RT News - February 27th 2023 LATE

Nord Stream 2: Hungary and Serbia Hungary vowed there must never be another terrorist sabotage such as that carried out on Nord Stream 2, which will affect the lives of not just their countries but all of Europe, Viktor Orban said today, Peter Szijjarto says it was an attack "by whoever" but cannot be ignored or side stepped. They brand the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines a terrorist act, and call for a UN investigation vowing that such an incident can never be repeated. This follows extensive reports from Seymour Hersh.
Russia has asked for a full investigation (QS more than once) but the UN says "national" investigations must be completed first. George Szamuely gives comment and analysis.
-
Ukraine: Drone strikes were reported across multiple regions of Ukraine this morning. Explosions were heard in Kiev and other cities.
Donbass, Lugansk, Zaporozhye : Ukraine forces have once again shelled civilian only regions and a university building. Cluster bombs (prohibited under every convention, against civlians) were used. No casualties.
Igor Zhdanov reports from too near to the front line
-
Africa, Nigeria Elections: Nigerians wait to see who will lead their country, along with many other official roles after the elections took place last weekend. It wasn't all plain sailing but most of the polls were just fine. With vote counting underway, early results from the country's presidential and parliamentary election are emerging. Lagos state is of prime importance, Karabo Letlhatlha explains why and reports on the current state of affairs and some of the preliminary results.
-
Black Gold, African oil (or is it?): With some north African countries dramatically ramping up oil product imports from Russia, are the imports from Africa to the EU "good African oil" or "bad Russian oil" nobody can determine which. Prof. Laeed Zaghlami reports from Algeriers.
-
Israel/Palestine : Palestinian authorities denounce Israeli settlers for their part in violent riots in the West Bank town of Huwara, which left at least one Palestinian dead and wounded more than a hundred. It follows the killing of two Jewish Israelis there in a shooting attack on Sunday. Cars were set afire by the settlers, so were homes. One home was set fire to with the family still inside it. The police were supposed to be protecting the Palestinians who were under attack they but did not. Instead they protected the settlers.
At the Aqaba summit, Palestinians asked for their officials to be recalled and to boycott the summit.
Promises have been made by Pres. Netanyahu with regards to planning and construction and demolition of Palestinian homes but subsequently he has denied them. Ofer Cassif gives opinion.
-
Iraq, Baghdad: Protests have broken out after the government have devalued their currency. The currency has lost nearly 7% of its value since mid-November. The official rate stands at 1,470 dinars for $1. On Wednesday, the street exchange rate was about 1,610 to the dollar. (QS: It's a knock-one effect of recent measures by the U.S. Treasury, it's happening everywhere) Raid Fahmy, an Iraqi MP spoke to RT.
-
Who is to blame? : Grain, oil and gas are now priced at levels BELOW that of what they were before the Ukraine conflict. Chris Emms talks with Eunan and explains it was all deliberate spin and money printing. Also the consumers are not seeing the drop in prices at all.Show more

=============================================

Below via RT website -- - --- A) --- Russia strikes intelligence center near Kiev
B) --- Russian spy chief reacts to claim by CIA Director
C) --- Russia no longer at mercy of global elite – Lavrov
D) --- Ex-Russian president warns of nuclear ‘apocalypse’
-
1) --- West considers ‘ultimatum’ for Ukraine – media
1a) --- NATO members float Ukraine negotiations plan – WSJ (re-post)
2) --- Ex-White House doctor warns of Biden danger
3) --- Hungary outlines flaws with arms shipments to Ukraine
4) --- Impact of Ukrainian arms deliveries on German military revealed
5) --- Zelensky aide explains why Ukraine won’t let men leave
6) --- How Russia managed to survive Western sanctions (Explainer)
7) --- Landmark US military victory slammed as ‘evil’
8) --- ******** Chinese military put on ‘high alert’ **********
9) --- ‘Impossible to escape’ prison accepts first inmates (horrible video)
FEATURE) --- The Righteous: Smash hit movie tells the story of a Russian who saved hundreds of Jews from Nazi Germany's holocaust
==============================================

27 Feb, 2023 13:57

A) --- Russia strikes intelligence center near Kiev

A special operations center in Western Ukraine was also hit, according to Moscow

A Ukrainian electronic intelligence center located in the settlement of Brovary in the Kiev region has reportedly been struck by Russian missiles, according to a Monday update on the Russian Defense Ministry’s official Telegram channel.

The ministry also reported that Russian missiles had struck the “West” special operations center, located near the city of Khmelnitsky in western Ukraine.

The update states that Russia’s Armed Forces have continued their offensive in the Donetsk direction, where they have neutralized over 250 Ukrainian servicemen, as well a dozen pieces of military equipment, including two tanks. The Russian military also claims to have destroyed an ammunition depot near the city of Artyomovsk/Bakhmut as well as a US-made AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar.

In the Kupyansk direction, the ministry claims that Russian forces have eliminated up to 70 Ukrainian soldiers, and killed or injured about 140 troops in the Krasno Limansky direction. In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, they claim to have eliminated up to 95 enemy combatants, and up to 60 in the Kherson direction.

In a similar update on Sunday, the ministry also announced the destruction of six sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the Kharkov region, as well as the shooting down of a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter near the village of Golubovka.

