Puppet MastersS


Russian Flag

SOTT Focus: 'People Are The Power in Russia' Says Putin as he Wins Fifth Term With Record 87% of Votes

Putin reelected 2024
© Sergey Guneev/SputnikThe Russian presidential candidate and incumbent President, Vladimir Putin, speaks to the media at the campaign headquarters, in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2024.
The incumbent head of state is projected to win re-election by a historic landslide

Vladimir Putin has delivered a victory speech at his campaign headquarters in Moscow, after preliminary results of the country's presidential vote from Russia's Central Election Commission showed him securing a fifth term in office with over 87% of the vote.

Speaking in front of his supporters on Sunday night, Putin stressed that the "only source of power in the country is the Russian people," adding that the vote of every citizen counts when its comes to charting the nation's course.

The Russian leader noted that while the country is about to face numerous challenges, its people will be up to the task if they remain united.

Comment: Turnout is now being reported as hitting 77%.



Hand-counting ballots, as they should be in a proper election:


Overseas turnout also hit a new record. Western media reported that Russians living abroad were queuing up to 'vote out Putin', LOL!

All week long the CIA and friends organized raids into Russia with a paramilitary group made up of hundreds of Ukrainians and Russian traitors, apparently in some stupid, violent attempt to 'sour the election'. Epic fail!


Bad Guys

Best of the Web: Western troops in Ukraine: How a big lie could lead to the biggest war

ukraine germany france security pact scholz macron zelensky
© Sarah Meyssonnier / POOL / AFPGermany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, and France’s President Emmanuel Macron
Macron's latest sallies and the spat they've caused show that Western Europe must finally be honest about the causes of the Ukraine conflict

The current situation in the conflict between Ukraine - serving (while being demolished) as a proxy for the West - and Russia, can be sketched in three broad strokes.

First, Russia now clearly has the upper hand on the battlefield and could potentially accelerate its recent advances to achieve an overall military victory soon. The West is being compelled to recognize this fact: as Foreign Affairs put it, in an article titled "Time is Running Out in Ukraine," Kiev and its Western supporters "are at a critical decision point and face a fundamental question: How can further Russian advances... be stopped, and then reversed?" Just disregard the bit of wishful thinking thrown in at the end to sweeten the bitter pill of reality. The key point is the acknowledgment that it is crunch time for the West and Ukraine - in a bad way.

Second, notwithstanding the above, Ukraine is not yet ready to ask for negotiations to end the war on terms acceptable to Russia, which would be less than easy for Kiev. (Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, reiterated in an important recent interview that Moscow remains principally open to talks, not on the basis of "wishful thinking" but, instead, proceeding from the realities "on the ground.")

Pirates

Highway robbery: EU to use frozen Russian assets to buy arms for Ukraine

macron scholz duda EU
© Odd Anderson / AFP(L-R) French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on March 15, 2024.
The German chancellor has clarified that profits obtained from Moscow's funds held in the EU will be used to arm Kiev

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that interest accrued from Russian assets frozen in the EU will be used to purchase weapons for Ukraine.

Soon after Russia launched its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries froze approximately $300 billion of funds belonging to the Russian Central Bank. Of that sum, the Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear holds around €191 billion ($205 billion), which has accrued nearly €4.4 billion in interest over the past year.

Speaking at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin on Friday, Chancellor Scholz said: "We will use windfall profits from Russian assets frozen in Europe to financially support the purchase of weapons for Ukraine."

Comment: Even the EU's own financial institutions are screaming that this move will destroy the EU's monetary credibility.
The West has frozen roughly $300 billion in holdings belonging to the Russian central bank since the start of the Ukraine conflict two years ago. Brussels-based Euroclear holds around €191 billion ($205 billion) of the assets, and the EU is reportedly fast-tracking the decision to send Kiev the first tranche of up to €3 billion from profits generated by frozen Russian assets as early as July.

Should the West proceed with expropriating the funds, the Russian central bank is likely to seize around €33 billion of Euroclear money held in the national securities depository in Moscow, the official said. Russia may also sue to seize Euroclear cash from depositories in Hong Kong and Dubai.

Brussels will have to "ensure that there is no breach of financial stability," an unnamed EU official told Reuters on Tuesday. "The moment the war ends and all settlements can be made, all the money that was provisionally retained will also be transferred to Ukraine. But we need a significant amount in Euroclear... because Euroclear will face a lot of claims."

