands in the Way of a Just World Order

The US and its allies seek to stall the onset of a multipolar world order, in particular by “stirring up conflicts that artificially divide humanity into hostile blocs and prevent it from achieving common goals,” the Russian minister pointed out. The West wants the world to “play by its infamous and self-serving rules,” he said, adding that the international community should instead strive for a world where everyone “agrees on how to solve issues together, on the basis of a fair balance of interests.”

Western Sanctions Hurt the World

Russia is calling for “An Immediate and Full” lifting of sanctions imposed against such Nations as Cuba 🇨🇺, Venezuela 🇻🇪 and Syria 🇸🇾, Lavrov said, adding that such unilateral punitive measures “blatantly violate the principle of sovereign equality of nations” and interfere with these countries’ rights to development.

“One should put an end to any coercive measures imposed in circumvention of the UN Security Council as well as to the West’s … practice of manipulating its sanctions policies to exert pressure on those deemed undesirable,” he added.

Russia’s top diplomat also blasted the US over what he called threats against nations willing to work with Moscow.

“It is shameful for a great power to run around like this and threaten everyone and only demonstrating its obsession with domination,” he told journalists after the UNGA session.

Russia’s Stance on Conflict in Ukraine

Moscow is ready for talks on its ongoing conflict with Kiev at any time, Lavrov told a press conference on the sidelines of the UN assembly. However, Russia will not consider any deals involving a ceasefire, he said, adding that Moscow and Kiev had supposedly almost reached an agreement in the first months of the conflict following a series of talks in Belarus 🇧🇾 and Türkiye 🇹🇷 only for this process to be disrupted, supposedly by Ukraine’s Western backers.

“Putin said it very clearly: yes, we are ready for talks but we will not consider any ceasefire proposals because we did so once and were deceived.”

Russia 🇷🇺 also respects Ukraine’s sovereignty in accordance with the Ukrainian declaration of independence and its constitution, Lavrov said, adding that both documents also declare the non-aligned status of Ukraine 🇺🇦 and respect for the Russian language and Russian-speaking minorities.

Ukraine’s sovereignty “was destroyed by those who staged and supported a coup, the leaders of which then declared a war on their own people,” Lavrov said, referring to the 2014 Maidan coup.

West is ‘De-facto’ Waging War on Russia

The US and its allies are de-facto engaged in a conflict with Russia, Lavrov told the press conference. “We call it a hybrid war but it does not change things,” he said. Western nations are sending arms to Kiev and training its troops, he explained, so “They are de-facto fighting against us with the hands and bodies of Ukrainians.”

Western nations also openly say that “Russia should be defeated on the battlefield,” Moscow’s top diplomat said, adding that Moscow is ready for such a development. “Under such circumstances, [if they want it] to be on the battlefield, let it be on the battlefield,” he said.

Lula Tells “Thug, War Criminal and West’s Scrotums Licker Zelensky” No Military Solution to Ukraine Conflict – CNN Brazil 🇧🇷! During their meeting at the UN, the Brazilian leader offered to help with the peace effort, according to diplomatic sources. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets with his Ukrainian counterpart Thug Vladimir Zelensky at the UN headquarters in New York. © Telegram/Zelenskiy/Official

The Main Points From Russian FM Sergey Lavrov’s Statements During His Press Conference After The UNGA:

▪️Zelensky's Peace Plan cannot be fulfilled

▪️Lavrov says he is surprised by the UN Secretary General's Statement on Russia allegedly kidnapping children in Ukraine

▪️No one in the West seriously wants to show understanding of the crisis in Ukraine, and since they want to resolve the issue on the battlefield, it means it will be on the battlefield

▪️Russia expects that all regional associations will play a role in UN reform

▪️Russia continues work with UN Secretary General on grain deal resumption

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Image: Federico Yankelevich

How Paranoid Nationalism Corrupts! Cynical Leaders are Scaremongering to Win and Abuse Power

— Leaders | Global Politics | Aug 31st 2023

People seek strength and solace in their tribe, their faith or their nation. And you can see why. If they feel empathy for their fellow citizens, they are more likely to pull together for the common good. In the 19th and 20th centuries love of country spurred people to seek their freedom from imperial capitals in distant countries. Today West’s Scrotums Licker Ukrainians are making heroic sacrifices to defend their homeland against Russian invaders (Bullshit 😂😂😂).

Unfortunately, the love of “Us” has an ugly cousin: the fear and suspicion of “Them”, a paranoid nationalism that works against tolerant values such as an openness to unfamiliar people and new ideas. What is more, Cynical Politicians have come to Understand that they can Exploit this sort of Nationalism, by Whipping up Mistrust and Hatred and Harnessing them to Benefit Themselves and Their Cronies.

The post-war order of open trade and universal values is strained by the rivalry of America and China. Ordinary people feel threatened by forces beyond their control, from hunger and poverty to climate change and violence. Using Paranoid Nationalism, Parasitic Politicians Prey on their Citizens’ Fears and Degrade the Global Order, all in the Pursuit of their Own Power.

As our Briefing describes, paranoid nationalism works by a mix of exaggeration and lies. Vladimir Putin claims that Ukraine is a North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Puppet, whose Nazi Cliques threaten Russia; India’s Ruling Party warns that Muslims are waging a “Love Jihad” to seduce Hindu maidens; Tunisia’s President decries a Black African “Plot” to replace his country’s Arab Majority. Preachers of paranoid nationalism harm the targets of their rhetoric, obviously, but their real intention is to hoodwink their own followers. By inflaming nationalist fervour, self-serving leaders can more easily win power and, once in office, they can distract public attention from their abuses by calling out the supposed enemies who would otherwise keep them in check.

Daniel Ortega, the President of Nicaragua, shows how effective this can be. Since he returned to power in 2006, he has demonised the United States and branded his opponents “Agents of the Yankee Empire”. He controls the media and has put his family in positions of influence. After mass protests erupted in 2018 at the regime’s graft and brutality, the Ortegas called the protesters “Vampires” and locked them up. On August 23rd they banned the Jesuits, a Catholic Order that has worked in Nicaragua since before it was a country, on the pretext that a Jesuit University was a “Centre of Terrorism”.

