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Flashlight

Russia accuses Ukraine of seeking British help to whitewash war crimes


RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 21:25 UTC
Ukrainian soldiers
© Ministry of Defense of Ukraine / public domainUkrainian soldiers
Ukraine has asked Britain, and other Western nations, to help after it came under pressure due to the alleged the mistreatment of prisoners of war, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said on Friday. Moscow believes Ukraine is in damage control mode after footage of the alleged torture of Russian soldiers in Ukrainian custody became public.

The Ukrainian government has informed Britain that "it has no intention to abide by the Geneva conventions when treating Russian prisoners of war," the SVR claimed. In particular, Kiev informed London that it was not going to "offer enough food and medical assistance" to Russian captives at a time "when many Ukrainians lack them," the statement said.

The SVR claimed it was part of a larger Ukrainian effort to deal with the negative publicity it faces over the mistreatment of prisoners. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticized Kiev for its policy of exposing Russian soldiers to public appearances, in some cases while being humiliated.

This week, footage of the apparent torture of Russian POWs by Ukrainian troops sparked condemnation worldwide. The graphic video was initially published on social media last Sunday. An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to investigate the apparent crimes, stating that as a "European army," the Ukrainian military does not harass prisoners.

According to the SVR, Kiev has secretly launched an effort to prevent leaks of similarly incriminating videos in the future.

Comment: This is relevant:



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Question

Can the EU afford to threaten and punish China?

Timur Fomenko
RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 21:08 UTC
flags
© Getty Images / MarianVejcik
Since the conflict in Ukraine began, there has been a concerted effort to try and establish greater 'transatlantic' control over Western Europe's foreign policy, or to speak more explicitly, to put it in line with that of the United States.

America's foreign influence operations on the continent are huge, ranging from an army of funded think tanks, to allied journalists, to of course politicians. It is little surprise that the situation with Russia has weaved into the longstanding effort to get Europe to also conform to America's preferences on China, also, and dismantle the 'Merkel legacy' of engagement with Beijing .

This makes the China-EU summit, on Friday, such a critical juncture. It is inevitable that newspapers such as the Financial Times have sought to frame this event in solely negative narratives for Beijing, running a story titled: 'Russia's invasion of Ukraine forges new unity of EU purpose on China' and forecasting that a tougher stance on China which will attempt to 'pressure' it to disavow Moscow.
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Light Sabers

Hong Kong fires back at US and UK


RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 21:05 UTC
hong kong
© Getty Images / Nikada
Hong Kong officials have called on the foreign powers to stop meddling in China's domestic affairs after the US and UK governments released reports pointing at an alleged deterioration of political freedoms in the city.

"We strongly oppose the unfounded and ridiculous allegations against the Hong Kong special administrative region's government made by foreign countries through various reports," the global financial hub's authorities said in a statement on Friday. "The government urges foreign countries to stop interfering into the internal affairs of China through Hong Kong affairs."

Earlier on Thursday, London and Washington published two separate reports with a similar conclusion, claiming Hong Kong is facing an erosion of political rights and freedoms under Beijing's rule.

"Actions by the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities continue to systematically undermine the rights and freedoms promised to the people of Hong Kong," says the British report.
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Russian Flag

Russia wants security guarantees for all European states - Lavrov


RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 20:53 UTC
lavrov
© Telegram / MariaVladimirovnaZakharova
Russia wants security guarantees for all European nations, not just itself and Ukraine, the country's foreign minister told journalists on Friday. During peace talks with Moscow, Kiev has confirmed it is prepared to become a non-aligned country in exchange for legally binding security guarantees.

Following talks with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in New Delhi, Sergey Lavrov emphasized that other countries should also get such guarantees based on "those documents that have been adopted for many years in the OSCE framework, and which have proclaimed the principle that no country will strengthen its security at the expense of others' security."

Lavrov expressed cautious optimism regarding the ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, noting that Kiev and its Western supporters now appear to agree to Ukraine's future neutral status, with no aspirations to join NATO.

Yet Russia's military offensive in Ukraine is not "just about Ukraine, its neutrality," but rather a "question of [the] world order," Lavrov claimed. Russia's top diplomat went on to suggest that the US has now suppressed all attempts at establishing autonomy by Europe, with the EU states now completely in lockstep with Washington. According to Lavrov, the bloc's members have reconciled themselves to this status.
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Chess

Russian forces hand back Chernobyl to Ukraine - IAEA


RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 20:50 UTC
chernobyl
© Maxar Technologies/AFP
Russian forces have begun leaving the defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the major 1986 disaster, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. Russia seized the facilities, in February, at the start of its military campaign in Ukraine.

The IAEA added that Russian forces also left the nearby city of Slavutych, where many of the plant's staff live. The agency cited Ukraine as saying that some Russian troops were still present on site, but it was "presumed" that they were preparing to exit as well.

