Just to be prepared for any and all events ...

Zelensky expands war cabinet of National Defense Council | July 14, 2021 |

Seven more people entered the war cabinet of the National Security and Defense Council

A new minister of defense was installed early November ... the talks were underway between Ukraine and Gazprom for an extended long-term contract ... nothing came of it. Why? Blaming Russia ...

Angry U.S.-Russia Exchange at U.N. Punctuates Deepening Ukraine Rift | NY Times |

With vitriolic accusations that echoed the Cold War era, the United States and Russia sparred in a bitter debate over the Ukraine crisis in a Security Council meeting watched by the world.

'Sapere aude'

Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) (Pop. 1.46 million -- Area 3,234 sq.mi.)

Crimea Occupied Territory (Pop. 2.4 million -- Area 10,000 sq.mi.)

Merge and Rule: What's In Store for the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics | Carnegie - March 2021 |

Moscow-approved leaders--Denis Pushilin in the DNR and Leonid Pasechnik in the LNR--won virtually uncontested elections in 2018, while only ruling and spoiler parties were allowed to participate in local legislative elections.

Party lists were comprised of members of local elites with prewar Ukrainian political experience: former Party of Regions youth activist Denis Miroshnichenko became the head of the LNR People's Council, while the former Communist Party parliamentary deputy Vladimir Bidyovka was chosen to lead the DNR legislature. Meanwhile, locally registered Communist parties weren't allowed to take part in the elections.

The only real opposition to the republics' current leadership comes from influential separatist veterans, but the authorities thwart their political aspirations: the Donbas Republican Party created by one of the DNR's founding fathers and former head of legislature, Andrei Purgin, was denied registration.

Profiling IDP situation in Luhansk region, Ukraine | Norwegian Refugee Council - 2021 |

'Sapere aude'

Before Russia's Putin call to enforce R2P policy in Crimea: Ukraine Tensions Flare as Pro-Russians, Crimea Tatars Clash.

Crimean Tatars' wellbeing rests upon neighborly relations with Russians, Ukrainians | Kyiv Post - Feb. 27, 2014 |

The congress urged all peoples of Ukraine to be wise and put an end to the disturbances.

"We are confident that the wellbeing of Crimean Tatars rests upon mutual understanding and neighborly relations with Russians and Ukrainians. We see the Crimean future in the constitution and laws of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, with due account of the interests of its multinational people. In our view, this is the only way to preserve peace and concord on the Crimean territory," the statement concluded.

Over 11 million Tatars live worldwide, including 5.5 million in Russia - 2 million of them in Tatarstan.

Erdogan's visit ushers in 'golden era' of Ukraine-Turkey relationship - Sept. 2012

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Is it still possible to avoid a major war in Europe? | Timothy Garton Ash [_link]

— Guardian Opinion (@guardianopinion) February 21, 2022

Mr Poroshenko told Sky News that Poland, the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), Czech Republic, Romania or Bulgaria could be in Vladimir Putin's sights in future [_link]

— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 21, 2022

This morning a British military expert drawing three circles on Ukraine explaining where Russian military will invade ... from the north, Belarus to lay siege to Kyiv, the logical East-Ukrainian region and from the sea the southern border to include Mariupol and enclose the Sea of Azov. Just full of it ...

'Sapere aude'

Ukraine national security, defense council convenes as Russia recognizes separatist regions [_link] pic.twitter.com/FwhQp5Uhcj

— ANADOLU AGENCY (@anadoluagency) February 21, 2022

US to ban investment, trade in Ukraine's breakaway regions: White House [_link] pic.twitter.com/X1O1OVvITK

— ANADOLU AGENCY (@anadoluagency) February 21, 2022

Oops ... that declaration was already made in 2004 ... reprieve.

'Sapere aude'

Video of the arrival of the second train with about 1 thousand evacuated residents of Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics in Voronezh.#Russia #ConflictUkraine #Donbass #Donetsk #Military pic.twitter.com/GsVZmW3YkM

— therovsh (@therovsh) February 20, 2022

Heavy armored convoy (tanks with Anti Javelin cages on turrets, bridge layer, engineering vehicles, Tos-1...
to cross Donez river east of #Kharkiv city pic.twitter.com/zKAIkhs69L

— C4H10FO2P (@markito0171) February 21, 2022

Death Above -- MisAnthropic Division

Use as a hate symbol

Modern neo-Nazis use the Death's Head to symbolize the continuation of SS glory. It is widely used by the far-right in various countries to indicate Nazi and neo-Nazi views.

In Ukraine, it is commonly used by people to demonstrate their Nazi views. It is used on the emblems and flags of Misanthropic Division, a Ukrainian neo-Nazi group.
It is extremely rare for the Death's Head to be used mistakenly.

However, due to the prevalence of the skull and crossbones as a symbol, it is important to consider the context of its use, including to check for the presence of other hate symbols or inscriptions, and to check that it clearly corresponds to the image above.

The Misantropie Division

Motto: Killing for Wotan, is a right-wing extremist organization that emerged in Ukraine . She fights for the independence of Ukraine - both from Russia and from the European Union - with the aim of establishing a National Socialist state.

It serves as a combat unit in the Azov Regiment in eastern Ukraine against the pro-Russian separatists. Its members are considered to be racist and violent. They glorify National Socialism and the Waffen SS , among others. Amnesty International accuses them of serious human rights violations.

Men aged 18-55 not allowed to leave separatist-controlled Luhansk: Rebel leader
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, said the leader of the Luhansk

— Zoran Elijah Gabriel (house Clermont-Goschütz) (@zoranhorus) February 19, 2022

Kremlin recognition of the so-called "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics" as "independent" requires a swift and firm response, and we will take appropriate steps in coordination with partners.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 21, 2022

I was in Brussels today talking to @NATO about preparations for a Russian invasion of Ukraine and meeting the EU for talks on Northern Ireland. We need to fix the Protocol to protect the Belfast Good Friday Agreement 👇 pic.twitter.com/pCDEhTSeiC

— Liz Truss (@trussliz) February 21, 2022

Following Russia's latest assault on Ukrainian sovereignty I spoke to @JosepBorrellF tonight. We agreed 🇬🇧 and 🇪🇺 will coordinate to deliver swift sanctions against Putin's regime and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/ZmzfCqaRBe

— Liz Truss (@trussliz) February 21, 2022

En reconnaissant les régions séparatistes de l'est de l'Ukraine, la Russie viole ses engagements et porte atteinte à la souveraineté de l'Ukraine. Je condamne cette décision. J'ai demandé une réunion d'urgence du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies et des sanctions européennes.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 21, 2022

A fig leaf for the "diplomatic" effort after all ... elections the soonest.

Biden agrees 'in principle' to Macron-brokered Ukraine summit with Putin | France24 |

There remained a lot of ifs and buts about the meeting ... Putin warned for months talks should be substantial ... the effort fell on deaf ears and all avenues were shut down.

'Sapere aude'

As Russia's President Putin confirms he will recognise two breakaway Ukrainian regions as independent, @bbclysedoucet says that Ukrainian politicians see the announcement as "dangerous and a declaration of war"[_link] pic.twitter.com/VUKIjavCKV

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 21, 2022

it was always about the end-game. What does he want?
I guessed he might settle for the annexation of the Ukranian territories he already controls. But the answer was staring us in the face all the time.

The Donetsk and Luhanks oblasts.

So go ahead, apologists for Russian expansionism. Did you see it coming? Is it "just war"?

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

Obviously Russia will not "invade" the regions

Want to bet? We'll see if they stop at the ceasefire line.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

"With the appearance of weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine, the situation in the world, in Europe, especially for us, for Russia, will change in the most radical way," he said.

That's the key : he's doing a GWB tribute act.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

The recognition of the two separatist territories in #Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law, the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the #Minsk agreements.

The EU and its partners will react with unity, firmness and with determination in solidarity with Ukraine.

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) February 21, 2022

How are the negotiations with Saudi terror state advancing to contract delivery LNG the coming decades?  

Power play: Europe's climate diplomacy in the Gulf | ECFR - Oct. 26, 2021 |

When the European Union first presented the European Green Deal in 2019, the monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reacted with confusion, scepticism, and a degree of resistance. It was immediately clear to them that the key objective of the deal - to ensure that the EU became climate-neutral by 2050 - would entail an attack on the petrochemical industry and fossil fuels as primary energy sources. But they were not afraid of losing the European market: the EU receives less than 4 per cent of GCC oil and gas exports (while Asia receives, on average, 30 per cent). Instead, they were concerned that the EU's normative push for renewable energy would accelerate the global shift away from fossil fuels ...

Ahh EU Commission, That's All Folks!

'Sapere aude'

New documents obtained by the National Security Archive offer insights into Russian President Boris Yeltsin's anger over US moves to expand NATO. [_link]

— American Diplomacy (@AmDiplomacy) November 24, 2021

From Cold War to "Cold Peace" --
Clinton's Two Tracks Collide - NATO Enlargement and Russia Engagement

Washington, D.C., November 24, 2021 - The biggest train wreck on the track to NATO expansion in the 1990s - Boris Yeltsin's "cold peace" blow up at Bill Clinton in Budapest in December 1994 - was the result of "combustible" domestic politics in both the U.S. and Russia, and contradictions in the Clinton attempt to have his cake both ways, expanding NATO and partnering with Russia at the same time, according to newly declassified U.S. documents published today by the National Security Archive.