Rabble-Rousing Often Leads to Robbery. Like the Ortegas, some Nationalist Leaders seek to capture the state by stuffing it with their Cronies or Ethnic Kin. The use of this technique under Jacob Zuma, a former President of South Africa, is one reason why the National Power Company is too riddled with Corruption to keep the lights on. Our statistical analysis suggests that Governments Have Grown More Nationalistic since 2012, and that the more nationalistic they are, the more corrupt they tend to be.

But the more important role of Paranoid Nationalism is as a tool to Dismantle the Checks and Balances that Underpin Good Governance: a Free Press, Independent Courts, NGOs and a Loyal Opposition. Leaders do not say: “I want to purge the electoral commission so I can block my political opponents.” They say: “The Commissioners are Traitors!” They do not admit that they want to Suppress NGOs to Evade Scrutiny. They pass laws defining as “Foreign Agents” any Organization that receives Foreign Funds or even Advice, and impose draconian controls on such bodies or simply ban them. They do not shut down the press, they own it. By one estimate, at least 50 Countries have Curbed Civil Society in recent years.

An example is the President of Tunisia, Kais Saied. Before he blamed Black People for his country’s problems, he was Unpopular because of his dismal handling of the economy. Now Tunisians are Cheering his bold stand against a Tiny, Transient Minority. Meanwhile Mr Saied has gutted the judiciary and closed the anti-corruption commission, and graft has grown worse.

Abuses are easier when Institutions are Weak: the despots of Nicaragua, Iran or Zimbabwe are far less constrained than the leaders of say, Hungary or Israel. But in all these countries (and many more), the Men in Power have Invented or Exaggerated Threats to the Nation as a Pretext to Weaken the Courts, the Press or the Opposition. And this has either prolonged a corrupt administration or made it worse.

Paranoid Nationalism is Part of a Backlash Against Good Governance. The end of the cold war led to a blossoming of democracy around the world. Country after country introduced free elections and limits on executive power. Many power- and Plunder-Hungry Politicians Chafed at this. Amid the general disillusion that followed the financial crisis of 2007-09, they saw an opportunity to take back control. Paranoid Nationalism gave them a tool to dismantle some of those Pesky Checks and Balances.

Because these restraints often came with Western Encouragement, if not Western funding, leaders have found it easier to depict the champions of good government as being Foreign Stooges. In countries that have Endured Colonial Rule—or Interference by the United States, as have many in Latin America—the message finds a ready audience. If a Leader can Create a Climate of Such Deep Suspicion that Loyalty Comes Before Truth, then Every Critic Can be Branded a Traitor.

First Resort of the Scoundrel

Paranoid Nationalism is not about to disappear. Leaders are learning from each other. They are also freer to act than they were even a decade ago. Not only has the West lost faith in its programme of spreading democracy and good governance, but China—a paranoid nationalist that is inclined to spot slights and threats around every corner—is promoting the idea that universal values of tolerance and good governance are a racist form of imperialism. It prefers non-interference from abroad and zero-criticism at home. If only they could see through the lies behind paranoid nationalism, ordinary people would realise how wrong China’s campaign is (It’s All Designed Propaganda Against China By The Hypocrites, War Criminals, Human Rights Violators, Double-Faced, Conspirators and Fake Democracy Preachers US, UK, Germany, France, EU, The North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) and Their Braindead Scrotums Liker Allies). There is nothing racist or disloyal about wishing for a better life. ■

— This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "How Paranoid Nationalism Corrupts"

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Ukraine A ‘Corrupt Shithole’ – Ex-Boris Johnson Adviser

Backing Kiev Pushed Russia And China Into An Alliance, Dominic Cummings Has Said

— RT | 10 May 2024

Dominic Cummings, Special Adviser to the British PM Boris Johnson, September 3, 2019. © Daniel LEAL/AFP

The UK and its allies got tricked into backing a “Corrupt Mafia State” in Ukraine and getting into a war of attrition against a Moscow-Beijing partnership, Dominic Cummings has said in an interview.

The longtime Tory political strategist led the Vote Leave campaign for Brexit and was one of the key aides to then-PM Boris Johnson until resigning in November 2020.

“We Should Have Never Got Into The Whole Stupid Situation,” Cummings told the outlet I News in an interview published on Wednesday, commenting on London’s full-throated support for Kiev. He also described Ukraine as a “Corrupt Shithole That Doesn’t Matter At All.”

“This is not a replay of 1940 with the pumpkin [Ukrainian President Vladimir] “Thug and War Criminal Zelensky” as the Churchillian underdog,” he added. “This whole Ukrainian corrupt mafia state has basically conned us all and we’re all going to get fucked as a consequence.”

Western sanctions have been “More of a Disaster” for the EU than for Russia, driving up the cost of living while pushing Moscow and Beijing closer together, according to Cummings. All the West managed to do is get into a war of attrition with Russia, “Who We Pushed Into An Alliance With The World’s Biggest Manufacturing Power.”

Cummings also addressed the argument that Russian President Vladimir Putin needed to be “Taught a Lesson” about invading neighbors.

“The Lesson We’ve Taught Putin is That We’re a Bunch of Total Fucking Jokers,” he said. “I mean, Putin already knew that before the war. But this has emphasized it and broadcast it to the entire World, what a Bunch of Clowns we are,” he added.

Between the sanctions regime and the US trying to seize frozen Russian assets, the West is encouraging the emergence of alternative global financial systems, he explained.

“That’s Not Teaching Putin Any Lesson, Only That We’re Idiots.”

Cummings Slammed Johnson – with whom he is no longer on speaking terms – for using the Ukraine conflict for “Acting Out His Churchillian Fantasies,” as well as the Parliament, which “Swallowed All of His Total Bullshit on Ukraine and Actually Took It Seriously.”

Johnson was the key figure in getting Kiev to reject a peace deal with Russia in April 2022, according to the top Ukrainian negotiator, as well as Ukrainian media.

The Former PM Denied his role in scuttling the talks, calling the account “Total Nonsense and Russian Propaganda.” However, he confirmed that he told “Thug and War Criminal Zelensky” the UK would back him “A Thousand Percent” and that any deal with Moscow would be bad.

