RT News - January 10th 2023 Late

Intense fighting and incessant gunfire, as Russian troops push Ukrainian armed forces out of the key front line city of Soledar. Russia isn't fighting just Ukrainians, as the captured equipment and radios are taken and listened to, channels have only Polish being spoken or German being spoken and no Ukrainian at all. In depth report from Murad Gazdiev and Rory Suchet.
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In South Africa, unconfirmed video has emerged of troops burning the dead bodies of jihadists. An investigation is to take place and if there is basis in the claims, the perps will be "brought to book"
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At least 17 supporters of impeached Peruvian president Pedro Castillo are killed in clashes with police, as locals single out the country's new leader as being the root of the crisis. Hundreds have been injured, including police.
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Antonio Guterres says the global financial system is biased and broken. (QS it is, we didn't need him to tell us!) After the dreadful, deadly flooding in Pakistan, the Pak P.M. has asked for relief BUT simultaneoulsy blames Imran Khan for the financial problems facing Pak now. (QS Please catch up with previous posts if you can still find them after Rumble has messed with the search engine - quick fill in: June to October 2022 floods in Pakistan killed 1739 people and caused $14.9 billion of damage and $15.2 billion of economic losses. Imran Khan was ousted on the 10th April, 2022 in what he considered to be a US/western coup and replaced with a compliant western .gov....
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Just imagine if the money gone to Ukraine had gone on debt relief and critical infrastructure in the world's poorest countries - they could be productive by now and with money in reserve and ability to contribute to the world's trade and economy. I think it's $100 billion ++ from USA alone. We will probably never know how much from Britain, the EU countries and the NATO allies, all gone up in smoke and nothing to show except death and debt which will never be repaid to the citizens who have had to stump up for it, against their wills in most cases..... I know where I would have preferred my money to have gone)
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The Chinese Yuan is to get a boost in Latin America with a major trade deal with Argentina. (Multipolar world!) It will be a currency swap worth around $20 billion.
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Australia spying cons, goofs, gaffes and videotape. (QS Too complicated for me to write up, the CIA double bluff double bluffed again? Who knows. Might as well get hung for four sheep as a lamb) "Pants down" report from Marina Kosareva and Tim Anderson.Show more

A new study (another one) finds that there was no major influence on voters for the 2016 elections.

Update on Soledar (see also leader) "Ukraine troops are apparently pulling out of Soledar"
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Below, via RT website 1) --- US ‘threatening’ Africa over ties with Russia – defence minister
2) --- Biden faces African resistance on anti-Russia stance – media
3) --- NATO and EU deepen ties to confront Russia and China
4) --- ‘No place’ for independent Russia in Western mindset – Moscow
5) --- EU threatens to widen sanctions
6) --- Classified docs found at Biden think tank – media
7) --- NATO, US ‘definitely’ taking part in Ukraine conflict – Kremlin
8) --- Poland appeals to US ‘global’ role in row with Germany
9) --- Poland to create new eastern infantry division – defence minister
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10 Jan, 2023 08:00

1) --- US ‘threatening’ Africa over ties with Russia – defense minister

Washington is concerned by a Russian cargo ship’s visit to a naval base in South Africa, an American official has told the WSJ

Relations between Washington and Pretoria have become strained after a Russian cargo ship visited South Africa’s largest naval base last month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The country’s defense minister said the US had been pressuring African nations over any links with Moscow, according to the outlet.

Washington is “concerned by the support the South African Armed Forces provided to the ‘Lady R’,” a senior US official told the WSJ, referring to a Russian vessel that was sanctioned in May over its alleged involvement in arms shipments for Moscow.

In early December, the ship was allowed to enter Simon’s Town navy base with its transponders turned off and freely move cargo there, the report claimed. “There is no publicly available information on the source of the containers that were loaded onto the ‘Lady R’,” the official said.

The outlet cited comments made by South African Defense Minister Thandi Modise last month regarding the visit of ‘Lady R’. She declined to reveal what cargo the ship was carrying, only saying that “whatever contents this vessel was getting were ordered long before Covid,” which emerged in late 2019.

Washington “threatens Africa, not just South Africa, of having anything that is even smelling of Russia,” Modise said, as quoted by the WSJ.

The article noted that, under the US law, Washington can place sanctions on any entity that provides services to a black-listed ship.

Darren Olivier, who heads African Defense Review consulting company, told the outlet it was plausible that the ‘Lady R’ was bringing an old order of Russian ammunition to South Africa. Moscow and Pretoria agreed a shipment of 4.5 million rounds of Russian ammunition worth around $585,000 back in 2020, he said.