Since the launch of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine one year ago, the Russian Defense Ministry estimates that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost a total of 390 airplanes, 211 helicopters, 3,248 UAVs, 406 anti-aircraft missile systems, 8,058 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 4,228 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 8,574 special military vehicles.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572134-russia-strikes-intelligence-center-kiev/
====================================================

27 Feb, 2023 11:45

B) --- Russian spy chief reacts to claim by CIA Director

William Burns suggested that Sergey Naryshkin showed signs of “hubris” during talks in Ankara last November

The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has given a positive assessment of last November’s talks with the CIA director in Türkiye. Sergey Naryshkin’s remarks came after William Burns accused his Russian counterpart of displaying “a very defiant attitude” and “a sense of cockiness and hubris” during the negotiations.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Naryshkin was asked to comment on the remarks made by Burns in a CBS News interview, during which he described the high-level meeting between the two as “pretty dispiriting.”

“I still positively assess the nature and results of the meeting with my colleague William Burns”, Naryshkin said, noting that the negotiations in Türkiye’s capital were substantial and proceeded “in a very comfortable atmosphere.”

Moscow’s spy chief went on to express his “great respect” for his American counterpart. Burns is “a very experienced, skilful diplomat… who, perhaps, has not yet obtained a lot of experience” as CIA Director, Naryshkin remarked.

The SVR chief noted that the negotiations went on for 2.5 hours. “This alone shows that the meeting could hardly last as long as it did if one of the sides behaved cockily, rudely, arrogantly,” he added.

Naryshkin also speculated as to why Burns may have got such an impression. “Maybe, he understood that during this conversation, during these talks, I was leaning not only on my opinion… but on the opinion of the many millions of Russian people.”

The meeting took place in Ankara in mid-November and is believed to have been the first in-person contact between top US and Russian officials since Moscow launched its military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022.

At the time, the White House said Burns was “conveying a message on the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, and the risks of escalation to strategic stability.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the meeting was organized at the request of US President Joe Biden.

In late November, Naryshkin himself told Russian media that aside from issues of nuclear security, the meeting was dedicated to the conflict in Ukraine.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572129-russia-spy-chief-cia-hubris/
================================================

27 Feb, 2023 11:24

C) --- Russia no longer at mercy of global elite – Lavrov

Moscow will determine its own external conditions for development, the diplomat said

Western political leaders will no longer have the power to dictate terms to Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. Speaking with the heads of the ministry’s regional offices, the diplomat stressed that Russia will now determine its own needs for development.

“Until recently, a couple of years ago, the external conditions that we needed for development were determined not by us, but by the Western minority,” said Lavrov. He added that all the foreign policy initiatives promoted by the so-called “golden billion” group serve the sole purpose of making sure that the world lives by rules that allow Western elites to continue their colonial policies and live at the expense of others.

“Therefore, we will no longer rely on someone when it comes to creating the external conditions for the development that we need,” Lavrov stressed, also pledging that Russia will not follow in the footsteps of the “selfish” West, and will take into account the interests of other independent states.

According to the diplomat, Moscow aims to create external conditions that are as favorable as possible for the development of the country, but stressed that these conditions must also reflect “the consensus of all independent states” and fully comply with the principles of the UN Charter, which have been “repeatedly violated by our former Western colleagues.”

During the meeting, Lavrov also noted that the number of countries wishing to join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) economic blocs had increased to almost two dozen by the end of 2022. The diplomat noted that the countries wishing to join the alliances, such as Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia, Argentina, Mexico and several African nations, “play a very prominent role in their regions.”

“Just listing the names of these states already shows the failure of attempts [of the West] to isolate our country,” Lavrov observed, adding that the opposite has happened, with independent countries now uniting with other like-minded states.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572126-lavrov-russia-global-elites/
==============================================

27 Feb, 2023 08:08

D) --- Ex-Russian president warns of nuclear ‘apocalypse’

Continued Western support for Ukraine will lead to “a collapse” and “defeat for everyone,” Dmitry Medvedev says

The West is endangering the very existence of human civilization by threatening Moscow, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has claimed. Continued support for Ukraine from the US and its allies could result in a nuclear “apocalypse,” he warned.

A great achievement of the Soviet and Russian leadership in the early 1990s was that it was able to preserve the country’s nuclear potential after the collapse of the USSR, Medvedev argued in an article published in Izvestia newspaper on Monday.

The West is “delusional” if it thinks that, “after putting the Soviet Union to rest, it’ll be able to also bury modern Russia without significant problems for itself, by throwing the lives of thousands of people involved in the conflict [in Ukraine] into the furnace,” he wrote.

“Those are extremely dangerous misconceptions,” added Medvedev, who is now the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council.

“If the issue of the very existence of Russia is raised seriously, it won’t be decided on the Ukrainian front. [It’ll be decided] together with the issue of the further existence of the entire human civilization,” he warned.

The US and its allies, who continue to pump Ukraine with weapons and prevent all attempts to restore peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, “refuse to understand that their goals are bound to lead to a total fiasco; the defeat for everyone; a collapse. An apocalypse when the former life would have to be forgotten for centuries, until the smoky debris ceases to emit radiation,” the former president said.

“Russia will not allow this to happen,” Medvedev wrote. He noted that the West and its “satellites” represent only 15% of the world’s population, while the rest of the world “is greater in numbers and a lot stronger.”

“The calm power of our great country and the credibility of its partners are the key to preserving the future for the entire world,” he concluded.

During the conflict in Ukraine, Russia warned that it was ready to use its nuclear arsenal in the event it faced an existential threat from nuclear or conventional weapons. However, Moscow denied Western claims that it was planning to deploy nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572117-medvedev-nuclear-ukraine-apocalypse/
==================================================

27 Feb, 2023 16:24

1) --- West considers ‘ultimatum’ for Ukraine – media

Kiev has until autumn to retake territories seized by Russia or the West will pressure it into talks with Moscow, Bild claims

Ukraine’s Western backers are considering the imposition of an ultimatum on Kiev in relation to potential talks with Moscow, German tabloid Bild reported on Monday, citing anonymous government sources in Washington and Berlin.

With new arms supplies, the US and its allies want to provide Kiev with an “incentive” to try and recapture territories seized by the Russian forces, Bild claimed, adding that the West wants to see results in this respect by the fall.

“Should the counter-offensive fail, the pressure on Kiev to negotiate with the Kremlin will increase,” the paper reported.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that the UK, France and Germany had allegedly offered Kiev weapons and security commitments under a plan aimed at pushing Kiev to negotiate with Moscow. The US media outlet claimed last week that London, Berlin and Paris were supposedly ready to offer security guarantees just short of NATO membership.

According to Bild, however, the conditions were not that generous. “The Europeans and the US cannot and do not want to provide Ukraine with hard security guarantees such as NATO membership at the moment,” German MP Norbert Roettgen, who previously headed the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told the tabloid.

The German Chancellor’s Office also said on Sunday that potential NATO security guarantees played “no role at all” in the discussions between the three bloc members. Berlin neither outright denied nor confirmed the existence of the negotiations plan, Bild added.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also encouraged Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to engage in talks with Moscow earlier in February, according to the media reports.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg previously admitted that Moscow was winning the logistical war of attrition. He also said it was unclear how much the bloc could spend on further military support for Kiev.

Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry set out its conditions for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. The list included the West halting military aid for Kiev, as well as Ukraine returning to its neutral status after being “demilitarized” and “denazified.” Zelensky rejected any negotiations with Moscow by saying there was “nothing to talk about” and “nobody” to talk with.
https://www.rt.com/news/572144-west-ultimatum-ukraine-bild/
-
=========== recall, repost

24 Feb, 2023 21:01

1a) --- NATO members float Ukraine negotiations plan – WSJ (re-post)

UK, France and Germany reportedly offered weapons and security commitments as a way of starting talks with Russia

NATO's three most powerful European members collectively back a plan aimed at pushing Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The newspaper claimed that France and Germany support the British initiative and have already advised President Vladimir Zelensky to talk, though he has refused.

Under the proposals, Kiev would receive even more Western weapons and be provided with security guarantees just short of NATO membership, the outlet explained, citing anonymous officials.

Though French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly called for “a military offensive which pushes back the Russian front in order to open the way for a return to negotiations,” he has privately advised Zelensky to make “difficult decisions,” according to officials who spoke to the Journal.

Over dinner at the Elysee Palace earlier this month, Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Zelensky he needed to start considering peace talks, according to people familiar with the conversation. London, Paris and Berlin would not comment on the record.

“We keep repeating that Russia mustn’t win, but what does that mean? If the war goes on for long enough with this intensity, Ukraine’s losses will become unbearable,” a senior French official told the Journal. “And no one believes they will be able to retrieve Crimea.”

As a way to encourage Zelensky, the outlet said, British PM Rishi Sunak has put together a plan to give Kiev “broader access to advanced military equipment, weapons and ammunition,” to be considered at the NATO summit in July.

“The NATO summit must produce a clear offer to Ukraine, also to give Zelensky a political win that he can present at home as an incentive for negotiations,” an unnamed British official told the outlet. If Moscow sees that the West is prepared to support Kiev even more, maybe it will be persuaded it can’t achieve its military objectives, the official added.

France and Germany support the initiative and see it as a way to “boost Ukrainian confidence” and give it an incentive to start negotiations with Russia, according to unnamed officials from both countries.

Sunak’s plan does not include stationing NATO forces in Ukraine or offering Kiev “Article 5” commitments to intervene in case of an attack, the officials said. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Melnik said it was a good first step, but that Kiev needed “a clear commitment that it does not exclude NATO membership, which is the only solution for a lasting peace.”

On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry listed its conditions for the diplomatic solution of the conflict, which included the West ending its “supply of weapons and mercenaries” to Kiev and Ukraine returning to neutrality after being demilitarized and “denazified.”

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Russia is winning the logistical war of attrition, leaving it unclear how much the US-led bloc could spare for Ukraine in terms of weapons and ammunition.

Zelensky has rejected any negotiations with Moscow, saying on Friday that “There is nothing to talk about and nobody to talk about over there.”
https://www.rt.com/news/572032-macron-scholz-zelensky-negotiate/
=================================================

27 Feb, 2023 16:42

2) --- Ex-White House doctor warns of Biden danger

The US president’s “cognitive decline” could get people killed, Ronny Jackson claims

Former White House physician and Republican Representative Ronny Jackson has hit out against US President Joe Biden, arguing that his declining mental state poses a danger to the entire country.

“It’s TERRIFYING for our country that Biden is our commander-in-chief,” Jackson wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “He doesn’t know where he’s at half the time and every day he brings us closer to an all-out war with Russia and China. His cognitive decline is going to get people KILLED!!”

Jackson, who served as the White House Physician to the President under Barack Obama and Donald Trump until 2018, has previously criticized the current US administration for failing to disclose the truth about Joe Biden’s mental health.