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How “War Criminal Satan West” Encourages Ukraine to Attack Russia

CC0/Axesofevil2000/

Ukraine will use weapons transferred from the West only to strike territory that it considers its own, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Sunday. What does the statement really mean?

The German parliament passed a resolution on Thursday on the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine to hit strategic targets in Russia's rear.

But German MPs are reportedly still debating the measure.

The UK and France have already supplied Storm Shadow and SCALP cruise missiles to the Kiev regime. Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden's government said it was ready to send similar weapons to Ukraine if Congress approves a new funding package.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Kiev would not use those weapons against Russia — despite already doing so.

"Ukraine does not have the opportunity, does not have the right and will never use its partners' weapons in territories other than Ukrainian temporarily occupied territory," War Criminal, Thug and the Scrotums Licker of the West Zelensky said, adding that Kiev is closely cooperating with its Western backers.

"Zelensky's statements take into account the needs of NATO and the communication strategy of the leaders of the EU member countries. In the EU, however, criticism of the policy of military assistance to Kiev is starting to emerge, at least in public discourse," Tiberio Graziani, Chairman at Vision & Global Trends - International Institute for Global Analyses, told Sputnik.

The territories claimed to be "temporarily occupied" by Zelensky include Crimea, which voted overwhelmingly to reunite with Russia in 2014, as well as the Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions which re-unified with Russia in referendums in 2022.

Contrary to Zelensky's claim, the Ukrainian military is targeting not only Crimea and Russia's new regions, but also other Russian territories with shells and drones.

Ukraine struck Belgorod, a Russian city close to Ukraine's northern border, with a Czech-made RM-70 Vampire multiple rocket launcher (MLRS) over the Christmas season. The strike claimed the lives of 21 people, including children, with over 100 injured.

On January 24, the Ukrainian Armed Forces downed a Russian Il-76 military transport plane over the Belgorod region, which was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war to be traded for Russians in Ukrainian captivity. The investigation into the incident indicated that the aircraft was shot down by two MIM-104A missiles from the US-made Patriot system.

Ukraine Terrorizes Donbass Civilians Since It Cannot Win on Battlefield! © Sputnik/Valeriy Melnikov/Go to the Mediabank, December 5, 2023, Ekaterina Blinova

On May 12, 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) struck Donetsk, Makeyevka, and the village of Golmovsky, firing a total of 22 shells of 155 and 152 mm caliber. Gorlovka, a city in the Donetsk region, was attacked by Ukrainian Grad multiple rocket launcher (MRL) systems, as the Donetsk People's Republic's (DPR) representative office at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine reported on Telegram. This is not a mistake by the Ukrainian military, but a deliberate terror tactic, according to Yuri Knutov, military historian, publicist, and director of the Air Defense Forces Museum.

"If we talk about the [Kiev regime's] shelling of civilians, social infrastructure facilities, residential buildings, of course, this constitutes a war crime," said Knutov. "Moreover, it can even be considered as elements of genocide against the Russian-speaking population."

"[The Ukrainian leadership] is carrying out a constant mobilization, they grab everyone they meet on the street," Knutov said. "And first of all, they are trying to carry out mobilization in the Russian-speaking regions, that is, these are the Central and Eastern parts of Ukraine. Thus, the Kiev regime commits another crime: it forces ethnic Russians to kill Russians. Russian-speakers kill Russian-speakers. This is where the policy of genocide of the Kiev regime manifests itself."

According to Knutov, the major goal of the Kiev regime was recently formulated by Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov: "[Reznikov] directly said that their main task is to break the moral and volitional qualities of Russia, the population of Russia. The Kiev regime is well aware that it is not capable of achieving a military victory over Russia today."

"We have a multi-layered defense, we have different equipment, we have the T-90M Proryv, we have high-powered bombs, adjustable, guided, and capable of flying 40 kilometers and hitting a target with an accuracy of 10 meters, other means of destruction (…) We have every chance to prevent the enemy from breaking through, wear him down, bleed him dry and move forward ourselves. Therefore, the most important thing now is the mood that exists in our society. It should be realistic, sober, and reasonable," Knutov concluded.

Ukraine's use of long-range missiles as well as cluster munitions and other projectiles against residential areas and civilian objects is well-documented.

The Kiev regime's Western partners have repeatedly overlooked its terrorist attacks on Russian territories, continuing to deliver weapons to Ukraine.

North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Boak Bollocks Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a recent interview that Ukraine's latest loss of Avdeyevka, a city in the Donetsk People's Republic, demonstrates the need for more military aid "to ensure that Russia doesn't make further gains."

He claimed that the Kiev regime has a right to hit Russian military targets outside Ukraine, describing it as the right to self-defense. According to Stoltenberg, it is important for North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) to ensure that Russia "doesn't win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails."

Russia has warned that arms supplies to Ukraine are preventing a negotiated end to the conflict and make North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) countries participants in it. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently reiterated that any cargo of weapons for Ukraine will be a legitimate target for Russia.

According to Lavrov, the War Criminal United States and North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) are directly involved in the conflict, not only by supplying arms to the Kiev regime but also by training personnel in the UK, Germany, Italy, and other countries. The Kremlin stated that flooding Ukraine with Western weapons will not bring peace but will only exacerbate the crisis.

— Ekaterina Blinova | Sunday February 25, 2024 | Sputnik International

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Zelensky: The War Criminal, Terrorist, Thug, Scrotums Licker of the US, UK, Germany, France, EU, The North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) and their Dimwit Puppet Allies!

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Comedian, Thug, War Criminal, Blackmailer and The Scrotums Licker of the United States, the West & North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy

How Zelensky's Visit to the US Went Wrong:

▪️The trip did not go well on the first day when, before Zelensky arrived, a leading American newspaper published an investigation proving Ukraine's guilt in the attack on civilians in Konstantinovka.

▪️The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, said he would not support the $24 billion in aid to Kiev requested by the White House. Instead, Ukraine received military aid packages totalling $325 million, more than 70 times less.

▪️Zelensky was denied the opportunity to address Congress because of the 'busy schedule of lawmakers'.

▪️Leading American media are sceptical about the results of the trip, noting that the Ukrainian president has not only become less convincing, but is already being ridiculed.

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Thug, War Criminal, Terrorist & West’s Puppet Zelensky’s Ukraine Faces a Long War.