The Yeltsin eruption on December 5, 1994, made the top of the front page of The New York Times the next day, with the Russian president's accusation (in front of Clinton and other heads of state gathered for a summit of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, CSCE) that the "domineering" U.S. was "trying to split [the] continent again" through NATO expansion. The angry tone of Yeltsin's speech echoed years later in his successor Vladimir Putin's famous 2007 speech at the Munich security conference, though by then the list of Russian grievances went well beyond NATO expansion to such unilateral U.S. actions as withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the invasion of Iraq.

The new documents, the result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the National Security Archive, include a series of revelatory "Bill-Boris" letters in the summer and fall of 1994, and the previously secret memcon of the presidents' one-on-one at the Washington summit in September 1994. Clinton kept assuring Yeltsin any NATO enlargement would be slow, with no surprises, building a Europe that was inclusive not exclusive, and in "partnership" with Russia. In a phone call on July 5, 1994, Clinton told Yeltsin "I would like us to focus on the Partnership for Peace program" not NATO. At the same time, however, "policy entrepreneurs" in Washington were revving up the bureaucratic process for more rapid NATO enlargement than expected either by Moscow or the Pentagon,[1] which was committed to the Partnership for Peace as the main venue for security integration of Europe, not least because it could include Russia and Ukraine.[2]

Reconsidering NATO expansion: a counterfactual analysis of Russia and the West in the 1990s | EJIS Cambridge Press - Nov. 1, 2017 |

Betrayal Of Gorbachev Regarding NATO Explained In Detail

'Sapere aude'

Russia is already super scared and hysterical of future Ukrainian nuclear weapons.
Wow, just wow.
Zelensky scared Russia today. #BudapestMemorandum #MSC2022

— Sparky (@altynkyn) February 20, 2022

Funny how easily Zelensky scared the Kremlin ☹

Zelensky asks Foreign Ministry to convene Budapest Memorandum summit | TASS |

In his address to the Munich Security Conference on February 19, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky raised the issue of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum "on security guarantees in the framework of Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons".

"Since 2014"said Zelensky, "Ukraine has made three attempts to convene consultations with the Guarantor States of the Budapest Memorandum. Three attempts failed. Today, Ukraine will make the fourth attempt. And I'll make my first attempt as president."

"I initiate consultations within the framework of the Budapest Memorandum. The Minister for Foreign Affairs was instructed to summon them. If they do not happen again or if they do not lead to concrete decisions to ensure the security of our state, Ukraine will have every right to believe that the Budapest Memorandum does not work and that all decisions of the 1994 package have been called into question."

Why care about Ukraine and the Budapest Memorandum | Brookings - Dec. 5, 2019 |

Eliminating the strategic nuclear warheads, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and strategic bombers in Ukraine was a big deal for Washington. The ICBMs and bombers carried warheads of monstrous size -- all designed, built, and deployed to attack America. The warheads atop the SS-19 and SS-24 ICBMs in Ukraine had explosive yields of 400-550 kilotons each -- that is, 27 to 37 times the size of the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima. The 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads -- more than six times the number of nuclear warheads that China currently possesses -- could have destroyed every U.S. city with a population of more than 50,000 three times over, with warheads left to spare.
Assurances for Ukraine

Before agreeing to give up this nuclear arsenal, Kyiv sought three assurances. First, it wanted compensation for the value of the highly-enriched uranium in the nuclear warheads, which could be blended down for use as fuel for nuclear reactors. Russia agreed to provide that.

Second, eliminating ICBMs, ICBM silos, and bombers did not come cheaply. With its economy rapidly contracting, the Ukrainian government could not afford the costs. The United States agreed to cover those costs with Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction assistance.

Third, Ukraine wanted guarantees or assurances of its security once it got rid of the nuclear arms. The Budapest Memorandum provided security assurances.

Unfortunately, Russia has broken virtually all the commitments it undertook in that document. It used military force to seize, and then illegally annex, Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in early 2014. Russian and Russian proxy forces have waged war for more than five years in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, claiming more than 13,000 lives and driving some two million people from their homes.

Some have argued that, since the United States did not invade Ukraine, it abided by its Budapest Memorandum commitments. True, in a narrow sense. However, when negotiating the security assurances, U.S. officials told their Ukrainian counterparts that, were Russia to violate them, the United States would take a strong interest and respond.

Washington did not promise unlimited support. The Budapest Memorandum contains security "assurances," not "guarantees." Guarantees would have implied a commitment of American military force, which NATO members have. U.S. officials made clear that was not on offer. Hence, assurances.

Letting neo-Nazi battalions roam the countryside never leaves a good impression. Threatening to start an nuclear program after all the support from NATO allies too doesn't leave a good impression. Bad faith actor. Zelensky never enforced the Minsk Agreements, was never interested. The president was under (physical) threat from far-right elements of Ukraine, concentrated in Lvov region.

'Sapere aude'

seeing the success of non-aligned Benin and Rwanda, other countries are boarding the Fuck the EU ship

Russia strikes back #CGTNOpinion #CGTNFirstVoice [_link]

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 22, 2022

UN SGeneral calls out Russia in his most direct terms, saying Russian decision on status of Donetsk and Luhansk a violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and inconsistent with principles of UN Charter. pic.twitter.com/gdxVJSjzg2

— columlynch (@columlynch) February 21, 2022

Where was the United Nations during all genocides after World War II?

Borders and sovereignty Serbia and Kosovo - #Iraq - #Libya - #Syria - #Yemen - #Israel - #Palestine - #Armenia. In Asia this list could be extended. Harsh economic sanctions on a sovereign nation is an inhumane act of brutality. US and diplomacy Washington style is a dead ended street.

US Congress and elections are void of democratic principles.

People too have a right to choose for independence ...

'Sapere aude'

A critique of the theory and practice of R2P

Conflating the concept of R2P with the idea of `new humanitarianism', the architects radicalised the doctrine within a discursive framework of emancipatory potential--capable of generating an effective, consensual response to extreme, conscience-shocking cases of violent atrocity (Evans, 2008: 56). This radical veneer has allowed the R2P doctrine to suffuse the parlance and institutions of international politics and resulted in the concept being affirmed by all UN member states at the 2005 World Summit. Seemingly, R2P has become an established principle of international politics (Cuncliffe, 2011: 1) and appears increasingly to be the hegemonic framework through which the role of the `international community' is understood in relation to crisis, conflict and humanitarian emergencies.

Although there are differences between the ICISS and World Summit versions of R2P, there is consensus between states in terms of protecting `populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity'. Constructing R2P as a defining characteristic of statehood, the UN suggests that the task of emancipating humans from political violence encompasses the state, but also goes beyond it--notably when human suffering is the product of state neglect or predation (Cuncliffe, 2011: 1).

Humanitarian Intervention: From Le Droit d'Ingérence to the Responsibility to Protect

Samantha Power - Susan Rice - Hillary Clinton - R2P principle conflated with regime change ... a generation of foreign policy elites who used the failures of the 1990s as a set of `formative experiences' that provided shortcut comparisons to springboard the Libya intervention in 2011.

Norms of Intervention, R2P and Libya

'Sapere aude'

We categorically refute Russian disinformation reports on Ukraine's alleged offensive operations or acts of sabotage in chemical production facilities. Ukraine does not conduct or plan any such actions in the Donbas. We are fully committed to diplomatic conflict resolution only.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 18, 2022

😂 🇺🇦

Countries and corruption barometer by perception ...

Majority do not meet the standards, the better countries in ranking from the best on down ...

Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Estonia, Belgium, Austria ...

Exactly one country from the New Europe states meets criteria  ... unacceptable.

Ukraine?

Ranks between Swaziland and Zambia at 33 points. Lost a point, behind El Salvador and Vietnam. Waste of effort and should clean-up domestic mess first.

East-West Schism: Destruction Process Inside Europe

'Sapere aude'

Middle Eastern Oil Nations Hike Prices As Production Falters

Fast-forward to today and the world is facing a completely different picture - inventories are the tightest in almost a decade, with the pace of stock depletion unparalleled in recent decades. The same key Middle Eastern powerhouses have played a part in this, underperforming their production quotas - in fact, the divergence between self-reported figures and third-party assessments keeps on increasing, potentially insinuating that the likes of Saudi Arabia stalled the monthly additions knowingly.

The EU-27 economic engine grinds to a halt -- Brexit and Global #1 triumphs.

Soaring Energy Prices Pose An Existential Threat To German Businesses

5 Commodities That Could Explode As The Ukraine Crisis Escalates

'Sapere aude'

Russia's actions in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk are illegal and unacceptable.
 
The Union remains united in support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
 
A first package of sanctions will be formally tabled today.[_link]

— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 22, 2022

EU restrictive measures in response to the crisis in Ukraine

'Sapere aude'

* Russia's decision to send troops into eastern Ukraine sparks international condemnation
* Ukrainian President @ZelenskyyUa addresses the nation, says Kyiv would not react to Russian provocation. but would not concede any territory

Today's top stories in 1 minute: pic.twitter.com/t7aMYASfUl

— DW News (@dwnews) February 22, 2022

Navalny's rant

 1/16 Yesterday I watched the "session of the Security Council", this gathering of dotards and thieves (it seems to me that our Anti-Corruption Foundation has done investigations into the corruption of every single one of them).
2/16 And I thought about the same gathering of nomenklatura dotards from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, who, quite similarly, on their own whim , imagining themselves as geopoliticians at the "grand chessboard", decided to send Soviet troops into Afghanistan.
3/16 The result was hundreds of thousands of victims, injuries to entire nations, the consequences of which both we and Afghanistan still cannot overcome, and the emergence of one of the key reasons for the collapse of the USSR.
4/16 Those morons from the Politburo covered themselves with a two-faced ideology. These Putin's dotards do not even have an ideology - only constant and undisguised lies. They don't even bother to give their casus belli the slightest credibility.
5/16 Both of them need one thing: to divert the attention of the people of Russia from real problems - the development of the economy, rising prices, reigning lawlessness - and switching it to the format of "imperial hysteria."
6/16 How long has it been since you last watched the news on federal channels? It's the only thing I watch now, and I can assure you, there is NO news about Russia there AT ALL. Literally. From the first to the last piece, it's Ukraine - USA - Europe.
7/16 Bare propaganda is no longer enough for the senile thieves. They want blood. They want to move around tank figurines on a map of hostilities.
8/16 And so, the head of the 21st century Politburo makes a truly insane speech. Twitter gave the most accurate metaphor for it: "It's just like my grandfather getting drunk at a family celebration and annoying everyone with his stories about how world politics actually works."
9/16 It would be funny if the drunk grandfather was not a man of 69 who holds power in a country with nuclear weapons.
10/16 Replace "Ukraine" in his speech with "Kazakhstan", "Belarus", "Baltic countries", "Azerbaijan", "Uzbekistan" and so on, even including "Finland". And think about where the train of geopolitical thought of this senile grandfather may take him next.
11/16 All this ended very badly for everyone in 1979. And it will end just as badly now. Afghanistan was destroyed, but the USSR also received a mortal wound.
12/16 Thanks to Putin, hundreds of Ukrainians and Russian citizens may die now, and in the future, this number may reach tens of thousands. Yes, he will not allow Ukraine to develop, he will drag it into the swamp, but Russia will pay the same price.
13/16 We have everything for powerful development in the 21st century, from oil to educated citizens, but we will lose money again and squander the historical chance for a normal rich life for the sake of war, dirt, lies and the palace with golden eagles in Gelendzhik.
14/16 Putin and his senile thieves from the Security Council and United Russia are the enemies of Russia and its main threat, not Ukraine and not the West. Putin kills and wants to kill more.
15/16 The Kremlin is making you poorer, not Washington. It is not in London that economic policy is being conducted in such a way that a pensioner's "borscht set" has doubled in price, but in Moscow.
16/16 To fight for Russia, to save it, means to fight for the removal of Putin and his kleptocrats from power. But now it also means the banal "to fight for peace".

Poetin stuurt militairen naar Donetsk en Loehansk voor vredesmissie. @minpres `De man is natuurlijk totaal paranoia'. #Jinek pic.twitter.com/PggWCISs6X

— Jinek (@Jinek_RTL) February 21, 2022

Mark was in a talk show and left in a hurry when he got an alert message Putin was sending a peace mission into the Donbas. Absolutely dumbfounded and flabbergasted. 🔥 🆘. #UnfitToServe

'Sapere aude'

Human Rights Watch has highlighted Russia's track record for bombing civilian infrastructure in Syria's conflict and voiced fear "war crimes strategy" could be repeated in Ukraine if the conflict escalates further, AFP reports.

HRW chief Kenneth Roth warned the region could "be on the verge of a significant armed conflict" and that given Russia's recent behaviour during Syria's civil war, that was a deeply worrying prospect.

Speaking to reporters during a video briefing, Roth said the Syrian government and its Russian ally "showed callous disregard" for civilian life in late 2020 as they strived to retake the Idlib province and surrounding areas in northwest Syria.

The nearly year-long Idlib bombing campaign "gives us a sense of the way the Russian military has been fighting recently," Roth said, adding that Russian bombers were "deliberately attacking civilian institutions to try to make life unlivable and make it easier for the Syrian military to roll in".

Kenya makes strong statement opposing the undermining of the sovereignty & territorial integrity of #Ukraine during the emergency meeting of the #SecurityCouncil at 9pm on 21st February. See full statement delivered below 👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/3S36UNW7OE

— Permanent Mission of Kenya to the UN 🇰🇪 🇺🇳 (@KenyaMissionUN) February 22, 2022

Kimani praised for Kenya's commanding UNSC presence on Ukraine - Africa Times

"Kenya and almost every African country was birthed by the ending of empire. Our borders were not of our own drawing," Kimani said. Rather, those decisions were made in London, Paris and Lisbon during the colonial era.

"Today across the border of every single African country live our countrymen with whom we share deep bonds," Kimani continued. His tone and eloquence conveyed a deep understanding of the border conflict between Ukraine and Russia, but he went on to explain why Kenya insists on diplomacy as a better path toward the future than Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory.

"We believe that all states formed from empires that have collapsed or retreated have many peoples in them yearning for integration with peoples in neighboring states," he said. "This is normal and understandable. After all, who does not want to be joined to their brethren and to make common purpose with them?

"However, Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force. We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression."

Putin says Russia recognised the breakaway states borders as determined by their constitutions.

----

Meaning Russia will want these blue and yellow areas too pic.twitter.com/FKIlQ4lAU3

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) February 22, 2022

💬 President #Putin: Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space. These are our comrades, those dearest to us - not only colleagues, friends, but also relatives, people bound by blood, by family ties pic.twitter.com/rxoJCBni9G

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) February 22, 2022

Putin's Speech Prior to Recognizing Donbass Republics  h/t Karlof1 @MofA

'Sapere aude'

Why Azov should not be designated a foreign terrorist organization | Atlantic Council - Feb. 24, 2020 |

As the Ukrainian state becomes ever weaker, right wing extremist groups are stepping in to provide public services that the state no longer provides. @arisroussinos [_link]

— Harper's Magazine (@Harpers) December 15, 2020

From the same reliable source ...

Guerrilla tactics offer Ukraine's best deterrent against Putin's invasion force | Atlantic Council - Dec. 6, 2021 |

'Sapere aude'

The Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians

Russia is open to dialogue with Ukraine and ready to discuss the most complex issues. But it is important for us to understand that our partner is defending its national interests but not serving someone else's, and is not a tool in someone else's hands to fight against us.

We respect the Ukrainian language and traditions. We respect Ukrainians' desire to see their country free, safe and prosperous.

I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia. Our spiritual, human and civilizational ties formed for centuries and have their origins in the same sources, they have been hardened by common trials, achievements and victories. Our kinship has been transmitted from generation to generation. It is in the hearts and the memory of people living in modern Russia and Ukraine, in the blood ties that unite millions of our families. Together we have always been and will be many times stronger and more successful. For we are one people.

Today, these words may be perceived by some people with hostility. They can be interpreted in many possible ways. Yet, many people will hear me. And I will say one thing - Russia has never been and will never be "anti-Ukraine". And what Ukraine will be - it is up to its citizens to decide.

Civic Space and Fundamental Freedoms In Ukraine

2. During the reporting period, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) monitored political and legislative developments in Government- controlled territory that resulted in restrictions on civic space. For example, freedoms of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association as well as the right to participate were negatively affected before and after the 2020 local elections due to an increase in attacks against opposition political parties, their members and staff. Similarly, amendments to the State language legislation led to threats, intimidation, property damage, and in one case, physical violence against those who expressed critical opinions on its implementation. More generally, attacks against journalists and media professionals during the reporting period often targeted those working on politically sensitive topics.

3. The ongoing armed conflict and different views regarding the origins and causes of the conflict have also created an environment that has negatively affected the exercise of the rights to freedoms of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the right to participate. Sanctions introduced by the Government led to the closure of several major media outlets and some smaller online ones. The decisions introducing these sanctions failed to demonstrate compliance with international standards on permissible restrictions on freedom of expression, as they were not taken by an impartial authority and did not demonstrate necessity and proportionality. Finally, human rights defenders working on issues such as prevention of corruption, protection of the environment, and promotion of gender equality and rights of minorities (including LGBTI) continued to be targeted by attacks, threats, acts of intimidation and hate speech. In most cases, the perpetrators remain unidentified, contributing to a sense of impunity and fuelling further attacks. Women human rights defenders5 faced additional gendered risks due to their professional activities.

11. Throughout the reporting period, OHCHR documented 29 incidents targeting journalists, media professionals, bloggers, and individuals expressing opinions critical of the authorities, Government policies or the mainstream political agenda. In 22 of these cases, perpetrators resorted to violence, while other cases involved threats (including online), incitement to violence, online smear campaigns and intentional damage to property. The majority of the 15 attacks OHCHR recorded in 2020 targeted investigative journalists and media workers covering political topics such as corruption allegations and implementation of COVID-19 restrictions. In 2021, 7 out of 14 documented attacks targeted individuals expressing opinions on political matters or criticizing mainstream narratives.

