streamed live, 1 Mar 2022, EP Extraordinary Plenary session on Russian aggression against Poland Ukraine, running time 03:55:50

Our new cover. No strapline, no flashes. pic.twitter.com/79kzRTs6xw

— Tom Nuttall (@tom_nuttall) March 3, 2022

France24 | EU Commission plans to give 3-year protection to Ukraine refughttps://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/38901/eu-commission-plans-to-give-3year-protection-to-ukra ine-refugeesees

Under the proposal, made on Wednesday (March 2), refugees will get temporary protection as soon as the proposal is approved by EU interior ministers who will next meet on Thursday (March 3). The proposal has be agreed upon by a majority of at least 15 member states.

Today @EU_Commission is proposing to activate the Temporary Protection Directive to assist people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

This is complemented by operational guidelines to help EU Member States' border guards manage arrivals at the borders with Ukraine.

🇪🇺 #StandWithUkraine

— EU Home Affairs (@EUHomeAffairs) March 2, 2022

Interfax | Putin tells Macron of talks with Kyiv, focuses on Ukraine's demilitarization, neutral status - Kremlin, 3 Mar

"[Putin] commented in detail on Macron's Address to the Nation yesterday regarding the war in Ukraine, having disagreed with many of its theses. In particular, Emmanuel Macron calling Russia's fight against Nazism in Ukraine a 'lie.'

euractive | Privacy activists launch new offensive against non-compliant cookie banners

The privacy advocates recently scored a major victory as two of their complaints prompted the Austrian and French data protection authorities to declare Google Analytics illegal for unduly transferring the personal data of EU residents to the United States.
[...]
NOYB's battle against non-compliant cookie banners started in May 2021, when the organisation presented over 500 complaints. The activists are giving the companies a 60-day grace period to bring their banner in line with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
[...]
456 complaints were officially filed with 20 different data protection authorities, coordinated by an ad hoc task force of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), the EU body responsible for streamlining the GDPR enforcement.

oh

Sputnik | German Chancellor Scholz Hails NATO's Decision Not to Accept Ukraine Into the Bloc as 'Correct', 4 Mar

"That was the correct decision, after very long negotiations within NATO about that issue", Scholz told the German TV channel ZDF, in an apparent nod to the alliance's summit in June 2021.

Politico.eu.com | Scholz, Zelenskiy play down talk of NATO membership for Ukraine, 4 Mar

At a press conference in Kyiv, Scholz and Zelenskiy played down the likelihood of Ukraine joining the military alliance in the foreseeable future.
[...]
"The question of [Ukrainian] membership in alliances is practically not on the agenda," Scholz said at the press conference, which followed a two-hour meeting between the leaders. "And that is why it is strange to observe that the Russian government is making something that is practically not on the agenda the subject of major political problems," Scholz added. "That is the great challenge that we actually face: That something that is not even on the agenda is being made an issue."

While Scholz stressed that each country should be able to make decisions on which alliances to join, he said it was important to "look at the reality" and seek to de-escalate tensions, just days after the U.S. warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent.

Zelenskiy said NATO membership was a remote "dream." Though he stressed that Ukraine was still keen to join the military alliance, Zelenskiy also acknowledged that the call was ultimately not up to Kyiv.

DW | Germany's Scholz urges Putin to end hostilities, 4 Mar

During a one-hour conversation, the German chancellor called on Russia's president to immediately halt military action in Ukraine. Putin said Russia was "open" to talks with Kyiv if all his demands were met.

Situation `getting worse' in Romania: 50,000 refugees in two days, 5 Mar interview Emil Boc, mayor of Cluj-Napoca, president of the association of Romanian municipalities, and the former PM of Romania.

I don't know what stories you have heard, but the national authorities took all the decisions over there. Yet, many people who initially arrived in Romania didn't want to be a refugee in the legal sense, but just to pass through the country to move to Western Europe. Like I said, out of 120,000 refugees until 3 March, 70,000 left Romania more or less immediately.

So the first wave was primarily refugees with cars, who moved on to a place in Western Europe. But the situation is getting worse now, as the people who had some money have already left Romania, or they're still in quarters on their own money around the regions. Romanians were waiting for them with help, but they didn't need it.

But the other people from Ukraine, the second group with fewer material resources coming from Ukraine now, there is solidarity with them....

Alain Lipietz : L'Ukraine, La France Insoumise et nous

Lipietz was my "maître à penser", 20 years ago, when I was at my most active in EELV. We were on the left of the party. He gives us a peek into the state of the French left.

J'étais trop petit pour comprendre le drame des communistes français lors de Budapest 56. On m'a raconté après. J'ai vu le drame des communistes français lors de Prague 68, le processus profond de remise en question. Kiev 22 aurait dû avoir le même effet à gauche.

Depuis la crise de 2014, deux interprétations nous séparaient sur la crise rampante entre Russie et Ukraine. Pour moi et pas mal d'autres, Poutine rêvait de reconstruire l'empire stalinien, en tenant grotesquement le discours de la Grande guerre patriotique contre les « nazis » ukrainiens héritiers de l'UPA de Bandera. Pour JLM, Fillon, Zemmour, Le Pen, Mariani, pour Védrine l'avocat des génocidaires et quelques autres, Poutine ne faisait que défendre la Russie encerclée (par qui ? L'Inde, la Chine ?), contre le projet des démocrates US (les Biden, les Obama, les Kamala Harris, les AOC, etc... ) d'étendre l'OTAN jusqu'au Donetz, au contraire de Trump qui privilégiait la lutte contre la Chine.

