RT News - February 16th 2023 Late

China and Iran issue a joint statement: China and Iran strongly oppose what they call political manipulation under the pretext of safeguarding human rights and democracy as the Iranian president wraps up his first official visit to Beijing. The statement says: "the two sides should follow the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, emphasizing that the democratic governance models of different nations should be respected" (QS wouldn't it be fantastic if we could get the governments in the west to issue the same thing - I don't think we should hold our breaths though...) Yunfei Zhao reports on the second day of the Iran visit to Beijing.
China/Australia. Australia intends to remove the security cameras from government buildings. Is Australia now fully under the dictate of USA? Victor Gao comments and reports.
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Africa, Zambia: Child trafficking remains a major problem in Africa - with four Croatian couples, the latest to be arrested in Zambia, for attempting to smuggle children out of the continent. They used forged documents in their attempt to cross the border. The trial is set to commence on March 1. Nothing has been said in court about the whereabouts or status of the children. Isaac Mwanza explains more about the problem.
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RT speaks to a former Namibian minister, Bernadus Swartbooi, who supports a lawsuit to make Germany pay reparations to the descendants of its colonial-era genocide. The atrocities against the people of Namibia were horrific.
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Russia, Crimea: Two drones headed for Sevastopol were shot down today, nobody was harmed.
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Ukraine: Airstrikes were reported against power infrastructure in Lvov (Lviv) today as well as other areas.
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Gruesome footage of Ukraine soldiers who were left behind as dead. They have been placed in coffins ready to ship back. The footage is unverified and without a date-stamp. Evgeny Prigozhin (Wagner co-founder) talked to RT's Igor Zhdanov about the prospects for advancing to/taking control of Artyomovsk, possibly in the next two months.
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Moscow recovers 101 Russian POW's from Ukrainian captivity, as the country's Defence Ministry reports they were in grave danger. It's the 2nd swap this month.
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Moldova/Serbia: Moldovan government has accused Serbia of a military plot to overthrow the Moldova government. Serbia denies this and has asked for proof. Nikki and Stevan Gajic discuss.
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Below, via RT website A) --- Russia demands UN dig into Nord Stream blasts
B) --- Russia’s key ally outlines what would force it to join fight against Ukraine
C) --- Major Russian port city claims success against Ukrainian drone strikes
D) --- Blinken warns against seizing Crimea – Politico
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1a) --- EU fails to agree new anti-Russian sanctions – media
1b) --- New EU sanctions on Russia to span from tech to toilets – media
1c) --- EU to force banks to reveal Russian assets – Bloomberg
2) --- EU member disrupts traffic with key Russian ally
3) --- US shoots down ‘Iranian-made’ drone
4) --- Moscow makes vow over pipeline sabotage probe
5) --- US official backtracks after Nazi Collaborator tweet storm
******** 6) --- Ukraine conflict will likely have no military winner – top US general ********
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16 Feb, 2023 17:21

A) --- Russia demands UN dig into Nord Stream blasts

The State Duma has voted in favor of calling for an urgent international investigation into the explosions

Lawmakers in the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, unanimously voted on Thursday to adopt an appeal to the United Nations demanding a probe into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in September. MPs described the incident as a “crime committed by the US.”

The move comes after a bombshell exposé was published by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh last week revealing how Washington and its NATO ally Norway cooperated to develop a plan to destroy the pipelines.

Russia’s appeal was prepared on behalf of State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who, during Thursday’s parliament meeting, called the blasts a terrorist attack.

“Just think about it: a terrorist act aimed against Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. The USA, shamelessly, brought it into motion, with President Biden publicly endorsing it,” Volodin said. He also noted how the countries involved in the incident were “working on instructions from both the CIA and the US.”

The appeal was initially introduced to the State Duma by the Parliament Committee for International Relations on Tuesday. In the document, it’s stated that “the Biden administration, which issued the unlawful order, bears full responsibility for causing multibillion-dollar damage to the owners of the most important energy infrastructure for the Eurasian Continent.”

The document insists that Washington must answer for the “long-term detrimental effect of this attack on the economic development of the countries of the region” and the “catastrophic damage to the environment.” According to the lawmakers, Washington’s “cynical desire” for geopolitical hegemony and the “physical elimination of natural competitors” puts US leaders “on par with ruthless terrorist and war criminals."

On September 26, a series of explosions heavily damaged both Nord Stream pipelines, which were built under the Baltic Sea to deliver Russian natural gas to Germany and other EU nations.

