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Musk mocks Zelensky over aid demands


RT
Mon, 02 Oct 2023 08:42 UTC
muskie
© AFP/Hannibal HanschkeSpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Ukraine was previously angered by the billionaire's refusal to allow the use of Starlink for a planned attack on Crimea...

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has ridiculed Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky over his demands for more financial support from the US and its allies amid the conflict with Russia.

Posting on his X (formerly Twitter) social media platform on Sunday, Musk shared the popular 'stressed guy' meme with Zelensky's face photoshopped onto it and with a caption reading: "When it's been five minutes and you haven't asked for a billion dollars in aid."

The post had already gained more than 25 million views and over 350,000 likes at the time of writing.

The 'stressed guy' meme features an image of a male student whose neck and forehead are bulging with veins while he sits beside a girl in a classroom. The picture is commonly shared for humorous descriptions of frustrating or uncomfortable situations.

Musk's post comes after Zelensky attempted to drum up more support from the US during a visit to Washington in September. According to US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Ukrainian president told him that "if we don't get the aid, we will lose the war."

Comment: Z doesn't know when to quit. Musk does.

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Stop

Ukraine has 'no chance' without US - MP


RT
Sun, 01 Oct 2023 15:37 UTC
Goncharenko
© georgiatoday.geVerkhovna Rada MP Aleksey Goncharenko
Kiev should commit to joining Washington's wars abroad in exchange for continued military assistance, Aleksey Goncharenko says...

Ukraine will almost certainly be defeated in its conflict against Russia if Washington stops providing military aid, Verkhovna Rada MP Aleksey Goncharenko warned in a Telegram post on Sunday.

His comments came a day after US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested cutting military assistance to Kiev from the spending bill to avoid a shutdown.

"Without the support of the USA, we have almost no chance of holding out," said Goncharenko, a politician linked to former president Pyotr Poroshenko's European Solidarity party. He also described McCarthy's statements as "not just a wake-up call" but an "alarm bell" for Ukraine.


Comment: Holding out with what...armed women and children? Holding out is not 'winning' - it is desperation. Holding out does not beat the odds, it makes them worse.


Kiev desperately needs to secure continued military aid from Washington, the MP insisted, adding that Ukraine should employ a more active strategy in this field. The measures suggested by Goncharenko include a permanent Ukrainian delegation to the US Congress and Ukrainian MP trips to every US state to "convince" Americans of the need to continue backing Kiev, both through direct meetings and TV appearances.

Comment: Spoiler alert: Ukraine is not winning WITH its US military aid.

See also:

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X

Top EU diplomat dodges Ukrainian election question


RT
Mon, 02 Oct 2023 13:24 UTC
Zel and Bor
© AFP/Ukranian presidential press-serviceUkraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky • EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has refused to give an opinion on whether Ukraine should hold presidential and parliamentary elections in 2024, speaking during his visit to Kiev.

He told journalists in the Ukrainian capital on Monday:
"About elections in Ukraine, it's not my business. I'm in charge of foreign relations affairs of the EU, not internal politics of any member state, much less of Ukraine."
Holding elections is prohibited in Ukraine during a time of martial law, which is in now in place due to the conflict with Russia.

However, Western politicians including Tiny Kox, head of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, and several US senators, have been pressuring Kiev to organize both presidential and parliamentary votes next year.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham claimed in August:
"Elections would be not only an act of defiance against the Russian invasion, but an embrace of democracy and freedom."
The Washington Post reported last week that Ukrainian officials have been resisting such calls from the US and EU. Sources, who talked to the paper, said holding a nationwide ballot in a country engaged in a major armed conflict "is virtually impossible and also ill-advised."
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USA

Ex-Soviet state claims US funding 'violent' color revolution plotters


RT
Mon, 02 Oct 2023 18:44 UTC
flag bearer
© Vano Shlamov/AFPDay of National Unity • Tbilisi Georgia
Georgia has raised the alarm over USAID-funded 'violent uprising' activists...

The Georgian government said on Monday it had interrogated agitators from a US-funded group planning to unleash a violent color revolution. The group was previously involved in the 2003 civil unrest in the country.

The head of the ruling party explained that he is seeking an explanation from Washington. The US embassy in Tbilisi didn't deny bankrolling the outfit, but said its activities were about supporting Georgian democracy.

According to Georgia's State Security Service (SUS), three Serbian nationals from the organization called CANVAS arrived in Georgia last week and met with local activists at a Tbilisi hotel to train them how to "overthrow the government by violent means."