Moscow has repeatedly warned that it will respond in kind if the West goes through with threats to confiscate Russian assets. The Finance Ministry said last month that Western states and companies themselves still have holdings in Russia that could be jeopardized if the frozen funds are tapped.

If Western banks begin suing Euroclear for the loss of their money invested in Russia, "that's the mechanism how Euroclear could be totally emptied," the EU official warned.

Euroclear Bank boasts of over €37 trillion in assets in custody globally, but if it runs out of liquidity amid a litany of lawsuits - the Belgian central bank may be forced to withdraw its license, causing a global financial crisis, the official warned.

A number of Western countries remain divided over expropriating Russia's frozen assets to aid Ukraine. While the US and UK support the direct seizure of the assets, some EU member states, including France and Germany, have recently warned that the move could negatively affect financial stability and erode trust in the euro's status as a reserve currency.



Big Bomb

Ukrainian shelling kills 2 in Belgorod while Russia repels incursion of border city Kozinka

ukraine shells russia belgorad
© Vyacheslav Gladkov/TelegramRussian regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov says two people have been killed in Ukrainian shelling of the city of Belgorod, close to the border with Ukraine. Three others were wounded.
Ukrainian shelling of the Russian city of Belgorod killed two people, officials said Saturday, while Russia claimed to have thwarted a new attempt by saboteurs to cross the border.

Saturday's attacks occurred as Russians entered the second day of voting in a presidential election that is all but certain to extend Vladimir Putin's rule by another six years after he crushed dissent.

A man and a woman died in the attack and three other people were wounded, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. It was the latest in exchanges of long-range missile and rocket fire in Russia's war on Ukraine.

Five people were also wounded when a Ukrainian drone hit a car in the village of Glotovo, some 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Gladkov said.

Comment: A pathetic, not to mention lethal, PR stunt by Ukraine who hoped to disrupt the Russian presidential election. Russian forces saw them off with extreme prejudice.






USA

New evidence the German Taurus attack plan was leaked by the US Air Force

guys shake
© UnknownDouble Trouble? General Ingo Gerhartz (L) USAF General Kenneth Wilsbach(R)
A little bird has materialized to sing that the record of the German generals discussing their plan to attack Russian targets with the Taurus missile was intercepted and leaked to the Russians by the Americans.

A big bird, actually. The telephone conference of German Luftwaffe chief General Ingo Gerhartz (lead image, left), one of his staff generals, and two Luftwaffe lieutenant-colonels on February 19 was listened to by US signals intelligence after the first meeting the Germans had with a new regional US Air Force (USAF) commander, General Kevin Schneider; Schneider took command of the USAF Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) on February 9 after two and a half years in a senior staff post at the Pentagon under General Charles Brown Jr. Brown was promoted from USAF chief to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on October 1, 2023. When Schneider left Brown's staff, he took a promotion from lieutenant general to four-star general.

Schneider has never flown or staffed USAF operations against Russia. He was in Singapore for the bi-annual Singapore Air Show to demonstrate what the USAF press office called "the opportunity to sharpen ties with Singapore, demonstrate flexible aircraft capability, enable engagement with foreign partners, and expand power projection." His agenda of meetings with other country airforce officers is classified.

Comment: Nice bit of detective work!


Padlock

Trudeau's 'Orwellian online harms bill': Canada PM backs imprisoning people for LIFE over speech crimes in social media 'safety' crackdown

trudeau
© AFP/Getty ImagesProposed law is backed by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's new internet law would allow judges to give life sentences to those who commit the worst speech crimes on social media. The Online Harms Act, designed to make social media platforms safer, is being slammed as 'Orwellian' and an 'overreach' by voters.

The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood said the bill was 'Lettres de Cachet all over again,' referring to royal diktat for imprisoning citizens made by former Kings of France.

'The possibilities for revenge false accusations + thoughtcrime stuff are sooo inviting!' Atwood warned on X, formerly Twitter. 'Trudeau's Orwellian online harms bill.'

The proposed law, introduced last month by the Liberal government, gives judges the power to imprison adults for life if they advocate for genocide online, up from the previous maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The bill also increases the maximum term in prison from two years to five years for the willful promotion of hatred online. It also allows a provincial judge to impose house arrest and a fine if there were reasonable grounds to believe a defendant 'will commit' an offense.

Conservative writer Stephen Moore called the law the most shocking of all the totalitarian, illiberal and anti-Enlightenment pieces of legislation that have been introduced in the Western world in decades.'