I was too young to understand the drama of French communists when Budapest 56 happened. I was told about it afterwards. I saw the drama of French communists during Prague 68, the profound process of self-examination. Kiev 22 should have had the same effect on the left.
Since the 2014 crisis, two interpretations divided us concerning the creeping crisis between Russia and Ukraine. For me and many others, Putin dreamed of rebuilding Stalin's empire, with his grotesque thesis of a Great Patriotic War against the Ukrainian "nazis", inheritors of Bandera's UPA. For Mélenchon, Fillon, Zemmour, Le Pen, Mariani, for Védrine [former Foreign Minister, Socialist], Putin was only defending encircled Russia (encircled by? India? China?), against the project of the US Democrats (Biden, Obama, Kamala Harris,  AOC, etc... ) to extend NATO all the way to Donetz, contrary to Trump who prioritized the struggle against China

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

Oil Price | Russia Threatens To Cut Off Flow Of Nordstream 1 Pipeline

"In connection with unfounded accusations against Russia regarding the energy crisis in Europe and the imposition of a ban on Nord Stream 2, we have every right to take a matching decision and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline," [RU Deputy PM Alexander] Novak said in a state television broadcast on Monday, adding that "so far, we are not taking such a decision."
[...]
If Russia does cut off the flow of Nord Stream 1, natural gas prices in Europe will climb even higher. Natural gas prices are already at a record high, up 42% from Friday's close to $293 per MwH on Monday

Yahoo! Bloomberg | Russia Threatens to Cut Gas Flows to Europe Via the Nord Stream 1 Pipeline

Novak said that Russia has other options for selling its oil if the U.S. and EU ban Russian imports, and he warned that any such move could have "catastrophic consequences for the world market" with prices surging to $300 a barrel or more.

ancient history
Germany's E.ON rejects halting Nord Stream 1 pipeline - [Rheinische Post] paper, 27 Feb 2022

After the German government put the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on hold last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Saturday called for shutting down Nord Stream 1, which has transferred Russian gas to Germany since 2011.

Nord Stream is a joint venture of Russia's Gazprom, Germany's oil and gas producer Wintershall DEA, PEG Infrastruktur E.ON, Dutch Gasunie and French Engie.

E.ON, which holds a 15.5% stake in Nord Stream 1, said the project was "completely different from the ongoing discussions about the Nord Stream 2 line."

humanitarian interest

humanitarian tragedy

AFP, via Moscow Times

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said he will not send conscripts or reservists to fight in Ukraine and that "professional" soldiers fulfilling "fixed objectives" were leading the war.

"Conscripted soldiers are not participating and will not participate in the fighting. There will not be an additional conscription of reservists either," Putin said in a televised address marking International Women's Day on March 8.

Or :
The Conversation

Within a few days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Russian independent news organisation Meduza published an article highlighting the shock and anger of the families of Russian conscripts when they discovered that their sons had been sent into battle. Russian law prohibits the use of conscripts in combat, so these parents had no reason to believe that their loved ones were in the front lines of Putin's "special military operation" in Ukraine.

According to the families that Meduza interviewed, conscripts are being coerced into signing contracts of voluntary service to change their status and provide some legal cover for sending them to war.

Changes to the status of conscripts is not the only information that Russia is keeping from soldiers' families. According to a presidential decree that Putin signed in 2015, all military deaths are a state secret. This means that frantic families who contact the Ministry of Defence asking for information about the welfare of their sons are routinely met either with silence or delaying tactics, such as advice to contact a unit commander directly or write to the Red Cross.

Ukraine has seemingly taken a very different approach. According to news reports, when Russian soldiers are captured they are allowed to phone their families, both to assure those back home that they are alive but also to convey to them the reality of this war.

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

<p">Hello Spring ☀️

Dutch prepare to welcome 50,000 Ukrainians.

Details in your Dutch news from the cycle path 👋🏽

🇺🇦🇳🇱🪴🌷💐🚛🖥💶💶 pic.twitter.com/bMg4NpqPDN

— anna holligan 🎙 (@annaholligan) March 8, 2022

Politico.eu.com | Digital detectives scour Ukraine social media for evidence of Russian war crimes, 4 Mar

"What we're trying to do is collect as much of this material as possible and then archive it, so that if it is deleted, it won't have an impact on future attempts at accountability," said Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat, an investigative outlet known for its work using publicly accessible content online, also known as open-source intelligence.

"What's different about Ukraine is that we're kind of all set up from day one rather than what happened with Syria," added Higgins.
[...]
Meta's Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Google's YouTube did not reply to requests for comment.

Official announcement

McDonald's To Temporarily Close Restaurants & Pause Operations in Russia

Now Ukraine and Russia can go to war. Friedman was right!

Austria suspends mandatory Covid vaccine law
Austria says it is suspending mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for all adults as the pandemic no longer poses the same danger, just weeks after the law took effect in an European Union first, reports AFP.

The Alpine nation of nine million people was among few countries in the world to make jabs against the coronavirus compulsory for all adults.

The law took effect in February and called for fines up to 3,600 euros from mid-March for those who do not comply.

But minister Karoline Edtstadler said the law's "encroachment of fundamental rights" could no longer be justified by the danger posed by the pandemic.

Deutsche Bank going Greek
https:/wallstreetonparade.com/2022/03/deutsche-bank-has-lost-38-percent-of-its-market-value-in-a-mo nth-thats-a-big-problem-for-wall-street-and-the-fed

euractiv | Russia leaves Council of Europe, avoiding being kicked out, 10 Mar

The Russian move is likely a preemptive [?] action to avoid a vote in which Moscow could suffer a HUMILIATING EXPULSION as most members vehemently oppose the ongoing attack of Ukraine.

On 25 February, the day after the Russian army invasion of Ukraine, the Council of Europe suspended Russia's rights of representation by a vote in which only Russia and Armenia voted in favour, while the representatives of Serbia and Azerbaijan did not attend.

wut

However, this decision did not exclude Russia from the Council of Europe, and it remained party to relevant [?] Council of Europe conventions, including the European Convention on Human Rights. At the time, the Council of Europe stated that "it [RU suspension of rights?] leaves communication channels open", and the judge tasked with dealing with the Russian Federation in the European Court of Human Rights would continue dealing with cases issued against the country.