The "destructive and illegal actions" would target the government, security services, and the Orthodox Church, using techniques such as roadblocks and setting up protest encampments in front of government buildings, the SUS said. CANVAS activists also showed examples from Serbia on how to invade the parliament, take broadcasting services offline, and overthrow the government, according to the security agency.
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Mr. Potato

Seriously? Germany makes promise to extend EU into Russia


RT
Fri, 22 Sep 2023 15:32 UTC
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock
© Global Look Press / Friedemann KohlerGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks to journalists in Kiev, Ukraine, on October 2, 2023.
"Every meter" Kiev's forces seize from Russian troops is "paving" Ukraine's way into the bloc, Germany's foreign minister has said

Ukraine's future "lies in" the European Union, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday, adding that the bloc would soon incorporate regions that had joined Russia in 2022 but are still claimed by Kiev.

"[The EU] will soon stretch from Lisbon to Lugansk," Baerbock told journalists on the sidelines of the EU foreign ministers' meeting in the Ukrainian capital.

Lugansk is the capital of the Lugansk People's Republic - one of the two former eastern Ukrainian regions that declared independence from Kiev in 2014 in the wake of the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev. Russia recognized its independence in February 2022, just days before the start of its military campaign in Ukraine. In autumn 2022, the Lugansk People's Republic joined Russia, together with three other former Ukrainian territories following a series of referendums.

Comment: Ms. Baerbock must be imbibing some top-grade kool-aid. All four regions who have voted to join Russia are already considered to be part of Russia. By virtue of their constitution, Russia will never give them up.

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War Whore

Helmer: Canada and the NATO Alliance HUNKER down to defend race war against Russia - The New Evidence

John Helmer
Dances with Bears
Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00 UTC
Hunker Down
North Bay, Ontario, is a small Canadian city of immigrants from Europe, their upwardly mobile children, and their children's children.

It's the town where Yaroslav Hunka (lead image) lives after he left the British prisoner of war camp where he and other Ukrainian soldiers of the SS Waffen Grenadier Galician Division were held after the end of fighting in Europe in 1945. North Bay is where his son Martin Hunka was chief financial officer of Redpath Mining, a mine engineering company. By North Bay standards, the Hunka family is better educated and wealthier than most, donating substantial sums of money to the local hospital, universities, and Ukrainian national organisations, and through the Redpath mining company to local politicians.

North Bay is also where the children of these men demonstrate Hitler salutes and Nazi Party slogans on the local high school football field.

This is the model of small-town church-going people of modest but respectable means who share the prevailing ideology of their homeland grandparents who were on the side of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Stepan Bandera in the last world war. The smiles remain the same, the stand-up stiff-arm salutes have changed. The minds remain fixed where they were in their grandparents' ideology - that was the collective fascism of a century ago.* These people continue to believe that for their liberation, the Russian race should be destroyed - "suffocated" is the state policy term used by Canada's Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly.

Comment: Regarding Miligram's experiments, see:

MindMatters: Finding Your Red Line: Lessons from Milgram and the Holocaust

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Arrow Up

Pro-Russian populist wins Slovakian parliamentary elections - stages political comeback by vowing to end military aid to Ukraine

Perkin Amalaraj
The Daily Mail
Sun, 01 Oct 2023 22:05 UTC
Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico
© Associated PressSlovakia's likely new Prime Minister, Robert Fico, has consistently campaigned to reduce support to Ukraine in its defence against Russia
A populist former prime minister and his leftist party have won parliamentary elections in Slovakia, staging a political comeback after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message, according to almost complete results.

With results from 99.2% of some 6,000 polling stations counted by the Slovak Statistics Office early on Sunday, former prime minister Robert Fico and the leftist Smer (Direction) party led with 23.3% of the votes.

The populist served as prime minister between 2006 and 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018.

The election on Saturday was a test for the small eastern European country's support for neighbouring Ukraine in its war with Russia, and Fico's win could strain a fragile unity in the European Union and NATO.

Fico, 59, vowed to withdraw Slovakia's military support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion if he returned to high office.
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Light Sabers

Finally: Speaker McCarthy says border is bigger priority than Ukraine

Miranda Nazzaro
The Hill
Sun, 01 Oct 2023 21:20 UTC
mccarthy
© Greg NashSpeaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) arrives for a press conference on Friday, September 29, 2023
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Sunday said he's committed to helping Ukraine, but that addressing the crisis at the border is a bigger priority.

"The priority for me is America and our borders," McCarthy said when pressed during an interview on CBS's Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan about Ukraine. "Now, I support being able to make sure Ukraine has the weapons that they need, but I firmly support the border first. So we've got to find a way that we can do this together."

