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Mayor of key Ukrainian city found shot dead as Kiev cracks down on country's popular 'pro-Russian' opposition party


RT
Mon, 16 Aug 2021 09:19 UTC
Konstantin Pavlov
© Facebook
Konstantin Pavlov
Police in the Ukrainian city of Krivoy Rog have opened an investigation after its mayor, Konstantin Pavlov, was found dead at home from a gunshot wound to the chest, amid a crackdown on the country's largest opposition party.

Pavlov's body was discovered on the veranda of his house in the industrial city, which is around 400km (250 miles) south of Kiev, with a weapon reportedly lying close by. The 48-year-old politician was a member of the Opposition Platform - For Life party, which is the main opposition group in the country's parliament. The faction is known for its criticism of President Volodymyr Zelensky's government, and for calling for closer ties with Russia.

The authorities say it isn't yet clear whether Pavlov's death was suicide or if foul play could have been involved. However, Vadim Rabinovich, a prominent businessman and fellow party member said the mayor had been "killed" and that suggestions he took his own life were "a deliberate lie." A source told local news outlet Strana that, after being hit by the bullet, Pavlov managed to stagger around 10 meters before he fell to the ground.

Comment: This kind of criminality has become relatively commonplace in Ukraine but even Russia, renowned for its patience with corrupt regimes, like the US, has had to step up its game in order to stop the situation deteriorating further:

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Megaphone

US' irrational Xinjiang crackdown a danger to global industry and US business


Global Times
Tue, 10 Aug 2021 08:48 UTC
US bridge break
© Tang Tengfei/GT
Among the US' anti-China tool kit, the "Xinjiang card" has been thrust under the spotlight. Based on a baseless "forced labor" accusation, Washington has launched its vicious scheme targeting Xinjiang industries and is reportedly stepping up pressure on American firms to pause imports from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

In addition to a series of bans or restrictions on Xinjiang cotton, tomatoes and polycrystalline silicon, the US Congress is expected to launch a tougher crackdown against the region by approving "legislation later this year that would prohibit imports of all products from Xinjiang unless the importer can prove their items are free of forced labor," the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

If this legislation gets passed, it will create widespread chaos throughout the global supply chain and even drag down the recovery of global economy during post-COVID era.

Comment: Indeed, the claims of China's labor camps and a discrimination campaign against the Uighur community doesn't stand up to scrutiny; The Independent newspaper admitted admitted as much recently:
For decades, China had one of the most extensive systems of minority preferential treatment in the world, including hiring quotas and extra points on college entrance exams. The government also allowed ethnic minorities two or three children, even as it restricted its Han majority to just one child.
See also:

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Bizarro Earth

Dubai's Princess Latifa, who failed to escape her 'evil' father, is set to hit the US courts

Chris Sweeney
RT
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 09:33 UTC
latifa
© YouTube / #FreeLatifa Official
At the heart of the planned legal action is the daring - and probably illegal - high seas mission by Sheikh Mohammed to snatch his daughter back from a yacht in the Indian Ocean in 2018, one of Latifa's confidantes tells RT.

Nothing is ever quite what it seems to be when it comes to Dubai, a very sunny place full of very shady characters in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This shiny modern metropolis, built at fabulous expense, is a magnet for the world's intelligence agents, dodgy businessmen and rich people who enjoy eating the $14 oysters flown in from France at Atmosphere, the highest restaurant in the world, a quarter of a mile up the stupendous 828-meter-high Burj Khalifa tower.

In this Arabian Gotham-on-sand, ruled over with an iron fist by the staggeringly wealthy Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, there are enough dramas, and plots within plots, to keep the most demanding Hollywood producer busy for years.

Comment: See also:

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Penis Pump

'Afghan turmoil shames the West', says German president


Yahoo
Tue, 17 Aug 2021 07:54 UTC
Kabul

FILE PHOTO: People try to get into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul
Images of throngs trying to flee Kabul are shameful for Western nations, Germany's president said on Tuesday, as desperate people clamoured at the airport after the Taliban takeover.


Comment: As many commentators have already stated, it wasn't exactly a 'takeover'. The widely mistrusted Kabul government fell apart as soon as the US scarpered, and the Taliban, who enjoy support from many in Afghanistan, were ready to step in amidst the power vacuum.


"We are experiencing a human tragedy for which we share responsibility," said President Frank-Walter Steinmeier after the Western-backed government in Kabul collapsed and its foreign-trained security forces melted away.


Comment: It's a little late to be talking about 'human tragedy' because the US' illegal invasion of the country happened nearly two decades ago and the result of the illegal occupation and war on Afghanistan was over 100,000 civilian deaths. But the West is certainly responsible for the war crimes it committed whilst there.


Germany, which had the second largest military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, wants to airlift thousands of German-Afghan dual nationals as well as rights activists, lawyers and people who worked with foreign forces.