"Suspension is not a final measure but a temporary one", the Strasbourg body [ECHR] said on 25 February
[...]
Facing overwhelming condemnation from almost all other members WAS LIKELY TOO MUCH for Moscow. Furthermore, on Saturday, 5 March, Russia issued a list of "unfriendly" countries, including many fellow members of CoE.

archived Russia's New Bond Rules Split Creditors Based on Sanctions

reference
Kremlin, Executive Order [No. 95]on temporary procedure for meeting loan obligations to certain foreign creditors, 5 Mar 2022
CBR, Bank of Russia clarifies rules for Russian issuers' external debt repayments, 6 Mar
Government, The Government approves the list of unfriendly countries and territories, 7 Mar

Albania, Andorra, Australia, Canada, [27] members of the European Union, Japan, Liechtenstein [EFTA], Micronesia, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway [EFTA], Singapore, San Marino, South Korea, Switzerland [EFTA], Taiwan (the Republic of China), Ukraine, the United Kingdom, including Jersey, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar, and the United States of America.

NB. Some syndicated (EN) press adds Iceland in error.

This must be the calmest job at a UN agency ever. Established in 1991.Since 2017 repurposed into data mining of doubtful ethical perspective.
https:/cooperation.gouvernement.lu/content/dam/gouv_cooperation/appels-%C3%A0-candidature/jpo/2020 JPO-2020-OCHA-The-Hague.pdf
Their latest activity is dated 2017. I wonder how much is the salary.
https:/www.unocha.org/story/centre-humanitarian-data-connecting-people-and-data-improve-lives
https:/hhi.harvard.edu/files/humanitarianinitiative/files/refugee_connectivity_web.mb4_.8-2.pdf

DW | Germany to buy [up to 35] US F-35 stealth fighters, 14 Mar
wut

And why is this in a magazine that claims to be satire?

Ist unsere Bundesregierung kommunistisch unterwandert? Diese Frage stellen sich immer mehr Menschen, seit FDP-Chef Christian Lindner aufgrund gestiegener Benzinpreise einen sofortigen staatlichen Eingriff fordert, anstatt den freien Markt regeln zu lassen.

"Für dieses Verhalten kann es nur eine logische Erklärung geben: Christian Lindner muss plötzlich zum Kommunisten geworden sein", erklärt Politik- und Wirtschaftswissenschaftlerin Thea Kowalic. "Denn die übliche Reaktion Lindners auf Preisspitzen, etwa bei Mieten, lautete stets: 'Das regelt die unsichtbare Hand des Marktes'."

Tatsächlich bezeichnete Lindner eine Mietpreisbremse noch vor wenigen Jahren als "Planwirtschaft" und erklärte, "jetzt kommen alte sozialistische Ideen zurück".

Doch kaum ist der FDP-Politiker an der Macht, scheint er plötzlich das Vertrauen in den freien Markt verloren zu haben. Stattdessen greift er lieber auf die teure Subventionierung überkommener Technologien zurück. Dafür aufkommen muss selbstverständlich wie immer der Steuerzahler. Schlanker Staat? Von wegen!

Times of Israel

He also reportedly made an off-color crack about Ukrainian women during the meeting, after Shaked noted that many mayors across the country are volunteering to take in Ukrainian refugees.

"Some of them only want Ukrainian women," Liberman joked in response.

Nobody called out the minister for the comment and several colleagues even laughed at it, reports said.,

When will #MeToo call for #BDS?

Politico.eu.com | Europeans support Ukraine joining the EU -- but not yet, 16 Mar
EU6 (GR, IT, ES, DE, FR, NL)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has already declared Ukraine belongs in the EU, though it is not in her power to admit Ukraine or even propose the country as a candidate for membership. Such decisions have to be agreed upon by all of the bloc's 27 member countries -- and they have disagreed sharply in recent years on EU enlargement.
[...]
The poll was conducted by Sigma Dos in Spain, SWG in Italy, Opinionway in France, Insa in Germany, Prorata in Greece and I&O Research in the Netherlands. Sample size: 1,000 in each country; field work period: March 8-11, 2022.

• OVERALL SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE'S EU MEMBERSHIP

details
• EUROPEAN PUBLIC CONDEMNS RUSSIAN INVASION: "unacceptable" | "unacceptable but understandable"
• PERCEPTIONS OF DANGER NOT DRIVEN BY GEOGRAPHY: "How much do you feel that your country is in danger because of the Russian-Ukrainian war?"
• INCREASING SUPPORT FOR EU ARMY: before | after the Russian invasion

Welcome to France (or not so)
https://www.nytimes.com/fr/2022/02/13/world/europe/musulmans-france-exil-discrimination.html?smid=tw -share

DWsplainin | The Azov Battalion: Extremists defending Mariupol, 16 Mar

Mariupol: Azov's headquarters
Mariupol is also where the Azov Battalion, which is part of the Ukrainian National Guard and thus subordinate to the Interior Ministry, has set up its headquarters. Its fighters are well trained, but the unit is composed of nationalists and far-right radicals. Its very existence is one of the pretexts Russia has used for its war against Ukraine.
[...]
Initially, Azov was a volunteer militia that formed in the city of Berdyansk to support the Ukrainian army in its fight against pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Some of its fighters came from the small but active far-right group Pravyi sektor (Right Sector), whose core members were from eastern Ukraine and spoke Russian. Originally, they had even advocated the unity of East Slavic peoples: Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians.... Such associations would be described as "free comradeships," or organized neo-Nazi groups, in Germany, Andreas Umland from the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies, told DW.
[...]
Umland said Azov had drawn early attention by using the the Nazi Wolfsangel symbol as its emblem. "The Wolfsangel has far-right connotations, it is a pagan symbol that the SS also used," said Umland. "But it is not considered a fascist symbol by the population in Ukraine." The Azov Regiment wants the symbol from the Nazi era to be understood as stylized versions of the letters N and I, standing for "national idea."
[...]
The Ukrainian government decided to incorporate the ultra-nationalists into state structures in 2014. ... In 2019, there was an attempt by US Congress to designate the regiment as a "terrorist organization" but this did not happen.

