"Voice of Korea" reports that the Russian President "accepted the invitation" | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit North Korea, Voice of Korea, a North Korean international broadcasting service, said on Thursday. ● "After the dinner, dear comrade Kim Jong Un cordially invited President Putin to visit the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at any convenient time," it said, adding that Putin "accepted the invitation." ● Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the issue of Putin’s return visit to North Korea was not on the agenda. ● Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a more than five-hour-long meeting at the Vostochny Spaceport on Wednesday, their first summit in four years. Both leaders held talks with the participation of delegations from the two countries as well as in the one-on-one format. The agenda of the talks included issues of economic and humanitarian cooperation, the situation in the region as well as many other topics. The two leaders continued communication at the official dinner.

■ Colossal Russia-North Korea deal for millions of shells and ammunition - Putin's mate move in Ukraine
■ President Putin Hosts Reception in Welcome of Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un (KCNA)
■ New Milestone for Development of DPRK-Russia Relations (KCNA)
■ Russia, North Korea strengthen friendship, promote peace, prosperity in region — Putin (TASS)
■ How Putin and Kim Throw Down a Challenge to US Hegemony (Sputnik News)
■ Putin, Kim Jong Un meet at Vostochny space launch facility (09/13/23)

According to a TASS correspondent, the two leaders had a brief conversation when they met each other. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far Eastern Amur Region on Wednesday, after taking part in the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.

 ● Putin announced plans to visit the space center during the plenary session of the EEF. However, he gave no further details about the trip.

 ● The New York Times cited sources among US officials and their allies as saying that the North Korean leader plans to visit Russia this month. According to the newspaper, North Korea’s Kim may meet with Putin in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East in mid-September. NYT sources also say that Kim may visit Moscow and the Vostochny spaceport.

■ Владимир Путин показал Ким Чен Ыну российский космодром "Восточный" (RG.ru)
■ WATCH Kim Jong-un tours Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome (RT.com)
■ LIVE UPDATES: Putin Meets with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (Sputnik News)
■ Russia fighting sacred fight, DPRK supports every decision Putin makes — North Korea’s Kim (TASS)
■ Kim Jong-un arrives in Russia (09/12/23)

Moscow will deliver a démarche to London in connection with the information that the UK was engaged in training Ukrainian sabotage groups that planned attacks in Russia, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova when being interviewed by Sputnik. | On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a Ukrainian sabotage group, which sought to blow up power lines in Russia and was captured, admitted that they were trained by instructors from the United Kingdom. 💬 "Yes, indeed, [Russia] will [deliver a demarche], as we did previously and continuously, and conveyed to London both through open channels, making it public, and through diplomatic channels, the inadmissibility of participating in such activities," Zakharova said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.

■ Putin: British trained AFU saboteurs to attack nuclear facility in Russia (09/12/23)

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted the bloc’s decision to confiscate the personal possessions of arriving Russian tourists | The European Union’s ban on Russian nationals bringing personal items into the bloc has nothing to do with sanctions and is instead an expression of blatant racism by Western officials, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has claimed. ● Her comments come after Brussels explained on Friday that the sweeping sanctions imposed on trade with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine also extends to personal items such as phones, luggage, and even shampoo and toilet paper. ● The European Commission urged EU operators to “assess and understand the possible risks of sanctions circumvention” and confiscate any such belongings when conducting customs checks. 💬 “Тhis is simply racism. This is not a policy of sanctions, this is not a question of creating some additional benefit for the sinking economy of the European Union. This is racism as it is,” Zakharova told TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Monday. “Now it is bursting out. Like an abscess that was not treated and which has simply become a fistula. This is a fistula of Western racism.”