12. The failure of authorities to ensure physical security of journalists, media workers, bloggers, opinion leaders and individuals who express opinions on sensitive topics remained a key area of concern. This included failure of authorities on site to immediately stop violent actions and ineffective investigations of threats and attacks. In one case in 2021, in the presence of law enforcement officers, affiliates of groups that promote violence verbally threatened a photographer of a popular media outlet who was taking pictures of a rally they organized. Despite clear indications that the situation was escalating into a physical attack, the police officers present for securing the assembly did not intervene to stop the attackers or protect the victim. In another case, law enforcement agencies failed to appropriately investigate an attack on the editor of a internet outlet in Poltava region which criticized local political leaders of alleged corruption. This led to a second attack on the editor, just eight days later, involving some of the same perpetrators.10 The failure to appropriately address such violence, during or immediately after attacks, creates an environment of impunity in which further attacks against journalists and media professionals can occur, increasing the risks for those reporting on sensitive topics

15. Since 16 January 2021, OHCHR has received information about a wave of threats and expressions of hatred towards individuals who publicly criticised the law "On supporting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language", or expressed any positive views or favouring the use of the Russian language. Notably, these threats and expressions often contain sexist language when targeting females. On 25 January 2021, three days after a veterinarian from Mariupol published a post on Facebook, where she offered a 50% discount if a customer requested to be served in Russian, the office of the clinic was vandalized. She also received several phone calls threatening arson and physical violence. A female volunteer at the clinic also started receiving threats on social media and through the telephone after expressing support to the veterinarian. In one case, in March 2021 threats against a street musician who performed in Russian in Lviv were followed by physical violence, allegedly committed by members of a group that promotes violence. Cases of attacks and threats against individuals who express opinions on sensitive topics, especially when left unaddressed by law enforcement.

In the three separated regions the human rights weren't any better. The mission was impeded to enter the war zones. See report.

Voting rights of IDPs at local level in Ukraine | Council of Europe Office in Ukraine |

Lacking diplomacy and people in power play a waiting game until the issue explodes in your face. SHAME

'Sapere aude'

Russia's Unsustainable Business Model: Going All In on Oil and Gas | HCSS The Hague - Jan. 2021 |

Revenues from oil and gas production are essential for Russia. Over the last decennium, they accounted for 40 to 50% of the Russian federal budget and about two thirds of Russian exports; percentages that are higher than those for the Soviet Union in the 1980's.

Russia is, with Saudi Arabia and the United States of America (US), one of the top three global oil producers. Russian oil reserves are only the 7th largest in the world, however. The revival of Western Siberia's giant oil fields, which had seen major reservoir damage under Soviet times, was a significant achievement under the Putin era but has now run its course. Maintaining production levels in these fields, already for decades the backbone of Russian oil production, is becoming more difficult and costly. Exploration for new oil fields in Eastern Siberia has yielded limited success. Unconventional shale oil is a high-cost oil for which the Russian oil industry lacks the technical expertise. Large parts of the Arctic resources lie offshore, and the Russian oil industry has virtually no offshore operating experience. Sanctions are increasingly limiting the Russian oil industry's ability to maintain production levels.

In contrast to Russia's more limited oil reserves its natural gas reserves are the largest in the world. The challenge here is not to produce the gas but to transport it and sell it at a profit. The rise of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shipping now enables the monetisation of remote gas reserves (and these are plentiful) throughout the world. US shale gas is increasingly providing a soft ceiling for gas prices, as US shale oil has done for oil prices since 2014. Russia will remain the key supplier of gas for the European Union (EU) but with the advance of LNG, abundant LNG import capacity within the EU and the liberalization of European gas markets, its influence on gas prices has diminished.

There is a remarkable symbiosis between the Putin regime and the Russian oil and gas industry. Oil and gas are the major source of income for the government. Oil and gas companies will not challenge the primacy of the Kremlin. Gazprom and Rosneft in particular will undertake projects where the geopolitical interests of the Russian government under Putin take preference over commercial considerations. Oil trading, rigged auctions of oil and gas assets as well as the construction of major projects, such as pipelines, at elevated prices, provide ample opportunities for the enrichment of the circle around Putin.

Ukrainian territory has not only been a large agricultural supplier but was the manufacturing and industrial base of the Soviet Union. For future survival and due to harsh US economic sanctions, Russia has to expand. Going to war is not an option, usually will make things worse. Most likely Russian leadership felt they have been unfairly put under crippling sanctions ... after Putin the deluge.

The US exited Afghanistan and lost a foothold and influence in Central Asia. Russia had to put down the unrest in Belarus and Kazakhstan of Central Asia. Putin is just hanging on ... a dangerous development for the leader of a nation with nuclear weapons. China's Xi Jinping could not be happy with an unstable Russia ... eyeing Eastern Mongolia?

Could be that Biden is playing the Iran card, he would need support of the GCC states and a guarantee of peace between Sunni and Shia believers. Signs are Turkey may reconcile with Arab Gulf states ... could be a grand slam for the Biden administration although it will not help the domestic agenda and chances for Democrats for Congress in November.

Many headaches for Vlad.

'Sapere aude'

Russian forces massing near Ukraine's borders can only remain in position for a few days before they have to be sent back to nearby bases or risk their capability being significantly degraded, western officials and experts believe.

That means that President Vladimir Putin will come under increasing pressure to use them in a full invasion of Ukraine - or send them back to staging areas, still in Russia's south or west, but tens or even hundreds of kilometres back.

Such advance positions, often with poor protection from the cold, can be held only for a short period - and there is some evidence on social media of the poor conditions endured by soldiers near the border.

Postings spotted by military analyst Rob Lee on Monday showed about 100 soldiers camped out - or rather lying down - at a train station about 20km from Ukraine's border, without rations and having to buy food for themselves.

Russian troops based in Belarus, in forests near the town of Khoyniki, 50km from the Ukraine border, were described by one local a few days ago as people who "drink a lot and sell a lot of their diesel fuel", suggesting a lack of discipline despite the heightened political tensions.

Also : even after rolling back to sustainable positions, they can't stay there forever... If they don't invade before spring thaws the marshes, the movement of tanks will be severely impeded.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

View of The Compliance of the Baltic States with the Principle of Tolerance As Condition for the Development of the United Europe

The article studies the compliance of democracy of the Baltic States with the principle of tolerance. The study demonstrated specific social phobias (xenophobia, migrant phobia, homophobia, islamophobia, romaphobia, etc.), hate speech and other destructive trends in the Baltic countries that contradict values of liberal democracy. The authors argue that Baltic States face similar challenges of strengthening the principle of tolerance as well as how they differ in intolerance manifestations and mechanisms of their prevention and counteraction. In the Baltic States, issues related to promotion of tolerance are claimed to be common at two levels: at the institutional level (countries do not fulfil some of the EU guidelines aimed at enhancing the principle of tolerance); at the value level (population does not accept completely liberal-democratic values that the EU advocates).

Political and Electoral Rights of Non-citizen Residents in Latvia and Estonia: Current Situation and Perspectives

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Ukraine accepts Dutch offer of help against cyber attacks [_link]

— NL Times (@NL_Times) February 22, 2022

Insurers Consider It An Act of War

Insurers could consider Russian cyberattacks an act of war and not pay out [_link]

— NL Times (@NL_Times) February 23, 2022

📚 We have a brand new blog post! ✍️

Dr Laurien Crump and her research assistant @Cathal_Digan recently wrote a piece together on 'Bridging the Transatlantic Gap: The Dutch Balancing Act between NATO and the EEC in the 1980s'

Find the full piece here: [_link]

— Cold War Research Network (@CWR_Network) June 10, 2021

Putin says the best way to solve the Ukraine problem is for Kyiv to abandon its goal of joining Nato and pledging neutrality. The barely veiled threat - there'll be war if they don't.

— max seddon (@maxseddon) February 22, 2022

Known as Putin's chef, Prigozhin finances the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which has also been added to the EU sanctions list. Based in St Petersburg, the IRA is better known as the "troll factory" , where bloggers work around the clock to flood the global internet with pro-Putin and anti-western views. According to US sanctions, Prigozhin is also believed to be the "manager and financier" of the Wagner mercenary group, which is already subject to EU sanctions for its role in sending forces into conflicts in west Africa.

Prigozhin's mother and wife, who owns companies with links to him, are is also on the draft list.

Turkey's Erdogan says cannot abandon ties with Russia or Ukraine -media [_link] pic.twitter.com/55TTs10ENq

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022

Turkey to preserve ties with Russia, Ukraine to de-escalate tensions | Reuters/Daily Sabah |

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan highlighted the necessity of maintaining calm and will maintain relations with both countries amid ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine as Moscow recognized the sovereignty of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR).

Speaking to reporters on his way back from Senegal on Wednesday, Erdoğan said Turkey cooperates with both Russia and Ukraine and will not halt relations or plan to impose sanctions against Moscow.

"We have political, military and economic relations with Russia. Same with Ukraine. We cannot give this up if you ask me because our country has high interests in this regard," Erdoğan said.