DWsplainin | Who are the Indians supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine?, 16 Mar

In New Delhi earlier this month, members of Hindu Sena, an Indian right-wing organisation, organized a demonstration in support of Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. Marching in the heart of the capital for almost an hour, the demonstrators held signs reading "Russia, you fight, we are with you" and "Long live India-Russia ties." Other signs explicitly supported the invasion and an "undivided Russia."
[...]
College student Richa Kapoor said that although he feels bad for innocent Ukrainians, he thinks the West is in no position to criticize Russia, when considering the Western-led invasion of Afghanistan. "We should not be swayed by the Western bloc's hypocrisy," she told DW.

Mahesh Kumar Agarwal, a lawyer, told DW that he thinks the countries that once belonged to the Soviet Union will eventually return to Russian control.
[...]
A similar geopolitical concept, known as "Akhand Bharat*," is supported by some on the far right in India, which envisions the entire Indian subcontinent, stretching from Afghanistan to Myanmar, as belonging to a single, "undivided" nation with India at its core.

Other supporters of Putin cite historical ties to Russia, including memories of the Soviet Union backing India during the 1971 war of liberation in Bangladesh.

"Historical ties with the former USSR, and the threat of China getting closer to Russia, are also reasons that shape India's support," Nalini Ranjan Mohanty, director of the Jagran Institute of Management and Mass Communication, told DW.
[...]
There are also similarities between Putin and Prime Minister Narender Modi's populist political style. "Both leaders bring in a macho-man image to their personalities, are nationalistic, authoritarian, and display a fierce leadership style," media historian Rakesh Batabyal told DW.

DW "read out" | Ukrainian president tells Bundestag 'help came too late', 17 Mar

Ukraine's President ["free comrade"] Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Bundestag in a video call for the first time on Thursday morning before the German parliament opened. ... Zelenskyy had some harsh words for the German government over its economic interests with Russia. "We could see your willingness to continue to do business with Russia and now we're in the middle of the cold war. And again this is something you have failed to see," Zelensky told the Bundestag.

"You're still protecting yourself behind a wall that does not make it possible for you to see what we are going through," he added.

* Bharat is an indigenous, pre-colonial name of the sub-continent

RTE | Biden praises Irish leadership on Ukraine in virtual meeting with Taoiseach

Quoting WB Yeats, Mr Biden described the impact the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had on the world. "All changed, changed utterly - a terrible beauty has been born," he told the Taoiseach.

Mr Biden said Irish leadership on the ["Ukrainian refugees"] issue has been "noticeable and impressive".

The EU is going to become a very different place, and very soon. Not sure I want to be there.

https:/www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/03/dutch-court-frees-two-ukrainian-suspects-so-they-can-go-home-t o-fight
"two Ukrainian nationals, currently on remand on people-smuggling charges, can be released to go back to their home country to fight against the Russian invaders"

https:/www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/03/willem-engel-remanded-in-custody-for-14-days-seven-social-medi a-messages-are-suspect
"seven messages posted by Engel were considered to be incitement. `These messages led to other people committing criminal offences or incited them to do so,"

WSWS

A Ukrainian television newscaster went on a fascist rant on national television on March 12, calling for the massacre of Russian children and the elimination of Russia from the face of the earth.

Channel 24 anchor Fahruddin Sharafmal made the statement following a report on the death of his friend, a Ukrainian Armed Forces member, who was killed fighting Russian forces over the weekend. He used the occasion to broadcast a photo of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann over his right shoulder and appeal for the murder of millions of Ukrainian citizens who are also Russians.

Remind me again why we're supporting these guys?

I've seen coverage of the debt in left-wing sites, Now it goes mainstream (The Guardian)

Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 - triggering a conflict in the east that had claimed thousands of lives before the current invasion - Ukraine has been forced to borrow $61bn (£46bn) from external lenders, according to calculations by the Jubilee Debt Campaign; a small sliver has been paid off, but what remains represents about a third of the country's total economy. Ukraine was due to cough up $7.3bn this year alone - more than its annual education budget. For a rich country blessed with peace, that would be manageable, but Ukrainians are poorer today than when the Soviet Union collapsed three decades ago. At least $100bn worth of damage has already been inflicted to infrastructure - from roads to bridges, hospitals to schools - and, as you read this, that figure only mounts. Yet almost all of the financial assistance being given to Ukraine is in the form of loans. Precious funds will be diverted from rebuilding a shattered country, instead filling the coffers of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and private bondholders.

That's why Ukrainian civil society organisations have launched a petition demanding Ukraine's debt is cancelled. They note, too, that much of the supposed assistance given to the country has been accompanied by strict conditions: the IMF calls it "economic restructuring", but it's more honestly described as the imposition of free-market dogma, resulting, for instance, in a 650% surge in household gas prices since 2014. "Previous governments had two options: either to fairly tax the fat cats and bring them out of the shadows, or to borrow from the IMF and others," Ukrainian economist Oleksandr Kravchuk told me. "They chose the latter."

What happens when a major economy can't pay its debts in dollars? Russia is about to show us | Adam Tooze
Read more
The Jubilee Debt Campaign has taken up this demand and begun to lobby MPs in Britain. Like millions of us, executive director Heidi Chow had that gnawing, helpless sense of "we've got to do something". For some, that manifested itself in the demand for a no-fly zone. But in practice, that could lead to a direct confrontation with the Russian military, which could in turn easily escalate into nuclear war. In contrast, this is a tangible and hugely impactful proposal with no risk of military escalation.

I doubt there any hope for Ukraine - unless Putin divides it into 2 and applies debt relief to his part.

ECB President Warns Crypto Companies Against Helping Russians Avoid Sanctions

Lagarde : Carry on your crypto transactions with drug cartels, people smugglers, tax evaders etc... but no busting sanctions with Russia!

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

of "clearly defensive" pubic opinion

The Hill | Publisher pulls Anne Frank book after criticism from historians, academics

The book sparked backlash following its publication in January after some historians criticized its findings as being inconclusive.