As for what was loaded on the ship, Olivier pointed out that “South Africa’s defense industry does not generally produce armaments and complete systems that are used by the Russian military.” However, he said Moscow could be interested in dual-use items, including guidance systems and optics for aerial drones.

According to the senior US official, who spoke to the WSJ, the US embassy warned Pretoria in November that a sanctioned vessel was about to arrive in the country, but the South African authorities did not respond. The events surrounding ‘Lady R’ demonstrate the “difficulty” of implementing sanctions on Russia for the US and its allies, the article noted.
https://www.rt.com/news/569629-us-south-africa-modise/

folks might also like to take a look at this video, it's from 2020 and wasn't in the general view, not in Britain anyway https://youtu.be/8-hV-Rq3YvM (just over a minute long)

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14 Dec, 2022 22:05

2) --- Biden faces African resistance on anti-Russia stance – media

The US president has kicked off a summit with the continent’s leaders amid frustrations over the Ukraine crisis

US President Joe Biden has opened a Washington summit with nearly 50 African nations. He is pledging increased investment and aid at a time when he’s also reportedly struggling to keep the continent’s leaders on board with his campaign to punish and isolate Russia over the Ukraine conflict.

African nations are reportedly largely “ambivalent” about – and increasingly frustrated over – Biden’s efforts to rally support for Kiev and global condemnation of Russia, the Washington Post reported earlier this week. On Wednesday, Biden’s administration convened the first US-Africa Leaders Summit in eight years, promising $15 billion in new investments on the continent.

“The event comes as the White House is working, with mixed success so far, to coax support from African nations that have been hit especially hard by the consequences of the war in Ukraine, especially a wheat shortage and a disruption in the food supply but also rising fertilizer and fuel prices,” the Post said.

Another media outlet, The Hill, noted that African leaders are skeptical that the US is a reliable partner. “They don’t see us as trusted,” Cameron Hudson, an Africa expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Hill. “They see us as kind of unreliable, and this summit is the start of the effort to try to rewrite that narrative.”

Ebenezer Obadare, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, speculated that the reaction of African leaders to the Ukraine conflict may have “shaken” US policy makers, alarming them over China and Russia’s strong influence on the continent. “This seems to be an overture. This seems to be born out of a realization that things aren’t what they used to be.”

“And if the United States is going to have to hold on to its allies in the region, it is going to have to do some smooching”.

Biden began those efforts on Wednesday, trying to convince visiting leaders that Washington sees Africa’s prosperity as a top priority. He also spoke of the continent’s role in addressing “war and instability,” among other global crises. “We can’t solve any of these problems without African leadership at the table,” Biden said.

South Africa is among the countries that have snubbed anti-Russia sanctions. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who previously suggested that NATO instigated the Ukraine crisis, urged Biden in September not to “punish” African nations by pressuring them to cut ties with Moscow.
https://www.rt.com/news/568263-african-nations-resist-us-anti-russia-campaign/
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10 Jan, 2023 15:53

3) --- NATO and EU deepen ties to confront Russia and China

Transatlantic security demands “further mobilization,” according to a joint statement

The European Union and NATO on Tuesday signed a declaration on cooperation, vowing to take their partnership “to the next level” and promising continued support to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.

The declaration was signed by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, President of the European Council Charles Michel, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at a ceremony in the US-led military bloc’s headquarters in Brussels.

Asserting that “NATO and the EU play complementary, coherent and mutually reinforcing roles,” the document says they “will further mobilize the combined set of instruments at our disposal, be they political, economic or military, to pursue our common objectives to the benefit of our one billion citizens.”

The two organizations claimed that their “interests, values and democratic principles” were being challenged by “authoritarian actors,” singling out Russia and China as the biggest threats they supposedly face. The conflict in Ukraine “undermines European and global security and stability” and thus warrants increased NATO involvement on the continent, the document said.

NATO was founded in 1949 as a US-led military alliance aimed against the Soviet Union. The EU’s forerunner, the European Coal and Steel Community, was established two years later. The Warsaw Treaty Organization, a Soviet-led response to NATO, was created in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. In the 1990s, the EU became a political bloc, while NATO started expanding into Eastern Europe in what Moscow regarded as an existential threat and a violation of promises it was given when the Cold War ended

The Russian government has said NATO’s creeping expansion into Ukraine following the 2014 coup was a key reason for the current military operation. Russian officials have also lamented the EU’s transformation from an economic and political organization into an extension of NATO.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued last month that NATO had returned to its original purpose of keeping “Russia out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,” as formulated by its first secretary general, Lord Ismay.