Earlier this month, the White House issued a summary on the status of Biden’s health based on a medical history review and a “detailed physical examination,” which found that the president was a “healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male” who was fit to execute his duties.

Replying to the president’s health report, Jackson stated that the medical exam was a “joke” and a “cover up.” He also pointed out that Biden, unlike his predecessor, Donald Trump, had not taken a cognitive test and argued that the sitting president’s “ability to think and reason is gone” and that he should not be in office.

According to a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll conducted earlier this month, some 57% of Americans have doubts about Biden’s mental fitness, with 67% thinking he seems to be too old to lead the country.

Speculations about the president’s cognitive abilities have only continued to grow due to his numerous recurring gaffes, the latest of which was him proclaiming that “more than half the women in my administration are women.”
https://www.rt.com/news/572142-biden-health-danger-doctor/
===============
-
Biden giggles from Sky News Australia https://youtu.be/WxXepkdJHko
-
==============

27 Feb, 2023 07:46

3) --- Hungary outlines flaws with arms shipments to Ukraine

Neither weapons deliveries nor sanctions help to save people’s lives, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said

Western sanctions on Russia and military support for Kiev will achieve nothing in terms of ending the Ukraine conflict, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto claimed on Monday.

Speaking to RIA Novosti, he stated that the main duty of the international community must be saving people’s lives.

Szijjarto said this goal could not be achieved by sanctions or weapons shipments, but only by reaching a peace settlement, reiterating Hungary’s long-standing position that Moscow and Kiev should agree to an immediate ceasefire.

The foreign minister went on to lament that not everybody agrees with this line of thinking. He described it as deplorable that, when somebody stands for peace, they are immediately branded as a Russian supporter.

Szijjarto stressed that Budapest is not on the side of the Russians, but is rather on the side of peace, because it does not want more people to die. He said rational dialogue on resolving the Ukraine conflict could yield some results, but current conditions made the chances of a peaceful settlement unlikely

The minister also suggested that the EU would try to introduce new sanctions on Russia, which would target Moscow’s nuclear industry. However, he signaled that this is “something we would never agree with.”

“This is something that we will definitely veto in case such points are being included into any kind of sanction measure,” he added.

On Saturday, the EU unveiled its tenth sanctions package against Russia, which took aim at the nation’s banking sector, as well as its access to dual-use and advanced technologies. It also expanded the blacklist of entities that allegedly support Moscow’s military operation.

Hungary, which is heavily dependent on Russian energy, has consistently spoken out against Western restrictions on Moscow, arguing that they have failed to meaningfully weaken the country while taking a heavy toll on the EU economy. Budapest has also refused to support Kiev with weapons or allow munitions to be transported across its border with Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly blasted Western arms shipments to Ukraine, warning that they would only prolong the conflict. On Sunday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that, should Kiev receive long-range weapons from it Western backers, it would prompt Moscow to “push the threat away” from Russia’s borders even further.
https://www.rt.com/news/572115-hungary-ukraine-weapons-sanctions/
=====================================================

27 Feb, 2023 11:47

4) --- Impact of Ukrainian arms deliveries on German military revealed

The head of the German Armed Forces Association now doubts Berlin’s capacity to fulfill its commitments to NATO

The German military is facing a shortage of essential hardware as a result of Berlin’s provision of weapons to Ukraine for use in its conflict against Russia, according to Colonel Andre Wustner, the head of the German Armed Forces Association (DBwV).

Last February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to invest €100 billion ($105.6 billion) in the Bundeswehr with the aim of making it the best-equipped military in Europe. However, Wustner told Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday that, one year on, Scholz’s promise remains unfulfilled.

“For the soldiers, nothing has noticeably improved since then,” said the head of the union, which represents serving and former German troops.

The Bundeswehr wasn’t in full operational readiness even before the conflict in Ukraine, but the deliveries of German weapons to the Kiev government have further increased gaps in its material supply, he explained.

“To date, we haven’t received a replacement for a single self-propelled howitzer that we handed over to Ukraine last year,” Wustner said. There’s also a shortage of spare parts and some of the few remaining German howitzers have to be decommissioned and dismantled for this purpose, he added.

The DBwV chief also revealed that “out of the approximately 300 Leopard tanks possessed by the Bundeswehr, only 30% are currently operational.” It’s essential that the 18 Leopard 2s that Berlin promised to send to Kiev earlier this year are swiftly replaced, he said.

“I doubt whether we’ll be able to meet our commitments to NATO for 2025,” he continued, noting that Germany has pledged some 60 aircraft, 20 ships, 20,000 troops and 7,000 vehicles to the US-led military bloc by that time.

The country needs to “finally accelerate” the production and procurement of military hardware to meet the Bundeswehr’s needs, Wustner insisted.

Germany provided more than $2 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine in 2022, including anti-aircraft tanks, multiple rocket launchers, the IRIS-T air-defense system, and self-propelled howitzers.

However, even after securing the promise of Leopard 2s in January, Kiev continues to demand an even greater contribution from Berlin. Last week, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister and former envoy to Germany Andrey Melnik urged Scholz “to cross all self-drawn red lines and provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with all available weapon systems.” The new arms deliveries by Germany could include fighter jets, as well as warships and submarines, Melnik suggested.