The blasts happened near the Danish island of Bornholm, in an area where the US Navy and its NATO allies conducted BALTOPS 22 drills several months prior. According to Hersh, American divers planted the explosives under the cover of the naval exercise, and later detonated the bombs using a Norwegian patrol plane.

Washington has repeatedly denied responsibility for the attack, denouncing Hersh’s revelations as “fiction.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/571598-nord-stream-un-investigation/
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16 Feb, 2023 14:01

B) --- Russia’s key ally outlines what would force it to join fight against Ukraine

Minsk will only deploy its military forces if Kiev attacks Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko has announced

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that an act of aggression by Kiev against his country is the sole reason Belarus would involve itself in the Ukraine conflict. He also claimed that the West wants to drag Minsk into the conflict.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Lukashenko said: “I am prepared to fight together with the Russians from Belarus’ territory only in one case: If just a single soldier comes from there to Belarus’ territory to kill my people.”

He went on to warn that if Ukraine or any other neighboring country “commits aggression against Belarus, there will be the most severe response.”

Lukashenko added that Belarus is a “peaceful” nation that “does not want war,” noting that despite being close allies, Moscow has not asked Minsk to take part in the conflict.

The Belarusian President also claimed, citing intelligence reports, that the West wants to drag Belarus into the conflict in order to further stretch the frontline. He said, however, that Minsk will not be provoked into doing so.

On Monday, Imangali Tasmagambetov, the secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), of which both Moscow and Minsk are part, announced that the bloc will hold joint military exercises in Belarus. The CSTO also includes Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

Receiving Tasmagambetov in Minsk, Lukashenko called for greater cooperation among the member states, in light of what is “happening around” their borders.

“If somebody thinks that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is not our conflict, that we can quietly sit it out – no, that won’t happen,” the Belarusian president said.

Minsk has allowed Moscow to use its territory during the military operation, but has declined to contribute its own forces. The two allies, however, set up a joint military force late last year to address threats that Belarus presumably faces on its Western border.

Ukrainian and Western officials have repeatedly claimed that Russia is trying to persuade Belarus to take part in the conflict in the neighboring country.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571582-lukashenko-belarus-war-russia-ukraine/
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16 Feb, 2023 15:15

C) --- Major Russian port city claims success against Ukrainian drone strikes

It’s not the first time Sevastopol has been targeted by air attacks, according to local officials

Russian air defense forces have shot down all the drones that attacked the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea on Thursday, governor Mikhail Razvozhayev has announced. He added that the situation in the city was “calm.”

According to Razvozhayev, between Wednesday and Thursday night, air defense systems and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet stationed in the Sevastopol area shot down two drones over the sea. Several other UAVs were brought down over the territory of the Crimean Republic, the governor said.

This is not the first time Sevastopol - a key port city that houses Russia’s Black Sea Fleet - or the territory of the Crimean peninsula, which became part of the Russian Federation in 2014 after holding a public referendum, have been targeted by drone strikes.

On January 16, Razvozhayev reported that the air defenses shot down a total of ten Ukrainian UAVs within just 24 hours, without any of the drones reaching their intended targets, which allegedly included Belbek airport, just north of the city. That attack marked the fifth time Sevastopol had come under attack in just that month alone.

Moscow has blamed the attacks on Kiev but Ukrainian authorities have yet to claim responsibility. At the same time, top officials in Kiev, including President Vladimir Zelensky, have continued to insist that Crimea is an inalienable part of Ukraine which is “temporarily occupied” by Russia.

Zelensky, as well as as many of his defense and intelligence chiefs, have repeatedly vowed to retake the peninsula by any means necessary and have warned that Russia will continue to experience “problems” until it completely withdraws from territories Kiev claims as its own.

However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a group of experts that Washington is not “actively encouraging” Ukraine to seize Crimea from Russia, Politico reported on Wednesday. This would be “a red line” for President Vladimir Putin and would trigger “a wider Russian response,” Blinken was quoted as saying.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571592-sevastopol-repels-drone-strike/
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16 Feb, 2023 07:55

D) --- Blinken warns against seizing Crimea – Politico

The US will not encourage Ukraine’s attempts to take the Russian peninsula, Washington’s top diplomat was quoted as saying

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a group of experts that Washington is not “actively encouraging” Ukraine to seize Crimea from Russia, Politico reported on Wednesday.

The outlet cited four people familiar with a Zoom call involving the top diplomat, who apparently said that such a move would be “Kiev’s decision alone.”