He noted that Turkey aims to resolve the issue without harming relations and will conduct talks with the Turkish delegation as soon as he returns home.

Will NATO keep Turkey as member?

Can the Russia-Ukraine crisis offer an opportunity to re-anchor Turkey in NATO? | Brookings - Feb. 16, 2022 |

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France's Macron Calls for EU-Russia Security Pact in Break With U.S. Calls for Unity | The Moscow Times - Jan. 20, 2022 |

French President Emmanuel Macron urged the European Union to forge its own security pact with Russia on Wednesday in a break with U.S. calls for unity amid ongoing efforts to forestall a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The EU was not involved in direct talks with Moscow during last week's high-level diplomatic talks to try to ease tensions caused by Russia's massing of tens of thousands of troops near its border with Ukraine.

"We must put together a joint proposal, a joint vision, a new security and stability order for Europe," the French president said.

...
Macron has sought to improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and modernize the EU's post-Cold War relations with Moscow since taking office in 2017. He is a strong advocate for a Europe that is capable of defending its own strategic interests and maintaining financial independence.

His latest comments stand in stark contrast to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's calls for Western "unity" in its standoff with Russia. 

Putin says Macron told him U.S. has changed stance on Russia's security demands | Swiss Info/Reuters |

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron had told him there had been a change in Washington's stance on Russian security demands, but that he did not know what it was.

📸: The Knotted Gun sculpture at UNHQ in NYC is a universal symbol of non-violence.

The UN works for everyone, everywhere to create a more peaceful and prosperous world for all. [_link] pic.twitter.com/T6k9DpS3RV

— United Nations (@UN) August 22, 2021

I am concerned about the perversion of the concept of peacekeeping.

When troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, they are not impartial peacekeepers.

They are not peacekeepers at all.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) February 23, 2022

Pls check your set R2P policy to protect people from siege and death. Ukraine has not kept its part of the Minsk Agreement.

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Can Poroshenko Control Ukraine's Right Wing? | DIF - Oct. 14, 2015 |

With a shaky cease-fire between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels appearing to hold, one of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's most immediate challenges may come from nationalist parties within his own government, and not from his erstwhile opponents in Moscow. 

In the coming months, Ukraine's parliament is expected to vote on legislation to transfer power away from Kiev -- a key component of the Minsk II cease-fire agreement brokered by Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia (N4) in February. Under the terms of the accord, Kiev is required to grant more autonomy to eastern Ukraine, many of whose residents seek closer ties to Moscow, while Russia is required to withdraw its military hardware and volunteer fighters.

The problem is that Poroshenko currently does not have the votes to amend the Ukrainian Constitution due to opposition from nationalist groups like the Radical Party, Right Sector, and now even political parties beyond the radical fringe, which fear that the legislation will undermine the country's sovereignty and independence.
The impasse threatens to erode the Minsk peace deal and reignite violence between the warring sides. And that impasse may not be disappearing anytime soon. In an interview, Ukraine's new ambassador to the United States said the only way to break the deadlock would be for Russia to withdraw militarily from the conflict -- a step that many doubt Putin will take.

...
"Special status for occupied areas was imposed on Ukraine in Minsk and looks like a reward for Putin. Many Ukrainians see it as appeasement of Putin from the West," said Olexiy Haran, a professor of comparative politics at Ukraine's Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

A decentralization bill passed a first reading in Ukraine's parliament in late August, but only served to highlight the difficult path forward for fully implementing the Minsk agreement. During the boisterous parliamentary session, Poroshenko came under fire from both the opposition and his own pro-European coalition, which accused the president of caving to Russia. After the vote, protests outside led by the ultranationalist party Svoboda left four members of the National Guard dead.

Wagner Group Fighters as Heroes of Modern Russia | April 14, 2021 |

Dmitry Utkin is really a cavalier of the Order of Courage. He was from the Novgorod region." However, Peskov "does not know" whether Utkin has "fighters in Syria" and for what feats he was awarded the Order of Courage.

Utkin is a retired lieutenant colonel born in 1970. He is a career officer, who served as the commander of the 700th separate special forces detachment of the 2nd separate special purpose brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence stationed in the Pskov region until 2013. He worked under contract with the Moran Security Group, defending ships from pirate attacks in dangerous areas. In September 2013, he visited Syria as part of the Slavic Corps for the first time. Back then, he was not a commander yet and was not Wagner. He took the pathetic nom de guerre after a trip to Syria. Since 2014, he has been the commander of his own unit, which took the name "Wagner Group PMC" from his call sign: Call sign "Ninth."

Erik Prince Offered Lethal Services to Sanctioned Russian Mercenary Firm Wagner | The Intercepr - April 13, 2020 |

A business relationship between Prince and Wagner would, in effect, make the prominent Trump administration adviser a subcontractor to the Russian military.

Prince, who is the brother of Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, met earlier this year with a top official of Russia's Wagner Group and offered his mercenary forces to support the firm's operations in Libya and Mozambique, according to two people familiar with Prince's offer.

Wagner officials said they are not interested in working with Prince, three people familiar with their decision told The Intercept.

A lawyer for Prince denied that his client met anyone from Wagner.

What happened in the Seychelles: Erik Prince's account | Jan. 25, 2019 |

In January 2017 Erik Prince attended a meeting in the Seychelles with the United Arab Emirate's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, and George Nader, a former consultant for Erik Prince's company Blackwater.

Why bother with Wagner, Erik Prince and Blackwater have a longer history and are truly global working hand in glove with the US State Department for US national interests and security.

'Sapere aude'

pic.twitter.com/3KGLl7MYFc

— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) February 22, 2022

Looking for the independent state of Ukraine 🇺🇦

'Sapere aude'

Understanding Putin's narrative about Ukraine is the master key to this crisis | Jonathan Steele [_link]

— Guardian Opinion (@guardianopinion) February 23, 2022

Understanding Putin's narrative about Ukraine is the master key to this crisis | The Guardian - Opinion |

People often quote his statement "the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century". But it bears pointing out that he enlarged on it later, saying: "Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains."

It is crucially important for those who might seek to end or ameliorate this crisis to first understand his mindset. What happened this week is that Putin lost his patience, and his temper. He is furious with the Ukraine government. He feels it repeatedly rejected the Minsk aagreement, which would give the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk substantial autonomy. He is angry with France and Germany, the co-signatories, and the United States, for not pressing Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to implement them. He is equally angry with the Americans for not taking on board Russia's security concerns about Nato's expansion and the deployment of offensive missiles close to Russia's borders.

To those who say Nato is entitled to invite any state to join, Putin argues that the "open door" policy is conditioned by a second principle, which Nato states have accepted: namely that the enhancement of a state's security should not be to the detriment of the security of other states (such as Russia). As recently as 2010 Barack Obama put his signature to the principle at a summit of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Clinton's Two Tracks Collide - Nato Enlargement and Russia Engagement (1994)

'Sapere aude'

Something massive just exploded in Kharkiv pic.twitter.com/GlKY1S8VbV

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 24, 2022

EU slaps sanctions on 351 Duma MPs, 27 Russian individuals and entities: [_link] pic.twitter.com/nIOqeNnNXz

— TASS (@tassagency_en) February 23, 2022

Mind you, we are not looking away ... no Munich 1938 moment. 🆘

'Sapere aude'

Was the UN Charter suspended?

The extent of the Obama administration's meddling in Ukraine's politics was breathtaking. Russian intelligence intercepted and leaked to the international media a Nuland telephone call in which she and U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffey Pyatt discussed in detail their preferences for specific personnel in a post‐ Yanukovych government. The U.S‑favored candidates included Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the man who became prime minister once Yanukovych was ousted from power. During the telephone call, Nuland stated enthusiastically that "Yats is the guy" who would do the best job.

Ukraine: Extremists Reject EU Deal, Demand Violent Overthrow | by Oui on Feb 21st, 2014 |

The extremist leaders took the stage and in a fascist style rhetoric rejected this EU brokered deal. This leader made a clear threat and demanded the resignation of president Yanukovich by 10am tomorrow morning. If he doesn't step down, the mob will march on the presidential palace and force him out. We will be armed and no one can stop us.

Entered another coffin pushed forward through the crowd and all were silenced in prayer.

All calls for no more bloodshed fell on deaf ears.

The extremists wanted it all, NATO membership, lethal weapons and restoration of nuclear weapons ...

'Sapere aude'

U.S. truckers from California, inspired by their Canadian counterparts, are forming a cross-country convoy bound for Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/KxPn8t75YK

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022

Trucker convoy DC - live: National guard readies for Biden SOTU as just one big-rig in first protest | Independent UK |

'Sapere aude'

Death by Drone -- Civilian harm caused by U.S. targeted killings in Yemen | OS Justice Initiative |

I covered this cruise missile strike on Yemen in December 2009.

Yemen: Images of missile and cluster munitions point to US role in fatal attack | Amnesty International |

Amnesty International has today released images of  a US-manufactured cruise missile that carried cluster munitions, apparently taken following an attack on an alleged al-Qa'ida training camp in Yemen that killed 41 local residents, including 14 women and 21 children.