Comment: First they lock our minds. Then they throw away the key. Really, nothing to it.


Magnify

SpaceX is reportedly building hundreds of spy satellites for the US government

Space X
© Joel Kowsky / NASA / APAccording to Reuters, SpaceX is developing a 'Starshield' swarm for the DoD's National Reconnaissance Office.
SpaceX has been contracted by the Department of Defense's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to build a network of hundreds of low-orbiting spy satellites capable of operating as a swarm and tracking targets on the ground, according to Reuters. The Reuters report, which cites five sources with knowledge of the program, builds on earlier reporting by The Wall Street Journal that revealed SpaceX had signed a $1.8 billion contract in 2021 with an unnamed agency.

This network, called Starshield, would reportedly be able to gather continuous imagery all over Earth for US intelligence, using a mix of large imaging satellites to collect data and relay satellites to transmit information. According to one source who spoke to Reuters, it has the potential to make it so "no one can hide."


Comment: Whilst it certainly isn't great news (if true), the US has demonstrated time and again that it is no longer capable of following through on such projects. Furthermore, it's likely that, at least abroad, it will be neutralised in one way or another: 'Secret Russian electronic warfare weapon disrupting GPS of ships & jets' claims Estonia's military chief, amid NATO wargames


Neither SpaceX nor the NRO directly confirmed the company's involvement in the project, but an NRO spokesperson told Reuters, "The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen."

Comment: It seems a little odd that Musk, who can be highly critical of the US and the trajectory it's currently on, would enter into such an agreement.


Light Saber

Orban: EU leadership should 'start trembling, Brussels is not the first empire that has set its eyes on Hungary. It's time to rise up!'

orban
© AFP / Attila KisbenedekHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech in Budapest.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that he and his supporters are ready to march on Brussels to defend their country's sovereignty within the EU.

Orban gave the warning on Friday in a fiery speech dedicated to an anniversary of Hungary's unsuccessful revolution of 1848 against the rule of the Austrian Empire. "Brussels is not the first empire that has set its eyes on Hungary," he stressed.

The conservative prime minister told a crowd of around a thousand of his supporters that he's ready to do everything to protect Hungary from what he described as attempts by the EU to "force" the country into the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, to make it accept migrants, and to "re-educate" its children by imposing an LGBTQ agenda on them.

Comment: Earlier this month: Orbán to Hungary's ambassadors: A new world order is emerging


Broom

Niger cuts military agreement with US who now must leave, follows recent expulsion of France's military

niger
© CopyrightUS, Niger base camp 2018: Niger's government announces breaking off "with immediate effect" its military cooperation agreement with the United States.
The Nigerien government has opted to end its military agreement with the United States, which permitted US troops to stay within the African nation's borders, according to Reuters, citing Amadou Abdramane, spokesperson for Niger's military transitional government.

The declaration comes after an important US delegation embarked on a visit to Niger on March 13. The delegation's mission was to engage in vital discussions, building on previous talks, with Nigerien leaders of the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland (CNSP).

Comment: A few reports on the situation:



See also: March 16: Internet outage hits several African countries as multiple major undersea cables 'fail'


Penis Pump

And Israel? Macron to propose 'Olympic ceasefire' for Ukraine conflict

Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will propose a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine during the Summer Olympic Games, set to take place in Paris between July 26 and August 11.

In an interview with Ukrainian media on Saturday, Macron was asked whether France, as the host of the games this year, will follow tradition and seek "a ceasefire during the Olympics." The journalist was apparently referring to the Olympic Truce, a period of conflict cessation which historically began seven days before the games and ended seven days after so that the athletes could safely travel to and from the Olympics.

"It will be requested," the French leader responded.

"The rule of the host country is to move in step with the Olympic movement," the French leader said when asked about his views on the situation in which Russian athletes are allowed to participate under a neutral flag.

"This is a message of peace. We will also follow the decision of the Olympic Committee," he added.


Comment: Will Israeli athletes also be forced to attend under a neutral flag or be banned altogether by the IOC?


Comment: The French president would likely want to buy some time so that the Western partners have more time to rearm Ukraine and train yet another army. That wish for a ceasefire is unlikely to be granted by Russia.

One wonders why the French president wasn't asked about a ceasefire in Israel.

Macron has in the recent weeks done much to get some time in the limelight, but it hasn't quite worked out and he might have shown himself to be delusional if not also untrustworthy. See also: