Puppet MastersS


Quenelle

EU rejects US-mediated Black Sea ceasefire deal


RT
Thu, 27 Mar 2025 11:50 UTC
Anitta Hipper
Anitta Hipper
The bloc still hopes to "maximize pressure" on Moscow, a European Commission spokesperson has told the Financial Times

The EU will not fulfill Russia's demand to lift sanctions on the country's main agricultural bank as part of the Black Sea ceasefire initiative discussed between Moscow and Washington, European Commission Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Anitta Hipper has said.

During the talks between Russian and US experts in Riyadh on Monday, the sides agreed to move towards reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which, according to the Kremlin, should include the removal of Western restrictions against Russian Agricultural Bank and other financial institutions involved in the international sale of food and fertilizers. The maritime ceasefire is seen by Moscow and Washington as a step towards settling the Ukraine conflict.

In her interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday, Hipper insisted that "the end of the Russian unprovoked and unjustified aggression in Ukraine and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the entire territory of Ukraine would be one of the main preconditions to amend or lift sanctions."


Comment: The EU is not interested in peace.


Comment: The EU commission is not happy to know that it is irrelevant and that the EU and Ukraine are not at the adults table where the real negotiations are taking place. So while the adults at discussing the peace settlement, the kids are busy messing up the place and the future for the EU citizens.

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Attention

Moscow condemns Ukraine's cold-blooded 'terror attacks' on journalists


RT
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 16:16 UTC
Kursk Region Russia
© Sputnik / Sergey BobylevFILE PHOTO: Kursk Region, Russia
The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned Ukrainian attacks which killed three members of a news crew and injured several others in the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) and Kursk Region on Monday. The incidents were further proof of Kiev's "terrorist nature," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

According to Moscow, Ukrainian forces launched a "precision-guided artillery strike" on a civilian vehicle in the LPR marked as press transport on Monday. The attack claimed the lives of Aleksandr Fedorchak, a reporter for Izvestia; Andrey Panov, a cameraman for Zvezda TV; and their driver, Aleksandr Sirekli. Another Zvezda correspondent, Nikolai Goldin, was seriously wounded in the same incident.

In a separate attack on the same day, TASS reporter Mikhail Skuratov was injured by shrapnel while on assignment in the Sudzhanskiy district of Russia's Kursk Region, which borders Ukraine.
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Russian Flag

Russia - US ties, EU undermining Trump, Ukraine - Greenland parallels: Lavrov speaks after Riyadh talks


RT
Wed, 26 Mar 2025 01:18 UTC
interview
© mid.ruInterview with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov
The Russian foreign minister spoke to Channel 1 following 12 hours of negotiations between Moscow and Washington in Saudi Arabia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has addressed a sweeping range of international issues in an interview - broadcast early on Wednesday. He focused heavily on what he described as constructive signals from US President Donald Trump and his team, while simultaneously criticizing Western governments for what he called efforts to sabotage any momentum toward a peaceful resolution in Ukraine.

Below are the key takeaways from Lavrov's appearance on Russia's Channel 1, which was broadcast in the early hours of Wednesday morning following a marathon 12-hour negotiation session between Russian and American representatives in Riyadh on Monday.
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Gavel

Appeals court allows Trump administration to suspend approval of new refugees amid lawsuit

Lindsay Whitehurst, Gene Johnson
The Minnesota Star Tribune
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 06:59 UTC
trumpleaving
© Win McNamee/Pool Photo via APPresident Donald Trump leaves the chamber after addressing a joint session of Congress at the Capitol • March 4, 2025
The Trump administration can stop approving new refugees for entry into the U.S. but has to allow in people who were conditionally accepted before the president suspended the nation's refugee admissions system, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The order narrowed a ruling from a federal judge in Seattle who found the program should be restarted.

The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the president has the power to restrict people from entering the country, pointing to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling upholding President Donald Trump's ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries during his first term.

Refugees who were conditionally approved by the government before Trump's order halting the refugee program should still be allowed to resettle, the judges found.

The panel ruled on an emergency appeal of a ruling from U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead who found that the president's authority to suspend refugee admissions is not limitless and that Trump cannot nullify the law passed by Congress establishing the program.

Comment: See also: ICE nearing historic data sharing deal with IRS to aid in deportations

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Folder

Argentina to release Nazi files


RT
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 10:32 UTC
Eichmann
© Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty ImagesHolocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann during his trial • December 1961
"No reason" to withhold information about the protection the country extended to fugitives after WWII, a senior official has said.

Argentina plans to declassify government documents concerning Nazi fugitives who found sanctuary in the Latin American nation following Germany's defeat in World War II.

The commitment to transparency was announced on Monday by President Javier Milei's chief of staff, Guillermo Francos, during an interview with the TV channel DNews. He said the president made the decision after a meeting last month with US Senator Steve Daines, who strongly advocated for the public release of the files.

Francos stated that the president believes "there is no reason to withhold information" about the protection afforded to Nazis in Argentina, adding that most of the documents slated for release are housed within the Defense Ministry. Some of the files pertain to financial matters involving services from Swiss banks.

According to estimates, as many as 10,000 war criminals utilized so-called 'ratlines' to escape Europe and settle elsewhere as the Axis powers fell on the continent. Around half are believed to have chosen Argentina - a nation known for its reluctance to grant extradition requests — as their refuge. Among those were Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann and infamous death camp doctor Josef Mengele. Eichmann was captured by Israeli intelligence operatives and taken to Israel for trial, while Mengele drowned in 1979 after suffering a heart attack.

Comment: Disclosures allow the past to be examined for detriment versus remedy - a price, not a merit.

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Arrow Up

Kiev ramping up attacks on Russian civilians - senior diplomat


RT
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 13:54 UTC
Rodion Miroshnik
© Vitaly Velousov/SputnikRodion Miroshnik, Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large
Sixteen people have been killed and 134 injured in Ukrainian strikes over the past week alone, Rodion Miroshnik has said.

Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian civilians in frontline and border regions, resulting in over 150 casualties in the past week alone, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large tasked with tracking Kiev's war crimes, has said. This comes amid ongoing Russia-US efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict.

In a statement posted on Telegram on Tuesday, Miroshnik accused Kiev of attacking civilian targets "in the midst of talks about the desire for a peaceful settlement." He stated that from March 17 to 23, 16 civilians were killed and 134 were injured in Ukrainian attacks.

The bulk of the casualties were recorded in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, and the regions of Belgorod, Kursk, and Kherson, he added, claiming that over the week, Ukraine fired almost 2,000 munitions of various kinds at civilian targets.
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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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