Six Dutch historians and academics have now responded with a 69-page "refutation," calling the investigative team's conclusions "a shaky house of cards." The book's publisher, Ambo Anthos, which previously apologized for the book in February in response to criticism, announced Tuesday night that it would withdraw the book.

reference
NIOD | Research Report: 'Book About Betrayal of Anne Frank Based on Assumptions and Lack of Historical Knowledge'

The most important document that the cold case team put forward as evidence for their accusation against Arnold van den Bergh was a letter that Anne Frank's father, Otoo Frank, received after the war. A retyped copy of the letter, rather than the original letter, was found in the archive of a detective who investigated Anne Frank's betrayal in the 1960s.
[...]
 'Immediately after the war, the place was swarming with accusations,' the researchers write, `everywhere, people were trying to cover their tracks or settle scores.' An anonymous letter accusing someone, they conclude, is `in short, very weak evidence'.

in re: "art therapy" cf. The Night Porter (1970), etc

Polling for president, in the following order....
Macron 28.0%
Marine Le Pen 19.5%
Pécresse 10.6%
Zemmour 10.7%
Mélenchon 14.1%
Jadot 5.6%
Hidalgo 2.1%

REVEALED: 'anti-oligarch' Ukrainian president's offshore connections

recorded live (UA), nearly inaudible running translation (EN), no subtitles

euronews | 'We shall go on to the end', Ukraine President Zelenskyy tells British MPs

Dispute over restarting fracking divides Conservative Party

Truss has quite a long history of supporting fracking, saying in 2018 that people who didn't want the destructive form of fossil fuel production in their communities were NIMBYs [Not In My Backyard].
[...]
[Kwasi] Kwarteng released a statement on March 10 saying that "we need to focus on generating cheaper, cleaner power here in the UK - recognising that gas is expensive, and renewables are relatively cheap".
[...]
The Guardian said that Kwarteng was "toning down" his anti-fracking rhetoric after hints at a U-turn from Downing Street.

A generational divide?

A lot of younger Conservatives, especially those associated with the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) are more against the idea of fracking. The CEN said "Fracking isn't the answer to the energy crunch."
[...]
A poll by CEN in September 2021 found that Tory voters in Red Wall seats supported further action to tackle climate change, with 53% of respondents saying the government should take stronger action.
[...]
Calls to restart fracking within the Tories are being led by Craig McKinlay and Steve Baker, who set up the `Net Zero Scrutiny Group' in Parliament last year. They were among 34 MPs who wrote to the Government demanding a halt to the ban on fracking.

... the science etc.

Julian Assange denied permission to appeal against US extradition

The supreme court said on Monday that it had refused permission to appeal "as the application didn't raise an arguable point of law". After the decision, the case is expected to be formally sent to Priti Patel to approve the extradition.

US, UK don't do international law, m'k

The attempted appeal to the supreme court was specifically on the issue of the US assurances.
[...]
Responding to the supreme court's decision, a spokesperson for Assange's solicitors, Birnberg Peirce, said: "We regret that the opportunity has not been taken to consider the troubling circumstances in which requesting states can provide ["]caveated["] guarantees after the conclusion of a full evidential hearing. In Mr Assange's case, the court had found that there was a real risk of prohibited treatment in the event of his onward extradition."

Brexit: MSPs refuse to give consent to the Subsidy Control Bill

The Subsidy Control Bill is currently at the report stage in the House of Lords, before it moves on to a third reading, and has made its way to Holyrood for sign off from Scottish parliamentarians.
[...]
[Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise Ivan McKee] stated that the UK internal market act, introduced in December 2020, "completely overrides the devolution settlement by reserving subsidy control and giving UK ministers powers to spend directly in devolved areas without the oversight and consent of this Scottish Parliament and Scottish ministers."
[...]
He added: "The bill if adopted brings further erosion of devolution through the sweeping powers of the Secretary of State which overrides the devolution settlement and risks UK ministers intervening without proper knowledge or consultation around local circumstances."

Covid in Scotland: More than 2000 people in hospital with nearly 10,000 cases recorded

Scottish Government data on Thursday showed that 9721 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported, but the figures cover less than a 24-hour period due to a technical issue which means that data has not been received since 2pm on Wednesday.
[...]
That puts Wednesday's hospital figures as the second-highest on record after 2053 people were recorded in hospital on January 22, 2021.

What are the legal implications of P&O Ferries sacking 800 staff? [_link]

— The Guardian (@guardian) March 17, 2022

'Sapere aude'

Politico.eu.com | Boris Johnson compares Ukraine war to Brexit battles

Rift over Ukraine exposed as high-powered UK delegation to India called off

VOldaMORe Bulletin

The documents also revealed that UK instructors trained Ukrainian military in the use of weapons in 2018 when the parties to the Minsk process were trying to resolve the conflict peacefully, and London had not yet announced the supply of NLAW anti-tank grenade launchers.

The certificate signed by Col. M. Evans said that the training was from 17 October 2018 to 2 November 2018. According to the certificate, the training consisted of four modules: "weapons training", "navigation", "medical training" and "pairs movement." At the same time, London announced the supply of NLAW anti-tank grenade launchers to Ukraine only at the beginning of 2022.

RFERL | Britain To Send 6,000 Missiles To Aid Ukrainian Military, 23 Mar

Seriously, this is so weird. pic.twitter.com/KPijHplvMl

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) March 2, 2022

Biden State of the Union 2022 transcript

President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address on March 1.

Full transcript of President Biden's address to the nation, March 11, 2021
AU Explainer:It's not a State of the Union, but Joe Biden will soon deliver his first address to Congress., 22 April 2021

US presidents don't give a State of the Union address in their first year in office because it's accepted that they haven't really had the keys long enough to understand what state the union is in.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki White House Press Conference Transcript March 5, 2021

Speaker 8: (35:23)
The other thing is that as of March 1st, the Congress has not invited the president to deliver the State of the Union address. Meaning he is so far gone the longest of any president in his first year without confirming a date for the State of the Union, with the exception of President Nixon in 1969.
Jen Psaki: (35:42)
Well, a little bit of history. I like it.
Speaker 8: (35:43)
And who gave no address and waited until the following year. Is he going to follow that example or should we expect an invitation soon on the statement-
Jen Psaki: (35:53)
First for clarity purposes, and I know this wasn't your intention, but it's not a snubbing happening here. We are in the middle of a global pandemic. And of course, any joint sessions speech would look different than the past....