According to the report, the remarks came after a person on the call asked Blinken if the US would help Kiev retake the Black Sea peninsula, which Ukrainian and Western officials consider illegally occupied by Russia. Blinken was said to have replied that this would be “a red line” for Russian President Vladimir Putin and would trigger “a wider Russian response.”

Two of the people quoted by Politico said Blinken led them to believe that the US does not consider a potential operation to seize Crimea “a wise move at this time.” However, the diplomat did not say this explicitly, they stressed.

Blinken instead said that Washington is focusing on helping Kiev “where the fight is,” according to Politico.

Crimea voted in a referendum to split with Ukraine and join Russia shortly after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. Ukrainian officials have since maintained that the return of the peninsula is their long-term goal.

“There is perfect solidarity within the Ukrainian public about achieving this goal,” President Vladimir Zelensky told France’s TF1 TV in December. Major General Kirill Budanov, Kiev’s top military intelligence official, told local media the same month that Ukrainian troops would “enter” Crimea sometime in the future.

President Putin has said that Moscow would use all means at its disposal to defend Russian territories, including Crimea.
https://www.rt.com/news/571562-blinken-crimea-seizure-warning/
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16 Feb, 2023 16:36

1) Hungary will reject sanctions on Russian nuclear industry – FM

The ban would threaten the nation’s energy security, Peter Szijjarto says

Budapest will do everything possible to exclude restrictions on Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline and nuclear cooperation with Moscow from the next package of EU sanctions, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated on Thursday.

According to Szijjarto, the European Commission continues to propose restrictions on Russia that exacerbate the economic crisis in Europe and threaten Hungary’s energy security.

“During the discussions, of course, we will do everything to ensure that oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline and that the Paks Nuclear Power Plant can operate... Of course, we reject all proposals that limit the supply of oil and cooperation in the nuclear field [with Russia],” the minister said.

Hungary, which is heavily dependent on Russian energy, has repeatedly voiced opposition to sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West in response to the Ukraine conflict. It has argued that the restrictions have wreaked havoc on the EU economy, but failed to meaningfully weaken Russia.

Meanwhile, EU leaders have acknowledged that ramping up sanctions against Russia has become increasingly difficult as the bloc runs out of areas to target.

Some member states have drawn red lines on certain items, with Hungary opposing the possibility of restrictions on Russian nuclear energy because of a deal with Moscow to expand its Paks Nuclear Power Plant. Prime Minister Viktor Orban earlier said that this proposal “must obviously be vetoed” by Budapest if floated by the EU. Hungary’s warnings came as Kiev lobbied its Western backers to target the Russian nuclear industry.

The upcoming package of sanctions is expected to be adopted before February 24, the anniversary of the launch of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
https://www.rt.com/business/571587-hungary-eu-sanctions-russia-nuclear-industry/
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16 Feb, 2023 08:58

1a) --- EU fails to agree new anti-Russian sanctions – media

Member states were divided on a proposal to ban trade in synthetic rubber, according to Politico

EU nations failed to reach agreement on a new package of anti-Russian sanctions at a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday, with the issue of synthetic rubber emerging as a sticking point, Politico has reported.

The outlet’s Thursday Playbook newsletter cited draft EU documents obtained by journalists.

Synthetic rubber is a compound used in products such as tires, and is a major import article for the EU. According to Politico, countries including Italy and Germany are skeptical about banning it in trade with Russia, while Poland is in favor.

Russia exported almost $2 billion worth of synthetic rubber in 2021, Politico added, with some $700 million worth of the product sold to EU states.

EU leaders have acknowledged that ramping up sanctions against Russia has become increasingly difficult as the bloc runs out of areas to target.

Individual member states have drawn red lines on some items, with Hungary stating it would not support any package including restrictions on Russian nuclear energy because of a deal with Moscow to expand its Paks nuclear power plant. Prime Minister Viktor Orban said such a proposal “must obviously be vetoed” by Budapest if floated by the EU.

Kiev has been lobbying its Western backers to target the Russian nuclear industry.

The upcoming package of sanctions is expected to be adopted before February 24, the anniversary of the launch of the Russian military operation against Ukraine. According to Politico sources, the package may include additional restrictions against the Russian aviation industry, banks, and oil tanker fleet.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571565-eu-fails-agree-sanctions-russia/
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16 Feb, 2023 15:03

1b) --- New EU sanctions on Russia to span from tech to toilets – media

The next round of trade restrictions still needs the approval of all member states

The tenth package of EU sanctions on Russia will focus on stopping sales of high-tech goods that can be used in weapons systems, the newspaper EUobserver reported on Thursday, citing draft proposals.