“Nothing has changed. They want to keep the Russians out of Europe, the Americans … have enslaved the entire Europe, and not only Germany, but the entire EU is kept under control,” Lavrov said in an interview.

European membership in the two blocs largely overlaps. Austria, Ireland, Finland and Sweden are in the EU but not in NATO – though the latter two have applied for membership. Meanwhile, Albania, Norway, the UK, Türkiye, and two former Yugoslav republics – Montenegro and North Macedonia – are in NATO but not in the EU.
https://www.rt.com/news/569652-nato-eu-joint-declaration/
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10 Jan, 2023 12:53

4) --- ‘No place’ for independent Russia in Western mindset – Moscow

NATO's proxy war in Ukraine is being waged for profit and ambition, the secretary of the national security council has claimed

The secretary of Russia’s national security council has lashed out at the West, pointing to their habit of creating global threats, including numerous terrorist groups, in pursuit of their interests.

Nikolay Patrushev also claimed, in an interview published by news outlet Argumenti i Fakti, that Washington’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan was a prelude to NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

“The events in Ukraine are not a confrontation between Moscow and Kiev. It’s a military confrontation of NATO – the US and England first and foremost – with Russia,” the top security official said in a newspaper interview. “They fear a direct standoff, so NATO instructors push Ukrainian guys toward their certain deaths.”

Patrushev argued that, while Western nations claim to be “defending civilization against barbarism” in Ukraine, they are actually motivated by selfish interests and won’t “save any lives at the expense of their enrichment and ambitions.”

He said there is an established pattern of the US creating threats that it later ostensibly fights against, he continued, citing terrorist organizations Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) as examples. Washington may occasionally show off the killing of individual terrorist leaders like Osama Bin Laden, but continue “training and arming a hundred others” at the same time, he added.

NATO’s mission in Afghanistan resulted “in the creation of multibillion-dollar corruption schemes” and a surge in illegal drug production, Patrushev claimed. And the US withdrawal from the country in 2019 was to a large degree about “focusing on Ukraine” and confrontation with Russia, he said.

The security official cited remarks made last month by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who admitted that, with the country’s military presence in Afghanistan finally ended, the administration of President Joe Biden had more opportunities to funnel arms to Kiev.

Patrushev believes that, in the wider picture, the interests of the US as a nation state are subservient to the interests of transnational corporations, which ultimately dictate the policies of many governments. Those unaccountable forces have inherited the colonialist approach that allowed Western nations to become wealthy and powerful, but they are no longer vested in national interests, he said.

Russia “has no place” in their schemes, since it “irritates the handful of world masters because of its natural riches, vast territories, and smart, self-sufficient people who love their country, its traditions and history,” he added.
https://www.rt.com/russia/569649-patrushev-ukraine-proxy-war/
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10 Jan, 2023 15:29

5) --- EU threatens to widen sanctions

Brussels is eyeing sanctions against Belarus and Iran over their “military support” for Russia

The European Union is planning to impose fresh sanctions on Belarus over its military cooperation with Russia amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.

Speaking following the signing of a new NATO-EU cooperation agreement, von der Leyen said Brussels was preparing sanctions against countries supporting Moscow militarily, pointing specifically to Belarus and Iran.

“We will keep pressure on the Kremlin for as long as it takes with a biting sanctions regime, we will extend these sanctions to those who militarily support Russia’s war such as Belarus or Iran,” she said.

“And we will be coming forward with new sanctions against Belarus answering their role in this Russian war in Ukraine.”

On Monday, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced joint training exercises with Russia following the two nations’ establishment of a new military force. Moscow and Minsk announced the creation of a joint regional military force in October, citing the growing presence of NATO troops near Belarus’ borders.

Minsk has also allowed Moscow to use its territory during its ongoing military offensive in neighboring Ukraine, though it declined to provide troops for the operation.

In December, the EU announced sanctions on Iranian leaders and entities over accusations that Moscow was using Iranian-supplied drones in Ukraine, something which both Moscow and Tehran have denied.

Von der Leyen also said on Tuesday that Ukraine should be given “all the necessary military equipment they need and they can handle to defend their homeland,” including “advanced air-defense systems.”

European Council President Charles Michel agreed, noting that he had “repeatedly called for greater military support for Ukraine in order to guarantee its ability to defend itself” and arguing that Kiev was not only fighting for itself but for Europe’s “common values.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, also present at the press conference, said Brussels recognizes “the value of a stronger and more capable European defense” that is “complementary to, and interoperable with, NATO.”