Moscow has long condemned the supply of Western arms to Ukraine, arguing that it only prolongs the conflict without changing its outcome and increases the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.
https://www.rt.com/news/572125-germany-ukraine-weapons-nato/

--- recall --- 16 Sep, 2022 - Germany will have ‘best equipped’ army in Europe – Scholz

The German chancellor pledged that Berlin's forces will pass out those of Russia. The German military should assume a leading role in beefing up European security, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said. He also pledged more funding for the country’s armed forces while naming Russia as the primary adversary for the foreseeable future.
https://www.rt.com/news/562966-germany-best-equipped-army/
-
============================================

27 Feb, 2023 18:08

5) --- Zelensky aide explains why Ukraine won’t let men leave

Human rights take the back seat to obligations to the state, Mikhail Podoliak told German TV

The top aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has defended Kiev’s decision to ban men from leaving the country, saying obligations to the state trump human rights. Fleeing the draft means wanting Ukraine to be destroyed, Mikhail Podoliak told the German state outlet DW.

“Let’s be blunt here. No need to speculate. What does the restriction of rights mean? Do people in Ukraine not have obligations also? Or are we just talking about rights?” Podoliak told DW in an interview making the rounds on social media on Monday.

“The state has a duty to provide things, let people travel, let people live as they wish. Yes, in peacetime,” he continued. “But in wartime, that’s not a question to raise. Do you want to cross the border? That means you want Ukraine to stop existing, because you crossed the border.”

“Because when you say ‘Open the borders for men,’ that means opening the border so they can run away from the manly choice. And they want to run away,” Podoliak said.

His comments came as some Western outlets pointed out the “aggressive” mobilization tactics of the Kiev government. A report in The Economist on Sunday referred to the case of a man who was missing both hands since childhood, but the draft office in Lviv insisted he was fit to serve – until social media uproar forced them to relent.

After the conflict in Donbass escalated last year, Zelensky imposed martial law and banned Ukrainian males aged 18-60 from leaving the country. Since then, there have been several waves of mobilization, as Kiev sought to rebuild units shattered in the fighting.

Recruiters have moved from serving summonses on one’s doorstep to “violently enforcing” them in the streets, at shopping centers, and even at military funerals, according to The Economist. Meanwhile, there have been reports of people bribing officials to dodge the draft and paying to be smuggled out of the country. Lawyers for some of the “unjustly” mobilized received summonses themselves, preventing them from practicing law.

Kiev is likely to ramp up “recruitment of less-motivated Ukrainians,” the outlet said, as it hopes to launch a massive offensive before the summer, using heavy weapons provided by the US and its allies.

from The Economist, Feb 26th 2023 : Ruslan kubay was surprised to receive a draft notice in late January. Registered as seriously disabled since childhood—Mr Kubay is missing both hands—he falls under a list of automatic exemptions from service. Even more surprising, however, was the reaction of officials at the local registration office in Drohobych, near Lviv. Far from admitting their error, they doubled down and declared him fit for service. Only a social-media post and subsequent national scandal reversed the decision. “I was disgusted by how easily our blind people can start seeing,” he wrote on Facebook. https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/02/26/ukraine-finds-stepping-up-mobilisation-is-not-so-easy (Paywall)
============================================
27 Feb, 2023 11:37

6) --- How Russia managed to survive Western sanctions (Explainer)

Washington has acknowledged Moscow’s resilience to severe financial restrictions

The Russian economy has managed to hold up against the massive sanctions imposed by Western countries and their allies over Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby admitted on Friday.

As the conflict enters its second year, Washington revealed more anti-Russia penalties, targeting dozens of companies and individuals linked to the country, and raising tariffs on Russian goods whose imports were still allowed. Meanwhile, the EU approved its tenth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes export limitations on dual-use items and technology, measures against so-called Russian disinformation, and new restrictions against individuals and entities for their alleged support of the Russian military. Western allies Britain, Switzerland, Australia, Japan and New Zealand joined the measures.

Russia’s economy is “showing some resilience,” according to Kirby, who added, however, that it’s not clear whether this “can be sustained for the long haul.”

“He has had to take some drastic measures to prop up his economy, to prop up his currency, including playing pretty aggressively with interest rates, for instance,” Kirby said, commenting on steps approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian statistics service Rosstat reported that GDP of the sanctions-hit nation contracted by just 2.1% in 2022, much less than the 10-15% some had predicted after sanctions hit last March. The Russian economy is actually forecast to increase by 0.3% during the current year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The strength of the Russian economy has been partially attributed to global prices for oil and gas, which saw a dramatic surge shortly after one of the world’s biggest exporters of the two commodities was targeted by Western sanctions. The growth of energy prices has reportedly compensated for the drop in the volume of the country’s exports.

At the same time, Russia managed to re-orient some of its exports, including energy sales, eastwards after Western buyers opted to shun direct shipments under the sanctions pressure.

The Russian national currency, the ruble, has also managed to stay afloat after bouncing back following a dramatic decline seen shortly after the sanctions were imposed last March. This has been attributed to strict capital controls, a dramatic interest-rate hike by the Russian central bank, and the country’s move to trade transactions with allied countries in domestic currencies.

The share of the ruble in Russia's international settlements has doubled compared with December 2021. Last week, President Putin said that Moscow would continue to work with partners to form a stable and secure global payment system independent of the US dollar and of other Western currencies.

The ruble strengthened further after Moscow introduced a new payment mechanism from April 1. This requires nations that impose sanctions on Russia to pay for natural gas in rubles.

President Putin has also attributed Russia’s economic resilience to the country’s strong agricultural sector. According to the latest data provided by Russia’s statistics service, the harvest amounted to 153.8 million tons, a 26.7% increase year-on-year against 2021.