The 17 December 2009 attack on the community of al-Ma'jalah in the Abyan area in the south of Yemen killed 55 people including 14 alleged members of al-Qa'ida.

"A military strike of this kind against alleged militants without an attempt to detain them is at the very least unlawful. The fact that so many of the victims were actually women and children indicates that the attack was in fact grossly irresponsible, particularly given the likely use of cluster munitions," said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

The photographs enable the positive identification of damaged missile parts, which appear to be from the payload, mid-body, aft-body and propulsion sections of a BGM-109D Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile.

...
"Cluster munitions have indiscriminate effects and unexploded bomblets threaten lives and livelihoods for years afterwards. All governments responsible for using them must urgently provide assistance to clear unexploded munitions."

Neither the USA nor Yemen has yet signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a treaty designed to comprehensively ban such weapons which is due to enter into force on 1 August 2010.

Key word | Tomahawk |

Anne-Marie Slaughter and the R2P Principle of War | Aug. 31, 2017 |

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I don't know how #Putin said #MinskIIAgreement is null and void, and supported independence of two provinces of #Ukraine, but seems after this, #Blinken cancelled #LavrovBlinken meeting of Thursday...but still not too late for DIALOGUE.
-#Nepal-#Himalayas [_link]

— Dr.Bishnu Hari Nepal (@drbishnuhnepal) February 24, 2022

A compromise was off the table for so many years ...

'Sapere aude'

Talked to @POTUS, @OlafScholz, @eucopresident, @AndrzejDuda, @BorisJohnson. Urge to stop Putin, war against 🇺🇦 & the world immediately! Building an anti-Putin coalition. Immediate sanctions, defense & financial support to 🇺🇦! Close the airspace! The world must force 🇷🇺 into peace

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2022

Replacing Russian gas into Europe as a precaution ...

I continue negotiations with the leaders. Received support from the Emir of Qatar @TamimBinHamad. The world is with us.

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2022

New on MoA:
Disarming Ukraine [_link] pic.twitter.com/nldhf4l1RO

— Moon of Alabama (@MoonofA) February 24, 2022

"When the U.S. drove five waves of NATO expansion eastward all the way to Russia's doorstep..., did it ever think about the consequences of pushing a big country to the wall?" -- spokesperson pic.twitter.com/UvGUtc2vAJ

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 24, 2022

#GTCartoon: The true firestarter. #Ukraine #UkraineConflict @zlj517 @SpokespersonCHN @ValiantPanda pic.twitter.com/a3qllkQjxc

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 23, 2022

Ochakov has been targeted, that was suppossed to be the new Sebastopol built and furnished by the Brits

No more chance false flag attacks near the Sea of Azov as President Poroshenko initiated.

'Sapere aude'

Putin's venture in Ukraine must fail and must be seen to fail.

That will require the perseverance, the unity and the resolve of the entire Western Alliance, and the UK will do everything possible to ensure that that unity is maintained. pic.twitter.com/r1UMw6oTZ2

— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) February 22, 2022

Posted by: Mesquite | Feb 24 2022 10:04 utc | h/t MofA

Two weeks ago I wrote the following comment for a decent Minsk article with some folks thinking Ukraine might win a fight and saying Putin would have no Russian support. My Ukraine history/ geography is off a bit, but mostly holds up.

If Russia actually invades, they lose SWIFT and Nordstream. Europe freezes and has many industrial losses from losing all Russian gas. I think if Putin bothers, he takes all of Eastern Ukraine, including all of Kiev. Total air supremacy, ECM disruption of all communications, intelligence to the nth degree, lots of moles, overwhelming firepower. Maybe 3 days for cessation of major hostilities. Destruction of the Nazi/fascist troop formations might take longer. Urban areas are mostly Russian, holding the territory would mean fighting rural insurgencies.

Having warned for high risk of hostilities over many years ... never hoped and expected for talks to fail. End of the rope before it snapped.

'Sapere aude'

More than a quarter of the world's wheat exports come from Russia and Ukraine.

Infographic: Russia, Ukraine and the global wheat supply | Al Jazeera - Feb. 17, 2022 |

Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat, accounting for more than 18 percent of international exports.

In 2019, Russia and Ukraine together exported more than a quarter (25.4 percent) of the world's wheat, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).

Wheat is the second most-produced grain in the world after corn. For centuries, it has been cultivated by humans and is essential for making bread, pasta and other food staples.

In 2019, Egypt, Turkey and Bangladesh bought more than half of Russia's wheat.

Egypt is the world's biggest importer of wheat. It spends more than $4bn annually to feed its population of over 100 million.

Combined, Russia and Ukraine cover more than 70 percent of Egypt's imported wheat demand.

Turkey is also a big spender on Russian and Ukrainian wheat with 74 percent of its imports worth $1.6bn coming from those two countries in 2019.

In the crop year of 2021-22, Turkey was the largest buyer of Russian wheat, purchasing 4.5 million metric tonnes as of December 30, 2021. Egypt bought 3.2 million metric tonnes from Russia over the same period.

Russia: World's top wheat exporter

In the early 1980s, corn and wheat accounted for two-thirds of US exports to the USSR.

In 1985, the USSR imported a mammoth 55 million metric tonnes of wheat

Now, Russia has become the largest exporter of wheat worldwide.

In 2001, it accounted for just one percent of wheat exports worldwide. That increased to its highest of 26.4 percent in 2018.

Following the collapse of the USSR, the government removed barriers to business allowing farmers to penetrate the global market as well as to invest in agricultural technology.

The creation of ports and the devaluation of the rouble have also contributed to Russia gaining the lion's share on wheat sales.

Today, Russia ships more than 18 percent of the world's supply, followed by the US (16 percent), Canada (14 percent), France (10 percent) and Ukraine (seven percent).

Future for markets: stagflation for stock markets and will tie hands of FED and ECB.

'Sapere aude'

We do not and will not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia.

The #CrimeaPlatform has our utmost political support to make sure that the situation remains high on the international agenda. #CrimeaIsUkraine

With @ZelenskyyUa pic.twitter.com/dnJUnPwq4l

— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) August 23, 2021

You can see in Michel´s eyes the recognition that he's about to be the subject of another #sofagate scandal and then.... nothing.

— Dylan Porter (@dylanrporter) February 18, 2022

Adding civic space for women ...

'Sapere aude'

#OTD - March 21st 2003. U.S. and British troops push into Iraq as missiles strike Baghdad. #nytimes pic.twitter.com/ITkIYGJGtm

— New York Times OTD (@OnThisDayNYT) March 21, 2015

New on MoA:
Disarming Ukraine - Day 1 [_link] pic.twitter.com/LnoZgVOey8

— Moon of Alabama (@MoonofA) February 24, 2022

👉🇺🇦 New on #SentinelLabs: A new malware is attacking #Ukrainian organizations and erasing Windows devices. In this early analysis, we provide technical details, IOCS, & hunting rules. By @juanandres_gs [_link] #infosec #HermeticWiper #apt #wiper

— SentinelOne (@SentinelOne) February 24, 2022

The unreliable Sky News UK follows development from Kyiv and broadcasts "breaking" news on Ukraine ...

"Russia kicked out of Eurovision" ☹ really newsworthy

I have seen the videoclip ... it is nowhere to be find ... almost as military censorship cut out a sentence

⚡️Zelensky: But we are not afraid of anything. Not afraid of Russia. Not afraid to talk to Russia, to talk about security guarantees for our state, about the neutral status. We are not in NATO now, but what guarantees will we have? And what countries will give them to us?

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 24, 2022

These are the words I recall, Zelensky spoke English in the clip ...

'Sapere aude'

And this is confirmed:

European utilities are set to buy tomorrow more Russian natural gas (from Gazprom) via Ukraine pipelines.

Yes, you read that right: Europe will be buying more natural gas. From Russia. Via Ukraine. Tomorrow. [_link]

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) February 24, 2022

Gas prices in the UK and continental Europe dropped more than a fifth on Friday on relief that western sanctions had not dealt a crippling blow to Russia's ability to sell energy and other commodities.

Russia supplies about 40 per cent of Europe's gas supplies, and concerns that flows could be disrupted after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine saw the price surge almost 70 per cent on Thursday.

But prices cooled on Friday as traders analysed US president Joe Biden's decision to include in his sanctions package a carve-out for energy payments, a crucial source of revenue for Moscow.

"Biden was careful to explain that he was not sanctioning the Russian export of energy," said David Aserkoff, analyst at JPMorgan. "His speech was at pains to say that while the goal was to damage the Russian economy, he sought to limit the impact on petrol prices and implicitly other commodities as well. This was also consistent with the view that sanctions are supposed to hurt the enemy, not oneself."

Futures linked to TTF, Europe's wholesale gas price, fell 25 per cent to €101 per megawatt hour, having traded above €140 on Thursday, while the UK equivalent was down 23 per cent at 246p per therm.

Wall Street stocks yesterday and in Europe on Friday managed to recover from early losses.