The 146-page-long export blacklist will reportedly include electronics, lasers, radio equipment, software, avionics, marine cameras and rare-earth minerals, as well as other more specific components used in nanotechnology.

However, the newspaper notes that the package will also cover more “symbolic items” of everyday use. Among them are “bidets, toilets, flushing cisterns and similar sanitary ware,” as well as LEDs, hemp yarn, mail-sorting machines, clay pots, bricks, tires and even pen tips.

However, EU ambassadors failed to reach an agreement on the package on Wednesday, with the media reporting that the issue of synthetic rubber, which is used in tires, has emerged as a stumbling block. Italy and Germany were said to be skeptical about banning Russian supplies, which delivered nearly $700 million worth of the product to the EU in 2021.

The support of all the 27 member states is needed for the package to be passed. However, EU leaders have lately been complaining that coming up with new sanctions is becoming more difficult as targets become increasingly scarce. Nevertheless, Brussels reportedly hopes to finalize the package before February 24, the anniversary of the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

Earlier reports indicated that the next sanctions package would target three more Russian banks, ban Russian residents from holding top posts at critical European infrastructure companies and restrict the provision of gas storage capacity to Russian entities. It is also expected to include a requirement for European banks to report on frozen funds that belong to Russia’s central bank and those linked to sanctioned Russian companies and individuals.
https://www.rt.com/business/571580-eu-sanctions-russia-toilets-tech/
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15 Feb, 2023 08:57

1c) --- EU to force banks to reveal Russian assets – Bloomberg

The tenth sanctions package will reportedly target accounts belonging to the Central Bank of Russia as well as sanctioned companies and individuals

The European Union plans to order its banks to provide information about Russian assets as part of the next package of Ukraine-related sanctions against Moscow, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing draft proposals.

According to the news agency, European banks would be required to report on frozen funds that belong to the Central Bank of Russia and those linked to sanctioned Russian companies and individuals. Banks that fail to disclose information will reportedly face fines of up to €50,000 ($53,500) for individuals and 10% of annual turnover for entities.

The move is seen as the first step in efforts to seize the funds in question for the reconstruction of Ukraine, despite the EU currently having no legal capability to do so.

Brussels has thus far adopted nine sanctions packages against Russia, targeting numerous sectors of the economy, as well as businessmen, politicians, and journalists. The tenth set of sanctions will reportedly include more Russian lenders, adding Alfa Bank, Rosbank, and Tinkoff Bank to the EU blacklist. It will also ban Russian residents from holding posts in the governing bodies of critical European companies, and restrict the provision of gas storage capacity to entities established in Russia.

Brussels plans to adopt the tenth sanctions package next week. As with previous measures, it will need the backing of all EU member states to be adopted.
https://www.rt.com/business/571501-eu-sanctions-frozen-russian-assets/
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16 Feb, 2023 07:50

2) --- EU member disrupts traffic with key Russian ally

Lithuania has suspended border cooperation with Belarus, the government in Minsk has reported

Lithuania has decided to suspend cooperation with Belarus on ensuring uninterrupted transport flow across their mutual border, Minsk announced on Thursday citing a notice it received from Vilnius.

Under a November 2019 agreement, the two nations’ border and customs services pledged to improve connectivity, the State Border Control Committee of Belarus (GPK) said in a statement. It added that Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) had not offered any rationale for the policy change in its notice.

The VSAT did not immediately confirm the news. But on Thursday it published statistics on the number of illegal immigrants it had intercepted on the border with Belarus. It put the number at 19,646 since the beginning of the Belarus-EU border crisis and 11,211 last year alone.

The border confrontation between Minsk and its neighbors, the EU nations Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, unfolded in the summer of 2021, when they reported a surge in the number of asylum seekers, most of them from the Middle East, arriving via Belarus.

The three nations accused the Belarusian government of orchestrating the crisis, which Minsk denied, and employed some heavy-handed tactics to prevent people from entering their territory.

The human rights group Amnesty International documented various forms of abuse of the refugees by Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian authorities and accused the EU leadership of turning a blind eye to the three member states violating the bloc’s laws.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571563-belarus-luthiania-border-traffic/
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16 Feb, 2023 01:13

3) --- US shoots down ‘Iranian-made’ drone

The unmanned aerial vehicle was downed over a US-held natural gas field in Syria

US forces illegally occupying a natural gas field in northeast Syria have shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that the Pentagon claims was an Iranian-made drone conducting reconnaissance of an American military base.

