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Green Light

Lukashenko sworn in as president of Belarus for seventh time


RT
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 12:03 UTC
Lukashenko
© Press Service of the President of the Republic of BelarusPresident of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko took office as President of Belarus • Minsk, Belarus • March 25, 2025
The inauguration ceremony took place at the Minsk Palace of Independence, extending his rule to 2030.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been sworn in for a seventh term in office, extending his nearly 30-year rule of the former Soviet republic for another five years.

The former Belarusian republic gained its independence in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Lukashenko was first elected in 1994 in the country's inaugural presidential election after the adoption of a new constitution.

The inauguration ceremony took place at the Palace of Independence in Minsk on Tuesday. According to the Belarusian news agency BelTA, more than 1,100 guests attended the event.

"We have created a sovereign state - we have much to be proud of," Lukashenko said at the ceremony. He pledged to continue to lead his country on "a path of peace and development, national unity and patriotism, justice and broad opportunities for everyone - what we call a state for the people."
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Penis Pump

EU officials unhappy with Kallas - Politico


RT
Wed, 26 Mar 2025 14:30 UTC
Kaja Kallas

The foreign policy chief's hawkish stance on Russia and leadership style have reportedly left many in the bloc feeling uneasy.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has been criticized by nearly a dozen EU officials over her hawkish stance on Russia and leadership style, Politico has reported, citing unnamed sources.

According to the outlet, Kallas' challenges began on her first day in office in December, following her tweet stating, "The European Union wants Ukraine to win this war" against Russia. Several EU officials reportedly felt uneasy that the former Estonian prime minister, within a day of assuming her new role, "felt at liberty to go beyond" established language norms.

"If you listen to her, it seems we are at war with Russia, which is not the EU line," Politico cited one EU official as complaining on Wednesday.

Comment: Kallas is doing a stellar job in burning bridges, which could leave Europe isolated. Alienating Russia, China and the US is not a winning strategy and far away from a diplomatic approach to geopolitical issues. Before being selected to become the EU representative for Foreign Affairs, Kallas was the prime minister of Estonia, a country of 1.3 million citizens. Her father had also been prime minister of Estonia and later a European commissioner.

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Network

ICE nearing historic data sharing deal with IRS to aid in deportations

Michael Lee
Fox News
Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:23 UTC
trump noem dhs illegal aliens
© Getty ImageRamped-up immigration enforcement has been a priority of the Trump administration, largely through the Department of Homeland Security, overseen by Secretary Kristi Noem.
The agreement would be a shift from traditional IRS policy of not sharing tax filers' data within the federal government

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are nearing an agreement that would permit ICE to access taxpayer information to locate illegal immigrants subject to deportation.

A historic agreement would allow ICE to submit the names and addresses of illegal immigrants to cross-check against IRS tax records, a shift in longstanding IRS policy aimed at keeping taxpayer information strictly confidential, according to a report in the Washington Post.

The current draft agreement, obtained by the Washington Post, would limit ICE to confirm the addresses of illegal immigrants who have final removal orders, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons would be the only two people authorized to submit requests to the IRS.

Comment: While the current application of such an arrangement is practical, even necessary, to facilitate removing illegal aliens who have been able to hide in the system, it still sets a dangerous precedent.

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Star of David

Israel is waging a war with no rules in Gaza

R. David Harden
The Globe and Mail
Mon, 24 Mar 2025 00:00 UTC
Rubble
© Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinians inspect rubble and debris at the site of Israeli strikes at the Nuseirat refugee camp • Central Gaza Strip • March 23, 2025
In relaunching the Gaza war last week after the breakdown of ceasefire negotiations, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks set to deliver on his threat to Hamas: "The gates of Gaza will be locked, and the gates of hell will open."

But this latest round of fighting isn't just an unspeakable tragedy for Gaza and its people. It also gives the world a snapshot of the future - of the post, post-Second World War international order in an era of conquest.

The American guarantee of a predictable and stable world is over. The Trump administration now questions basic norms governing international relations.

The 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, for instance, protects civilians in time of war, including those in occupied territories, and prohibits the forced displacement of civilians.

Article Two of the United Nations Charter not only prohibits states from annexing territory by threat or conquest but serves as a bedrock principle of international law and modern history.

These norms were birthed from the ashes of two world wars, and they represent collective values, not guaranteed outcomes. Obviously, history demonstrates that many countries have fallen short of their obligations, but these aspirations still provide an international lodestar. This order now has devolved to the point where states regard basic tenets of international law as inconvenient constraints on their imperial designs.
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Arrow Down

Wikipedia trashes Hegseth, Patel, Gabbard, censors their pages after Trump nominations: report

Greg Piper
Just the News.
Sun, 23 Mar 2025 11:19 UTC
Sanger
© Epoch TimesWikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger
Four years ago, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger launched a competing service called Encylosphere, on the grounds that the crowdsourced encyclopedia he created with Jimmy Wales had been so captured by the political left that its entry on socialism "completely ignores any conservative, libertarian, or critical treatment of the subject."

While Sanger's identity recently changed from "skeptical philosopher" to Christian, Wikipedia's identity remains the same as ever, according to a longtime conservative critic's review of its edits to pages for President Trump's appointees after their nominations.

The Media Research Center's report on ideologically suggestive makeovers to pages for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought found that Wikipedia editors piled on the dirt and, for Hegseth, stripped out the accomplishments.

The report states Wikipedia:
"Created entirely new negative sections, revamped their 'Personal Life' sections, changed the characterization of incidents described" and beefed up "existing coverage of controversial material/events."
By contrast, editors greenlit 116 edits to the recession page, "apparently to avoid embarrassing the Biden-Harris administration with clear evidence of their Bidenomics disaster," and "allowed consultants connected to Hunter Biden" to alter his page, MRC claims.

The nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, did not answer queries for its response to MRC's report and explanation of the edits' propriety.

Comment: It should have been called 'The Wikipedia Slur'.

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No Entry

You must welcome gay people - UN to Hungary


RT
Sun, 23 Mar 2025 07:08 UTC
Prideparade
© Getty ImagesDemonstrators march during the annual Pride parade • July 24, 2021 • Budapest, Hungary
The organization has expressed concern about a new law banning LGBTQ pride events.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has sounded the alarm over Hungary's recent law banning pride events, urging the government to repeal it. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has argued that the legislation seeks to protect minors from harmful influences.

On Tuesday, Hungary's parliament passed a law prohibiting pride events and authorizing the authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants and give them fines of $500. The legislation, backed by Orban's Fidesz party and its junior partner, the Christian Democrats, passed 136-27 under an expedited procedure.

The measure amends the country's assembly regulations to ban events that violate Hungary's child protection laws, which prohibit the portrayal of homosexuality to minors. All profits from the fines will also be diverted to child protection policies. The law has sparked protests in Budapest, with opposition lawmakers using smoke bombs in the parliament chamber.
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Pills

Maria Zakharova: Zelensky's office like a 'psych ward'


RT
Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:50 UTC
Vladimir Zelensky
© Getty Images / Win McNamee / StaffVladimir Zelensky.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has compared Vladimir Zelensky's office to a "psychiatric hospital" over his choice of paintings.

Photos published by Time magazine on Monday show Zelensky posing in front of two war-themed paintings — one depicting Ukrainian troops fighting on Russian territory, and the other, reportedly his favorite, showing the Kremlin engulfed in flames.

The photo of Zelensky standing beside the paintings was reportedly taken as he gave Time correspondent Simon Shuster a tour of his office one evening earlier in March. The report also mentioned a third painting, showing a Russian warship sinking in the Black Sea, though it was not visible in the photo. Time said Zelensky selected the paintings himself, and that they now hang in a small room behind his main office.
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Megaphone

Kremlin slams international reaction to Ukraine killing Russian journalists


RT
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 17:49 UTC
zvezda memorial
© Sputnik/Evgeny BiyatovA makeshift memorial for Zvezda TV channel staff killed by a Ukrainian strike in Lugansk at the channel headquarters in Moscow
The international community's failure to respond to the killings of Russian journalists by Ukraine is inexcusable, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

On Monday, three members of a Russian news crew were killed in a Ukrainian attack while reporting from the Lugansk People's Republic.

The incident marked the latest in a series of deaths of Russian media workers since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

"We constantly draw the attention of the international community to acts of assault, intimidation, attacks, and attempted murders of journalists in the conflict zone. We consider the reaction of the international community to have been extremely inadequate. Many simply refuse to respond, which...is inexcusable," Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

The attack claimed the lives of Aleksandr Fedorchak, a reporter for the newspaper Izvestia, Andrey Panov, a cameraman for Zvezda TV, and Aleksandr Sirekli, their driver. Their vehicle, marked as press transport, was reportedly struck by two missiles fired from a US-supplied Ukrainian HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system.
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Dominoes

Russia, Ukraine Agree To US-Brokered 'Ceasefire At Sea'

Tyler Durden
RT
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 17:38 UTC
missile
Washington and Moscow are seeking to revive the Black Sea Grain deal, which had held for much of 2022, allowing Ukraine to ship its grain and agricultural products to global markets.

The White House on Tuesday published two readouts from successive days of talks in Riyadh with Russian and Ukrainian delegations, which feature a ceasefire at sea "to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea."

And even as the two warring sides continue to send drones and missiles against the other, the US said that all involved have agreed to "develop measures for implementing" the earlier agreement to stop strikes against energy infrastructure." But have they actually agreed? Both sides are saying yes but once again this could be very short-lived.
  • ZELENSKIY SAYS UKRAINE TO IMPLEMENT PARTIAL CEASEFIRE NOW
  • OIL EXTENDS LOSSES AS UKRAINE TO IMPLEMENT PARTIAL CEASEFIRE
  • KREMLIN CONFIRMS AGREEMENT ON SAFE NAVIGATION IN BLACK SEA
  • ZELENSKY BLASTS US RESTORING RUSSIAN AGRICULTURE EXPORTS
  • ZELENSKIY SAYS UKRAINE'S UNDERSTANDING IS THAT AGREED CEASEFIRE IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING US ANNOUNCEMENT
  • ZELENSKIY SAYS HE WILL ASK TRUMP FOR WEAPONS, NEW RUSSIAN SANCTIONS IF MOSCOW BREAKS CEASEFIRE
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Cowboy Hat

Rubio accuses 'other countries' of blocking peace in Ukraine


RT
Mon, 24 Mar 2025 23:19 UTC
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Donald Trump
© Pool via AP
The Kremlin previously criticized Kiev's EU backers for speaking only of war and militarization

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that unnamed foreign governments are obstructing efforts to end the Ukraine conflict, crediting President Donald Trump with leading negotiations to mediate peace between Moscow and Kiev.

Senior Russian and US officials held marathon 12-hour talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Monday, focused on resolving the Ukraine conflict and ensuring maritime security in the Black Sea. However, the two sides have yet to release details or announce the outcome of the discussions.

Comment:
Unnamed countries, hmm... any guesses?
Another question might be, whether or not it is easier to begin a war than to end it?
Looking back in the web archives, there was an article by John Pilger in 2014:
John Pilger on Ukraine 2014
© The Guardian


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