'Sapere aude'

Citing former US officials & ambassadors, Georgia's Prime Minister says Russo-Georgian War of 2008 was not inevitable. PM claims UNM wants to repeat provocations & war amid Russia's attack on Ukraine. [_link]

— Civil.ge (@CivilGe) February 25, 2022

Remarks by Condoleeza Rice, top U.S. diplomat during Russo-Georgian War of August 2008, with CNN's Fareed Zakaria:

We tried to head it off starting all the way back in 2007, because we knew that Abkhazia and [South] Ossetia were powder kegs. Whoever decided to put Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia and [South] Ossetia as a part of an OSCE peacekeeping force made a terrible mistake that was not our decision. I tried with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who at the time was the German Foreign Minister, to have some kind of agreement to bring down temperature.

I remember saying to Saakashvili, the Russians are gonna try to provoke you, don't let them. And in fact, the Russians provoked them and then the war broke out. When that happens, the United States in a difficult position. We are not in a position to go to war with Russia over Georgia. And so, what we tried to do was to strengthen Georgian forces. They had some forces for instance in Iraq, we brought them back. We actually used some naval exercise in a and around the Black Sea to demonstrate support to Georgians.

Georgia: oil, neocons, cold war and our credibility | by Jerome a Paris on Aug 10th, 2008 |

Related reading ...

Why NATO is a thing of the Past | by Frank Schnittger on Feb 25th, 2009 |

"I want to state clearly and unambiguously, considering our national interests and interests of the people, Georgia does not plan to participate in the financial and economic sanctions," PM Irakli Garibashvili said. [_link]

— Civil.ge (@CivilGe) February 25, 2022

VTB Bank Georgia Hit with Int'l Sanctions

The Georgian branch of Russia's state-owned VTB Bank is no longer able to carry out transactions in U.S. Dollars, British Pounds, or Euros, after the U.S., UK, EU and other allies slapped sanctions on Russian financial institutions in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

The National Bank of Georgia said today as the regulator of commercial banks it has complied with the sanctions and restricted the VTB's transactions in the relevant foreign currency.

In an original statement, the central bank expressed readiness to provide the Russian-owned bank with financial resources in case of liquidity needs.

Selling Motor Sich to the Chinese: The Political Significance of the Business Transaction | Aug. 31, 2019 |

The U.S. administration aims to block the sale of a strategically important Ukrainian engine manufacturer for aircraft and missiles to China. During his recent visit to Kyiv, John Bolton has probably warned the Ukrainians about the consequences of finalising such a transaction. The White House has already sent a warning signal, delaying the transfer of $250 million worth of military aid to Ukraine.

ASSETS THEFT BY THE STATE

Exclusive: Documents Reveal Erik Prince's $10 Billion Plan to Make Weapons and Create a Private Army in Ukraine | TIME - July 7, 2021 |

Prince hoped to hire Ukraine's combat veterans into a private military company. Prince also wanted a big piece of Ukraine's military-industrial complex, including factories that make engines for fighter jets and helicopters. His full plan, dated June 2020 and obtained exclusively by TIME this spring, includes a "roadmap" for the creation of a "vertically integrated aviation defense consortium" that could bring $10 billion in revenues and investment.

At least one of Prince's offers to Ukraine appeared to be in line with U.S. geopolitical interests. As the Wall Street Journal first reported in Nov. 2019, Prince has been competing against a Chinese firm to buy a Ukrainian factory called Motor Sich, which produces advanced aircraft engines.

....
Prince's interests expanded well beyond the military sector. He traded oil and minerals in Africa. He assembled a private army for his friend, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. He prepared a force in Somalia to combat pirates in the Gulf of Aden. He helped train a hit squad for the CIA.

....
The work was complex, especially when it came to acquiring Motor Sich, says the person familiar with Prince's thinking. The factory had been privatized in the 1990s, during Ukraine's chaotic transition to capitalism.

In 2016 and 2017, Chinese investors bought up shares in the factory from its private owners, paying an estimated $700 million for control of Motor Sich. They were not expected to give it up without a fight in the courts. So the lawyers had to find legal grounds for Ukraine to take control of the asset before re-selling it to a new investor. Their plan relied on a regulatory snag: Ukraine's anti-trust agency had not granted approval to the Chinese investment.

The proposal also called for an "ultimatum" to be issued to the Chinese investors in Motor Sich, who would be forced to either accept an "immediate sale" or face the "loss of value," the plan stated.

"If Chinese remain uncooperative," the Ukrainian government should take over the factory and transfer control to new investors, the document says.

Meanwhile, the dilemma with Motor Sich has only gotten more complex. The Chinese investors in the factory filed a $3.5 billion claim in December 2020 at an international court of arbitration, claiming that Ukraine's decision to block the sale was illegal.

The Ukrainian government responded by imposing sanctions against the Chinese investors, one of whom alles the move "an abuse of state power and the suppression of normal business activity." The proposal also called for an "ultimatum" to be issued to the Chinese investors in Motor Sich, who would be forced to either accept an "immediate sale" or face the "loss of value," the plan stated. "If Chinese remain uncooperative," the Ukrainian government should take over the factory and transfer control to new investors, the document says.

Ukraine: Imposition of new set of Sanctions Affecting Chinese Investors, Media Companies and other parties | Feb. 25, 2021 |

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The US Embassy in #Ukraine has just deleted from its website all documents about 11 Pentagon-funded biolaboratories in Ukraine. I have published all these documents (now deleted by the Embassy) here [_link] and in the thread below pic.twitter.com/benFmDwguI

— Dilyana Gaytandzhieva (@dgaytandzhieva) February 26, 2022

Lesson from Nancy Pelosi

Probably thinking of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

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Army of Ukraine lobbyists behind unprecedented Washington blitz | Responsible Statecraft - Feb. 11, 2022 |

Congress has been the primary target of Ukraine's agents, with over 300 House and Senate staff and members of Congress on the receiving end of more than 8,000 emails, phone calls, and meetings with Ukraine's lobbyists. Agents representing the
Ukrainian Federation of Employers of the Oil and Gas Industry, or UFEOGI, the largest association of energy companies in Ukraine, have flooded Capitol Hill with headlines like "Ukrainians call on U.S. Senate to sanction Putin's pipeline weapon," and others claiming "Moscow regards concessions as a sign of weakness."

In 2021, UFEOGI's lobbyists also focused intently on senators who co-sponsored 2020 legislation to block completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, including Cruz; John Barrasso (R-Wyo.); Tom Cotton, (R-Ark.); Ron Johnson, (R-Wis.); and Jeanne Shaheen, (D-N.H.). These senators, all members of the Foreign Relations Committee who had previously taken tough stances toward Russia, were contacted at least 100 times in 2021 and, on multiple occasions, staffers met directly with lobbyists.

How We Failed to Prevent a Second Cold War by Richard Sakwa

The first account of the new Cold War--revealing how today's renewed era of global great power competition could threaten us all

Three decades after the Cold War ended, the hopes for a new and more cooperative era in world politics have been lost. With the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia, today there are once again global powers rivalling those of the West. We are now in a Second Cold War, and international security is under threat.
 
In this incisive account, Richard Sakwa traces the loss of peace and the new configuration of international politics that has arisen in its place, demonstrating that the years of "cold peace" were little more than a hiatus. As Russia aligns with China, shifts in global politics blur the lines of confrontation and the liberal order as a whole faces unprecedented challenges. In a compelling reinterpretation of the accepted narrative, Sakwa shows how this new conflict could have been avoided--and what we need to learn to finally inaugurate a new peace order.

Invading Ukraine may never have been Putin's aim - the threat alone could advance Russia's goals | by Ronald Suny |

Invasion may never have been the point. One interpretation is that President Putin mobilized his soldiers and sailors primarily to force a dialogue with the West over what the spheres of influence and interest in Eastern Europe should be.

As a scholar who has spent his entire career studying Russian history, I see the current crisis in a broader context. If you zoom out from the events of the past few weeks, it is possible to see this dangerous standoff as part of the continuing fallout from the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Some 30 years on, the architecture of what is supposed to be the "new world order" is still being built.

Russia is a regional power in decline and feels insecure. If countries were able to experience emotions, Russia's dominant feeling would be, I believe, humiliation. It feels it is a victim of Western expansion and wants a restoration of its lost influence.

This weakened but still ambitious regional power faces a global one, the United States, that is similarly fearful of losing its sway around the world in the face of a recent military retreat from Afghanistan and the economic threat of China. That standoff - between two hegemons, one regional, the other global - leaves Ukraine as the pawn in the middle.

Key words: Putin | Moscow | Berel Lazar | Chabad |

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I read somewhere about mid-Jan, a memorable one-liner in Roll Call maybe? that insiders expect HHS to cancel the public health emergency declaration on or about March 31.

24 months is a tidy frame for most pilot projects; CDC agitprop and FDA EUAs have nearly collapsed into the Big Shrug, Live With It. On the other hand, "mandates" are sticky, and OSHA did warn it might revisit SCOTUS ruling on private-sector ETS. Could the feds be poised to extend "national security" out of concern for Russian BIO WARFARE?

I wasn't aware that Politico's 19 Feb "interview in Munich" with Bill Gates was a PR accessory of the MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE 2022, dominated by tensions o'er UKRAINE.

18 Feb break-out session: "Get Well Soon: Finding a way out of the global pandemic" starts 00:06:00 with "scene setter" Gates, flanked by FMs of Sweden, Canada, and CEO of the Int'l Crisis Group who seems to be holding WHO GenSec Tedros' place as face of Global South equity until the last 10 min.

