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Hier — 28 mars 2024Analyses, perspectives

Terror in Moscow: what went down

Par : AHH

Ukraine, ISIS, and the Moscow Concert Attack: What really happened? Pepe Escobar joins us to examine the complicated spider web of connections between Ukrainian intelligence, jihadist groups, and Western governments.

hosted by Dimitri Simes Jr. at the New Rules.

Ukraine, ISIS, and the Moscow Concert Attack: What really happened?

Pepe Escobar joins us to examine the complicated spider web of connections between Ukrainian intelligence, jihadist groups, and Western governments.
#NewRulesPodcast @RealPepeEscobar pic.twitter.com/oiNQgd7eLP

— NewRulesGeopolitics (@NewRulesGeo) March 28, 2024

#NewRulesPodcast

 

Plucked Peacocks in Françafrique..

Par : AHH

Lost in the thunder of the two incendiary battlegrounds of the Ukraine and the Holy Land, the end of the western Age of Plunder is vividly demonstrated in the West African Sahel. Calm business arrangements are conducted with friendly states, even as the last US garrisons are dismantled, one by one.


💠 @Intel Slava Z:
⭕ 🇷🇺🇫🇷🇸🇳 SENEGAL: how Russia is destroying French neocolonialism

Historical events are brewing in another West African country, Senegal. Getting rid of the country’s neocolonial dependence on its former official metropolis – France.

Over the weekend, presidential elections took place here, in which the opposition candidate Bashiru Jumaye Faye is confidently leading (and may even win them in the first round, which will become known tomorrow), who, as part of his election promises, promised to review oil and gas deals with Western campaigns, including agreements with British Petroleum, Endeavor Mining and Kosmos Energy.

He also advocates a radical revision of relations between Senegal and France. And as part of this, Faye is going to follow neighboring Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to leave the French currency system (by abandoning the CFA franc). And the French military will have to leave the country. By the way, sensing something was wrong, Paris had already announced a little earlier that it was sharply reducing the military contingent in the country (probably so that it would not be so shameful later). In return, he promises to take a course towards rapprochement with Russia.

Thus, France’s next major foreign policy defeat on the African continent looms on the horizon. Moreover, Senegal was a key player in the issue of the blockade of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, which had previously freed themselves from the influence of Paris. And the departure of Senegal from the CFA franc zone puts a final and fat cross on this system (which brought huge profits to France) and on which the entire system of French neocolonialism was essentially built.

And hence all of Macron’s current anti-Russian hysteria. He, like a plucked rooster, understands that he is losing to Russia and therefore becomes hysterical. And Ukraine for him is the last chance to spoil Moscow. But I think he will be disappointed here too.


💠 @Russian MFA:
⭕ 🇷🇺🇳🇪📞 President Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone with President of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland of the Republic of Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani, who expressed solidarity with the Russian people and heartfelt condolences over the numerous victims of the heinous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.

In discussing the bilateral agenda, the Leaders expressed determination to step up political dialogue and develop mutually beneficial cooperation in various spheres.

They also exchanged views on the developments in the Sahel-Sahara region with an emphasis on coordination of security and counterterrorism efforts. 

💠 @Sputnik Africa:
⭕ 🇳🇪 US will plan for the “disengagement” of troops from Niger after its military pact with Washington ends, Niger’s interior minister says.

The statement was published on social media after Mohamed Toumba hosted US Ambassador Kathleen FitzGibbon for talks.

A spokesperson for the Nigerien military said in mid-March that the country’s transitional government, which took power in a coup last July, ended the agreement with immediate effect, citing the interests of the Nigerien people.

💠@Africa Intel:
⭕ 🇷🇺🌍 Putin discusses security cooperation with West and Central African leaders.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed security and economic cooperation with Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita by phone on Wednesday, both countries said, a day after Putin held a similar call with the junta leader in neighbouring Niger.

“We discussed bilateral issues, particularly the security and economic areas,” Goita said. “We agreed to cooperate further in the fight against terrorism.” The Kremlin confirmed.

The call appeared to be part of a round of diplomatic exchanges Putin has made with West and Central African leaders since his re-election earlier this month.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday Putin and the leader of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, had agreed in a phone call to deepen political, economic and humanitarian ties.

On Tuesday, Putin spoke by phone with Niger’s junta leader, Abdourahamane Tiani and discussed a need to reinforce their security cooperation, according to Nigerien state television.


💠 @Arab_Africa:
⭕ 🇺🇸 The US is worried that Niger will replace its military with Russian mercenaries

This was stated by the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mike Rogers, at a hearing on the US military posture in the Middle East and Africa.

According to him, the recent expulsion of the US military from Niger may be linked to security talks with Iran and Russia that took place the day before.

“It looks like Niger will soon join Mali, Libya, Sudan, Mozambique and Burkina Faso in welcoming Russian troops and mercenaries into their country,” Rogers suggested. He also noted that China is at the same time seeking to expand its military presence beyond the PLA naval base in Djibouti.

“And they set up bases on the west coast to give the PLA strategic access to the Atlantic. China has already built and currently operates several major trading ports along the west coast of Africa,” the Republican reported.

Finally, Rogers warned that the US could lose the initiative due to inaction on the continent.

“Africa is of vital strategic importance to the United States. We cannot allow China or Russia to become their preferred security or business partner,” the American worries.
#нувыпонимаете
LOL


💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕ “Atomexpo-2024,” the largest international forum on nuclear energy, was held on March 25-26 in Russia. Here are our publications not to be missed
🔸 Atomexpo-2024 nuclear industry forum breaks attendance record;
🔸 Rosatom signs roadmaps for developing cooperation on nuclear energy with Mali, and Burkina Faso and AlgeriaNOTE: the first two are members of the Sahelian Junta Belt..
🔸 “Russia will be able to better support Burkina Faso towards its energy independence,” a Burkinabe minister reveals details of the roadmap with Rosatom;
🔸 “Gold mined in Mali should be processed in Mali,” Malian minister of mines comments on the gold processing plant project with Russia;
🔸 Cooperation with Russia can help eliminate power shortages in Africa and advance Zimbabwe’s healthcare system, says minister;
🔸 Russia attracted Africans’ interest in nuclear energy because it’s a reliable partner, says a Rosatom official;
🔸 With the help of the agreements with Rosatom, Burundi intends to have a nuclear power plant that will help launch the country into industrial production, says a minister from the African country.

À partir d’avant-hierAnalyses, perspectives

The Nuland – Budanov – Tajik – Crocus connection

Par : AHH

The Russian population has handed to the Kremlin total carte blanche to exercise brutal, maximum punishment – whatever and wherever it takes.

By Pepe Escobar at Strategic Culture Foundation.

Let’s start with the possible chain of events that may have led to the Crocus terror attack. This is as explosive as it gets. Intel sources in Moscow discreetly confirm this is one of the FSB’s prime lines of investigation.

December 4, 2023. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Mark Milley, only 3 months after his retirement, tells CIA mouthpiece The Washington Post: “There should be no Russian who goes to sleep without wondering if they’re going to get their throat slit in the middle of the night (…) You gotta get back there and create a campaign behind the lines.”

January 4, 2024: In an interview with ABC News, “spy chief” Kyrylo Budanov lays down the road map: strikes “deeper and deeper” into Russia.

January 31: Victoria Nuland travels to Kiev and meets Budanov. Then, in a dodgy press conference at night in the middle of an empty street, she promises “nasty surprises” to Putin: code for asymmetric war.

February 22: Nuland shows up at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) event and doubles down on the “nasty surprises” and asymmetric war. That may be interpreted as the definitive signal for Budanov to start deploying dirty ops.

February 25: The New York Times publishes a story about CIA cells in Ukraine: nothing that Russian intel does not already know.

Then, a lull until March 5 – when crucial shadow play may have been in effect. Privileged scenario: Nuland was a key dirty ops plotter alongside the CIA and the Ukrainian GUR (Budanov). Rival Deep State factions got hold of it and maneuvered to “terminate” her one way or another – because Russian intel would have inevitably connected the dots.

Yet Nuland, in fact, is not “retired” yet; she’s still presented as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and showed up recently in Rome for a G7-related meeting, although her new job, in theory, seems to be at Columbia University (a Hillary Clinton maneuver).

Meanwhile, the assets for a major “nasty surprise” are already in place, in the dark, and totally off radar. The op cannot be called off.

March 5: Little Blinken formally announces Nuland’s “retirement”.

March 7: At least one Tajik among the four-member terror commando visits the Crocus venue and has his photo taken.

March 7-8 at night: U.S. and British embassies simultaneously announce a possible terror attack on Moscow, telling their nationals to avoid “concerts” and gatherings within the next two days.

March 9: Massively popular Russian patriotic singer Shaman performs at Crocus. That may have been the carefully chosen occasion targeted for the “nasty surprise” – as it falls only a few days before the presidential elections, from March 15 to 17. But security at Crocus was massive, so the op is postponed.

March 22: The Crocus City Hall terror attack.

ISIS-K: the ultimate can of worms

The Budanov connection is betrayed by the modus operandi– similar to previous Ukraine intel terror attacks against Daria Dugina and Vladimir Tatarsky: close reconnaissance for days, even weeks; the hit; and then a dash for the border.

And that brings us to the Tajik connection.

There seem to be holes aplenty in the narrative concocted by the ragged bunch turned mass killers: following an Islamist preacher on Telegram; offered what was later established as a puny 500 thousand rubles (roughly $4,500) for the four of them to shoot random people in a concert hall; sent half of the funds via Telegram; directed to a weapons cache where they find AK-12s and hand grenades.

The videos show that they used the machine guns like pros; shots were accurate, short bursts or single fire; no panic whatsoever; effective use of hand grenades; fleeing the scene in a flash, just melting away, almost in time to catch the “window” that would take them across the border to Ukraine.

All that takes training. And that also applies to facing nasty counter-interrogation. Still, the FSB seems to have broken them all – quite literally.

A potential handler has surfaced, named Abdullo Buriyev. Turkish intel had earlier identified him as a handler for ISIS-K, or Wilayat Khorasan in Afghanistan. One of the members of the Crocus commando told the FSB their “acquaintance” Abdullo helped them to buy the car for the op.

And that leads us to the massive can of worms to end them all: ISIS-K.

The alleged emir of ISIS-K, since 2020, is an Afghan Tajik, Sanaullah Ghafari. He was not killed in Afghanistan in June 2023, as the Americans were spinning: he may be currently holed up in Balochistan in Pakistan.

Yet the real person of interest here is not Tajik Ghafari but Chechen Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, the former leader of the jihadi outfit Ajnad al-Kavkaz (“Soldiers of the Caucasus”), who was fighting against the government in Damascus in Idlib and then escaped to Ukraine because of a crackdown by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – in another one of those classic inter-jihadi squabbles.

Shishani was spotted on the border near Belgorod during the recent attack concocted by Ukrainian intel inside Russia. Call it another vector of the “nasty surprises”.

Shishani had been in Ukraine for over two years and has acquired citizenship. He is in fact the sterling connection between the nasty motley crue Idlib gangs in Syria and GUR in Kiev – as his Chechens worked closely with Jabhat al-Nusra, which was virtually indistinguishable from ISIS.

Shishani, fiercely anti-Assad, anti-Putin and anti-Kadyrov, is the classic “moderate rebel” advertised for years as a “freedom fighter” by the CIA and the Pentagon.

Some of the four hapless Tajiks seem to have followed ideological/religious indoctrination on the internet dispensed by Wilayat Khorasan, or ISIS-K, in a chat room called Rahnamo ba Khuroson.

The indoctrination game happened to be supervised by a Tajik, Salmon Khurosoni. He’s the guy who made the first move to recruit the commando. Khurosoni is arguably a messenger between ISIS-K and the CIA.

The problem is the ISIS-K modus operandi for any attack never features a fistful of dollars: the promise is Paradise via martyrdom. Yet in this case it seems it’s Khurosoni himself who has approved the 500 thousand ruble reward.

After handler Buriyev relayed the instructions, the commando sent the bayat – the ISIS pledge of allegiance – to Khurosoni. Ukraine may not have been their final destination. Another foreign intel connection – not identified by FSB sources – would have sent them to Turkey, and then Afghanistan.

That’s exactly where Khurosoni is to be found. Khurosoni may have been the ideological mastermind of Crocus. But, crucially, he’s not the client.

Oleh Tyahnybok, with McCain and Nuland

The Ukrainian love affair with terror gangs

Ukrainian intel, SBU and GUR, have been using the “Islamic” terror galaxy as they please since the first Chechnya war in the mid-1990s. Milley and Nuland of course knew it, as there were serious rifts in the past, for instance, between GUR and the CIA.

Following the symbiosis of any Ukrainian government post-1991 with assorted terror/jihadi outfits, Kiev post-Maidan turbo-charged these connections especially with Idlib gangs, as well as north Caucasus outfits, from the Chechen Shishani to ISIS in Syria and then ISIS-K. GUR routinely aims to recruit ISIS and ISIS-K denizens via online chat rooms. Exactly the modus operandi that led to Crocus.

One “Azan” association, founded in 2017 by Anvar Derkach, a member of the Hizb ut-Tahrir, actually facilitates terrorist life in Ukraine, Tatars from Crimea included – from lodging to juridical assistance.

The FSB investigation is establishing a trail: Crocus was planned by pros – and certainly not by a bunch of low-IQ Tajik dregs. Not by ISIS-K, but by GUR. A classic false flag, with the clueless Tajiks under the impression that they were working for ISIS-K.

The FSB investigation is also unveiling the standard modus operandi of online terror, everywhere. A recruiter focuses on a specific profile; adapts himself to the candidate, especially his – low – IQ; provides him with the minimum necessary for a job; then the candidate/executor become disposable.

Everyone in Russia remembers that during the first attack on the Crimea bridge, the driver of the kamikaze truck was blissfully unaware of what he was carrying,

As for ISIS, everyone seriously following West Asia knows that’s a gigantic diversionist scam, complete with the Americans transferring ISIS operatives from the Al-Tanf base to the eastern Euphrates, and then to Afghanistan after the Hegemon’s humiliating “withdrawal”. Project ISIS-K actually started in 2021, after it became pointless to use ISIS goons imported from Syria to block the relentless progress of the Taliban.

Ace Russian war correspondent Marat Khairullin has added another juicy morsel to this funky salad: he convincingly unveils the MI6 angle in the Crocus City Hall terror attack (in English here, in two parts, posted by “S”).

The FSB is right in the middle of the painstaking process of cracking most, if not all ISIS-K-CIA/MI6 connections. Once it’s all established, there will be hell to pay.

But that won’t be the end of the story. Countless terror networks are not controlled by Western intel – although they will work with Western intel via middlemen, usually Salafist “preachers” who deal with Saudi/Gulf intel agencies.

The case of the CIA flying “black” helicopters to extract jihadists from Syria and drop them in Afghanistan is more like an exception – in terms of direct contact – than the norm. So the FSB and the Kremlin will be very careful when it comes to directly accusing the CIA and MI6 of managing these networks.

But even with plausible deniability, the Crocus investigation seems to be leading exactly to where Moscow wants it: uncovering the crucial middleman. And everything seems to be pointing to Budanov and his goons.

Ramzan Kadyrov dropped an extra clue. He said the Crocus “curators” chose on purpose to instrumentalize elements of an ethnic minority – Tajiks – who barely speak Russian to open up new wounds in a multinational nation where dozens of ethnicities live side by side for centuries.

In the end, it didn’t work. The Russian population has handed to the Kremlin total carte blanche to exercise brutal, maximum punishment – whatever and wherever it takes.

Double Crossing of the Red Line

Par : AHH

Moscow’s Terror Explosion – Macron’s NATO Troops to Ukraine

Peter Koenig
23 March 2024

Automatic gun-shooting by 5 men in black took place Friday evening 22 March in the Crocus City Concert Hall, attached to a shopping mall, at the outskirts of Moscow. The terror attack preceded a concert. The hall was therefore crowded with people, panicking for leaving it. The assault was followed by a massive explosion.

The official fatality as of 23 March stands at 133. Dozens of people were injured.

The Islamic State (IS) – a CIA creation – claimed credit for the attack.

However, the political end of this attack is more complex.
On March 7, 2024, the US Embassy in Russia warned Moscow that a terror attack may take place in Moscow within the next few weeks. No further details.

Is it one of the now fashionable “predictive planning” stunts?

On the same day, the same US Embassy in Moscow warned US citizens in Moscow not to visit shopping malls. How much did the US know?

Speculations abound. Was this an empty warning to destabilize Russia and Russian elections? Or was it one more provocation to pull Russia into a larger conflict?

On the day of the attack, John Kirby, spokesman for National Security at the White House said in a Press Conference that there were no indications that Ukraine had anything to do with the attack. In early March Washington just had some indications that a terror assault may hit Moscow.

“Some indications”? – Why then the warning on the same 7 March to US citizens in Moscow not to visit any shopping malls?

It could not be more obvious that a hidden agenda is being played by Washington – and, may be added, by NATO and Europe?

Whether the Islamic State, Al Qaeda or another CIA / MI6 terror creation – or even Kiev directly, was involved in this mass-killing is irrelevant, because whoever acted, did so on behalf of US / NATO and the collective West.

Admiral John Kirby, spokesman for National Security at the White House

It is no coincidence that French President Macron practically simultaneously sends officially 2,000 French NATO troops to Ukraine. “Officially”, because western / NATO military advisers, trainers and coaches for Kiev’s Nazi-military have been in Kiev for quite a while.

Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski has called it an open secret that Western soldiers are in Ukraine. German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz said, “there are already some troops from big countries in Ukraine.” (See this)


This is clearly the crossing of President Putin’s Red Line. Mr. Macron knows it, those who mandate the crossing of the Red Line, like the WEF and those dark Deep State Cult forces behind the WEF, know it – and Moscow knows that they know it.

Is it a provocation to pull Moscow into a hot war?
And the Moscow Concert Hall assault being a doubling-up of the Red-Line crossing?

This happening in the Ides of March, and just after the confirmed landslide re-election of President Putin on 17 March 2024.

Ides of March, is the day in the ancient Roman calendar that falls approximately on Mid-March and is associated with misfortune and doom. The date is also known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Most US wars were initiated in March. Is it a symbolic cult ritual of the west?

It would perfectly fit into the Death Cult of the Great Reset (WEF) and the UN Agenda 2030, which are currently plaguing humanity – worldwide.

There are other non-coincidences. The 24 March 2024 is the 25th anniversary of the 1999 US-NATO assault on Yugoslavia (Ides of March) – currently being commemorated by a three-day Conference 22-24 March 2024, in Belgrade.

The destruction and dismembering of Yugoslavia were also planned by a long hand. After Josip Tito’s death in May 1980 (he served in several leadership positions of Yugoslavia from 1943 – 1980) – there were some lesser communist successors, who were vulnerable to western / NATO “pressures”, and let what was a solid Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) deteriorate, western-style.

In 1990 Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia became de facto President of the SFR Yugoslavia attempting to hold the federation together – which in the ten years after President Tito’s departure was financially destabilized by the west. In the 1990s the SFR Yugoslavia was one of the first “cases” where the World Bank, IMF Washington Consensus was applied full-scale – indebting to destabilize, create internal unrest – and divide.

Mr. Milošević was captured, detained at the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prison in The Hague. He was poisoned on March 11, 2006 in his prison cell – shortly before his scheduled appearance at the International Criminal Tribunal on Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Once divided with constant civil unrest, there was “justification” for western rescue, i.e., bombing Yugoslavia literally into bits and pieces – leaving what we have today, numerous so-called independent former Yugoslavian Federal States – being economically and with “sanctions” controlled by the west.

This is the strategy Washington wants to apply to the Russian Federation – destabilizing it, fracturing it, Regime Change, and then taking it over.

Imagine! – The world’s biggest riches in the world’s largest country, absorbed or subdued by the (still) wannabe US Empire – and its European vassals.

It looks like the west wants a hot war with Russia, come hell or high water. Yes, it would be hell for Europe – for the third time in just over 100 years, and three-times for the same purpose – taking control of Russia, WWI, WWII and now WWIII?

A war – possibly nuclear – of which nobody can predict the outcome. As President Putin repeatedly said – there will be no winners, just absolute destruction.

Under no circumstances will Russia allow a take-over by an arrogant, criminal west. With Russian military’s far-superiority over US and NATO forces, this will not happen.

In the current Middle-East scenario, western leaders are supporting and funding the Israeli-Zionists, literally destroying and mass-killing – wiping out – Palestine, depicting an arrogance blinded by the zest for unlimited might, possibly driving humanity into a bottomless abyss.

A cleansing of this genocidal western “superiority” may bring birth of a new civilization – an evolution to a more spiritual and less material humanity.

—-

Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for online journals and is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and  co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020)

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.

Fallout from Moscow’s Crocus City Hall

Par : AHH

Was the US behind the Moscow terror attack? The US and Ukraine will pay a high price. And that, I have been reliably informed, will extend to our Arab world.

By Abdel Bari Atwan at Rai Al Youm.

The Ukraine war could be poised to take a dramatic new turn

The terrorist operation in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall centre, which killed 143 people and injured hundreds of others, mostly concertgoers, was clearly carried out by a group that had been given serious military training. It could mark a paradigm shift in the Ukraine war presaging a strategic escalation and NATO’s official entry into the war.

Two weeks earlier, the US embassy in Moscow had warned its citizens that extremists were planning imminent attacks on large gatherings, including concerts, in the Russian capital, and warned them to stay away. That foreknowledge of the planning and execution of the operation raised suspicions about a degree of complicity. Washington’s denunciation of the atrocity, and swift disavowal of involvement, cannot be taken at face value.

When the initial warning was made, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova remarked that if the US had information about terrorist actions of such enormity, it should have shared it with Russia. That was the first official hint from Moscow of suspected American complicity.

Two years into the Ukraine war, the US has begun to sense defeat. Russia has made a succession of gains, taking control of the Donbas region and annexing it after holding referendums.

Large-scale US and NATO intervention — on the material, military, and intelligence fronts — failed to achieve any major success. Russia did not collapse under the weight of draconian sanctions. Its economy remains strong. The predicted colour revolution never happened, nor the anticipated military coup to depose Putin.

The opposite occurred, with the Russian president getting re-elected with an 87% majority on a 74% turnout.

The resort to terrorist attacks in Moscow could be a mark of the US’ frustration and a response aimed at expanding the scope of the war. But that would not only be a losing bet. It could bring the prospect of a catastrophic nuclear war closer.

Putin announced on Saturday night that the eleven people involved in the attack, including four direct participants, had been apprehended.
Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today broadcast network, Margarita Simonyan, published video excerpts of the interrogation of one of the suspects. He identified himself as Feredoun Shamsedin, born in 1988, who arrived in Russia from Turkey on 4 March. He said he had been recruited via Telegram after following an extremist preacher, by someone who offered him 5 million roubles ($5,000) to conduct a mass killing in Moscow. Half of the money was transferred to him in advance.

I met Ms. Simonyan when I visited Moscow recently. She was constantly accompanied by a security detail because she had been subjected to death threats. She said she believed the Crocus atrocity was masterminded by the Ukrainian regime, rather than by ISIS as the US media were claiming. Putin’s subsequent assertion that the perpetrators were arrested while heading towards the Ukrainian border reinforced that accusation.

Russia’s fingers of blame pointed at Ukraine were a portent of fierce retaliation. It seems to have already begun. Former president and current deputy national security chief Dmitri Medvedev warned immediately after the massacre that Russia would hunt down any Ukrainian leaders proven to have been involved.

Reading between the lines, that may imply that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky could be top of the target list.

Two days before the Crocus attack, Putin threatened Ukraine with ”war’—abandoning the term special military operation’ — in response to French President Emanual Macron’s hint that NATO could send 90,000 fully equipped troops to Ukraine. Under Russian military doctrine, a declaration of war authorises the use of all available means, including nuclear weapons.

The US administration, disoriented and defeated in Ukraine and (so far) the Middle East, is fueling this escalation against Russia. It is the primary beneficiary of the Crocus attack. Not just to destabilise Russia by stoking ethnic tensions, but also to divert international attention away from its collusion in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and the failure of its cynical attempt at the UN Security Council to sustain it under the guise of favouring (but not actually calling for) a cease-fire.

Putin won’t forgive this assault on his capital while it was celebrating the renewal of his presidential term. He is likely to make the US and Ukraine pay a high price. And that, I have been reliably informed, will extend to our Arab world.

VVP’s Announced Telephone Conversations in Last Two Days

Par : AHH

Per Newton’s third law, Hell cometh to the demented Anglo-Zionist satanists in Greater Syria….


🇷🇺🇧🇾📞 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

The President of the Republic of Belarus expressed his heartfelt condolences on the monstrous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, conveyed words of sympathy and support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, emphasising that the people of Belarus stand together with the people of Russia in this time of sorrow.

Alexander Lukashenko offered any assistance that may be needed, and expressed his confidence that the organisers and perpetrators of this heinous crime will face inevitable punishment.

For his part, Vladimir Putin informed his counterpart about the detention of the terrorists directly involved in the attack, as well as about the ongoing investigation.

🤝 Both leaders expressed mutual readiness to continue close cooperation in the fight against terrorism.


🇷🇺🇰🇿📞 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

During his telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his deep condolences over numerous victims of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, stressing that he resolutely condemns this barbaric crime, and asked to convey words of sympathy and support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.

Both Leaders reaffirmed their intention to step up anti-terror cooperation.


🇷🇺🇺🇿📞 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Shavkat Mirziyoyev strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, expressed his sincere condolences in connection with the tragedy, and asked to convey words of support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.

Both Sides reaffirmed their intention to continue close cooperation to counter terrorism.


🇷🇺🇹🇷📞 On March 23, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his deep and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the heinous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. He noted that the Republic of Türkiye stands with the people of Russia in this dark hour.

Vladimir Putin emphasised that Russia appreciates the support of the Turkish people and informed his Turkish counterpart on the status of the investigation into the terrorist attack.

During the conversation, the Turkish Leader stressed the urgent need for closer bilateral cooperation in the fight against the terrorist threat.

President Putin expressed gratitude for the condolences and supported the idea of stepping up cooperation in countering terrorism.


🇷🇺🇸🇾📞 On March 23, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad held a telephone conversation.

The President of Syria strongly condemned the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, stressing that Syrian citizens share the pain and grief of the Russian people. He wished fortitude to the victims’ families and friends and a speedy recovery to the injured.

Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad discussed the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the current situation in Syria, which is directly facing the terrorist threat.

🤝 The Leaders agreed to intensify contacts both in addressing counterterrorism and in all other areas of bilateral cooperation.

ADDENDUM:


🇹🇯 🇷🇺 President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon telephoned Vladimir Putin to express deep condolences and solidarity with the Russian people over the death of innocent civilians in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. The President of Tajikistan emphasised that there was no nor could not be any justification for that crime.

During the conversation, Vladimir Putin and Emomali Rahmon noted that the security services of Russia and Tajikistan were working closely together to counter terrorism and that they would build up their cooperation.

Tajikistan’s President Rahmon during phone conversation with Russia’s Putin condemns terrorist attack in Russia, says terrorists have neither nationality nor religion

During the conversation, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev strongly condemned the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, which claimed the lives of over 100 innocent civilians, expressed deep condolences to their families and friends, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Ilham Aliyev stressed that the people of Azerbaijan stand together with the Russian people on this day of national mourning and expressed confidence that the severe punishment of the criminals and those who masterminded that crime was unavoidable.

Vladimir Putin thanked the President of Azerbaijan for his words of support and expressed readiness to further strengthen practical interaction in the spirit of strategic partnership and alliance between Russia and Azerbaijan.

Western Banks Warn Against EU Plans To Give Russian Funds To Ukraine

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com Some Western banks are lobbying against an EU plan to use profits made by Russian central bank funds that are frozen...

Western Banks Warn Against EU Plans To Give Russian Funds To Ukraine

The Day the combined West committed Suicide

Par : AHH

Twenty-five years ago, NATO started bombing Yugoslavia

On March 24, 1999, Western countries launched a series of devastating airstrikes on Belgrade, the capital of the sovereign nation of Yugoslavia, which had been already suffering from a political crisis. The US and its allies declared that the Noble Anvil military op was motivated by “humanitarian” reasons and targeted only the military – but in reality, NATO airstrikes killed at least 2,500 people, ruined national infrastructure and sped up the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
@geopolitics_live

Sergey Lavrov at the UNSC

🎙 Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Sergey Lavrov’s address to the President of the Security Council (March 24, 1999)

💬 The Russian Federation is profoundly outraged at the use by the NATO of military force against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

☝ Those who are involved in this unilateral use of force against the sovereign Federal Republic of Yugoslavia — carried out in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and without the authorization of the Security Council — must realize the heavy responsibility they bear for subverting the Charter and other norms of international law and for attempting to establish in the world, de facto, the primacy of force and unilateral diktat.

The members of NATO are not entitled to decide the fate of other sovereign and independent States. They must not forget that they are not only members of their alliance, but also Members of the United Nations.

❌ Attempts to justify the NATO strikes with arguments about preventing a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo are completely untenable.

<…>

Attempts to apply a different standard to international law and to disregard its basic norms and principles create a dangerous precedent that could cause acute destabilization and chaos on the regional and global level.

The fact that NATO has opted to use force in Kosovo raises very serious questions about the sincerity of the repeated assurances that that alliance was not claiming the role of the world’s policeman and was prepared to cooperate in the interests of common European security.

❗ The Russian Federation vehemently demands the immediate cessation of this illegal military action against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Read in full

Nuremberg and the Crime of Wars of Aggression

“To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

Primakov’s ‘U-Turn over Atlantic’

How Russian PM Primakov showed Moscow won’t be US satellite

On March 24, 1999, Yevgeny Primakov’s plane was en route to the US where the then-Russian prime minister was due to discuss an IMF loan to the tune of $5 billion for his country. But after then-US Vice President Al Gore told Primakov about NATO starting to bomb Yugoslavia, he decided to turn his plane around and go back to Moscow.

Despite Gore’s desperate attempts to persuade Primakov to backtrack on his decision and come to Washington, the Russian prime minister was undeterred.

“If I had accepted Gore’s terms, I would have been a real traitor,” Primakov later said.

Dr. Samuel Hoff, a professor of history and political science at Delaware State University, points to the significant expansion of NATO after the March 1999 incident.

“It is a fact that in 1999, NATO had 16 countries. And as we sit here in 2024, there are 32 members,” Hoff notes in an interview with Sputnik.

Peter Kuznick, a professor of history at the American University, tells Sputnik that Primakov’s U-turn over the Atlantic added significantly to tarnishing the already “strained” US-Russian relations at the time.

Referring to current “terrible” ties between Moscow and Washington, “the lack of trust” and a bilateral “polarization,” the professor says that one is “beginning to see signs of that certainly with Primakov’s mission in 1999.”

“So it certainly can be seen as an important turning point in terms of the deterioration of potential friendship between the US and Russia and creating a much more positive kind of multipolar world,” he concludes.

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NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia: A ‘culmination of negligence’ that opened Pandora’s box

Twenty-five years ago, NATO kicked off its 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. According to various sources, up to 2,500 people were killed and over 6,000 more injured during the bombing, which was not approved by the UN.

In an interview with Sputnik, Dr. Stevan Gajic, a Balkans expert and research associate at the Belgrade-based Institute of European Studies, says that the beginning of NATO’s “illegal attack” against Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999, was “a precedent that opened Pandora’s box.”

“It was a culmination of negligence of the international law that started since the end of the Cold War. Absolutely, [the] 1999 [NATO campaign] was a precedent. We can even say that the international law was in a way abolished at that moment and, of course, after that chaos was introduced into the system of international relations, Gacic points out.

The expert also didn’t rule out launching a “real investigation against NATO crimes” in Yugoslavia, which he says can only happen after the serious geopolitical changes following the collapse of NATO in one way or the other. He was echoed by Dr. Srdjan Sljukic, a professor of sociology at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, who tells Sputnik that “NATO aggression against Yugoslavia” reflected “two sorts of crimes,” such as “breaking the international law” and “bombing civilian objects and killing many civilians.”

Sljukic also warns that “as long as the key Western countries are ruled by the current liberal elites, NATO countries will not be put on fair trial because of their crimes in Yugoslavia and all over the world.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry Statement in connection with the 25th anniversary of NATO aggression against Yugoslavia

History knows many events which, by virtue of their profound impact on the international order, marked a change of eras.

The NATO attack on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999 is certainly one such event. It went beyond being a tragic milestone in the life of the Serbian people with thousands of ruined lives and desecrated national dignity, and included a devastating blow to international law and European security foundations that had been laid after World War II. The United States and the EU got finally convinced in their own impunity and moral superiority which was bad news for those who prefer to choose their own path rather than become someone’s tool in their efforts to realise their own interests. The strategic balance of power collapsed, and a drawn-out crisis of international relations ensued which continues to worsen.

The US and its allies who assaulted a peaceful European country trampled on the UN Charter and the CSCE/OSCE principles, and desecrated the very notion of sovereignty. They have thus made it clear that they will stoop to anything, including radioactive contamination of vast swathes of land, to achieve global dominance. The widespread use of depleted uranium munitions by NATO has led to a multifold increase in cancer cases in that region, contaminated the environment where millions of people had lived for many years, and went down in history as a separate dark chapter on the list of NATO crimes.

During the 78 days of military aggression 14,000 bombs were dropped on Yugoslavia and over 2,000 missiles were fired, including cluster and demolition shells. Under the mocking front of a “humanitarian intervention,” mostly civilian targets were hit, including residential districts, hospitals, schools, bridges, mass transit vehicles, and refugee convoys. Thousands of civilians were killed, including 89 children, whom the Western coalition cynically referred to as “collateral damage.” No one has ever been held accountable for these atrocities, and international justice turned a deaf ear to the suffering of the Serbs and let NATO atrocities go unnoticed.

Not only the bombed-out buildings of the Yugoslav General Staff and Defence Ministry in central Belgrade which irritate the US officials to this day remind us of those terrible days. Serbia has many other unhealed wounds. A portion of the country’s ancestral territory, Kosovo and Metohija, has been forcibly taken away. The West has taken under its wing terrorists from the Kosovo Liberation Army, gave the province the status of a pseudo-state, and encourages the expulsion of the indigenous Serbian population.

This inevitably begs the question: was the “Kosovo project” worth the sacrifice and destruction that the alliance brought upon Yugoslavia? Has the self-proclaimed “republic” added stability or prosperity to the Balkan region?

There is no doubt that the United States’ concern for the rights of Kosovo Albanians is a fake claim from the get-go. It is nothing but a false pretext for the crackdown on Serbs.

The West’s goal was to turn the provisional self-governing bodies in Pristina into a tool for anti-Serb ethnic cleansing and a festering trouble spot to put pressure on Belgrade. At the end of the day, the Kosovo settlement is in a deadlock, and the situation on the ground threatens to escalate into an armed conflict.

This is what the Western “peacemaking” is all about. Its disastrous ramifications can now be seen in Ukraine, where a neo-Nazi regime has been nurtured on the basis of Washington and its supporters’ rejection of the principles of equality and mutual respect in international affairs, a regime that committed genocide against the Russian population and plunged the country into a military face-off.

We can hear the US and the EU increasingly call on Serbs to “turn the page” and forgive NATO for the invasion that took place 25 years ago. On top of that, they lay the bulk of the blame on the Serbs for the dramatic events during the breakup of Yugoslavia, including the 1999 bombing attacks. I’d be hard pressed to find proper words to describe the extent of Western shamelessness and lack of self-criticism.

The Alliance will never be able to wash off the shame of war crimes. No one believes its demagoguery about defending freedom and democracy anymore. The United States and the rest of NATO have no right whatsoever to talk about implementing an obscure new “rules-based order.” Their every effort to put together some kind of “global security architecture” is by definition malevolent and toxic, and aimed solely at perpetrating the neocolonial hegemony of the West.

Russia and its partners in Belgrade will continue to oppose the attempts to distort the history of the Yugoslav crisis and to shift the emphasis to demonising Serbs and justifying the 1999 aggression. The attempts to insult the memory of the innocent victims of NATO hangmen are unacceptable.

It’s War: The Real Meat Grinder Starts Now

Par : AHH

“Rules-based Terrorism” Returns to Moskau. No more shadow play. It’s now in the open. No holds barred.

By Pepe Escobar at Strategic Culture Foundation.


Exhibit 1:
 Friday, March 22, 2024. It’s War. The Kremlin, via Peskov, finally admits it, on the record.

The money quote:

“Russia cannot allow the existence on its borders of a state that has a documented intention to use any methods to take Crimea away from it, not to mention the territory of new regions.”

Translation: the Hegemon-constructed Kiev mongrel is doomed, one way or another. The Kremlin signal: “We haven’t even started” starts now.

Exhibit 2: Friday afternoon, a few hours after Peskov. Confirmed by a serious European – not Russian – source. The first counter-signal.

Regular troops from France, Germany and Poland have arrived, by rail and air, to Cherkassy, south of Kiev. A substantial force. No numbers leaked. They are being housed in schools. For all practical purposes, this is a NATO force.

That signals, “Let the games begin”. From a Russian point of view, Mr. Khinzal’s business cards are set to be in great demand.

Exhibit 3: Friday evening. Terror attack on Crocus City, a music venue northwest of Moscow. A heavily trained commando shoots people on sight, point blank, in cold blood, then sets a concert hall on fire. The definitive counter-signal: with the battlefield collapsing, all that’s left is terrorism in Moscow.

And just as terror was striking Moscow, the US and the UK, in southwest Asia, was bombing Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, with at least five strikes.

Some nifty coordination. Yemen has just clinched a strategic deal in Oman with Russia-China for no-hassle navigation in the Red Sea, and is among the top candidates for BRICS+ expansion at the summit in Kazan next October.

Not only the Houthis are spectacularly defeating thalassocracy, they have the Russia-China strategic partnership on their side. Assuring China and Russia that their ships can sail through the Bab-al-Mandeb, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with no problems is exchanged with total political support from Beijing and Moscow.


The sponsors remain the same

Deep in the night in Moscow, before dawn on Saturday 23. Virtually no one is sleeping. Rumors dance like dervishes on countless screens. Of course nothing has been confirmed – yet. Only the FSB will have answers. A massive investigation is in progress.

The timing of the Crocus massacre is quite intriguing. On a Friday during Ramadan. Real Muslims would not even think about perpetrating a mass murder of unarmed civilians under such a holy occasion. Compare it with the ISIS card being frantically branded by the usual suspects.

Let’s go pop. To quote Talking Heads: “This ain’t no party/ this ain’t no disco/ this ain’t no fooling around”. Oh no; it’s more like an all-American psy op. ISIS are cartoonish mercenaries/goons. Not real Muslims. And everyone knows who finances and weaponizes them.

That leads to the most possible scenario, before the FSB weighs in: ISIS goons imported from the Syria battleground – as it stands, probably Tajiks – trained by CIA and MI6, working on behalf of the Ukrainian SBU. Several witnesses at Crocus referred to “Wahhabis” – as in the commando killers did not look like Slavs.

It was up to Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic to cut to the chase. He directly connected the “warnings” in early March from American and British embassies directed at their citizens not to visit public places in Moscow with CIA/MI6 intel having inside info about possible terrorism, and not disclosing it to Moscow.

The plot thickens when it is established that Crocus is owned by the Agalarovs: an Azeri-Russian billionaire family, very close friends of…

… Donald Trump.

Talk about a Deep State-pinpointed target.

ISIS spin-off or banderistas – the sponsors remain the same. The clownish secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, was dumb enough to virtually, indirectly confirm they did it, saying on Ukrainian TV, “we will give them [Russians] this kind of fun more often.”

But it was up to Sergei Goncharov, a veteran of the elite Russia Alpha anti-terrorism unit, to get closer to unwrapping the enigma: he told Sputnik the most feasible mastermind is Kyrylo Budanov – the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

The “spy chief” who happens to be the top CIA asset in Kiev.

Stoking the unholy USUK meatgrinder

It’s got to go till the last Ukrainian

The three exhibits above complement what the head of NATO’s military committee, Rob Bauer, previously told a security forum in Kiev: “You need more than just grenades – you need people to replace the dead and wounded. And this means mobilization.”

Translation: NATO spelling out this is a war until the last Ukrainian.

And the “leadership” in Kiev still does not get it. Former Minister of Infrastructure Omelyan: “If we win, we will pay back with Russian oil, gas, diamonds and fur. If we lose, there will be no talk of money – the West will think about how to survive.”

In parallel, puny “garden-and jungle” Borrell admitted that it would be “difficult” for the EU to find an extra 50 billion euros for Kiev if Washington pulls the plug. The cocaine-fueled sweaty sweatshirt leadership actually believes that Washington is not “helping” in the form of loans, but in the form of free gifts. And the same applies for the EU.

The Theater of the Absurd is unmatchable. The German Liver Sausage Chancellor actually believes that proceeds from stolen Russian assets “do not belong to anyone”, so they can be used to finance extra Kiev weaponizing.

Everyone with a brain knows that using interest from “frozen”, actually stolen Russian assets to weaponize Ukraine is a dead end – unless they steal all of Russia’s assets, roughly $200 billion, mostly parked in Belgium and Switzerland: that would tank the Euro for good, and the whole EU economy for that matter.

Eurocrats better listen to Russian Central Bank major “disrupter” (American terminology) Elvira Nabiullina: The Bank of Russia will take “appropriate measures” if the EU does anything on the “frozen”/stolen Russian assets.

It goes without saying that the three exhibits above completely nullify the “La Cage aux Folles” circus promoted by the puny Petit Roi, now known across his French domains as Macronapoleon.

Virtually the whole planet, including the English-speaking Global North, had already been mocking the “exploits” of his Can Can Moulin Rouge Army.

So French, German and Polish soldiers, as part of NATO, are already in the south of Kiev. The most possible scenario is that they will stay far, far away from the frontlines – although traceable by Mr. Khinzal’s business activities.

Even before this new NATO batch arriving in the south of Kiev, Poland – which happens to serve as prime transit corridor for Kiev’s troops – had confirmed that Western troops are already on the ground.

So this is not about mercenaries anymore. France, by the way, is only 7th in terms of mercenaries on the ground, largely trailing Poland, the US and Georgia, for instance. The Russian Ministry of Defense has all the precise records.

In a nutshell: now war has morphed from Donetsk, Avdeyevka and Belgorod to Moscow. Further on down the road, it may not just stop in Kiev. It may only stop in Lviv. Mr. 87%, enjoying massive national near-unanimity,  now has the mandate to go all the way. Especially after Crocus.

There’s every possibility the terror tactics by Kiev goons will finally drive Russia to return Ukraine to its original 17th century landlocked borders: Black Sea-deprived, and with Poland, Romania, and Hungary reclaiming their former territories.

Remaining Ukrainians will start to ask serious questions about what led them to fight – literally to their death – on behalf of the US Deep State, the military complex and BlackRock.

As it stands, the Highway to Hell meat grinder is bound to reach maximum velocity.

How could Russia respond to NATO invasion?

Par : AHH

Will France/NATO invade Ukraine? How will Russia respond?

🇫🇷🚨 Will France invade Ukraine? How will Russia respond?

☢ Scott Ritter goes nuclear on French President Emmanuel Macron, Poland, and the Baltic States (“over-fed chihuahuas”). Don’t watch this episode if you’re a NATO fanboy! #NewRulesPodcast pic.twitter.com/Zb3s90VxES

— NewRulesGeopolitics (@NewRulesGeo) March 21, 2024

In this week’s episode of the New Rules podcast, we’re discussing the potential of a French/NATO military intervention in Ukraine. Longtime friend of the program, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter goes NUCLEAR on French President Emmanuel Macron, Poland, and the Baltic States.

“France is the equivalent of an overfed Chihuahua, and you don’t want to get in the ring with the really beefed up Rottweilers, especially when they’ve been trained to eat overfed Chihuahuas their entire life,” he told the New Rules podcast.

 

Why the West cannot stomach Russians

Par : AHH

In the west, they don’t like those who defend themselves, who fight against them, and especially those who win.

By Andre Vltchek via The Greanville Post.

When it comes to Russia or the Soviet Union, reports and historical accounts do get blurry; in the West they do, and consequently in all of its ‘client states’. Fairytales get intermingled with reality, while fabrications are masterfully injected into the sub consciousness of billions of people worldwide. Russia is an enormous country, in fact the largest country on Earth in terms of territory. It is scarcely inhabited. It is deep, and as a classic writer once wrote: “It is impossible to understand Russia with one’s brain. One could only believe in it.”

The Western mind generally doesn’t like things unknown, spiritual and complex. Since the ‘old days’, especially since the crusades and monstrous colonialist expeditions to all corners of the world, the Westerners were told fables about their own “noble deeds” performed in the plundered lands. Everything had to be clear and simple: “Virtuous Europeans were civilizing savages and spreading Christianity, therefore, in fact, saving those dark poor primitive souls.”

Of course, tens of millions were dying in the process, while further tens of millions were shackled and brought to the “New Worlds” as slaves. Gold, silver, and other loot, as well as slave labor had been (and still are) paying for all those European palaces, railroads, universities and theatres, but that did not matter, as the bloodshed was most of the time something abstract and far away from those over-sensitive eyes of the Western public.

Westerners like simplicity, particularly when it comes to moral definitions of “good and evil”. It matters nothing if the truth gets systematically ‘massaged’, or even if the reality is fully fabricated. What matters is that there is no deep guilt and no soul-searching. Western rulers and their opinion makers know their people – their ‘subjects’ – perfectly well, and most of the time, they give them what they are asking for. The rulers and the reigned are generally living in symbiosis. They keep bitching about each other, but mostly they have similar goals: to live well, to live extremely well, as long as the others are forced to pay for it; with their riches, with their labor and often with their blood.

Culturally, most of the citizens of Europe and North America hate to pay the bill for their high life; they even detest to admit that their life is extremely ‘high’. They like to feel like victims. They like to feel that they are ‘used’. They like to imagine that they are sacrificing themselves for the rest of the world.

And above all, they hate real victims: those they have been murdering, raping, plundering and insulting, for decades and centuries.

Recent ‘refugee crises’ showed the spite Europeans feel for their prey. People who made them rich and who lost everything in the process are humiliated, despised and insulted. Be they Afghans or Africans, the Middle Easterners or South Asians. Or Russians, although Russians fall into their own, unique category.

Prince Alexander Nevsky’s legendary defeat of the Teutonic Knights on a frozen lake in the 13th century has always captivated and inspired the Russian people in their struggles against foreign invaders, especially from the West.

Many Russians look white. Most of them eat with knife and fork, they drink alcohol, excel at Western classical music, poetry, literature, science and philosophy.

To Western eyes they look ‘normal’, but actually, they are not.

Russians always want ‘something else’; they refuse to play by Western rules.

They are stubbornly demanding to remain different, and to be left alone.

When confronted, when attacked, they fight.