Biden's Speech to Congress: Full Transcript, 29 April 2021

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait say other OPEC+ members' struggles won't push them to bust quotas, 15 Nov 2021

Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told S&P Global Platts that the kingdom has "very comfortable" spare production capacity but that he saw no need to put additional supplies onto the market beyond what OPEC and its allies have already agreed.

Middle East Eye | Saudi Arabia rejects US request to increase oil production, 17 Feb 2022

At an energy forum in Riyadh on Wednesday, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman rejected calls to pump more oil and said renegotiating quotas among Opec members risked stoking more volatility in oil markets, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Brett McGurk, the White House's Middle East coordinator, and Amos Hochstein, the State Department's energy envoy, were sent to Riyadh by the administration "to pressure Saudi officials to pump more crude oil and stabilise markets", a US official told CNN.

"The kingdom is not on the same page with the US currently," said an OPEC delegate. "We all know they are not ready to cooperate with the US to calm the market."

World's Largest Oil Producer to "Calm" Market. Again, 1 Mar 2022

Tonight, I can announce that the United States has worked with 30 other countries to release 60 Million barrels of oil from reserves around the world.

America will lead that effort, releasing 30 Million barrels from our own Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And we stand ready to do more if necessary, unified with our allies.

archived Wed Nov 24th, 2021

Posts use 2014 riot image to falsely compare Ukraine's capital days before and after Russian invasion [2022}

Glad to see that Malone does not buy into the hysteria
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/friday-funnies-3f1?s=r

Having said that, isn't it interesting to see how cool the US-ians remain thanks to the few thousand kilometers that separate them from the mess they create?

o, yes, he did.

running time

I have a dream., transcript

Those anti-Democrat Trumpists at NYT (login required) keep doing it. Getting pretty disgusting.

White supremacist Glenn "Goebbels" Greenwald reports:

The NYT Now Admits the Biden Laptop -- Falsely Called "Russian Disinformation" -- is Authentic
[...]
One of the most successful disinformation campaigns in modern American electoral history occurred in the weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election. On October 14, 2020 -- less than three weeks before Americans were set to vote -- the nation's oldest newspaper, The New York Post, began publishing a series of reports about the business dealings of the Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in countries in which Biden, as Vice President, wielded considerable influence (including Ukraine and China) and would again if elected president.
[...]
This disinformation campaign about the Biden emails was then used by Big Tech to justify brute censorship of any reporting on or discussion of this story: easily the most severe case of pre-election censorship in modern American political history.
[...]
What this means is that, in the crucial days leading up to the 2020 presidential election, most of the corporate media spread an absolute lie about The New York Post's reporting in order to mislead and manipulate the American electorate.

Harris-Ocasio-Cortez in 2024!

Independent

The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report that the White House phone records obtained by the 6 January committee feature a 7-hour gap on the day of the Capitol riot, including the hours in which the incident occurred.

WASS

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Wang Yi Speaks with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on the Phone, 26 Feb 2022 (EN)

Wang Yi Speaks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on the Phone, 1 March 2022 (EN)

RT

The International Feline Federation (FIFe) has weighed in on the Ukraine crisis, banning Russian-owned cats from competing in its shows as a sanction for Moscow's military attack on the former Soviet republic.

"The FIFe executive board is shocked and horrified that the army of the Russian Federation invaded the Republic of Ukraine and started a war," the Paris-based federation said on Tuesday. The group added that it "cannot just witness these atrocities and do nothing."

As a result, cats belonging to Russian residents will be banned from entry at FIFe shows. In addition, no cats bred in Russia can be imported and registered in a FIFe pedigree book, the group said.

L'Adige

"Fermare la guerra si può. Per il Donbass serve un accordo sul modello di quello per il Trentino Alto Adige, che garantisca autonomia e libertà. L'Europa prenda una iniziativa diplomatica, non lasciamo la responsabilità del dialogo solo a Turchia o Cina. #StopWar". Così il leader Matteo Renzi su Facebook.

What a simple solution! How come nobody else has thought of this? Personally, I'd suggest Sicily rather than Trentino as the model....

`History can be funny': Muscovites get used to life without Dior and McDonald's
Byline: Pjotr Sauer in Istanbul.
No correspondent anywhere closer? The Israeli press suggests that the Moscow McDonalds remains open despite the chain closing....

Ucraine tries to scare the French,

The chilling alert of the Ukrainian Parliament to Europe: "Would the Eiffel Tower still stand under the endless Russian bombardment?"

The response of Maupassant and Gounod

Nous venons, écrivains, peintres, sculpteurs, architectes, amateurs passionnés de la beauté jusqu'ici intacte de Paris, protester de toutes nos forces, de toute notre indignation, au nom du goût français méconnu, au nom de l'art et de l'histoire français menacés, contre l'érection, en plein coeur de notre capitale, de l'inutile et monstrueuse tour Eiffel, que la malignité publique, souvent empreinte de bon sens et d'esprit de justice, a déjà baptisée du nom de « tour de Babel ».

Rfi comes up with a 2 part report on the "exactions" of Wagner in Mali. The result is..................peanuts!!
https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/reportage-afrique/20220313-exactions-de-l-armée-malienne-et-de-s es-supplétifs-russes-la-zone-de-sofara-témoignages-1-2

Compare that with the refugees starved and turning mad in the Greek camps or even worse, with the total cowardness of France and others with regards to the children of the djihadists still held in camps under Kurdish or UN 'control'... djihadists who were brainwashed largely via FB or directly in their Eropean  environment by the way.

I am still buffled that there is no 'health' or 'finance' thread, but okay... Is it allowed to post from the enemy media when it is for good news??

