Exactly two years ago this Saturday, on February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin announced the launching - and described the objectives - of a Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine. That was the inevitable follow-up to what happened three days before, on February 21 - exactly 8 years after Maidan 2014 in Kiev - when Putin officially recognized the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

During this - pregnant with meaning - short space of only three days, everyone expected that the Russian Armed Forces would intervene, militarily, to end the massive bombing and shelling that had been going on for three weeks across the frontline - which even forced the Kremlin to evacuate populations at risk to Russia. Russian intel had conclusive proof that the NATO-backed Kiev forces were ready to execute an ethnic cleansing of Russophone Donbass.

February 24, 2022 was the day that changed 21st century geopolitics forever, in several complex ways. Above all, it marked the beginning of a vicious, all-out confrontation, "military-technical" as the Russians call it, between the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder, its easily pliable NATOstan vassals, and Russia - with Ukraine as the battleground.

There is hardly any question Putin had calculated, before and during these three fateful days, that his decisions would unleash the unbounded fury of the collective West - complete with a tsunami of sanctions.

The Israeli PM wants the "complete demilitarization" of Gaza, which he says should be governed by "local officials"...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally unveiled his plan for Gaza's future after the conflict with Hamas ends, placing a strong emphasis on the "deradicalization" of the Palestinian enclave.

The one-page document titled 'The Day After Hamas' was submitted to the Israeli government for discussion on Thursday, setting out proposed actions for the immediate, medium, and long term.

It reiterates Netanyahu's stance that the Israel Defence Forces will "continue the war until the complete destruction of the military capabilities and governmental infrastructure of Hamas," and until Israeli hostages are returned and a robust security architecture is in place.

In the medium-term, the prime minister wants Israel to "maintain operational freedom of activity" in the enclave for security purposes, without any time limit. "There will be a complete demilitarization in the Gaza Strip of any military capacity, beyond what is required for the needs of maintaining public order."

Netanyahu also suggested maintaining a "southern closure" of the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent any smuggling into the enclave, noting that the perimeter should be guarded in cooperation with Cairo and with US assistance.

The U.S. drone that struck on a bustling Baghdad evening on Feb. 7, 2024, instantly killed its target - three men in a Jeep. Among those who died were two commanders of an Iran-aligned militia whose commander had been assassinated in Baghdad four years earlier by the U.S. drone that also killed Qasem Soleimani, Iran's most important general. Bystander videos shot in the Mashtal neighborhood of the Iraqi capital just after the latest strike showed only a burning vehicle. The pinpoint assassination appeared even more audacious for having been executed during rush hour.

The targeting was part of a sequence of U.S. operations responding to a Jan. 28, 2024, drone attack that killed three Americans in a U.S. facility known as Tower 22 tucked into the Jordanian side of the border with Syria. The assailants believed to belong to Kataib Hezbollah, the same Iraqi Shi'ite militia whose members were killed in Baghdad, managed to overcome the base's aerial defenses by using an Iranian-made Shahed-101 drone to drift over the base in the wake of a returning American drone. Besides the three killed, the attack wounded more than 40 soldiers. They were the first U.S. casualties since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel plunged the region into a new crisis.

A federal judge on Wednesday found that the "selective prosecution" of far-right groups without charging their far-left counterparts for the same acts is "constitutionally impermissible."

U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney of southern California therefore dismissed charges against two men from the "white nationalist" Rise Above Movement (RAM) who violently clashed with members of the far-left group Antifa at three southern California pro-Trump events in 2017.

In his 35-page order, the judge stressed the importance of equal protection under the law. He said that although the two men may have been involved in violent acts, prosecutors were wrong to exclusively target them without also pursuing charges against Antifa members implicated in similar violent actions at political events.

Judge Carney wrote (pdf):

"Such selective prosecution leaves the troubling impression that the government believes speech on the left more deserving of protection than speech on the right.

"The fundamental principles of the First Amendment rights to free speech and to assemble are the "bedrock" of the United States. This is not always easy. Sometimes, people use that right to 'spread vitriolic and hateful ideas and beliefs'.

"While Defendants openly promoted ideas the Court finds reprehensible, and likely committed violence for which they deserve to be prosecuted, this case is about something more important. It is about upholding the free speech and assembly rights guaranteed to all of us.

"It does not matter who you are or what you say. It does not matter whether you are a supporter of All Lives Matter or a supporter of Black Lives Matter. It does not matter whether you are a Zionist professor or part of Students for Justice in Palestine. It does not matter whether you are a member of RAM or Antifa. All are the same under the Constitution, and all receive its protections."