They rarely strike first, almost never invade.

But when threatened, when assaulted, they fight with tremendous determination and force, and they never lose. Villages and cities get converted into invader’s graves. Millions die while defending their Motherland, but the country survives. And it happens again and again and again, as the Western hordes have been, for centuries, assaulting and burning Russian lands, never learning the lesson and never giving up on their sinister dream of conquering and controlling that proud and determined colossus.

In the West, they don’t like those who defend themselves, who fight against them, and especially those who win.

Russo-Korean symphony

It gets much worse than that.
Russia has this terrible habit… not only it defends itself and its people, but it also fights for others, protecting colonized and pillaged nations, as well as those that are unjustly assaulted.

It saved the world from Nazism. It did it at a horrific price of 27 million men, women and children, but it did it; courageously, proudly and altruistically. The West never forgave the Soviet Union for this epic victory either, because all that is unselfish and self-sacrificing, is always in direct conflict with its own principles, and therefore ‘extremely dangerous’.

The Russian people had risen; had fought and won in the 1917 Revolution; an event which terrified the West more than anything else in history, as it had attempted to create a fully egalitarian, classless and racially color-blind society. It also gave birth to Internationalism, an occurrence that I recently described in my book The Great October Socialist Revolution: Impact on the World and the Birth of Internationalism.

Soviet Internationalism, right after the victory in WWII, helped greatly, directly and indirectly, dozens of countries on all continents, to stand up and to confront the European colonialism and the North American imperialism. The West and especially Europe never forgave the Soviet people in general and Russians in particular, for helping to liberate its slaves.

That is when the greatest wave of propaganda in human history really began to roll. From London to New York, from Paris to Toronto, an elaborate web of anti-Soviet and covertly anti-Russian hysteria was unleashed with monstrously destructive force. Tens of thousands of ‘journalists’, intelligence officers, psychologists, historians, as well as academics, were employed. Nothing Soviet, nothing Russian (except those glorified and often ‘manufactured’ Russian dissidents) was spared.

The excesses or contextual errors of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the pre-WWII era were systematically fabricated, exaggerated, and then engraved into the Western history textbooks and mass media narrative. In those tales, there was nothing about the vicious invasions and attacks coming from the West, aimed at destroying the young Bolshevik state. Naturally, there was no space for mentioning the British, French, U.S., Czech, Polish, Japanese, German and other’s monstrous cruelties.

Soviet and Russian views were hardly ever allowed to penetrate the monolithic and one-sided Western propaganda narrative.

Like obedient sheep, the Western public accepted the disinformation it was fed. Eventually, many people living in the Western colonies and ‘client states’, did the same. A great number of colonized people were taught how to blame themselves for their misery.

The most absurd but somehow logical occurrence then took place: many men, women and even children living in the USSR, succumbed to Western propaganda. Instead of trying to reform their imperfect but still greatly progressive country, they gave up, became cynical, aggressively ‘disillusioned’, corrupt and naively but staunchly pro-Western.

Gorbachev: supremely, unaccountably, criminally foolish when dealing with the most ruthless mafia the world has ever seen.

It was the first and most likely the last time in the history, Russia got defeated by the West. It happened through deceit, through shameless lies, through Western propaganda.

What followed could be easily described as genocide.

The Soviet Union was first lulled into Afghanistan, then it was mortally injured by the war there, by an arms race with the United States, and by the final stage of propaganda that was literally flowing like lava from various hostile Western state-sponsored radio stations. Of course, local ‘dissidents’ also played an important role.

Under Gorbachev, a ‘useful idiot’ of the West, things got extremely bizarre. I don’t believe that he was paid to ruin his own country, but he did almost everything to run it into the ground; precisely what Washington wanted him to do. Then, in front of the entire world, a mighty and proud Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics suddenly shook in agony, then uttered a loud cry, and collapsed; died painfully but swiftly.

A new turbo-capitalist, bandit, pro-oligarch and confusedly pro-Western Russia was born. Russia which was governed by an alcoholic Boris Yeltsin; a man loved and supported by Washington, London and other Western centers of power.

It was a totally unnatural, sick Russia – cynical and compassionless, built with someone else’s ideas – Russia of Radio Liberty and Voice of America, of the BBC, of black marketers, of oligarchs and multi-national corporations.

Is the West now daring to say that Russians are ‘interfering’ in something in Washington? Are they out of their minds?

Washington and other Western capitals did not only ‘interfere’, they openly broke the Soviet Union into pieces and then they began kicking Russia which was at that point half-alive. Is it all forgotten, or is Western public again fully ‘unaware’ of what took place during those dark days?

The West kept spitting at the impoverished and injured country, refused to honor international agreements and treaties. It offered no help. Multi-nationals were unleashed, and began ‘privatizing’ Russian state companies, basically stealing what was built by the sweat and blood of Soviet workers, during long decades.

Interference? Let me repeat: it was direct intervention, invasion, a grab of resources, shameless theft! I want to read and write about it, but we don’t hear much about it, anymore, do we?

Now we are told that Russia is paranoid, that its President is paranoid! With straight face, the West is lying; pretending that it has not been trying to murder Russia.

Those years… Those pro-Western years when Russia became a semi-client state of the West, or call it a semi-colony! There was no mercy, no compassion coming from abroad. Many of those idiots – kitchen intellectuals from Moscow and provinces – suddenly woke up but it was too late. Many of them had suddenly nothing to eat. They got what they were told to ask for: their Western ‘freedom and democracy’, and Western-style capitalism or in summary: total collapse.

I remember well how it was ‘then’. I began returning to Russia, horrified, working in Moscow, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Leningrad. Academics from Akadem Gorodok outside Novosibirsk were selling their libraries in the bitter cold, in dark metro underpasses of Novosibirsk… Runs on the banks… Old retired people dying from hunger and cold behind massive doors of concrete blocks… unpaid salaries and starving miners, teachers…

Russia under the deadly embrace of the West, for the first and hopefully last time! Russia whose life expectancy suddenly dropped to African Sub-Saharan levels. Russia humiliated, wild, in terrible pain.

Patriarch Kirill consecrates Alexander Nevsky monument dedicated to 800th anniversary of Alexander Nevsky — village of Samolva, Gdovsky district, Pskov, 11.09.2021

But that nightmare did not last long.

And what happened – those short but horrible years under both Gorbachev and Yeltsin, but above all under the Western diktat – will never be forgotten, not forgiven.

Russians know perfectly well what they do not want, anymore!

Russia stood up again. Huge, indignant and determined to live its own life, its own way. From an impoverished, humiliated and robbed nation, subservient to the West, the country evolved and within a few years, the free and independent Russia once again joined the ranks of the most developed and powerful countries on Earth.

And as before Gorbachev, Russia is once again able to help those nations which are under unjust and vicious attacks by the Western empire.

A man who is leading this renaissance, President Vladimir Putin, is tough, but Russia is under great threat and so is the world – this is no time for weaklings.

President Putin is not perfect (who is, really?), but he is a true patriot, and I dare say, an internationalist.

Now the West, once again, hates both Russia and its leader. No wonder; undefeated, strong and free Russia is the worst imaginable foe of Washington and its lieutenants.

That’s how the West feels, not Russia. Despite all that was done to it, despite tens of millions of lost and ruined lives, Russia has always been ready to compromise, even to forgive, if not forget.

Russia stood up again.

There is something deeply pathological in the psyche of the west. It cannot accept anything less than full and unconditional submission. It has to control, to be in charge, and on top of everything; it has to feel exceptional. Even when it murders and ruins the entire Planet, it insists on feeling superior to the rest of the world.

This faith in exceptionalism is the true Western religion, much more than even Christianity, which for decades has not really played any important role there. Exceptionalism is fanatical, it is fundamentalist and unquestionable.

It also insists that its narrative is the only one available anywhere in the World. That the West is seen as a moral leader, as a beacon of progress, as the only competent judge and guru.

Lies are piling on top of lies. As in all religions, the more absurd the pseudo-reality is, the more brutal and extreme are the methods used to uphold it. The more laughable the fabrications are, the more powerful the techniques used to suppress the truth are.

Today, hundreds of thousands of ‘academics’, teachers, journalists, artists, psychologists and other highly paid professionals, in all parts of the world, are employed by the Empire, for two goals only – to glorify the Western narrative and to discredit all that is standing in its way; daring to challenge it.

Russia is the most hated adversary of the West, with China, Russia’s close ally being near second.

The propaganda war unleashed by the West is so insane, so intense, that even some of the European and North American citizens are beginning to question tales coming from Washington, London and elsewhere.

Wherever one turns, there is a tremendous medley of lies, of semi-lies, half-truths; a complex and unnavigable swamp of conspiracy theories. Russia is being attacked for interfering in U.S. domestic affairs, for defending Syria, for standing by defenseless and intimidated nations, for having its own powerful media, for doping its athletes, for still being Communist, for not being socialist anymore; in brief: for everything imaginable and unimaginable.

Criticism of the country is so thorough and ludicrous, that one begins to ask very legitimate questions: “what about the past? What about the Western narrative regarding the Soviet past, particularly the post-Revolutionary period, and the period between two world wars?”

The more I analyze this present-day Western anti-Russian and anti-Chinese propaganda, the more determined I am to study and write about the Western narrative regarding Soviet history. I’m definitely planning to investigate these matters in the future, together with my friends – Russian and Ukrainian historians.

… when only Victory could save the world, Russian fists are hard, and the same is true about Russian armor.

In the eyes of the West, Russians are ‘traitors’.

Instead of joining the looters, they have been standing by the ‘wretched of the world’, in the past, as well as now. They refused to sell their Motherland, and to enslave their own people. Their government is doing all it can to make Russia self-sufficient, fully independent, prosperous, proud and free.

Remember that ‘freedom’, ‘democracy’ and many other terms, mean totally different things in distinctive parts of the world. What is happening in the West could never be described as ‘freedom’ in Russia or in China, and vice versa.

Frustrated, collapsing, atomized and egotistic societies of Europe and North America do not inspire even their own people, anymore. They are escaping by millions annually, to Asia, Latin America, and even to Africa. Escaping from emptiness, meaninglessness and emotional cold. But it is not Russia’s or China’s business to tell them how to live or not to live!

In the meantime, great cultures like Russia and China do not need, and do not want to be told by the Westerners, what freedom is, and what democracy is.

They do not attack the West, and expect the same in return.

It is truly embarrassing that the countries responsible for hundreds of genocides, for hundreds of millions of murdered people on all continents, still dare to lecture others.

Many victims are too scared to speak.

Russia is not.

It is composed, gracious, but fully determined to defend itself if necessary; itself as well as many other human beings living on this beautiful but deeply scarred Planet.

Russian culture is enormous: from poetry and literature, to music, ballet, philosophy… Russian hearts are soft, they easily melt when approached with love and kindness. But when millions of lives of innocent people are threatened, both the hearts and muscles of Russians quickly turn to stone and steel. During such moments, when only victory could save the world, Russian fists are hard, and the same is true about Russian armor.

There is no match to Russian courage in the sadistic but cowardly West.

Irreversibly, both hope and future are moving towards the east.

And that is why Russia is desperately hated by the West.

A Travelogue of Electoral Donbass

Par : AHH

Donetsk, Avdeyevka, Mariupol – on the Road in Electoral Donbass

By Pepe Escobar at Sputnik.

They have waited 10 long, suffering years to vote in this election. And vote they did, in massive numbers, certifying a landslide reelection for the political leader who brought them back to Mother Russia. VVP may now be widely referred to as Mr. 87%. In Donetsk, turnout was even higher: 88,17%. And no less than 95% voted for him.

To follow the Russian electoral process at work in Donbass was a humbling – and illuminating – experience. Graphically, in front of us, the full weight of the collective West’s relentless denigration campaign was instantly gobbled up by the rich black soil of Novorossiya. The impeccable organization, the full transparency of the voting, the enthusiasm by polling station workers and voters alike punctuated the historical gravity of the political moment: at the same time everything was enveloped in an impalpable feeling of silent jubilation.

This was of course a referendum. Donbass represents a microcosm of the solid internal cohesion of Russian citizens around the policies of Team Putin – while at the same time sharing a feeling experienced by the overwhelming majority of the Global South. VVP’s victory was a victory of the Global Majority.

And that’s what’s making the puny Global Minority even more apoplectic. With their highest turnout since 1991, Russian voters inflicted a massive strategic defeat to the intellectual pigmies who pass for Western “leadership” – arguably the most mediocre political class of the past 100 years. They voted for a fairer, stable system of international relations; for multipolarity; and for true leadership by civilization-states such as Russia.

VVP’s 87% score was followed, by a long shot, by the Communists, with 3.9%. That is quite significant, because these 91% represent a total rejection of the globalist Davos/Great Reset plutocratic “future” envisioned by the 0.001%.

Avdeevka. Ukrainian Nazi vehicle – literally.

Avdeyevka: Voting Under Total Devastation

On Election Day Two, at section 198 in downtown Donetsk, not far from Government House, it was possible to fully measure the fluidity and transparency of the system – even as Donetsk was not spared from shelling, in the late afternoon and early evening in the final day of voting.

Afterwards, a strategic pit stop in a neighborhood mini-market. Yuri, an activist, was buying a full load of fresh eggs to be transported to the nearly starving civilians who still remain in Avdeyevka. Ten eggs cost the equivalent of a dollar and forty cents.

Side by side with Pushkin: The extraordinary Ludmilla Leonova in Yasinovata, the main polling station in town.

At Yasinovata, very close to Avdeyevka, we visit the MBOU, or school number 7, impeccably rebuilt after non-stop shelling. The director, Ludmilla Leonova, an extraordinary strong woman, takes me on a guide tour of the school and its brand new classrooms for chemistry and biology, a quaint Soviet alphabet decorating the classroom for Russian language. Classes, hopefully, will resume in the Fall.

Close to the school a refugee center for those who have been brought from Avdeyevka has been set up. Everything is spotlessly clean. People are processed, entered into the system, then wait for proper papers. Everyone wants to obtain a Russian passport as soon as possible.

For the moment, they stay in dormitories, around 10 people in each room. Some came from Avdeyevka, miraculously, in their own cars: there are a few Ukrainian license plates around. Invariably, the overall expectation is to return to Avdeyevka, when reconstruction starts, to rebuild their lives in their own town.

Then, it’s on the road to Avdeyevka. Nothing, absolutely nothing prepares us to confront total devastation. In my nearly 40 years as a foreign correspondent, I’ve never seen anything like it – even Iraq. At the unofficial entry to Avdeyevka, beside the skeleton of a bombed building and the remains of a tank turret, the flags of all military batallions which took part in the liberation flutter in the wind.

Avdeevka.

Each building in every street is at least partially destroyed. A few remaining residents congregate in a flat to organize the distribution of essential supplies. I find a miraculously preserved icon behind the window of a bombed-out ground floor apartment.

Avdeevka. The icon by the window that survived everything.

AVDEEVKA. A local resident who refuses to leave.

FPVs loiter overheard – detected by a handheld device, and our military escort is on full alert. We find out that as we enter a ground floor apartment which is being kept as a sort of mini food depot – housing donations from Yasinovata or from the military – that very same room, in the morning, had been converted into a polling station. That’s where the very few remaining Avdeyevka residents actually voted.

A nearly blind man with his dog explains why he can’t leave: he lives in the same street, and his apartment is still functional – even though he has no water or electricity. He explains how the Ukrainians were occupying each apartment block – with residents turned into refugees or hostages in the basements – and then, pressed by the Russians, relocated to nearby schools and hospitals until finally fleeing.

Avdeevka. He will NOT leave.

The basements are a nightmare. Virtually no light. The temperature is at least 10 degrees Celsius lower than at street level. It’s impossible to imagine how they survived. Another resident nonchalantly strolls by in his bicycle, surrounded by derelict concrete skeletons. The loud booms – mostly outgoing – are incessant.

Avdeevka. The miraculously preserved church of Mary Magdalen.

The miraculously preserved church of Mary Magdalen.

The miraculously preserved church of Mary Magdalen.

Then, standing amidst total devastation, a vision: the elegant silhouette of the Church of Mary Magdalen, immaculately preserved. Dmitry, the caretaker, takes me around; it’s a beautiful church, the paintings on the roof still gleaming under the pale sunlight, a gorgeous chandelier and the inner chamber virtually intact.

View of Mariupol from within the Pakrovska Church — with Azovstal and the Russian Sea of Azov in the background

The Mariupol Renaissance

The final election day is spent in Mariupol – which is being rebuilt at nearly breakneck speed: the new railway station has just been finished. Voting is seamless at school number 53, housing district 711. A beautiful mural behind the ballot box depicts the sister cities St. Petersburg and Mariupol, with the legendary Scarlet Sails from the Alexander Green story right in the middle.

Mariupol. School 53. Complete with gentleman on the voting booth, ballot box and a lovely painting featuring a ship with red sails…

I revisit the port: international cargo is still not moving, only ships coming from the Russian mainland. But the first deal has been reached with Cameroon – fruits in exchange with metals and manufactured products. Several other deals with African nations are on the horizon.

The Pakrovska church, a Mariupol landmark, is being carefully restored. We are welcomed by Father Viktor, who hosts lunch for a group of people from the parish, and a fine conversation ensues ranging from Christian Orthodoxy to the Decline of the West and the LGBT agenda.

We go to the roof and walk around a balustrade offering a spectacular 360-degree view of Mariupol, with the port, the destroyed Azovstal iron works and the Russian Sea of Azov in the deep background. The massive church bells ring – as in a metaphor for the resurrection of a beautiful city which has the potential to become a sort of Nice in the Sea of Azov.

Mariupol. Azovstal with the restored monument to the Great Patriotic War – restored by Wagner – in the foreground.

Back in Donetsk, going to a “secret” school/museum only 2 km away from the line of fire – which I first visited last month – has to be canceled: Donetsk continues to be shelled.

With Avdeyevka in mind, as well as the shelling that refuses to go away, a few questions on numbers pop up on the long 20-hour drive back to Moscow.

In Chechnya, led by uber-patriot Kadyrov, turnout was 97%. And no less than 99% voted for VVP. So, unlike in the past, forget about any ulterior attempt at a color revolution in Chechnya.

Same pattern in the Caucasus, in the region of Kabardino: turnout was 96%. No less than 94% voted for VVP.

Between Kazakhstan and Mongolia, in Tuva, turnout was 96%. And 95% voted for VVP. In the autonomous Yamal-Nenets, turnout was 94%. But VVP got “only” 79% of the votes. In lake Baikal, Buryatia had 74% turnout and 88% of votes for VVP.

The key, once again, remains Moscow. Turnout, compared to other regions, was relatively low: 67%. Well, Moscow is still largely Westernized and in several aspects ideologically globalist – thus more critical than other parts of Russia when it comes to the patriotic emphasis.

Avdeevka. Nella zona pericolosa. Gli FPV indugiano nel cielo. Foto del giovane fotoreporter Denis Grigory.

And that brings us to the clincher. Even with the resounding success of Mr. 87%, they will never give up. If there ever is a minor chance of a successful Hybrid War strategy provoking a color revolution, the stage will be Moscow. Quite pathetic, actually, when compared to the images of Mr. 87% saluted by a packed Red Square on Sunday like the ultimate rock star.

The Kremlin is taking no chances. Putin addressed the FSB and went straight to the point: attempts to sow interethnic trouble – as a prelude to color revolutions – must be strictly suppressed. The FSB will go for the next level: traitors will be identified by name and targeted without a statute of limitations.

After the electoral euphoria, no one really knows what happens next. It has to be something hugely significant, honoring the historical VVP electoral landslide. He has carte blanche now to do anything. Priority number one: to finish once and for all with the Hegemon-built terror mongrel that has been attacking Novorossiya for 10 long years.

The Terms of Surrender

Par : AHH

Putin presented the West with a bill of exchange that it is not able to repay

By Irina Alksnis, RIA Novosti columnist.

“In an interview with Dmitry Kiselyov, Vladimir Putin stressed that the West will not just have to offer Russia guarantees of compliance with the agreements, but these guarantees: a) must be spelled out; b) suit Moscow; and c) the Russian leadership must actually believe in them.”

In an interview with Dmitry Kiselyov, Vladimir Putin paid great attention to the issue of potential negotiations with the West over Ukraine. At first glance, this might even seem somewhat unexpected, but the topic is really becoming more and more relevant and is increasingly heard in the public field, which means that it is time to clarify Russia’s position as clearly as possible. Which the president did.

The reality of the situation on the Ukrainian front, which is unpleasant for the West, is reaching more and more people on the other side. This entails quite natural consequences: the voices demanding to negotiate with Moscow are getting louder and louder. And if initially they were mostly marginal figures, on whom it was very convenient to hang the label “Russian agent” or “useful idiot of the Kremlin”, now the most mainstream and very influential forces – the media, think tanks, politicians and statesmen – up to the Pope are saying the same thing.

This point of view has not yet become dominant there and still meets impressive resistance, but it can no longer be called marginal. And judging by the way events are developing in Ukraine, the moment when it will become dominant on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is not very long away.

However, these changes worry the politically active patriotic part of Russian society. The reason is obvious: people fear that in the course of negotiations, Russia will lose the achievements for which our soldiers pay with their blood and lives. Either the West will simply deceive us, as it has done so many times in the past, or a part of the Russian elite that remains pro-Western will be inclined to make concessions, surrendering our military victory. But no one is immune from mistakes and failures in the negotiation process – even the most ardent patriot of his country.

This is probably why the president gave a detailed and detailed commentary on this issue, touching on very different aspects that affect Russia’s position. And this is the answer primarily for us-the citizens of the country. But it can also be very useful for the West, if there are still smart enough and qualified people there who are able to hear and understand what is said, and not invent their own version of Putin’s answer in accordance with the agenda and personal beliefs (and with this there are more and more problems lately). Well, for the insufficiently nationalized representatives of the domestic establishment, who are hoping to turn the stuffing back, the president’s answer is also very useful – and makes them understand that you should not dream of the impossible.

The West, in the form of Ukraine as anti-Russia, prepared a very powerful weapon against our country, but when it did not work as expected, it had to openly enter the war itself – and this became its huge, downright fatal mistake, because it turned on the patriotic war regime in our people. Putin said that “deep Russian society”, ordinary citizens, had long been waiting for their demand for the country and the state, and the war of the West against us was exactly the situation that turned on the mechanism of national consolidation.

This means that the state has a free hand in relying on powerful and active (literally combative) popular support. He is not under pressure from public opinion, which insists on ending the fighting at any cost and as soon as possible – on the contrary, citizens consider it right to solve the issue radically, eliminating the threat to Russia in the south-western direction once and for all. This means that the SVO can continue for as long as it takes, until the West is not just ripe for negotiations (this will happen soon), but reaches the point where it hears Moscow’s position and accepts its conditions (but this may take much longer).

By the way, the president’s words made it clear why Russian officials are so actively pedaling the topic of deception on the part of the West, which Moscow has encountered many times in recent decades. You can often hear criticism of this position – saying that it exposes Russia as weak and stupid. However, it has now provided the state with an extremely comfortable and strong negotiating position: what are your guarantees, gentlemen? Because the old and, alas, unkind principle of “gentlemen take their word for it” has finally broken down.

Putin stressed that the West should not just offer Russia guarantees of compliance with the agreements, but these guarantees should: a) be spelled out; b) suit Moscow; and c) the Russian leadership should actually believe in them.

In fact, in the sphere of reputation and moral authority, the West finds itself in exactly the same situation as with the American debt, which is storming to astronomical heights and whose mere maintenance is increasingly shaking the financial system. Everyone has already realized that this is just a pyramid scheme, but it still holds, and the world is watching with curiosity (although not without concern about the consequences) what will become the “pebble” that will start the crash.

Well, by demanding guarantees at the talks, Putin swung the “pebble” of another tower – the tower of Babel of Western hypocrisy and lies.

Perhaps this is understood by American and European hawks, who are now actively rocking the topic of the need to introduce a Western contingent to Ukraine. Realizing that Moscow will not be able to push through or deceive in negotiations, they see direct participation in the conflict as the only remaining option to try to reduce the conflict to a more or less acceptable outcome for NATO countries.

However, Putin also had words for these hotheads – in particular, the word “interventionists”. Moreover, the president explicitly stated that it is precisely as an intervention on the territory of Russia that we will regard the entry of Western troops into Ukraine. And he reminded that our country has a rich experience of successfully solving this problem, which everyone in the West should remember.

In essence, Ukraine has become a conflict in which the bankruptcy of Europe and the United States – military, moral, economic – threatens to turn from expected to actual. And in his interview, Putin presented the West with a bill of exchange, which in principle it is not able to repay.

African Observers of Russian Presidential Elections

Par : AHH

Those who travel to Russia and see the reality for themselves, from any part of the world, are consistently astounded and pleased with what they see. This consistent discrepancy between reality and media-driven myth underlines the potency of the mindwashing western Big Lie Media, which most of humanity continues to foolishly imbibe.




Visiting Russia is a key antidote, until the Global South / Global Majority drops safeguards against western media, referred to as “informational hygiene” by Russians. Otherwise Forever Wars are permanently baked in as this Big Lie Media forever sews discord, false impressions between natural allies, and works to divide humanity along false lines.

An interesting pattern developed during yesterday’s first of three main voting days. Let the following 11 African election observers from 10 different African countries tell you in their own words. The selections are from the Sputnik Africa Telegram channel.

International observers for the Russian presidential elections plan to visit at least 52-53 regions, they will be provided with all the necessary assistance, said the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova. Currently 333,600 people are monitoring the Russian presidential election, including over 700 from 106countries,” Pamfilova noted.
The process of voting is “proceeding normally,” she added.”

💠Everything you need to know about Russia’s 2024 presidential elections

Russian citizens will head to the polls on March 15-17 to vote in 2024 presidential election. There are 112.3 million eligible voters inside Russia, and around 1.9 million eligible voters reside abroad. Voter turnout is expected at 71%, as per the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM).

What’s new about 2024 elections?
E-voting, a remote electronic voting system, is being used for the first time to elect a Russian president. Voters in 29 Russian regions will be able to cast their ballots remotely.
🔹Electronic ballot processing system uses a special scanner to read and process marked paper ballots and tally the results.
🔹Mobile Voter mechanism provides online voting.
🔹Elections state automated system is information software that ensures that ballots are counted in an accurate and rapid manner.

There are four candidates vying for the top office:
🔸Self-nominated candidate and incumbent President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin;
🔸Communist Party nominee Nikolay Kharitonov;
🔸Liberal Democratic Party nominee Leonid Slutsky;
🔸New People party nominee Vladislav Davankov.

Who will observe the voting process?
🔸Election observers are Russian citizens who monitor compliance of election procedure with the law, supervise the process and record possible violations.
🔸200 parliamentary international observers have been accredited to monitor the elections in Russia, delegations from 36 countries are already arriving.

👉 Follow this link to learn more

≈≈≈≈≈≈

💠A Kenyan observer for the Russian presidential elections, who’s watching the voting process in Russia’s city of Perm told Sputnik that “the election process has started well” and “the election officials are well set”

“It’s very cold, [but] I am very happy to be here,” he added.

💠Fast and secure procedure: a Burundian observer appreciates the advantages of voting electronically in the Russian presidential election

“When I was told what happens electronically, I congratulated you, I saw that you had succeeded,” President of the National Assembly of Burundi, Honorable Gelase Daniel Ndabirabe, told Sputnik Africa.

Ndabirabe noted that once a person is identified in the system, the voting process takes “very little time,” adding that such an option saves “a lot of time and energy” for people.

Lastly, the observer praised the excellent security of the electronic voting.

“I was told that to date there have been no complaints about the security of the electronic trial. Which is another great success, because that’s what’s so frightening. I say: “congratulations”. Because there can’t be any hacking. That’s a very good thing,” Ndabirabe concluded.


💠Cameroonian observer speaks about Russian presidential election. African observers who are inspecting polling stations across Russia will return home genuinely satisfied with what they have seen, Serge Espoir Matomba, the first secretary of the Cameroonian United People for Social Renovation, told Sputnik Africa.

According to him, at a time when “the world wants to be multipolar, we have an obligation to know what’s going on without waiting to be told what’s going on. There is this growing misinformation that is being used today as a lever for manipulation.”

“That is why I am in Moscow today, to see with my own eyes how the elections are going, how the buzz around the elections is going, how the process itself is being set in motion,” Matomba said.

“The image that Africa has often had of Russia in the past is changing exponentially,” the politician concluded. “Africans are now realizing that Russia is not the country they were presented with. And that’s a good thing.”

💠 An observer from Kenya in the Kherson region praised the Russian electronic voting system

“In Russia you can vote from home. In other countries, especially in African countries, with electronic voting you have to go to the polling station to register,” said Ezekiel Kanagi Mutes.


💠 “Absolutely fair”: Ethiopian observer impressed by Russian presidential elections

“Really, it is well planned, well organized. I have seen the voters, how they are electing. As to my observation up to now, it is absolutely fair. I appreciate it,” Dr. Petros Woldegiorgis, an observer from Ethiopia and President of Bonga University, told Sputnik Africa.

He particularly noted the accessibility measures in place, including the option for citizens in distant locations to vote via telephone—a novel experience for him.

“The general feeling I have is wonderful,” the observer remarked. “From Alpha to Omega, what I have seen now, honestly speaking, I’m very much excited.”

💠 🇷🇺🗳🇹🇿 “Very open and freely”: Tanzanian observer from the ruling party on the Russian presidential election

“The voting process here is very interesting. […] It takes very small time, just 3 to 5 minutes you are done, is very open and freely,” Joseph Mgaya told Sputnik Africa.

Furthermore, the observer pointed out that Russian citizens are voting “freely” and they can do it in every corner of the country – you just need to have an ID with you.

Mgaya also praised the “high-end” online voting technology that simplifies the whole election process.

“I’m very interested in it because it’s high-end [and] […] it’s very open,” he added.


💠 “The process is more than transparent”: Comorian observer on presidential elections in Russia

The Russian presidential election has a number of advantages, including security cameras to ensure transparency, candidate representatives at each polling station, “a more efficient electronic system combined with a reliable manual system,” Ahmed Said Mdahoma, head of the Independent National Electoral Commission of the Comoros, told Sputnik Africa.

He also noted “maximum” security to ensure the calm of the electoral process and “constant communication at the level of the Central Electoral Commission to inform citizens, observers and actors about the electoral process.”

In addition, Mdahoma emphasized a 3-day voting period that would allow “everyone who wants to exercise their right to vote to find the right time” to do so.


💠 Chairman of CAR National Electoral Commission praises organization of Russian presidential elections

Mathias Moruba visited three polling stations in Russia and noted their compliance with international electoral standards, the Russian Embassy in the Central African Republic (CAR) said.

According to the embassy, the delegation from the Central African Republic arrived in Russia to observe the presidential election at the invitation of the Russian Central Election Commission.


💠 “Russia is already ahead,” says Madagascan observer on electronic voting in Russia

Russia’s presidential election is taking place “calmly and also within the norm,” which has highlighted some advances, such as automated voting, which saves voters’ time, Ralaisoavamanjaka Andriamarotafikatohanambahoaka, the first general rapporteur of Madagascar’s Independent National Electoral Commission, told Sputnik Africa.

“The computerized system is a novelty. The whole world will choose this system. The choice of the virtual system, which the majority of people will make, is mainly to save time for them,” the observer explained.

He added that “it’s obvious that we’ve respected the principle of electoral sovereignty and the electoral norm in Moscow and Russia in general.”
[His name is not a typo!! Another example here.]


💠🇷🇺🗳🇦🇴 “No violations”: an observer from Angola about the Russian presidential elections

“We didn’t find any problems, no violations. [Everything went] very well, without problems. And everything was peaceful,” said Manuel Camati, member of the National Electoral Commission of Angola.

He also noted that elections are part of the sovereignty of each state, and therefore it was important for him to be personally present in this process.

Speaking about the technological innovations of the Russian elections, Camati said that they help to quickly resolve any issues, and the electronic voting option allows “to minimize the number of errors and speed up electoral processes.”


💠🇷🇺🇲🇱 Voting in Russia “proceeding normally, as in other countries,” says Malian observer

The ability to vote electronically is important for people who cannot travel, such as the disabled and the elderly, Nana Aïcha Cissé, the first vice-president of Mali’s Network of Women Parliamentarians, told Sputnik Africa.

She came to observe the elections in Russia for the first time and said she was impressed by the organization.

The observer also called Mali “a friend of Russia,” noting that “people know Russia, they know the ties that exist between Mali and Russia, and that’s very important.”

Will BRICS launch a new world in 2024?

Par : AHH

Ryabkov, Ushakov and Glazyev foresee a quickening of the Russian river after Putin’s spring reelection: the BRICS will create payment and settlement systems that do not depend upon the shifty “rules-based international order.”

By Pepe Escobar at The Cradle.

“BRICS doubled its membership at the start of 2024, and faces huge tasks ahead: integrating its newest members, developing future admission criteria, deepening the institution’s groundings, and most importantly, launching the mechanisms for bypassing the US dollar in international finance.”

BRICS Ambassadors attend “Maslenitsa: Dialogue of Civilizations,” Moscow, 12 March 2024.

MOSCOW – Across the Global South, countries are lining up to join the multipolar BRICS and the Hegemon-free future it promises. The onslaught of interest has become an unavoidable theme of discussion during this crucial year of the Russian presidency of what, for the moment, is BRICS-10.

Indonesia and Nigeria are among the top tiers of candidates likely to join. The same applies to Pakistan and Vietnam. Mexico is in a very complex bind: how to join without summoning the ire of the Hegemon.

And then there’s the new candidacy on a roll: Yemen, which enjoys plenty of support from Russia, China, and Iran.

It’s been up to Russia’s top BRICS sherpa, the immensely capable Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, to clarify what’s ahead. He tells TASS:

We must provide a platform for the countries interested in rapprochement with the BRICS, where they will be able to work practically without feeling left behind and joining this cooperation rhythm. And as to how the further expansion will be decided upon – this should be postponed at least until the leaders convene in Kazan to decide.

The key decision on BRICS+ expansion will only come out of the Kazan summit next October. Ryabkov stresses that the order of the day is first “to integrate those who have just joined.” This means that “as a ‘ten,’ we work at least as efficiently, or, rather, more efficiently than we did within the initial ‘five.'”

Only then will the BRICS-10 “develop the category of partner states,” which, in fact, means creating a consensus-based list out of the dozens of nations that are literally itching to join the club.

Ryabkov always makes a point to note, in public and in private, that the twofold increase of BRICS members starting on 1 January 2024 is “an unprecedented event for any international structure.”

It isn’t an easy task, Ryabkov says:

Last year, it took an entire year to develop the admission, expansion criteria at the level of top officials. Many reasonable things were developed. And many of the things that were formulated back then got reflected in the list of countries that joined. But it would probably be improper to formalize the requirements. At the end of the day, an admission to the association is a subject of political decision.


What happens after Russia’s presidential elections

In a private meeting with a few select individuals on the sidelines of the recent multipolar conference in Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke effusively of BRICS, with particular emphasis on his counterparts Wang Yi of China and S. Jaishankar of India.

Lavrov holds great expectations for BRICS-10 this year – at the same time, reminding everyone that this is still a club; it must eventually go deeper in institutional terms, for instance, by appointing a secretariat-general, just like its cousin-style organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The Russian presidency will have its hands full for the next few months, not only navigating the geopolitical spectrum of current crises but, most of all, geoeconomics. A crucial ministerial meeting in June – only three months away – will have to define a detailed road map all the way to the Kazan summit four months later.

What happens after this week’s Russian presidential elections will also condition BRICS policy. A new Russian government will be sworn in only by early May. It is widely expected that there will be no substantial changes within the Russian Finance Ministry, Central Bank, Foreign Ministry, and among top Kremlin advisers.

Continuity will be the norm.

And that brings us to the key geoeconomics dossier: the BRICS at the forefront of bypassing the US dollar in international finance.

Last week, top Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov announced that BRICS will work towards setting up an independent payment system based on digital currencies and blockchain.

Ushakov specifically emphasized “state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain. The main thing is to make sure it is convenient for governments, common people, and businesses, as well as cost-effective and free of politics.”

Ushakov did not mention it explicitly, but a new alternative system already exists. For the moment, it is a closely, carefully guarded project in the form of a detailed white paper that has already been validated academically and also incorporates answers to possible frequently asked questions.

The Cradle was briefed on the system via several meetings since last year with a small group of world-class fintech experts. The system has already been presented to Ushakov himself. As it stands, it is on the verge of receiving a final green light from the Russian government. After clearing a series of tests, the system in thesis would be ready to be presented to all BRICS-10 members before the Kazan summit.

This all ties in with Ushakov publicly declaring that a specific task for 2024 is to increase the role of BRICS in the international monetary/ financial system.

Ushakov recalls how, in the 2023 Johannesburg Declaration, the BRICS heads of state focused on increasing settlements in national currencies and strengthening correspondent banking networks. The target was to “continue to develop the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, primarily regarding the use of currencies different from the US dollar.”


No single currency for the foreseeable future

All of the above frames the absolute key issue being currently discussed in Moscow, within the Russia–China partnership, and soon, deeper among the BRICS-10: alternative settlement payments to the US dollar, increased trade among “friendly nations,” and controls on capital flight.

Ryabkov added more crucial elements to the debate, saying this week that the BRICS are not debating the implementation of a single currency:

As for a single currency, similar to what was created by the European Union, this is hardly possible in the foreseeable future. If we are talking about clearing forms of mutual settlements such as the ECU [European Currency Unit] at an early stage of development of the European Union, in the absence of a real means of payment, but the opportunity to more effectively use the available resources of the countries in mutual settlements to avoid losses due to differences in exchange rates, and so on, then this is precisely the path along which, in my opinion, BRICS should move. This is under consideration.

The key takeaway, per Ryabkov, is that the BRICS should not create a financial and monetary alliance; they should create payment and settlement systems that do not depend upon the shifty “rules-based international order.”

That’s exactly the emphasis of the ideas and experiments already developed by Minister of Integration and Macroeconomy at the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) Sergei Glazyev, as he explained in an exclusive interview, as well as the new groundbreaking project on the verge of being greenlighted by the Russian government.

Ryabkov confirmed that “a group of experts, led by the Ministries of Finance and representatives of the Central Banks of the respective [BRICS] countries,” is working nonstop on the dossier. Moreover, there are “consultations in other formats, including with the participation of representatives of the ‘historical west.'”

Ryabkov’s own takeaway mirrors what the BRICS as a whole are aiming at:

Collectively, we must come up with a product that would be, on the one hand, quite ambitious (because it is impossible to continue to tolerate the dictates of the west in this area), but at the same time realistic, not out of touch with the ground. That is, a product that would be efficient. And all this should be presented in Kazan for consideration by the leaders.

In a nutshell: the big breakthrough may be literally knocking at the BRICS door. It just depends on a simple green light by the Russian government.

Now compare the BRICS devising the contours of a new geoeconomics paradigm with the collective west mulling the actual theft of Russia’s seized assets to the benefit of the black hole that is Ukraine.

Apart from being a de facto declaration by the US and EU against Russia, this is something that carries the potential, in itself, of totally smashing the current global financial system.

A theft of Russian assets, would it ever happen, will render livid, to put it mildly, at least two key BRICS members, China and Saudi Arabia, who bring to the table considerable economic heft. Such a move by the west would completely destroy the concept of the rule of law, which theoretically underpins the global financial system.

The Russian response will be fierce. The Russian Central Bank could, in a flash, sue and confiscate the assets of Belgian Euroclear, one of the world’s largest settlement and clearing systems, on whose accounts Russian reserves were frozen.

And that on top of seizing Euroclear’s assets in Russia – which amount to roughly 33 billion euros. With Euroclear running out of capital, the Belgian Central Bank will have to revoke its license, causing a massive financial crisis.

Talk about a clash of paradigms: western robbery versus a Global South-based equitable trade and finance settlement system.

The German-American Strategic Stooges Clown Show

Par : AHH

The saga of Bundeswehr officers plotting to blow up the Kerch bridge with Taurus missiles and getting away with it is a gift that keeps on giving.

By Pepe Escobar at Strategic Culture.

The Four Stooges saga of Bundeswehr officers plotting to blow up the Kerch bridge in Crimea with Taurus missiles and getting away with it is a gift that keeps on giving.

President Putin, in his comprehensive interview to Dmitry Kiselev for Russia 1/RIA Novosti, did not fail to address it:

“They are fantasizing, encouraging themselves, first of all. Secondly, they are trying to intimidate us. As for the Federal Republic of Germany, there are constitutional problems there. They correctly say: if these Taurus hit that part of the Crimean Bridge, which, of course, even according to their concepts, is Russian territory, this is a violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.”

Yet it gets curioser and curioser.

When the transcript of the Taurus leak  was published by RT, everyone was able to hear Brigadier General Frank Gräfe – head of operations of the German Air Force – speaking with Lieutenant Colonel Fenske from the German Space Command Air Operations on the plan to deploy Taurus systems in Ukraine.

A key point is that during the plotting, these two mention that plans were already discussed “four months ago” with “Schneider”, the successor of “Wilsbach”.

Well, these are German names, of course. Thus it did not dawn on anyone that (Kevin) Schneider and (Kenneth) Wilsbach could instead be… Americans.

Yet that did raise the eyebrows of German investigative journalist Dirk Pohlmann – who I had the pleasure to meet in Berlin years ago – and his fellow researcher Tobias Augenbraun.

They found out that the German-sounding names did identify Americans. Not only that: none less than the former and the current Commanders of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces.

The Four (actually Six) Stooges element gets an extra boost when it is established that Liver Sausage Chancellor Scholz and his Totalenkrieg Minister Pistorius learned about the Taurus plan no less than four months later.

So here apparently we have a clear cut case of top German military officers taking direct orders regarding an attack on Crimea – part of the Russian Federation – directly from American officers in the Pacific Air Forces.

That in itself opens the dossier to a large spectrum ranging from national treason (against Germany) to casus belli (from the point of view of Russia).

Of course none of that is being discussed on German mainstream media.

After all, the only thing that seems to disturb Brigadier General Gräfe is that German media may start seriously prying on the Bundeswehr’s Multiple Stooges methods.

The only ones who actually did proper investigation were Pohlmann and Augenbaun.

It would be too much to expect from German media of the “Bild” type to analyze what would be the Russian response to the Multiple Stooge shenanigans against Crimea: a devastating retaliation against Berlin assets.


It’s so cold in Alaska

During the jolly Bundeswehr conversation yet another “plan” is mentioned:

“Nee, nee. Ich mein wegen der anderen Sache.” (“No, no. I mean the other matter.”) Then: “Ähm … meinst du Alaska jetzt?” (“Ahm, you mean Alaska now?”)

It all gets juicier when it is known that German Space Command Air Operations Centre officer Florstedt will meet none other than Schneider next Tuesday, March 19, in Alaska.

And Gräfe will also “have to go back to Alaska” to explain everything all over again to Schneider as he is “new” in the post.

So the question is: Why Alaska?

Enter American shadowplay on a lot of “activities” in Alaska – which happen to concern none other than China.

And there’s more: during the conversation still another “plan” (“Auftrag”, meaning “mission”) also surfaces, bearing a not clearly understandable code name sounding like “Kumalatra”.

What all of that tells us is that the Crash Test Dummy administration in the White House, the CIA and the Pentagon seem to betting, in desperation, on Total War in the black soil of Novorossiya.

And now they are sayin’ it out loud, with no shadow play, and coming directly from the head of the CIA, William Burns, who obviously sucks at secrecy.

This is what Burns told the members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this week:

“I think without supplemental assistance in 2024, you’re going to see more Avdeevkas, and that – it seems to me – would be a massive and historic mistake for the United States.”

That spells out how much the Avdeevka trauma is impressed on the psyche of the U.S. intel apparatus.

Yet there’s more: “With supplemental assistance, Ukraine can hold its own on the front lines through 2024 and into early 2025. Ukraine can continue to exact costs against Russia, not only with deep penetration strikes in Crimea, but also against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.”

Here we go: Crimea all over again.

Burns actually believes that the humongous $60 billion new “aid” package which must be approved by the U.S. Congress will enable Kiev to launch an “offensive” by the end of 2024.

The only thing he gets right is that if there’s no new package, there will be “significant territorial losses for Ukraine this year.”

Burns may not be the brightest bulb in the – intel – room. A long time ago he was a diplomat/CIA asset in Moscow, and seems to have learned nothing.

Apart from letting cats and kitties galore out of the bag. It’s not only about attacking Crimea. This one is being read with surpreme delight in Beijing:

“The U.S. is providing assistance to Ukraine in part because such activities help curb China.”

Burns nailed his Cat Out of the Bag Oscar win when he said “if we’re seen to be walking away from support for Ukraine, not only is that going to feed doubts amongst our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific; it’s going to stoke the ambitions of the Chinese leadership in contingencies ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea”.

The inestimable Andrei Martyanov perfectly summed up the astonishing incompetence, peppered with tawdry exceptionalism, that permeates this performance by Burns.

There are things “they cannot grasp due to low level of education and culture. This is a new paradigm for them – all of them are ‘graduates’ of the school of ‘beating the crap from defenseless nations’ strategic ‘studies’, and with the level of economic ‘science’ in the West they cannot grasp how this all unfolds.”

So what is left is panic, as expressed by Burns in the Senate, mixed with the impotence in understanding a “different warrior culture” such as Russia’s: “They simply have no reference points.”

And still they choose war, as masterfully analyzed by Rostislav Ishchenko.

Even as the acronym fest of the CIA and 17 other U.S. intel agencies have concluded, in a report shown to Congress earlier this week, that Russia is “almost certainly” seeking to avoid a direct military conflict with NATO and will calibrate its policies to steer clear of a global war.

After all the Empire of Chaos is all about Forever Wars. And we are all in the middle of a do or die affair. The Empire simply cannot afford the cosmic humiliation of NATO in Novorossiya.

Still every “plan” – Taurus on Crimea-style – is a bluff. Russia is aware of bluff after bluff. The Western cards are now all on the table. The only question is when, and how fast will Russia call the bluff.

The Angst in the French Mind

Par : AHH

The endless ennui and envy of those incapable of abandoning phantom pains. Most useful putty in the hands of Empire

By Ambassador MK Bhadrakumar at the Indian Punchline.

Ever since its ignominious defeat in the Napoleonic wars, France is entrapped in the predicament of countries that get sandwiched between great powers. Following World War II, France addressed this predicament by forging an axis with Germany in Europe.

Caught up in a similar predicament, Britain adapted itself to a subaltern role tapping into the American power globally but France never gave up its quest to regain glory as a global power. And it continues to be a work in progress.

The angst in the French mind is understandable as the five centuries of western dominance of the world order is drawing to a close. This predicament condemns France to a diplomacy that is constantly in a state of suspended animation interspersed with sudden bouts of activism.