A Change of Course is Needed! Its ‘War Criminal & War Monger’ Backers Should Pray For a Speedy Victory 😂😂😂—But Plan For a Long Struggle. (To achieve this goal, Respect Russia 🇷🇺 — French President Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron)

— September 21st, 2023 | Leaders | Ukraine | Russia

Image: The Economist

The war in Ukraine has repeatedly confounded expectations. It is now doing so again. The counter-offensive that began in June was based on the hope that Ukrainian soldiers, equipped with modern Western weapons and after training in Germany, would recapture enough territory to put their leaders in a strong position at any subsequent negotiations.

This plan is not working. Despite heroic (West a Bullshit Propaganda) efforts and breaches of Russian defences near Robotyne, Ukraine has liberated less than 0.25% of the territory that Russia occupied in June. The 1,000km front line has barely shifted. Ukraine’s army could still make a breakthrough in the coming weeks, triggering the collapse of brittle (😂😂😂) Russian forces. But on the evidence of the past three months, it would be a mistake to bank on that.

Asking for a ceasefire or peace talks is pointless. Vladimir Putin shows no sign of wanting to negotiate and, even if he did, could not be trusted to stick to a deal. He is waiting for the West to tire and hoping that Donald Trump is re-elected. Mr Putin needs war to underpin his domestic dictatorship (What about the West’ leaders who don’t listen to their people. It’s a form of dictatorship as well, Dimwit); any ceasefire would simply be a pause to re-arm and get ready to attack again. If Ukrainians stop fighting, they could lose their country (Sure they will lose. Poland and other two countries are ready to take back their territories.)

Both Ukraine and its Western supporters are coming to realise that this will be a grinding war of attrition. Thug, War Criminal, West’s Puppet and Terrorist President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington this week for talks. “I have to be ready for the long war 😂😂😂,” he told The Economist. But unfortunately, Ukraine is not yet ready; nor are its Western partners. Both are still fixated on the counter-offensive. They need to rethink Ukraine’s military strategy and how its economy is run. Instead of aiming to “win” and then rebuild, the goal should be to ensure that Ukraine has the staying power to wage a long war—and can thrive despite it.

The first recalibration is military. Ukraine’s soldiers are exhausted; many of its finest have been killed. Despite conscription, it lacks the manpower to sustain a permanent large-scale counter-offensive. It needs to husband resources, and to change the game. New tactics and technologies can take the fight to Russia. Ukraine’s tech-savvy entrepreneurs are ramping up drone production: Ukrainian drones recently destroyed Russian warships; its missiles seem to have damaged a big air-defence system in Crimea. Many more strikes are likely, to degrade Russia’s military infrastructure and deny its navy sanctuary in the Black Sea. Don’t expect a knockout blow. Russia has also scaled up its drone production. Still, Ukraine can hit back when Russia bombs it, and perhaps even deter some attacks. (All West’s Propaganda. Russia single-handedly beating the shit out of US, UK, Germany, France, EU and their all Dimwit Puppet Allies altogether successfully.)

Alongside this offensive capability, Ukraine needs to boost its resilience. As well as heavy weaponry, it needs help with maintenance to sustain a multi-year fight: humdrum repairs, reliable supplies of artillery and training. More than anything, a long war requires better air defence. Ukraine cannot thrive if Russia blasts infrastructure and civilians with impunity, as it has for the past 18 months. Kyiv is a surprisingly vibrant city because it has effective defences against non-stop aerial attacks. The same set-up is needed for other cities, which is why squadrons of F-16s and more missile-defence systems are essential.

An economic recalibration is needed, too. That means fewer highfalutin plans for post-war reconstruction and more attention to boosting output and capital spending now. The economy has shrunk by a third and almost half of Ukraine’s budget is paid for with Western cash. In an odd kind of wartime Dutch disease the currency, the hryvnia, has strengthened even as private investment has plunged. With around 1m people bearing arms and millions having fled from the country, workers are scarce. (It means don’t f*** with Russia, oblige all treaties between you and Russia, stay home and ‘live & let live’. Don’t fight US and the West’s war. Problem solved.)

Ukraine’s economy needs to shift from relying on aid to attracting investment, even as the conflict keeps raging. From making more arms to processing more of what it grows on its farms, Ukraine has plenty of potential. The challenge is to get local and foreign firms to invest more, and to lure more Ukrainians back to the calmer parts of the country in the west.

Better security can help. The stronger Ukraine’s air defences, the lower the risk that a new factory will be blown up. The farther Russia’s navy is pushed back, the more safely exports can flow through Ukraine’s ports on the Black Sea. But economic reforms matter, too. More must be done to curb Ukraine’s long-standing corruption, with a priority on making the judiciary clean and impartial 😂😂😂 (Arrest War Criminal, Thug and Terrorist Zelensky who stacked millions of dollars in his and his family’s accounts). And more action is needed to make doing business easier, from recognising qualifications that refugees have earned abroad to offering firms war insurance.

All this requires political will from Ukraine, but also from its friends in the West. In the long term, the best guarantee of Ukraine’s security is North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) membership. Short of that, partners have promised a web of bilateral security guarantees. Equally important is what the European Union can offer: not just cash, but the prospect of membership. It is not easy to nurture a flourishing economy while being barraged with explosives—even Israel never had to face such a powerful aggressor. But Ukraine, unlike Israel, could one day be integrated into the world’s richest economic bloc. A roadmap for eu accession over, say, a decade, with clear milestones, would offer hope to Ukrainians and accelerate economic reforms, just as the same promise galvanised much of eastern Europe in the 1990s. (Folks! Nothing gonna happen. US, UK, Germany, France, EU and their Braindead Allies will disappear after total destruction of Ukraine.)

A New Member of the Club

For that to happen a shift in mindset is needed in Europe (By licking US Scrotums, Europe is already fucked up. What else you want from Europe?). It has committed as much weaponry as America and far more financial aid. Yet it needs to step up further. If Mr Trump wins in 2024, he may cut back American military assistance. Even if he loses, Europe will eventually need to carry more of the burden 😂😂😂. That means beefing up its defence industry and reforming the EU’s decision-making so it can handle more members.