"Ukraine today informed the IAEA that the Russian forces that have been in control of Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) since 24 February had, in writing, transferred control of the NPP to Ukrainian personnel and moved two convoys of troops towards Belarus," the Vienna-based agency reported on Thursday, using the Ukrainian name of the plant.
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Attention

Taking off the gloves: Ex-president Medvedev calls for Russia to abandon food trade with West


RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 19:47 UTC
Dmitrij Medvedev
Dmitrij Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev says that Russia could cease exports to "unfriendly countries"

Amid Western sanctions, Russia might stop selling and buying food from "unfriendly countries," former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has revealed.

Medvedev, who is currently the deputy chair of the country's Security Council, published a list of suggestions related to Russia's food security and exports on Telegram on Friday. The post notes that Russia is a "major grain producer, on a par with India and China," and when it comes to wheat, the country has been the "largest exporter in recent years."

He also pointed out that agro-industrial exports reached over $37 billion last year.
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Chess

The ruble, the dollar and the price of gold - who is really winning the economic chess game?

Michael Snyder
Activist Post
Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00 UTC
Jacksoncoinbar
© Unknown/KJN
Russia has just made some moves that are going to change the global financial system forever. When the conflict in Ukraine originally erupted, the U.S. immediately attempted to crash the value of Russia's currency. Those attempts were successful for a few days, but now the value of the ruble relative to the U.S. dollar is almost all the way back to where it was before the start of the war. This has absolutely stunned many of the experts, because they thought that U.S. sanctions would absolutely cripple Russia. So what happened? Well, it turns out that the Russians have made some very savvy moves that have turned the tables on the Biden administration.

For one thing, Russia has started to demand payment in rubles when it sells natural gas to non-friendly nations. A lot of countries in western Europe are quite upset about this, but they really have no choice, because they are exceedingly dependent on Russian gas. So from this point forward, Western powers are actually going to be forced to help prop up the value of the ruble...

Comment: It would seem Russia just gave the US a SWIFT kick in the American wallet.

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Handcuffs

What Is to Be Done?

James Howard Kunstler
Clusterfuck Nation
Mon, 28 Mar 2022 00:00 UTC
Bidens
© Reuters/Visar Kryeziu/AP/KJNSmokescreens and Fire: US President Joe Biden • Hunter Biden
The black hole of depravity known as Hunter Biden's Laptop dilates ever wider as the rickety "Joe Biden" regime chugs towards its event horizon of disgrace and collapse, throwing off the jetsam of our nation's remnant honor in its toxic vapor trail. The memos and emails on the device could not be clearer: "Joe Biden" and his grifting family sold out their country.

The mentally incompetent husk of a crooked old pol is owned by every foreign interest in his decaying orbit, and owned as well by the foul and perfidious "intel" mafia lodged like a cancerous mass eating away at what used to be known as the American government. Face it: this false "president," installed by malignant forces allied with his Party of Chaos, is a menace to our nation.

Comment: The US today: Don't fix it; break it more.

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Propaganda

Andrew Korybko: Don't fall for fake news - the Russian Deep State is united like never before

Andrew Korybko
kolozeg.org
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00 UTC
Putin and advisors
© KremlinRussian President Vladimir Putin and his Security Council
Russia just flipped the strategic tables on the West, which is why its opponents are ramping up their fake news. They can't allow the public to acknowledge the fact that the same special operation that they provoked Russia into initiating unleashed multiple unintended consequences that have accelerated the decline of the US' unipolar hegemony. The alternative reality that these false information warfare narratives create is essentially a coping mechanism for their targeted Western audience as well as a desperate last-ditch attempt to advance the US' doomed-to-fail regime change plans for Russia.

The US-led Western Mainstream Media (MSM) has been aggressively pushing the fake news narrative that Russia's permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies ("deep state") are divided over their country's ongoing special military operation in Ukraine, even going as far as to speculate that a coup might be in the works and that President Putin is being deliberately misled by his officials. There's no truth whatsoever to this speculation but propagating it serves the purpose of raising doubts about the government's unity. That's intended to prompt panic among the Russian population as well as make Westerners think that their geostrategic opponent is on the verge of political collapse.
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Target

Trump's GOP stranglehold faces major test in four primary battles

David Drucker
Washington Examiner
Wed, 30 Mar 2022 06:00 UTC
Trump
© Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesFormer US President Donald Trump • Rally To Protect Our Elections • Phoenix, Arizona
Former President Donald Trump is entering a crucial phase of his lordship over the Republican Party, with four primaries in four states poised to decide his fate as a feared power broker.

Candidates Trump has endorsed for governor in Georgia, for the Senate in North Carolina, and for the House in Wyoming, plus his planned endorsement for the Senate in Ohio, hold the keys to the former president's standing as the undisputed leader of the Republican Party. Losses in any of these key nominating contests would embolden Republican politicians to buck his directives and challenge him for the 2024 presidential nomination should he run.

Losses in all four would be an unmitigated disaster for Trump.

John Couvillon, a GOP pollster in Louisiana, said Tuesday:
"He has to notch some electoral wins for him to continue to have Republicans scared to cross him."

Comment: Trump doesn't have a magic wand but neither do the Democrats. The missteps, lies and corrosion of the Democratic party has produced utter chaos in Washington and disdain around the globe.

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