But, for activism to be result-oriented, there are prerequisites needed such as the profiling of like-minded activist groups, leadership and associates and supporters and sympathisers — and, most important, sustainment and logistics. Or else, activism comes to resemble epileptic fits, an incurable affliction of the nervous system.

The French President Emmanuel Macron’s halcyon days in international diplomacy ended with the recent  dissolution of the Franco-German axis in Europe, which dated back to the Treaties of Rome in 1957. As Berlin sharply swerved to trans-atlanticism as its foreign-policy dogma, France’s clout diminished in European affairs. 

The stakes are high in the reconciliation meeting on Friday as Macron travels to Berlin to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who not only snubbed him by ruling out the use of ground troops from European countries in the Ukraine war, but also digging in on Taurus missile issue arguing that it would entail assigning German staff in support to Ukraine, which, he announced on Wednesday in the Bundestag, is simply “out of the question” while he remained the chancellor. 

Of course, this is not to decry Macron’s formidable intellect — such as when he declared in a blunt interview in late 2019 with the Economist magazine that Europe stood on “the edge of a precipice” and needed to start thinking of itself strategically as a geopolitical power lest it will “no longer be in control of our destiny.” Macron’s prescient remark preceded the war in Ukraine by 3 years.

According to the newspaper Marianne, which interviewed several French soldiers, the military reportedly estimates that the Ukraine war is irretrievably lost already. Marianne quoted a senior French officer saying derisively, “We must make no mistake facing the Russians; we are an army of cheerleaders” and sending French troops to the Ukrainian front would simply be “not reasonable” . At the Élysée, an unnamed advisor argued that Macron “wanted to send a strong signal… (in) milli-metered and calibrated words”.

Marianne’s editor Natacha Polony wrote: “It is no longer about Emmanuel Macron or his postures as a virile little leader. It is no longer even about France or its weakening by blind and irresponsible elites. It is a question of whether we will collectively agree to sleepwalk into war. A war that no one can claim will be controlled or contained. It’s a question of whether we agree to send our children to die because the United States insisted on setting up bases on Russia’s borders.”

The big question is why Macron is doing this nonetheless — going to the extent of cobbling together a ‘coalition of the willing’ in Europe. A range of explanations is possible starting with Macron posturing and trying to earn political points at minimal cost, motivated by personal ambitions and intra-European friction with Berlin.

But then, until fairly recently, Macron was a supporter of dialogue with Moscow. The perception in most European capitals, including Moscow, is that Macron is making an attempt to bring the Ukrainian crisis to a new level by announcing western combat deployment against Russia  publicly as an obvious political manipulation.

The geopolitical salience is that Macron who once not too long ago called for dialogue with Moscow and offered his mediation in it, who made the famous declaration of a “Greater Europe” in 2019 and maintained contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin thereof; who as of February last year, while speaking about Russia’s “certain defeat” in Ukraine, called for avoiding Moscow’s “humiliation”; who repeatedly underscored his commitment to the matrix of diplomacy attributed to Charles de Gaulle, which assigned France the role of a “bridge between East and West” — has now swung to the other extreme of harsh Euro-Atlantic rhetoric.

This appalling inconsistency can only be seen as stemming out of the unfavourable development of events in the scenario of the Ukrainian crisis with the prospect of a Russian defeat in the war no longer in the cards even remotely and replaced by the growing possibility that peace will ultimately be attainable only on Russia’s terms. Put differently, the power dynamic in Europe is shifting dramatically, which, of course, impacts Macron’s own ambitions to “lead Europe.”

Meanwhile, Russian-French relations have also been undergoing a stage of fierce competition and rivalry — even confrontation — in a number of areas. For a start,  French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejournet said in an interview with Le Parisien in January that Russia’s victory in Ukraine would lead to 30% of world wheat exports being controlled by Moscow. For Paris, this is a question of the sustainability of one of the key sectors of French national economy.

French agriculture is marked by its history that had its beginning with the Gaulois in 2000 BC. It needs to be understood that In modern history, French Revolution of 1789, which altered every part of the French social order and led to the abolition of privileges for upper classes, was also an Agricultural Revolution, which allowed a broad land redistribution. Suffice to say, the bond of French people to their agriculture is very strong.

As it is, African states are changing the structure of grain imports due to the technical regulations introduced by the European Union as part of its green agenda and French farmers consequently face rising costs, and over and above that, there is now also the looming loss of regional market share to Russia.

This is on top of the inroads Russia is making in arms exports to the African continent lately. In politico-military terms too, France has lost ground to Russia in the resource-rich Sahel region, its ex-colonies and playpen traditionally. The fact of the matter is that the birds are coming to roost over France’s neo-colonial strategies in Africa, but Paris prefers to put the blame on Russia’s Wagner group which has moved in to fill the security vacuum in Sahel region, as anti-French forces have come to power in several countries at once — Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, CAR.

In the best traditions of geopolitics, France has begun retaliating in regions sensitive to Russian interests — Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine where Russian military presence is in French crosshairs. Unsurprisingly, Ukraine is the most strategic turf where Macron hopes to achieve a bigger French presence.

Through that, Macron hopes to advance his leadership ambitions in Europe as the navigator of the EU’s foreign policy strategy in a wide arc from the African continent across the Mediterranean to Transcaucasia — and potentially all the way to Afghanistan.

All this is unfolding against the historic backdrop of an inevitable US retrenchment in Europe as Indo-Pacific hots up and the simmering rivalry with China becomes an all-consuming passion for Washington. Indeed, alongside, the towering presence of Russia across Europe is beginning to be felt intensely as it surges as the number one military and economic power in the strategic space between Vancouver and Vladivostok.

Today, the paradox is, then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev had proposed way back in 2008 a legally binding pan-European security treaty, which would develop a new security architecture in Europe, involving the reshaping of existing, and creating new institutions and norms regulating security relations in Europe in a wider geopolitical space stretching east “from Vancouver to Vladivostok.” But, alas, the US encouraged the Europeans to see the so-called ‘Medvedev Initiative’ as a trap to enfeeble NATO, the OSCE, the EU and other European bodies,  and reject that wonderful idea which would have anchored the post-cold war era firmly on a binding security architecture.

Nuland’s Policy Has Collapsed

Par : AHH

The Drang continues after Nuland. Biden fully implements ziocon projects. A mere change in tack: “This is not over yet. This debate is not finished…” (9:20)

Nuland’s Policy Has Collapsed as Ukraine Lost it – Netanyahu Will Lose | Chas Freeman

Vladimir Putin on Russia’s Path Ahead

Par : AHH

On the Cusp of Reelection and SMO Victory, Putin’s Interview with Rossiya Segodnya’s General Director Dmitry Kiselev

with thanks to Karl at karlof1’s Geopolitical Gymnasium.

With snippets all over Russian media as well as the 1:45 long video, the job fell to Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik’s parent media group. We get to read the translated transcript where all emphasis is mine:

Dmitry Kiselyov: Mr Putin, in your Address to the [Federal Assembly], you have, figuratively speaking, taken trillion after trillion out of your sleeve. Thus, we have proposed an absolutely amazing plan for the country’s development – absolutely amazing. This is a different Russia, with a different infrastructure, a different social system – just a dream country.

I just want to ask you, ask your favorite question from Vysotsky: “Where is the money, Zin?”

Vladimir Putin: Yes, of course.

What’s more, first of all, it’s all made up as a result of the painstaking work of the expert community, government specialists, and the Administration. Everything fully fits into the budget rules and, in fact, is quite conservative in nature, because some experts believe that there should be and will be more revenues. This means that it would be necessary to plan for more spending, because this should directly affect the prospects for economic development.

In general, it is correct, but we also planned to spend an additional $ 8 trillion on the development of the economy and social sphere in 2018, and then we increased these expenditures. I think that it is quite likely that if everything turns out as the optimists from this expert community, which I mentioned, say, then we can – and should, and will be able-to increase these costs in various areas.

Dmitry Kiselyov: So we are talking about a six-year period?

Vladimir Putin: Exactly so. We are talking about a six-year period. We are currently drawing up a budget for the “three-year” – a three-year, as we say, planning period. But, of course, when we were preparing for the Message – I say, “we were preparing for the Message”, because the whole team is working-we assumed that we would calculate our income and expenses in those areas that we consider key, priority areas for six years.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But still, there are literally stunning projects. For example, the Sochi-Dzhubga highway: 130 kilometers, of which 90 kilometers are tunnels, and the rest is probably bridges, judging by the landscape. One and a half billion in the first three years only, and the track should ideally be ready in 2030. How necessary is this and will it be enough to win?

Vladimir Putin: People need this route. After all, families with children can’t get to Sochi by car. Everyone stops somewhere in the area of Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk, because the track is very heavy – serpentine.

There are several construction options available. We will be discussing this in the next few days: either do it to Dzhubga, or first do it from Dzhubga to Sochi. Some members of the Government suggest doing this in stages. Others believe that you need to do everything at once, because otherwise there will be a narrow neck from Dzhubga to Sochi.

The first part, if you look from Novorossiysk, is more or less decent, and the coverage is not bad, but very narrow. If we do it before Sochi, as the first part, then there may be traffic jams in this small space, which is still enough there.

In general, we will determine this with our specialists – how, in what stages, but you need to do it. It is necessary to determine, of course, the final cost of the project, to ensure that everyone remains within the framework of financial plans.

First of all-the interests of people, but also the economy. The development of territories in the south of the country is very important.

Dmitry Kiselyov: If we can afford such large-scale investments, it means that the country is rapidly getting richer, especially in the conditions of free trade, in the conditions of almost 15 thousand sanctions-absolutely wild. Moreover, we also set ourselves the task of reducing poverty, including in large families. Isn’t that a little cheeky?

Vladimir Putin: No. See if you go back to this road. When I discussed it with members of the Government, as you know, the Finance Ministry is always such a miser, in a good way, and it is always very conservative about spending, even the Finance Minister [Anton Siluanov] he told me-almost verbatim: “The construction of this road is opposed by those who have never driven on it today.”

Dmitry Kiselyov: In other words, the entire Government should be moved.

Vladimir Putin: And he is right, because this is especially important for families with children.

As for whether we get rich or not. The economy is growing – this is a fact, and a fact that is recorded not by us, but by international economic and financial organizations. We have indeed overtaken the Federal Republic of Germany in terms of purchasing power parity, taking its place – the fifth place – among the world’s largest economies.

The German economy contracted, in my opinion, by 0.3 percent last year, while we grew by 3.6 percent. Japan grew by a small percentage. But if everything develops at the same pace as today, then we have every chance to take the place of Japan and become the fourth economy in the world, and in the near future.

But? – here we must be honest and objective – there is a difference between the quality of our economies. In terms of purchasing power parity, that is, in terms of volume, we are indeed now fifth, and there is every chance to take the place of Japan. But the structure of these countries ‘ economies, of course, differs favorably from ours.

We still have a lot to do to ensure that we have a decent position not only in terms of purchasing power parity, but also [in terms of GDP] per capita – the first. And the second thing is to change the structure itself, to make it much more efficient, more modern, and more innovative. That’s what we’ll be working on.

As for income, purchasing power parity is a very important indicator. This is the volume, the size of the economy. This means that the state receives funds for solving strategic tasks through the tax system at all levels. This gives us the opportunity to develop in the way we consider necessary for our country.

Dmitry Kiselyov:By the way, you are talking about the structure and the need for structural changes in our economy. After all, this is exactly what your Message said, and this is how the task is set: to ensure that innovative industries grow faster than the average economy.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, of course.

I have already said this: the structure is what we need to work on. The future of our economy, the future of our workforce, efficiency and productivity depend on this.

One of the main tasks today is to increase labor productivity. Because in the face of a shortage of workers and labor resources, we have only one way to develop effectively – to increase labor productivity. This, in turn, means that we must increase the innovative start of the economy, for example, increase the density of robotization. Today we have ten robots, in my opinion, for 10 thousand working people, but we need at least a thousand robots for 10 thousand working people. This is the case in Japan, in my opinion.

And in order for people to work on such new equipment – not only to use robotics, but also other modern means of production-they need to be trained. Another problem arises – training of personnel.

For this purpose, we have designated entire areas, including engineering training. You probably noticed that we have already launched 30 modern engineering schools across the country. This year we are launching 20 more-there will be 50. And we plan to add 50 more in the coming years.

Therefore, these areas are the future of our country. We will move forward and develop in these areas.

Dmitry Kiselyov: In order to “finish” the sanctions. Many people express the idea of creating a special body that would deal with sanctions, their reflection, in general, defense against sanctions. Is something like this supposed to happen, or does it make no sense?

Vladimir Putin: There is no need simply. We analyze-the Government, the Central Bank, the Security Council-everything that our enemies do. A lot of things are being done not even for political or military reasons, although they are argued for this, but simply for reasons of competition…

Dmitry Kiselyov: Unscrupulous and unfair competition.

Vladimir Putin: Unfair competition – under the guise of some political or military considerations. This was the case in the aircraft industry, and it is happening in so many other industries.

Well, we live in the world that exists, and we have adapted to it. We understand who we are dealing with. And so far, as can be seen from the results of our work, we are acting quite effectively.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But the West’s treachery is not limited to sanctions. Here is a quote from your address [to the Federal Assembly]: “The West is trying to drag us into a new arms race in order to exhaust and repeat the trick that they managed in the 80s with the USSR.” How big is our safety margin here in the face of an arms race, in fact?

Vladimir Putin: We need to get the maximum return on every ruble invested in the defense industry. Indeed, during the Soviet era, no one considered these costs, and no one, unfortunately, chased after efficiency in our country. Defense spending accounted for about 13 percent of the country’s GDP – the Soviet Union.

I will not refer to our statistics – we will refer to the Stockholm Institute: last year our defense spending was four percent, and this year-6.8, that is, we have grown by 2.8 percent. In principle, this is a noticeable increase, but absolutely uncritical. In the Soviet Union, it was 13 percent, and now we have 6.8 percent.

I must say that defense spending accelerates the economy, it makes it more energetic. But, of course, there are some limitations here, and we understand that. The age-old question: which is more profitable – guns or oil? We have this in mind.

Although, I repeat, the modern defense industry in our country is good because it not only indirectly affects civilian industries, but also uses the innovations needed for defense and uses these innovations to produce civilian products. This is an extremely important thing.

Our expenses, of course, are not comparable. How many in the United States are they? 800…

Dmitry Kiselyov: Under 900 already.

Vladimir Putin: Under 900 – 860 or 870 billion [dollars]. They are absolutely not comparable to our expenses.

Dmitry Kiselyov: It seems to me that they are sawing there, because they have no hypersound, nothing… What’s it?

Vladimir Putin: I’ll explain what’s going on. The fact is that they spend a lot of money on maintenance – and not only on salaries, but also on maintaining bases around the world. And there, as in a black hole, everything goes away – nothing can be counted. This is where the main cut is made. Although in the production of weapons of destruction, weapons in general are also spent such money that it is difficult to estimate.

If you calculate how much they cost, say, a missile defense system, and one of the main components of overcoming missile defense on our part-the Avangard, an intercontinental missile, and an intercontinental-range planning unit-then these are simply incomparable values. And we, in fact, nullified everything that they did, everything that they invested in this missile defense system. This is how you need to act.

And of course, without any doubt, the very economy of our Armed Forces must meet today’s requirements.

Dmitry Kiselyov: The word “justice” [справедливость] is a magic word for the Russian language. You use it very carefully, but still, one day you uttered this word in your Message – and it sounded like lightning. You said that the distribution of the tax burden should become more equitable in Russia, and suggested that the Government think about it. In what direction do you think?

Vladimir Putin: You know, indeed, the distribution of the tax burden should be fair in the sense that corporations, legal entities and individuals who earn more, in simple terms, should allocate more to the general treasury for solving national problems, primarily for solving problems related to combating poverty.

Dmitry Kiselyov: A progressive tax?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, in fact, a progressive tax.

I don’t want to go into details right now, but we need to work on it. And in this way, we need to build this system so that it really gives a great return on solving, first of all, social issues and tasks facing the state in this area.

We plan to reduce the tax burden, for example, for large families, and take a number of other steps in this direction. It seems to me that society will accept this absolutely normally. First.

Second. What does business itself ask of us? It asks us to decide on the tax system, but not to touch it again, so that it is stable. This is the most important request and requirement on the part of the business.

The Government should address this issue in the very near future and submit proposals together with the deputies of the State Duma.

Dmitry Kiselyov: A progressive tax – we won’t scare anyone off? We used to be always afraid of scaring someone off with this progressive tax.

Vladimir Putin: No, I don’t think so. In principle, we have established this system. Even those who were ardent supporters of the flat scale, the authors of the flat scale, now believe that in general we are ripe for acting much more selectively.

Dmitry Kiselyov: In the course of your address, you thanked your “colleagues from the Government” – this was the wording. Does this mean that Mishustin’s government – in the event of your victory-will be preserved?

Vladimir Putin: We still need to talk about this after the elections, after the votes are counted. It seems to me that this is simply incorrect right now. But in general, the Government is working – as we can see, the results are obvious, these are objective data-and it is working quite satisfactorily.

Dmitry Kiselyov: You mentioned reducing the tax burden for large families. Children and demographics – these topics were very extensive in your message. Indeed, the issue is quite painful, because demographically Russia is melting. Last year was an anti-record birth rate.

Vladimir Putin: I think the birth rate is 1.31 or 1.39…

Dmitry Kiselyov: 1.39 children per woman capable of giving birth.

Vladimir Putin: Childbearing age.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Ideally, we would probably need to double it to three. Because it is literally a disaster for society.

You have proposed a fairly large-scale program of maternity support and demographic incentives. Are you confident that these measures will reverse the downward-to-upward trajectory?

Vladimir Putin: In general, if we take into account all the measures to support families with children, we plan to spend up to 14 trillion rubles through various channels over the next six years. That’s a lot of money.

There are a lot of areas of support for families with children: starting from general social ones – construction or renovation of kindergartens, construction of new schools, repair of old schools, putting them in order in accordance with the requirements of today-to support women from pregnancy to the age of 18. After all, we have almost 400 thousand women now receiving benefits. This is almost every third woman who is expecting a child. And more than ten million children receive benefits. This is a serious thing.

We have continued the system of providing maternity capital. We have continued payments – these decisions are currently being made – in the amount of 450 thousand rubles per family, if there is a third child, to pay off the mortgage loan. We have retained mortgage benefits for families with children. In general, a whole set in very different areas in order to support families.

Of course, as you have already mentioned, this is also the fight against poverty, because, of course, it is much more difficult for families with children than for those with no children. This is understandable, the costs are high. Nevertheless, we have managed to do a lot in this area.

Look, 20 years ago we had, in my opinion, 29 percent of the population below the poverty line – that’s 42 million people. Now 9.3 percent, according to the latest data, but this is also 13 and a half million people. Of course, a lot. Of course, we need to do everything possible to reduce it to at least seven percent. And for large families-there is a more modest figure, but it should also be increased.

What do we assume when we talk about problems with the birth rate? I have already said it many times, and experts say it, these are objective things, namely: we had two very large declines in the birth rate. During the Great Patriotic War-1943-1944. A comparable decline occurred immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Just one to one, the same decline in the birth rate.

It is clear why: the social support system has collapsed. No matter how weak it was in the USSR, if you can talk about it, but still it was, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it disappeared almost completely, and poverty began to be complete. There’s no need to say anything right now. In any case, the family planning horizon declined during these years, and the birth rate fell before the war years. Then we had a climb. And now we have quite a large number of children, young people who will enter adulthood and childbearing age in a few years, and we assume that our indicators will also increase.

What you said is a global trend. There are only a few countries with developed economies that show positive demographic dynamics, while in all other countries everything goes into negative territory. This is a complex problem related to the economy and women’s life priorities. Now it is better not to go there, but let the demographers try, tell us and suggest a solution.

But do you know what sets you up for a positive mood? The mood in society. In our country, 70% of men and 72% of women want to have two or more children, and the state should support them. This is a whole large set of support measures that we are planning – We will definitely implement them, and we will do it.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But we are still not sure that these measures will turn the tide.

In the late 90’s-this is a well-known story, you told us about it yourself-you saved your children from a fire: you entered a burning house, on the second floor. And then they remembered that there was still money somewhere. Money in the fire and burned. This indicates your priorities: first-children, then-money.

Maybe now it’s the same across the country? Not 14 [trillions], but directly on everything, and create such a program to guarantee a reversal of this situation?

Vladimir Putin: You know, you need to watch this in the course of events, as they say. In the early 2000s, we took a number of steps in the field of demography, including the introduction of maternity capital and a number of other measures that gave an obvious positive result. This means that we can achieve the goals we need.

Dmitry Kiselyov: So there is such an experience?

Vladimir Putin: There is experience, of course, there is experience. And, using this experience and other modern developments, we should still count on achieving the goals that we set for ourselves. And as events unfold, we will adjust those measures or add something else to the measures that we will apply.

For example, we have just announced the Year of the Family. We have a new national project – “Family”. There are some elements that we have never used before. For example, 75 billion [rubles] will be allocated to those regions where the birth rate is lower than the national average. These are mainly the central regions of Russia and the North-West. 75 billion is a decent amount of money. You just need to use them correctly.

There is also such a component as caring for the elderly. There are other support measures. We need to raise the birth rate and increase life expectancy – then we will stabilize the country’s population. This is the most important integral indicator of our success or, perhaps, work that requires additional attention from all administrative levels and authorities.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Yes, but everywhere in the world there is also a third tool for solving demographic problems – immigration. What figures can we talk about in this six-year period, and what does consistency mean in this work?

Vladimir Putin: If we talk about migrant workers, we don’t have so many immigrants compared to other countries – they make up 3.7 percent of the total number of employees. But they are concentrated in those regions where economic life is most active, and there, of course, they are much more numerous. These are the Moscow region, Moscow, the North-Western region and some regions of the North where the level of wages is decent. But, without any doubt, this is an issue that requires special attention from the authorities-both local, regional, and federal.

What would you like to say here? A very important thing. After all, when they attract labor migrants, they always talk about the need to do this due to a shortage of workers. Our entrepreneurs should understand that the situation for them in terms of the availability of workers will not change for the better in the coming years – they will face a shortage of labor.

This means that in order to solve this problem radically – and now I will return to what we have already said – we need to increase labor productivity and reduce the number of employees in those areas where it is possible to do this, achieving even better results by introducing modern equipment. To do this, we need to invest in this area and train personnel – we have also already discussed this. This is the most important thing we need to think about.

In general, of course, migration policy is an important tool in the economy. Here it is not a sin to look at the experience of other countries. First of all, of course, we need to talk about the repatriation of our compatriots. What is repatriation and what is compatriots-we have already reflected in the regulatory framework, there is no need to repeat here.

We need to talk about attracting people who may not be going to move to the Russian Federation, but because of their qualifications, because of their talents in various fields, they can make a significant contribution to the development of our state, to the development of Russia. We will also be happy to attract such people.

As for traditional labor migrants, we also need to think about how to prepare them for coming to Russia, including with our partners in the countries where they live. This is the study of the Russian language, our traditions, culture, and so on. We need them to be taken care of and treated like a human being. So that they integrate naturally into our society. All this together should give a corresponding, I hope, positive effect.

Yes, and, of course, everyone should observe our traditions and the laws of the Russian Federation. And of course, compliance with sanitary standards and so on is very much in demand. Ensuring the safety of citizens of the Russian Federation should be the first priority.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Russians are probably the biggest divided nation in the world. You had a conversation with the “Leaders of Russia”, and one of your interlocutors said that in the Zaporozhye region we found that they are as Russian as we are. And for them-there was such an impression – it sounded like a revelation. In general, this is true, and we are now growing with new regions, and Odessa is a Russian city. Probably, there is great hope here, in this direction, too?

Vladimir Putin: Of course. The population density in these regions has always been quite high, and the climate is wonderful.

As for the Donbass, it is an industrially developed region-back in the days of the Soviet Union. How much the Soviet Union has invested in this region, in its coal mining industry, in the metallurgical industry! Yes, of course, investments are required to ensure that all production is modern, and that people’s living and working conditions are completely different from what they were a couple of decades ago.

As for Novorossiya, it is a region with a pronounced developed agriculture. Here we will do everything possible to support both traditional areas of activity and new ones that fit seamlessly into these regions and people’s desire to develop them. And there, you know, people are very talented.

Moreover, as I have already said, even taxes go to the federal budget from there. Yes, they need to be helped, supported, and brought to the national and federal Russian level at this stage. They will work, and very quickly.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Historically, it is quite obvious that the Nazi regimes themselves do not dissolve, but disappear as a result of military defeat. So it was in Germany, in Italy, in Japan. The same thing will obviously happen with Bandera’s Nazi regime. We are now moving along the entire front line, according to reports from both the Ministry of Defense and our war correspondents.

Still, did we manage to find a way to fight when our losses are less in the offensive than in the defense? This task is quite non-trivial for the art of war, but it always holds back the offensive. This is a frugality that is absolutely justified in relation to our hero warriors. But this question arises: how to move forward with minimal losses?

Vladimir Putin: The question is clear and fair. But the answer is also simple: we need to increase the means of destruction – the number and power of means of destruction, and increase the effectiveness of the forces and means used. Aviation – both tactical, and army, and the same strategic. I mean, of course, in those components that are acceptable for armed conflicts of this kind. These are ground-based weapons, including high-precision weapons. These are artillery and armored vehicles. We are developing, without any exaggeration, by leaps and bounds.

Dmitry Kiselyov: In this direction?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, it does. This is the answer to your question: the more powerful and more weapons-the less losses.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But the question still arises, what price are we willing to pay – perhaps the word “project” is not appropriate – for all this challenge that we have been forced to face historically?

Vladimir Putin: Look, every human life is priceless. And the loss of a loved one for a family, for any family, is a huge grief.

But the question is what? The question is to determine the very fact of what we are doing. What are we doing? We met today, and you have just noticed that one of the participants in the conversation said: we were surprised to find that there were Russians just like us. We came to the aid of these people. This is basically the answer to your question.

If we abandon these people today, then tomorrow our losses may increase many times, and our children will have no future, because we will feel insecure, we will be a third-or fourth-class country, no one will take us into account if we cannot protect ourselves. And the consequences can be disastrous for Russian statehood. That’s the answer.

Dmitry Kiselyov: The Americans seem to be talking about negotiations and strategic stability, but at the same time they are saying that it is necessary to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. Our position sounds like: “We are open to negotiations, but the time for good gestures has passed, they are over.” So, there will be no negotiations?

Vladimir Putin: We have never refused to negotiate.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But how does it mean that without good gestures, there is no compromise? How then?

Vladimir Putin: I’ll try to explain. When we were negotiating in Turkey, in Istanbul (I have already said this many times, I must repeat it again, I will do it again), with the negotiators from that side, we came up with a thick folio, a document, in fact, a contract, a draft contract. An excerpt from this agreement is available, it was initialed by the head of the negotiation group from Ukraine, Mr. Arakhamiya. He did it, there is his signature (we have it in the Administration). But then, as you know, Mr. Arakhamia himself told the world publicly, also at a meeting, in my opinion, with journalists, with foreign partners: the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Mr. Johnson, came and dissuaded them from finally signing and, accordingly, fulfilling this agreement. And the topic that you have just mentioned is that Russia needs to be defeated on the battlefield.

Are we ready to negotiate? Yes, we are ready. But only we are ready for negotiations that are not based on some “wishlist” after the use of psychotropic drugs, but based on the realities that have developed, as they say in such cases, on earth. This is the first one.

Second. After all, we have already been promised many things many times. They promised not to expand NATO to the East, and then we see them at our borders. They promised, if we don’t go deep into history, that the internal conflict in Ukraine will be resolved by peaceful means, by political means. As we recall, three foreign ministers arrived in Kiev, Poland, Germany and France, promised that they would be the guarantors of these agreements, and a day later a coup d’etat took place. They promised to fulfill the Minsk agreements, and then publicly stated that they were not going to fulfill these promises, but only took a pause to arm the Bandera regime in Ukraine. We were promised a lot of things, so promises alone are not enough here.

Right now, to negotiate just because they are running out of ammunition is somehow ridiculous on our part. Nevertheless, we are ready for a serious conversation, and we want to resolve all conflicts, and especially this conflict, by peaceful means. But we must clearly understand for ourselves that this is not a pause that the enemy wants to take for rearmament, but a serious conversation with the security guarantees of the Russian Federation.

We know the various options in question, we know the “carrots” that are going to be shown to us in order to convince us that the moment has come. We want, I repeat once again, to resolve all disputes and this dispute, this conflict, by peaceful means. And we are ready for it, we want it. But this should be a serious conversation with ensuring security for the opposing side, and in this case we are primarily interested in the security of the Russian Federation. We will proceed from this.

Dmitry Kiselyov:Mr President, I think we look a little too noble. Can’t we conclude something with them, and they will once again deceive us, and we will console ourselves with the fact that we are honest, and they deceived us? Is it our fate, after all, to remain a fool all the time?

Americans minted their own medals in the 1990s for winning the Cold War, and since then, all those decades have been decades of big lies. How can we even hope that they will go and finally conclude a fair contract with us, which they will fulfill, and even with guarantees for us? I do not know what to do with them at all? Do you really believe this is possible?

Vladimir Putin: ****I hate to say this, but I don’t believe anyone.****

Dmitry Kiselyov: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: But we need guarantees. Guarantees must be written down, they must be such that we would be satisfied, in which we will believe. That’s what we’re talking about.

Now, it is probably premature to publicly talk about what it could have been. But we certainly won’t buy into any empty promises.

Dmitry Kiselyov: I am afraid that you will be quoted in an extended way. Do you not trust anyone at all, or do you mean your Western partners in this case when you say that you don’t trust anyone?

Vladimir Putin: I prefer to be guided by facts, rather than good wishes and talk about trusting everyone. After all, you know, when decisions are made at this level, the degree of responsibility for the consequences of the decisions made is very high. Therefore, we will not do anything that does not meet the interests of our country.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Mr President, what happened to Macron? Has he lost his mind at all? He is going to send the French troops to fight with our army, he looks like a Gallic fighting rooster, thereby scaring all the Europeans. Still, how to respond to this?

Vladimir Putin: The fact is that the military of Western countries has been present in Ukraine for a long time, even before the coup, they were present, and after the coup, their number increased many times. Now they are also present directly in the form of advisers, they are present in the form of foreign mercenaries and suffer losses. But if we are talking about official military contingents of foreign countries, I am sure that this will not change the situation on the battlefield – this is the most important thing, just as the supply of weapons does not change anything.

Second, it can lead to serious geopolitical consequences. Because if, say, Polish troops enter the territory of Ukraine, as it sounds, to cover the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, for example, or in some other places, to free up Ukrainian military contingents to participate in combat operations on the contact line, then I think that Polish troops will never leave there again. I think so. They sleep and see, they want to return those lands that they consider historically their own and that were taken from them by the “father of nations” Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and transferred to Ukraine. They want them back, of course. And if official Polish units enter there, they are unlikely to leave.

But then their example can be followed by other countries that lost part of their territories as a result of the Second World War. I think that the geopolitical consequences for Ukraine, even from the point of view of preserving its statehood in its modern form, will certainly stand up in all its glory and in full growth.

Dmitry Kiselyov: If we return to Macron, maybe he decided to take revenge on Russia in this way because we “stepped on his tail” in Africa, and we had to “stand there, be afraid”? He probably didn’t expect us to be so active there.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I think there is some resentment, but when we maintained direct contacts, we spoke quite frankly about this topic.

We didn’t go into Africa and squeeze France out. The problem is different. The well-known Wagner group first carried out a number of economic projects in Syria, then moved to other African countries. The Ministry of Defense provides support, but only on the basis of the fact that this is a Russian group, nothing more. We didn’t squeeze anyone out. It’s just that the African leaders of some countries agreed with Russian economic operators, wanted to work with them, and did not want to work with the French in any way. It wasn’t even our initiative, it was an initiative on the part of our African friends.

If an independent state wants to develop relations with its partners from other countries, including Russia, and wants to develop relations with Russia, it is not clear why it should take offense at us in this regard. We didn’t touch them, the former French colonialists, in these countries. I even say this without irony, because in many countries where France has historically been a metropolis, they don’t really want to deal with them. We have nothing to do with it. It’s probably more convenient to take offense at someone without seeing your own problems. Perhaps such a sharp, rather emotional reaction on the part of the French President is also related to what is happening in some African states.

Although I know other countries in Africa, where they are calm about the French stay and say that ” yes, we are satisfied, we are ready to work with them.” But in some countries they don’t want to. We have nothing to do with it. We don’t incite anyone there, we don’t incite anyone against France.

We do not set ourselves such tasks. To be honest, we do not have such nationwide tasks at the level of the Russian state. We’re just friends with them, that’s all. They want to develop relations with us – for God’s sake, and we meet them halfway. There’s nothing to be offended about.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But now they are saying in France that there are no “red lines” left in relation to Russia, and nothing is impossible, and everything is possible. In general, they want to somehow talk to us on the basis of a balance of power. What we just do not hear from France, from the West, and from Lithuania. In general, some such choir is not harmonious, but hostile.

Maybe we should also make unconventional decisions and at some point turn to the two-million-strong North Korean army for help? For example, in exchange for our “nuclear umbrella” over half of the Korean Peninsula? Why not then?

Vladimir Putin: First, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has its own “nuclear umbrella”. They didn’t ask us for anything. This is the first one.

Second. In principle, as we can see today from the results of what is happening on the battlefield, we are coping with the tasks that we set for ourselves.

As for those states that say that they have no “red lines” in relation to Russia, they should understand that there will be no “red lines”in relation to these states in Russia either.

As for the small states of Europe, first of all, we treat everyone with respect, no matter what. Secondly, when they, these small states, call for a tougher policy towards Russia and take some extreme measures, including, for example, to send troops and so on, these are still those states, and they understand this, that will not feel the consequences of their provocative statements. And those who can feel it, they behave much more restrained. And correctly.

Dmitry Kiselyov: And all those German dances with Taurus? Scholz says “we do not supply”, but there are forces that insist on delivering Taurus to Ukraine, the British take their own initiative: let’s, they say, transit through England, we are ready to send. The target is the Crimean Bridge, German generals are already planning operations, as we have heard, not only the Crimean Bridge, but also military bases, as they say, in the depths of Russian territory. Some are already saying that these missiles can hit the Kremlin. Don’t they really bury themselves in their dreams?

Vladimir Putin: They fantasize, encourage themselves, first of all. Secondly, they are trying to intimidate us.

As for Germany, there are also constitutional problems there. They are right to say that if the Taurus gets into that part of the Crimean Bridge, which, of course, even according to their concepts is Russian territory, this is a violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The fact is that the opposition in Germany is behaving even more aggressively. Let’s see what they agree on. We are following this closely. They use the same British, American missiles. It doesn’t change the situation on the battlefield. Yes, they are causing us, of course, damage, this is obvious. But, in fact, this does not change the course of hostilities and the consequences that inevitably come for the opposite side.

We now hear that in the same Germany, both your channels, and foreign channels, German channels show how much they have, how much is in a faulty state, how much needs to be improved, upgraded, and so on. Let them work. As you correctly said, there are some things they need to think about. Who is smarter, he thinks.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But the new members of NATO – Finland and Sweden, in general, what did they exchange for? Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom suddenly told the Turks that Sweden is against having NATO bases on Swedish territory. What, they didn’t understand where they were going at all? What happened to them?

Vladimir Putin: You should ask them, I do not know. We have had quite good relations, stable relations with these countries, and I think that they have benefited more from the fact that they are neutral, because this gives certain advantages, at least as a negotiating platform to reduce tensions in Europe.

In general, we had perfect relations with Finland, just perfect. We did not have a single claim to each other, especially territorial, not to mention other areas. We didn’t even have any troops, we removed all the troops from there, from the Russian-Finnish border. Why did they do this? Based, in my opinion, on purely political considerations. I probably really wanted to be members of a Western club, under some kind of “umbrella”. Frankly, I don’t understand why they need it. This is an absolutely senseless step from the point of view of ensuring our own national interests. Nevertheless, it is up to them to decide, they have decided so.

We didn’t have any troops there, now we will. There were no defense systems there, now they will appear. What for? Our economic relations were very good. They used our market, and we bought a lot from them. What’s wrong with that? But now the situation will change. With their many products in other markets, they are not really needed, and ours do not receive enough. I don’t understand.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Meanwhile, in the United States, the war is raging.…

Vladimir Putin: You know, this is a household item, but nevertheless. In recent years, both Helsinki and the border regions of Finland have accepted Russian rubles. Including in Helsinki, in large supermarkets, you could buy whatever goods you wanted for rubles. There are all the ads around in Russian.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Now the border region is simply going bankrupt.

Vladimir Putin: Yes. What am I talking about? On the other hand, from the point of view of the economy, it is very good – real estate prices were kept at a fairly good level. From the point of view of the economy, it is good, but there were, apparently, forces that were completely right-wing conservative, nationalist, who did not really like it – such a rapprochement with Russia. Some even considered it redundant: “What are Russian houses and apartments being bought for? Everything here is in Russian…”

I don’t even think so, I know that such Russophobia has started to grow up at the everyday level. Maybe some political forces inside the country decided to take advantage of this domestic roll, maybe. The whole combination of these factors led to this decision. I think so, but I can’t be 100 percent sure. In any case, this certainly does not improve the security situation in any way – both in bilateral relations and in Europe as a whole.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But in the meantime, the United States is actively running for president. It can’t do without you. You invisibly participate in it, because you are mentioned by each of the candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties in their speeches and arguments. In general, it seems that you do not leave the pages of newspapers and TV news headlines there and are an argument in the election campaign of everyone. And you’re adding fuel to the fire.

Vladimir Putin: How is that?

Dmitry Kiselyov: Saying that one of the candidates is preferable for us. But if a foreign president generally says that one of the candidates in another country is preferable, then this is a classic interference in the election. In general, to what extent do you interfere in the American elections in this way, saying that Biden is preferable to us? And in general, how much is it so? Is this trolling or even what is it?

Vladimir Putin: No, you know, I will tell you one thing that will show you that nothing changes in my preferences here. First.

Second. We do not interfere in any elections and, as I have said many times, we will work with any leader who has the confidence of the American people, the American electorate.

But here’s what’s interesting. Even in the last year of his term as President, Mr. Trump, today’s presidential candidate, reproached me just because I sympathize with Biden. That was more than four years ago. He told me so in one of the conversations. Excuse me, I’ll say it like him, it’s just a direct speech: “You want sleeping Joe to win.

He told me so when he was still President. And then, to my surprise, he was harassed for allegedly supporting him as a candidate. Well, some complete nonsense.

As for the current pre-election situation, it is becoming increasingly uncivilized. I don’t want to make any comments on that.

But I think it is obvious to everyone that the American political system cannot claim to be democratic in every sense of the word.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Actually, to be honest, your preference for Biden sounds rather strange to me personally. After all, Biden came to Moscow in 2011 and tried to persuade you not to run for president.

Do you remember this story? Then he told about it, meeting with the Russian opposition in Spaso House. And Garry Kasparov wrote about this, that Biden told this story, that he came to the Russian White House to Prime Minister Putin and tried in every possible way to dissuade him from running for President and began to build an “Arab spring” in our country. So Biden didn’t seem to like you very much back then. You have such a historic duel with him. Or did it just go away?

Vladimir Putin: To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to this.

Dmitry Kiselyov: It’s over, isn’t it? You didn’t even pay much attention to it.

Vladimir Putin: Some kind of duel…

Dmitry Kiselyov: So it was serious for him, but not for you.

Vladimir Putin: This is just a sign of interference…

Dmitry Kiselyov: Yes, this is a 100 percent outright intervention.

Vladimir Putin: … in our domestic political processes. We have already spoken many times, and I have spoken many times: “We will not allow anyone to do this.”

Dmitry Kiselyov: All right.

If we avoid interference, pre-election battles, in fact, the escalation continues. It seems that both superpowers-Russia and the United States – are playing what in America is called the chicken game: this is when chickens jump on each other, and there it is a game when guys in cars fly into each other’s heads, and who will turn first. It seems that no one is going to turn off first. So, a collision is inevitable?

Vladimir Putin: Why not? Here in the United States, they announced that they are not going to send troops. We know what American troops are like on Russian territory. These are the interventionists. We will treat it this way, even if they appear on the territory of Ukraine, they understand this. I said that Biden is a representative of the traditional political school, and this is confirmed. But in addition to Biden and others, there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic deterrence.

So I don’t think it’s all so head-on here. But we are ready for this. I have said many times that this is a matter of life and death for us, but for them it is a matter of improving their tactical position in general in the situation in the world, but also in Europe in particular, preserving their status among their allies. This is also important, but not as important as it is for us.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Interestingly, you said that we are ready for this. The philosopher Alexander Dugin, a specialist in geopolitics, calls directly and practically to prepare for a nuclear war. “And the better we are prepared for it, the less likely such a war is,” says Alexander Dugin. How can you even be prepared for this? Are we really ready for nuclear war?

Vladimir Putin: From a military-technical point of view, we are certainly ready. They [the troops] are constantly in a state of combat readiness. This is the first one.

Second. This is also a generally accepted thing – our nuclear triad is more modern than any other triad, and only we and the Americans really have such a triad.

We have made much more progress here. We have it more modern, all the nuclear component. In general, we have approximate parity in terms of carriers and charges, but we have a more modern one.

Everyone knows this, all the experts know it. But this does not mean that we should measure the number of carriers and warheads, but we need to know about this. And I repeat, those who need it – experts, specialists, and the military-are well aware of this.

They are now setting a task to increase this modernity, novelty, and they have corresponding plans. We know that too. They develop all their components, and so do we. But this does not mean that, in my opinion, they are ready to unleash this nuclear war tomorrow. If they want to, what should I do? We are ready.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Perhaps we should conduct nuclear tests at some point to be more convincing. After all, we have no international restrictions for this.

Vladimir Putin: There is a treaty banning such tests, but unfortunately the United States has not ratified it. Therefore, in order to maintain parity, we have withdrawn this ratification. Since the treaty has not been ratified by the United States, and it has not entered into final force, because it has not received the necessary number of ratifications, nevertheless, we adhere to these agreements.

We know that the United States is considering conducting such tests. This is due to the fact that when new warheads appear, as some experts believe, it is not enough to test them only on a computer, which means that they need to be tested in their natural form. Such ideas are floating around in certain circles in the United States, they have a place to be, we know about it.

And we’re watching, too. If they conduct such tests, I don’t rule it out, not necessarily, we need it or not, we still need to think about it, but it is possible that we can do the same.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But are we technically ready for this?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, we are always ready. I want to make it clear that these are not ordinary types of weapons, this is the type, branch of the armed forces that is in constant combat readiness.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Mr President, did you ever think about tactical nuclear weapons during the difficult times of last year, I do not know, at the front in connection with Kharkiv or Kherson?

Vladimir Putin: And why? It was also at the suggestion of the then command of the group that we decided to withdraw our troops from Kherson. But this did not mean that the front was falling apart there. Nothing like this has ever happened before. It was simply done in order not to incur unnecessary losses among the personnel. That’s all. This was the most important motive, because in the conditions of combat operations, when it was impossible to fully supply the group located on the right bank, we would simply suffer unjustified losses of personnel. Because of this, it was decided to relocate to the left bank.

The correctness of this choice was confirmed by what the Ukrainian command tried to do in certain areas of the left bank, in the same village of Krynki: just like in a meat grinder, they threw their people there, and that’s all. They’ve been running around barefoot lately, in the truest sense of the word. They tried to throw ammunition to them there by high-speed boats and drones. What is it? Just to be slaughtered, sent to be slaughtered.

I once asked the Chief of the General Staff, there is nothing secret here, I said: “Listen, who do you think makes such decisions from the other side? After all, the one who makes the decision understands that he sends people to their deaths?” He says, ” They understand.” I say, ” Who makes the decision, why do they do it? It’s pointless.” “Meaningless from a military point of view.” I say, ” Which one?” “I don’t know,” he says, ” probably the top political leadership, based on political considerations, that they have some chance to break through our defenses, there is some chance to get additional money, referring to the fact that they have some kind of foothold on the left bank, there is some kind of base, this is a chance to present your position beautifully at international meetings.” The command has passed, all lower-level bosses automatically issue further instructions.

But, by the way, the prisoners who were captured there surrendered, they show that they did not even know what situation they were in. Let’s say that new units are being deployed there and they say: “There is a stable defense there, come on, continue, help.” They couldn’t even get to the left bank anymore.

Dmitry Kiselyov: A tragedy.

Vladimir Putin: It’s natural. From a human point of view, absolutely.

So why do we need to use weapons of mass destruction? There has never been such a need.

Dmitry Kiselyov: So this idea never occurred to you?

Vladimir Putin: No. And why? Weapons exist to be used. We have our own principles, what are they talking about? That we are ready to use weapons, including any weapon, including the one you mentioned, if we are talking about the existence of the Russian state, about harming our sovereignty and independence. We have everything spelled out in our Strategy. We didn’t change it.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Mr Putin, when outgoing President Yeltsin suggested that you run for president, your first reaction was: “I’m not ready.”

Vladimir Putin: That’s right, it’s a direct speech.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Of course, you have evolved a lot since then. If you had to write a telegram to yourself at that time, what text would it contain?

Vladimir Putin: You know, it’s like “Yankees at King Arthur’s Court” or something like that. It is impossible to answer this question, because the question was asked at that time, in the context of the historical and economic situation in which the country was located, in the internal political situation from the point of view of internal security. And all of this together led me to the answer I gave: “I’m not ready for this.” Not because I was afraid of something, but because the scale of the tasks was huge, and the number of problems increased every day like a snowball. So I said it sincerely and not because, I repeat, I was afraid of something, but because I thought that I was not ready to solve all these problems, God forbid, I would do something even worse. That’s what it was all about. So I said it absolutely sincerely, and if I came back, I would repeat the same thing.

Dmitry Kiselyov: What was the decisive factor then? You went after all.

Vladimir Putin: I think I’ve had some conversations with Boris Nikolayevich.

Most importantly, in the end, what did he say to me back then: “Okay, okay, I understand, we’ll get to that later.” And we’ve come back to this several times.

In the end, he said that I was an experienced person, I knew what I was doing, what I was offering, and he said some other things to me. Probably, it is inconvenient to praise yourself, but I said such positive words. Later, he confirmed this again, this time in a completely positive way, I will not talk about it now.

And when the work started, everything was completely different there. You know, when you work, you think: this, this, this is what you need right now, this is now, this is tomorrow – and it went, and it went. When you get involved in a job, it’s a completely different story.

Dmitry Kiselyov: There is no time to be afraid already.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, it’s not about fears, but about understanding, about being able to solve these problems. Remember for yourself what the year 1999 is like in the economy, security, finance, and everything else.