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1255070.shtml
"Home quarantine possible when effective medicines at hand, strong immunity established: analysts"

What people exercising democratically their freedom of speech on 'social media' were saying, on the 19th of March of the year two thousand and twenty-two:
""The thing which really gets me about the amerikan empire is how much like an abusive partner it behaves.
Lies, gas-lighting, psychological bullying, financial domination, this behaviour is exactly what amerika does every minute of every day that it isn't smarmily asserting that it is the nicest but most misunderstood bloke who ever walked the earth. In other words classic wife bashing behaviour.It doesn't require imagination to see what comes next, final press release outta DC - "Now see what that Slavic slut has made me do", right as Biden reaches for the nuclear trigger."
To which someone answered: "The quality of comments is quite high. The US as `wife basher' is accurate and funny because it is accurate. Russophobia is a feature of white supremacy. Indeed, Ukronazism is a feature of white supremacy, leading to this senseless civil war among Slavic peoples. Frederick Douglass in his first memoir described how slavery perverted the character of whites in antebellum Maryland. What was true in the 1820s and 1830s is still true. White supremacy is still a mortal danger to white people. Some might argue that Russians are white. Not in any way that matters. The arbiters of whiteness have long ago ruled on that matter in the negative, no right of appeal."

Guardian

The right to license lucrative online domain names favoured by cryptocurrency firms has become the latest battlefield in the escalating dispute between Mauritius and the UK over ownership of the Chagos Islands.

The two letter address .io, which stands for Indian Ocean, is allocated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (Iana) to the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). It is operated by a commercial firm nominally based in Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos islands and home to a US military base.

[...]

Both the Mauritian government and exiled Chagossians - forcibly removed by the UK from their homes in the early 1970s - are challenging British control over .io domain names on the grounds that Britain no longer has a legitimate claim to the Chagos Islands.

But a major US base is there. Maybe the US should invade Mauritius to teach them about democracy?

In any case, shouldn't India have some say on the Indian ocean?

Telegram link

В Израиле в городе Нетания прошла демонстрация в поддержку российских военнослужащих и спецоперации в Украине

India and the Future of the Planet

Climate justice activists encounter a quandary in India. It is currently the third largest emitter of carbon in the world, behind China and the United States. On a per capita basis, however, India emits only 1.7 tons, which places it far behind the United States (14.4), China (7.1), France (4.3), or even Thailand (3.6).

Meanwhile, the richest countries of the Global North are responsible for most of the historic carbon emissions since the Industrial Revolution. India's cumulative emissions, since 1750, are about one-eighth of the U.S. total. "All of these grandiose claims of zero emissions by 2050 assume that the richest countries will continue to appropriate the lion's share of the climate budget--65-70 percent--when they account for less than 20 percent of the global population," points out Jayati Ghosh, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

When self-sanction of RU oil enters the enters the room.

Friday's price gains are being driven by concerns that Western sanctions will disrupt the flow of exports from Russia, the world's second third-largest oil producer

this month, according to IEA. KSA was the largest, but Salman sez 17 Feb, OPEC won't "bust quota".

Currently, about 66% of Russian oil is struggling to find buyers, JPMorgan analysts said in a note Thursday. The bank estimates that crude prices could skyrocket nearly 70% from current levels to $185 by the end of the year if Russian oil demand remains disrupted

in "self-sanctioned" markets.

In the absence of Iranian crude barrels in the market [?!], it expects oil to average $115 in the second quarter, $105 in the third quarter, and $95 in the fourth quarter.

which inexplicably suggests, somehow the true largest producer of crude will increase production to replace RU supply once sold to "self-sanctioned" buyers.
cue BOLTON'S MOUSTACHE: "US has historically fought--not because we want territory for ourselves, not because we seek economic advantage but because one of our friends or allies has been invaded by somebody else"

APsplainin | Anti-money-laundering body puts UAE on global `gray' list, 5 Mar 2022

The decision late Friday night by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force puts the UAE, home to Dubai and oil-rich Abu Dhabi, on a list of 23 countries including fellow Mideast nations Jordan, Syria and Yemen.
[...]
A 2018 report by the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies, relying on leaked Dubai property data, found that war profiteers, terror financiers and drug traffickers sanctioned by the U.S. had used the city-state's boom-and-bust real estate market as a safe haven for their money.

UAE pledges to meet India's growing energy needs amid oil price concerns, 20 Feb 2022
"The UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is the only overseas company with any capacity in India's strategic petroleum reserves, holding about 750,000 mt under a government-to-government deal that sees ADNOC supply crude to SPR locations at Padur and Mangalore in Karnataka in southern India. ...The two countries will establish a joint Hydrogen Task Force, focusing on green hydrogen."

UAE, Russia ink agreement to partner on hydrogen development amid net zero pledges, 18 Nov  2021
"Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., or ADNOC, produces over 300,000 mt/year of hydrogen, and plans to increase this to 500,000 mt/year. ... Russia's export plans include shipments of 2 million mt/year by 2035, and 15 million-50 million mt/year by 2050."
archived Mir accepted with DDF, Haifa wannabe, Dubai Telegram, a raft of documents

London Metals Exchange (LME) suspended NICKEL trading yesterday due to suspect short-squeeze of Nornickel (RU) shares. Geopolitical consternation and implied impairment of "green" tech production (ie. NiMH, NCA applications) reverberted through the innerboobs. I don't know that trading has resumed today, but I did note with interest that Zero Hedge posted a contributor's article on the subject siting authoritave sources. Such editorial discretion qualifies as EXCEEDINGLY UNUSUAL to my mind, which is why I do not normally read commentary published at that site.

The World's Top 10 Nickel Mining Companies

As the world transitions towards electric vehicles and cleaner energy sources, nickel has emerged as an essential metal for this green revolution.

Needed for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and nuclear power plants, nickel is also primarily used to make stainless steel alloys more resistant to corrosion and extreme temperatures.