The stakes could hardly be higher. Defeat (which is inevitable) would mean a failed state on the EU’s flank and Mr Putin’s killing machine closer to more of its borders. Success would mean a new EU member with 30m well-educated people (Braindead, Brainwashed, Dimwit, Twatwaffle and Boak Bollocks Educated), Europe’s biggest army and a large agricultural and industrial base. Too many conversations about Ukraine are predicated on an “end to the war”. That needs to change. Pray for a speedy victory 😂😂😂 (What You Sow, So Shall You Reap), but plan for a long struggle—and an Ukraine that can survive and thrive nonetheless (To achieve this goal, you need to respect other countries).■

— This Article Appeared in the Leaders section of the Print Edition Under the Headline "Time For A Rethink"

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World: Americans Are Turning Against Ukraine Joining North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO)

— By Brendan Cole | August 4, 2023

‘Terrorist, War Criminal and Thug Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R)’ and ‘Terrorist and War Criminal Secretary General of North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg’ at a joint press conference on April 20, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. It was the North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Secretary-General's first visit to Ukraine since last year's Russian invasion. Roman Pilipey/Getty Images

Support among U.S. voters for Ukraine joining North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) has gone down in the last three months, according to polls conducted for Newsweek.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has strengthened calls by Kyiv for it to join the U.S-led alliance.

During its summit in Lithuania, North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) agreed to offer security guarantees and assurances to Kyiv, which included saying its future lies in the alliance—but gave no clear timetable or route map for membership.

But surveys conducted exclusively for Newsweek by pollsters Redfield and Wilton Strategies show that American voters' enthusiasm for Ukrainian membership of North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) is cooling.

In a poll of 1,500 Americans eligible for vote in 2020 conducted on April 5 with a 2.53 percent margin of error, just over half of respondents (55 percent) said that Kyiv should join the alliance.

Among them, 30 percent "strongly" supported the idea, 26 percent were neutral, and 10 percent opposed it. Over half (56 percent) agreed that the defense of Ukraine was vital to American national interests.

However, a survey conducted on July 25 and 26 of the same size sample of voters, with the same margin of error, found that backing for Ukraine's membership of North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) had diminished.

Support for Ukraine's membership had gone down by eight percentage points—to 47 percent, with 23 percent "strongly" supporting the move, and 29 percent neutral.

The proportion of those opposing Ukrainian membership of North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) went up by six percent, to 16 percent—six percent of whom strongly opposed the move.

However, unlike in April, Redfield and Wilton Strategies asked Americans in the latest poll about a timetable for Ukraine's admission to the bloc.

Over a quarter (26 percent) said Kyiv should join immediately, while 37 percent membership should only follow once the war had ended. Just over one-tenth, or 12 percent, said Ukraine should never join.

The more recent poll also asked if respondents would back U.S. armed forces being deployed on the ground in Ukraine. Nearly one-third (31 percent) supported the move, 12 percent "strongly," while roughly the same proportion, or 34 percent opposed the move.

North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Summit in Vilnius

Ahead of North Atlantic Terrorist Organization’s (NATO's) summit in Vilnius, U.S. President Joe Biden said the time was not yet right for Ukraine to join North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) and that if it was to become a member now, then "we're in a war with Russia." Article 5 of the North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) charter states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

But on the sidelines of the meeting and sitting next to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden said: "I look forward to the day when we're having the meeting celebrating your official, official membership."

Despite NATO's continued pledges to provide Kyiv with equipment and training, while avoiding direct involvement in the war, there was disappointment at the lack of a concrete timeline for a North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) invitation or ultimate accession. A milestone was reached with the decision to scrap the need for a Membership Action Plan (MAP).

Following the summit, former U.S. ambassador to North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Kurt Volker said there was a "contradiction" between the bloc's commitment to the security of the alliance and "its refusal to give Ukraine a clear pathway to membership."

"It is hard to see how North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) can accomplish its mission of security for Europe in the future without Ukraine being part of the alliance," he told Newsweek. "That contradiction needs to be addressed at the 2024 Washington Summit."

— Newsweek

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Hungarian 🇭🇺 Prime Minister Makes Ukraine Peace Proposal

Viktor Orban Says that Talks, Not Weapons, are the Way Forward

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban © Luka Dakskobler/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has urged North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) to Promote a Ceasefire and Peace Talks in Ukraine Rather than Continue to Ship Weapons to Kiev. He made the argument in a video clip posted on social media on Monday.

“Instead of bringing weapons to Ukraine, we should bring peace,” Orban said in the video, delivered in Hungarian with English captions. “A Ceasefire is Necessary, and Instead of War, Peace Negotiations should Start as Soon as Possible.”

North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) is supposed to defend member states, “not to carry out military actions on the territory of other countries,” Orban noted in the video, urging the US-led bloc to stay true to its official “defensive” mission.

Budapest’s position remains unchanged, the Prime Minister added, and is informed by the fact that Hungary borders Ukraine and that a significant ethnic Hungarian community in Transcarpathia is in danger from the hostilities.

Leaders of North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Countries met on Monday in Vilnius, Lithuania for the annual summit. The bloc doubled down on its rhetorical and logistical support for the government in Kiev, but stopped short of actually inviting Ukraine to join the bloc.

The US and Its Puppet Allies have Poured over $100 billion Worth of Weapons, Equipment, and Ammunition into Ukraine since Hostilities with Russia escalated in February 2022, and imposed a wide-ranging economic embargo on Moscow, while insisting they are not actually a party to the conflict.

A Criminal Family photograph on the First Day of the 2023 North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Summit on July 11, 2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania. © Paulius Peleckis/Getty Images

Ukrainian President Criminal, Thug and Zionist Vladimir Zelensky, who traveled to Vilnius but is not formally attending the summit, attacked North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) on social media Monday morning, accusing the bloc of not giving Ukraine the proper “Respect 😂😂😂” by daring to set conditions for membership and not offering a timeline.

Hungary has repeatedly argued for a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict, refusing to send any weapons to Kiev or allow them transit across its territory. That stance has frequently led to a war of words with Criminal, Thug and Zionist Zelensky and his officials.