Dmitry Kiselyov: You once said that preparing for admission to Leningrad University was a turning point for you. It was a situation where you had to go all-in, knowing: either I will do it now and I will manage, and then I will carry out the plans that I want (and you were already going to work in the KGB), or I lost, and then everything is different and there are no chances. Is Russia now also in a position where it is necessary to play all-in?

Vladimir Putin: First of all, I didn’t have such a position then. Yes, I wanted to work in the state security agencies.

Dmitry Kiselyov: It was the admission, it was such a turning point, it’s a feeling, isn’t it? Either this or that?

Vladimir Putin: Not quite. I just came to the waiting room and said: “I would like to work. What is needed for this?”

The alternative was simple: I was told that I either need to get a higher education, and preferably a law degree, or serve in the army, or have at least three years of work experience, but it is better to serve in the army. If I hadn’t gone to university, I would have joined the army.

Yes, it might have been a longer way to reach the goal that I set for myself, but it was still there. There is always an alternative.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But you did it with tension.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, of course, because I was still studying at a school with a chemical and mathematical bias, and here I had to take humanities subjects. I had to leave one thing and do another.

Yes, of course, there was tension. It was necessary to learn a foreign language independently, German in this case, it was necessary to study history, literature, and so on.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Russia is also at a crossroads right now: either it turns out, or…

Vladimir Putin: ***Russia is not at a crossroads. It is on the strategic path of its development and will not deviate from its path.***

Dmitry Kiselyov: To what extent do you feel the support of the Russian society in this new capacity? After all, a new quality of Russian society has emerged.

Vladimir Putin: It was there, it just showed up. And it is very good that we have given this deep Russian society an opportunity to express itself. I have a feeling that people have been waiting for this for a long time, that an ordinary person will be in demand by the country and the state, and the fate of the country depends on him. It is this sense of inner connection with the Motherland, with the Fatherland, its importance in solving key tasks, in this case in the field of security, that has brought to the surface the strength of the Russian and other peoples of Russia.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Do you feed off of it?

Vladimir Putin: Always. The point is not even that someone feeds, the point is that I see the requests of society. This is the most important thing – to meet the needs of society.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But it is time to recognize that you play a key role not only in Russia, but also in the world, because billions of people associate you with the hope for international justice, for the protection of human dignity, and for the protection of traditional values. How does it feel to feel so much responsibility?

Vladimir Putin: To tell you the truth, I don’t feel it at all. I just work in the interests of Russia, in the interests of our people. Yes, I understand what you are talking about now, and I am ready to comment on it. But so that I feel like some kind of arbiter of the world’s destinies, there is no such thing. Believe me, not even close. I’m just doing my duty to Russia and to our people, who consider Russia their homeland.

As for other countries of the world, this is very closely related to how we are treated around the world. That’s interesting. It’s a phenomenon, that’s for sure.

What I would like to draw your attention to. Here you are absolutely right, many people in the world look at us, at what is happening in our country and in our struggle for our interests.

That, in my opinion, is what is important. And why is this happening? Not because we are formally members of BRICS or have any traditional relations with Africa. This is also important, but the point, in my opinion, is completely different. It lies in the fact that this so-called golden billion for centuries, 500 years, practically parasitized other peoples. They tore apart the unfortunate peoples of Africa, they exploited Latin America, they exploited the countries of Asia, and of course no one has forgotten it. I have a feeling that it is not even a matter of the leadership of these countries, although this is very important, and ordinary citizens of these countries feel in their hearts what is happening.

They associate our struggle for our independence and true sovereignty with their aspirations for their own sovereignty and independent development. But this is compounded by the fact that there is a very strong desire among Western elites to freeze the existing unfair state of affairs in international affairs. They have been used to stuffing their bellies with human flesh and their pockets with money for centuries. But they must understand that the vampire ball is ending.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Are you alluding to their, as you put it in your address, colonial ways? You’re talking about it.

Vladimir Putin: That’s what happens.

Dmitry Kiselyov: But now you have drawn a completely fair picture when people see some hope in Russia. How did it happen that Western propaganda, with all its power, its enormous resources and tools, could not pupate Russia, isolate it and create a false image of it, even though it was trying in the minds of billions of people? How did this happen?

Vladimir Putin: Because what I just said is more important to people. People all over the world feel this in their hearts. They don’t even need any pragmatic explanations for what is happening.

Dmitry Kiselyov: That is, despite the amount of dirt?

Vladimir Putin: Yes. In their own countries, they also fool people, and this has an effect. They – in many countries-believe that this is in their interests, because they do not want to have such a huge country as Russia on their borders. The largest in the world in terms of territory, the largest in Europe in terms of population – not such a large population in the global dimension, not comparable to either China or India, but the largest in Europe – and now the fifth largest economy in the world. Why do we need such a competitor? They think: no, it is better, as some American experts suggested, to divide it into three, four, or five parts – this will be better for everyone. They proceed from this.

And some, at least, of the Western elites, blinded by their Russophobia, were happy when they brought us to the line after which our attempts to end the war unleashed by the West in Ukraine in 2014 by force began, when we moved to conduct a special military operation. They were even happy, I think. Because they thought that now they would finish us off, and now under this barrage of sanctions, practically a sanctions war declared on us, with the help of Western weapons and a war by the hands of Ukrainian nationalists, they would finish Russia off. Hence the slogan: “Inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield.”

But later came the realization that this was unlikely, and even later that it was impossible. And the realization came that instead of strategic defeat, they were facing impotence, and impotence, despite the fact that they relied on the power of the all-powerful United States. They are faced with impotence before the unity of the Russian people, before the fundamental foundations of the Russian financial and economic system, its stability, and before the growing capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

And that’s when they started thinking – those who are smarter, began to think – that it would be necessary to change some kind of strategy in relation to the Russian Federation. Then there was the idea of resuming the negotiation process, finding some ways to end this conflict, and finding out where Russia’s real interests are here. These are dangerous people, by the way, because it is easier to fight people who are guided by such base principles.

Do you remember what they used to say in Russia? What was the happiness of some people at the household level? Full, drunk, and snuffed out. Yes? Here with such people it is easier when you are full, drunk, that is, full, drunk. Nose in tobacco, because snuff was used. Now the nose is covered in cocaine. It doesn’t matter if it’s easier with such people, but it’s more difficult with smart ones – they are more dangerous, because they affect the consciousness of society, including ours, and they will throw out all sorts of their “wishlist” under the guise of “carrots” for us.

You already noticed this when you asked about the possibility of a negotiation process. But still. Hence the contradictions within the Western community. This is an obvious thing, we can see it.

We are not going to engage in splits there – they will do it brilliantly themselves. But we will certainly seek to protect our interests.

Dmitry Kiselyov: I can’t help but ask. These attacks on the Belgorod and Kursk regions are military actions that are taking place in our regions. They behave more brazenly – do they feel something? What causes this?

Vladimir Putin: The explanation is very simple. All this is happening against the backdrop of failures on the contact line, on the front line. They didn’t achieve any of the goals they set for themselves last year. Moreover, the initiative has now completely passed to our Armed Forces. Everyone knows this, everyone recognizes it. I don’t think I’ll say anything new here. Against the background of those failures, they need at least something to show, and, mainly, attention should be focused on the information side of the matter.

On the state border line, the enemy tried to attack primarily with sabotage groups. The latest report of the General Staff: somewhere up to 300 people, including with the participation of foreign mercenaries. The enemy’s losses amounted to more than 200 people – about 230. Of the eight tanks used, the enemy lost seven, of the nine armored vehicles-nine, of which seven were American-made, Bradley. Other armored vehicles were also used, but mainly for transporting personnel: they pick you up, drop you off, and leave right away. This is on the Belgorod section of the border. A little further south, in my opinion, in one place-there are much smaller forces. Nevertheless, the main goal, I have no doubt, is to prevent, if not disrupt the presidential elections in Russia, then at least somehow interfere with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens. First.

Second. This is an informational effect, which I have already mentioned.

The third. If at least something happens, get some chance, some argument, some trump card in the possible future negotiation process: we’ll give it back to you, and you’ll give it back to us.

But as I said, with people who are guided by principles: well-fed, drunk, and interested in well-known material-it’s easier to talk to them, because you can calculate what they’re going to do. They will also try in some other areas, but we can see that.

Dmitry Kiselyov: We mentioned the episode when you saved your children from a fire, but you already have grandchildren. What country would you like to leave to your grandchildren?

Vladimir Putin: You know, at the first stage, we need to fulfill everything that was stated in the Message to the Federal Assembly a few days ago. We have big plans. They are quite specific in the sphere of economic development, social sphere, support for motherhood, childhood, families with children, support for pensioners. We haven’t talked much about this lately, or haven’t talked much about it, but we also have the appropriate resources laid down here. This applies to the indexation of pensions, various benefits, and long-term care for people who need it.

I would like to say that the people of the older generation are the ones who make us have a fairly strong and stable statehood and economy today. Because, despite all the twists and turns and the most difficult tests for the economy in the 90s, it survived thanks to their heroic work after the Great Patriotic War and during the economic recovery. Therefore, we should never forget about this-about the merits of the older generation. We should always keep this in mind, ensuring their proper well-being. The future belongs to children, so I have already talked about programs in the field of motherhood and childhood.

All this is done only on the basis of the economy. I hope that it will be more technologically advanced, more modern, and based on modern achievements in science and technology, information technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, genetics, and so on. How our agriculture is developing! And modern technologies are also needed there. They are actively used and will continue to be used.

Of course, the country will be self-sufficient in ensuring its security and defense. All this together we will have to multiply many times – and the future will be assured.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Thank you, Mr President. Your confidence is contagious. I wish you success in your noble deeds.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Dmitry Kiselyov: Thank you.

Several segments were super-emphasized: First regarding the trustworthiness of those from the Empire of Lies—”I hate to say this, but I don’t believe anyone.” And second and most importantly regarding its development, “Russia is not at a crossroads. It is on the strategic path of its development and will not deviate from its path.” Readers may have more than those, and there’re passages I’ve emphasized when they were first produced during previous events that I chose to leave alone. Putin reminds me of numerous US Presidents from the first 80 years of the 19th Century who deemed it unbecoming for them to promote themselves during their Presidential campaigns. Putin was also gracious and correct to note that Russia’s development plans and their implementation is a team effort spanning Russia. Putin’s observation that today’s Russian society isn’t new, that it’s always been there and is experiencing a resurrection, was very important as it connects past efforts and great deeds with the present. Putin’s pause to talk about pensions and pensioners—points that haven’t got much illumination recently—was also important as it emphasized that healthier demographics includes lengthening lifespan and reassuring his peers that their security will also continue and improve. The approach to the migrant workers issue was also well thought as was his directness about the lack of labor lasting a decade or more. I expect robots to appear in Russia’s retail sector very soon and in the transport sector freeing people to advance well beyond being a clerk or driver.

In the opening, there was the discussion about the construction of a very difficult Sochi-Dzhubga highway traversing geography very similar to that of the Northern California Coastline that Highway 1 snakes through but has no real shoreline since it’s the leading edge of the North American Plate and thus nothing to develop. The map that’s below is the best I could find depicting the region, although there are many that do a very good job of showing the immediate Sochi region;

The terrain along the coast continues another 40 K to the North—a significant engineering challenge. That challenge can serve as a metaphor for the trials Russia will face in its development over the next 6 years. There’s plenty of work to be done, and then as Putin continually says, there’ll be more work to be done.

The General Staff brings the Cure

Par : AHH

On the healing power of the Holy Russian General Staff

By Marat Khairullin

What Europe is doing today is literally incomprehensible to the mind. I emphasize: the mind of a modern, civilized, well-informed person, brought up on humanitarian values. Today we all have the opportunity, as they say, online, live to watch as Europe once again slides into the era of savagery and primitive cruelty. The worst thing is that today we can clearly see how huge chunks of modern Europe are peeling off the veneer of civilization that our neighbors have been so proud of in recent decades. And, probably, even more frightening here is that you can clearly see how thin this raid was.

Decades of peace after the Great Patriotic War allowed all of humanity to forget that for centuries Europe was a source of threat to all of humanity. There is no abomination that European civilization does not invent and embody in relation to Man – any form of oppression, genocide, mass burning of women, concentration camps, slavery and the destruction of entire peoples by starvation, colonialism and neocolonialism, the mass introduction of homosexuality as a form of “soft genocide” against the entire human race, etc. so on and so forth…

And the pinnacle of all this: Europe has unleashed two world wars and is now rapidly unleashing a third… That is, some satanic gene that seeks to destroy humanity is embedded in the very structure of European civilization.

Two world wars and tens of millions of innocent victims did not cure Europe of this monstrous genetic disease, and now, before the eyes of the whole world, it is trying to ignite a Third World War, which threatens to destroy this time everyone on the planet, including the planet itself…

Probably, now many of my readers will ask the question-why this philosophical speech from a reporter working exclusively on earth. And the fact is that here on earth, and specifically in the trenches, I discovered that the cure for this satanic European gene has long been developed by our country in the form of fundamental concepts on which domestic military science is built.

Of course, I draw conditional parallels, but the point is that our strategic planners assume that sooner or later Europe will once again attack us. And based on this, they make their own plans. Moreover, as I understand it, based on historical experience, a clear gradation of signs of the coming European invasion has been developed. They fit into a fairly simple formula: as soon as Europe starts moving its borders towards Russia, expect an attack. It’s always been like this. And, as I understand it, the entire current foreign and domestic policy of Russia is based on the fact that a future war with Europe is inevitable.

I have repeatedly written about the profound signs that indirectly indicate this assessment of the situation by our authorities. For example, the country’s defense sector has been sent a clear signal from the highest level that the current rate of financing for the industry will continue for at least a decade. So that production workers are not afraid to deploy additional capacities, realizing that they will always find sales.

However, today, against the background of the fact that Europe has already openly announced another campaign to the East, it makes sense to talk about what cards we are playing in this escalation. Especially in comparison with the situation on the eve of the first two World Wars.

So, the main difference, from my point of view, is that both the first and Second World Wars were not only inevitable for us, but, obviously, we entered them with a much smaller set of trump cards than our opponents. Roughly speaking, the actions of our opponents dictated our moves. For example, the enemy not only deployed its military capabilities before us, but also tested them much earlier.

The German Army in ‘ 41 already had considerable combat experience. This was its main difference from the Red Army. A very important factor is that at the beginning of the war, we were inferior not in terms of the number or quality of armored vehicles, but in terms of the number of experienced, shelled crews.

The same applies to aviation, infantry, artillery, and so on.

Today, the situation is just the opposite, and our moves are already imposing behavior on the enemy. Our army has not just accumulated combat experience, which determines its effectiveness. A powerful single grouping of under a million people has been created, which is unfolding in ever-increasing directions. This is evidenced, for example, by yesterday’s events in the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction.

The enemy tried to simply move in our direction and immediately received losses of one hundred people, not counting equipment – this is comparable, for example, to the daily losses of Ukrov in such a hot direction as Kherson.

In other words, Russia has managed to deploy a full-fledged military group with real combat experience in this area in just six months. This is, by the way, to the question of rumors about the breakthrough of our troops in the Kharkiv direction. Obviously, the declared operation Ukrov had primarily intelligence purposes. Well, we’ve scouted it.

Russia today has not only real combat experience, we have well-trained and war-tested specialists at all levels. For example, our command did not just let most of the officers through the front line. Our army, which is much more important, in two years managed to grow from scratch a whole generation of front-line middle-level officers (or, probably, tactical-dear readers, tell me) – this is clearly seen in the example of my native “Slavyanka”. I won’t talk about the mechanism in detail, but anyone who closely follows my publications can see what serious combat work is going on in terms of raising future great commanders from young combat soldiers.

This is a very difficult, sometimes frankly difficult and cruel process, but it is going very fast. I, for example, see how a conditional thirty-year-old battalion commander came to the brigade three months ago-a boy, yesterday’s platoon and company commander, and how he becomes after running in continuous battles in the experienced, well-coordinated Slavyanka brigade.

You probably shouldn’t write about this in live reports, but you, my dear readers, can watch this process in an artistic presentation in essays and stories.

And now I look at this cohort of “Slavyanka” battalion commanders and imagine what they will do from the European army. Do not forget that each battalion commander of the “Slavyanka”, which I write about, is already a ready-made squadron – you can appoint it right now.

What is also important here is that these young people, in general, are also well trained and educated. And” Slavyanka ” is not the only one at the front. Today, only the potential of such (let’s call them “super-experienced”) units as my “Slavyanka”, which have an excellent officer backbone, capable of fighting in any conditions, is estimated at 100 thousand bayonets.

The peculiarity of such units is that they are assigned to newly formed units (usually three or four), which, in conjunction with an experienced unit, adopt combat experience in practice.

And today, thanks to such a system, I see that once raw units are being transformed into strong combat regiments and brigades. And in addition, there are also special shock-assault units, also constantly fighting since the beginning of the SVO and having a huge accumulated combat experience. These are mostly our paratroopers and Marines. The potential of these forces is estimated at 150 bayonets.

That is, we have only in the first line “super-experienced” pure infantry troops numbering about 250 thousand. But there are also exactly the same “super-efficient” and experienced purely artillery, rocket, engineering, aviation, etc. units. What are the Europeans going to do with all this?

Moreover, it is necessary to emphasize once again what constitutes the “super-efficiency” of these teams. On the example of Slavyanka, I have already written more than once how in the summer, just to keep the front in our direction, the Ukry kept the number of troops in the ratio of one to three in front of our position in a defense zone about 10 kilometers deep. That is, for one of our three dill just sat in the trenches. The calculation was that when we go on the offensive (even with a total advantage in aviation and art), our losses in personnel will exceed Ukrop. And we will simply drown in our own blood (who counts dill-no one cared about them, the main thing is our losses).

It’s like a classic: the attackers always suffer heavy losses. Simply due to the fact that the Ukry diligently dug into the ground. In the end, everything turned out exactly the opposite – the Nazis suffered enormous losses.

And if in Bakhmut, according to Prigozhin’s estimates, the losses were one to three in our favor. Even during the counteroffensive in Zaporizhia, dill losses were, according to official estimates, one in eight. And now clearly more. According to my feelings, somewhere one in ten, at least, if not more-there are also a number of indirect signs that are clearly visible to a person who is inside the process.

And this actually put the entire military science of NATO in a stupor – how are they going to fight with such soldiers and with such an army vehicle?

Let’s imagine what the NATO countries can put up against us. For example, the same France, which, through the mouth of Macron, announced the first readiness to march to the East.

France has two divisions of constant combat readiness. The conditional number of real combat bayonets (without real combat experience) is about 7 thousand. At the same time, an extreme check revealed that the combat kit in tanks and armored vehicles is half of what it should be. This is, I emphasize, in the troops of constant combat readiness.

And for this unprecedented power, the whole of France has several dozen artillery barrels and less than a dozen MLRS barrels.

For comparison, according to some estimates, the density of our barrel artillery near Avdiivka was about 60 barrels per kilometer (including self-propelled guns), plus twenty MLRS installations. Plus tanks, UAVs and aircraft.

An even more interesting picture emerges if you know that about 20 percent of French men are homosexuals. Among young people, this percentage exceeds 30 and confidently tends to 40.

You can imagine how homosexuals are fighting – dill, which is strongly moving towards European values, has not been able to gather a single blue battalion.

Few people know, but one of the problems of the Israeli army is a very high percentage of homosexuals (the second problem is religious people who do not want to take up arms). Therefore, the IDF that is destroying Gaza today is not doing it as effectively as the one that fought for the freedom and survival of Israel. Homosexuals make good executioners, but warriors are not so-so.

And what kind of advertising would it be, imagine, in the case of dill: gay fighters tear up the defense of the totalitarian army of Russia and plant a rainbow flag in Donetsk. But it didn’t work out, although they tried repeatedly – the perverts don’t want to fight, and that’s it.

And if so, who will the French send to die on the Eastern Front – the very Arabs who regularly burn their suburbs?

I imagined it: a French Arab immigrant in the winter, but with a bare bottom in a cold puddle in the same trench on the Eastern Front. Such a gay Verdun with an Arabic accent. Very funny.

Or let’s imagine how England will send its Sasu to the Eastern Front, which it is so proud of (that’s all it has). Which will fall, for example, into the clutches of my “Slavyanka”, where there is such a gambling social competition between bats – drive the special forces to the grave. Oh, how much fun it will be – English special forces, with English toilet paper in English backpacks, guys will line up to fight with them. You know, in an aggressive queue like this.

This is not a joke, I told you how the 36th marine brigade of Ukropia lost a battalion of the same special forces trained by the same British sasa in Opytne. As if it wasn’t there, they pretended it wasn’t.

Or how we ate a special forces company of the 3rd assault brigade with diplomas of the American Delta Force near Avdiivka for an afternoon snack. No matter how you look at it, special forces in the southern Russian steppes are not fighting against Russian infantry.

Of course, you can also talk about the Poles, imagine how they will sit in the trenches – these are the very farmers who are now blocking the border with dill. Oh, sorry, but they’ve been here before. Bold ones, flags were openly hung here last summer. We hung there for exactly two weeks, then we went on the attack once – I’m not lying-exactly once, at night, we lost five people to our only position. The next morning, the flags were quickly removed and we did not see them again. No flags, no Poles. In short, Poles, ay, come, we are waiting. You haven’t answered us yet for Susanin.

Speaking in general, the third campaign of the Europeans themselves, who decided not to hide behind dill like a fig leaf anymore, against Russia is still starting so-so. Let’s see what happens next.

As for our side, our Supreme Leader once said [not] in vain that he preferred the prevention of disease to doctors and pills.

We thought that the GDP was talking about human health, but it turns out that it is about our General Staff, which at the moment, like some medieval saint, is preventing Europeans from the Third World War by applying healing bombs and shells to dill.

It will not help, well, then that very gambling and fun Russian infantry will go directly to the treatment. The only thing I would personally wish for here, this time to make Europe healthier for good, is to cut out the damn gene once and for all, with all their gonorrhea, genocide and homosexuality, so that it will never be customary to interfere with the life of normal humanity again.

Marat Khairullin

West in 404: Nuke or Kneel

Par : AHH

And both options lead to same defeat.. Brian Berletic breaks down the Ukraine’s Manpower Crisis: No Amount of Money or Aid Can Solve It

He uses the US Army’s own [admittedly inadequate] doctrine to explain why the Ukraine is finished in terms of manpower, even if further financing and weapons resupply were possible. They lack the time, especially seasoning top cadre, in order to be combat effective. And the ideal environment in which to train within the Ukraine, already involved and enveloped in the hellscape of war. No place on the Ukraine is safe from Russian stand-off weaponry.

The options confronting the sinking West are bitter indeed: double down into nuclear war, as NATO itself lacks the tools and manpower to halt much less defeat the Russian Armed Forces. Or accept defeat and the end of their centuries-old Hegemony.

More detail from The New Atlas:
🔹Ukraine is suffering from a growing military manpower crisis in addition to a lack of arms and ammunition;
🔹Trained military manpower takes up to half a year to produce, new brigade-sized units can take up to 30 months to stand up;
🔹Ukraine and its Western sponsors simply cannot produce trained military manpower faster than Russia is removing it from the battlefield;
🔹This leaves the collective West with the choice of either accepting it has lost its proxy war with Russia, or attempting to intervene more directly;

References:
🔹NEO – Ukraine’s Manpower Crisis: No Amount of Money or Aid Can Solve It (March 5, 2024):
🔹The Kyiv Independent – Ukraine struggles to ramp up mobilization as Russia’s war enters 3rd year (March 3, 2024):
🔹The Washington Post – Front-line Ukrainian infantry units report acute shortage of soldiers (February 8, 2024):
🔹US Department of Defense – The National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) (2023-2024):
🔹NEO – Fatal Flaws Undermine America’s Defense Industrial Base (February 15, 2024):
🔹US Department of Defense – Press Release: Evaluation of Sustainment Strategies for the Patriot Air Defense Systems Transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces (DODIG-2024-056) and Evaluation of the DoD’s Sustainment Plan for Bradley, Stryker, and Abrams Armored Weapon Systems (February 20, 2024):
🔹Reuters – Ukraine considers proposal by army to mobilise another 500,000 for war (December 2023):
🔹Reuters – Who are the forces involved in Ukraine’s counteroffensive? (June 2023):
🔹US DoD – Defense Officials Hold Media Brief on the Training of Ukrainian Military (March 2022):
🔹The US Army War College Quarterly – Expanding Brigade Combat Teams: IS the Training Base Adequate? (2017):

Where to Find My Work:
🔹Website: https://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/
🔹Telegram: https://t.me/brianlovethailand
🔹Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianJBerletic

Russia Rising; West outta Options

Par : AHH

PEPE ESCOBAR Interview: Ukrainian PR Stunt on the Russian Border, NATO in Ukraine, Multipolarity and More

The ‘Rockstar of Geopolitics’ Returns to the DDG Show! Discussing Desperate Attempts to Create Chaos Before Russian Elections, NATO Troops in Ukraine, the Collective West Running Out of Options for ‘Project Ukraine,’ and More!

Russia and The Holy Land

Par : AHH

A continuation of the thought of “Zionism, Arrogance & World War III” — why a rising Orthodox Russia is fated to bury both Messianic Judaism and the hired western muscle in the Holy Land — from the perspective of geopolitics and geoeconomics. The eschatological consequences of lose-lose predicaments are profound

By Jamal Wakim at Al Mayadeen.

What is happening in the Middle East is a major battle centered on the main axis: Palestine

Gamal Abdel Nasser announced in 1969 that the battle on the banks of the Suez Canal would decide the fate of the world. This piece explains how.

Russia’s victory in struggle with collective West will be achieved in Middle East, not Eastern Europe

This article discusses the importance of what is happening in the Middle East and the battle taking place there specifically in the region extending from Egypt in the west to Iraq in the east to determine the fate of the world. When we talk about this region, there is a connection between the battle taking place in the Middle East and the battle that has always been taking place in the heart of Eurasia, specifically against Russia.

In the past two centuries, Russia was the one facing the so-called collective West, and it was the spearhead in confronting this collective West. In the early nineteenth century, this collective West was represented by Napoleon, and after that, during World War II, the collective West was represented by Nazi Germany, and after World War II, the collective West was represented by the United States of America.

Napoleon and the Grande Armée retreat from Moscow, 1812

Experience facing Napoleon

In the face of Napoleon’s invasion, we must understand that there was a project for this collective West, represented by global hegemony, and this collective West began its attack in Egypt and the occupation of Egypt in the year 1799. France’s failure in Egypt two years later was what determined Napoleon’s fate, and therefore his defeat was a matter of time in the confrontation against Russia. After that, Napoleon did not succeed in isolating Russia after the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805, despite his victory in this battle. After that, Napoleon had to invade Russia in an attempt to subjugate it, and in this way, he recruited an army from various parts of Europe to begin his invasion of Russia.

On June 24, 1812, and the following days, the first wave of the multinational French Grande Armée crossed the Niemen River, beginning the French invasion of Russia. Despite the great advance of the French forces inside Russian territory, and despite their tactical victory over the Russian army in the Battle of Borodino, and then Napoleon’s occupation of Moscow itself, he was unable to achieve victory over Russia and began his withdrawal five weeks after his entry into Moscow, only to be defeated tactically in the battle. Bonaparte began his retreat before the Russian forces, which pursued him until Paris, where he was forced to abdicate and accept exile to the island of Elba, off the coast of Corsica. Despite his desperate attempt to return to power in early 1815, Napoleon was actually defeated by Russia, but his strategic defeat had begun with his failure in Egypt a decade and a half before that date.

German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at El Alamein, Egypt, 1942

World War II experience

Then, during World War II, Nazi Germany launched a military campaign in North Africa as part of its larger strategic goals. This campaign, led by General Erwin Rommel, was known as the North African Campaign. However, Nazi Germany’s primary focus in Eastern Europe was not initially directed toward the Russian heartland. Instead, it invaded Poland in 1939, which led to the outbreak of the war in Europe. Later, in June 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, with the intention of capturing key cities like Moscow and Leningrad.

At the time, the advance of Erwin Rommel’s forces in North Africa constituted an attempt to isolate it and reach the Suez Canal and cut off British access to the Middle East. In parallel, Nazi forces had begun to invade the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. They advanced toward major cities like Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad; where they faced tough resistance from the Soviet military and encountered numerous logistical challenges due to the vastness of the territory and the harsh conditions. But it was Erwin Rommel’s failure in the Middle East that sealed the final failure for Nazi Germany, and it was only a matter of time before Nazi Germany was defeated.

Rommel’s defeat at the Battle of El Alamein in the fall of 1942 represented a colossal failure. Therefore, this defeat in the Middle East was followed by the Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad in February 1943. The Battle of Stalingrad weakened the German army and boosted Soviet morale, contributing to the eventual Soviet counteroffensive. Then, the Battle of Kursk occurred in July 1943 and was a major offensive launched by Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. The battle ended in a decisive Soviet victory and marked the beginning of a series of successful Soviet offensives that pushed German forces back toward Eastern Europe. The defeat of Nazi Germany was announced in May 1945.

Brezhnev’s geopolitical shortsightedness

The Soviet Union emerged victorious in the war against Nazi Germany, only to find itself facing the United States, which would take the banner of leadership of the collective West from Nazi Germany. According to the divisions of the Yalta Conference, the Soviets expanded their influence into Eastern and Central Europe, securing a defensive depth in the heart of Russia. But Soviet leader Joseph Stalin did not have the opportunity to reach the eastern Mediterranean after the defeat of the communists in Greece in the civil war in 1947, nor did he have the opportunity to reach the Adriatic Sea after a dispute broke out with Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito, who accepted generous offers from the West to stay away.

“The Leader and the Nationalization of the Canal” (1957) by Egyptian artist Hamed Owais

About the bloc of socialist countries

Here, the United States began to encircle the bloc of socialist countries by establishing NATO in 1949, which was supposed to besiege the communist bloc and contain the communist influence in Southeast Asia. The Baghdad Pact, also known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was established in 1955 among Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom. It aimed to foster cooperation and mutual defense among its member states, particularly in the face of perceived Soviet expansionism and influence in the Middle East. However, the main target of the United States was to attack the Soviet interior. What hindered this plan was the coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, which brought him to power. Abdel Nasser declared his blatant opposition to the policy of Western alliances and declared his own policy of non-alignment in the Cold War, and, at the same time, he began to take rapprochement initiatives toward the Soviet Union and the bloc of socialist countries in order to balance Western support for “Israel”. After his victory against Britain, France, and “Israel” during the tripartite aggression, Abdel Nasser was able to overthrow the Baghdad Pact in 1958 after the coup that he supported against the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq in the summer of 1958.

The Soviet rapprochement with Abdel Nasser contributed to opening the African arena to the growth of African-Russian relations and led to the liberation of African countries from Western colonialism.

But after the year 1965 and the coup against Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in the Soviet Union, the arrival of a bureaucratic class with a “Eurocentrism” orientation in the Soviet Union that gave priority to Moscow’s relations with Europe led to the neglect of Soviet-Arab relations and pushed them to second place in terms of importance. What made matters worse was the communist dogmatism of short-sighted Soviet leaders, which made them neglect the geopolitical dimension. Unfortunately, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union, and specifically the leadership that took power after 1965, did not realize the importance of what was happening in the Middle East as a result of its European-centric vision. Therefore, they were content and happy with what was happening with their share of influence in Eastern and Central Europe, and they neglected their influence in the Middle East.

After 1965, the United States took advantage of the short-sightedness of the new Soviet leadership to resolve the battle in the Middle East. The defeat of the Arab countries in 1967 was not against “Israel”, but it was in fact against the collective West, primarily the United States of America, which supports “Israel”. It also constituted the first major defeat for the Soviet Union. Then, the American attack began in Eastern Europe via the destabilization of Czechoslovakia and Poland. And when the Soviet Union left the region, and after Egypt turned toward the United States under Anwar Sadat, the issue of defeating the Soviet Union was only a matter of time. This brings us back to what the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser said in 1969 when he announced that the battle on the banks of the Suez Canal would decide the fate of the world. Therefore, the defeat of the progressive Arab countries, led by Egypt, constituted a defeat for the Soviet Union as a whole, making it lose strategic superiority in favor of the United States, which began achieving one victory after another, leading to victory in the Cold War.

In summary

Now what is happening in the Middle East is also a renewed attempt launched by the collective West, led by the United States, to win global hegemony. They began this attack by occupying Afghanistan in 2002, then Iraq in 2003, before heading to the Russian heartland. They began their attack in Afghanistan, occupying Afghanistan, and then invading Iraq, only to begin shortly after the process of the so-called “Arab Spring” aimed at changing regimes through the use of soft power. After the outbreak of the “Arab Spring”, an indirect war was launched against Russia in the year 2014. Therefore, what is happening in the Middle East, in my estimation, is that any victory in Eastern Europe will not be decisive until the Middle East is done, and, therefore, the Eurasian powers led by Russia must focus their attention on the battle currently taking place in the Middle East because this is the one that could end American influence.

If the Americans win this battle, all the victories that Russia could achieve in Ukraine or Eastern Europe will have no strategic benefit, because the main battle would have been lost, as it happened during the Cold War. Therefore, in the year 1969, during a visit by the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser to the Suez Canal, when Sinai was occupied and the Israeli enemy was on the other side of the canal, he said that on the banks of the Suez Canal the fate of the world was decided, and unfortunately the fate of the world was decided not in our favor, but in their favor. What he meant was the American hegemony with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Now, the focus must be on this battle. What is happening in the Middle East is a major battle centered on the main axis: Palestine. What is happening in Palestine is something mentioned in religious books. I may have my own interpretation. Hence, we find that some of the signs mentioned in the Bible are being witnessed now: the killing of children at the hands of Rhodes two thousand years ago is being repeated at the hands of Netanyahu in Gaza. The attempt to deport the Palestinians to Egypt is similar to the story of the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus taking refuge in the land of Egypt. It is worth mentioning that the Resistance in Palestine receives assistance from Iran, similar to the gifts that the Three Magi gave to the child Jesus in the cave. Note that what led the three wise men to the cave was mainly the North Star seen in the Middle East as Russia. Could it be a sign that guides the current Russian leadership toward the region to achieve a decisive victory in the contemporary battle of Armageddon?

 

Zionism, Arrogance & World War III

Par : AHH

The eschatological consequences of lose-lose predicaments

This eschatological presentation was filmed before the zionists commenced the land invasion of Gaza. It aged really well. It helps us understand why Zionism CANNOT retreat, and must ever escalate. This has nothing to do with the risible front of Netanyahoo’s political career. Even if he is deposed today, far worse will succeed him, as also appears with his dear cousin “Toria” Nuland..

A cogent argument, having significant agreement with merely observed ongoing geopolitics. In the next phase, the two key battleground regions of 404 and Palestine will coalesce into a single front CENTERED AROUND SYRIA. Palestine is itself a subsidiary of Greater Syria, slyly cut up by the British Empire into the five extant pieces. In other words, Turkey will come off its fence; it was prudent of the Sultan to just say that he will soon retire! Turkey is ‘No Country for Old Men’..

Damascus is ground zero of Armageddon. Why the Axes of Resistance have been so careful not to involve Syria so far — it is for the last phases, when both the Jews and Russians drop their masks and wage open war on each other. The West has become irrelevant already!

The time is ripening now, with Russia having been given all the time it needs to exhaust a fair arrangement with the West. All such were sabotaged by zionist technocrats fronting all major western countries..

The two central actors in our strange End Times are Orthodox Russia and Jewish Israel. The Israelites split into two irreconcilable groups at the time of the First Coming — into Christianity and Jewry.. The West serves as adjunct to the messianic-satanic Jewish side; in the other camp, the key civilizational-states function the same for Russia..

Both sides know the real Messiah’s Second Coming will be in Damascus and prepare for the contest..

You can see how the Jews started the softening up phase of Syria already — focusing on relentless aggression, attriting Iranian advisers, as well as the medieval starvation-economic siege and PsyWar against Syria to keep her down. They stopped deconfliction channels with Russians inside Syria, are sending more dangerous weapons to 404 to help defeat Russia, and various of their UN diplomats and parliamentarians openly threatened Russia.

Russia started its moves via deeper Iranian defense interpenetration, coordinating the economic siege and pauperization of the combined West via Yemen’s Red Sea, preparing for interdicting Gibraltar and the West’s soft underbelly as well as energy-starvation via General Armageddon’s work in Algeria and the Sahel, and Kadyrov’s armies prepositioned inside Syria.. How much of their world-leading air-defense has spread by now via Iran to Hezbollah, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and others??

Everything’s about prepositioning for these imminent next moments. This informs why Europe MUST wage nuclear war on Russia, to try to not only consume her, but to take Russia out of the Holy Land (Greater Syria) and deny the Rest of humanity the world best Russian armory. That is even more important than reclaiming Khazaria on the north coast of the Black Sea. This is crucial too, for rising Unholy Israel overtly seeks to control one of the main breadbaskets of mankind, as already leveraged by BlackRock, Monsanto, Cargill and Big Ag into owning most of the Ukraine. Many narrations foretell the AntiChrist will use food and weather as weapons to control or humiliate nations. Witness Gaza, the fate of us all if they succeed.

War is chosen

Par : AHH

About the new plans of the West in Ukraine

By Rotislav Ishchenko

(machine translation)

It all started with the announced resignation of Victoria Nuland. Given the age of the lagged, this may be the end of the successfully developed career of the granddaughter of the local emigrants and the daughter of Yale professor, who made his way to the highest echelon of American politics, moreover, in its most closed and corporate part – under the auspices of the State Department.

The political analyst and columnist of the MIA “Russia Today” Rostislav Ishchenko expressed his opinion about the new plans of the West in Ukraine.

(L) Reichsminister of Foreign Affairs von Ribbentrop with Hitler; (R) Victoria Nuland with Biden

Until recently, Nuland was seen as a potential candidate for the post of First Deputy Secretary of State and a candidate for the Secretary of State in the event of the unlikely victory of the Democrats in the upcoming presidential election. Given that it was Nuland who was the “engineering” that pulled out American politics in the Russian direction, overcoming all possible difficulties (from reformatting the 2014 Maidan under the USA in its final phase, before the sabotage and breakdown of the Minsk agreements, which would have been impossible without the stubborn but flexible tactics of Nuland at the same time), its further career growth would not only be a fair reward for efforts, but also corresponded to the interests of the Biden administration’s policies.

It can be assumed that Nuland went around at the turn of majors from more decent families. Nevertheless, the hereditary American aristocracy, whose ancestors arrived at the Mayflower, never finally accepts middle-class immigrants. No matter how rich and successful they are, unless their grandchildren can claim relative equality. But Victoria has a very difficult husband, and the time is difficult – at such times, qualified personnel are not scattered, and majors from “good families” are not in a hurry to take responsibility.

Nuland could get tired, get sick, even just want to jump from the ship of the Democratic Party, which is in full swing to the reefs. But all her previous activities are contrary to such assumptions. She looks more like a man who dies at a combat post for the sake of realizing his idea, who will fight for a doomed ship even if the captain and most of the team have already left him. She is one of the people living under the motto “Win or die”.

And suddenly, on the eve of the most difficult elections, the Democrats, without any reflection, refuse such a valuable frame. One could have guessed the reasons for a long time, but the next event happened here.

Zaluzhny, who allegedly stubbornly refused the post of ambassador to Britain, suddenly joyfully accepted this appointment. By the way, hello to those who for a year and a half said that the Zelensky creation of the British (they showed him the MI-6 headquarters and put his special forces to guard him), and the Hollow – Americans (they overlaid it with advisers). And all that happened in Kiev as part of Zelensky’s alleged conflict with the Hollow – is the struggle of the Americans with the British for control over the remnants of the Ukrainian garbage, in which Zaluzhny allegedly represented the Americans, and Zelensky English. It is harmful for some people to watch Western political blockbusters, they begin to perceive life as a movie. Now the same figures say that the English Hall Creativity turns out to be and they “saved” it by taking the ambassador – will be taught there to work as president.

In general, the simplicity, optimism and flight of the imagination of some people are unlimited. But the fact remains – Zaluzhny was offered to leave as ambassador to London somewhere since the end of December 2023. He was in no hurry to accept this offer even after his formal resignation. And suddenly agreed.

Finally, as a cherry on the cake, it just as suddenly became clear that Zelensky was allegedly dissatisfied with his absolutely obedient Kuleba, who zealously defended the position of the Presidential Office in the international arena. Kuleba begins to quickly resolve his team in new positions (it’s hard to find suitable embassies right away, so while Kuleba’s employees leaving office do not announce their plans, simply making it clear, that remain in the diplomatic service). Allegedly in a couple of weeks (may be a little faster or a little later) should also resign Kuleba himself.

(L) Joachim von Ribbentrop with Stalin; (R) Victoria Nuland with Putin

What do we see?

Against the background of sharply increased militaristic rhetoric of the West, openly threatening a direct military clash with Russia in the event of a military defeat of Ukraine (most recently, the West has completely denied such an opportunity) people resign in Ukraine and the United States, whose task (and in the case of Nuland and the idea) was to ensure a proxy war with Russia are being dismissed in Ukraine and the United States in the framework of which the West finances supplies and politically supports all those who fight against Russia, but itself remains outside the battlefield. The main task of these people was to achieve the defeat of Russia and its consent to peace on the terms of the West, without dragging the West itself into a direct military conflict with Moscow.

It is clear that Kuleba, in principle, was not aware of what role he plays – he was only one of the cogs in the political mechanism created by Nuland, diplomatic and quasi-military ( including through the organization of putsch and the threat of putsch ) pressure on Russia. But each leader selects a team of people most suitable for a specific function. Kuleba, like Nuland, was a proxy war diplomat.

Masks are dropped, the West is preparing in the near future to do without a proxy prefix. Therefore, Zaluzhny suddenly decided to become a diplomat. Perhaps in London (by tradition and by agreement with Washington, where the Democrats are not confident in their future due to the likely victory of Trump) they are preparing to establish the Ukrainian government in exile on British soil, and, as long as possible, candidates are collected for future “ministers” and “presidents”. But the root cause of Zaluzhny’s departure is also the choice of the United States and its NATO allies in favor of the war.

While the West was hesitant, Zaluzhny remained in Ukraine as the banner of the opposition to Zelensky. It was not as a leader (Zaluzhny himself did not lead anything and could not lead anyone anywhere), but as a banner that at the right time was going to erect an intra-mode opposition to Zelensky (Poroshenko and the company), in order not to intercept, then paralyze the regime’s control over the army, remove Zelensky and try to enter into negotiations with Russia with the task of preserving at least the right-bank Ukraine for the regime at the cost of any concessions.

If the West agreed to such a deal, the opposition would launch a mechanism for the overthrow of Zelensky, in which the Executive was assigned a representative role. He had to be present somewhere in the background and be silent. Everything that the opposition themselves would have said and written by their media. To launch this mechanism, only one – ban on Americans from the regime to include a mechanism of repression against the opposition (planting, arrests, criminal cases and killing the most dangerous).

I wrote that the West is likely to choose a war, because the Russian conditions of the world (assuming guarantees of Russia’s security, which the West cannot violate even if it wants, and it wants to) were unacceptable to the West. About a month was spent on a general probe of the situation, on attempts to put pressure on Russia and its allies, launch new sanctions mechanisms, show the West’s readiness for an open clash and, due to this, get Russia to agree to be satisfied with territorial concessions at the expense of Ukraine (in this regard, the West was extremely generous and was ready to consider any requests, even I was going desperately).

Somewhere in the last decade of February, the West finally made a choice in favor of war. After which all these permutations began. One resignation could be an accident. But when changes take place in the space from Washington to London and Kiev, when Paris, London and Prague participate in the formulation of a new position (Scholz has so far dodged, but for how long?), when all these changes line up into one logical chain, the conclusion is clear – these are not maneuvers or blackmail, the West chose a war.

Apparently, the final choice in favor of the war was the “successes” of Syrsky, who, at the cost of the last reserves, managed to slow down the Russian offensive near Avdeevka and launched a campaign in the country for an emergency mass recruitment of cannon fodder. In addition to intensifying the work of the TCK, which will increase the irritation of the population, but is unlikely to provide much more mobilized, the process of forming women’s battalions has been launched and, in principle, the recruitment of women in the Armed Forces, including into combat units.

Already now, according to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, 13.5 thousand women – four full-blood brigades have the status of a participant in hostilities. The number of women killed is not specified, but it is also measured at least a dozen thousand. In total, more than 45 thousand women wear the form of the Armed Forces, together with their civil servants in the Armed Forces of about 65 thousand. Moreover, these figures may be underestimated, since before his resignation Zaluzhny boasted that there were already 63 thousand women in combat positions in the Armed Forces. One way or another, but women – is one of the additional sources of replenishment of the thinned ranks of the Armed Forces, which Syrsky intends to actively develop. Basically, the calculation is made that in this environment you can recruit a couple more tens of thousands of volunteers.

Another know-how to build mobilization capacity was also noted. The rear brigades of the TRP are beginning to actively form reserve battalions of people unsuitable for military service. Against the background of the lawlessness of the TCK and the preparation of a new law on mobilization, which will translate unsuitable into suitable ones, many try to play it safe by registering with the TRP. Such a “receipt” makes it possible to send the main composition of the TOR to the front, replacing disabled people in the rear. True, information is received from Ukraine that some combines intend to send disabled people to the front, retaining the main staff until better times.

I don’t think it really excites Syrsky. The main thing for him is that the conveyor for the delivery of cannon fodder works smoothly. For simple replenishment of losses, Syrsky needs to receive 35-40 thousand replenishment people monthly. This is at this stage. Daily losses of the Armed Forces are growing rapidly. So within spring-summer, the average replenishment supply will have to reach 50 thousand people per month.

In order not to allow the front to collapse (albeit without a guarantee), the Syrsky must mobilize at least 200 thousand people by the end of July. He will not refuse from 250 thousand, and from 300 thousand, and from half a million, but each higher figure is less real, and by 200 thousand, if you use all the improvised sources, you can go out.

Syrsky and Zelensky were able to convince the Americans that they had enough resource to keep the front from collapse until at least the end of summer. The United States has made a bet that during this time they will prepare and send a European expeditionary force of comparable strength to Ukraine, and when Europe gets involved in hostilities with Russia – it will have nowhere to go, it will have to think for itself how to replenish its contingents, and the chancellor will not be so comfortable denying the “Taurus” to NATO allies. if not the Ukrainians (although they will fight in Ukraine).

The move is straightforward, quite in the American spirit. There are more breakouts in this “minuscule” than the Americans have cards in their hands, but the Americans will not sit down to play anything, they get poker, in which the main thing is to bluff.

In the meantime, Zelensky was cleared of space in Ukraine so that the local opposition would not prevent him from fighting. The banner of the upcoming rebellion (Zaluzhny) was sent to the UK, showing everyone else who and what the United States relied on. Now Zelensky will rightfully declare all his internal enemies “the agents of the Kremlin,” they are not only against him, but also against the will of the United States.