Comment: The West should be ashamed of a great majority of its dealings in the Middle East, but, in this instance, Afghanistan seems to be faring much better now that it's gone: 'Safer than before': Russian Embassy in Kabul sees no reason to evacuate as Taliban takes over security - ambassador

For the real story on what's happening in Afghanistan, check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: The Great (End)Game - Closing the Afghan War, Opening the 'Covid War'?



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Bad Guys

The only truth about US disastrous Afghanistan war is that it was all based on lies

Scott Ritter
RT
Tue, 17 Aug 2021 19:48 UTC
Taliban fighter
© REUTERS TV/via REUTERS
A Taliban fighter runs towards crowd outside Kabul airport, Kabul, Afghanistan August 16, 2021, in this still image taken from a video
The stunning victory of the Taliban over the US-backed Afghan government raises more questions than it answers as to how this happened. In the search for answers, however, don't ask the generals who fought the war - they all lied.

Let me begin with full disclosure - I have never set foot in Afghanistan. I have zero skin equity in this current debacle. I have lost very close friends to the conflict that tore that country apart these past 20 years, and I do mourn their loss. What I lack in on-the-ground warfighting resume entries, however, is somewhat compensated by a more intellectually based approach toward the conflict in Afghanistan.

As a historian, I have studied the tribes of Afghanistan, especially their penchant for conflict against ruling authority which deviates from what they expect from their leaders. My specialty was (and is) the Basmachi resistance to Soviet authority in the 1920s and 1930s. More specifically, my studies focused on those elements of Basmachi which settled in Kabul and northern Afghanistan, and who helped overthrow an Afghan King and later were defeated by a Pashtun tribal army.
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Eagle

Taliban leader was freed from Guantanamo Bay in 2014 swap by Obama

Paul Sperry
New York Post
Mon, 16 Aug 2021 19:48 UTC
Khairullah Khairkhwa
© AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool
Khairullah Khairkhwa, a Taliban commander released from Guantanamo Bay in 2014 by the Obama administration.
When President Barack Obama released five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for an American deserter in 2014, he assured a wary public that the dangerous enemy combatants would be transferred to Qatar and kept from causing any trouble in Afghanistan.

In fact, they were left free to engineer Sunday's sacking of Kabul.

Soon after gaining their freedom, some of the notorious Taliban Five pledged to return to fight Americans in Afghanistan and made contacts with active Taliban militants there. But the Obama-Biden administration turned a blind eye to the disturbing intelligence reports, and it wasn't long before the freed detainees used Qatar as a base to form a regime in exile.

Eventually, they were recognized by Western diplomats as official representatives of the Taliban during recent "peace" talks.

Earlier this year, one of them, Khairullah Khairkhwa, actually sat across the table from President Biden's envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, in Moscow, where Khairkhwa was part of the official Taliban delegation that negotiated the final terms of the US withdrawal. The retreat cleared a path for the Taliban to retake power after 20 years.

"I started jihad to remove foreign forces from my country and establish an Islamic government, and jihad will continue until we reach that goal through a political agreement," Khairkhwa said at the summit.
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Cupcake Pink

America's narrative failure in Afghanistan is worse than its military one - Now the entire world knows the emperor has no clothes

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Mon, 16 Aug 2021 19:35 UTC
do better Biden
© REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Demonstrators outside the White House in Washington, as the Taliban took over Kabul, August 15, 2021
Afghanistan may not be the actual 'graveyard of empires,' but it looks set to bury at least the American one, by imploding the major narratives on which it has rested: invincibility, inevitability, prosperity and competence.

It has to be an irony above all ironies that the same man who, back in 1992, celebrated the demise of the Soviet "puppet regime" in Kabul ended up leading a US puppet regime there. Except, whereas Dr. Najibullah ruled for three years after the last Soviet soldier crossed the Friendship Bridge into Uzbekistan, Ashraf Ghani resigned and fled even before the last American boot left Afghan soil - reportedly forgetting bags of cash on the tarmac, no less.

What made the sudden and total collapse of the Afghan National Army (ANA) so devastating, however, is the explicit insistence of US leadership - from President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley - as late as two weeks ago, that it would never happen.

Comment: The US has for a rather long time been engaged in the practice of 'reality creation'. The problem is, reality exists outside the propaganda and lies, and it demands to be seen whether we want to see it or not. We will undoubtedly continue to see devastating reality bombs dropping down all over the planet during these very interesting times.

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Burka

Taliban with a human face: Group announces full amnesty in press conference, promises to honor women's rights 'within sharia'


South China Morning Post
Tue, 17 Aug 2021 16:49 UTC
Taliban
© Reuters
Members of Taliban forces at a checkpoint in Kabul on August 17, 2021.
The Taliban on Tuesday declared an "amnesty" across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee their rule.

Following a blitz across Afghanistan that saw many cities fall to the insurgents without a fight, the Taliban have sought to portray themselves as more moderate than when they imposed a brutal rule in the late 1990s. But many Afghans remain sceptical.

Older generations remember the Taliban's ultraconservative Islamic views, which included severe restrictions on women as well as public stonings and amputations before they were ousted by the US-led invasion following the September 11 terror attacks.