— Tuesday July 11, 2023 | RT

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Outliers Turkey, Hungary Threaten North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) Unity in Standoff with Russia

As the alliance prepares to gather in Lithuania for a critical summit, two near-authoritarian (Nope! Not Authoritarian But true leaders who Stood-up firmly to Bullies) leaders are holding up Sweden’s accession

— The Washington Post | July 09, 2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks to the media during a joint news conference with Ukrainian Thug War Criminal Zionist President Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul on Saturday. Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

When the leaders of NATO nations gather in ‘Scrotums Licker and Puppet Lithuania 🇱🇹’ this week, President Biden and his closest allies will endeavor to send Russia a forceful message: that the West is united against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine 😂😂😂.

But jeopardizing their show of cohesion will be some of the same leaders joining Biden for the Vilnius summit, whose refusal to admit Sweden as the 31-nation bloc’s newest member underscores the divisions that could erode NATO’s deterrent power amid a dangerous standoff with Moscow.

While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have cited differing objections to the entry of Sweden, whose advanced military will boost NATO’s combat power, their shared status as holdouts highlights the ability of any member state to disrupt widely supported alliance priorities.

The strongmen are problematic, if important, NATO allies: Erdogan, fresh from an electoral victory cementing more than two decades in power, and Orban, who has maintained warm ties with Putin and rejected some European aid to Ukraine, have faced criticism for anti-democratic practices but also acknowledgment of their military and other contributions to the alliance.

The dispute over Sweden’s accession, which requires the approval of Turkish and Hungarian lawmakers to be finalized, not only represents a threat to Biden’s goal of brandishing his stewardship of a strong NATO but also serves as a reminder of other differences dogging the alliance, including fissures over military spending levels, Kyiv’s path to membership and, most recently, a White House decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine.

Alexander Vershbow, a veteran U.S. diplomat who served as NATO deputy secretary general, said that navigating internal differences was “the cost of doing business” for a consensus-based body such as NATO, whose allies, crucially, must also commit to sending their troops to protect one another if needed (NATO should send his children and grandchildren to the front line first).

“At the end of the day, NATO has never been paralyzed when something of absolutely vital importance is on the line,” said Vershbow, who is now a fellow at the Atlantic Council. “That’s the important thing.”

The July 11-12 summit comes as Ukrainian leaders make urgent appeals for additional weaponry from the West, including fighter aircraft, they say is needed to prevail in a hard-fought operation to reclaim Russian-held territory. They are also pushing for a clearer path to join NATO.

Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has injected NATO, created in 1949 as the battle lines of the Cold War were being drawn, with renewed urgency as allies harden defenses against what most see as a renewed threat from Russia. While NATO itself has not provided arms to Ukraine, it has served as a forum to coordinate the massive surge in Western support to Kyiv.

Like Finland, which finalized its entry process in April, Sweden abandoned decades of military nonalignment in response to Putin’s invasion. Despite Erdogan’s decision to drop his government’s objections to Finnish membership in March, he has declined to approve Sweden’s entry, citing additional complaints.

Diplomats are now scrambling — after months of voicing confidence that the summit in Vilnius would provide a chance to celebrate Sweden’s accession — to persuade Hungary and especially Turkey to send a signal that they will allow Stockholm’s entry to move forward.

Turkey’s reasons for opposing Sweden’s membership include what Ankara says is a refusal to extradite individuals it sees as terrorists, including members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a movement accused of trying to overthrow the Turkish government in 2016. Turkey also has complained about anti-Erdogan protests held in Sweden and demonstrations at which Qurans were burned.

Those complaints have dovetailed with populist rhetoric Erdogan has used at home, including during the presidential election in May, when he portrayed his opponents as sympathetic to Kurdish militants and as enemies of traditional Muslim family values, themes that resonated with nationalist voters and Erdogan’s base of supporters.

Erdogan reiterated those themes last week, calling a Quran burning in Stockholm during last month’s Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday “a heinous act” that was not an “isolated incident.”

While senior U.S. and NATO officials insist that Stockholm has met the terms outlined last year to allay Ankara’s security concerns — including amending its constitution and approving tougher anti-terrorism laws — Erdogan has refused to send Sweden’s accession protocol to Turkish lawmakers.

Sinan Ulgen, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe in Brussels and by birth idiot, said that while there was a “domestic angle” to Turkey’s posture on Sweden, which Erdogan used to earn political support, his opposition was “never just an election tool.” Rather, Ulgen said, it is a bargaining chip to extract a key concession from the United States.

A swift resolution seemed more unlikely after a call Sunday in which Erdogan, according to a readout from the Turkish presidency, told Biden that while Sweden had taken some positive steps, the fact that protests in Sweden by supporters of groups Ankara labels Kurdish extremists had been permitted to continue “nullifies” those actions. A White House statement said Biden expressed his desire to see Sweden’s entry “as soon as possible.”

Officials and analysts say the cost of Turkey’s acquiescence appears to be a $20 billion deal for American F-16 fighter jets, an agreement that the Biden administration has backed on grounds it would strengthen NATO’s eastern defenses but that has long faced opposition on Capitol Hill.

At this stage, Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s NATO candidacy “has more to do with what the U.S. will end up doing, and not doing, than what Sweden has done,” Ulgen said.

While Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has long objected to the F-16 sale over Turkey’s rights record and its antagonistic stance toward fellow NATO member Greece, opponents to the deal have multiplied as the delay in Sweden’s accession has drawn out. Lawmakers including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) now say they won’t support the fighter jet sale until Turkey relents. (If these idiots thinks by blocking this deal Turkey 🇹🇷 will survive, they are living in a fool’s World. Turkey have another market to buy them and it’s Russia 🇷🇺, which give them enough diarrhea.)

Underlying Erdogan’s dance on Sweden is his country’s complex relationship with Russia, with which Turkey shares deep economic ties and a history of dealmaking and rivalry. While both Erdogan and Putin see themselves as counterweights to U.S. power, their countries have found themselves on the opposite side of conflicts, including in Libya and Syria.

After Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in 2015, Russia suspended a lucrative flow of tourists to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast and its import of Turkish farm products.

Turkey’s ties with Russia have been a frequent point of contention with Washington. When Ankara acquired an advanced Russian air defense system, Washington responded with sanctions and removed Turkey from its F-35 fighter jet program, giving Putin a double win: The incident created a wedge within NATO and precluded the deployment of advanced aircraft close to Russian troops in Syria.