As for Nuland and her diplomatic team, Victoria, although she played blackmail diplomacy, when NATO forces and fifth columns looked out from behind her back, ready to organize colored riots, nevertheless, her task was to achieve victory peacefully (by blackmail and pressure, but without crossing the line of war). If they decided to cross this line, the need for professional diplomats came to naught. Now we need Ribbentrops – mouthpieces of war, justifying the corresponding actions of their state. They will come out on top.

(L) Joachim von Ribbentrop and Rudolf Hess at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials; (R)

Does this mean that war is inevitable?

No, it doesn’t. It is also necessary that the new replenishment of the Syrsky be able to at least imitate resistance, and do not immediately begin to scatter and surrender, after the first bombing, the first shelling. It is necessary that Ukraine does not really last [only] until the summer (the West will not have time to gather until the summer), but until the beginning of next year. It is very long, almost so long to hold out for Kiev is unrealistic. It is necessary to find ready to send troops not in words, but in practice, and there are a lot of troops, and not two sanitary platoons with four field kitchens and one bath and laundry complex. It is necessary to assemble these troops, conduct their military coordination, provide a sufficient amount of weapons, equipment and supplies.

The West may not be in time, especially considering how fast we are building up the scale of missile and bomb attacks, both at the front and at the rear of the enemy. And Russia will certainly do everything so that the West does not have time. But we need to proceed from the fact that the West has made the decision to fight and will abandon it only under the pressure of force majeure circumstances. So the war is getting closer.

≈≈≈

Another considered PoV… the mooted transfer to China “hawks”, appears less likely as the dominant consideration, given the abruptness of the transfer and in correlation with Taurus missiles scandal and a new phase of war against Russia. Perhaps a harder approach against Russia, where even her limited “skillset” are of reduced use! Among metrics to follow are continuing softening up of Russian border regions using drone barrages as we just saw; and the absolute horrendous total sacrifice of all able-bodied Ukrainians, sent to the meatgrinder.. One thing we can say — the Empire is in deep turmoil and angst. And its hour is late indeed

Danny & Pepe: NATO’s march to WWIII

Par : AHH

🚨 China 🇨🇳 and Geopolitics is LIVE with journalist and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar TODAY March 8th at 10am eastern, 6pm Moscow!

We discuss a series of events hosted in Russia 🇷🇺 and attended by our guest on multipolarity, and how they contrast with NATO’s march to WWIII which has intensified in recent weeks.

What is the U.S. and its NATO vassals offering via Biden’s SOTU speech and Macron’s threats, and how does it compare to the Russia and China-led alternative?

A Nuclear Drang?

Par : AHH

NATO headed for Nuclear war with Russia? Scott Ritter, Steve Starr, and Jose Vega with Diane Sare

https://web.archive.org/web/20220722045349/https://southfront.org/u-s-game-plan-to-conquer-russia-china-is-clarified/

[42:50] “… what that tells Russia now is that you have to strike EVERYTHING in Europe..”

A cornered Hegemon finds itself in a desperate cul-de-sac at a time of inflexion. Not being alarmist, but the moment is so acutely on the brink. Listen to Ritter carefully. The lunatic adherence to Exceptionalism of the West inexorably leads to the self-fulfilling and forced demonstration of the long-voiced “Nuclear Primacy Doctrine.” 

Each inadequate technocrat is so focused on the immediate square meter around his portfolio and specific role that the larger ramifications and linked consequences are lost. Politicians are busy demonstrating “strength” to Russia; military brass are busy drawing up “limited deep-strikes” which they trust will not provoke Russia into nuclear war; the media is busy obfuscating and lying to all, earning their daily bread as usual, crucially denying insight to those who can stop the madness or to the larger population.

In all this, Russia’s clearly stated warnings of triggers of spread of war to NATO countries and then likely nuclear war are ignored. Its right to self-defense and willingness and ability to escalate remain duly ignored. Europe is sleep-walking into predictable catastrophe. What good will it do the madmen if they state they do not intend to use nuclear weapons, but the cumulative actions they undertake so lower the threshold that it leads to a nuclear response?

The Agony of Bear Meat

Par : AHH

Who will win the Russian lottery?? That remains the outstanding issue…

France’s La Grande Pink Armée readies for war on (and inside) the black soil of Novorossiya

Russia’s Renaissance: with the Youth

Par : AHH

The World Youth Festival in southern Russia was a stunning achievement — a Special Cultural Operation (SCO) encompassing the young Global South

By Pepe Escobar at Sputnik.

It starts with the incomparable setting – the 2014 Olympics park of science and art, nested between snowy mountains and the Black Sea – all the way to the stars of the show: over 20,000 young leaders from over 180 nations, Russians and mostly Asians, Africans and Latin Americans, as well as assorted dissidents from the sanctions-obsessed Western “garden”.

Among them are scores of educators, PhDs, public sector or culture activists, charity volunteers, athletes, young entrepreneurs, scientists, citizen journalists, as well as teenagers from 14 to 17, for the first time the focus of a special program, “Together into the Future”. These are the generations that will be building our common future.

President Putin is once again quite sharp: he emphasized how a clear distinction applies between citizens of the world – including the Global North – and the intolerant, extremely aggressive Western plutocracy. Russia, a multinational, multicultural civilization-state, by principle welcomes all citizens of the world.

The World Youth Festival 2024, taking place seven years after the last one, renews a tradition that harks back to the 1957 World Festival of Youth and Students when the USSR welcomed everyone on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

The idea of an open platform for young, committed, very organized people attracted by Russian conservative/family values permeates the whole festival – in sharp contrast to the artificial, cancel culture-obsessed “open society” P.R. incessantly sold by the usual hegemonic foundations.

Each day at the festival is dedicated to a main theme. For instance, March 2 was on “responsibility for the fate of the world”; March 3 was for “unity and cooperation among nations”; March 4 was for “a world of opportunities for everyone”.

No less than 300,000 youngsters from around the world applied to come to the festival. So obviously to select a little over 20,000 was quite a feat. After the festival, 2,000 foreign participants will travel to 30 Russian cities for cultural exchange. Exactly what comrade Xi Jinping defines as “people to people’s exchanges”.

It’s no wonder the festival organizers, Rosmolodezh, the Russian federal agency for youth affairs, call it “the largest youth event in the world”. Director Ksenia Razuvaeva noted, “we are destroying the myth that Russia is isolated.”

Putin’s Address to Youth Festival: ‘It’s Up to You to Create Safe World’

Vladimir Putin declared the World Youth Festival open in an address to the participants. The main message of his speech:

▪ "I am sure that the festival participants will return home with love for Russia";

▪ "Multinational unity for the Russian Federation is the greatest… pic.twitter.com/yDsjatFU2V

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 2, 2024

The Pitfalls of “Asynchronous Multipolarity”

The festival is all about networking among youth groups, intercultural/business ties ranging from the sustainable community level to the larger geopolitical level.

I had the huge honor and responsibility to address a truly multi-Global South audience at the Belgorod oblast pavilion, invited by the Russia Knowledge Foundation, alongside a consultant from Hyderabad, India.

The Q&A session was terrific: ultra-sharp questions from Iran to Serbia, from Brazil to India, from Palestine to Donbass. A true microcosm of the multicultural Young Global South, eager to know everything about the current geopolitical Great Game as well as how national governments can facilitate international cultural and scientific cooperation among young people.

Pepe at the World Youth Festival with comrades of the Donbass Orthodox Christian batallions

“After my talk at the World Youth Festival: Palestine, Pakistan, Iran, Donbass, Brazil, all points South.”

“I had the huge honor and responsibility to address a fab audience from all points Global South at the Belgorod oblast pavilion”

Sidebar: immersion at #WYF2024

    • African World Youth Festival participant |video|
    • Photo Gallery |media|
    • Prez Putin opens the World Youth Festival in Sirius |videos|
    • Fragments of opening ceremony |videos|
    • Maria Zakharova |interview|
    • Rostec VR tour in mechanical engineering |video|
    • A book depository was opened in Sochi |media|
    • Festivals like the World Youth Festival facilitate positive futures |media|
    • #WYF2024 opens opportunities for Russia-African cooperation |LINK|

The Valdai Club is running a particularly attractive daily program at the forum, The World in 2040.

A workshop on Sunday, for instance, focused on “The Future of a Multipolar World”, anchored by the excellent Andrey Sushentsov, dean of the School of International Relations at MGIMO, arguably the best international relations school on the planet.

The discussion on “asynchronous multipolarity” was particularly useful to the audience (a solid Chinese presence, mostly PhDs), and elicited ultra-sharp questions by researchers from Serbia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and of course China.

Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of China studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, elaborated on the key concept of “Asian multipolarity” – the many Asias within Asia, something that totally baffles simplistic Western categorizations. After the session we had an excellent exchange about it.

Yet nothing at the forum compares to going from room to packed room, getting a glimpse of the in-depth discussions and then wandering the pavilions in total networking mode. I was approached by everyone from Sudan to Ecuador, from New Guinea to a group of Brazilians, from Indonesians to an official of the Communist Party of the United States.

And then there’s the special prize: the stands of the several Russian republics. That’s when you get the chance to be immersed in a Yamal tea ritual; to receive first-hand information on the Nenets Autonomous Region; or to discuss the procedure to embark on a trip in a nuclear icebreaker in the Northern Sea Route – or Arctic Silk Road: the connectivity channel of the future. Once again: multipolar Russia in effect.

Now compare this peaceful, pan-global gathering focused on all forms of sustainable community programs, drenched in hopes and dreams, to NATO launching a two-week, massive warmongering exercise dubbed “Nordic Response 2024”, carried out by Finland, Norway and newcomer Sweden less than 500 km away from the Russian borders.

Russia’s Renaissance: at the Farm

Par : AHH

Russian President Putin’s Day Down on the Farm in Stavropol Territory

with thanks to Karl at karlof1’s Geopolitical Gymnasium

Clearly not a traditional farm; rather, it’s a bio-organic non-gmo “food factory” that produces much more than tomatoes. All the open ground at the top of the pic is for the next expansion phase. Krasnodar region is at the same latitude as Crimea and boasts 300 days of sunshine annually. From its website:

Solnechniy Dar is one of the largest greenhouse farms in Russia. We use the latest innovative technology to provide fresh produce year-round.   We operate 83.27 hectares of high-tech greenhouses that produce more than 38 000 tons of high quality fresh vegetables annually. [My Emphasis]

Impressive rows of hydroponically grown tomatoes at the Solnechny Dar greenhouse complex of the ECO-Culture agro-industrial holding in Stavropol Krai.

Exquisite tomatoes grown year-round.

One of the most impressive aspects of Russia’s import substitution project since the illegal sanctions assault escalated in 2014 is its food production that made Russia sovereign regarding its food security—something that has always plagued it and gave leverage to its opponents. In relation to Putin’s visit, TASS ran an article announcing “Russia becomes 4th country for agricultural exports with revenues of $43.5 bln.” Putin noted that amounts to a 30-fold increase since 2000—not percentage but 30X.

After touring the facility, Putin shared lunch with the workers and discussed their work. Afterwards, Putin participated in the opening ceremonies of new industrial facilities in the Leningrad and Belgorod regions and the Republic of Mordovia:

PhosAgro Group’s mineral production complex was put into commercial operation in the Leningrad Region. fertilizers, including an innovative product – pure water-soluble ammophos.

Plant of EFKO Group of Companies for deep processing of soybeans and other oilseeds began work in the Belgorod region.

In addition, the Talina Group of Companies for the production of meat and sausage products was opened in the Republic of Mordovia.

All are members of what’s known in Russia and the Agro-Industrial sector. Putin then met with the Stavropol Territory Governor Vladimir Vladimirov and capped his day by meeting with representatives of the agro-industrial complex of Russia. The three main events will not fit into one article, so the last meeting will be provided in part two.

There was a lot more talking than eating during the discussion as the video shows. Of course, much traditional farming occurs throughout Russia, even in Siberia where many think it stays frozen all the time. Here’s what they had to say:

Vladimir Putin: Hello!

Remark: Good afternoon!

Vladimir Putin: Please sit down. How are you?

Remark: Good.

Vladimir Putin: I looked at your farm, which is impressive, to be honest. A whole city was built. Five years of building, right?

Alexander Rudakov: Yes, five years.

Vladimir Putin: They said it was the biggest farm in Europe, right?

Alexander Rudakov: The most important thing is that it is the biggest in Russia. Europe has not been so long ago for us.

Vladimir Putin: Do you like working here?

Remark: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: What questions do you have?

Remark: There are some sore spots.

Vladimir Putin: Come on.

Vladimir Kultyaev: Let me get started. Vladimir Kultyaev, power engineer.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, I read that in your youth you worked in a student group.

Vladimir Putin: Exactly, there was such a thing.

V. Kultyaev: Share a memory?

Vladimir Putin: What’s there to share? Take more – throw more.

I have already mentioned this, there are no secrets here, we worked in the Komi ASSR, near Syktyvkar, in some other places, and I went there for several years in a row. At first we were engaged in construction, not even construction, but major repairs of wooden houses. You know, wooden houses, designed for two families, with a veranda on both sides. So we demolished these verandas and demolished the roofs, leaving the center.

Replica: Box.

Vladimir Putin: Well, yes. Added verandahs and roofs were made. But the work was quite stressful. It was necessary to carry such healthy logs, to drag them up.

Vladimir Kultyaev: Thank you. Could you recommend that modern students practice in our greenhouse? We are very much waiting for them.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, with pleasure. How much is your average salary?

A. Rudakov: 56 thousand.

Vladimir Putin: This is more than by region.

[Stavropol governor] Vladimir Vladimirov: We have 49.

Vladimir Putin: In the conditions in which we worked, the conditions were difficult: construction, and then cutting down power lines – this is hard work, it was necessary to thresh. There was someone older, I was still snotty, of course, but why, I just came, and we mostly took guys after the army or with work experience, in my opinion, at least three years. So the guys were stronger after the army, and I came right after school. I thought that I was an athlete, honestly, I was a candidate or a master of sports, what do I need there, what nonsense, but it turned out that I wasn’t: by the end of the day I was barely dragging my feet. And the older guys were stronger.

You know, I can [tell you] – a household thing, but curious. I remember when we worked for a week, sorry, we went to the bathhouse – it was as if I had come to the Hermitage, to this bathhouse. It was a feeling of rest, absolute, complete.

But we made a decent living there – I asked for a salary for some reason. We worked, of course, very hard – for 12 [hours], and even [more]. No one followed any norms or labor legislation. And when the power lines were cut down in the taiga, and when the houses were repaired, we probably worked for 15 hours. But on the other hand, we earned decent money, which at that time was very decent money: 900, 1000 rubles, some even more.

But nevertheless, these were different forms of construction teams, they are still different, and we revived this system of construction teams. And the guys are working in agriculture now. But it’s certainly a pleasure to work at a facility like yours. Especially, probably, for specialists who plan to work in agriculture in the future. It is becoming more and more interesting, high-tech, and requires a good education and special knowledge. Now it is difficult to achieve such results without this knowledge, without these technologies: here both genetics and biology are included-what is not. This is a very interesting type of activity.

A few years ago, when my Administration started talking about high technologies, they created special groups. To be honest, I’m ashamed, but it seemed to me that this is somehow redundant, one direction is purely in agriculture. I even asked my colleagues: “How is high technology?” “Of course! Without this, it is impossible to develop.”

And indeed, a lot has been done, the Ministry is doing a lot in this direction, supporting science. In this regard, of course, construction teams are a practice. Although I know for sure that people from different fields work at agricultural enterprises in the summer, they work with pleasure. It is important to create an appropriate atmosphere here. I am sure that this is possible with such managers. Why do I say “with such managers”, because if they are so creative that they have created such a huge enterprise – it takes your breath away! By car we go, we go, I think, where does it end? No end in sight. It’s not for my arrival here so cleaned? So everything is clean.

Remark: This is always the case with us.

Vladimir Putin: Everything is clean, everything is clean, everything is working. Now we have looked at and shown new cleaning devices, also made with the help of artificial intelligence and robotics, which will clean up four times more than one person. But it won’t make you unemployed, will it?

Alexander Rudakov: Absolutely not. We’ll build more.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, the company will expand. This is great!

We are talking about this now, and the media will process it all and issue it accordingly.: a) advertising and b) attracting possible construction teams to work for you.

Vladimir Kultyaev: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you, it’s so cool and beautiful here.

S. Gubaz: Good afternoon!

Vladimir Putin: Good morning.

S. Gubaz: Leading agronomist-agrochemist of “Sunny Gift” Gubaz Sabina Lavrentievna.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would like to start by saying that our company devotes a lot of time to improving the prestige of working in greenhouse complexes. People come to us who are really in love with working with plants. But we also understand that it is important to feed this love, for example, with care on our part. I think that such issues as benefits for purchasing housing, perhaps the construction of houses for young professionals, are taken care of to attract personnel, of course, not far from the place of work.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, are any projects being considered for the construction of apartment buildings for specialists or preferential conditions for the purchase of housing for agronomists in our region?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, for everyone, we also have preferential mortgages for agriculture. Moreover, they are different for different categories, but from 0.1 to 3 percent per annum. They also work. Don’t they build anything here?” (To Vladimir Vladimirovich.) Don’t build anything?

Vladimir Vladimirov: Alexander Sergeyevich [Rudakov] and I have a joint project specifically for Sunny Gift – to start construction on a preferential mortgage. Therefore, we are entering the next cycle of the national project and will also build it. It is under a preferential mortgage.

Vladimir Putin: After all, why did so much housing was built in Russia last year? This is an absolute record, never seen before in the Soviet Union – over 110 million square meters of land. Mainly because of mortgages and preferential mortgages. And we decided to keep the preferential mortgage for agriculture, it will work.

So you just need to get organized here, Mr Putin.

Vladimir Vladimirov: That’s it!

Vladimir Putin: Of course, do it. And as soon as you get organized, we will do everything possible to work out these tools for you. Here, at such enterprises, how many employees do you have?

A. Rudakov: 2400.

Vladimir Putin: 2400. Especially for specialists.

By the way, the second option that you need to use is service housing for the duration of work. We do this in order to increase the mobility of labor resources. It goes on and on, it is being used more and more widely and is in quite high demand. And from all that we are building, we are now starting to use wooden housing construction more and more widely. It’s probably great to build something out of wood in an area like this. Moreover, they also build apartment buildings from wooden structures. Very eco-friendly.

So all options are possible here, Mr President, and we must do it. Of course, we will support you. I will tell Marat Shakirzyanovich [Khusnullinu], you will call him, work with him. The funds we have are allocated, and they are very decent. And the banks work flawlessly. Moreover, they do not want the volume of housing construction to decline. It’s a good business for them.

However, due to the fact that a lot of housing is being built, and on this preferential mortgage, there are already concerns on the part of regulators who deal with the financial market, cash flows, as if there is too much money supply, this leads to inflation, and so on. Therefore, we have to adjust a little now.

But we still keep these benefits for the village.

Irina Enina: Managing Technologist of Sunny Gift Irina Enina.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, I was curious to ask you. Do you prefer cucumbers or tomatoes?

Vladimir Putin: It depends on what we eat.

If in a serious way, then both.

Irina Enina: We recommend you to try our tomatoes. They are the best here.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I’ll try. Just put it there. “He asked me to come visit and said that the old lady-mother would be very happy, but he didn’t leave an address” – there is such a thing in our classics. I will definitely try it now.

In general, it’s hard for me to say, both are delicious. After all, we have tomatoes relatively recently. They came to us, as you probably know, from Latin America. They were brought to Europe by the Spaniards in the XVI century. And only under Catherine the Great, which is already, in my opinion, the XVII-XVIII century, they appeared in Russia. Very popular dish. So let’s give it a try.

It’s just from these twigs where we were just now, isn’t it? Delicious.

Alexander Rudakov: Thank you. We are very pleased. We try our best.

N. Batrak: Foreman of the vegetable growing brigade, my name is Natalia Batrak.

Today, ECO-culture produces the largest amount of tomatoes in Russia.

Vladimir Putin: In an enclosed area?

N. Batrak: In the closed ground, yes.

Alexander Rudakov: There will be even more, don’t worry.

N. Batrak: The Stavropol Territory is our homeland. We can say that it is practically the birthplace of tomatoes, because here is the largest greenhouse complex in Russia – almost 122 hectares.

Vladimir Putin: That’s great.

N. Batrak: Many regions and cities have their own business cards. Somewhere they celebrate the tomato festival, the cucumber festival, and we even have an All-Russian Onion Day.

I previously worked at Domodedovo Airport, and a lot of Russians use the North Caucasus for vacations. As a rule, this is the Black Sea coast. We would very much like the Stavropol Territory to attract tourists, in addition to tourists, so that they know about us and hear about us.

How do you like the idea of creating a tomato festival in the Stavropol Territory?

Vladimir Putin: You probably know, you probably know…

N. Batrak: In Spain, right?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, they throw tomatoes.

N. Batrak: No, we want beautiful things.

Replica: We will eat.

Vladimir Putin: But why? Why not?

N. Batrak: So that some fairs can be included in this festival.

Vladimir Putin: The local authorities should help you. Not even regionally, but locally. What’s the name of the district here?

V. Vladimirov: Izobilnensky city district.

Vladimir Putin: Talk to your superiors. There are no local bosses here?

N. Batrak: No.

Vladimir Putin: Why do you discriminate? I should have invited him.

Vladimir Vladimirov: He went to the SVO.

Vladimir Putin: By the way, I looked at the portraits of your guys – vegetable growers, standing with machine guns, vegetable growers are strong. Don’t forget about our children, especially their families. We have just spoken with the managers.

And the idea itself is a great, cool idea. I don’t think we have one yet, do we?

N. Batrak: No.

Vladimir Putin: Well, why not do it?

Vladimir Vladimirov: We have a Watermelon festival, a wine festival, and a grape festival.

Vladimir Putin: We need to combine the wine festival with the tomato festival. But then they will throw themselves, of course. But the idea is good, wonderful, let’s do it.

Vladimir Vladimirov: Very well.

Vladimir Putin: And if you need to help-come on, what’s the problem?

Vladimir Vladimirov: We’ll manage.

Vladimir Putin: (To Dmitry Medvedev).To Patrushev). Dmitry Nikolaevich?

[Minister of Agriculture] D. Patrushev: I support it. Very good initiative.

Vladimir Putin: Of course. What kind of events do we have? Cucumber festival, what else is there?

Dmitry Patrushev: We have a cucumber festival, we have an onion festival.

Vladimir Putin: The onion festival?

Dmitry Patrushev: Yes, it is held in different regions. In general, we have “Tastes of Russia”, we did all this within the framework of your instructions, and there any products, including vegetable growing, can be presented and receive appropriate medals, win competitions and continue to develop exactly those industries where these products are produced. We have done a very good job, we have been holding this competition for the last three years, and the regions and small businesses are happy to take part. This is a large enterprise, but nevertheless also, I think that if they participate, then there is every chance to take first place and further promote their products.

Vladimir Putin: And what will this first place give?

Dmitry Patrushev: Well, first of all, we will also provide financial support for the development of this brand, and we will promote it, including by making it easier to enter export markets. And this gives certain advantages for further promotion. Often regional brands, they are not widely known on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin: The advertising will be good.

Dmitry Patrushev: Yes, this allows almost the whole of Russia to know about this brand.

Vladimir Putin: Please support us.

Dmitry Patrushev: We’ll do it.

Vladimir Putin: Vladimir Vladimirovich [Vladimirov] will help his colleagues, and you are from the ministry.

Dmitry Patrushev: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: It won’t hurt to involve the media and various agencies that could help organize this beautifully. It’s a good idea.

A. Rudakov: And the growth of consumption will be very useful, the popularization of the product.

Vladimir Putin: It is good that there is an increase in consumption, only then we will need to ensure an increase in supply in the market, so that we do not ask our friends from Turkey, as in some other types, from other countries, to urgently supply us with this or that product.

Dmitry Patrushev: We will study.

Vladimir Putin: Our tomato production has grown significantly in recent years, right?

D. PatrushevIn general, we grew up very well on greenhouse vegetables. We didn’t have such an industry at all until 10 years ago. In fact, we re-organized it, and in my opinion, we collected more than 1.5 million tons of vegetables from the closed ground last year. This is also, in principle, one of our records and achievements.

Vladimir PutinWhat is important is that we have our own production of this equipment, right? Where did you say it was produced?

Alexey Rudakov: In Lipetsk, in the Lipetsk special Economic Zone, as you probably know, the plant is modern and new. We provide for our own projects and our partners who build in Russia, and there are no problems with this, Mr Putin. Russian equipment – 90% of our production is made in Russia.

Even the film, we have a film complex, there is a slightly different technology, probably you know. It was the best in Greece. We made a film in Lipetsk, tested it in Switzerland, it surpasses this Greek one, the best, in terms of light transmission capacity. We produce everything ourselves, everything that makes economic sense. Well, we bribe something in China, some fees. There are no problems with this.

Vladimir Putin: You’re doing everything you can, aren’t you?

Alexander Rudakov: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: That’s great.

Alexey Rudakov: If we have a stronger dialogue with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, we need them to support us a little bit.

Vladimir Putin: What do you need?

Alexey Rudakov: At least by 10 percent, as the Ministry of Agriculture supports us in every possible way.

Vladimir Putin: What do you need?

Alexander Rudakov: Metalworking is their industry.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, of course.

A. Rudakov: There is also some kind of preferential financing there, and so on. We are trying to build a dialogue, but so far we have to use our own resources to implement all this.

Vladimir Putin: And the benefits and tools that we envisage for agriculture cannot be applied there?

Dmitry Patrushev: Mr President, we only have support for the production of food products, agricultural producers, but if they produce food, food. And if they do something else, we do it carefully.

Vladimir Putin: And on all sorts of investment platforms and so on?

Dmitry Patrushev: You can watch it. I think that Alexander Sergeyevich [Rudakov] and I will just think about what programs the Ministry of Industry and Trade can integrate into in order to have some benefits in terms of, perhaps, soft loans, perhaps there are some grants.

There is an industry support fund, I do not know, I am currently fantasizing whether it will be possible to use it or not, but we will think about it and join forces.

Vladimir Putin: Why is it impossible? We also have various investment platforms. Here, not just any investment platform will be used, but for agriculture. Let’s talk to Manturov.

Dmitry Patrushev: All right.

Vladimir Putin: Agreed. So you did the right thing.

N. Batrak: We will wait.

Irina Morozova: Irina Morozova, Chief Specialist of the HR Department.

I have a question, probably more of a request than yours. We have a large greenhouse complex, as already announced, 2,400 employees, but most of the employees live outside the village of Solnechnodolsk, these are rural areas and remote areas. Delivery of our employees is carried out by official transport. What’s the point? Personnel reserve. We are always waiting for people, we are always happy to see them, we have covered a large radius of settlements in order to attract people.

Vladimir Putin: How many employees do you have in total?

I. Morozova: 2400.

A. Rudakov: This was collected from a radius of 100 kilometers.

Vladimir Putin: I understood.

Irina Morozova: Even in some places there are more than 100 kilometers.

Our municipal roads are not very comfortable. There are a lot of people who want to go, but it’s not very comfortable to get there. Not only do we create conditions, people want to work, there are people who want to, but the road is not very comfortable. And especially in the off-season, it is not very convenient and problematic. I would like your help in repairing inter-municipal roads. Such a problem.

Vladimir Putin: You know, I’m going to turn back to the governor. I’ll tell you why. Vladimir Vladimirovich [Vladimirov] knows this, and we have divided our competence between the federal center and the regions. And it is divided as follows: the federal center deals with federal roads, and the money comes from the federal budget. There we have a task: to bring 85 percent of these federal roads into a standard state, and in principle the task is fulfilled.

As for the regional ones, I didn’t mention this in my Address just now, because the financial authorities there are somehow worried about the amount of funding. But now I will say that there is nothing here that is not a state secret, especially since this figure has already been mentioned, 60 percent of interregional roads need to be brought into a standard state. And appropriate finances are allocated. Whether it will work or not, I just didn’t want to get ahead of myself right now, because there are certain restrictions, because we have a lot of money allocated in other areas, in the social sphere, and we need to understand how much and what it will be possible to do there. But nevertheless, the reference point is approximate.

This is the responsibility of the regions. But we also help the regions with this, and we allocate money from the federal budget. In my opinion, 300 billion rubles were allocated last year for inter-municipal roads in general. But this is still the task and responsibility of the regions of the Russian Federation, in this case, of course, the Stavropol Territory itself.

I will ask you now, and Mr Putin will say a few words about what they are planning there. But we provide assistance from federal funds, from the federal budget.

I think that it is necessary, of course, to pay attention – not just to all the sisters in the same earrings, but in this case, when you have a large enterprise, then you absolutely need to collect employees from the district, so let’s say, of course, you need to pay primary attention to such situations.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, Izobilnensky city District is part of the Stavropol agglomeration. When you gave instructions to create the national project “Safe, High-quality Roads”, the Stavropol agglomeration was included in this project. We have received about 15 billion rubles in 6 years, in addition to the fact that our road fund has grown to 19 billion. Currently, the regulatory status of inter-municipal, i.e. regional roads in this agglomeration corresponds to 81 percent.

I think that we will work with the management, in addition to the direction of where, what is not covered. You correctly say, you cannot “by earrings”. Overall figures always look nice – we are the third best road quality company in Russia.

Vladimir Putin: So, by the way, I forwarded it.

Vladimir Vladimirov: In addition to the direction where there are difficulties on the roads…

Vladimir Putin: Until you praise yourself, not a single piglet will say a good word.

V. Vladimirov: I never promise anything, we won’t do it in a year, but within a year and a half, taking into account the design, I think that we will decide on the direction that is very important for ECO-culture.

Vladimir Putin: This is a specific enterprise.

Vladimir Vladimirov: Direction – meaning from where? Where is the bad road? You just tell me.

Vladimir Putin: It’s just a specific enterprise here. They use a vacuum cleaner to collect people from all over the area – of course, this is important.

I. Morozova: I can tell you that much. Novoaleksandrovsky district, Vorovsky farm. Problematic.

Vladimir Putin: Do you also need specialists from there?

Irina Morozova: Wait a minute. We have a large number of vegetable growers. Such work is carried out, these are the people who support production. After all, tomatoes are a colossal work. So we are waiting for everyone. Even from such a locality. And the people there are wonderful employees, by the way.

Vladimir Putin: I don’t doubt it, I don’t question it in any way.

Why did I just say that this is a regional level of responsibility? Because even when we give money from the federal budget for support, we give a transfer, we don’t ask the region where it wants to send it, it is the region itself that decides. We are sitting here right now, Vladimir Vladimirovich is listening, and of course, I am sure that he understands this very well: if an enterprise has been established, it needs to be provided with labor resources, people need to be brought in.

The same applies to transport, by the way, and we also allocate money for this.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Vladimirov: 260 buses, thank you very much, we have received them. Thank you very much for this decision, because today we cover almost all economically impractical routes with so-called municipal transport. Thank you so much.

Vladimir Putin: In six years, 40 thousand [units] of transport should be delivered additionally [to the regions].

Vladimir Vladimirov: We have just received the first ones.

Vladimir Putin: So it’s not for nothing that we discussed it.

Irina Morozova: We are expanding the talent pool of Sunny Gift and we are very much hoping for Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Putin will tell us later what exactly he decided to do.

Vladimir Vladimirov: I already remember Vorovsky.

Vladimir Putin: We need specialists from there to work at the enterprise.

With.Vorontsov: Sergey Vorontsov. I work as an agronomist here at the complex. I like my job, I like working in this industry, but when I communicate with my peers and peers, many people simply do not know what kind of job it is, what kind of profession it is, and what I do. Before I got a job here, I didn’t know that agronomists worked here.

Vladimir Putin: What did you finish?

With.Vorontsov: I’m a chef.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, but you love tomatoes.

With.Vorontsov: Yes, I love tomatoes. What do you think, maybe it’s time to somehow modernize the name, rename, maybe, the agronomist? Maybe a plant-growing designer of some sort?

Vladimir Putin: No, it doesn’t inspire confidence – the designer is a plant breeder. The content is needed, not the appearance. I do not know, you know better. I think an agronomist sounds proud. If memory serves, this word is of Greek origin. Agros is land, arable land, and nomos is a norm or law. Arable land, land and law. And this makes a lot of sense. I do not know if you think it doesn’t sound like it, but in my opinion, it is…

With.Vorontsov: Closer to the youth, maybe.

Vladimir Putin: Suggest something. I wouldn’t change it at all. The agronomist-this is me as if in jest, but I say it without joking: it sounds so solid, you know. If you know what this means and what a person does, especially in modern conditions, what is modern arable land, what is modern science about agriculture. Agronomists are in hot demand in the country today.

Dmitry Patrushev: Absolutely true.

Vladimir Putin: There is a huge shortage of good specialists. This is a very prestigious job, it requires both knowledge and good experience, and the ability to gain this knowledge again and again, because in such an area as agriculture, of course, at the pace that is gained in agriculture, in world agriculture. You know, this is also breeding, this is the same genetics, there are a lot of such high-tech things there. They require deep knowledge and the ability to constantly work on yourself.

With.Vorontsov: Can we somehow popularize this profession?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, that’s another matter, of course.

Here you are absolutely right, to show what kind of work it is, not just to walk around in knee-high rubber boots…

With.Vorontsov: Many people don’t know, really.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, you are right here. I don’t mind any innovations, but where they are needed, I don’t see the need here. But popularization, show development prospects, prospects for creative and industrial growth – this is of course. The significance of this type of activity today for the country, its charms are diverse. I repeat, from the point of view of career growth – this, of course, needs to be discussed. It’s true.

The Ministry initiated these things at that time.

To be honest, it all sounded a little unusual for me, this question, this suggestion. Because I thought that against the background of a large deficit, the demand for agronomists in the country, in the industry, I thought that this issue would be solved.…

With.Vorontsov: Maybe that’s why there is a shortage, because few people know?

Vladimir Putin: No, there is a shortage, because there is rapid development, very rapid development. How much land have we introduced recently?

Dmitry Patrushev: Mr President, we have introduced millions of hectares over the past few years. We now have a sown area of about 84 [million hectares]. It increases regularly, so, of course, specialists are needed.

We have a certain problem. Our specialized universities do not always train specialists who are in demand in agriculture. There were fashionable certain professions in their time-economists, lawyers, and they retrained. True, it was all done for extra-budgetary funds, but it was still blurry. Now we are still retraining our universities, and the main focus, the main emphasis is on those professions that are in demand in our industry, in the agro-industrial complex.

And you are absolutely right, a high-quality, professional agronomist is a profession that is currently in great demand. Alexander Sergeyevich knows that serious, professional, competent people with this profession, indeed, there is a very competitive struggle between large enterprises for them. Therefore, on the contrary, we will introduce more hours for training such specialists.

Vladimir Putin: As for the training of specialists, we do it in all industries, pay attention to the training that is in demand on the labor market and production. And these universities were transferred from you, right?

Dmitry Patrushev: No, these are our universities.

Vladimir Putin: What prevents you from restoring order then?

Dmitry Patrushev: Mr President, we are doing this. This work is being carried out quite actively, and our students who are graduating are in demand. We train high-quality guys.

Vladimir Putin: Then, you see, the result largely depends on agronomists. If not 100 percent, at least more than 50 percent, that’s for sure. And the result is what we have-such results have never been! Last year, how much, 157 [million tons of crop], right?

D. Patrushev: 147 [million tons].

Vladimir Putin: And the year before last?

Dmitry Patrushev: The year before last – 157 [million tons], in my opinion.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, 157 [million tons], then 147 [million tons] in the last year of harvest. There have never been such harvests! You see, we have become the fourth country in the world to export agricultural products. And for wheat – the first country in the world. Revenue was what-45 billion?

Dmitry Patrushev: 43.5.

Vladimir Putin: $ 43.5 billion in revenue from sales of products on the foreign market alone.

We have become one of the first countries in the world to produce meat, and this is also related to agronomic activities, because feed is needed, this is the same chain. There have never been such results in the country’s agro-industrial complex. I do not know, even under the tsar-father, probably, there were no such results.

Dmitry Patrushev: It wasn’t. There were no such technologies there.

Vladimir Putin: Everything is becoming more and more high-tech. But popularization is needed, it’s quite obvious, it’s for sure. We’ll do it, try, and say it more accurately.

Mikhail Dorokhov: Hello. I am a specialist in civil defense and emergency situations Dorokhov Maxim Vitalievich.

Vladimir Putin: What is a specialist in?

M. Dorokhov: On Civil Defense and Emergency Situations.

Vladimir Putin: It’s clear.

Mikhail Dorokhov: Our colleagues mostly talk only about their work and problems. I also have a question, but I would like to start with something positive.

Vladimir Putin: We also talk about positive things.

Mikhail Dorokhov: I want to tell you a little bit about myself. I live in a private house in a rural area. I’ve been waiting for more than five years for the gas line to come to my house. Since I had electric heating, it was very difficult for the family pocket.

Finally, in 2022, as part of the social gasification program, gas came to my house right on New Year’s Eve, December 31. I want to say thank you to the guys, gas workers, who turned on the power at 10 o’clock…

Vladimir Putin: It was a New Year’s gift.

Mikhail Dorokhov: Yes. Comfort came to the house.

When I found out that I would have the opportunity to see you, I was delighted, and I want to personally thank you from the bottom of my heart for the changes in my life that have come to my house.

Vladimir Putin: Thanks to Gazprom, not me. A little bit and they worked.

Mikhail Dorokhov: And now I have a question, a very relevant question, which concerns all the residents of our village, nearby villages and settlements. This is more than 30 percent of the residents of the Izobilny city district.

This question is “on the pencil” with our governor, but we want you to also pay attention to it and help in this matter. Our question is as follows. “ECO-culture” constantly supports our city district in financial and social matters, and it has renovated our hospital, brought it into a modern form, and there are no doctors in it. There are no doctors. We have to travel to Izobilny, often to Stavropol. The main issue is that life is solved in minutes, and Izobilny is 30 kilometers away. We ask that intensive care, surgery, and therapy return to us as before. We even had gynaecology, I’m sorry, it was the most advanced in the surrounding areas. That’s what I wanted to ask you.

Vladimir Putin: The clinic itself, or what is it?

Mikhail Dorokhov: No, this is a hospital. There used to be a maternity hospital here, and I think some of them were born here.

Vladimir Putin: Is the hospital in order now?

Mikhail Dorokhov: Yes, ECO-culture helps the village a lot. We now have a modern overhaul done, even ahead of time, before the New Year, and our governor knows, in my opinion. So what we’re asking is very important. Moreover, we already have more people in the village, it is growing, the village itself.

Vladimir Putin: How many people live there?

Mikhail Dorokhov: Well, last time there were more than 12 thousand people. And it increases.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, look, first of all, as for gasification. The program is good, we are extending it, first for a certain category of households, we did it, then expanded it to social facilities. And now, perhaps you noticed, I said in my Message that we will also distribute it to horticultural areas and partnerships. Over a million households have already used this project, one million and one-tenth. The networks are already connected to them. And we will continue to do so. I am very pleased that there are concrete results. This is the first one.

Now, the second thing is that as far as healthcare and education are concerned, by the way, it’s the same. Of course, this is one of the most important areas of rural social development. I’m not going to list everything that is being done here, but you’ve probably heard that we have introduced such tools as additional payments to rural paramedics, rural doctors, and so on. But now, I also said this quite recently, we are adding more to this (I did not accidentally ask how many people live in your village), in localities we are adding less than 50 thousand doctors to what we did before, we are adding another 50 thousand to this increase for doctors and 30 thousand for the average medical staff. In localities from 50 to 100 thousand inhabitants, the increase will be smaller: 29 and 13 thousand, respectively.

We have a big program to develop the so-called primary health care system. These are FAPs, including midwifery centers, and so on. But what should I mention? We give this money, but regional leaders should also determine priorities.

I was recently in the Tula region, came to the FAP – this is a paramedic and midwifery center, it is simple, but everything should be there in order to provide primary care to people – and the manager says to me: “And we still have several FAPs that need urgent support, restoration or even new construction”.

But the Federation only gives money, and the local leadership determines to whom in the first, second, third place and how much to give. It’s not up to us to decide, it’s up to the governor and his team, and they have to do it. We give this money to doctors and nurses, and the regional and local authorities should determine who should use these support tools first and how. They are there.

Since we are both here, the two Presidents, so I think that the Governor and I will have a separate discussion today and decide what can be done specifically for your object, for your locality.

Mikhail Dorokhov: Thank you very much.

Elena Apalkova: Mr President, your visit is a great honor for us. Once again, I would like to ask you what impression you got from visiting our greenhouse? What did you like? Or maybe, in your opinion, we need to work on something else?

Vladimir Putin: Alexander Sergeyevich said that they plan to develop and develop new areas. We must do what we can. I understand that these construction companies are also yours, right? In Lipetsk. This is a mixed type of activity being mastered.

We have now shown representatives of a young, small, but very interesting company that deals with robotics. I have already mentioned this. Apparently, you know the vending machine that collects these tomatoes. This is the second direction you have. It’s already two, three. There may actually be a lot of them. But, of course, those who are engaged in business, first of all, look at making it efficient, in order to pay salaries, in order to create jobs, in order to develop markets at home and abroad.

Since both the Minister and the governor are here, I think that we will support any initiative that will benefit you, the region, and the country as a whole. Only you formulate what you want.

Elena Apalkova: Thank you.

Alexander Rudakov: Mr President, please take this opportunity to follow up. We are building two large projects – in the Omsk region and in the Rostov region. By the way, Governor Khotsenko reported to you for our Omsk project, which we are building in Siberia. They are fully illuminated.

Could you help us with the issue of direct connection to the Federal Grid, because we are deployed at IDGC, where kilowatt-hour is twice as expensive, and we will not have savings. If possible.

Vladimir Putin: You know, it would be better if you whispered this in my ear right now. I’ll tell you why.

Alexander Rudakov: I was too shy.

Vladimir Putin: I shouldn’t have. Because connecting to these networks, as a rule, the vast majority of consumers want to be directly connected. Then who will connect to other networks and how do I maintain other networks? But it doesn’t matter, we’ll talk to you separately.

Alexander Rudakov: Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

Elena Apalkova: We will have a request for you.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

Elena Apalkova: Can I take a photo with you as a keepsake?

Vladimir Putin: With pleasure. [My Emphasis]

The banter in this discussion was rather hard to follow in places, particularly with Putin referring to himself in the third person. As I’ve written many times, Russia remains a developing nation in many areas that were neglected during the Soviet era. Roads are just one instance. Russia also shares the global problem of their being too few doctors in rural regions, which is related to an overall shortage of doctors. Now, in Russia the problem isn’t sky high tuitions that require massive loans to finance and then repay; rather, it’s the demographic problem that sees shortages of trained people in many areas—new specialized agronomists as noted here. The USSR tried to deal with this shortage by directly assigning people to their positions. Now that’s being done by incentive programs in pay and housing, but that still doesn’t solve the underlying problem of too few people. Putin could probably bemoan that issue everywhere he goes but doesn’t. Success at times breeds problems. The agro-industrial complex is growing rapidly and competes for workers with other areas. The problem isn’t in the lack of rural regions to develop; the problem is infrastructure of which the potential workforce is one component that can’t be manufactured. IMO, the one nation most likely to become close to having the robotic density described in Asimov’s Foundation will be Russia.

Meeting with Stavropol Territory Governor Vladimir Vladimirov.

The discussion between the two Vladimirs, one Russia’s President, the other Stavropol’s President, probably went well beyond what the transcript provides as what we read deals with some of the issues raised at the farm.

Vladimir Vladimirov: I would like to draw your attention to two aspects. As always, according to the standard report about today. Now we are on the threshold of spring field work. In general, we have almost 4 million hectares of land – 3 million 924 thousand hectares. Two million we sow for winter, winter crops, two million we sow for spring. 84 thousand pieces of equipment, and I want to say that the Ministry of Industry and Trade helps us very well here. Every year, we replace imported equipment by 10 percent. Now we have increased 10 percent again, bought 8 thousand units of Russian or Belarusian equipment, and, accordingly, we have literally 16 thousand units of imported equipment left. Everything is going well.

On seed production. We also discussed breeding work at the meeting. All from 7 to 19 percent of the replacement of imported seeds. Now we were in teplitsy, a regional investment park that we created in 2015. There is an American plant for the production of corn here, the Americans have not left, they are also working, they have mimicked the Russian jurisdiction, they are working calmly and we are already almost 50 percent provided with corn. On grain completely on 100 percent.

Socio-economic indicators. I specifically gave you six years, why? National projects, after all. We have received 131 billion rubles for national projects over 6 years. Almost all indicators are either double growth or two and a half times growth. Our exports have grown from 400 million this year to 2 billion. And here I thank the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture, because both there and there are a billion rubles each.

By salary. Also growth, we entered 30 thousand, now we have 49 thousand salaries. GRP per capita increased by two and a half times. It was 200 thousand rubles, and today it is 450 thousand rubles per capita. Everything goes, everything turns out slowly.

By budget efficiency. The most important element, but in terms of numbers.

Vladimir Putin: Let’s see how it turns out.

Vladimir Vladimirov: Mr President, we have a record. This year, for the first time, we have passed the budget of 200 billion rubles. 10 years ago, it was 55 billion.

Vladimir Putin: And the debt load has decreased?

Vladimir Vladimirov:The debt burden has decreased: it was 130 percent, but today we have reached 23 percent. And then, 23 percent is not because we borrow something somewhere, thank you very much for the investment and budget loans. As for infrastructure, we transfer it through investment and budget loans, so they appear in the structure as over-credited, but we haven’t taken out a single ruble of loans since 2018. We go and slowly everything is replaced.

I can’t help but focus on supporting a special military operation. During this time, 19 billion rubles were allocated to support families and children who are fighting. We pay for rewards, injuries, and the loss of a breadwinner. We took over the children’s education completely. Today, we encourage contract work by making lump-sum payments through our regional budget. Now we have taken the food, the uniform, and the tuition fees have already been taken care of.

We meet people. On your behalf, I also held a meeting with the widows of our departed children. There are instructions there – they asked to increase the preparation for school, they asked me to double the payments, all this is being resolved. There were questions about registration, and now we are making changes to our legislation. We try to respond quickly to all requests that come from people. 19 billion rubles were allocated for social support, 9 billion-this is our business support for children: copters, uniforms, clothing, weapons – all that is necessary for them to be able to fight today. And about 9 billion rubles have been allocated to our sponsored territories today.

By your Decree, we had the city of Anthracite and the Anthracite district. We have restored 384 objects there since 2022, and now the third season is starting. Now, by your order, we have entered the city of Stakhanov together with the Omsk region, with Vitaly Pavlovich Khotsenko. I visited there on February 21, the same situation as in Anthracite, where Russians were deliberately killed.