The capital of Kabul remained quiet for another day as the Taliban patrolled its streets and many residents stayed home, remain fearful after the insurgents' takeover saw prisons emptied and armouries looted.

Many women have expressed dread that the two-decade Western experiment to expand their rights and remake Afghanistan would not survive the resurgent Taliban.

Germany, meanwhile, halted development aid to Afghanistan over the Taliban takeover. Such aid is a crucial source of funding for the country - and the Taliban's efforts to project a milder version of themselves may be aimed at ensuring that money continues to flow.


Comment: Here's a list of the main points addressed in the press conference:
  • Starts with Koran recitation congratulating the victorious and another one on unity.
  • We had legitimate right to liberate the country.
  • Pardoning all who have fought against us.
  • We want no external or internal enemies.
  • Strong Islamic and inclusive government.
  • No Taliban casualties in Kabul.
  • Assures security in Kabul.
  • Assures embassies of security.
  • We want no chaos or inconvenience in Kabul.
  • Confirms Taliban only went into Kabul for security on streets. Rioters, thieves wanted to abuse Taliban name to search houses etc.
  • Assures security for all neighboring countries.
  • Assures international community that no country will be harmed from Afghan soil.
  • Rights for women within framework of Sharia. Education, working etc allowed.
  • Will build infrastructure for Afghan economy.
  • Asks international community to contribute.
  • Assures media activity. Can continue to report. But nothing against Islamic values. Should be impartial. Shall critique Talib work so Talib can improve.
  • Media shall not work against national values or unity of the nation.
He also declared that Afghanistan will be narcotics-free.



The Taliban have also given the U.S. until September 11 to complete their withdrawal from the country.

The EU's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell stated today that the Taliban won the war, and the EU will now have to engage with them.
Any cooperation by Brussels with the new government of Afghanistan "will be conditioned on a peaceful and inclusive settlement and respect for the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including women, youth and persons belonging to minorities," as well as respect for other commitments such as fighting against corruption and preventing the use of Afghan territory by terrorists, Borrell said on Monday.

The EU will continue to provide aid to the Afghan people, he added, calling on the Taliban to respect international humanitarian law.

The group now has full control of Afghanistan, following the complete collapse of the US-backed Afghan government installed in 2001. "The Taliban have won the war so we will have to talk to them," Borrell added, acknowledging the political reality on the ground.

"This new reality comes 20 years after the beginning of the military operation launched by the US with the support of NATO in October 2001," Borrel told reporters in an online press conference.

He noted that the original military and political commitment - to destroy the Al-Qaeda terrorist group - "shifted to nation building" of a modern state in Afghanistan. "The first part of the mission succeeded, and the second did not," he said.
Arguably the nation-building mission was a success. They were just building a Taliban nation.

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X

Trump decries one of the 'greatest defeats in American history' amid Afghan collapse, calls for Biden to 'resign in disgrace'


RT
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 23:42 UTC
TrumpGhaniTroopd
© Reuters/Stringer
Former US President Donald Trump, US Troops, Afghanistani President Ashraf Ghani
Bagram Air Base • Afghanistan
Donald Trump excoriated US President Joe Biden for allowing one of America's worst defeats ever as Taliban fighters recaptured Afghanistan, while the current commander-in-chief was conspicuously silent on the debacle. Trump said on Sunday:
"What Joe Biden has done with Afghanistan is legendary. It will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history."
Trump went on to say in another message that Biden should
"resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan, along with the tremendous surge in Covid, the border catastrophe, the destruction of energy independence and our crippled economy. It shouldn't be a big deal because he wasn't elected legitimately in the first place."
Trump was referring to the allegations of election fraud in the US presidential elections that he and his supporters have leveled against the Democrats. The courts have so far rejected dozens of Republican lawsuits challenging the elections.

Comment: We didn't think The Donald would just let this go by, did we? Biden is 'in absentia' and firing on half braincells. Or is that too much credit...?



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Blue Planet

Taliban victory shows world power centers moving east, ex-Pentagon aid says


Sputnik
Tue, 17 Aug 2021 00:19 UTC
Taliban
© AP/Rahmat Gul
Taliban guard the entrance to Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan
The rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban is another strong sign that the centres of world power are moving eastwards across Asia, former Department of Defence veteran analyst Karen Kwiatkowski, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, told Sputnik.

The Taliban completed their takeover of Kabul on Sunday, the speed of which caught Washington by surprise as images of a chaotic American evacuation have gone viral, invoking memories of Saigon.
"I do see this transition of power as one more sign that the power centres of the planet are eastward and Asian, not westward and Eurocentric. The lack of emphasis on having the new Afghan public spokesmen speaking in English or even addressing the US and English speaking world indicates this shift".
The former Pentagon aide said Afghans are likely to adapt faster than expected.
"By Afghan standards, and the standards of 20 years of US occupations, black sites, torture and constant and repeated destruction of Afghanistan people, territory, industry and environment, I think the Taliban rule will for many in the country be something they adapt to quickly and see as 'better', at least initially."

Comment: Good observations: There is always more to the underlying story than news and views allow.

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