Ukraine has the right to strike "Russian military targets outside Ukraine" in line with international law, the Nato secretary-general has said for the first time since the start of the full-scale war nearly two years ago.

Jens Stoltenberg earlier this week acknowledged that the use of western-supplied arms to strike targets in Russia had long been a point of contention among Kyiv's allies, due to fears of escalating the conflict.

"It's for each and every ally to decide whether there are some caveats on what they deliver, and different allies have had a bit different policies on that," Stoltenberg told Radio Free Europe in an interview published on Tuesday.

Ten lawyers have argued that the seizure would be legitimate due to the Ukraine conflict

A group of self-styled "experienced public international lawyers and practitioners" have put together a case for confiscating Russian sovereign funds currently frozen by the US and its allies, saying it would be the appropriate response to Moscow's "unlawful conduct" towards Ukraine.

Approximately €260 billion ($280 billion) in Russian sovereign funds were frozen by the Group of Seven countries in 2022. The UK and the US have recently demanded the outright seizure of these funds in order to fund the government in Kiev.

World War III is here, playing out asymmetrically in military, financial, and institutional battlefields, and the fight is an existential one. The western Hegemon, in truth, is at war against international law, and only 'kinetic military action' can bring it to heel.

The Axis of Asymmetry is in full swing. These are the state and non-state actors employing asymmetrical moves on the global chessboard to sideline the US-led western rules-based order. And its vanguard is the Yemeni resistance movement Ansarallah.

Ansarallah is absolutely relentless. They have downed a $30 million MQ-9 Reaper drone with just a $10k indigenous missile.

They are the first in the Global South ever to use anti-ship ballistic missiles against Israel-bound and/or -protecting commercial and US Navy ships.

For all practical purposes, Ansarallah is at war with no less than the US Navy.

Lavrov's remarks on the G20's role in overcoming current international tensions is rather short for Lavrov and contains an excellent idea. Perhaps the presser will come later.

Dear Colleagues:
We are grateful to our Brazilian friends for the opportunity to discuss geopolitical issues. We see this as the desire of the chairmanship to stimulate the search for a common denominator and diplomatic solutions that will create favourable peaceful conditions for mutually beneficial economic development.

When we join forces, the world is able to change for the better, to move forward. The twentieth century was an important milestone in freeing humanity from the shackles of colonialism. It would seem that we have defeated economic banditry, the exploitation of other people's labor and other people's wealth. The transition to détente during the Cold War allowed the USSR and the United States to lay the foundation for containing military risks and building a reliable strategic security architecture, primarily in Europe. We regret that those achievements have been almost completely destroyed today.

We have entered a period of breakdown and violence, as the forces pulling apart the old status quo cascade and mutually reinforce one another.

In a speech on Tuesday, Hizbullah leader Seyed Nasrallah said that the Party will continue the border offensive until at least the Gaza massacre stops. The war in Gaza however, is far from over. And Nasrallah warned that even were a ceasefire to be reached in Gaza:

"Should the enemy perform any action, we will return to operating according to the rules and formulas that existed before. The purpose of the resistance is to deter the enemy, and we will react accordingly."

Israel's Defence Secretary Gallant has underlined that contrary to international consensus expectations, he too expects the war in Lebanon to continue. Gallant said the military has stepped up its attacks against Hizbullah by one level out of ten:

"The Air Force planes flying currently in the skies of Lebanon have heavier bombs for more distant targets. Hizbullah went up half a step, whilst we, a full one ... We can attack not only at 20 kilometres [from the border], but also at 50 kilometres, and in Beirut and anywhere else."

It is not clear what 'red line' Hizbullah would have to cross for Israel to significantly escalate its response to much higher levels; Israeli leaders have suggested that an attack on a strategic site; or an attack leading to major civilian casualties; or a substantive barrage on Haifa might constitute the breaking point.

Israel warned on Monday that it would attack the densely packed city of Rafah by the start of Ramadan next month if all of its remaining hostages are not returned.

Israel said it is preparing an attack on the crowded city as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would "finish the job" of destroying Hamas without announcing a plan to safely move civilians.

More than 1.4 million Palestinians have crowded Rafah since the Oct. 7 start of the war, many living in tents or little shelter at all. U.S. President Joe Biden has called on Israel to come up with an evacuation plan for those civilians ahead of them attacking Rafah.

Benny Gantz, a part of Netanyahu's war cabinet, said:

"The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know, if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area."

The Israeli Defense Forces said they detected and killed Hamas fighters who launched a rocket against Israel on Sunday in Gaza. The IDF said Nahal Brigade soldiers found a rocket launch site in minutes and ordered the Air Force to conduct a strike.