Sadly, the virus itself, particularly the variant called omicron, is a type of vaccine, that is, creates both B-cell and T-cell immunity, and it's done a better job getting out to the world population than we have with vaccines. If you do sera surveys in African countries you get well over 80% of people have been exposed either to the vaccine or to various variants. So what that does is, it means the chance of severe disease which is mainly associated with being elderly and uh having obesity or diabetes, those risks are now dramatically reduced because of that infection exposure. And it's sad we didn't do a great job on therapeutics, you know, only here two years in do we have a good therapeutic,  vaccines that took us two years to be in over-supply. Today there are more vaccines than demand for vaccines.

AOC in Conversation With Noam Chomsky

At 93, Noam Chomsky is the most important leftist intellectual alive. At 32, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of our most important leftist elected officials. The two recently spoke about our prospects for winning a better world.

We are at a moment in American history when all sorts of long-held assumptions about markets and governments, and even our relationship to one another and to nature, seem to be loosening their grip. The manufacturers of consent no longer seem to have quite so much control over what everyday people do.

To discuss our new environment, left-wing writer and broadcaster Laura Flanders sat down earlier this year with both MIT professor emeritus, author, and public intellectual Noam Chomsky and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York's 14th congressional district. What follows is a transcript of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. A portion of the discussion is available on The Laura Flanders Show's YouTube channel.

LF: I believe this is the first time you have actually met. Is there anything you want to say to each other?
NC: I've been greatly admiring what you've been doing, AOC, and following it closely. So it's a real pleasure to be with you.
AOC: Likewise, it's such an honor and a culminating moment to be able to engage with the one and only Professor Chomsky.
LF: Noam, you and I have talked on and off for about thirty years. In that time, there have always been, as you put it, a long list of unthinkable thoughts in America. Yet I recently read in our newspaper of record, the New York Times, that workers have real power, but the economy just might need some sort of planning -- and that, just possibly, leaving so many things to markets isn't the best idea, especially when it comes to the environment and health care.
Is something shifting? And when you think of the "unthinkables," what's changed and what hasn't, in your view?

Chomsky: Outdated US Cold War Policy Worsens Ongoing Russia-Ukraine Conflict [_link]

— Noam Chomsky (@ChomskyDotInfo) December 27, 2021

Chomsky: Outdated US Cold War Policy Worsens Ongoing Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The tension on the Russia-Ukraine border represents an ongoing conflict between two nations with many cultural affinities, but is also part of a much larger rivalry between the U.S. and Europe on one side, and Russia on the other. As Noam Chomsky reminds us in the exclusive interview for Truthout that follows, in 2014, a Russia-supported government in Ukraine was forcefully removed from power by a coup supported by the U.S. and replaced by a U.S. and European-backed government. It was a development that brought closer to war the two main antagonists of the Cold War era, as Moscow regards both U.S. and European involvement in Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) continued eastward expansion as part of a well-orchestrated strategy to encircle Russia. The strategy of encirclement is indeed as old as NATO itself, and this is the reason why Russian President Vladimir Putin issued recently a list of demands to the U.S. and NATO with regard to their actions in Ukraine and even parts of the former Soviet space. In the meantime, senior-level Russian officials have gone even further by warning of military response if NATO continues to ignore Moscow's security concerns.

As Chomsky notes below, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a solvable problem, but one wonders if the U.S. will remain dedicated to a "zombie policy" that could produce potentially awful consequences in the event of a diplomatic failure.

Noam Chomsky is internationally recognized as one of the most important intellectuals alive. His intellectual stature has been compared to that of Galileo, Newton and Descartes as his work has had tremendous influence on a variety of areas of scholarly and scientific inquiry, including linguistics, logic and mathematics, computer science, psychology, media studies, philosophy, politics and international affairs. He is the author of some 150 books and recipient of scores of highly prestigious awards, including the Sydney Peace Prize and the Kyoto Prize (Japan's equivalent of the Nobel Prize), and of dozens of honorary doctorate degrees from the world's most renowned universities. Chomsky is Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT and currently Laureate Professor at the University of Arizona.

C.J. Polychroniou: Following the undoing of the USSR between 1980-1991, people in Ukraine voted overwhelmingly in 1991 to declare independence from the crumbling communist empire. Since then, Ukraine has sought to align closely with the European Union (EU) and NATO, but Moscow has objected to such plans, as it has always considered Ukraine to be part of Russia, and, accordingly, continued to meddle in the country's internal affairs. In fact, Ukraine became a battleground in 2014 when Putin decided to annex Crimea, which he called the "spiritual source" of the Russian state, and, since then, tensions between the two countries have been very hard to diffuse. In your own view, what's really behind the conflict between Russia and Ukraine?
Noam Chomsky: There's more to add, of course. What happened in 2014, whatever one thinks of it, amounted to a coup with U.S. support that replaced the Russia-oriented government by a Western-oriented one. That led Russia to annex Crimea, mainly to protect its sole warm water port and naval base, and apparently with the agreement of a considerable majority of the Crimean population. There's extensive scholarship on the complexities, particularly Richard Sakwa's Frontline Ukraine and more recent work.
There's an excellent discussion of the current situation in a recent article in The Nation by Anatol Lieven. Lieven argues realistically that Ukraine is "the most dangerous [immediate] problem in the world," and "also in principle the most easily solved."

Russia-Ukraine: Resolving the World's Most Dangerous Conflict | EJIL Talk - Feb. 1, 2022 |

David Scheffer has also noted that the discourse, like that on China and Taiwan , is being conducted using "bedrock principles of international law". He urges using that fact to promote peace by emphasizing the rules prohibiting force.

But Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations and needs to argue that Article 2(4) is jus cogens. As jus cogens, it applies to all significant uses of military force, and it endures in the face of changing state practice. This is interpretation is critical to Taiwan and Ukraine in this moment. But the US, often supported by its NATO allies and Australia, has violated Article 2(4) so often in the last three decades it is in a weak position to make demands that others respect it. "Do as I say, not as I do" has never been a persuasive position.

Massacres of over 100,000 Jews between 1918 and 1921 paved the way for the Nazi Holocaust-by-bullets

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the country is ready for peace talks with Russia but not in Belarus. Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of using Belarus as a staging ground for its incursion pic.twitter.com/TBCnGkwth2

— TRT World (@trtworld) February 27, 2022

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says this is "a crucial moment" to decide on Ukraine's membership of the European Union, amid a continuing Russian onslaught, but EU officials say not all bloc members support this.

I have no verificationat what time this offer was made ... could be over one day ago ...

'Sapere aude'

Yad Vashem, chief rabbi urged US not to sanction Roman Abramovich - Shameful betrayal of decency and real Jewish values. Sucking up to Jewish oligarchs is a bad look. [_link] via @timesofisrael

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) February 27, 2022

Russian Oil Wealth, Kremlin and Oligarchs | Dec. 28, 2018 |

Laundering a Russian Oligarch through Israeli Citizenship | May 29, 2018 |

From Kensington to Tel Aviv:

He is an Israeli citizen now with his invested wealth he escapes US sanctions and British investigation into the source of his billions. Furthermore by moving residency to Tel Aviv, he gets tax exemption over 10 years ... so he belongs to the good guys now: well done Roman!

Under the Law of Return, Israel grants automatic citizenship to every Jew, or child or grandchild of a Jew, giving them the "right of return" to live in Israel.

'Sapere aude'

Russia is interested in coming to an agreement that is in the interests of both sides at talks with Ukraine, Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said on Monday, as officials prepare to meet near the border. Medinsky said talks were expected to begin at 12 p.m. local time (0900 GMT).

'Sapere aude'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Sunday that Kremlin-backed RT, formerly known as Russia Today, and Sputnik, would be banned in the EU.

Authoritarianism ... not a democracy ... wow, a first not even during the Cold War and the Red Danger ... crazy stuff. Definitely a show of weakness.

Czechia Mulls Penalizing Support of Ukraine Invasion | Balkan Insight - March 1, 2022 |

Publicly backing the Russian invasion of Ukraine might be subject to custodial sentences of up to three years, Czechia's Supreme State Attorney Igor Striz said in a statement on Saturday.

By the following day, Czech police were already investigating dozens of cases, local news site TN Nova reported. Czech police spokesman Ondrej Moravcik said: "We will carefully evaluate such actions and thoroughly analyse whether they represent such crimes."

The Public Prosecutor's Office appealed for Czech citizens to stay within the confines of the country's constitutional and legal restrictions. Although freedom of expression is stipulated in the Czech constitution, meaning everyone has the right to express their views, it also has its limits just as in any democratic state.

This means that "under certain conditions", anyone publicly supporting or praising the leaders of the Russian Federation regarding the country's attack on Ukraine could face criminal charges, including at demonstrations or even online, Striz said.

Jail Time for Czechs Agreeing With Russian Intervention - similar laws in Slovakia & Latvia

New on MoA:
Zelensky And The Fascists:
"He will hang on some tree on Khreshchatyk"
[_link] pic.twitter.com/Wezr8hGQai

— Moon of Alabama (@MoonofA) March 5, 2022