The drone was brought down on Tuesday afternoon over the Conoco gas field, home of Syria’s largest gas-processing plant, according to a statement by US Central Command (CENTCOM). American troops have occupied a large swath of Syria, containing most of the war-torn country’s oil and gas resources, since seizing the territory from Islamic State terrorists in 2017.

CENTCOM did not specify how it identified the drone as Iranian-made. The US has hundreds of troops deployed in Syria, purportedly on a counterterrorism mission. The deployment, however, violates Syria’s sovereignty, as Damascus has never given its approval for US troops to enter the country and has repeatedly demanded that they leave.
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https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1625676190877876225
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The Conoco field is named after ConocoPhillips, the US energy company that developed and operated the concession until 2005. The Conoco gas plant can reportedly produce nearly 50 million cubic feet of gas per day.

US forces at the Conoco field and al-Omar, Syria’s largest oil field, have repeatedly come under attacks over the years. Last month, the US base at Conoco was reportedly targeted by rocket fire.

The latest incident comes as Syria tries to dig out from the massive earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye and western Syria on February 6. More than 41,000 people were killed by the quakes, including over 1,400 deaths confirmed by the authorities in Damascus, and another 4,400 reported deaths in territories under control of the Western-backed rebels. US sanctions have hindered efforts to send remittances to Syria, despite Washington’s decision last week to temporarily exempt earthquake aid from its measures.

The occupation and sanctions have given the US a “death grip” on the beleaguered Syrian economy, dooming the country’s people to poverty and hunger, according to the Cato Institute, a Washington DC think tank. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s political and media adviser, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, speaking with Afshin Rattansi on RT’s Going Underground last week, accused the West of hypocrisy in claiming humanitarian concerns while imposing collective punishment on Syrians
https://www.rt.com/news/571553-centcom-syria-gas-drone/
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https://rumble.com/v291z9e-assads-advisor-on-earthquakes-us-and-eu-imposing-collective-punishment-on-s.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=6
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16 Feb, 2023 10:54

4) --- Moscow makes vow over pipeline sabotage probe

The US is “totally ignoring” allegations that it was behind the Nord Stream attack, Russian diplomats have warned

Moscow will not allow the investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines to be buried, the Russian Embassy in Washington said on Thursday. The statement came after US State Department spokesman Ned Price accused Russia of spreading “lies” about the incident.

The Baltic Sea pipelines built to transport Russian gas to Germany were damaged in September 2022. On February 8, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh shared the results of his own investigation, citing a source as claiming that the attack was organized by the US with help from Norway.

Russian Embassy spokesman Igor Girenko accused the US authorities of “totally ignoring” Hersh’s “bombshell investigation.”

“Russia will not allow the sidelining of the situation with the explosions on the critical energy infrastructure,” the spokesman stated. He warned that unexploded mines could still be under the sea.

"We consider this incident an act of international terrorism that warrants a comprehensive and independent investigation."

Girenko urged Washington to “abandon baseless accusations” and “at least try to prove that they were not involved in the destruction of the gas pipelines.”

Commenting to reporters on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Price called allegations that the US was behind the blasts “pure disinformation” and “lies that have been parroted by Russian officials.”

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, stated on Tuesday that the organization does not have a mandate to investigate the blasts. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded by saying that Moscow “respectfully disagrees,” and Russia has asked the UN Security Council to convene later this month to discuss the matter.

Washington had long opposed the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and blacklisted entities linked to the project. It nonetheless rejected Hersh’s investigation as “utterly false.” The journalist stood by his report, claiming in a recent interview with the German press that President Joe Biden “would rather see Germany freeze than Germany possibly stop supporting Ukraine.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/571571-russian-embassy-pipeline-probe/
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15 Feb, 2023 18:11

5) --- US official backtracks after Nazi Collaborator tweet storm

The Helsinki Commission’s Paul Massaro posted an image glorifying WW2 Hitler-ally Stepan Bandera

A prominent American foreign policy official was forced into a climbdown on Wednesday after he tweeted in appreciation of a notorious 1940s Nazi collaborator.

Paul Massaro posted a a photo of a patch bearing an image of Stepan Bandera, the leader of a Ukrainian nationalist group which butchered Poles and Jews, in collusion with Adolf Hitler's forces.

Following a storm of protest, he later deleted the tweet. Massaro works for is the US Helsinki Commission, officially known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

“Hey, look what I've got,” the grinning Massaro tweeted around 9:30 in the morning, showing off his green pseudo-military jacket with a patch that read “Bandera is our father, Ukraine is our mother.” It bore the embroidered visage of Bandera and the logo of his OUN-B organization.