Ukraine was a big loser in the stopgap measure approved by Congress in a dramatic weekend vote that prevented a government shutdown.

Comment: Brave words. It remains to be seen McCarthy and other America-First Republicans can follow through. The backroom pressure must be enormous.

RT reports:
US President Joe Biden has urged Congress to "stop playing games" and vote on a separate aid package for Ukraine as soon as possible, after funding for Kiev was dropped from a stopgap bill that averted a government shutdown.

Speaking from the White House on Sunday after signing the last-minute package, Biden said he expected Republican House Speaker Keven McCarthy to "keep his commitment to secure passage and support needed to help Ukraine."

"We have time, not much time, and there's an overwhelming sense of urgency... Stop playing games, get this done," Biden said.

"I want to assure our American allies and the American people and the people of Ukraine that you can count on our support. We will not walk away," he added.

Several prominent lawmakers in the US are demanding stronger safeguards against the misuse of funds and supplies sent to Kiev, and recent efforts to approve aid in Congress have proven difficult.

[...]

Washington has provided Ukraine with at least $46 billion in military supplies alone since February 2022, in addition to other aid.

The head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, Aleksey Danilov, has suggested that the West should tell Kiev exactly how long it is planning to support it, as Kiev's backers have been unable to clearly define what their "as long as it takes" pledge means.

The EU top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has insisted that the bloc's military aid to Ukraine will not depend on decisions taken by the US. Brussels plans to continue increase its military assistance to the Ukrainian forces, Borrell told journalists during his visit to Kiev on Sunday.


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Whistle

Two more IRS officials suggest David Weiss not deciding person on Hunter Biden tax crimes


English Headline
Fri, 22 Sep 2023 21:11 UTC
weiss batdorf hunter biden tax charges
Two more IRS officials have come forward and detailed how now-Special Counsel David Weiss was "not the deciding person" over whether to charge President Biden's son Hunter with tax crimes — contrary to sworn testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland.

IRS Director of Field Operations Michael Batdorf and DC IRS Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon detailed how Weiss' probe was thwarted in recent testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, transcripts of which have been reviewed by The Post.

Garland has repeatedly insisted to lawmakers — most recently on Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee — that Weiss, the US attorney for Delaware, had "full authority" to bring cases against Hunter Biden anywhere he wished and that Garland would not personally interfere in the probe.

However, Batdorf told lawmakers during a Sept. 12 transcribed interview that the Justice Department's Tax Division would have also had to sign off on any charges that Weiss wanted to pursue.
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Russian Flag

What matters: Russia has gained more territory this year than Ukraine

Dave DeCamp
AntiWar.com
Thu, 28 Sep 2023 20:40 UTC
Ukraine russia territory gains
© New York TimesEven the Times can't spin this truth.
NYT reports that despite nine months of heavy fighting, only about 500 square miles have changed hands in Ukraine this year

Russian forces have gained more territory in Ukraine this year than the Ukrainian side despite the Ukrainian counteroffensive that was launched in June, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The report noted that despite nine months of heavy fighting in Ukraine, only about 500 square miles of territory have changed hands this year. Russia has gained 331 square miles while Ukraine has gained 143, a difference of 188, which amounts to Russia's net gain in territory so far this year.

Most of the fighting in the first half of the year focused around the Donbas city of Bakhmut, which Russia fully captured in May after a brutal battle that started in August 2022. Ukraine's counteroffensive has focused on the south, but fighting has continued near Bakhmut and across the entire eastern front.

Comment: Russia will never agree to a ceasefire. Negotiations, yes always. Russia is willing to talk to everyone. But a ceasefire, no.

Moscow has been burned twice in negotiation attempts with the West. With the Minsk Agreement on the table in 2014, Russia persuaded the breakaway regions to call off their Donbass offensive when it was just on the brink of routing Ukraine's neonazi forces. The West never forced Ukraine to abide Minsk, using the time for NATO to train up a new military as was later admitted by Merkel and others. Luhansk and Donbass endured eight years of relentless shelling by Ukraine. Then during the Special Military Operation in March 2022, with Kiev more or less surrounded, a treaty was hammered out between Ukraine and Russia with very favorable terms for Ukraine. Again, Russia withdrew it's forces in a show of good faith. Western bootlicker Boris Johnson then swooped in and talked Zelensky into walking away from a treaty that he had initialed.


So for Russia, it is now total victory and nothing less, even if Ukraine disappears as a nation. It never really was one anyway.

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