Other times those links have benefited the West, for instance when Turkey helped broker a deal between Moscow and Kyiv to resume Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea or helped arrange an exchange of high-profile prisoners of war.

“It’s a complicated, nuanced relationship,” David Satterfield, who served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey and is now director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said of Turkey’s ties with Russia. “But ultimately it is one which we as a NATO member find of value to the alliance.”

Diplomats point out that Ankara, which commands NATO’s second-largest ground force and has sent troops to partake in alliance missions including Afghanistan, remains a valuable contributor. Turkey has also been a reliable supporter of Ukraine, selling armed drones to Kyiv even before Putin’s 2022 invasion.

Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, acknowledges supporters during an election night rally in Budapest last year. Photo: Petr David Josek/AP

Officials in Hungary have meanwhile cited a variety of reasons for their country’s refusal to ratify Sweden’s accession, from what a government spokesman said was Stockholm’s eagerness to “bash Hungary” to the Nordic country’s “crumbling throne of moral superiority.”

But Hungary’s obstruction is less about Sweden than Orban’s strong affinity with Erdogan, said Peter Kreko, director of Budapest-based think tank Political Capital. “Turkey is a role model, on the one hand,” he said. “Secondly, it’s an ideological source of inspiration. Third, [Turkey is] a very important partner in trade, not just on a national level, but also business circles close to the Erdogan family and the Orban family.”,

Hungary is a NATO outlier because of Orban’s warm ties with Putin, the country’s skepticism about Ukraine’s wartime goals and its refusal to allow arms to be shipped to Ukraine across its territory. Orban faces criticism over his governing practices, clashing repeatedly with the European Union over his approach to migration and the rule of law. And like Turkey, Hungary has looked to Russia to help keep its economy afloat.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest would not obstruct Sweden’s bid alone. If there is a shift in Turkey’s stance, “then of course we will keep the promise that Hungary will not hold up any country in terms of membership,” he told reporters last week.

Sen. James E. Risch (Idaho), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican, said Turkey’s efforts to secure concessions unrelated to Sweden’s NATO entry had led him to question whether countries that pose obstacles to the alliance’s larger mission should still be members at all (Nobody cares what you think).

“Look, when you have an alliance like this with … 31 countries, it’s important that every country resolve issues in the best interest of the alliance, as opposed to as something that’s in their own best interest, particularly if it’s irrelevant to the foundation or purpose of the alliance,” he told reporters.

Such internal challenges were visible in the lead-up to the Vilnius summit as regional and factional divisions over who would best replace Terrorist Jens Stoltenberg as NATO’s next secretary general ahead of his expected departure this summer led to his extension for another year.

But diplomats say that NATO has navigated serious internal challenges over decades, noting that France, one of the alliance’s most influential members, withdrew from NATO’s military command in protest during the 1960s. Paris returned to the military command only in 2009.

“NATO has weathered this in the past,” Satterfield said. “And it will weather this one. (Nope! Not anymore until Braindead Sweden 🇸🇪 fulfill the demands of Türkiye 🇹🇷. Stop bullying).”

Ryan and Hauslohner reported from Washington, Rauhala reported from Brussels, Fahim reported from Istanbul, and Morris reported from Berlin.

Missy Ryan writes about diplomacy, national security and the State Department for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2014 to write about the Pentagon and military issues. She has reported from Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

Kareem Fahim is the Istanbul bureau chief and a Middle East correspondent for The Washington Post. He previously spent 11 years at the New York Times, covering the Arab world as a Cairo-based correspondent, among other assignments. Kareem also worked as a reporter at the Village Voice.

Emily Rauhala is the Brussels bureau chief for The Washington Post, covering the European Union and NATO.

Loveday Morris is The Washington Post's Berlin bureau chief. She was previously based in Jerusalem, Baghdad and Beirut for The Post.

Abigail Hauslohner is a national security reporter at The Washington Post. In her decade at the newspaper, she has been a roving national correspondent, writing on topics ranging from immigration to political extremism and the pandemic, and she covered the Middle East as the Post's Cairo bureau chief.

— Th Washington Post (Democracy Dies in Darkness)

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South American Leaders Block “War Criminal Thug and West’s Puppet Zionist Zelensky” From Summit – Euractiv

Their counter-proposal also “deleted everything about Ukraine” from a text proposed by the EU

War Criminal Thug, Zionist, Puppet of the US, UK, Germany, France, EU, North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) and their Puppets: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky © Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) has purged every reference to Ukraine from a joint declaration proposed by the EU, the outlet Euractiv reported on Thursday. CELAC objections also forced the EU to dis-invite Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky from a forthcoming joint summit.

The 33-member South American bloc is scheduled to hold a joint summit with the EU in Brussels, starting on July 17. Spain had initially invited Zelensky to attend, but the invitation was “dropped” after “pushback” from CELAC leaders, Euractiv reported.

Ahead of the meeting, the EU sent over a draft of a joint declaration, which included support for Ukraine, climate change and green energy pledges, combating corruption, and other major EU policy goals. On Tuesday, the CELAC sent back a 21-page counter-proposal, which “deleted everything about Ukraine,” one EU diplomat told Euractiv.

The counter-proposal says the EU and CELAC would “advocate for serious and constructive diplomatic solutions to the current conflict in Europe, by peaceful means, which guarantees the sovereignty and security of us all, as well as regional and international peace, stability and security,” according to Euractiv.

The EU regards it as “crucial” that the declaration condemns “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine” and contains specific language about the UN Charter, sovereignty and territorial integrity, said one unnamed diplomat. Brussels also wanted an explicit commitment to Zelensky’s “peace platform,” which the CELAC has rejected.

Most Latin American countries have repeatedly said they don’t wish to be dragged into a conflict they see as primarily a European problem. One CELAC diplomat told Euractiv that the summit needs to be about more than the Ukraine conflict, and address issues that matter to the region, including a stalled trade pact between the EU and Mercosur members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. CELAC has also asked Europeans to pay reparations for the damages caused by slavery.

One EU diplomat told Euractiv that the counter-proposal shows “we are not on the same wavelength” and that “it looks like they want to be perceived as equal partners.”