He added that he was determined to take the EU-NATO strategic partnership to “the next level” amid evolving security threats in Europe.
https://www.rt.com/news/569659-eu-sanctions-belarus-iran/
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10 Jan, 2023 08:08

6) --- Classified docs found at Biden think tank – media

The US President had previously claimed Donald Trump was “totally irresponsible” for holding classified files at his residence

The US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the discovery of classified materials at a Washington DC think tank closely linked to President Joe Biden. Last August, the FBI raided the Florida home of former president Donald Trump, claiming he was improperly storing classified government documents there.

The discovery was made in early November at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, an organization affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, CBS News reported on Monday.

The “roughly 10” documents, reportedly stored in a box alongside non-classified materials, date back to the Barack Obama administration and originate from Biden's time as vice president, according to CBS.

Biden’s attorneys found the papers and informed the National Archives, with the agency taking possession of them the following morning, sources told the news outlet. US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch has been assigned to conduct a preliminary investigation into the issue.

Sources said Biden was unaware of the contents of the documents found at the Penn Biden Center.

Biden’s think tank was launched in 2018 and was staffed by many former Obama administration members, some of whom later transitioned to the incumbent’s team. Biden used the premises of the center from mid-2017 until the spring of 2019.

Last summer, a stand-off occurred between the federal government and former President Trump, when the FBI executed a search warrant at his private residence, Mar-a-Lago. Trump resisted requests by the National Archives to return documents that he was allegedly improperly holding. The FBI reportedly recovered some 300 classified files in Trump’s possession.

Commenting on the confrontation at the time, Biden called Trump’s behavior “totally irresponsible.” Some Republican politicians have argued that two cases were similar.

“What’s the difference in what President Trump did versus what we now know President Biden did?” James Comer, the incoming House Oversight Committee chairman, asked.
https://www.rt.com/news/569630-biden-classified-documents-found/
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10 Jan, 2023 15:51

7) --- NATO, US ‘definitely’ taking part in Ukraine conflict – Kremlin

Washington and Brussels have long been indirect parties to the Moscow-Kiev face-off through their arms deliveries, Moscow says

The US and NATO are already taking part in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, although indirectly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday. He was commenting on a statement made earlier by the secretary of Russia’s national security council, Nikolay Patrushev, who called the ongoing hostilities a "confrontation of NATO… with Russia."

"Both NATO and the US are definitely taking part in this conflict, although indirectly, by proxy," Peskov said, adding that, although both Washington and Brussels maintain they have no intention of getting involved in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, "de facto they have already become an indirect party" to it.

The US and its allies, including the NATO nations, "pump Ukraine full of arms, [share] technologies, and intelligence data… Their involvement in this conflict is obvious," the spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin said.

Moscow does not believe that any of its actions could further provoke the US and NATO into increasing their military aid to Kiev since it is already happening, Peskov said. "We see that increases in [military] supplies come on a daily basis," the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that increasingly more powerful weapons are getting delivered in larger quantities as Western nations intensify their training of Ukrainian troops.

The Kremlin spokesman also said that Patrushev was absolutely right in his assessment, which simply "acknowledged the facts on the ground." "This is nothing but the indirect involvement of those nations in the conflict," Peskov maintained, adding that Moscow "thoroughly records" all such developments.

Earlier on Tuesday, the National Security Council secretary said that the ongoing conflict is a proxy confrontation between the US, NATO and Russia since Brussels and Washington "fear a direct standoff." Patrushev also accused the West of sacrificing other people’s lives for their "enrichment and ambitions."

Washington and its allies in Europe have repeatedly stated they would like to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia and has denied being party to the ongoing conflict. Yet, they have been supplying Kiev’s forces with a wide variety of arms, including self-propelled howitzers and multiple rocket launchers.

Russia has repeatedly warned that continued Western arms shipments to Kiev would only prolong the conflict and extend human suffering, as well as pose a risk of a direct military confrontation between Russia and the West.
https://www.rt.com/russia/569662-nato-us-part-ukraine-conflict/
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10 Jan, 2023 16:27

8) --- Poland appeals to US ‘global’ role in row with Germany

Warsaw has turned to Washington for help after Berlin refused to pay Poland’s demand of $1.39 trillion in WWII reparations

Polish officials have called on Washington to pressure Germany into paying out $1.39 trillion in reparations for war damages sustained during World War II. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Arkadiusz Mularczyk stated that an appeal to the US Congress was the next step in the “internationalization” of Polish claims for war damages from Berlin.

