Now picture a true gentleman, the foremost diplomat of these troubled times, in total command of the facts and endowed with a delightful sense of humor, taking a perilous walk on the wild side, to quote iconic Lou Reed, and emerging unscathed.

In fact, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's New York moment - as in his two interventions before the UN Security Council on April 24 and 25 - performed the diplomatic equivalent of bringing the house down. At least the sections of the house inhabited by the Global South - or Global Majority.

April 24, during the 9308th meeting of the UNSC under the agenda "Maintenance of international peace and security, effective multilateralism through the protection of the principles of the UN Charter", was particularly relevant.

Lavrov stressed the symbolism of the meeting happening on the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace, deemed quite significant by a 2018 UN General Assembly resolution.

In his preamble, Lavrov noted how "in two weeks, we will celebrate the 78th anniversary of Victory in World War II. The defeat of Nazi Germany, to which my country made a decisive contribution with the support of the Allies, laid the foundation for the post-war international order. The UN Charter has become its legal basis, and our organization itself, embodying true multilateralism, has acquired a central, coordinating role in world politics."

Well, not really. And that brings us to Lavrov's true walk on the wild side, pinpointing how multilateralism has been trampled. Way beyond torrents of denigration by the usual suspects, and their attempt to submit him to an ice cold shower in New York, or even confine him to the - geopolitical - freezer, he prevailed. Let's take a walk with him across the current wasteland. Mr. Lavrov, you're the star of the show.

The US will deploy submarines to South Korea armed with nuclear ballistic missiles, officials told reporters on Tuesday. Intended to deter North Korea from further missile tests, the deployment is also likely aimed at reassuring the South Korean public, who recently learned that the US systematically spied on their government.

The plan will be officially announced by US President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, at the White House on Wednesday, the officials said in comments to multiple US media outlets.

Both men are expected to sign an agreement known as the 'Washington Declaration,' under which they will step up intelligence sharing and joint military exercises, while the US will send nuclear-armed submarines and bombers to South Korea on a rotating basis.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally launched his campaign for a second term in 2024, asking voters to keep him in office and "finish the job" of a historic American recovery that started after he vanquished Donald Trump in 2020.

Biden's long-awaited announcement allows him to begin fundraising 18 months out from the November general election. In a video, the president echoed several familiar themes he outlined when he first took charge of the country during the spiraling Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic turmoil, taking office days after insurrectionists seized the U.S. Capitol.

The White House has pledged continued support for Kiev as it prepares for its much-touted battlefield push...

Ukrainian forces could face more Russian attacks even as they prepare a counteroffensive of their own, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has warned. He told state-run news outlet Voice of America on Friday:

"In the spring, when the weather improves, and it's already starting to improve... we can expect the Russians to want to go on the offensive in some areas. We want to make sure that the Ukrainians are able to better defend themselves against that and if they choose offensive operations of their own, that they've got the capabilities to conduct those."

Kiev has been promising for months to launch a counteroffensive against Russia sometime this spring, after receiving weapons and training for its troops from the US and other foreign backers.

However, the operation has thus far not materialized and may not kick off until the summer, according to recent remarks by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal. Some Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, warned against treating the much-anticipated offensive as a make-or-break moment in the conflict.

Treasury Secretary Yellen says engagement with Beijing is possible, as long as American 'leadership' is preserved...

Recently, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made her first remarks on US economic engagement with China in nearly two years.

She rejected the idea that a war between the US and China is "increasingly inevitable," that there is "no reason to fear healthy economic competition with any country," and that "China's economic growth need not be incompatible with US economic leadership."

Yellen also said that the primary goal of the US is always to safeguard its "national security" and thus it's not really out to hamper the rise of China or its economy. But actions speak louder than words, and her comments come on the back of the US attempting to cripple China's entire semiconductor industry, forcing third-party countries to abide by those restrictions as well, adding numerous Chinese companies to its trade-restrictions entity list, using allegations of forced labour to opportunistically undermine certain Chinese industries and, of course, maintaining broad Trump-era tariffs on Chinese exports to the US.

Russia and Ukraine, despite being locked in an armed conflict, continue to trade products and services with each other, a situation that journalist Seymour Hersh described as "quite crazy" in an interview with the TV show Going Underground.

"Oil and money transcends any sort of rationality, I guess," Hersh said in the interview aired by RT on Monday. He added that it wasn't too hard to find tell-tale signs of Ukrainian corruption.

Hersh elaborated on his recent allegations of rampant graft in the Ukrainian government. He has claimed that the CIA has estimated that President Vladimir Zelensky and his entourage embezzled at least $400 million last year from money provided by the US to buy diesel for the Ukrainian army. Overpriced fuel bought by Kiev allegedly came via the black market from Russia.