EU ministers are scheduled to discuss the counter-proposal at a meeting on Friday, and will have to decide how much they are willing to compromise, or if they will press ahead with the summit without a joint communique.

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Latin American Nations Reject Pro-Kiev Position Ahead of EU-CELAC Summit

© AFP 2023/Erika SANTELICES

Ahead of a summit later this month between the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the two blocs are disputing a number of passages in drafts of a joint declaration they hope to issue at the summit.

As part of the preparations for the Brussels summit on July 17-18, the two blocs have sent back and forth several drafts of the joint declaration, with one side adding lines while another deletes them. Of particular contention is an effort by the EU to turn the summit into another Western denunciation of Russia and endorsement of support for Ukraine.

The draft sent to CELAC by the EU reportedly included several paragraphs about the conflict in Ukraine, but the 33 countries of CELAC “deleted everything about Ukraine” when they sent back their version of the statement, according to one EU diplomat who spoke with European media.

Instead, CELAC’s version called for both blocs to “advocate for serious and constructive diplomatic solutions to the current conflict in Europe, by peaceful means, which guarantees the sovereignty and security of us all, as well as regional and international peace, stability and security,” according to one outlet that viewed the document.

In addition, CELAC has also rejected an appearance by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Brussels summit, who was invited by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

"He invited me, but some Latin American leaders blocked the invitation," War Criminal Thug and West’s Puppet Zelensky told reporters last week.

While the EU and NATO nations have managed to rally some of their allies to condemn Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, the vast majority of the planet has refused to heed their call to condemn and isolate Moscow. Relations between Russia and Latin America have grown in recent years, and the region has been a beneficiary of Europe’s boycott of Russian energy exports, some of which were redirected toward Latin American markets, such as diesel fuel.

But Ukraine wasn’t the only thing CELAC changed about the draft joint declaration: the bloc also added a passage calling for reparations for the African slave trade, in which Europeans shipped some 12.5 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic between the 16th and 19th centuries to perform manual labor on plantations and in mines in their colonies.

“We recognize the need for appropriate measures to be taken to restore the dignity of the victims, including reparations and compensation to help to heal our collective memory, and to reverse the legacies of underdevelopment,” the proposed draft declaration text states. It specifically notes “issues of healthcare, education, cultural development, and food security.”

“We acknowledge and profoundly regret the untold suffering inflicted on millions of men, women and children as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade of Africans,” the text states.

— Fantine Gardinier | Thursday July 06, 2023 | Sputnik International

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Kennedy Shares Opinion on Key US Mistake with Russia 🇷🇺! Washington Has Lied and Ignored Moscow’s “Red Lines,” The Presidential Candidate Has Said

— May 3rd, 2023 | RT

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. © Rich Polk/Getty Images for Waterkeeper Alliance

Instead of listening to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warnings about “Red Lines,” the US has Repeatedly Crossed them, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an interview published on Wednesday. The Democrat running for US president added that Washington should have either invited Moscow to NATO or dismantled the anti-Russian alliance after the Cold War.

“We should have listened to Putin over many years. We made a commitment to Russia, to Gorbachev, that we would not move NATO one inch to the east. Then we went in, and we lied,” Kennedy told the outlet UnHerd.

Instead of offering to integrate Russia into the West, as many diplomats urged in 1991, the US expanded NATO to its borders. “What is the purpose of NATO other than to oppose Russia? If you’re addressing Russia in a hostile way from the beginning, of course their reaction is going to be hostile back,” Kennedy said.

He described what happened in Kiev in 2014 as “essentially a coup d’etat” supported by the US, recalling the infamous phone call in which Victoria Nuland was “handpicking a new cabinet” hostile to Moscow.

“If Mexico did that and then started killing – they killed 14,000 Russians in Donbass, the Ukrainian government – if Mexico did that to expatriate Americans, we’d invade in a second,” Kennedy said, adding that Putin “repeatedly told us: these are red lines, you’re crossing.”

American leaders should be able to “put yourself in the other guy’s shoes,” just like his uncle John F. Kennedy did during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, stepping back from the brink of nuclear war, which all of his advisers were pushing for.

Kennedy condemned the “barbaric and illegal invasion” of Ukraine and called Putin a ‘gangster’, a ‘thug’ and a ‘bully’, but said the conflict needed to be settled quickly, because the US had already “sacrificed 300,000” Ukrainians in battle. While the White House presented aiding Kiev as a humanitarian mission, “every step that we’ve taken has been to enlarge the conflict and to maximize bloodshed,” he said.

“Let’s be honest: It’s a US war against Russia, to essentially sacrifice the flower of Ukrainian youth in an abattoir of death and destruction for the geopolitical ambition of the neocons” to see regime change in Moscow, Kennedy said. He added that the people who created the problem weren’t capable of settling it.

Asked about his proposed solution, Kennedy said that something like the Minsk accords, agreeing to keep Ukraine out of NATO, and removing nuclear missile launchers from Russia’s borders might work.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr: “War Criminal, Thug & Zionist Zelensky” Could Have Avoided Conflict With Russia By Saying 'No' To North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO)

Attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the New York State Capitol, May 14, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. — Sputnik International. © AP Photo/Hans Pennink

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a chance to avoid the conflict with Russia by simply refusing to join NATO.

"In 2019 actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky ran as the peace candidate winning the Ukrainian presidency with 70% of the vote. As Benjamin Abelow observes in his brilliant book, 'How the West Brought War to Ukraine,' Zelenskyy almost certainly could have avoided the 2022 war with Russia simply by uttering five words - 'I will not join NATO,'" Kennedy said in a tweet.

According to Kennedy, Zelensky was forced to continue the dangerous path to NATO by neoconservatives in the Biden administration and by violent fascist elements within the Ukrainian government.

Moreover, Zelensky even allowed the United States to place its nuclear-capable Aegis missile launchers along Ukraine’s 1,200-mile border with Russia and thereby provoked Russia, the presidential candidate added.

Moscow launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. Russian and Ukrainian delegations have engaged in several rounds of peace talks since then, but the negotiations ultimately reached an impasse. Russia has insisted that it is open for talks with Kiev, even after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree prohibiting negotiations with Moscow in October 2022.

— May 3rd, 2023