“We believe that the US is a country that determines the global order today, a key country when it comes to respecting the international order, human rights, the rule of law and international justice,” Mularczyk said.

He added that he hopes the US Congressional Committee, as well as several individual senators and congressmen, will assist Warsaw in “the issue of Poland’s claiming compensation for the effects of World War II.”

“I want to emphasize that to this day Germany has not compensated Poland for war losses. Also, Polish citizens have not received appropriate compensation from the German state,” he said, having previously accused Berlin of double standards and disrespect towards the Polish state.

Warsaw officially addressed Berlin about the reparations in early October. Germany refuted the claims, arguing that the issue of war damages had been settled long ago under treaties signed in 1953 and 1990 and that Berlin considers the matter “closed.”

Poland, however, has insisted that the question of unsettled compensation remains open “morally, politically and legally” and has launched an extensive international campaign, addressing the issue to major global organizations such as the UN, the Council of Europe, and UNESCO, as well as 50 member states of NATO, the EU and the European Council.

Poland has also hinted at making similar reparation demands from Russia. Officials in Moscow have scoffed at the idea, with Senator Aleksey Pushkov describing Poland’s reparation demands as a sign of disunity and imbalance in the Western system now that “all the rules and norms of the post-war world are being called into question.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has responded to the reparation demands from Germany and Russia by suggesting that Polish politicians seem to have turned to a sort of “political extremism” that is significantly harming their country’s prestige.
https://www.rt.com/news/569658-poland-germany-us-reparations/
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10 Jan, 2023 13:21

9) --- Poland to create new eastern infantry division – defense minister

The formation is needed to deter Russia, Mariusz Blaszczak claims

The Polish military will create a new infantry division equipped with state-of-the-art hardware in the eastern part of the country, Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak has said.

Warsaw intends to put the new formation together “as soon as possible,” Blaszczak pledged on Monday.

The division's main area of operations will be the Podlasie Province, bordering fellow NATO member Lithuania and also Belarus, which is a close ally of Russia.

According to the minister, the division will comprise four brigades, separated into four battalions. A division is a military formation, consisting of between 6,000 to 25,000 troops.

The new forces will be armed with US-made Abrams and South Korean K-2 tanks, locally-made Krab and Korean K-9 howitzers, as well as reconnaissance drones, he said.

In his interview on Tuesday, Blaszczak expanded on the reasons for the creation of a new armed formation in that specific area.

We know who threatens us and where… For Poland, the main threat is Russia and its imperial tendencies. That is why more troops are needed in the east of the country and that’s why a new division is being set up,” he told the I.pl news portal.

Poland previously concentrated most of its forces west of the Vistula River, which separates the country roughly in half, running northward towards the Baltic Sea. But Warsaw’s new strategy is “defense of every meter of our land,” the minister insisted.

Since the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Poland has become a country “in direct contact with the war” as Warsaw has been helping Kiev on military, political and humanitarian levels, he pointed out.

By providing this assistance, “we take on a lot of responsibility, but we do it consciously because the further we manage to push Russia away and the greater the losses inflicted on it – the better it is for us and for the future of the democratic world,” Blaszczak claimed. “We must remember this and stand by Ukraine’s side till the end,” he added.

Warsaw has been one of Kiev’s main backers in the EU amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has been underway since last February. Poland has reportedly donated half of its tanks as well as other weapons to Vladimir Zelensky’s government, with Moscow also saying Polish mercenaries have been taking part in the hostilities. It has also accepted around 1.4 million Ukrainian refugees, while calling on Brussels to ramp up its anti-Russia sanctions.

The secretary of the Belarusian national security council, Aleksandr Volfovich, described the planned creation of a new division by Warsaw as another sign of “aggressive policy and unneighborly attitude by Poland” towards Belarus, Russia and other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

“Unfortunately, Poland and the Baltic states are working towards militarization,” putting the emphasis on fielding offensive rather than defensive weapons, Volfovich said, as cited by state news agency Belta.

“How can this be assessed? Only as a precursor to some kind of aggression. Both reconnaissance flights and the number of exercises being conducted [by Poland and NATO] – all this can’t contribute to peace and security,” he argued.

According to Volfovich, the joint Russian-Belarusian military contingent, which was deployed in Belarus last year, is only pursuing defensive purposes, and is aimed at deterring NATO.
https://www.rt.com/news/569648-poland-defense-infantry-division/
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