Everything is ruined, everything is killed. I’m asking: what’s happening? We haven’t invested a penny in 30 years. We went to the House of Culture – honestly, there are no such people even in Stavropol. Apparently, Stakhanov was, broke through the situation at the time-he was just there in the recruit was standing. A good House of Culture – unfortunately, it arrived on purpose. Apparently, they were bombed with Hymars, and one part of the House of Culture was bombed. We will now undertake to restore it.

If you want to see – a real Stalinist Empire style. It was from 1936 to 1945 that they built it. There’s a decent House of Culture right there, and we’re going to restore it now. The pool was requested – there are a lot of questions.

Issues are resolved here. Vladimir Vladimirovich, I can’t help but stop-criticize me, of course, on the roads – I know that from the farm Vorovsky.

Vladimir Putin: Well no…

Vladimir Vladimirov: 81 percent of [roads] meet [the standards], I will deal with Vorovsky exactly, there will be no problems.

Vladimir Putin: There is a large enterprise there. Employees need to be delivered…

V. Vladimirov: BCD [“Safe, high-quality Roads”] is our most recognizable national project. Another major renovation of schools and BCD. As I have already reported to you, there are 19 billion rubles for the BCD. For an agglomeration, this is a crazy leap. 81 percent of roads in the agglomeration meet the standard, and 87 percent are located within the urban agglomeration. This is a good result. We are here-honestly – in a leading position in Russia. For private matters, it doesn’t matter: now the patching will also go. We will try to [solve it].

Vladimir Putin: Is it 30 percent higher than in the Russian Federation as a whole?

Vladimir Vladimirov: It worked, in general. Thank you to the Ministry of Transport.

Education. The most important element. I really want to say a big thank you for the school. What we have today…

Vladimir Putin: What a colleague just said at the meeting: there is not just an external update, but really deep work.

Vladimir Vladimirov: We went to the school, stripped everything down to the bare walls, and if the walls – we still have many people thrown on the crate – the crate was stripped off, everything was completely re – made – water, sewerage, electricity, weak power, fire – everything was re-made. Actually a new school. The windows, roofs, facade, and entire territory were tried [to improve] – everything works out here.

3.6 billion rubles were allocated for major repairs of schools a year – this is simply an incredible figure. Today, thank God, it works.

Rural schools – now we can go to Solnechnodolsk, each rural school has 347 growth points. This is 347 places, and children are engaged in additional education. It turns out perfectly. We have launched Sirius, we have two Avangard schools, one Warrior school, eight IT cubes and two places for robotics classes. All this is the national project “Education”. [My Emphasis]

As I said, there seems like more is there but was cut. It seems like the Governor is on top of his job. The region has certainly grown and progressed, and as with many rural Russian regions there remains lots of work to do.

Can China arrest the drive to Armageddon?

Par : AHH

China resumes shuttle diplomacy as Ukraine war drums get louder… in this foreboding backdrop, what is it that Li Hui can hope to achieve?

By Ambassador MK Bhadrakumar at the Indian Punchline.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announcement on Wednesday that Beijing’s Special Representative on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will set out from home on March 2 on a “second round of shuttle diplomacy on seeking a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis” may seem a mismatch.

Just two days earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke up that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of putting Western boots on the ground in Ukraine in order to prevent a Russian victory. Li Hui is expected to visit Russia, the EU headquarters in Brussels, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and France.

The Chinese spokesperson Mao Ning kept the expectations low by  adding that “Behind this, there is only one goal that China hopes to achieve, that is, to build consensus for ending the conflict and pave the way for peace talks. China will continue to play its role, carry out shuttle diplomacy, pool consensus and contribute China’s wisdom for the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”

Macron spoke up after a summit of European leaders in Paris on Monday. But in diplomacy, there is always something more than what meets the eye. Macron later insisted that he had spoken quite deliberately: “These are rather serious topics. My every word on this issue is weighted, thought through and calculated.” Nonetheless, representatives of most of the 20 participating countries at the Paris conclave, especially Germany, later took a public position that they had no intention to send troops to Ukraine and were strongly opposed to participation in military operations against Russia.

The French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne since explained that the presence of Western military in Ukraine might be necessary to provide some types of assistance, including de-mining operations and instruction of Ukrainian soldiers, but that did not imply their participation in the conflict.

The White House reaction has been a reaffirmation that the US would not send troops to Ukraine. The National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement that Biden “has been clear that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine.” The NSC spokesman John Kirby also denied that US troops could be sent for de-mining, arms production or cyber operations. However, Kirby underscored that it would be a “sovereign decision” for France or any other NATO country whether to send troops to Ukraine.

Interestingly, though, two days after the White House reacted, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin added a caveat during a hearing at the House Armed Services Committee that if Ukraine falls, Russia and NATO could come into a direct military conflict, as the Russian leadership “won’t stop there” if Ukraine is defeated. “Quite frankly, if Ukraine falls, I really believe that NATO will be in a fight with Russia,” Austin said.

What emerges out of this cacophony is that quite possibly, the ground is being prepared for a soft landing for the idea of western military deployment in Ukraine in some form going forward. Within hours of Austin’s testimony on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on the Telegram channel, “Is this an overt threat to Russia or an attempt to cook up an excuse for Zelensky? Both are insane. However, everyone can see who the aggressor is — it is Washington.” 

The NATO has been steadily climbing the escalation ladder while the Russian reaction has been by and large to rev up the “meat grinder” in the war of attrition. But then, it is the Ukrainian carcass being ground and that doesn’t seem to matter to the Brits or Americans.

There was a time when attack on Crimea was deemed to have been a “red line.” Then came the October 2022 Crimean Bridge explosion — on the day after the 70th birthday of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Well, Russia successfully repaired the bridge and reopened it to traffic. An emboldened West thereupon began a string of attacks against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Russia repeatedly alleged that the British, along with the US, acted as spotters, supplying the Kiev regime with coordinates of targets and that the attacks against the Black Sea Fleet were actually literally conducted under the direction of British special services. The Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova said yesterday, “In general, the question that should be asked is not about Britain’s involvement in separate episodes of the conflict in Ukraine, but about the unleashing and participation of London in the anti-Russian hybrid war.” Indeed, recent reports mentioned that none other than the UK’s Chief of the Defense Staff Admiral Tony Radakin played a significant role in developing Ukraine’s military strategy in the Black Sea.

In retrospect, a NATO roadmap exists to bring the war home to Russia, the latest phase being a new air strike campaign against the Russian oil and gas industry. The escalation on such scale and sophistication is possible only with the direct or indirect participation of NATO personnel and real-time intelligence provided by the US satellites or ground stations. Equally, there is no more any taboo about what Ukraine can do with the weapons the NATO countries have provided.

Lately, the CIA began to brazenly speak about all that, too. The New York Times featured an exclusive news article Monday that a CIA—supported network of spy bases constructed in the past eight years going back to the coup in Kiev in 2014, that includes 12 secret locations along the Russian border.

Suffice to say, while on the diplomatic track, Russia’s repeated attempts to halt the fighting have been ignored by the West — the Istanbul negotiations in late March 2022; Putin’s proposal for a freeze on frontline movements and a ceasefire as early as autumn 2022, and then again in September 2023 — the CIA and Pentagon have been working hard to achieve victory at all costs.

Even after September 2023, Putin signalled willingness to freeze the current frontline and move to a ceasefire and even communicated this through a number of channels, including through foreign governments that have good relations with both Russia and the US. But the faction that wants to crush Russia militarily at all costs has prevailed. Austin’s remark on Friday suggests that this passion seems to be impervious to facts on the ground.

Make no mistake, on February 24, Canada and Italy joined the UK, Germany, France and Denmark to sign 10-year security agreements with Kiev. These agreements underscore a collective commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and its aspirations to join the NATO military alliance, implying that their aim is a long-term confrontation with Russia. And Europe is now discussing the deployment of boots on the ground in Ukraine.

In this foreboding backdrop, what is it that Li Hui can hope to achieve as he meets up with the deputy head of the department Mikhail Galuzin, a middle ranking Russian diplomat in the foreign ministry, on March 3? Succinctly put, while China’s interest in resolving the Ukrainian crisis is not in doubt, Li Hui’s “shuttle diplomacy” can only be seen as an effort to understand the current positions of the parties, as the situation has changed since May 2023 when he last touched base — and the fact remains that there are active discussions about further steps regarding the conflict in the West after the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Conceivably, this upgrade of the opinions of the parties will enable Beijing to make decisions about its actions. A potential Europe trip by President Xi Jinping is also being talked about that may include France.

China is painstakingly rebuilding trust with the European powers and both sides eye pragmatic cooperation despite geopolitical frictions. China remains intrigued by Macron’s advocacy of Europe’s “strategic autonomy.” Meanwhile, the spectre of Donald Trump haunts both Europe and China, which, hopefully, may boost the latter’s chances at winning Europe’s trust.

The neo-Reich’s Acts of War

Par : AHH

The suicide of Europe in motion is astonishing! This is beyond mere malice or Anglo-American spoiling of Russo-German relations, or even mass psychosis formation — this is mass raving lunacy as admitted by the despairing Mercouris.

Mercouris devotes a shocking session to reviewing the intercept of the German military officers, Anglo-French connivance and outrage at revelation of their intrigue (not outrage or denial at the substance!), refusal of the West to negotiate in any meaningful way with Russia, determination to defeat Russia (if symbolically through burning bridges and other terrorism) and the early implications. All Russians have warned these deranged infantile megalomaniacs on the severe potential consequences, including Prez Putin in his last speech at the Federation council.

The Empire ensures Russia has to strike NATO proper, come what may. This Russia has carefully avoided to date. This is the next maneuver underway.

@ Medvedev (today):

“I think that the whitewashing of the ruling political alliance in Germany will now begin in order to soften the public indignation from the conversation of the Luftwaffe officers. Like, this is all the machinations of the military, they love such talk, don’t feed them bread – let them play a war game. And civilian political leadership has nothing to do with it at all. Moreover, at the head of this leadership is a peace-loving guy (aka liverwurst) Scholz, who refuses to hand over extended-range missiles to the Banderaites. He doesn’t know and will figure it out.

Nobody knows whether the political leadership and the Liver Chancellor personally are aware. But even if they are not aware and have not ordered anything like this, history knows many examples when the military is able to make decisions for civilian commanders about the start of wars or stimulate them. They’ll come to Scholz and say: “Herr (Reich) Chancellor, a missile was shot down in Ukraine. According to its type and trajectory, it was flying to Berlin.” What will Scholz answer, huh?
Clear as day.

So attempts to present the conversation of Bundeswehr officers as a game of rockets and tanks are a malicious lie.

Germany is preparing for war with Russia.”

Requiem for Rummy’s Old Europe: Deutschland

Par : AHH

Germany Retreats into Medieval Superstition and Taboo

By Henry Johnston at Russia Today (RT)

Sidebar: Continuing the story of the astonishing suicide of Old Europe, now to Germany. The sadness of Lavrov was remarked at “the rage, intolerance and total absence of critical thought exhibited especially by the Europeans.” This dovetails poignantly into this piece… Europe is plunged into self-inflicted darkness. Germany’s situation is even more bleak than Italy’s. As the major losers of the very last world war, and savagely occupied, mindwashed into atomization and endless generational guilt and controlled to this day by green fanatics, they have even less leeway than proud Italy, and farther to fall.

I recommend this movie, “The Lives of Others” which details the methods of the East German Stasi. Germans have been rendered frighteningly passive, fearful of their own shadows, in perpetual grasping to maintain fleeting lifestyles, trite wokeness and triviality and green craze and adherence to long-gone western “liberal ideals.” Merkel and many of the post-1991 cadre are East German; their people may have lost in the unification transition, but their more adept and amoral nomenklatura arose to the great satisfaction of Anglo-America.

What unfolds for Germany is an even steeper fall than Italy, which had been gradually plundered, deindustrialized, and dismantled since 1970s. The bitterness and anger which this will predictably raise will be used to marshal the society into reaction and greater superstition and feudal fascism. Sad days ahead.

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“An abandonment of reason is among the symptoms of a nation suffering from a collapse in the prevailing narratives”

Bloomberg recently foretold the end of Germany’s days as an industrial power in an article that begins with a depiction of the closing of a factory in Dusseldorf. Stone-faced workers preside with funereal solemnity over the final act – the fashioning of a steel pipe at a rolling mill – at the century-old plant. The “flickering of flares and torches” and “somber tones of a lone horn player” lend the scene a decidedly medieval atmosphere.

Intentional or not in their inclusion of such evocative detail, the Bloomberg writers offer potent imagery for Germany – not only because the country is regressing economically but because its elites are increasingly guided by an atavistic force: the abandonment of reason.

As hard economic realities lay bare the futility of its utopian energy plan and the consequences of numerous terrible decisions mount, Germany is experiencing what Swedish essayist Malcom Kyeyune calls “narrative collapse.” The peculiar offspring of this, Kyeyune argues, is a turn toward ritual, superstition, and taboo. It is a malaise afflicting the entire West, but Germany is suffering a particularly acute case.

Kyeyune defines this as an occurrence “when social and political circumstances change too rapidly for people to keep up, the result tends to be collective manias, social panics, and pseudo-religious revivalist millenarianism.”

The abandonment of reason can be conceived of in various ways. Quite a lot of ink has already been spilled about the irrationality behind Germany’s fantastically improbable climate policy. Indeed, the quasi-religious verve with which this program has been rolled out speaks to something of a loosening of the country’s moorings. But as we will see shortly, the problem goes far beyond an attachment to unattainable policy goals.

Prominent German business executive Wolfgang Reitzle argued that for the government to deliver on its climate and energy policy, capacities for wind and solar power would have to be more than quadrupled, while storage and back-up capacities would have to be massively increased. Such a plan is “neither technically feasible nor affordable for a country like Germany,” Reitzle argues. What it is then, he concludes, “is simply insanity.”

Annalena Baerbock and Joschka Fischer

Michael Shellenberger, in a piece for Forbes magazine in 2019, points out that the initial impetus for seeking to transition to renewables emerged from the idea that human civilization should be scaled back to sustainable levels. He cites German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s 1954 landmark essay ‘The Question Concerning of Technology’ and subsequent work by the likes of Barry Commoner and Murray Bookchin as espousing what emerged in the 1960s as a much more austere vision for the future of civilization.

Shellenberger concludes that the reason why “renewables can’t power modern civilization is because they were never meant to. One interesting question is why anybody ever thought they could.”

The cohort who suddenly began thinking they could is the German political and intellectual elite in the early 2000s. Gone was the bucolic environmentalism of the 1960s and in its place came an aggressive and utterly detached-from-reality agenda that was imposed with millenarian fervor.

Before circling back to the idea put forth by Kyeyune – that the German elite is now mired in superstition due to the onset of narrative collapse – we must back up for a moment and examine what animated Germany prior to Bloomberg’s flickering flares and melancholy horn.

Modern Germany has long been an object of admiration for the West’s liberal elite, upheld as the ideal incarnation of the post-Fukuyama ‘history-has-ended’ world where liberal democracy triumphed and ideological conflict is a thing of the past. Germany, a nation with a penchant for militarism and authoritarianism, had expurgated its past sins and humbly assumed its place in the grand liberal order, magnanimously refusing to translate its economic prowess into bullying of others.

The country’s status was enhanced even further when the US and UK went off the rails, as the elite saw it, with the populist rebellions of Donald Trump and Brexit. Germany, with its staid, consensus-driven, common-sense politics, was the ‘adult in the room’, in stark contrast to the Anglosphere.


Meanwhile, its economy was humming. The hyper-globalization of the 2000s played right into Germany’s hands. It was a confluence of propitious global circumstances. China was growing at astronomical rates and needed cars and machines – Germany provided both. The expansion of the EU into Eastern Europe opened up new markets for German exports. Germany was prospering and its success was an important driver of economic development across Europe.

All of this helped foster what was perhaps the primary trait of the German elite during this time: a supreme confidence. It was this confidence that led Angela Merkel to famously assert “wir schaffen das” (“we can do this”) when confronted with the task of assimilating over a million migrants. It was the same confidence that led to the idea of jettisoning both nuclear power and coal at essentially the same time, an announcement that was met with a certain disbelief but also awe. “If anyone can do it, it’s the Germans,” was a commonly heard response.

However, the last few years have witnessed a shaking of that assuredness and unraveling of the prevailing narratives as Germany’s vaunted stability and prosperity have been challenged and the benevolent globalized world that nurtured it began fading. But narrative collapse, like many other forms of collapse, at first happens slowly and at the margins before being catapulted forward by some trigger into its more rapid terminal phase.

What was happening at the margins was that the economic model that sustained Germany over the past two decades came under increasing strain as China moved up the value chain and began importing less of Germany’s manufacturing output; it had also become a competitor in the automobile market. Meanwhile, Germany’s economy largely failed to diversify and has been slow to embrace innovation.

Likewise, doubts about the prospects for the energy transition had begun creeping in, again at the margins, long before the events of 2022. Germany has made little progress toward its 2030 emissions target, and it is laughably far behind in its aim of putting 15 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030. It has had to delay plans for the phase-out of coal, and in fact even as of 2021 coal still accounted for a quarter of electricity output. In other words, rather than effecting an actual transition, Germany had merely set up a clean energy system that ran parallel to the dirty one. The clean one spoke to the narrative while the dirty one still powered much of the country. This could not help but plant the seed of the cognitive dissonance that would later assume such bewildering proportions.

Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in the colors of the Ukraine

Nevertheless, it was undoubtedly the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 that has precipitated the cascade of failure we see now. Certainly, Germany has made many poor decisions during this time, not the least of which was its headlong plunge into supporting the US-led proxy war against Russia. Relatedly, watching Russia’s sanctions-ridden economy rebound and return to growth – while their own economy struggled – defied everything the German elites would have imagined. That in itself is a narrative-shaking development.

But perhaps more important than the particular economic and political setbacks has been a sense that the benevolent, familiar world of recent decades is receding ever faster and in its place is coming something ominous, as if from a strange and turbulent dream.

To quote Kyeyune again, it’s as if 

“the future that they were promised – and that they promised the rest of us – was one of continued Western progress, prosperity, and geopolitical dominance. But that’s looking less and less plausible, and they neither like nor understand the future that is coming into view.”

For the elites, the world is crumbling around them and nothing is playing out as they had desired, which has deeply shaken their confidence.

The quotes from public officials and business leaders offered in the Bloomberg piece are bleak and a far cry from the “wir schaffen das” confidence of a few years back.

Stefan Klebert, the CEO of a company that has been supplying manufacturing machinery since the late 19th century, said: “To be honest, there is not much hope. I’m not really sure if we can stop this trend. Many things have to change quickly.”

Finance Minister Christian Lindner told a Bloomberg event earlier in February: “We are no longer competitive. We are getting poorer and poorer because we are not growing. We are falling behind.”

Volker Treier, foreign trade chief at Germany’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry, remarked: “You don’t have to be a pessimist to say that what we’re doing at the moment won’t be enough. The speed of structural change is dizzying.”

The last quote, a lament about the speed of structural change, is particularly telling and makes us recall Kyeyune’s assertion that when social and political circumstances change too rapidly for people to keep up, strange flora can sprout. 

This sense of no longer being able to control events and the fear this has engendered have bred a sense of impotence among the European elites – a sort of ‘deer frozen in the headlights’ paralysis – with Germany at the vanguard of this. No longer confident that their actions can produce certain desirable outcomes, the elites have shed their sophisticated modern veneer and technocratic sensibility and retreated into symbolism and superstition.

In a way this should come as no surprise. It is an age-old human response to the lack of control – think about rain dances instead of irrigation – that once again confirms the words of George Bernard Shaw that “the period of time covered by history is far too short to allow of any perceptible progress in the popular sense of evolution of the human species. The notion that there has been any such progress since Caesar’s time is too absurd for discussion. All the savagery, barbarism, dark ages and the rest of it of which we have any record as existing in the past, exists at the present moment.”

As a result of this, actions, emptied of their utilitarian contents, come to be seen as inherently meaningful only if they conform to the prevailing superstitions and carry the necessary symbolism. The policies being pursued are thus detached from reason in the sense that they are no longer evaluated or even undertaken with an expectation of a particular outcome – in fact, the outcomes are often quite the opposite of the presumed intention, leading to all manner of absurdities.


The EU’s rush to approve an absolutely token package of sanctions by February 24 – the anniversary of the beginning of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine – is not being carried out with the slightest expectation that a motley assortment of obscure companies and third-tier public officials coming under EU sanctions will achieve any policy aims. The entire value of the endeavor is in its symbolism. Because the symbolism is ‘correct’ the action becomes important.

Germany’s Green Party, a leading voice both in the fanatical climate program and the anti-Russia camp, has in the last two years promoted policies that have directly led to an increase in the burning of coal in the country. This is certainly not an outcome the party would have ever lobbied for. But its actions no longer have anything to do with specific desired outcomes; rather they exist entirely in the mist-filled world of symbolism and, in the logic of this new age of superstition, are to be evaluated only in relation to their symbolic potency.

Kyeyune gives what may be the most vivid example of this principle at work. “Germany still has one functioning pipeline through the Baltic Sea but refuses to use it,” he correctly notes, referring to one line of Nord Stream 2 that was not damaged in the sabotage attack carried out in September 2022. “The problem is that the alternative approach to meeting its energy needs means buying liquefied natural gas… and some of this gas comes from Russia. In other words, Germany still buys natural gas from Russia, less efficiently and at a higher cost, in order to maintain a quasi-ritualistic prohibition against use of the pipeline.

Meanwhile, he continues, a similar operation takes place with Russian oil, which is now sent to India or China to be refined before being imported by Europe. It is “as if the act of mixing it with other oil in a foreign refinery removes the evil spirits contained in it.” In other words, Russian oil must undergo some sort of purification process before it can enter the EU garden. European refiners, meanwhile, suffer, while all sorts of middlemen are enriched along the way, and consumers are left paying higher prices. There is not an ounce of economic logic to it – but we have now passed into a realm beyond economic logic.

Policies governing energy, the lifeblood of industrial civilization, are now subject to the tyranny of ritual, taboo, and superstition. Such is the predicament of the German elite as it seeks to navigate the country through a turbulent period of epochal transition. The abandonment of reason is quite a handicap in carrying out that job.

Addendum:

Venting about the dishonor of the German Government:

The Soviet Union lost 27m people during WW2 because of the Nazis. The Soviet Union made by far the biggest contribution of the Allied forces in defeating Hitler and eventually granted the reunification of East and West Germany…

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 2, 2024

Requiem for Rummy’s Old Europe: Italia

Par : AHH

Italy formalized entry into the combined western war against Russia

General Fabio Mini interviewed by Alessandro Bianchi at the Anti-Diplomat for “Hegemony”

The heartbreaking ongoing scenes of the surreptitious suicide of our Italia, seduced by the parasitical Piper! Absolute madness. Of a piece with the Annihilation of all in Rummy’s “Olde Europe” — we see French agony and maning of sabotage units in the rear of Russia; the Germans hellbent on leveling symbolic Russian bridges; and the Brits equally focused on sea targets.. At the end, a Beast begins to devour its own viscera, with mindless passion and devotion. None of it apparently articulated to their citizenry in this occult age.

In isolation, this behavior of Italy’s is an unremarkable gesture by a failing senile state with limited MIC and current means. In tandem with every significant western and NATO (and Israeli) state pledging similar support to the Ukraine to defeat Russia to overcome NATO gridlock from Hungary, Slovakia, Turkey and few other sane members, it accrues ominous tones.

In setting of the intercept releases indicating Germany is tasked with air strikes, the Brits naval strikes, and the French rear sabotage missions, and now the Italians with Baltic front, a capable and potent division of labor is establish by nearly a billion belligerents still capable of burning down much of Russia west of the Urals, especially as cost to Ukrainians is not a consideration. Medvedev messaged earlier that NATO still enjoys conventional superiority, which is true numerically, in potential, and in using these dastardly swarm terrorist technique now being unveiled. And that this would prompt a nuclear response as they threaten the very continued existence of the Russian state, per their nuclear doctrine.

Legion – pleasant, chic, woke and bumbling though it may appear, has been unrolled against Russia through these 10+ “bilateral guarantees” given to the Ukrainian fascists. How will Russia respond? Clearly the maddened will not be reasoned with, if they still double down at this bleak late hour.

≈≈≈

(a machine translation)

“I don’t think there is the right perception of how serious the situation is for the whole of Europe”

The Disturbing Military Agreement with Kiev: Risks and Scenarios

Many of the voters who chose Giorgia Meloni in the last election would certainly not have expected a more draghian foreign policy than Draghi, more atlantist than the director of Repubblica Molinari or more Zelensky thread than any Ursula. Still, our premier’s last trip to Kiev as the G7 president in the Ukrainian capital has cleared up all the doubts left. The ten-year agreement with which Meloni, without any parliamentary passage, linked the country to the Kiev regime remains the darkest and most disturbing side.

None more than General Fabio Mini, author of “Europe at war” (Paper First, 2023) and the premise to the new book by Giuseppe Monestarolo “Ukraine, Europe world” (Asterios, 2024) can help us shed light, identify details and future scenarios. Mini is one of the most coherent and strong voices in denouncing the risks associated with the European attitude towards the ongoing conflict. With his articles on Limes and the Daily Fact, he managed to break the dominant propaganda. That propaganda which, as cleverly announced by the general himself, is bringing our continent one step away from an increasingly visible abyss.

We asked General Fabio Mini to help us resolve several doubts for “Hegemony.”

The Interview

Q: The absence of Macron and Scholz next to Meloni in Kiev deserves a necessary General premise.

« Absences speak much more about presences. Absence is a diplomatic and political instrument and experienced countries such as France and Germany know this well. If they have not sent their leaders, there is a political-diplomatic reason, but I do not think it concerns a way out of the conflict with Russia. It seems to me more likely that they have escaped Zelensky’s kissing, also sacrificing those of the two ladies or who do not share in this period the decision-making of the individual states or the centralizing aims proper to von der Leyen for the management of European rearmament and aid in Kiev. »

Q: General helps us to frame the scope of the military agreement signed by the Italian premier in Kiev. What do you expect?

« These are military and civil cooperation measures with Ukraine, already declared to NATO, within the European Union and in all the other international fora in which our government has been present. In practice, it reaffirms military support for Ukraine in the event of future attacks and right now to reject Russia within its borders and even beyond ».

Q: All members of the government wanted to reiterate that we are not an active part of the conflict. Is this so?

« The agreement reaffirms the measures already taken against Moscow such as sanctions, the freezing and confiscation of assets of private Russian citizens abroad and the charge of war damages – including those caused by the Ukrainian bombing in Donbass which is the area that has suffered i more serious damage. Our government insists that “ we are not at war with Russia ” and knows very well that the majority of Italian citizens, unlike parliamentary and government citizens, he doesn’t want this or any other war. But the agreement provides for one-way aid and cooperation in the military, industrial, commercial and political fields. Therefore, the possibility of a negotiation »

Q: Negotiated for an agreement. Agreement that is known as it had already been reached by Ukrainians and Russians a few weeks after the start of operations, in March 2022 in Istanbul. Does this decision by the Italian government make it increasingly complicated?

« It promises everything Ukraine asks for and needs to continue the war. You do not venture into any consideration or proposal that favors the cessation of the conflict. Indeed, by supporting the so-called 10-point Ukrainian peace plan, which denies any negotiation on the borders with Russia, any way out other than defeat on the Russian or Ukrainian field is excluded. »

Q: Are there specific clauses that make our involvement in the conflict greater?

« No, and they are not necessary. The entire document is dedicated to making explicit and strengthening, at least in words, the political and military alignment alongside Ukraine and against Russia.

There is no sign of encouragement for diplomatic action towards peace or suspension of conflict. The essential purpose of this cooperation is not lasting and just peace, nor greater security for Ukraine and Europe itself. In fact, Italy participates and collaborates in the war against Russia, aware that this means the continuation and worsening of the conflict ».

Q: General in the agreement it is said to defend Ukrainian sovereignty and democracy but no reference is made to the guarantees that should be given to the populations of Ukraine itself who would return under its sovereignty…

« This means exactly canceling the ten years of past abuses and massacres and authorizing future ones. It means forgetting what democracy really has to guarantee. The Ukrainian one and ours. I don’t think the document itself involves a surprise for Russia or an extra concern. If anything, the tone and words, copied and pasted by similar American and English documents, may have irritated because they come from a government that represents a population and a culture that Russia respects. Or respected. »

Q: In short, nothing but sovereignty. The drift that began with the Draghi government continues, is intensified and Italy has definitively lost its traditional role of mediation. Are we more at risk today?

« We do not risk today more than we risked yesterday, but this is not a consolation because I do not think there is the right perception of how serious the situation is for all of Europe. And how much our pilots are risking in the border control operations of the Baltic countries. The tightening of relationships or only irritation may be sufficient to bring down any qualms in reactions to any trespassing, even if involuntary. And the general approach to being weak and dangerous.

Italy is betting on the Ukrainian victory, on a rapid conclusion of the conflict and on the slice of cake that can derive from it with arms supplies and with reconstruction. None of the three things are safe and indeed the chances of them happening are decreasing. It is betting on the European rearmament that von der Leyen would like to coordinate and manage on behalf of all of Europe, it is not clear whether to do Germany or the United States a favor by constituting a single pole for imports. Exactly as a success for Covid’s drugs which she herself leads to model for war supplies.

We are continuing along the lines of global conflict by passively following the aims and methods of the United States and Great Britain in Europe against Russia and in the world against China. »

Q: Two years after the start of the Russian operation, his predictions on the Daily Fact and Limes have come true practically all of those, obtusely NATO wire, carried out by the newspapers of the dominant media groups in Italy denied (as usual). General what to expect now from 2024? Will we experience a new escalation?

« I try to be realistic and not hypocritically optimistic. For this year, I see no international will to end the conflict with a negotiation. Instead, I see the outlet for negotiation as a consequence of military operations. The whole world is looking for an honorable compromise to save Ukraine but it is precisely it that does not want to be saved and indeed claims to sacrifice itself to save all of us. As long as you resort to this rhetoric, you don’t get to anything ».

Q: The option to send other weapons and even men – as French President Macron recently said – to fight Russia where it can take us?

« This is exactly what Russia expects to switch to the nuclear option. But he still needs US insurance that the use of tactical nuclear power does not trigger the strategic one. With the current American president, insurance in this sense would not have meant. It should be a gentlemen agreement and so far nothing has been seen that characterizes a gentleman. Within a few months, however, he will be crippled and the new president, whoever he or she is, would have the task of unraveling the skein. Considering that an American president takes at least six months before becoming operational – even if experienced or re-elected – because of the compromises he had to weave to be elected and the changes of the international situation – I believe that this type of tacit or secret agreement is not possible before mid-2025 ».

Q: So in the meantime?

« In the meantime, Russia should pull the war long by increasing the friction on the Ukrainian forces and try to get a good compromise from the exhaustion of Kiev. It is not a short-term thing because aid tends to prolong agony rather than switch to euthanasia. As long as there is war there is hope of business and profits. A less bloody solution could come from a coup d’état in Moscow or Kiev that eliminating the main interlocutors allows the transition to compromises. I see it difficult in Russia and more likely in Ukraine, but always uncertain: successors are not always better than predecessors. »

The extent of the European suicide and the abyss that agreements such as that signed by Meloni in Kiev is now, perhaps, clearer.



The Global Majority Mixes in Multipolar Moscow

Par : AHH

Takeaway from Moscow: Normal-o-philes and Russophiles of the world, UNITE

By Pepe Escobar at Strategic Culture Foundation.

These have been frantic multipolar days at the capital of the multipolar world. I had the honor to personally tell Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that virtually the whole Global South seemed to be represented in an auditorium of the Lomonosov innovation cluster on a Monday afternoon – a sort of informal UN and in several aspects way more effective when it comes to respecting the UN charter. His eyes gleamed. Lavrov, more than most, understands the true power of the Global Majority.

“A child was born, now our task is to raise him.” Moscow establishes the International Russophile Movement


Moscow hosted a back-to-back multipolar conference plus the second meeting of the International Russophiles Movement (MIR, in its French acronym, which means “world” in Russian). Taken together, the discussions and networking have offered auspicious hints on the building of a truly representative international order – away from the agenda-imposed doom and gloom of single unipolar culture and Forever Wars.

The opening plenary session in the first day fell under the star power of Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova – whose main message was crystal clear: “There can’t be freedom without free will”, which could easily become the new collective Global South motto. “Civilization-states” set the tone of the overall discussion – as they are meticulously designing the blueprints of economic, technological and cultural development in the post-Western hegemonic world.

Professor of International Relations Zhang Weiwei at Fudan University’s China Institute in Shanghai summarized the four crucial points when it comes to Beijing propelling its role as a “new independent pole.” That reads like a concise marker of where we are now:

  1. Under the unipolar order, everything from dollars to computer chips can be weaponized. Wars and color revolutions are the norm.
  2. China has become the largest economy in the world by PPP; the largest trade and industrial economy; and it is currently at the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
  3. China proposes a model of “Unite and Prosper” instead of a Western model of “Divide and Rule”.
  4. The West tried to isolate Russia, but the Global Majority sympathizes with Russia. Thus, the Collective West has been isolated by the Global Rest.


Fighting the “theo-political war”

“Global Rest”, incidentally, is a misnomer: Global Majority is the name of the game. The same applies to “golden billion”; those that profit from the unipolar moment, mostly across the collective West and as comprador elites in the satraps, are at best 200 million or so.

Monday afternoon in Moscow featured three parallel sessions: on China and the multipolar world, where the star was Professor Weiwei; on the post-hegemony West, under the title “Is it possible to save the European civilization?” – attended by several dissident Europeans, academics, think tankers, activists; and the main treat – featuring the frontline actors of multipolarity.

I had the honor to moderate the awesome Global South session, which ran for over three hours – it could have been the whole day, actually – and featured several stunning presentations by a stellar cast of Africans, Latin Americans and Asians, from Palestine to Venezuela, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla.

That was the multipolar Global South in full flight – as my imperative was to open the floor to as many people as possible. Were the organizers to release a Greatest Hits of the presentations, that could easily become a global hit.

Mandla Mandela emphasized how it’s about time to move away from the unipolar system dominated by the Hegemon, “which continues to support Israel”.

That complemented Benin’s charismatic activist Kemi Seba – who brilliantly personifies the African leadership of the future. In the plenary session, Seba introduced a key concept – which begs to be developed around the world: we are living under a “theo-political war”.

That neatly summarizes the Western simultaneous Hybrid War on Islam, Shi’ism, Christian Orthodoxy, in fact every religion, apart from the Woke Cult.

The next day, the second congress of the International Russophiles movement offered three debate sessions: the most relevant was on – what else – “Informational and Hybrid Warfare”.

I had the honor to share the stage with Maria Zakharova – and after my free jazz-style presentation, focused on over 40 years of practicing journalism across the planet and watching first-hand the utter degradation of the industry, we carried a hopefully useful dialogue on media and soft power.

My suggestion not only to the Russian Foreign Ministry but to everyone all across the Global South was straightforward: forget about oligarchy-controlled legacy/mainstream media, it is already dead. They have nothing relevant to say. The present and the future rely on social media; “alternative” – which is not alternative anymore, on the contrary; and citizen media, to all of which, of course, the highest standards of journalism should be applied.

In the evening, before everyone got down to party hard, a few of us were invited for an open, frank and enlightening working dinner with Foreign Minister Lavrov in one of the magnificent frescoed rooms of the Metropol Hotel, one the grand hotels of Europe since 1905.


A legend with a wicked sense of humor

Lavrov was relaxed, among friends; after an initial, stunning diplomatic tour de force which covered quite a few highlights of the recent decades all the way to the current gloom and doom, he opened the table to our questions, taking notes and answering each one of them in detail.

What’s so striking when you are face to face with the most legendary diplomat in the world for quite some time, in a relaxed setting, is his genuine sadness when faced with the rage, intolerance and total absence of critical thought exhibited especially by the Europeans. That was much more relevant throughout our conversation than the fact that U.S.-Russia relations are at an all-time low.

Lavrov though remains highly driven because of the Global South/Global Majority – and the Russian presidency of the BRICS this year. He hugely praised Indian FM Jaishankar, and the comprehensive relations with China. He suggested the Russophiles Movement should take a global role, playfully suggesting we should all be part of a “Normal-o-philes” movement.

Well, Lavrov The Legend is also known for his wicked sense of humor. And humor is most effective when it is deadly serious. So here’s the key takeaway of these frantic days in Moscow: Normal-o-philes of the world, unite.

≈≈≈

From last year’s inauguration of the International Russophiles Movement (MIR):

The Rocky Road to Dedollarization

Par : AHH

An Interview with Sergei Glazyev, guru extraordinaire of multipolar geoeconomics… ‘the dogs bark — the Caravan of the Global Juggernaut moves on‘

By Pepe Escobar at Sputnik.

Very few people in Russia and across the Global South are as qualified as Sergei Glazyev, an academic with a prominent role within the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), to speak about the drive, the challenges and the pitfalls in the road towards de-dollarization.

As the Global South issues widespread calls for real financial stability; India inside the BRICS 10 makes it clear that everyone needs to think seriously about the toxic effects of unilateral sanctions; and Professor Michael Hudson keeps reiterating current policies are not sustainable anymore, Glazyev graciously received me at his office at the EEC for an exclusive, extensive conversation, including fascinating off the record odds and ends.

These are the highlights – as Glazyev’s ideas are being re-examined, and there’s huge expectation for the green light from the Russian government for a new trade settlement model – which for the moment is in the final stages of fine-tuning.

Glazyev explained how his main idea was “elaborated a long time ago. The basic idea is that a new currency should be first of all introduced on the basis of international law, signed by the countries which are interested in the production of this new currency. Not via some kind of conference, like Bretton Woods, with no legitimacy. At the first stage, not all countries would be included. BRICS nations will be enough – plus the SCO. In Russia, we already have our own SWIFT – the SPFS. We have our currency exchange, we have correspondent relations between banks, consultation between Central Banks, here we are absolutely self-sufficient.”


All that leads to adopting a new international currency:
“We don’t really need to go large scale. BRICS is enough. The idea of the currency is that there are two baskets: one basket is national currencies of all countries involved in the process, like the SDR, but with more clear, understandable criteria. The second basket are commodities. If you have two baskets, and we create the new currency as an index of commodities and national currencies, and we have a mechanism for reserves, according to the mathematical model that will be very stable. Stable and convenient.”

Then it’s up to feasibility:
“To introduce this currency as an instrument for transactions would not be too difficult. With good infrastructure, and all Central Banks approving it, then it’s up to businesses to use this currency. It should be in digital form – which means it can be used without the banking system, so it will be at least ten times cheaper than present transactions through banks and currency exchanges.”


That Thorny Central Bank Question

“Q: Have you presented this idea to the Chinese?”

“We presented it to Chinese experts, our partners at Renmin University. We had good feedback – but I did not have the opportunity to present it on a political level. Here in Russia we promote the discussion via papers, conferences, seminars, but there’s still no political decision on introducing this mechanism even on the BRICS agenda. The proposal by our team of experts is to include it in the agenda of the BRICS summit next October in Kazan. The problem is the Russian Central Bank is not enthusiastic. The BRICS have only decided on an operating plan to use national currencies – which is also a quite clear idea, as national currencies are already used in our trade. Russian ruble is the main currency in the EAEU, trade with China is conducted in rubles and renminbi, trade with India and Iran and Turkiye also switched to national currencies. Each country has the infrastructure for it. If Central Banks introduce digital national currencies and allow them to be used in international trade, it’s also a good model. In this case crypto exchanges can easily balance payments – and it’s a very cheap mechanism. What is needed is an agreement from Central Banks to allow a certain amount of national currencies in digital form to participate in international transactions.”

Q: Would that be feasible already in 2024, if there is political will?”

“There are some start-ups already. By the way, they are in the West, and the digitalization is conducted by private companies, not Central Banks. So the demand is there. Our Central Bank needs to elaborate a proposal for the summit in Kazan. But this is only one part of the story. The second part is price. For the moment price is determined by Western speculation. We produce these commodities, we consume them, but we do not have our own price mechanism, which will balance supply and demand. During the Covid panic, the price for oil fell to nearly zero. It’s impossible to make any strategic planning for economic development if you do not control prices of basic commodities. Price formation with this new currency should get rid of Western exchanges of commodities. My idea is based on a mechanism that existed in the Soviet Union, in the Comecon. In that period we had long-term agreements not only with socialist countries, but also with Austria, and other Western countries, to supply gas for 10 years, 20 years, the basis of this price formula was the price for oil, and the price for gas.”

So what stands out is the effectiveness of a long-term, long view policy:
“We did create a long-term pattern. Here in the EEC we are looking at the idea of a common exchange market. We already prepared a draft, with some experiments. The first step is the creation of an information network, exchanges in different countries. It was rather successful. The second step will be to set up online communication between exchanges, and finally we move to a common mechanism of price formation, and open this mechanism for all other countries. The main problem is that the major producers of commodities, first of all the oil companies, they don’t like to trade through exchanges. They like to trade personally, so you need a political decision to make sure that at least half of production of commodities should go through exchanges. A mechanism where supply and demand balance each other. For the moment the price of oil in foreign markets is ‘secret’. It’s some type of colonial times thinking. ‘How to cheat’. We must create legislation to open all this information to the public.”


The NDB in Need of a Shake-up

Glazyev offered an extensive analysis of the BRICS universe, based on how the BRICS Business Council had its first meeting on financial services in early February. They agreed on a working plan; there was a first session of fintech experts; and during this week a breakthrough meeting may lead to a new formulation – for the moment not made public – to be put into the BRICS agenda for the October summit.

Q: What are the main challenges within the BRICS structure in this next stage of trying to bypass the US dollar?”

“BRICS in fact is a club which doesn’t have a secretariat. I can tell it, from a person that has some experience in integration. We discussed the idea of a customs union here, on the post-Soviet territory, immediately after the collapse. We had a lot of declarations, even some agreements signed by heads of state, over a common economic space. But only after the establishment of a commission the real work stated, in the year 2008. After 20 years of papers, conferences, nothing was done. You need someone who’s responsible. In BRICS there is such an organization – the NDB [New Development Bank]. If the heads of state decide to appoint the NDB as an institution which will elaborate the new model, the new currency, organize an international conference with the draft of an international treaty, this can work.

The problem is that the NDB works according to the dollar charter. They have to reorganize this institution in order to make it workable. Now it works like an ordinary international development bank under the American framework. The second option would be to do it without this bank, but that would be much more difficult. This bank has enough expertise.”

Q: Could an internal shake-up of the NDB be proposed by the Russian presidency of BRICS this year?”

“We are doing our best. I’m not sure the Ministry of Finance understands how serious this is. The President understands. I personally promoted this idea to him. But the chairman of the Central Bank, and ministers are still thinking in the old IMF paradigm.”


‘Religious Sects Don’t Create Innovation’

Glazyev had a serious discussion on sanctions with the NDB:
“I discussed this issue with Mrs. Rousseff [the former Brazilian President, currently presiding the NDB) at the St. Petersburg Forum. I gave her a paper about it. She was rather enthusiastic and invited us to come to the NDB. But afterwards there was no follow-up. Last year everything was very difficult.”

On BRICS, “the financial services working group is discussing reinsurance, credit rating, new currencies in fintech. That’s what should be in the agenda of the NDB. The best possibility would be a meeting in Moscow in March or April, to discuss in depth the whole range of issues of BRICS settlement mechanism, from most sophisticated to least sophisticated. It would be great if the NDB sign up for it, but as it stands there is a de facto gulf between the BRICS and the NDB.”

The key point, insists Glazyev, is that “Dilma should find time to organize these discussions at a high level. A political decision is needed.

Q: But wouldn’t that decision have to come from Putin himself?”

“It’s not so easy. We heard statements by at least three heads of the state: Russia, South Africa and Brazil. They publicly said ‘this is a good idea’. The problem, once again, is there is no task force yet. My idea, which we proposed before the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, is to create an international working group – to prepare in the next sessions the model, or the draft, of the treaty. How to switch to national currencies. That’s the official agenda now. And they have to report about that in Kazan [for the BRICS annual summit]. There are some consultations between the Central Banks and Ministers of Finance.”

Glazyev cut to the chase when it comes to the inertia of the system:
“The main problem for bureaucrats and experts is ‘why they don’t have ideas?’ Because they assume the current status quo is the best one. If there are no sanctions, everything will be good. The international financial architecture that was created by the United States and Europe is convenient. Everyone knows how to work in the system. So it’s impossible to move from this system to another system. For businesses it will be very difficult. For banks it will be difficult. People have been educated in the paradigm of financial equilibrium, totally libertarian. They don’t care that prices are manipulated by speculators, they don’t care about volatility of national currencies, They think it’s natural (…) It’s a kind of religious sect. Religious sects don’t create innovation.”


Now Get on That Hypersonic Bicycle

We’re back to the crucial issue of national currencies:
“Even five years ago, when I spoke about national currencies in trade, everybody said it was completely impossible. We have long-term contracts in dollars and euro. We have an established culture of transactions. When I was Minister of Foreign Trade, 30 years ago, at the time I tried to push all our trade in commodities into rubles. I argued with Yeltsin and others, ‘we have to trade in rubles, not in dollars’. That would automatically make the ruble a reserve currency. When Europe moved to the euro, I had a meeting with Mr. Prodi, and we agreed, ‘we will use euro as your currency, and you will use rubles’. Then Prodi came to me after consultations and said, ‘I talked to Mr. Kudrin [former Russian Finance Minister, 2000-2011], he didn’t ask me to make the ruble a reserve currency’. That was sabotage. It was stupidity.”

The problems actually run deep – and keep running:
“The problem was our regulators, educated by the IMF, and the second problem was corruption. If you trade oil and gas in dollars, a large part of profits is stolen, there are a lot of intermediate companies which manipulate prices. Prices are only the first step. The price for natural gas in the first deal is about 10 times less than the final demand. There are institutional barriers. A majority of countries do not allow our companies to sell oil and gas to the final customer. Like you cannot sell gas to households. Nevertheless, even in the open market, quite competitive, we have intermediates between producer and consumer – at least half of the revenues are stolen from government control. They don’t pay taxes.”

Yet fast solutions do exist:
“When we were sanctioned two years ago, transfer from US dollar and euro to national currencies took only a few months. It was very quick.”

On investments, Glazyev stressed success in localized trade, but capital flows are still not there:
“The Central Banks are not doing their job. The ruble-renminbi exchange is working well. But the ruble-rupee exchange doesn’t work. The banks that keep these rupees, they have a lot of money, accrue interest rates on these rupees, and they can play with them. I don’t know who’s responsible for this, our Central Bank or the Indian Central Bank.”