Less than two hours and 270,000 views later, however, the tweet was gone. “Deleted at the request of a good Polish friend. God bless Polish-Ukrainian friendship and may it remain strong forever,” Massaro explained.
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https://twitter.com/BowesChay/status/1625893161246621696
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https://twitter.com/Levi_godman/status/1625870018205327360
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The Polish problem with Bandera is that his Ukrainian nationalists were responsible for the massacres of ethnic Poles in present-day western Ukraine, which Warsaw has deemed a genocide.

Massaro’s official biography describes him as speaking fluent German and covering “German-speaking Europe and East Asia,” with no mention of Russian or Ukrainian. This has not stopped him from becoming one of the most outspoken champions of Ukrainian nationalism online, with daily torrents of tweets demanding the West “cancel” or “decolonize” Russia, ban its athletes from all competitions, and remove Moscow from the UN Security Council.

“It arrived! Thank you, heroes. And congratulations on achieving the status of brigade!” Massaro tweeted last Thursday, posing with a flag of Azov that was signed and dedicated to him by the notorious neo-Nazi unit’s leadership. The post was viewed over three million times.

The wolfsangel on the banner is a German rune previously used by the SS panzer division ‘Das Reich’, which Azov founder Andrey Biletsky openly boasted to American reporters of appropriating. The ADL considers it a “hate symbol” used by American neo-Nazis – though the organization has not registered any protests about Massaro brandishing it in what looks to be his office.

The US government considered Azov a neo-Nazi and terrorist group just four years ago, passing a law against providing it with any aid. That provision seems to have been quietly repealed, as Washington sent over $100 billion worth of money, weapons and ammunition to Ukraine over the past year.

Set up in 1976, the Helsinki Commission is run by 18 lawmakers – nine from the House, nine from the Senate – and representatives of the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and State.

The transnational umbrella organization established by the same international protocol, known as OSCE, was charged with monitoring the “ceasefire” in Ukraine from 2015 to 2022. However, it received criticism from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) for turning a blind eye to Ukrainian shelling of the Donbass.
https://www.rt.com/news/571536-massaro-azov-bandera-ukraine/
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16 Feb, 2023 19:04

6) --- Ukraine conflict will likely have no military winner – top US general

Mark Milley talked to FT after traveling to Brussels to coordinate NATO efforts on shoring up Kiev’s firepower

The Ukraine conflict can only end through a negotiated peace deal because neither side is likely to achieve its goals on the battlefield, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday.

“It will be almost impossible for the Russians to achieve their political objectives by military means,” Milley claimed without providing specific reasons for his stance. “It is unlikely that Russia is going to overrun Ukraine. It’s just not going to happen.” He added that it also would be “very, very difficult for Ukraine this year to kick the Russians out of every inch” of the territory that Moscow’s forces have already captured.

America’s top-ranking military officer made his comments after traveling to Brussels earlier this week to coordinate efforts with NATO allies on shoring up Ukraine’s firepower for a planned spring counter-offensive. Kiev is burning through weaponry at a rate “many times higher” than its Western allies can produce it, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Monday.

Milley said the ammunition strain has forced the Pentagon to review its weapons inventories and contemplate increases in spending. US officials are re-examining their assumptions about supply needs after decades of focusing on counterterrorism missions and unconventional warfare.

“One of the lessons of this war is the very high consumption rates of conventional munitions, and we are re-examining our own stockages and our own plans to make sure that we got it right,” Milley told FT. “We’re trying to do the analysis so that we can then estimate what we think the true requirement would be, and then we have to put that in the budget. Ammunition is very expensive.”

The Pentagon’s current annual budget stands at $817 billion, exceeding the combined total for the rest of the world’s ten largest military spenders combined. Washington has already allocated more than $110 billion in aid for Ukraine since Russia’s military operation began last February.

Republican lawmakers, such as Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Andy Biggs of Arizona, have criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for severely depleting US weapons stockpiles to arm Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Milley told reporters in Brussels that Russia has already lost. “They’ve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, and they are paying an enormous price on the battlefield.”

Retired US Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor, a former Pentagon adviser, said such claims have eroded the Biden administration’s credibility. “General Milley has made it very clear that he’s aligned with the left, he is part of this administration, he’s going to say whatever they want him to say.”
https://youtu.be/-9_XYlslM6U

https://www.rt.com/news/571601-milley-russia-ukraine-outlook/
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