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Russian Flag

Russian defense minister: Western military dominance 'has ended'


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2023 20:10 UTC
Sergey Shoigu
© Sputnik / Pavel Bednyakov / FileRussian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu
The West's ability to impose its interests on various parts of the world has diminished, according to Russia's defense minister

Asian, African and Latin American states have seen their roles in the global arena increase as Western military dominance has started to wane. That's according to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who was speaking at the 21st International Security Conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

The minister argued that Russia's military operation in Ukraine has "put an end to the dominance of the collective West in the military sphere," and bolstered anti-colonial movements worldwide.

"Just as the defeat of fascism by the Red Army in Europe in the last century gave a powerful impetus to anti-colonial movements throughout the world, so will the defeat of the Ukrainian neo-fascists supported by the West serve as a factor in counteracting modern neo-colonialism," Shoigu said.

Comment:

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Bullseye

Imran Khan and the 'successful' outcome of U.S. 'interference' in Pakistan: Fascism under a totalitarian military dictatorship

Junaid S. Ahmad
Global Research
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:00 UTC
Imran Khan
© Andrew KorybkoImran Khan, former Pakistani PM
So, my friends and comrades in virtually the entire Pakistani Left spent more than a year mocking at least 80 percent of the country's population for believing former Prime Minister Imran Khan about American 'interference' (to put it mildly) in Pakistan's internal politics, and more specifically about removing him from office.

My comrades' contributions to political life since Khan was ousted from power in April of 2022 have been a fanatical obsession with the man, an understandable deeply emotional envy of the tens of millions of people he was mobilizing, and a crazed fixation to convince the 'Western Left' that Khan isn't really that popular (Democracy Now) and is no 'anti-imperialist hero' (Jacobin) - who cares about engaging other outsiders like suffering Kashmiris or Palestinians under occupation for whom Khan took a strong stand (apparently the 'Western Left' is just much more important). I guess my comrades thought that these were the most productive strategies to 'liberate' the Pakistani 'working class.'

Ultimately, the Left with which I've always identified has facilitated not merely the return of the 'ancien regime' of kleptocratic politicians and an all-powerful military establishment, but the most fascist face of these two forces that the country has ever witnessed. We are now in a ruthless military dictatorship which is wholeheartedly supported by the two dynastic political parties akin to more like personal feudal fiefdoms which have taken turns in plundering and impoverishing the country since the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Comment: See also:

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Briefcase

Where is Hillary's indictment on the same charges as Trump?

Daniel Greenfield
Front Page Magazine
Fri, 11 Aug 2023 00:00 UTC
Hillary
Lock 'er up!
On December 12, 2016 (or D12), the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign endorsed a call by Christine Pelosi, the daughter of then House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi, as well as other electors to receive an 'intelligence briefing' on how 'Russian interference was performed to help Donald Trump get elected' from Obama's Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Hillary Clinton and her senior campaign officials were aware that they had concocted the lie that the Russians had gotten Trump elected, outsourced it to a former British intelligence operative, Christopher Steele, who produced the infamous Steele dossier, and distributed it through the FBI and were exploiting it to subvert the Electoral College and hijack the presidential election.

The Clinton campaign was endorsing a move to influence members of the Electoral College to set aside their duty and corrupt the electoral votes. Electors are bound to vote in accordance with the ballot count. There was no purpose to a "briefing" on the conspiracy theories that were manufactured by the Clinton campaign except to persuade them to corrupt the vote.

The Wall Street Journal correctly described the move as an "Electoral College Coup". Pelosi's daughter and other Democrat electors were requesting "a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States." And they were asking it from Clapper who would go around pushing the Steele dossier and defending its conspiracy theories as based on facts.
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Arrow Down

Ukrainian counteroffensive falling short of NATO expectations - The Times


RT
Sun, 13 Aug 2023 11:43 UTC
serviceman
© AP/Alex BabenkoA Ukrainian serviceman of the 3rd Assault Brigade fires a 122mm mortar towards Russian positions at the front line, near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine.
The US-led military bloc "expected miracles" of Kiev's troops, an American officer told the British newspaper...

NATO was overly optimistic about the Ukrainian military's ability to regain ground before its summer counteroffensive, The Times reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed US officer. The British newspaper noted that officials in Kiev had begun blaming their Western backers for their supposed lack of resolve.