“By the end of the agricultural year, that is, by June 30, 2023, we will be able to bring the total volume of grain exports to 55-60 million tonnes,” he said last week during his annual address to the Federal Assembly.

Meanwhile, parallel imports of non-sanctioned products and flourishing trade with countries that refrained from punishing Moscow had also contributed to the economic resilience. In addition, Russia has been successful in moving a lot of products to Asian markets such as India and China, and to Türkiye.

Additionally, Russia also had several years to prepare for sanctions following its reunification with Crimea in 2014. Moscow succeeded in developing an alternative to SWIFT, the messaging network that underpins global financial transactions. This came in response to Western threats to cut the country off from the international banking system.

The Russian authorities also created a national payment system called Mir as a domestic alternative to Visa and Mastercard, after Crimea-related sanctions were imposed. The Central Bank of Russia has issued some 150 million Mir cards since late 2015.
https://www.rt.com/business/572119-russia-economy-western-sanctions-ukraine/
==============================================

27 Feb, 2023 14:58

7) --- Landmark US military victory slammed as ‘evil’

Critics have called for Abrar Omeish to be removed from her post as a school board member in Virginia

A school board member in the US state of Virginia has ignited a media maelstrom for suggesting that the Battle of Iwo Jima, a key victory for the United States army during World War II, “unfortunately happened” and that it set a record for “human evil.”

“Something for us to certainly reflect on as we learn our history and think about it,” said Abrar Omeish, who is Muslim, at a meeting of the Fairfax County School Board in Virginia last week in reference to the United States’ Japanese Day of Remembrance, which notes the internment of Japanese-Americans in 1942 following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“The days when, you know, Iwo Jima unfortunately happened and set a record for really, what I hate to say, human evil is capable of,” she said.

Omeish’s account of the key military win sparked criticism, not least of which from the Fairfax County Parents Association, who questioned why she was “condemning the brave US Marines that invaded Iwo Jima.”

“Perhaps she meant to say something else,” they added. Other Twitter critics demanded that Omeish step down from her position.

Omeish reacted to the reports by claiming in an email to the New York Post that her comments were directed at the US’ policy at the time of the internment of Japanese-Americans, and not the military battle.

The Battle of Iwo Jima is considered to be among the most violent battles of World War II. Fighting for control of airfields more than 600 miles south of Tokyo between US Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan lasted for five weeks in 1945. It resulted in the deaths of nearly 7,000 members of the US military, as well as the vast majority of the 18,000 Japanese soldiers stationed there.

Omeish was criticized last year when she voted against a resolution to honor victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States.

She claimed that doing so would ostracize Arab-Americans, American Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus “and all brown or other individuals that have been mistaken for Muslims since that day over the past two decades.”

Omeish’s father, Dr. Esam Omeish, is a founding member of an Islamic Center in Virginia that was previously under the authority of Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American imam who was reportedly radicalized and subsequently killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
https://www.rt.com/news/572139-us-iwo-jima-military-evil/
================================================

27 Feb, 2023 14:17

8) --- ******** Chinese military put on ‘high alert’ **********

The US is threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a Chinese army spokesman said

A US warplane’s recent flight through the Taiwan Strait is a threat to the stability of the region, a Chinese army spokesman stated, as cited by China Daily on Monday.

The P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine patrol and reconnaissance aircraft flew through the strait separating mainland China and the self-governed island of Taiwan on Monday. A Chinese Su-27 took off and monitored the American spy plane along its path. Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Eastern Theater Command, said this maneuver “deliberately damaged the regional situation and jeopardized peace and stability” in the region. He added that the Chinese military was “on high alert to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The US forces in the region acknowledged the maneuver. “The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows including within the Taiwan Strait,” the 7th Fleet Command said in a statement.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed that they knew of the P-8A’s flight in a short official statement on the same day, calling the situation “normal.”

Back in June 2022, the US sent a P-8A into the Taiwan strait soon after Beijing deployed 29 aircraft into Taiwan’s self-declared air defense identification zone (ADIZ). Back then, Shi similarly accused the US and Taiwan of “hyping” the maneuver up and testing China’s determination by sending American warships through the straits. Taiwanese foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou argued that the waterway was part of international waters.

In response to the US spy plane flythrough, Beijing held their own military exercises in August.

China-US relations are experiencing increased levels of tension due to the ‘spy balloon’ scandal. A Chinese high-altitude balloon crossed over the continental US in late January and early February. Beijing assured it was a weather aircraft veering off course, while the Pentagon claimed it was part of a vast surveillance network of spy airships and shot it down. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his planned trip to China, while Beijing accused Washington of “hysteria” and an “overreaction.”
https://www.rt.com/news/572136-us-warplane-taiwan-strait/
==================================================

27 Feb, 2023 15:14

9) --- ‘Impossible to escape’ prison accepts first inmates (horrible video)

New facility will remain the home for gangsters for decades, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele says

The first 2,000 inmates have been transferred to a mega-prison set up by authorities in El Salvador amid a crackdown on violent street gangs, the Central American nation’s President Nayib Bukele has announced.

Photos and videos made at the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) on Friday showed numerous heavily tattooed men stripped-down to their underpants, arriving at the facility under the supervision of armed guards in full riot gear.

The inmates were filmed crouching down with their hands behind their heads before being positioned on the floor next to each other and chained.