The succinct, key takeaway of Glazyev’s serious warnings is that it would be up to the NDB – prodded by the leadership of BRICS – to organize a conference of global experts and open it for public discussion. Glazyev evoked the metaphor of a bicycle that keeps rolling along – so why invent a new bicycle? Well, the – multipolar – time has come for a new hypersonic bicycle.

State of Play in the Sandbox

Par : AHH

“The only nation in the world that won a naval war without having a single ship!”

Two of my favorites review the unedifying remains of the day. Some go to art galleries or the beach, listen to music or watch a movie — these two savants relax me. After listening to Smoothie you will understand (1) the  reason for supreme calm & confidence of Putin and Medvedev and (2) the panic and verbal enuresis of Macron & Crew.

Last soundbite for the scrapbook:

“NATO is not going to back down, it’s going to dissolve .. unh .. that is the best way of going about it!”

Hamas’s Foreign Policy

Par : AHH

The unity of the Resistance from the river to the sea is not only inspiring from afar, but has yielded practical results for the Palestinians.

By Ganna Eid of Al Mayadeen

Daud Abdullah wrote an erudite and comprehensive analysis of Hamas’s foreign policy which was released by the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC) in 2020. The majority of the writing was done in 2019, and thus there are a few lacunae based on the last 5 years of world affairs.

On the world scale, the Covid-19 pandemic rocked production, distribution, and public health sectors; the Russian special military operation in Ukraine gave us the first of a series of likely wars in the decline of Atlanticist hegemony. In Palestine, the “Unity Intifada” — also known as Seif Al-Quds battle–highlighted the connectivity of the various Resistance factions within Palestine.

Now, today, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and its aftermath have changed the regional geometry, with even more unity among all factions of the Axis of Resistance across the region.

I will first analyze some of Abdullah’s policy prescriptions for Hamas based on the world situation in 2020, and then see to what extent these policy prescriptions have been undertaken by the Islamic movement or to what extent they still require action. In this article, three elements of Hamas’s foreign policy stick out to me: their relations with Russia and China, the shifts and reconfigurations of the Axis of Resistance, and finally, Hamas’s ability to politically and diplomatically maneuver after October 7th.

Russian FM Lavrov meets with Hamas politburo members Khaled Meshal and Osama Hamdan, Moscow, circa 2015

The first topic to discuss revolves around Hamas’s relations with Russia and China.

Abdullah’s analysis of Hamas’s relations with Russia and China is one of the most honest, sober, and important analyses I have read in some time. With reference to Russia, Abdullah points out that early on in Hamas’s existence, Russia was willing to break with the iron grip of the Quartet and defend Hamas from the ‘terrorist’ label. Hamas officials and delegates have gone to Moscow on a number of occasions, the latest being in early 2024. At these meetings, Hamas has been treated as a regular political party and a representative of the Palestinians, which has afforded the movement and its leaders meetings with high-ranking officials in Russia, such as Sergey Lavrov.

Yet, the two-headed eagle of Russia stands at a crossroads still. While Ukraine has fallen out of the news cycle, the war is slowing down and there have been some signals of a peace treaty in the near future. Putin–and Russia–understand that the Ukrainian regime are puppets of the imperialists tasked with bringing down the Eurasian superpower, yet this analysis is not extended to “Israel”. Why is this? Is it that a great many “Israeli” citizens are of Russian origin? Is it because Putin, like the double-headed eagle of Russia’s standard, is balancing his role as the post-Soviet liberal statesman and his role as the Eurasianist Hercules whose sword hovers over the Gordian Knot of NATO imperialism? This delicate balancing act will have to come to an end, especially with the carnage wrought by “Israel” and the USA in Gaza today.

Armed Fatah militants reading copies of ‘Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung,’ Jordan, 1970

With reference to China, Abdullah does not spare the People’s Republic from criticism of their position vis-a-vis Palestine and Hamas. While China–like Russia–has from the start shielded Hamas from the ‘terrorist’ label, and has treated Hamas as a legitimate governing party, they are involved in their own balancing act.

China has extensive trade relations with the Zionist colony, and uses this along with their recognition of Hamas as a means to try and enter the region as a ‘fair and honest peace broker’. While their brokering of rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia is laudable, China is yet to use their global clout to help isolate and sanction the Zionists. It still clings to the dead and buried ‘two-state’ solution as their official position.

Yet as Abdullah points out, the relationship between the more radical Chinese intelligentsia and the Chinese state is a close one, and one which Hamas should exploit:

As things stand, China’s intelligentsia are increasingly questioning whether the ‘keep a low profile’ policy is fit for purpose in the twenty-first century. In this context, Hamas has nothing to lose and everything to gain by positioning itself to benefit from changes that seem imminent in China’s foreign policy.

The above quote from Abdullah is one with which I agree; Chinese intellectuals, such as Zhang Weiwei and Minqi Li, are theorizing multipolarity and the ongoing fall of US hegemony. The Chinese intelligentsia are also involved in President Xi’s ideological campaigns in the PLA, which aim to politicize the army and involve them further in socialist construction. The growing rift in Sino-US relations is an opportunity for Hamas and the Palestinian national movement.

Hamas’s reconciliation with the Assad government in Damascus is an important development after the two parties had differing stances on the civil war and eventual proxy war in Syria in 2012. This subsequently improved relations between Iran and Hamas, which had suffered after 2012 as well. The ability of Hezbollah, and indeed Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah himself, to orchestrate this reconciliation shows the seriousness and importance of the Arab strategic depth.

A driving force of this reconciliation was the 2021 ‘Unity Intifada’ and the shifts on the ground in the region which have strengthened the Resistance. The 2021 ‘Unity Intifada’ is important for a number of reasons, primarily that the Resistance in Gaza–the liberated land base from which the national liberation struggle is being launched–and the Resistance in the occupied territories went hand-in-hand into battle for the first time since the Hamas-Fatah split in 2007.

The unity of the Resistance from the river to the sea is not only inspiring from afar, but has yielded practical results for the Palestinians. The internal crises of the Zionist colony highlight the contradictory trend: while the Palestinians are uniting after years of division, the Zionists are at each other’s throats. The unity of the Resistance and the disintegration of social relations in the colony continue today, in the midst of Operation Al Aqsa Flood.

Since October 7, Hamas and other Resistance factions inside Palestine (notably PIJ, PFLP, and DFLP) have relentlessly unleashed a guerilla war on the Zionist colony. This has not led to military victories alone; Hamas has the potential to come out of this in a better position diplomatically. As with all things, this depends on the balance of forces. Hamas has insisted that the only end which they see fit in any ‘ceasefire’ is an all-for-all prisoner swap. The magnitude of Palestinian prisoners compared to “Israeli” ones is already a numeric victory if this is to happen, and it seems that the Zionists may have to concede to this because their American masters are attempting to tighten the leash. Yet, why should Hamas stop there? The Ansar Allah forces in Sanaa have shown their willingness to disrupt global trade in support of Palestine.

Hezbollah is showing signs of escalating battles on the northern front, which is not an irrational fear for the Zionists given what happened in 2000 and 2006. So how could Hamas secure a larger victory? If the Resistance is able to enfeeble the Zionists and settle a temporary truce at the 1967 borders, that then increases the size of the land base and improves the logistics for launching a war of total liberation because there will be some territorial contiguity. This would also shift internal developments in Palestine, such as the potential formation of a unity government which gets rid of the comprador elements of Fatah. Indeed, PCPSR polling shows that the corrupt PA is as unpopular as ever.

The potential creation of a unity government then opens diplomatic space for powerful countries like Russia and China to support one democratic state, which they currently do not. As the battle for Palestine rages on, we will indeed see how Hamas’s foreign policy space waxes and wanes. As always, the patient and calculated tenor of the Axis of Resistance will provide us with a beacon toward total liberation.

≈≈

This is a timely article reviewing internal political maneuvering and realigments amongst the Palestinians. In two days, on February 29th, all Palestinian factions are hosted in Moscow in the attempt to create a unity government presenting a common political front.

Yemen’s fearless escalation

Par : AHH

Yemen’s fearless escalation

Ansarullah challenge Egypt’s compliance with Israeli Gaza aid curbs

By Abdel Bari Atwan at Rai Al Youm

While many Arab governments that possess hundreds of tanks and warplanes have been passively watching Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the Yemeni government in Sanaa — though exhausted by eight years of war and suffocating blockade — has taken the lead in acting to oppose it.

Yemeni naval forces responded to Israel’s criminal escalation in the Gaza Strip with a parallel escalation first targeting Israeli-linked commercial shipping, and then the US and UK warships deployed to protect it. The two countries’ threats and their repeated airstrikes on Yemen, including the capital, failed to intimidate the Yemeni leadership or people. They had the opposite effect, prompting an intensification of attacks on ships that do not comply with instructions in the Red and Arabian seas, and then missile strikes on the Israeli-held port of Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) last Thursday.

On Friday, Abdelmalek al-Houthi, spiritual leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, gave a fiery speech to millions of marchers who have been taking to the streets of Yemeni cities every week in solidarity with the Palestinian people and resistance groups in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. He affirmed that Yemeni naval and land forces would step up their actions in the Red Sea and also introduce their submarine force into the conflict. He hinted that plans were in place for future actions and surprise moves which he could not disclose.

On Thursday, Yemeni military spokesman Yahya Sarie had announced three further operations: a missile strike on a British-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden which set it on fire; the targeting of a US destroyer; and a missile and drone barrage against Eilat that sent thousands of Israeli settlers scurrying into shelters.

History will record with awe this Yemeni courage at a time of Arab silence and collusion, and how the Yemenis dared cross the reddest of red lines by taking action against the warships of the two mightiest empires in modern times: Britain, whose sun has set but remains a powerful force, and the US superpower that wields an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons.

The Yemeni armed forces’ next step could be to ‘punish’ the Western powers that have been ‘punishing’ various regional actors for supporting the Palestinian. That may entail moving the battle from the Red and Arabian seas to the coastal waters of occupied Palestine.

That was hinted at by leading Ansarullah figure Ali al-Houthi in his response to Egyptian spokesman Dia Rashwan’s attempt to justify Egypt’s failure to force open the Rafah border crossing to allow in thousands of aid trucks to provide relief to Gaza’s starving children. Rashwan had explained that Israel would bombard any trucks that tried to enter the Gaza Strip without its permission.

Ali al-Houthi’s riposte was, verbatim: “We are willing to send people to escort the trucks and transporters taking food, humanitarian, and medical aid into the Gaza Strip. We have much proven experience in this regard gained during the eight-year war when aid was delivered under bombardment.”

The Egyptian authorities are unlikely to take up this proposal, which is hugely embarrassing for them and exposes their collusion in Israel’s policy of starving the Gaza Strip’s more than two million inhabitants. But it has at least served to call them out and publicly challenge their lame excuses for inaction.

The fearlessness of the Yemenis is legendary. Having defied the US and UK’s armadas, and humiliated Israel by closing the Bab al-Mandeb straight to its shipping without it daring to retaliate, I wouldn’t be surprised if they send their own aid shipments towards Gaza and challenge the Egyptian authorities to let them in via Rafah.

The Yemenis are masters of the impressive surprise. They act as they say, and do as they threaten. I fully expect they will match the Afghans and Vietnamese in giving the US a taste of defeat, one that may be the beginning of the end of its military presence in the region.

The flourishing Iran-Russia alliance

The US is paying the price for its strategic short-sightedness

By Abdel Bari Atwan at Rai Al Youm

Russia is making military and economic advances in the Middle East, while the US is in rapid retreat in most of the region’s countries.

This is not only due to the cleverness of its foes, especially the Russians, but to its own stupidity: its arrogance and short-sightedness, and placing all its strategic eggs in the basket of the Israeli occupation state. This is now entangling it in wars – especially in Yemen and Iraq — that could result in the foreseeable future in its military bases being dismantled and its forces and fleets ignominiously exiting the region.

The US’ biggest failure lies in the way the blockades and sanctions it zealously imposes on several states in the region — especially Iran but also to a lesser extent Syria and Yemen — are backfiring.

Iran has succeeded in breaking the embargo imposed on it by developing its domestic military and civilian industries and scientific and technological expertise, including a nuclear programme that enables it to build nuclear weapons in a matter of weeks should its self-imposed prohibition of such a step be lifted.

On Thursday, Reuters news agency, citing six separate sources, reported that Iran was supplying Russia with guided ballistic missiles from the Fateh-110 family, such as the road-mobile Zolfaghar which can hit targets from a distance of 300 to 700 kilometres. Its sources said around 400 missiles had already been sent to Russia by air or by ship via the Caspian Sea, and more would be delivered in the coming few weeks.

This cooperation between two countries subject to draconian US sanctions naturally worries the Biden administration and its Western allies, especially at a time when Russia is making major gains in the Ukraine war that enable it to consolidate its control over the four annexed eastern provinces and Crimea.

Because of the US embargo and sanctions, Iran made its mind up from day one of the Ukraine war and chose to side with Russia — not just verbally, but in practice. It sold the Russian army drones that are considered among the most sophisticated in the world, and is now coming to its ally’s aid by supplying it with smart missiles to replenish its stocks.

Meanwhile, Iran’s paramilitary allies are doing Russia a great service by engaging the US in costly military and economic wars of attrition. Yemeni naval forces now hit out at US warships in the Red Sea and Arabia Sea on an almost daily basis, while Iraq’s Hashd ash-Shaabi assumes the task of striking US bases in Iraq and Syria — and maybe Jordan next.

This growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia is unlikely to be a one-way street. In exchange for its arms supplies, Iran will almost certainly be provided with top-of-the-line Russian military and civilian, possibly including nuclear, technology.

The Iranian-Russian alliance has borne fruit in the form of successes in the Ukraine war, while the US-Israeli alliance has only reaped a succession of failures and defeats: in the Gaza Strip, and — coming soon — in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq. Just wait and see.

Russia’s Victory in Ukraine resonates in Central Asia

Par : AHH

Russian victory against NATO and personal approach won over the Taliban and Central Asian stans

By Amb. MK Bhadrakumar at Indian Punchline

Russia’s stunning victory in the battle of Avdeevka and the rout of the Ukrainian military, boosts the credibility of Russia as provider of security for the Central Asian region. The point is not lost on the erudite Central Asian mind that Russia has single-handedly put the NATO on the back foot. 

This becomes a defining moment, as it complements the comfort level stemming out of the new normalcy in Afghanistan, thanks to Russia’s effective diplomatic engagement with the Taliban.

Yet another vicious cycle of western propaganda is petering out  — predicated on the false assumptions that Russia’s influence in Central Asia is in “decline” (Wilson Centre); that the Central Asian states are “are emerging from Russia’s shadow and asserting their independence in ways not seen since the collapse of communism in 1991” (Financial Times); that in the wake of the war in Ukraine, Central Asian leaders “might well be now considering how long Putin will be able to remain in power in Russia” (Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty).

In reality, the economic performance of the region in 2023  registered an impressive GDP growth of 4.8%. And Russia contributed to this success story. The Ukraine war led to the vacation of western firms from the Russian market, which created new opportunities for regional states. At the same time, the conditions under sanctions prompted Russian firms and capital and Russian citizens to relocate their businesses to the Central Asian region.

Central Asian entrepreneurs haven’t missed the lucrative opportunities to source Western goods and technology for the Russian market — walking a very tight rope by ensuring compliance with Western sanctions, while also nurturing their interdependence and integration with Russian markets. The recovery of the Russian economy and its 3.6% growth last year created business opportunities for Central Asian countries.

Moscow’s policies aim at a ‘Renaissance’ in the region’s relations with Russia. The new thinking in Moscow meant that Putin took a hands-on role to maintain a high momentum of contacts with the Central Asian leaderships at a personal level, making use of all available formats of interaction bilateral as well as regional. The Russian approach allowed space for the regional states to adopt a ‘neutral’ stance on the war.

A comprehension problem for outsiders is very often that the Central Asian attitudes are seldom in overt mode, and under specific circumstances (such as Ukraine war), they need to be discerned in terms of preferences. Thus, the political message out of the May 9 parade in Moscow last year when all the Central Asian presidents joined Putin at the ceremonies on the Red Square was a massive gesture of support for Russia — and for Putin personally.

Throughout 2023, the Central Asian states found themselves targeted in an unprecedented diplomatic effort by the West to uphold the sanctions against Russia. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French President Emmanuel Macron visited the region. Two historic summits in the ‘C5+1’ format were hosted by President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz respectively in Washington and Berlin.

But the western interlocutors refused to see the writing on the wall. Blinken’s Kazakh counterpart told him that Astana ‘does not feel any threats or risks from the Russian Federation.’ The joint statements issued after the two ‘C5+1’ summits did not even mention Ukraine!

Putin’s new thinking puts the great game on the back burner and instead prioritises the accretion of content in Russia’s relations with the Central Asian states, especially in economic and humanitarian spheres. This approach has palpably dissipated the ‘Big Brother’ syndrome. Putin’s meetings with his counterparts from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in Kazan  on Wednesday took place in a palpably relaxed atmosphere. (herehere and here)

Interestingly, Emomali Rahmon, Tajik president, wished not only Putin’s success “in everything you do” but his “nerves of steel” as well. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kazakh president underscored meaningfully that “under your (Putin’s) distinguished leadership, Russia has achieved notable, impressive successes. In fact, your statements and actions are shaping the global agenda.” Tokayev’s remark is particularly noteworthy, as western analysts had spotted him as a potential mutineer against Putin in the steppes!

However, in the final analysis, if Russia’s security relationship with the Central Asian region has transformed during the past couple of years, it is because Moscow’s coordinated efforts to forge ties with the Taliban has gained traction lately. They helped diminish the threat perceptions regarding Afghanistan in the Central Asian region.

If the traditional pattern of addressing the threat perceptions was to resort to military means and by sequestering the region from Afghanistan, Russian diplomacy switched to a radically different approach by constructively engaging with the Taliban (although Taliban continues to be a proscribed organisation under Russian law) and strove to make the latter a stakeholder in building cooperative ties within a matrix of mutual interests. It paid off.

Moscow estimated that Taliban rule has stabilised the Afghan situation significantly and it is in Russian interests to help the Kabul administration to effectively counter the extremist elements in the country (especially the Islamic State, which is known to be a legacy of the US occupation of Afghanistan.) Russia leveraged its influence with the Central Asian states to ensure that western-backed anti-Taliban ‘resistance’ forces did not get sanctuaries. 

Of course, the strategic objective is that the western intelligence will not be able to manipulate free-wheeling Afghan elements to destabilise the Central Asian region or the Caucasus all over again.

Taliban has been most receptive to the Russian overtures aimed at strengthening the Afghan statehood. Recently, Taliban went to the extent of boycotting a UN-sponsored conference on Afghanistan on February 18-19 in Qatar, which was, in reality, an invidious attempt by the US to re-engage the Taliban on the pretext of promoting “intra-Afghan dialogue” (which essentially meant the return of the West’s Afghan proxies living in exile in Europe and America.)

To be sure, the Taliban saw through the western game plan to rebuild their intelligence network in Afghanistan and countered it by setting conditions for its participation in the Doha conference, including that it be the sole representative of Afghanistan at the meeting. The Taliban also opposed the appointment of a UN special envoy to Afghanistan, whose main task would be to promote “intra-Afghan dialogue”.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement ahead of the Doha meeting, accused the international community of “unilateral impositions, accusations, and pressurisation.” The most interesting part of the pantomime playing out in Doha was that at the Taliban’s request, the Russian delegation that participated in the Doha meeting refused to meet the so-called ‘civil society representatives’ from Afghanistan. It signalled that Russia has begun working with the Taliban as the de facto rulers of Afghanistan.

Indeed, the Central Asian states heartily welcome this brilliant diplomatic initiative by Russia to strengthen regional security and stability. The region’s confidence level vis-a-vis the Taliban rulers has already reached a point that at the meeting with Putin in Kazan on Wednesday, Uzbek president Mirziyoyev raised the “important question” of Uzbekistan and Russia moving ahead with the construction of a new railway via Afghanistan connecting Central Asia with the adjacent regions and the world market.

 

Two Years after 22.2.22, the West is Paralyzed

Par : AHH

Two years after the start of the SMO, the West is totally paralyzed … The geopolitical moment: “You are irrelevant, and the Global South / Global Majority don’t care”

by Pepe Escobar at the Strategic Culture Foundation.

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.

Ay, there’s the rub; it’s all about Sovereignty. And a true sovereign power simply cannot live under permanent threats. It’s even feasible that Putin had wanted (italics mine) Russia to get sanctioned to death. After all, Russia is so naturally wealthy that without a serious challenge from abroad, the temptation is enormous to live off its rents while importing what it could easily produce.

Exceptionalists always gloated that Russia is “a gas station with nuclear weapons”. That’s ridiculous. Oil and gas, in Russia, account for roughly 15% of GDP, 30% of the government budget, and 45% of exports. Oil and gas add power to the Russian economy – not a drag. Putin shaking Russia’s complacency generated a gas station producing everything it needs, complete with unrivalled nuclear and hypersonic weapons. Beat that.

Russian Winter Soldier

Ukraine has “never been less than a nation”

Xavier Moreau is a French politico-strategic analyst based in Russia for 24 years now. Graduated from the prestigious Saint-Cyr military academy and with a Sorbonne diploma, he hosts two shows on RT France.

His latest book, Ukraine: Pourquoi La Russie a Gagné (“Ukraine: Why Russia has Won”), just out, is an essential manual for European audiences on the realities of the war, not those childish fantasies concocted across the NATOstan sphere by instant “experts” with less than zero combined arms military experience.

Moreau makes it very clear what every impartial, realist analyst was aware of from the beginning: the devastating Russian military superiority, which would condition the endgame. The problem, still, is how this endgame – “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine, as established by Moscow – will be achieved.

What is already clear is that “demilitarization”, of Ukraine and NATO, is a howling success that no new wunderwaffen – like F-16s – will be able to change.

Moreau perfectly understands how Ukraine, nearly 10 years after Maidan, is not a nation; “and has never been less than a nation”. It’s a territory where populations that everything separates are jumbled up. Moreover, it has been a – “grotesque” – failed state ever since its independence. Moreau spends several highly entertaining pages going through the corruption grotesquerie in Ukraine, under a regime that “gets its ideological references simultaneously via admirers of Stepan Bandera and Lady Gaga.

None of the above, of course, is reported by oligarch-controlled European mainstream media.

“Parade on Red Square in Moscow on November 7, 1941” — Konstantin Vasilyev

Watch out for Deng Xiao Putin

The book offers an extremely helpful analysis of those deranged Polish elites who bear “a heavy responsibility in the strategic catastrophe that awaits Washington and Brussels in Ukraine”. The Poles actually believed that Russia would crumble from the inside, complete with a color revolution against Putin. That barely qualifies as Brzezinski on crack.

Moreau shows how 2022 was the year when NATOstan, especially the Anglo-Saxons – historically racist Russophobes –  were self-convinced thar Russia would fold because it is a “poor power”. Obviously, none of these luminaries understood how Putin strengthened the Russian economy very much like Deng Xiaoping on the Chinese economy. This “self-intoxication”, as Moreau qualifies it, did wonders for the Kremlin.

By now it’s clear even for the deaf, dumb, and blind that the destruction of the European economy has been a massive tactic, historic victory for the Hegemon – as much as the blitzkrieg against the Russian economy has been an abysmal failure.

All of the above brings us to the meeting of G20 Foreign Ministers this week in Rio. That was not exactly a breakthrough. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made it very clear that the collective West at the G20 tried by all means to “Ukrainize” the agenda – with less than zero success. They were outnumbered and counterpunched by BRICS and Global South members.

At his press conference, Lavrov could not be more stark on the prospects of the war of the collective West against Russia. These are the highlights:

  • Western countries categorically do not want serious dialogue on Ukraine.
  • There were no serious proposals from the United States to begin contacts with the Russian Federation on strategic stability; trust cannot be restored now while Russia is declared an enemy.
  • There were no contacts on the sidelines of the G20 with either Blinken or the British Foreign Secretary.
  • The Russian Federation will respond to new Western sanctions with practical actions that relate to the self-sufficient development of the Russian economy.
  • If Europe tries to restore ties with the Russian Federation, making it dependent on their whims, then such contacts are not needed.

In a nutshell – diplomatically: you are irrelevant, and we don’t care.

That was complementing Lavrov’s intervention during the summit, which defined once again a clear, auspicious path towards multipolarity. Here are the highlights:

  • The forming of a fair multipolar world order without a definite center and periphery has become much more intensive in the past few years. Asian, African and Latin American countries are becoming important parts of the global economy. Not infrequently, they are setting the tone and the dynamics.
  • Many Western economies, especially in Europe, are actually stagnating against this background. These statistics are from Western-supervised institutions – the IMF, the World Bank and the OECD.
  • These institutions are becoming relics from the past. Western domination is already affecting their ability to meet the requirements of the times. Meanwhile, it is perfectly obvious today that the current problems of humanity can only be resolved through a concerted effort and with due consideration for the interests of the Global South and, generally, all global economic realities.
  • Institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, the EBRD, and the EIB are prioritizing Kiev’s military and other needs. The West allocated over $250 billion to tide over its underling thus creating funding shortages in other parts of the world. Ukraine is taking up the bulk of the funds, relegating Africa and other regions of the Global South to rationing.
  • Countries that have discredited themselves by using unlawful acts ranging from unilateral sanctions and the seizure of sovereign assets and private property to blockades, embargoes, and discrimination against economic operators based on nationality to settle scores with their geopolitical opponents cannot be considered guarantors of financial stability.
  • Without a doubt, new institutions that focus on consensus and mutual benefit are needed to democratize the global economic governance system. Today, we are seeing positive dynamics for strengthening various alliances, including BRICS, the SCO, ASEAN, the African Union, LAS, CELAC, and the EAEU.
  • This year, Russia chairs BRICS, which saw several new members join it. We will do our best to reinforce the potential of this association and its ties with the G20.
  • Considering that 6 out of 15 UN Security Council members represent the Western bloc, we will support the expansion of this body solely through the accession of countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Call it the real state of things, geopolitically, two years after the start of the SMO.

Medvedev Unplugged

Par : AHH

“A dog’s death is a dog’s death.”

Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev gave a long interview to the Russian media. He discusses the fate of the SMO, camps for pests in Russia, and WW3 (Eng Subs). The conversation was attended by journalists from Komsomolskaya Pravda, RIA Novosti, TASS, Radio Mayak and Lenta.ru.

Transcript:

Question: Thank you for the traditional invitation to this round table Kolya the beginning of the year then my first question will be just a global one.  Judging by your January and February posts on social networks subtle discussions about preventing Etsi training, I trained for a very long time in this year from you You shouldn’t expect such subtle reasoning, what do you expect from what year

Medvedev (DM):  Well, the year is actually already in full swing, after all, it’s mid-February like this What It’s absolutely obvious that certain trends have formed, what am I waiting for, but I’m thinking how and the vast majority of our citizens are waiting for Victory in a special military operation and this is probably where all our efforts are concentrated, waiting for the return of all our defenders who are taking part in this operation. Well, it means it will work out or not. This is a question that will be resolved just this year, but the trends that have formed a lot. The sun is working and developing Despite all the difficulties of current life I hope that all this will continue and during the remaining months of the year it will be good

1:45 Well, as for subtle existential problems, you know there are always more subtle arguments, less subtle questions about the degree of depth of analysis of certain problems, which means since you are reading there mo Nina, you probably notice that there are subtle arguments interspersed with very ordinary simple ones, sometimes harsh ones, that’s why it will be both, like this

2:17 Question: Dmitry Anatolyevich I will continue; Komsomolskaya Pravda Elena Revyakina: When you were president and prime minister both in Russia and in the West you were considered, well, if you look at the top of the Russian government, you were considered very liberal democratic politicians in recent years, your political image has changed a lot and you are called the main hater on behalf of the Russian authorities on the Internet. I’ve written out some of your expressions here that have become popular. I’ll read them; “to my colleagues from The USA and the EU are Atlantic impotents, a pack of barking dogs from the Western kennel, a motley pack of grunting pigs. And in relation to the French Foreign Ministry, you didn’t even expect us to use a swear word at all. It’s interesting that in relation to you and, well, our authorities, we fortunately didn’t do that we hear.” And the question is that history is cyclical and sooner or later But you will have to put up and somehow come to an agreement, so you personally are not afraid to become an unshakable politician in the international arena. You probably want to continue your political career in this direction

3:33 DM: Well, look at – firstly, those Qualities that were attributed to me and are attributed to me are always someone’s subjective assessments, these are those who wanted to see me as a liberal politician, these are certain circles in the West in our country, some circles or people. They saw it, which means I really am like this and there remained, as they say among the Russian people, another question: that of course the external situation will change for one simple reason because we believe that we were treated unfairly with the Russian Federation and therefore harsher assessments appeared, but as for my internal assessments and feelings, I dare to assure you they are completely probably haven’t changed,

I had, like any politician, illusions that were a little different, but they didn’t change much, but recently the president said that we’ve been with them for too long and this is the phase of our country’s development, it was necessary to give them answers to all the questions earlier extremely strict form regarding the fact that I’m afraid there that someone there won’t say hello or won’t shake hands, firstly, let them ask me to give them a hand, and secondly, when relations are normalizing and I’ll say about some because recently some of them will simply die. That’s why those who want to build relations with Russia must show this in a direct, openly frank form. There are such people and of course the number will grow, but in this sense I am absolutely I am confident that in the near future there will not be a major rapprochement with the West, Western Europe, the United States of America with the Anglo-Saxon world, there is too deep a gap, a divide has formed between us, if you like, and it will be very, very difficult to overcome it.

6:04 Question:  Recently, a number of Western publications have published articles on the topic of the fact that it’s worth dreaming of some possible defeat of Russia in Ukraine Because the focus has switched, the focus of the West has switched, the focus of the United States has switched to the Middle East, so what do you think such publications say, who are they really addressed to, and what conclusions should the Western audience and the West of Eli draw from these publications?

6:30 DMWell, only the Western elites themselves, who need to be properly nurtured and give them the right signals. So before this, the main calculation was for the defeat of Russia, taking into account the hybrid war that was unleashed against us, taking into account the fact that we are opposed by the entire Western world , of course, all Westerners with what Rus is – it will collapse and be divided into parts; Russia will not have enough power to resist the Atlantic military machine. And so on and so forth, events are developing in a completely different scenario.

7:17 Well, naturally, they must react somehow. If we talk about signals like it’s time to take a break, it’s time to start negotiations to a large extent, of course, this is such a cunning move, it means it’s not very cunning, let’s be honest, but the proposal is designed for the fact that we will stop our military actions, the Russian lands will not take place, they will not return to their native bosom, and at this moment they will receive a respite, concentrate, captivity, which will turn out to be several more successful than the failure that took place last year.

8:08 This is also what such publications are designed for. Well, partly. If you want, this is part of such a propaganda campaign and even means those visits that they make to special services, punching through this story in a variety of ways. social fear of different social environments This is nano Calculated. But we are absolutely indifferent to this, let them write what they want, it means it is obvious that they cannot ignore the current situation But what is happening in the Western media is only a reflection of a real-life picture of the real-life events of the day

8:56 Question:  Dmitry Anatolyevich, Anagen and here in the last DB the success of the Russian Armed Forces near Avdeevka Yesterday literally the president met with the Minister of Defense they discussed all the details, but in Ukraine immediately after this, naturally many began to accuse the new commander in chief that it was his fault and to remind him of Russian origin here In your opinion, Syrsky and I were so lucky or is this still the result of long-term combat work and I will immediately allow myself to ask in continuation of this question, they took Avdiivka and Donetsk, well, the shelling of Donetsk continues Unfortunately, And what in your opinion are the general limits of a special military operation? Should we will reach Kiev, maybe to Lvov, will there be any part of Ukraine that we will consider a legitimate state? Whose borders will it remain? We will be ready to recognize

10:07 DMAvdiivka yesterday, an analysis was given of what happened, this is certainly a major success of the Russian Armed Forces, everyone who took part in this operation is heroes and this needs to be said directly. This, of course, is not some kind of Syrsky. But these are our valiant Armed Forces who concentrated, conducted long-term preparations and made this Breakthrough. You probably all paid attention, because such a fortified area was created in the Avdeevka area, it took more than a year or two to create, these are really very serious fortification protective structures and this made it possible to hold this settlement, so it was a difficult task, but our Armed Forces coped with it brilliantly, I want to congratulate everyone again on this event.

10:59 Well concerns where to go. Well, I’ll express my point of view, which in my opinion corresponds to the current picture of the day, we need to fully ensure our interests What does it mean to fully ensure our interests, firstly, fulfill our tasks that the president said, and secondly, create the necessary protective cordon that will insure from any kind of encroachment on our land, not only shelling but also active offensive operations, and so on and so forth, and only in this case it will be possible to admit that the tasks have been completed, I don’t know where to stop. I think that, taking into account what I said, it means we will still have to will it work a lot and seriously, will it be Kiev?

11:45 Yes Probably it should be Kiev too. If not now then after some time maybe in some kind of this conflict for two reasons [1] Kiev is a Russian city and [2] from there comes a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation International threat because at least Kiev and a Russian city by its roots, it is controlled by the International Brigade of opponents of Russia, led by the United States of America, all who formally perform their functions there are Puppets who have neither conscience nor fear for the future of their country; it is impossible that all decisions are made overseas and at headquarters NATO is absolutely obvious, that’s why Yes, it could be Kiev, which means that if something remains from Ukraine as a result of everything that is happening, then probably such a state has a chance of surviving, although not very great, which means, and in any case, this is certainly not a question for today, but it will be on the agenda after a while

13:05  We must guarantee the future of Russia and without the defeat of this nationalist pro-fascist clique in Kiev it is impossible. This regime must fall. It must be destroyed. It should not remain in this world what will be left for later what will be left in this territorial entity I can’t call it a country now, I don’t know, maybe Lemberg is a region with a center in the city of Lemberg if the Poles or some other regions are very concerned about it. But this is a complex not only military but also a political process and have your say in this in the process they must play or say only war , but the people themselves inhabiting these lands, I have said this many times, that the current Ukrainian state is dangerous for the Ukrainians themselves, and for them this choice looks like this: either life in a normal common state with Russia, or at least in some close principles to the common state of frost, we must make this choice for ourselves.

14:33 Question:  RIA Novosti Maria [sit..] continuation of the topic of Ukraine; How do you assess Zelensky’s prospects today, in your opinion, how loyal are his subordinates to him, can another coup d’etat happen in Ukraine and If so, with whom then to negotiate, if at all,

14:53 DMit is a secondary question from the point of view of who to negotiate with negotiations, a holy place is never empty As for this character, his fate is certainly sad in the history of his country in the history of the world, he will remain as the Bloody Clown who became known thanks to famous publications and who did not bring anything good to his people. Well, he will probably be remembered for the fact that he is delicately individual he played the piano with parts of his body. That’s probably all I can say about him, but the point is not in him.

The point is that the elites themselves who now rule in Kiev must leave, some out of goodness and health, and some forcibly and must appear completely different people who are aware of their responsibility for the future of the people inhabiting this complex There is still an existing entity called Ukraine, when such people appear, somehow you can negotiate with them, although we did not refuse negotiations even with this clique, but you yourself know that they did, they forbade these negotiations for themselves, and even attempts by Western countries to push them in this direction have not yet brought success. You can understand why. Therefore, they will realize. As soon as they say, We are ready for negotiations with the Russian Federation, and their conditions are understood; this recognition of the results will immediately tear off their head. will be demolished And therefore they naturally try as much as possible to delay the moment when they have to pack their bags and leave there for Warsaw or London. Well, this is the best

16:57 Question: case of the technical options about how Ukraine will disappear from the world map; the best was considered the third when the Western lands join a number of EU countries, people central and some other economically unruly regions declare self-determination by joining the Russian Federation; Hungary, Romania and Poland, as you know, have already made territorial claims of their own. This year, at the end of last year, more and more people are appearing in the west. As you just said. We discussed supporters fix the situation along the line of military conflict, but at the moment it’s the end of February, according to which of your options are events currently developing?

17:36 DMWell, in fact, none of these options can yet be rejected, the main thing is that events are developing as a whole in the trend that I’m talking about wrote, it means how it will all end with slow erosion and the fall of power in Kiev or the instant collapse of the call system and the rapid replacement of the main political characters, it’s difficult to say yet, but this process is underway and obviously it cannot be stopped, and everything that happens on the line of combat contact, everything that happens in the holding area its the best proof of these trends. I don’t know how it will happen. I don’t know, but it will happen without any doubt and everyone understands it, so a lot of analysts are there either openly or those who are still afraid and embarrassed somewhere on the sidelines are saying that Well, that’s it That’s how we will certainly not be able to defeat Russia there in this sense. Although publicly they declare all sorts of nonsense, they carry some kind of political blizzard, such as that we should not allow Russia to win this war.

I was recently forced to speak out on this very topic. This is what it means to prevent Victory This means on the terms on which Kiev speaks, that is, to take away from Russia our territories that were included in the Constitution of the Russian Federation as a result of a referendum and that means our new lands were annexed. Our subjects of the Federation returned to Russia. Well, it’s clear this is a global catastrophe. This is a real full-fledged Third World War. Knowledge of all sorts of shoals and other things they are designed only for the public. They themselves are not into it. they believe but are forced to repeat it like a mantra simply in order to justify the gigantic expenditures on the corresponding military budgets. Well, so far everything is developing. It is according to this scenario of more accurate forecasts

19:57 Question:  Yushchenko in his interview with Deutsche Welle said I allow myself to quote the question not in Putin, but the bearers of Putinism are 140 million of these little Putins who need to be destroyed. Do you think our media should rebroadcast such statements in order to show the essence of this Nazi regime and all the Elites in Ukraine, or, on the contrary, it is better not to focus attention on such statements, which are essentially a call for genocide?

20:32 DMmy opinion should be emphasized to the maximum extent Yushchenko is rare with a lumpy one so nasty that it ’s unpleasant even to look at on TV, but this information must be conveyed to everyone in the world and socially to the military personnel who defend our country, this opinion despite my assessment of this character of the former president of Ukraine means they are in something then they try to reproach But the former president of Ukraine makes such statements, however, his essence was clear to me, in any case, already in 2010, when I was forced to give the future president the most harsh assessment of the leader of Ukraine, which was extremely unusual in general for the period, we still tried with them somehow building relationships and so on, but already then, in fact, he actively began to move towards NATO and well, preparing for a war with Russia, it’s not even Kuchma who said that Ukraine is not Russia. This is a completely different character, that’s why my opinion about it it needs to be told so that everyone knows that.

21:54 Question:  I stated that Odessa can be both a bone of discord and a symbol of conflict resolution; since then, monuments to Empress Catherine II have been demolished in Odessa. And in recent months, there have been discussions about dismantling the monument to Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, which stood even in Soviet times on the spot Here’s How do you assess such a policy of the Ukrainian authorities, what can Russia oppose to the destruction of Russian cultural historical heritage other than military force and what fate would you wish for Odessa and its residents?

22:32 DMWell, about Odessa, I can just say Odessa come home and that’s it. So we’ve been waiting for Odessa in Russia Federation, even due to the history of this city, what kind of people live there, what language they speak, this is our Russian city. As for their behavior of this clique of the Kiev regime of Kiev, but at least this is short-sighted because they thereby simply alienate some of the people even those who were loyal until recently Their authorities Well, in general, it looks monstrous because we are talking about measures to counteract the entire Russian culture in general and our entire common path. Well, they are demolishing monuments. We have never even thought about this, all the main Ukrainian characters with the exception of outright Nazis, Banderites of various kinds. So we have always treated them with respect.

I’m not even talking about those people of those classics who, in general, are the pride of the Ukrainian people in the known world and the Ukrainian people were, I mean, Shevchenko. Although he a significant part of the works was written in Russian by Lesya Ukrainka, I’m not talking about Gogol, who is generally one of the outstanding Russian Ukrainian writers, as if immediately answering the question that may arise here, I proceed from the fact that in general the Russians of Ukraine are one people , which means this started talking only in XX century after the destruction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, this is one people. Yes, there are linguistic features ; there is a classical Russian language; there is a South Russian dialect; years they were together, they were separated by various historical events.

Well, I’m not even talking about the fact that Russia at some point was forced to come to the aid of the inhabitants of these Little Russian territories and drive out all the uninvited guests there. The Poles and others concluded the necessary agreements that allowed this part of Russia to develop autonomously and not under the heel of individual Western countries, the composition of Ukraine actually included certain territories that are not directly related to Russia, this is true, but there are different moods and different approaches, and they were always looking in a certain direction, you know, it was always like that.

[I] was probably about 15 years and the school and I went to Tallinn. Well, Tallinn also had its own moods, that was known. But nevertheless, we were accepted there as schoolchildren. We were placed as I remember now, in the sports hall, we were put to sleep on mats, which means that suddenly, we were almost lost there, as they say. a crowd of guys come in, so dressed up, excited, says Let’s go talk Well, we went together Swa where the schoolchildren are from, the same as and say Lvov no, everything was decent, we chatted something there, talked, but you know what I noticed, it was extremely surprising for me, I was normal, normal A Soviet schoolboy, this is some kind of eightieth howl, the first year in their words. And these were children, there was an undisguised hatred for everything Soviet. Well, and partly Russian, for me, as a person who was brought up in international traditions, we didn’t even know who was what nationality in the class. It was very It’s amazing.

Maybe at first I didn’t even attach such importance to it, I didn’t attach such importance, but then I understood. These children who came to meet us were also children from the families of those same Banderites who were brought up in this atmosphere and already, what is called mother’s milk, absorbed hatred to everything Russian. But this is a completely special part of that territorial community, I cannot call it in the full sense a country, and then it was not a country, it was just a republic within the USSR which was called Ukraine, as you know, appearing there as a result of the political events of the first half of the century. I remembered this and wanted to tell you.

28:12 Question: Thank you. About relations with the United States. I wanted to talk what do you think if Trump wins the American elections Will it be more convenient for Russia to build relations with him and in general is it possible to improve relations between Russia and America in the coming years. If yes, under what conditions could this happen and is it possible to return to at least a discussion of treaties that have ceased to be valid?

28:42 DM Now my current position allows me to speak more categorically openly than in certain other periods without regard to the need to build [communication]. I will answer simply Marie, [it] impossible in the coming years of the decade. There will be no normal relations between the United States of America after what happened and, by and large, we are absolutely indifferent to who is at the helm of power in the United States. Yes, they have personal characteristics. Although, looking at the current president and the previous one, I always get the feeling, I don’t know about you, that I watching comics. In a certain sense, the heroes who uttered memes form memes, which means that they are the reason for endless jokes and everything that the Internet and social networks are replete with.

29:53 Why am I talking about this? Well, compare, let’s say Biden on the one hand and Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, […] America is strong here I am I ask you not to think about some kind of conspiracy theory. I talk about this completely seriously when they talk about the deep state, if you don’t take any stupid theories. But to be serious, this deep state is just a very strong state apparatus at the middle level that doesn’t care who is in power a democrat or a republican, a funny grandfather who forgets the names of the leaders of other countries or a completely strong leader of the state, the APT holds the VH that allows America to overcome a variety of obstacles, in fact, to create such a state apparatus is a very serious and big task and this must be treated with respect This allows them to overcome a lot of difficulties.

31:13 But even this state apparatus is not able to fully remove the problems and contradictions that this or that leader can bring , but when you look at what is happening on the border with Mexico, I can hardly imagine this under another president. Well that there is direct disobedience of the Federal authority and the supreme ruler, so to speak, of the United States cannot do anything about it when the head of the state says I will not carry out your instructions, we will not carry out the decision of the Supreme Court, we do not obey the National Guard, we obey our laws and we have our own guard We will carry out these tasks in this sense, this is such a very colorful touch showing the depth of the contradictions and they are connected with the fact that the states are trying, despite their waning strength, to play first fiddle in the international arena instead of really in this case it is difficult to disagree with a number of legislators in In America, instead of strengthening their own country, deal with these problems at the border and solve social problems there, which are more pressing problems that in any state, including rich America, they spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a country that for most Americans does not know Where it is Well, this is a well-known thing Ask where e Ukraine, they will be there for a long time looking for where it is on the world map And that it is clear that this money largely goes to maintaining the military-industrial complex of the United States But on the other hand, it is not spent on social tasks, economic tasks are also of a different order. That is why giving so much a detailed answer with whom it is better for us to work, it doesn’t matter who we work with, because we have direct antagonism now and this gap will not be bridged in the next year.

33:14 Question:  Dmitry Anatolyevich developing the previous question and when Europe stops listening to the USA and to be their salt?

DM:  you know by these things the feelings that I now have in the coming years this will not happen for several reasons, firstly, the Americans took very good advantage of the weakness of Europe, they recaptured a number of economic spheres from them, they completely ensure their security, that is, the Europeans march in formation on the orders of the United States, and secondly, in Europe about m as you have said many times, a generation of dull Technocrats has arrived who are only separated by the Eurohangar, […] again Compare Macron and many of his predecessors to the same Mitterrand whom Biden confuses with Macron But these are different presidents and Francois Mitterrand and Immanuel Macron are different presidents, maybe this will be important information for them, but I’m not talking about General de Gaulle. Compare the liverwurst of Scholz and Kohl or Schmitt. These are different politicians.

The previous generation had well, what is called the internal strength to object on issues important to their countries, this does not mean that they they went over to our side or abandoned some European ideals, no, but they could secretly object that during the period when De Gaulle was President of France, France suspended participation in the military component of NATO considered this correct. Can you imagine that now at least someone about he stuttered about this and they will tear him into pieces, he will say yes, the Russians will attack us instantly again, the Cossacks will gallop around Paris and it means that there will simply be a world collapse, which is why it means that in this sense there is no way to talk to.

35:58 If such people appear, it will be easier to find a common language with them. I hope that they will appear, if not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow. It’s just that people will ask such people to come because they will feel that the current generation of politicians does not live up to their hopes, technically, it’s possible to redly close to six hundred. I was on M.

36:31 Question:  You just touched on several already now which you’ve raised several times on social networks the topic of possible Independence of the state of Texas Could the situation with illegal migrants lead to the loss of a star on the US flag and the emergence of a new independent state?

DM:  I wrote in my humorous forecast that this will happen. Now we are all waiting for the conclusion of an agreement on friendship and cooperation between the TPR and the DPR of the Texas people republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic But in fact, speaking seriously Just 20 years ago this would have seemed nonsense Yes United States Federation The Federation has more internal problems, we know from the experience of the Soviet Union and our experience too, but nevertheless it is a very strong country Leader There and so on, and now this is a completely discussed main thing. Why Because there has been such a division of values, if you want, even a civilizational one between parts of America, and the relationship between supporters of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party used to laugh, they said yes, it’s all the same thing, it’s all big capital from them It means they have a unified position, they just put forward certain points that they use during the election campaign. But now you can’t say that anymore, it’s not a difference in ideology, but the fact that they don’t hear each other and even hate each other.