In its article penned by Mark Galeotti, the author of more than 20 books on Russia, The Times quoted an anonymous US army officer involved in the training of Ukrainian service members. "Nato expected miracles, and the Ukrainians promised them," he said, adding that "you can't run a war on optimism."

Another US official told the media outlet that "we haven't quite closed the book on 2023, but we are ramping up our thinking about 2024."

The report claimed that neither Russia nor Ukraine can make any decisive advances at present, with the latter now touting the capture of individual villages as a sign of success. The author estimates that Kiev has two months at most to turn the tide before autumn rains start making the ground impassable for military hardware in November.

Comment: John Bolton is a windbag with a big hole in it. What's in it for him and why is anyone still giving him a listen?
Failures in Ukraine's much-touted counteroffensive against Russia stem from the West's inability to provide Kiev with the necessary military equipment within a reasonable timeframe, former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has said.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal published on Sunday, Bolton lamented that Kiev's long-anticipated push, which started in early June, "isn't making the headway some proponents had forecast," adding that the disappointing results must become a "wake-up" call for Washington.


Nothing new here, John!


The former White House official - widely regarded as a foreign-policy hawk and who has advocated regime changes in Iran, Syria, Libya, and Cuba - insisted in his article:
"Kiev's inability to achieve major advances is the natural result of a US strategy aimed only at staving off Russian conquest."
He also urged US President Joe Biden:
"Start vigorously working toward Ukrainian victory. Ukraine's offensive failures and Russia's defensive successes share a common cause: the slow, faltering, non-strategic supply of military assistance by the West."
Bolton added that the US-led support for Kiev has been hampered further by speculation that Moscow might escalate the conflict.

Bolton, who served in the Trump administration up to 2019, sought to allay those concerns, insisting that "there's no evidence" that Russia has conventional military capability to threaten NATO or a desire to launch a nuclear strike.

Moscow has repeatedly stated that it adheres to the policy that nuclear war should never be fought, and that it might resort to its atomic arsenal only if the very existence of the state is threatened.

The former national security adviser also dismissed the need for talks between Kiev and Moscow, arguing that these would only benefit Russia. Instead, he suggested that the West and Washington should radically tighten their sanctions regime.


If at first you don't succeed...don't succeed again!


In addition, he called on Washington to slap restrictions directly on China, citing its "enormous support" for Moscow. While Beijing remains Russia's key trade partner, it has repeatedly denied that it was providing Moscow with military support.

Ukrainian forces initiated a large-scale offensive against Russian lines over two months ago, after being reinforced by hundreds of Western-supplied tanks and armored vehicles. However, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev has so far failed to gain any significant ground and has lost more than 43,000 service members since the start of the push.

Bolton's view on the reasons for Ukraine's difficulties is shared by a number of Ukrainian officials, including President Vladimir Zelensky, who has suggested that without long-range weapons, it's difficult for Kiev not only to carry out its offensive, but also to hold the frontline.

Moscow has repeatedly warned Western countries against sending military assistance to Kiev, arguing that by doing so, they become engaged in a "proxy war" against Russia.
Excuses for failure is 'lipstick on the pig'. The 'purposeful failure' was the Minsk Accords.

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Russian Flag

Russian defense minister questions quality of Western weaponry


RT
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 15:27 UTC
SShoigu
© Maxim Blinov/RIA NovostiRussian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu
Western weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine have not performed as they were expected to on the battlefield, whereas Russian arms have proven their effectiveness, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu claimed on Monday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the annual Army 2023 military-technical forum, Shoigu stated that many new innovations from his country's military-industrial complex are already being deployed on the battlefield to assist troops in carrying out military operations in Ukraine.
"In real conditions, our weapons show their reliability and effectiveness. At the same time, the widely advertised Western equipment turned out to be far from flawless in reality."
Shoigu suggested that guests of the forum could see this for themselves by checking out the collection of captured Western weapons on display at the expo.
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Vader

The US is stuck in a dilemma with Niger

Scott Ritter
RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2023 18:31 UTC
nuland niger
© Jackson Hinkle/TwitterVictoria Nuland speaks to reporters in Niger. The revolutionary government of Niger rejected Victoria Nuland’s call to restore the “democratic order.”
Washington can't sever relations with the post-coup government lest it lose the basis for its military presence in the African country

Last week, Acting Deputy Secretary of State for the United States Victoria Nuland made her third visit to Niger in the past two years.