To see video, go here

The Russian foreign minister sparred with Western reporters after chairing the UN Security Council

The future of the Black Sea Initiative, possible prisoner exchanges between Washington and Moscow, and the prospects for preventing the Third World War were among the topics Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed on Tuesday while speaking with reporters at the UN in New York.

"You suspected I would not speak Russian, right?" Lavrov told reporters, in English, at the very start of the hour-long press conference, before switching to his mother tongue in accordance with protocol.

"Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? The constitutional theory is that we the people are the sovereigns, the state and federal officials only our agents. We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy, as we need not stay docile and quiet."
— Justice William O. Douglas

Absolutely, there is a war on free speech. To be more accurate, however, the war on free speech is really a war on the right to criticize the government.

Although the right to speak out against government wrongdoing is the quintessential freedom, every day in this country, those who dare to speak their truth to the powers-that-be find themselves censored, silenced or fired. Indeed, those who run the government don't take kindly to individuals who speak truth to power.

In fact, the government has become increasingly intolerant of speech that challenges its power, reveals its corruption, exposes its lies, and encourages the citizenry to push back against the government's many injustices.

This is nothing new, nor is it unique to any particular presidential administration.

For instance, as part of its campaign to eradicate so-called "disinformation," the Biden Administration likened those who share "false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information" to terrorists. This government salvo against consumers and spreaders of "mis- dis- and mal-information" widens the net to potentially include anyone who is exposed to ideas that run counter to the official government narrative.

Janet Yellen, the American Treasury Secretary, or Finance Minister, took the US hostility and threat against China to a new level in a speech on April 20 at Johns Hopkins University. In a speech laced with colonialist attitudes and arrogance she talked as if the USA was emperor of the world and China was a rebellious vassal, a speech, despite her rhetoric of seeking 'constructive" economic ties, that can only destroy any chance of that succeeding.

To read her speech is to understand the mafia mind set of the American leadership for she spoke as if she were the lieutenant of a mafia don threatening to break someone's legs for not obeying his criminal demands.

She began her long-winded speech by welcoming China's adoption of some "market reforms" in prior years and claimed the US was responsible for China's rise as an economic power claiming that "The US Congress and successive presidential administrations supported China's integration into global markets." The Chinese have a different view of the matter since China was never disconnected from world markets and relied on its own efforts and the success of the policies of the Communist Party to develop and expand its economy and its trade with the world.

After that introduction, she quickly switched gears by decrying China's "decision to pivot away from market reforms toward a more state-driven approach that has undercut its neighbours and countries across the world," and that, "this has come as China is striking a more confrontational posture toward the USA and our allies..."

In effect she admits the communist government of China has succeeded in developing China's economy and the living standards of its people while the successive US governments have adopted policies destroying the US economy and standards of living. The glaring contrast makes the Americans both angry and embarrassed.

As for China being, "more confrontational," Yellen cannot point to any evidence of China "confronting the USA at all since the end of the Korean War when China was attacked by the United States. Since the "opening up" to China by Trudeau of Canada, and Nixon of the US in the early 1970's, China has always sought to cooperate with and improve its relations with all the nations of the world. It is the United States that has always been confrontational, and things have accelerated beginning with President Obama's "pivot to Asia," which was the beginning of their renewed strategic objective of forcing China to become their vassal.

President Trump continued with this objective with the imposition of trade tariffs in violation of World Trade Organisation agreements, with increased military sabre rattling over Taiwan, the arrest of Meng Wenzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, the Chinese communications company. President Biden continues this hostile policy today with increased military posturing and interference in the internal affairs of China over Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinxiang and other issues, all accompanied by an intense level of propaganda about China threatening American security and American "democracy."

The United States is hardly a "democracy." It is instead an extreme example of a plutocracy, a society ruled by the very wealthy but no matter; just a day before her speech, this "democracy" arrested two US citizens of Chinese ethnicity in New York City on absurd charges that they were running a "Chinese secret police station" in New York and members of a black, socialist party that expressed opposition to US war against Russia were charged with crimes amounting to treason for simply expressing their opinion.

Taking control of strategic foreign assets in Russia will enable Moscow to respond effectively to the potential confiscation of Russian companies' property abroad, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday allowing for the temporary takeover of foreign assets deemed critical for the country's energy security. The Federal Property Management Agency was ordered to establish external control of the Russian subsidiaries of Finnish energy company Fortum and Germany's Uniper.

According to Peskov, the two companies' assets were placed under the agency's administration as soon as the decree was signed by the president.

The presidential spokesman added that the move "mirrors the attitude of Western states towards foreign assets belonging to Russian companies."

"The main goal of the step is to create a compensation fund for potential use in tit-for-tat measures in response to the expropriation of Russian assets abroad," Peskov said. He added that a number of states systematically carry out a rapid transition from temporary administration to actual confiscation.