President Bukele said on Twitter that the men were “gang members” and that CECOT will “be their new home, where they’ll stay for decades, mixed up, unable to do any more harm to the population.”
-
https://twitter.com/jgallardo_sdm/status/1629313497430368256
-
The so-called ‘mega-prison,’ located 74 kilometers (46 miles) southeast of the capital San Salvador, has the capacity to host 40,0000 convicts, according to authorities. It’s said to be the largest penitentiary in the Americas.

The facility, which consists of eight buildings, is reportedly guarded by 600 soldiers and 250 police officers and is fitted with the most modern equipment. Bukele claimed earlier that “it’s impossible” to escape from CECOT.

El Salvador, a nation of around 6.5 million on the Pacific Ocean, introduced a state of emergency in March 2022 amid a major spike in gang violence. Some 64,000 people have been arrested in the country since then on suspicion of being involved in organized crime. The majority of them are currently awaiting trial in custody.

Human rights activists have expressed concerns that the crackdown was carried out in violation of the constitution and saw many suspects detained without warrants.

Bukele, who describes the country’s criminals as “terrorists,” has been mulling prison sentences of up to 30 years for the very fact of being a member of a street gang. According to the head of state, the clampdown has led to a significant drop in crime in El Salvador in recent months, with the number of killings being reduced to almost zero.
https://www.rt.com/news/572137-salvador-prison-gangs-bukele/
=====================================================

27 Feb, 2023 08:30

FEATURE) --- The Righteous: Smash hit movie tells the story of a Russian who saved hundreds of Jews from Nazi Germany's holocaust

More than 2,000 descendants of people who were saved by Nikolay Kiselyov’s small guerrilla detachment live all over the world today

Nikolay Kiselyov wasn’t one of the most famous heroes of the Second World War. And if not for the unexpected box-office success of The Righteous, a new Russian military drama directed by Sergey Ursulyak, his feat may have remained one of the many little-known episodes in that long and bloody conflict. During its first weekend available for rent, this “film about a true hero,” has knocked the mega-hit Cheburashka off the top of the national box office.

As the director himself said, The Righteous is not a picture about a righteous man, but about someone “who does what he has to do.” Kiselyov, played by Alexander Yatsenko, had no intention of becoming a war hero at all – he was a calm, competent clerk who preferred spending time with his family. But by force of circumstances, he became a partisan and, by his own inner strength, became a hero who performed a humanitarian miracle.

Jewish Hell
-
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, as World War Two is known in Russia, the evacuation from the western regions of the USSR was disrupted. Tens of millions of people were trapped in territory occupied by the Nazis. Jews were in the worst position – they could not count on mercy, from the Germans, under any circumstances. In some territories, the situation was complicated by the wild antisemitism of local Nazi supporters. For example, Estonia had already been declared judenfrei – ‘free of Jews’ – by December of 1941, after literally six months of occupation. Historically, many Jews had been living in these areas, and now they were under attack.

To the north of Minsk in Belarus, there was a Jewish town named Dolginovo. The war rolled over it quickly: Wehrmacht field troops quickly passed through the territory without stopping. The gears of the punitive machine did not immediately turn, but in the spring of 1942, Dolginovo was remembered. The Nazi punitive units’ usual method – both in Jewish and Slavic villages – was to cordon off the settlement, drive its inhabitants into a large building, set it on fire, and then shoot those who tried to escape. This was exactly the fate that befell Dolginovo in 1942.

Partisans to the Rescue
-
Incredibly, many residents managed to survive. Some escaped into the forest, while others even managed to hide and survive among the fires. In total, more than 200 survivors gathered amongst the trees.

However, now they were faced with the question of what to do. Yes, it was a warm summer, but there was no food or shelter, and the situation would be hopeless by autumn. If there had been only men, they could have joined the partisans, but there were a lot of women and children among the Dolginovites.

They turned to Vasily Voronyansky, the commander of a local partisan detachment. Voronyansky – usually called ‘Uncle Vasya’ – had commanded a communications battalion as an officer before the war. In the summer of 1941, he found himself surrounded, but instead of making his way east, he created his own group. By 1942, he had a powerful, well-armed detachment under his command and considered protecting the civilian population as one of his responsibilities. However, the Dolginovsky fire victims presented a problem for him. The hundreds of escapees needed to be fed, and besides, the survival of his guerrillas depended on mobility. Women and children were not a fitting addition to a mobile squad. Voronyansky did not have an excess supply of food and warm clothes. A decision had to be made.

Voronyansky decided to evacuate the Dolginovites to the ‘mainland’ through the front line. Given the circumstances, this was the equivalent of flying them to Mars, but the guerrilla commander had a few ideas.

The Chosen One
-
Kiselyov was tapped to lead the Dolginovsky Jews to safety. He was born near Ufa in Bashkiria and was less than thirty years old. Initially, he had had no intention of becoming an officer. Kiselyov graduated from the Institute of Foreign Trade in Leningrad (the Soviet name for St. Petersburg) but had no chance to settle into his chosen caree, as the war broke out. He served as a junior officer in the militia, but in the autumn of 1941, his unit was surrounded near Vyazma, and Kiselyov was wounded and captured.

However, here he showed character. As soon as he recovered, Nikolay escaped – he jumped out of a moving train heading west with other prisoners. Exhausted and still recovering from his wounds, he reached a village where he was hidden. It was there that the young officer was found by the partisans. By 1942, he had already well established himself as a tactical commander in the detachment of Voronyansky, who now entrusted Kiselyov with a devilishly difficult mission.