This time, Nuland was in the African country to respond to the July 26 military coup, which saw the ouster of the constitutionally-elected President Mohamed Bazoum by a group of military officers, operating under the umbrella of the newly-formed National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, led by the commander of the presidential guard, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, who subsequently declared himself to be the new head of state.
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Take 2

Iran coup anniversary: Ex-UK top diplomat urges London to admit role in overthrowing Mosadegh in 1953

Julian Borger
The Guardian
Tue, 15 Aug 2023 19:06 UTC
david owen
© Popperfoto.comThe Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (R) welcomes Britain's then foreign secretary David Owen to the Niavaran Palace in Tehran in 1977
The UK should finally acknowledge its leading role in the 1953 coup that toppled Iran's last democratically elected leader, for the sake of Britain's credibility and the Iranian reform movement, a former foreign secretary has said.

The US formally admitted its role 10 years ago with the declassification of a large volume of intelligence documents, which made clear that the ousting of the elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosadegh, 70 years ago this week was a joint CIA-MI6 endeavour. The formal UK government position is to refuse to comment on an intelligence matter.

The original plot, codenamed Operation Boot, was drafted by MI6 after Mosadegh became prime minister and the dominant British oil company in Iran was nationalised. Harry Truman's administration did not want anything to do with it, seeing Mosadegh as a bulwark against communism, but Winston Churchill was able to persuade his successor, Dwight Eisenhower. In the spring of 1953, the CIA began joint planning with MI6 and the operation was renamed Ajax.
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Family

Belarusian president Lukashenko calls for rapprochement with Poland and EU


RT
Fri, 11 Aug 2023 19:01 UTC
Lukashenko
© Sputnik / Yekaterina ChesnokovaBelarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
Belarus is ready to mend ties with its Western neighbors, President Alexander Lukashenko has said, indicating he is ready to hold talks with anyone, but especially with Poland.

The president made the remarks whike speaking to reporters at Minsk airport on Friday. He admitted that the country had been "living at the expenses of the East" lately, actively cooperating with Russia and China.

"But we must not forget about the high-tech West. They are nearby, they are our neighbors - the European Union. And we cannot lose relations with them. We are ready for this, but taking our own interests into account," Lukashenko stated.

In particular, the country is ready to have friendlier relations with its immediate neighbor - Poland, the president said. While Warsaw has been "aggravating" the situation in the region lately, it has been doing so on the US' behalf, Lukashenko suggested, adding that the Poles were not "stupid," but actually "our people, the Slavs."
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Dominoes

Latvian PM Krisjanis Karins announces resignation


Al-Jazeera
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 18:59 UTC
Krisjanis Karins
© Ints Kalnins/ReutersLatvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins
Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins has said he and his government will resign later this week. "This Thursday I will submit the resignation of myself and this cabinet to the president," Karins told a press conference on Monday.

Last week, according to a report by local news agency BNS, Karins had proposed a cabinet reshuffle. But his government's coalition partners rejected the move.

In a post on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Karins said that Latvia's Green Party and the populist national association All for Latvia "are blocking work for welfare and economic growth".

"For any country, there are difficulties when someone tries to hold on to their office," Karins told reporters after announcing his plans to resign, according to a Bloomberg report. "That's never been my goal."
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Light Sabers

France furious with US over Niger - Le Figaro


RT
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 21:25 UTC
Victoria Nuland
© Global Look Press / Rod LamkeyVictoria Nuland
The presence of the 'Maidan midwife,' US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, in post-coup Niger has enraged Washington's NATO ally, France, Le Figaro reported over the weekend, citing a source within the French Foreign Ministry.

The US "did the exact opposite of what we thought they would do," the French daily reported, based on the diplomat's comments. "With allies like these, we do not need enemies," it added. Paris has been insisting on the reinstatement of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum ever since a new military government came to power in Niger in a coup in late July.

The French government was also ready to support the use of force by West African nations for that purpose, as it upheld the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its decision to mobilize reserve forces in the wake of the ousting.
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