Using data from Mining Intelligence, this graphic shows the top 10 companies by nickel production along with their market cap.
[...]
Nickel has long been an important mineral for batteries, plating, and steelmaking, but it was only recently added to the USGS's proposed critical minerals list.

As countries and industries realize the importance of nickel for the development of sustainable technologies, nickel mining companies will be at the forefront of supplying the world with the nickel it needs. ...

archived NiMH or NCA innovation and choice

WSWS

The most significant hotspot of the pandemic is now Hong Kong, where per capita rates of infections and deaths have dwarfed all previous surges in every country in the world. Soon after infections spiraled out of control in mid-February, hospitals and then morgues exceeded capacity, with the relatively less vaccinated elderly population most severely affected.

On Monday, the 7-day average of daily new deaths per 1 million people in Hong Kong reached 29.18. This is over 50 percent higher than the peak of 18.31 reached in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2021, nearly triple the United States' peak of 10.22 on January 13, 2021, and higher than the previous world record of 26.2 set in Peru on April 23, 2021. COVID-19 deaths in Hong Kong continue to rise exponentially and could surpass 50 per 1 million people in the coming days.

Guardian

In addition to various new slogans and internal branding changes such as renaming its News Feed to simply "Feed", Zuckerberg said he would be calling employees "metamates".

Despite Zuckerberg's confidence in the shift, the company took a historic plunge last month following its most recent earnings report and its revelation that it had experienced its first ever drop in daily user numbers

No idea if the two items are related.

Disney (DIS), which said it will stop releasing films in Russia

US Embassy Kyiv Deletes Files Funded Biolabs, Sat Feb 26th, 2022

So yeah. A week later, documentary evidence, abandoned in the field of UAF PUTIN-defying victory, is gaining a bit of traction with assist of ROW broadcast media investigating alleged RUSSIA! "war crimes" declared by Zelensk(iy)(yy)(y)--although neither USA or UA are signatories of the Rome statute.

The UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (1975) has come to the attention of certain unofficial rapporteurs for civil society.

A narrative of the treaty's negotiating history and legal premises for "complete disarmament" may be read HERE/

This declaration of "international norms" is commonly known now as the Biological Weapons Convention which is occasionally reviewed by UNODA participants in Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs)

POLITICO | Death toll surpasses 6M for pandemic now in 3rd year, 7 Mar, GERMANY leads the pack!

Hong Kong, which is seeing deaths soar, is testing its entire population of 7.5 million three times this month as it CLINGS to mainland China's "zero-Covid" strategy.

As death rates remain high in Poland, Hungary, Romania and other Eastern European countries, the region has seen more than 1.5 million refugees arrive from war-torn Ukraine, a country with poor vaccination coverage and high rates of cases and deaths.

< wipes tears >

Despite the enormity of the figure of 6 million deaths -- more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined < reckless eyeballin' >, or the entire state of Maryland -- experts say the number is likely a vast undercount.

That thar is some GRATUITOUS Larry "Maglev" HOGAN "mitigation" SLANDER to recall for ELECTION 2024!

UPI

Scientists have named a now-extinct relative of the octopus that has 10 arms after President Joe Biden -- the syllipsimopodi bideni -- according to a study released Tuesday.

It would seem this story has not been much reported in the free press. Cocaine users should be aware of who and what they actually finance:
https:/nltimes.nl/2020/07/07/underworld-torture-chamber-prison-found-noord-brabant-6-arrests
https:nltimes.nl/2021/03/03/torture-chamber-suspects-planning-least-7-murders-prosecutor
https:www.paudal.com/2022/01/25/case-against-piet-costa-about-torture-containers-begins

I think that when it was first reported I remember they claimed this was related to people-smuggling and threatening people who refused to pay. Apparently this would 'minimize' the horror of the story.

Yesterday -100: March 3, 1922: Of peeresses, women's suffrage and duels

The House of Lords Committee on Privileges rules in favor of allowing Viscountess Rhondda to enter the Lords. This would also allow in 23 other peeresses (or maybe fewer). Margaret, Lady Rhondda, a suffragette from waaaay back and a Lusitania survivor, sued under the 1919 Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act. At some point this decision will be reversed, and no ladies will darken the towels of the Lords until 1958, just a few weeks after Lady Rhondda's death.

On this day pic.twitter.com/P5XTfQGiQo

— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) March 5, 2022

Exactly sixty years ago, the Évian Accords were signed in the eponymous city in the French Alps.

The Accords ended the 1954-1962 Algerian War with a formal cease-fire proclaimed for 19 March and formalized the idea of a cooperative exchange between the two countries, as well as the full independence of Algeria from France.

On this day, 19 years ago, the US launched a premeditated & illegal war on #Iraq based on lies. A legacy of death, displacement, torture & ruin, but no one has been held accountable.

If there was a real "rules-based order," George Bush would have to answer for his war crimes. pic.twitter.com/DCNzyN8YjP

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 19, 2022

NATO bombs Yugoslavia

On March 24, 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) commences air strikes against Yugoslavia with the bombing of Serbian military positions in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. The NATO offensive came in response to a new wave of ethnic cleansing launched by Serbian forces against the Kosovar Albanians on March 20.

The Kosovo region lay at the heart of the Serbian empire in the late Middle Ages but was lost to the Ottoman Turks in 1389 following Serbia's defeat in the Battle of Kosovo. By the time Serbia regained control of Kosovo from Turkey in 1913, there were few Serbs left in a region that had come to be dominated by ethnic Albanians. ...

and in completely unrelated news, the greatest sporting contest in Europe reaches its climax this evening in the France/England rugby match now in its sixth minute in Paris.

France is on a roll, having beaten Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and is on target for its first grand slam in ten years.
England is already out of the running, having been beaten by Scotland and Ireland, but if they win, Ireland will win the championship.

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

El futbol y sus momentos Mágicos.
Me doy gracias a mi mismo por amar tanto a este deporte ❤️❤️❤️ #Eriksen pic.twitter.com/i8aGRkPXx9

— Abel Layuno (@el_bely7) March 26, 2022

'Sapere aude'