To begin with, he organized a field camp, where he prepared for the trip with the survivors. Besides the commander and the refugees, among whom there were 35 children, the detachment included only seven armed partisans, one of them a young woman, Anna Sirotkova. At the end of August, the caravan set off to the east.

A Hard Road
-
The target of the partisans was the ‘Surazh Gate’ – one of the strangest places on the Soviet-German front. This sector on the border of Russia and Belarus was a solid array of extremely dense forests and swamps, so for a long time there simply was no front line there, as such: large forces simply could not get through, and only sparse patrols controlled a line of about forty kilometers.

From the point of view of the Russians, the main function of the ‘gate’ was to supply the partisans. It was a real highway for such remote places – several thousand people passed through over a few months. Instructors and partisans – equipped with walkie-talkies and explosives – proceeded to the west, while civilians, the wounded, and specialists and commanders considered important to evacuate from the German rear headed in the opposite direction.

Kiselyov and his squad had to walk hundreds of kilometers. The Surazh Gate was not a guarantee of salvation – it just held out a chance of success.

Literally at the very beginning of the march, the unexpected happened. The partisans came across a patrol. People scattered, but Kiselyov had already instructed everyone on what to do and where to go in such situations, so this incident had few consequences: only a couple of people were lost, and these eventually found their way back to the partisans. Within three days, Kiselyov had managed to regather his charges.

They walked along forest paths, almost always at night. The roads were deadly – crossing them was a whole operation every time. If they had run into a patrol, eight armed partisans would not have been able to shoot their way out. And with 35 children and many women, it was unrealistic to run away, so they had to proceed with the greatest caution. It was often necessary to make huge loops through the forests in order to bypass a particularly unpleasant swamp or a German garrison blocking the path.

Leave No One Behind
-
Local partisans sometimes provided food and guides. The route was not always clear and it was necessary to just walk in an approximate direction. Provisions had to be requisitioned in the villages. When the exhausted refugees lay down to sleep, Kiselyov and his comrades continued to work – they searched for food, scouted, stood guard, and negotiated with local residents. Everyone was chronically malnourished; many were sick.

One young man named Shimon had bloody diarrhea on the way and could barely walk. Someone demanded that he be left behind, but his mother said she wouldn’t allow her son to be killed: the partisan commander calmed everyone down and ordered that the young man be carried by the arms.

A three-year-old girl named Bella constantly cried from hunger. The child couldn’t be consoled, but her sobs could have been the ruin of everyone – because of the marshes blocking the roads, they often had to make their way right under the noses of German garrisons and patrols. Some of the refugees proposed leaving her or even drowning her. Kiselyov carried the toddler in his arms for many kilometers, calming and feeding her from his own ration. He understood that people were simply mad with hunger, fatigue, and fear.

This man proved himself to be pure iron. He didn’t allow his group to fall apart: the stragglers were waited for, while the lost ones were persistently searched for. And his group began to grow as new people joined Kiselyov’s rag-tag band. Meanwhile, some dropped out from exhaustion, while cold, hunger, and deprivation exacerbated all diseases. It often happened that a refugee just didn’t wake up in the morning.

They had to hurry. It was already late autumn, and it was only at the end of November that Kiselyov’s caravan approached the Surazh Gate. Snowfall had already begun. The party could simply die in the cold, either from hypothermia or by attracting the attention of patrols with bonfires. However, the partisans and refugees still had time.But there was almost a catastrophe.

The Last Push
-
At the end of the autumn of 1942, the Germans decided to finally solve the problem of the Surazh Gate and strengthen its perimeter. To begin with, they simply reinforced the patrols, sending jagdkommandos to the gate. Kiselyov’s detachment stumbled upon one of them just a hair’s breadth from territory controlled by the Red Army.

A chaotic shootout ensued in the autumn forest. The partisans fought while the refugees rushed to freedom – there was only a scant distance left to go. The partisans covered the refugees retreat and followed them. In the end, the German detachment fell behind – the soldiers were afraid to wander too deep into Soviet territory. There were no more Nazis ahead.

At the end, when already at a railway station, the refugees were hit by an air raid – fortunately with no consequences.

Kiselyov, exhausted to the extreme, relinquished his charges, reported to command... and was immediately arrested! Counterintelligence decided that he was just a deserter. The partisan commander was only rescued by refugees that came running back and vividly explained who he was and what he had done.

Already among his own, Kiselyov compiled a brief report for the partisan movement’s central headquarters. Fifty-two refugees had died of exhaustion or been lost along the way, while 218 were brought out alive.

The march undermined Nikolay Kiselyov’s health, and he was medically discharged. However, the partisan gradually recovered and returned to normal life after the war. He married Anna, the partisan girl with whom he had shared the hardships of the campaign. He didn’t live with her too long but had quite a full life. He died in the 1970s at the age of 60. He received an order for his epic feat in the Belarusian forests, but only after the war, in 1948. But his main reward was letters – until the end of their lives, more than 200 rescued Jews and many of their descendants regularly wrote letters to the partisan. Today, Kiselyov’s surname is carved on the memorial wall in the Garden of the Righteous at Israel’s Yad Vashem Museum, and more than 2,000 descendants of people who were saved by Nikolay Kiselyov’s small guerrilla detachment live all over the world.
-
By Evgeny Norin, a Russian historian focused on conflicts and international politics
-
https://www.rt.com/russia/572071-odyssey-of-savior-kiselyov/
===================================================

Show less