38:21 Look what the attitude of the nuclear democratic electorate is to Donald Trump, they hate him more than all of us put together because they see him as a threat and, on the contrary, the Trumpists, the conservative wing of the Republican Party, believes that this course of the Democrats of this frenzied globalization will lead America to a dead end from here yes So this is the slogan of [MAGA]. The Revival of internal forces America is actually their problem. But the fact that this will happen 20-25 years ago was impossible to imagine, but it happened. This is precisely because of the mediocre course pursued by the US leadership after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

39:25 Question:  Well, that is, a state may appear, but

DM:  Well, it seems to me I said this, isn’t the agreement between the People’s Republic and the DPR a sign of the statehood of the Armed Forces? Maybe now this is really not an excluded option, as they themselves talk about it. By the way, if you think that we are very happy about this, then no. Because with all the costs of coexistence, let’s say honest enmity united states for It is more important for us that there be a situation there than for a managerial collapse to occur or some unpredictable civil war to break out like in the 19th century.

Well, for one simple reason, America is still the most important world player; America has colossal military potential; America is our direct enemy in this sense, but on the other hand parties partner for negotiations on nuclear potential America Unfortunately for the world, the ENO is the leading issuer of a reserve currency, if this currency is crap, then in fact there will be consequences. For everyone, this also needs to be aware of this; it is necessary to gradually displace the dollar from the first positions; there must be a set of reserve currencies what we have been talking about for decades Yes, but if you suddenly pull out the dollar, the balance between reserve currencies in the world needs to develop electronic currencies, digital currencies are the future. But you need to understand the risks that exist

41:10 Question:  In the Middle East, the situation is also tense. And what will happen if Iran gets involved military conflict, can this completely switch the attention of the backside from supporting Ukraine and breaking this and [Mikh]

DM:  About the dream of that character who is now sitting in Kiev that all attention will be switched by an element of the psychotype if a person is used to an actor playing there That’s how I said on different instruments that absence his attention makes him completely unsure that I am not needed, this is sad, but in fact, the World lives, of course, according to different laws, attention and so will largely be diverted from Ukraine in the Middle East and in a number of other regions, Iran, which you mentioned, seems to me to be very occupied a balanced, calm position does not allow itself to be drawn into any showdowns.

This speaks of the wisdom of the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but in the end, no matter how trivial it may sound, in everything that happens there, the sleepy States are to blame, again. This is who is blocking the fulfillment of the year on the creation of the Jewish and Arab states The Americans have been blocking for many decades, the first few decades they behaved more or less normally and then they stopped being active here, and we understand that the controlling stake in the settlement in this region in Chita lives in the decision-making autonomy of the Israeli authorities, this is of course not the case and they largely dependent on financial and military assistance from the United States.

Therefore, if the United States wanted peace in the Middle East, in any case, by creating two states, these decisions would be much better to manage the conflict from the point of view of the leadership of the United States of America, divide and rule, it is easier to give everyone a little and to show their indispensability, all the more so. They believed in this again after the disappearance of the Soviet Union from the world map because the Soviet Union was still quite actively pursuing its own policy in the Middle East, then a vacuum arose and the United States decided that they were in control of everything there, but the result was that [conflicts of interest] killed it is sad

44:00 Question:  You just spoke about the USA as a nuclear power I have a question about the use of nuclear weapons if it seemed like it a year ago Well, some horror stories and you also somehow spoke about it quite easily, but now your rhetoric is again is changing to a tougher one and you are talking about the threat of using nuclear weapons. Well, it seems quite serious in the public space. And we all understand it like this, if humanly. Yes, understand that if Russia, for the same reasons for itself , presses the nuclear button, then overseas it presses the answer is well, or on the contrary, they press, we press this is a threat to all humanity and probably there are not so many masochists even in the highest echelons of power, after all. Explain how scary these are or do you really believe in the reality of such a scenario, we need to now at least all of us run to some kind of bunker

DM:  Well now there is no need to run. But no matter how sad this scenario sounds, this scenario is real, this scenario is real, we must do everything to prevent it from happening. But this very clock that is ticking there in a certain direction has now accelerated very much and in this I also see the inability. Excuse the impotence of these Western authorities who constantly repeat the same thing No, this is the Armed Forces, the Russians are scaring them, they will never do this, they are mistaken.

45:26 If we are talking about the existence of our country, I also said this recently. What choice will be left for leadership for the head of state , no, that’s why this is unfortunately real the existing threat is a direct and obvious threat to all humanity, there are also arguments that, unfortunately, can be given in this direction, firstly, when humanity created something from weapons. It was always used. [i.e.] by the Americans. What do they think? By the way, they dealt a then unnecessary blow to Japan, which was our common enemy And after that that ‘s all Nobody will ever take this out of the Arsenal, I’m not even talking about our nuclear weapons now, that’s not true, there can be a lot of motives. This first and second is also an accident from which no one is immune, and the accidental unintentional start of a nuclear conflict cannot be dismissed as accounts, therefore, all these games around Ukraine are extremely dangerous

46:43 Well, look, if it occurs to someone, and periodically these clever guys in NATO talk about this. So they will put planes to fly for them While there is nowhere special from Ukraine, let some Starton plane from a NATO country take it this is an attack on Russia I won’t even describe further What can happen Although it can happen Well, almost by accident and not intentionally it may not even be sanctioned at the level of the entire leadership of NATO and the United States as the holders of the main, so to speak, NATO package and the main levers, so unfortunately such a development of events. Perhaps we must do everything to prevent this from happening.

47:36 Unfortunately all instruments of control, full-fledged nuclear deterrence, they are now destroyed, in our opinion, thanks to the efforts of Western countries, because even the last agreement that we once signed with both Obama and which was extended Vladimir Vladimirovich, together with Biden, he has now practically exhausted himself; other agreements are also practically ineffective. So the world is in a tense state.

Question:  Well, there’s no need [for use of nuclear weapons] for now.

DM:  Yes [there’s no need], but I won’t deceive the readers of Komsomolskaya Pravda or all those present; this is not whipping up passions. This is just a reason to think about where For some reason, we people, you know, when we think, well, we almost started a nuclear war, but that was a long time ago, it wasn’t true, it was there because of Cuba, it was also because of something, and now it’s impossible. What’s the difference? in no way is the situation even more tense, then there was no conflict between Russia and America. But now it exists and everyone understands it. That ’s how

48:48 Question: I would like to defuse the situation a little, so let’s talk about the future. Well, in particular, let’s probably turn to the internal agenda and talk about those who have returned Russian regions, this is how it is in the Russian leadership the situation there is being assessed from the point of view of the political construction of economic restoration. Surely there is such a problem as waiting, what should those people who do sports do with them? Because it’s more convenient And deep down they are waiting for the arrival of Ukrainian tanks and there is one more nuance, it’s quite subtle and probably painful. But for sure there are people who are registered according to documents somewhere in the regions of Donbass, but it so happened that they are fighting in the ranks of the Armed Forces, no one canceled the oath And when it all ends when it ends when we win [Medvedev interjects: When we win unconditionally] And what will happen to them will they receive Russian passports or what

50:04 DMWell, look, it means about the general situation with new regions, new subjects of the Russian Federation, they are developing, there are obvious changes for the better, the housing stock is being restored, industry is being restored within certain parameters , the social sphere is being restored, payments are being made, this is seen by the people who live there, the situation is different everywhere, there are regions and, say, populated areas points that live essentially on the line of combat contact, this is a very difficult story, our people there risk their lives every day and everyone needs to remember this. These people are essentially at the front, but nevertheless life is changing and a lot has already been done there, but not enough to to give life to the level that we expect is the task set by the president by this year so that, according to the main parameters, the residents of these territories of these regions are equal to other regions of our country; this task is absolutely feasible.

Just look at our experience that we gained in Crimea when I went there for the first time got it It seemed to me that a generation separates us from the point of view of the development of the social sphere of medicine and education. Well, nothing [did not happen] in just 5 years, everything has been greatly improved, and here the same can be done, but only when everything is finally decided on the military front, which means this is the first thing.

As for the people, you know, there are different people there, you said, they sit and wait for Ukrainian tanks. I think there aren’t many of them there. There are just people who sit and think, that’s how the Whites will come and rob, the Reds will come to rob, which means in other words, who will be stronger, that’s who we will serve.

There are certainly such people there, but nevertheless, we must work with everyone, so to speak, there is nothing like that if it’s just caution. Well, we need to convince these people that we are back forever, if these are people who are harming Russia, they need to be exposed and punished — sent to Siberia so for re-education correction to labor camps. As for those who are now fighting, you understand, well here what can you remember what events in the history of the [last] century, but when did the Second World War end, the leaders of Hitler’s Germany, the NSDAP SS activists, the party and political apparatus were tried.

Well, some they executed a few, some were simply convicted, but the vast majority of participants in the corresponding German military machine returned home; they were forgiven if they were not convicted of crimes against humanity in genocide, extermination of people on ethnic grounds, and so on. In a certain sense, the same scale should be applied here. We don’t destroy prisoners, on the contrary, we treat them humanely, as you can see lately, They are actively surrendering, but they understand that they are still a pony in the middle.

53:58 Question:  United Russia is taking part in the preparation of Putin’s election program and your forecast for the elections. What do you think? what will the result be?

DM:  The President is the leader of our country. The United Russia party, as is known, unanimously supported his candidacy at its congress. We are trying our best to keep this in mind. Vladi is in order, he has enormous authority in our country. As for the election program, the President himself forms it.

Moreover, I’ll say straight out that the president’s program can be broader than the program of United Russia, even taking into account the fact that the president is supported not only by those who vote for a bully candidate, so that means we will certainly be ready to implement the ideas with which the president goes to the polls, some of them, well essentially in this pre-election vein. He will probably voice this during the delivery of his message at the end of the month.

Well, as for the forecasts for everything else, I think there is no doubt that Vladimir Vladimirovich will win these elections and show the highest results.

55:27 Question:  Dmitry Anatolyevich is no secret that you are an active Internet user. [DM: Well, yes..] and in this regard, your opinion is very interesting. Is it necessary to block the external Internet and how to provide, well, some kind of protection against well, our Internet space from toxic content from Internet scammers who simply demonstrate miracles of ingenuity in an attempt, [DM: they are scammers] and you guys are chasing money, but what’s the saddest thing is that these funds often go to our enemies to support the Armed Forces and some other things that are destructive for us, this is like one moment, and I also have one here in question, probably Well, not directly related but indirectly, we often talk about the need to ensure intellectual sovereignty, and our citizens are also savvy here, probably. Well, in your opinion, it plays an important role. Is it necessary to speed up the announced Steps on education reform?

56:40 DM:  You have several questions, which means I’ll start with: Do we need to isolate yourself No, of course, yes, this is almost unrealistic in the modern world. You can tweak something a little, block something, let’s put it bluntly. But completely isolating it is unrealistic and not necessary, the more such segments arise, the more interest there is in them; you need to understand that

Another question is that you really need to put blocks on destructive things destructive various kinds of criminal activity, for example, there are the same [as] drugs and so on. But this should be very, very selective with regard to the protection of our critical technologies, our elements of critical information infrastructure. This is the most important task that was set in general. We need to move faster for quite a long time. You know, I head a commission on this, so to speak, digital sovereignty on critical information technologies, there is a task to bring all the software regarding critical infrastructure to Russian rails, the task is not easy because we don’t have everything, plus it exists.

Well, such conservatism of thinking in companies is because foreign is better than ours and therefore Let us work on it some more, but everyone was convinced that such threats exist after the way Western countries behaved, for example with ordinary household appliances, people bought cars from them, then there are no updates, but it’s just a car or something else some kind of equipment. When we are talking about power plants, elements of other infrastructure, key transport, and so on. This is already a very serious threat.
Therefore, we will definitely cover this topic. Promoting concerning education reform, in view of what exactly is in the reform?

58:53 Question:  Well, now we very often have, as it were , and we are trying to build a patriotic Education education and a savvy person, he resists much more easily the same destructive content, he just bounces off it, it does no good [DM: black is always capable of distinguishing from white], so then it’s not scary to have to be poisoned by some kind of iron curtain of the Internet, and so on

DM:  I understood yes. Well, of course, it’s absolutely certain that a person who is well advanced in these areas is easier to navigate in this and it’s more difficult, so to speak, for scammers to have a conversation with him although every time they come up with something new. But this is a question of general enlightenment. Look at how it happened Well, I probably remember this You also, one way or another, remember Russia’s integration into the Internet environment when the Internet became popular among us

Well, this is not about the nineties Although a user In the nineties of the Internet, some people, especially people of the older generation, believed everything that was on the Internet, well, on TV they always tell the truth. Yes, in the newspapers they always write the truth and Wikipedia tells the truth Pete Ilya VN information, she was prepared to visualize and then growing up came.

I’m not talking about what to believe. no one is allowed, but still, a significant part of almost everyone in our country today understands that there can be lies and fakes on the Internet and everything. What is connected with this in the future there will be more [technology] most likely to the fact that we will have to expose various falsehoods on this topic and that means fighting these fakes, since this is already happening now, so education in this area is necessary. You are right. But you know, as if I would say this is not just some kind of courses, it seems to me a general maturation of the audience.

Strangely enough, our children are often in this I mean, Horseshoe is better than a child, they have been using all this since childhood and they understand that it’s all wrong, it’s all not working, it’s all there, so to speak, somehow they’re talking in a different language. If you paid attention to how millennials communicate, zoomers communicate. It’s like that further This is a slightly different language Although it irritates me now to say it, but this is already the grumbling of an adult. That’s why society will grow up. This is obvious, but we must move society towards this, probably , we probably need to make some decisions in education too on this topic

I really to be honest, I can’t even imagine what the basics of information hygiene are. It seems to me that this is a course that is unlikely to be difficult, unlikely to be easy to teach, but I’ll say it again, I don’t even have some skills in this sense, but who more often falls for the bait is precisely people who are more adults who didn’t have this information hygiene that you said since childhood That is, they just absorbed it all And absorbed it all, we just need to fight the scammers This is absolutely obvious.

1:02:43 Question:  Let’s talk about the economy. Is there any hope that Russia will return frozen assets Do we need them or will we be able to survive and without these 2, if the West comes up with a withdrawal mechanism, how can we respond?

DM:  I will express my position. I think that the chances of returning this money are small, although I feel sorry for them, but this is an element of confrontation, part of that hybrid war that is unleashed against us. Note, I want to draw attention to one point that they understand in the West, look, the West is legally not officially a participant in the war with our country. The West did not declare war on Russia, but we did not declare war on the European Union, on Western
countries.

Yes, we understand there is a hybrid war going on, they pump them up with weapons with money, instructors. But officially, and this is very important, we are not in now here is a continuation of the thought Why in certain cases a country pays reparations because something is confiscated from it, confiscated because other countries are participants in the conflict with it, they are in a state of war, and the West is with us and it talks about it all the time in the Kama Foundation

Because of this, they have such confusion in their brains, “I want to take it away, I want to give this money to the Ukrainian authorities” and with on the other hand, this is an explosion, this is a hacking of the legal world order, this is a rejection of the principles of the basic principles of protecting global private property, and so on, which has already been there for hundreds of years, which is why this task is still difficult for them.

But if they want, of course, they will refuse everything based on their principles and take it away this is the Sun. We will survive without this. As for our answers, they may be different, there are even a number of decisions on this matter, but they are still of such a fragmentary nature; for obvious reasons, we do not have investments from foreign countries on our territory on which we could impose our own penalties This is how our investments are, let’s say.

But we have a fairly large fund of obligations for which we must fulfill something in relation to Western investors, this set of obligations is estimated differently, but it can range from 250 to 300 billion dollars, this is completely different history, but in principle it is asymmetrical; the answer in this case will not be fulfilled by the private investor, although we would frankly not really want to go down this path. But this is still just reasoning out loud. Moreover, no decisions have been made there either, even regarding income for our assets but most likely this will happen I think. We are preparing for this.

1:06:25 Question:  About Texas you said but about the Texas problem I aggravated a little the marketplace losses were quite large and again raised a painful issue around the topic of migration – this is ethnic crime and unwillingness to follow the norms of our society and in the current conditions There are risks of using the migrants who are here with us for sabotage purposes. You yourself said that the situation should not be allowed to destabilize due to conflicts between migrants and the local population. Now maybe it’s time to tighten the migration policy in your opinion.

DM:  Well, if we talk about various types of criminal actions. Here you are they mentioned sabotage and so on in fact Unfortunately, not all acts of sabotage are committed by migrants, we understand that some of them will be committed by our criminals who did not migrate at all and who were bought by traitors, which is why we should immediately say here that it all came from there incorrectly and the migration problem is complex American — here is an example that we just spoke to you proves that there are migration problems that are much more complex than those that face our country.

So, in short, I will say that those who commit crimes on the territory of Russia among migrants are subject to strict criminal liability in this There can be no doubt about those who are legally obedient participants in trade relations of economic relations in our country. Well, that means they can actually come and work. You and I understand that without this source of labor resources we also very often cannot survive.

But what needs to be done? And this is this probably the main thing is to put everything under control. And this can be done through digital services that are now being actively implemented and such a task has now been set, because what is the problem, some people are moving in under someone else’s name, there is even such a topic as the difficulties of transliteration, one letter changes And we no longer understand the same person is not the same person whether he has an entry ban or not. He has a ban.

This database needs to be digitized by the Armed Forces and then the situation will become much more manageable, in other words, these processes need to be managed competently. We are learning to do this. Although there are problems here, this is true, but without any doubt, we will have to do this precisely because our situation as a whole is not the simplest right now. [Q: That is, like in Europe.] Yes, yes, I mean this, including biometrics.

But this is an even broader statement of the problem in addition to biometrics. just so that all this is in a single database and not scattered across different sources because often in one place they don’t know what was done in another, such a universal database with elements of biometric information that you are talking about will allow you to put it under control And of course In general, the practice of applying Russian administrative and criminal law should also be used with all its might; those who were told at some point goodbye should no longer return.

1:10:10 Question:  Dmitry Anatolyevich I’ll touch on the military topic again, but from a slightly different angle, all the form of armature in parades, but the WTO when qi old tanks Really someone threw dust in the eyes of the management by talking about the successes of the Russian defense industry and now you are visiting enterprises, inspecting in your opinion whether there is enough capacity to realize your goals and whether there are problems with personnel because the enterprises work 24/7, enough for specialists?

DM:  Clear means, (well parades are parades and war is war). These mean completely different things. And here you just need to understand the different criteria that are used. The Armata tank is a new tank, it has not yet been fully tested, it is not the cheapest Tank. We have other tanks that are brilliant have proven themselves during their period, this is
the T90m breakthrough, which the president recently called the best tank in the world. I would like to completely share this position. All my conversations, for example, with those who take part in it both at the training grounds and, in fact, on the line of combat contact prove that it is just that simple. I’m here

When I came to inspect individual recruitment units under a contract, the commanders, the combat commanders who were in the front line, they are forming a unit then they will leave, they asked, they say, help us get the T90, this is a very good weapon, but also other tanks . Well, if we started talking about tanks, the T-80 BVM and T-72 B 3M Why do I call these letters with numbers modernized Tanks? Yes, their project is, well, the eighties and seventies, so to speak. But these tanks definitely show themselves no worse and better than Western ones, especially in the modernized version. But the most important thing is that we were able to supply armored vehicles to the Armed Forces and this equipment is used, these are thousands and thousands of armored vehicles.

1:12:54 Now regarding the military-industrial complex. Well, you need to understand that the military-industrial complex or the defense-industrial complex works differently during military operations and in ordinary life; no one ever produces weapons of destruction only to the warehouse This is absolutely obvious during the period of hostilities. It takes completely different forms as with work in three shifts are huge. We have a defense order for individual positions, but about tanks. I said through defeat. I mean missiles, shells, bombs, production there has increased from DH to 10 or 15 times, that is, by 1%, this allows us to actively use them in combat work and in general, to achieve results, therefore, the defense industry In my opinion, it passed the test, it has proven itself in the best way, quite

By the way, read Western analytics, at first they scoffed, they said, they are pulling out something old, they are missing this, this is not enough, and now we have piled on everyone with NATO and we will be them supplying all this means tanks and shells and walkie-talkies, and that means UAVs and so on, but now they don’t laugh anymore. They see that in a significant part of a significant part of the components we are superior to them.

A separate issue is unmanned aerial vehicles, before we really started ours, this component was not really was well developed, this is true, but to the credit of the agro-industrial complex, it must be admitted that over the last year and a half, this gap has been bridged and now our drones operate in all segments, from large vehicles to loitering supplies, that is, one-time drones that perform a single task, destroy an object and are disappearing and all this is also put on stream, so I can only say that our Code of Criminal Procedure has passed the test of a special military operation and I can thank everyone who works in this complex, these are actually enthusiasts of their work, this is how

1:15:26 Question:  Dmitry Anatolyevich the Western media wrote that in what year the expenses Russia’s federal budget for defense will increase, while the head of the Ministry of Finance, Anton Siluanov, insists that the country’s budget cannot be called military, so whether the Russian economy has switched to a war footing has not been left out. Social issues have been ignored. And what is more important now, at the moment, military or social spending?

DM:  Igor I think that Silanov is right, Anton Germanovich, our budget is not military in the narrowly special sense of the word. Well, for example, if we compare it with the budget of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Great Patriotic War, we have so easy to understand the numbers and approximately 30 trillion rubles in expenditure are social expenses all education health care not a single social obligation is lost; money for everyone salaries are paid in this sector;  benefits are paid and even for individual positions they are growing. this is a third

The second third this is just the development of the country this is the economy this means transport; this is the development of cities; the development of communications of all kinds and knowledge the remaining part of the budget or is otherwise related to its own in the broad sense of the word, this is not in the narrow sense defense spending.

But in the broad sense it means, well, this is exactly what the Minister of Finance said, this is the budget of a developing state. But of course with very significant defense spending needs, this is true. We’ll see , we’ll just say that for this component, even after the completion of the active part of the special military operation, we will, of course, still have to work on defense for a very long time so that everyone understands that our reserves are very strong and no one even thought about encroaching on them, on our interests, plus returning to the Code of Criminal Procedure, this means that I am sure that after what has been done, our military equipment will be in demand on world markets, more than it was before; it’s one thing to just show beautiful pictures, but another thing to actually fight, and in this sense that’s all this is very proof.

1:18:06 Question:  Let me continue the series of tense and probably not very convenient questions for you, but I have to ask after the death of Alexei Navalny in the colony, many people at once PAMM acted tactfully, let’s call it that in St. Petersburg, packs of people grabbed a man in a paddy wagon in Sali Cardi brought flowers separately to the monument, brought the police station, presented a VK pistol to his head and demanded to explain why he brought Flowers.

And Navalny’s mother cannot receive the body yesterday, she appealed to the president, did not receive an answer, they did not explain the actions, but it turns out that this only raises additional questions about the reasons for his death and uh, additional seething Well, among Navalny’s supporters, I have a question: why is it that the authorities continue to fight Navalny? And even after his death, and Why are people given 15 days for silent laying of flowers for pickets at monuments that, in fact, are not even monuments to Navalny, they are monuments victims of political repression

DM:  Well, regarding what is being done in the regions, I’ll say frankly. I’m just not ready to comment on it, there are always some costs. If we are talking about laying flowers, then probably there is no corpus delicti or even an administrative offense. No one is fighting it right now, that’s also It’s clear. Therefore, no, I won’t develop this idea further, because it’s customary for us to talk about the departed either good or nothing good about him, I can’t say anything bad, I won’t say it, it means if there are supporters. Well, this is also part of life, this must be taken into account, but don’t add this fact to your friends I was talking more about something else, here’s how they reacted to it not in our country.

In the end, this man was trying to work here and conduct his political activity. And abroad, this is the same barrel that I was talking about, it was agreed upon that they need to name sanctions packages there by His name and so on, it all looks so surprising because they don’t even have data about what happened, however, it’s all already turned into a political program, it’s all turned into Propaganda, although the same barrel is not about him to reason about this, if I were in his place, I would generally prepare for the earth, which means bearing in mind his venerable age, and somewhere there in the Madrid Polytechnic Institute of Technology, in my opinion, which he graduated from, already negotiated scholarships in his name and would not think about naming the sanctions lists in the name of a person unfamiliar to him, in general, such incidents are always tragic, of course they give rise to very different emotions once you started talking about it.

Look at the smiling happy face of Navalny’s widow, it feels like she’s been waiting for this event all these years to unfold her love and she’s already said about it, but that’s all sad. It seems quite sad to me, but I won’t comment on this anymore.

1:22:05 Question:  I’m just drawing attention to the second question. It coincided that two such high-profile fatalities in Spain killed a former Russian military pilot, defector Maxim Kuzminov, who six months ago hijacked an Mi-8 helicopter to Ukraine, previously Russian the military threatened Kuzminov with death Well, now IT corias from the Rhone of Russia from the West Everyone says everything is so interesting, everyone agrees on one version that this is Retribution, but the main question is Whose Retribution is this, how do you comment on this whole situation?

DM:  Very briefly dogs dog death. [Q: doesn’t matter. DM: affirmative]

Question:  from chkh spoke harshly about the rela ants, but at the same time you did not comment at all but not about everyone I if you are quoted there from a post known to him in the telegram, yes, then it applied [DM: Not to everyone] Yes, who speak out about Russia, but you did not comment in any way, for example, on the same naked party of Nastya Ivleeva Although even the president in his speeches made a remark about a weirdo showing his genitals What do you think, after all, will the people’s love return to the participants of this party and the trust of the concert venues, have they apologized enough?

DM:  Can I not talk about this [liberal exhibitionist club] party, it has set my teeth on edge, it is such a dregs compared to what is happening in the country, in the world. It’s just a pity our time with you, but I’m commenting on something else in relation to those who are moving the company abroad. You called them relocation, and among them there are different people, look at those people who just went there, scared of something, without fully feeling what was happening. Well, for some reason for their own reasons And they just sit there and sit there. Well, God be with them. Let them sit.

That means there are no legal claims against them at the moment and there cannot be any moral ones, but these are already categories: moral, this is a separate story, but among them there is a small part of famous people who moved there or after the start of their own or even before their own they lead an aggressive anti-Russian company, not just an anti-Russian company that directly wish the death of our military personnel, participate in programs to support the Armed Forces that wish the defeat of Russia and its division into parts.

But these people are these [… ryokan …] and they should be subject to criminal liability in any way case, as I wrote, I will repeat once again, we will have a reason in some situation to spit on their graves, these are different people, so they need to be separated from each other, but about what you asked about Let me just not even comment on

1:25:53 Question:  Anato, they have been very tough lately changes occur in legislation almost every week, such news reaches us, deputies accept and tighten them, including, well, I’ll list a few of these and the confiscation of property from those who criticize their own, here’s the recent ban on advertising on the pages of those who are recognized by agents and recognizing writers as extremists even to think we couldn’t even be there 2 years ago Why, they will end up with criminal cases against directors and screenwriters who are sitting in pre-trial detention centers and it’s as if nothing is happening and society in society is happening in response to this, also an interesting phenomenon, society in general begins to denounce its neighbors or colleagues and so on there are no Yani company turned out to be So, but such a witch hunt has already happened, you know the history very well and it didn’t bring anything good, [DM: it wasn’t dangerous, it didn’t inform anyone, thank God,] don’t you think this phenomenon is dangerous and this kind of reaction of the people is dangerous knife shadow

DM:  Guys, look , that means, well, this is a continuation of what we just talked about, because even those who are accused of criminal offenses will not be accused systematically, let’s take some Akunin here, his value system and the words that he said there in relation to that that I understand everything and it is necessary to bomb Russian cities, these are absolutely different things, a person can you can you can you can never do it, it is to wish for the defeat of your fatherland.

Even if you are disappointed with something and the death of your military personnel is both a terrible sin and, according to current laws, a criminal offense and such people need to be persecuted and very strict laws should be adopted and this is lowly depravity. The man sits on
the edge and says yes, bomb Russian cities on the other side of his book there are their scripts being sold or are they being bought? Well, it shouldn’t be like that, but let’s get back to reality. This is, so to speak, that during the Great Patriotic War we would have had some fees go to Berlin??

From the department about denunciation and everything connected with it, you understand this This problem is also partly philosophical and worldview, depending on what is meant by this. I also agree that we don’t need the atmosphere of the [nineteen] thirties, this is absolutely obvious, on the other hand, attention to what is happening must be, otherwise the enemies will take advantage of it, the same saboteurs, terrorists, I think that any citizen should report this to the special services to law enforcement agencies

1:29:22 This is completely normal by the way. Here we are far from ahead of the rest. Look at the number of signal messages that occur every day in the United States of America. In Europe I was once amazed in the nineties I went to Finland while I was still a completely private person with my comrades, there were no cameras on the roads, nothing. Well, the roads are good. It’s not like our roads at that time, they were 40 kilometers faster than the standard, they were driving fast in 10 minutes, they slowed us down. Why, I emphasize, there were no cameras they didn’t measure anything there, some vigilant person has already called there, there’s a car with Russian license plates going at pig speed So not every message to law enforcement agencies or intelligence services is Well, morally condemns the mosfete Swa is not needed You are right, such a spirit does not need to be supported but to react especially in a situation where your country is at war, it is necessary both in the sense of adopting tough laws and in the sense of controlling what is happening even among your neighbors. You can, of course, about the holiday that was stolen from us.

Question:  I mean soon the Olympics in which we will not participate because war has been declared on Russian sports and we cannot influence the governing bodies of world sports in any way because everyone who governs there is all supporters of the West, which we see in the decisions of the respective appeal commissions. Well, it seems to me that our allies who did not help them participate there in Asian associations and tournaments, for example We also don’t really need it, so in this case we need to isolate ourselves and conduct your favorite rowing in inland waters.

1:31:30 DM:  Well, they are now holding it in inland waters and they are trying to hold competitions there, including in your favorite rowing and in other sports, you know, in this situation, of course, I’m very sorry for our professional athletes. Well, they dedicated their whole lives to this, they were preparing for this holiday, they were deprived of this holiday, and this is an absolutely disgusting story that characterizes the International Olympic Committee and international sports structures on the other hand, when I think about it, it’s an honor to say so at such a level the first reaction is to slam the door and say, well, live by your own laws, try to create something of your own, but it’s very difficult. You’re right.

Obviously, SPO [International Olympic Committee] lies absolutely does not correspond to the precepts of Pierre Coubertin. Sport is business. Sport is politics, and sport in some cases is crime. And this also needs to be kept in mind when we make individual decisions, it means we participate and participate in those iht life sports Our athletes and it’s really a pity for them.

1:32:57 When everything returns to normal I don’t know because ahead of these great testaments of the founding fathers of international sports there is politics in life, but it’s absolutely obvious, it showed up. By the way, not during your period, remember very well. When we were at the Olympics Yes, no one is sinless No one says that we didn’t have doping there Of course there was, but it was in volume I think Well, it’s certainly comparable to the doping that athletes in other countries used,

But they pulled us out first because it was part of a political program because the leadership of all these structures like WADA and so on had people who were aggressive towards our country, then the opportunity arose to isolate us for something after the Crimean events, after other events. And after the start of theirs, they were just everywhere so to speak, freeze our participation, but I don’t know, I’ll say this thing. Maybe not everyone will agree with me ahead of this Olympics in Paris. Yes, to be honest, I don’t want to watch it, I don’t even want to look at the performance of our athletes under a neutral flag who swore an oath that they do not support the Russian state, this is their choice, I don’t blame them from a legal point of view, but from a moral point of view this is such a very complex topic. So I think that in the end the Olympics in Paris will be very sad. Well, we’ll wait and see

1:34:44 Question:  Dmitrich in one resonant message in Telegram you explained why your posts are so harsh; “I answer I hate them” you wrote. Who you had in mind and who in the political arena you, on the contrary, could call a friend?

DM:  well here everything is just I hate those whom I consider enemies of our country and today this category is not virtual, not evaluative but it is objective. Unfortunately, what about our friends, there are many of them, they live in different countries, they are ordinary people, millions of hundreds of millions of them, just look at social networks, these are the leaders of large countries who are friendly towards Russia, let’s say this. Among our friends we can conditionally include everyone who is not {refers to the political class} of the Anglo-Saxon world, this is a very large number of leading countries. I’m not talking about ordinary people, that’s why everything is simple here.

Thank you Dmitry Anatolyevich

Question:  Well, I’m finishing I propose, but on a satirical note, probably such a satirical cinematic note, I wanted to know if you’ve watched the American satirical film Don’t watch to the top and it came out a long time ago Yes, but it raises the topic of the destruction of humanity and a very important topic of how people manage to massively reject the truth that would seem obvious Well, first of all, if you watched it Did you like the film and don’t you actually think that it’s very relevant today

1:36:19 DM:  I’ll start from the last. Unfortunately very relevant now is another film Oppenheimer. The clock is ticking. As for the film “Don’t Look Up,” I really watched this film. The film is witty ironic showing the ravs of the elite their ravs ru their character there are memorable images, for example the image of the president who plays if not both Meryl Streep who is such a very interesting, completely cynical girl, I don’t know who to compare her with in a modern panopticon, but she probably reminds me partly of a gynecologist Ursula von der Leyen in terms of the degree of deceit and desire to fool the brains of a huge number of people

Pagan American Rome and Christian Russian Rome

Par : AHH

” … These two Romes are fulfilling the legacies they inherited: American Rome, like its pagan predecessor, has become an oppressive conqueror, seeking to impose its culture on all its victims. Russian Rome, like Orthodox Constantinople, seeks friendly relations with anyone on the basis of shared spiritual values … And just as the old Roman West once envied New Rome Constantinople and sought to rob her … so now pagan American Rome eyes Russian Rome with the same envious look (mainly her natural resources).”

by Walt Garlington at Katehon.

When most folks look at a map, they will see only a single Rome, the one in Italy. But there are actually two more, neither of them in Italy: one is identified with Washington, D.C., in the United States and the other with Moscow in Russia, each quite different from the other as they represent two different stages of Roman history. In the American Rome one will see a continuation of pagan, pre-Christian Rome, while in the Russian Rome one will see a continuation of Orthodox Constantinople/New Rome.

Let us look first at American Rome. From her earliest days, the leaders of the US identified closely with the pre-Christian Roman Republic:

‘Throughout the course of history, the ancient civilization of Rome has been widely discussed, praised, and emulated by writers, statesmen, and philosophers alike. Rome has no shortage of admirers, and arguably some of its most enthusiastic supporters were the American Founding Fathers who were enamoured of the Roman past largely because of Rome’s unique form of government, which had supposedly preserved liberty for hundreds of years. The Founders lavished praise upon the Roman republican heroes who defended their government from tyranny in the turbulent final days of the Republic.

‘ . . . The American Revolution further intensified interest in the Roman world. By anchoring those arguments for freedom to ancient precedent, Revolutionary American authors aimed to demonstrate that their arguments were timeless and firmly embedded in history. Historians such as Plutarch, Livy, and Tacitus successfully encapsulated in writing the eternal and unavoidable struggle between liberty and power.[4] Parallels between Rome and America were made frequently by Revolutionary writers and orators. Josiah Quincy compared the tyrant Caesar to King George, asking “is not Britain to America what Caesar was to Rome?”[5] One of the most dramatic and obvious examples of reference to Rome was Joseph Warren’s oration on the Boston Massacre in 1775, during which he wore a Roman toga.[6] It would be difficult to find any public figure of the Revolutionary period who did not quote a classical author in their pamphlets, orations or letters.[7]

‘ . . . The founding generation admired Cicero as a steadfast defender of liberty and a deeply philosophical thinker on the ways in which government can best preserve our naturally endowed rights and freedoms. He was referred to as a constant source of wisdom on the topic of political philosophy as well as a guide to civic virtue and was described by Josiah Quincy as “the best of men and the first of patriots.”[15] Cicero’s oratorical prowess was emulated by many early American lawyers and statesmen who wished to be as eloquent and impassioned as the man who defied tyrants.[16]

‘ . . . Historical figures such as Cicero and Cato were considered fitting role models not only due to their character, but because of the similarity between their predicament and that of the Founders. Cicero and Cato, faced a power far greater than themselves, but were steeled by the cause of liberty. Regardless of how history played out, the Founders viewed Cicero and Cato as heroes of freedom and enemies of tyranny.’

The preoccupation in US thinking vis-à-vis Rome, as with nearly everything else, is the idea of a religiously agnostic individual liberty. This will contrast with Russia, as we shall see. But to begin with, we must see what it is that Russia, the Third Rome, inherited from the second Rome, Constantinople:

‘As the historical, lawful descendants of ancient Rome, which was destroyed by barbarians in the fifth century, the inhabitants of Byzantium called themselves Romans. In a vast empire divided into many nationalities there was one faith—Orthodox Christianity. The Byzantines literally fulfilled the Christian teaching of a new humanity living in a Divine spirit, where “there is neither Greek, nor Jew, nor Scythe,” as the Apostle Paul wrote. This hope preserved the country from the destructive storm of ethnic conflict. It was enough for any pagan or foreigner to accept the Orthodox Faith, and confirm it in deed, in order to become a full member of society. On the Byzantine throne, for example, were almost as many Armenians as there were Greeks; there were also citizens of Syrian, Arabian, Slavic, and Germanic origin. Amongst the higher ranks of government were representatives of all peoples in the Empire—the main requirements were their competence and dedication to the Orthodox Faith. This provided Byzantine civilization with incomparable cultural wealth.

‘The only foreign elements for the Byzantines were people who were strange to Orthodox morals and to the ancient Byzantine culture and perception of the world. For example, coarse, ignorant, money-grubbing Western Europeans of the time were considered barbarian by the Romans. . . .

‘We must admit that our own Slavic forebears were no more well-mannered, and also succumbed to the barbaric temptation to get rich quick at the expense of Constantinople’s seemingly inexhaustible wealth. However, to their credit, and fortunately for us, their lust for the spoils of war did not eclipse the most important thing: Russians comprehended Byzantium’s greatest treasure! This was neither gold, nor expensive textiles, nor even art and sciences. The greatest treasure of Byzantium was God.

‘Having traveled the world over in search of the truth and God, Prince Vladimir’s ambassadors experienced only in Byzantium that a true relationship between God and man exists; that it is possible for us to have living contact with another world. “We did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth,” said the ancestors of present-day Russians, astounded by their experience of Divine Liturgy in the Empire’s most important cathedral, the Hagia Sophia. They understood just what kind of treasure can be obtained in Byzantium. It was upon this treasure that our great forebears founded not banks, nor capital, nor even museums and pawn shops. They founded Rus’, Russia, the spiritual successor of Byzantium.’

The Russian Rome would go on to develop characteristics unique to herself:

‘When Orthodoxy spread throughout the Russian plains, the Russian soul in its collectiveness [sobornost] sought its own gift of God, which it found by turning to the Mother of God. The Russian people particularly venerate the Mother of God, which distinguishes our country and our traditions of the Orthodox faith. Of course, other peoples also venerate the Mother of God, but the Russian people chose the Mother of God for special veneration and reverence, as the door to the Heavenly Kingdom. The Mother of God was our special Protectress: there was not a single corner of the whole expanse of the former Russian Empire into which some miraculous icon of the Mother of God had not appeared that was venerated either locally or throughout the nation. The entire Russian land was sanctified by these holy icons; the Russian people believed that the Mother of God herself was invisibly present, as it were, at each icon.

‘This is our particularity. We will enter the Heavenly Kingdom through the Mother of God. The Mother of God is always depicted with the infant Christ the Savior. This particularity of icon-painting hearkens back to an ancient tradition that tells of some freethinking and insolent people who, looking at the Mother of God during his lifetime, said: “How can she be the Mother of God? How could she have given birth to God? How is this possible?” Then the Mother of God raised her most pure hands to heaven, seeking the protection of God, just as she is depicted on the Kursk-Root Icon. Then the Lord showed Himself to these disputers of this world in her most pure womb, just as He is depicted on her icon. These cowards, seeing such an incredible miracle, were cast into the fear of God; and the insolent people, who were infected with incurable pride, fled in terror, having seen the Savior’s face as Judge in anticipation of His Second Coming.

‘This is our icon. With the raised hands of the Mother of God it addresses all non-believers and believers alike, that they might learn to fear disbelief. This best witnesses to our entire people that the Mother of God is truly the Theotokos, that she truly bore our God and Savior.

‘The particular Russian piety for venerating the Mother of God is a response to the Russian soul’s age-old yearning to perceive God’s grace, which cannot be reduced to an abstract concept, distinctly and actually. The Mother of God also showed her protection to such great saints as our St. Sergius of Radonezh, to whom she appeared more than once, and in more recent times to St. Seraphim of Sarov. Recall how St. Seraphim, sitting on a log in the dense forest, revealed God’s grace to Motovilov distinctly and actually. St. Seraphim embraced him and suddenly the grace of the Holy Spirit moved from the saint to Motovilov who, perceiving God’s grace in fear and trembling, felt as though he were not on earth but in heaven.

‘This is what the Russian people seek: it desires to perceive God’s grace actually and completely. This is the ideal of the Russian soul.’

Thus, in contrast with the American Rome, the preoccupation of Russian Rome is not with worldly ideologies about individual liberty but with acquiring and experiencing the Grace of God.

These two Romes are fulfilling the legacies they inherited: American Rome, like its pagan predecessor, has become an oppressive conqueror, seeking to impose its culture on all its victims. Russian Rome, like Orthodox Constantinople, seeks friendly relations with anyone on the basis of shared spiritual values.

The two ends find expression in the symbols of each Rome. American Rome, like pagan Rome, has a single-headed eagle for its symbol, representing its monoculture that it forces all others to accept. Russian Rome, like the Christian Second Rome, has the double-headed eagle for her symbol, representing a harmonious unity-in-diversity of peoples and their cultures.

And just as the old Roman West once envied New Rome Constantinople and sought to rob her –

‘The capital city’s incalculable wealth, its beauty and elegance, amazed all the European peoples, who were still barbarians at the time when the Byzantine Empire was in its apogee. One can only imagine—indeed, history records it as such—how crude, ignorant Scandinavians, Germans, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons, whose chief occupation at the time was primitive sacking and pillage, after arriving from some town like Paris or London (which had populations of some tens of thousands) to this megalopolis of millions, a city of enlightened citizens, scholars, and elegantly dressed youths crowding imperial universities, dreamt of only one thing: invading and robbing, robbing and invading. In fact, when this was actually accomplished in 1204 by an army of Europeans calling themselves Crusaders, who, instead of freeing the Holy Land treacherously sacked the most beautiful city in the world, , Byzantine treasures were carried away in an uninterrupted flow over the course of fifty years.’

– so now pagan American Rome eyes Russian Rome with the same envious look (mainly her natural resources).

May the Mother of God, dear to Russians, through her Softener of Evil Hearts icon, turn the peoples of the States to repentance, to friendship with Russia, and to acceptance of the same Apostolic Faith of the Orthodox Church:

‘“Softener of evil hearts”… What a great deal of hope there is in the name of this icon: hope that someday justice will triumph on earth, that people will become kind and charitable, will begin to love one another. How difficult that is in our embittered world, and sometimes the mere sight of someone else’s suffering is enough to soften our own evil hearts…

‘This Icon is also called the “Simon’s Prophecy” icon. . . . It was after he had blessed St. Joseph and the Most-immaculate Mother of the Savior, that he addressed Mary with that same prophecy: “Behold, this child is set for the falling and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sin which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Just as Christ would be pierced with nails and a spear, so the soul of the Most-pure One would be pierced by a certain weapon of sorrow and pain in the heart, when she saw her Son’s suffering. After that, the heretofore hidden thoughts of the people regarding the Messiah would be revealed, and they would face a choice: to be with Christ, or against Him. Such an interpretation of Symeon’s prophecy became the subject of a number of icons of the Theotokos. All those who turn to them in prayer sense that with the softening of evil hearts comes an easing of spiritual and physical suffering. People come to recognize that when they pray for their enemies before such icons, their feelings of enmity are softened, and that internecine strife and hatreds abate, giving way to kindness.’

≈≈

Sakerites will remember our author Walt Garlington, mellifluous voice of the American South. I lived almost a decade of my life in Virginia, among most pleasant folks in USA like the Pacific NW, endearing me to southerners. He is a landscape artist like Batiushka, whom we also miss

Swans of the Apocalypse

Par : AHH

🔹Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Kazan Aviation Plant named after S. P. Gorbunov, a branch of PJSC Tupolev, during his visit to the capital of Tatarstan. During the inspection of the new aircraft, the head of State suggested naming one of the Tu-160M missile carriers in honor of the first President of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev.

“We are in Tatarstan. Let’s call the new missile carrier Mintimer Shaimiev, ” Putin said, addressing RT President Rustam Minnikhanov. The Tatarstan leader enthusiastically accepted the proposal of the Russian President: “Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich. He deserved it.”

The Head of State was accompanied by Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia, Sergey Shoigu, Minister of Defense of Russia, Igor Komarov, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal District, Rustam Minnikhanov, Rais of Tatarstan, Yuri Slyusar, General Director of United Aircraft Corporation, and Nikolay Savitskikh, Director of KAZ.

The Russian leader was shown the aircraft that are being built and upgraded at the enterprise. These are Tu-22M3M strategic bombers, Tu-160M (M2) strategic bombers, and Tu-214 medium-haul narrow-body passenger airliners (as well as special versions of this model).

Kazan Aviation Plant is at a new stage of development, it is stably provided with loading capacity for the future until 2030. The most important stage of a large-scale program of modernization and technical re-equipment of production has already been implemented, which is being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and in close cooperation with institutes and enterprises of the construction complex of Tatarstan. This made it possible to restore a unique technological cycle on a modern production base, purchase new equipment, and build a new flight test base.

In addition, the unique technology of production of titanium aggregates, which is used in the manufacture of the rotary wing mechanism and welding of the Tu-160M center section beam, has been restored. A deep modernization of the electron beam welding unit and vacuum furnace for titanium products was carried out. The largest complex for processing titanium products in the world has been recreated.

All this has become a reliable base for launching mass production of new deeply modernized strategic bombers-Tu-160M missile carriers, the company notes.


🔹Four deeply modernized, handsome Tu-160Ms in the final assembly shop of the Kazan Aviation Plant during Vladimir Putin’s visit to the enterprise.

The resumption of serial production of missile carriers started in December 2018, and already on January 12, 2022, the newly produced Tu-160M made its first flight.

An earlier trip abroad the White Swan:

🔹🇷🇺 Footage from Kazan before President Vladimir Putin’s flight on the Tu-160M. The motorcade of the head of state drove straight up to the missile carrier. |video| [see following video too] 

The Tu-160M, known as “White Swans” are one of largest and most graceful warplanes on earth, a supersonic strategic bomber of the nuclear triad of the Russian Armed Forces. Putin wasn’t taking a joyride. This was another vivid reminder to the combined West. A message onboard “the Swan of the Apocalypse,” to the possessed supremacist — and dead-on-arrival — Old Order.

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