■ Medvedev advocates pausing relations with EU in answer to ban on imports of personal items (TASS)
■ Russia tells citizens to avoid car travel to EU state (RT.com)(09/11/23)

Dmitry Medvedev | Well done EU leaders. Extremely honest Brussels bosses. They have told all Russians directly and without facetiousness: you are second-class people for us. Such Sharikovs, half-animals with bad heredity. As Bulgakov put it: "You stand in the lowest stage of development," Philip Philipovich shouted, "you are still only a forming, mentally weak creature, all your actions are purely animal. And this decision is clearly not a punishment for the "criminal aggressive regime in the Kremlin". It is a concrete spit in the face of every citizen of Russia. ● What should we do about it? Certainly not to impose retaliatory restrictions on EU citizens. We are not racists, unlike many leaders of those countries whose relatives served in the SS. And those who come to us usually love and appreciate Russia. ● It would be better to just suspend diplomatic relations with the EU for a while. And withdraw the diplomatic staff to our country. That's when the vain assholes in Brussels will collectively and thickly piss their pants (and skirts, of course). Because embassies are being evacuated before quite certain events. Who knows what else these orcs in cotton coats from boundless Mordor are capable of....(T: DeepL.com + P: grammarly.com)

The death toll from freak floods in eastern Libya is expected to soar dramatically, with 10,000 people reported missing, the Red Cross warned on Tuesday. | Officials in Libya have said at least 150 people were killed in the flooding in Libya after storm Daniel swept the Mediterranean, lashing Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece. But Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the actual toll was likely many times higher. 💬 "Our teams on the ground are still doing their assessment, (but) from what we see and from the news coming to us, the death toll is huge," he told reporters in Geneva via video link from Tunis. "It might reach to the thousands." "We don't have a definite number right now," he said, stressing though that the organisation had independent sources saying "the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 persons so far." ● Speaking on Libyan network Almasar, Oussama Hamad, prime minister of the east-based government, has reported "more than 2,000 dead and thousands missing" in the city of Derna alone, but no medical sources or emergency services have confirmed such figures.

Alexei Komolov | According to Putin, the DRG from Ukraine was to blow up a power line and this is not the first such attempt. Under interrogation, the saboteurs admitted that they were trained by instructors from the UK, the president said. Putin expressed doubts that the British leadership understands the responsibility for training the saboteurs. 💬 "Do they even realize what they are playing with or not? What, are they provoking us to some kind of retaliatory actions on Ukrainian nuclear facilities, nuclear power plants?" Those who "do not feel the edges" [may] reap "serious consequences," he concluded. Earlier, Ukraine admitted that the Shaman battalion, considered a special unit of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), was involved in sabotage activities on Russian territory. ● The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry is behind a number of terrorist attacks in Russia. Thus, the head of the department, Kirill Budanov, noted that it was the GUR responsible for assassination attempts on prominent Russians. Budanov himself was arrested in absentia in Russia and charged under part 1 of Article 205.4 (creation of a terrorist community). (Translation: DeepL.com + Proofreading: grammarly.com)

■ Ukrainians Caught Trying to Sabotage Russian Nuke Plant; Putin says "Trained by British" (Hal Turner)
■ Blinken OKs Attacks on Russia With US Missiles (antiwar.com)

The North Korean leader will meet with President Vladimir Putin to discuss a number of “sensitive issues,” the Kremlin has said | The armored train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has crossed into Russian territory ahead of the summit with President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed in the early hours of Tuesday. ● Earlier in the day, Kyodo news agency quoted local Russian sources as saying that Kim’s train was heading north along the coast after stopping at the Khasan railway station on the North Korean-Russian border. Later, RIA Novosti reported that he crossed the Razdolnaya River, not far from Vladivostok. ● Vladimir Putin arrived in Vladivostok on Monday on a two-day visit to attend the Eastern Economic Forum.

■ N Korea's Kim in Russia for Putin talks as US warns on arms deal (Hürriyet Daily News)
■ Kim Jong Un leaves Pyongyang on special train for visit to Russia (TASS)
■ LIVE UPDATES: Far East, Russia's New Weapons and Economy of The Future - Putin at EEF 2023 (Sputnik News)

It is stressed that he will be accompanied by North Korea’s high-ranking party, government and military officials on his trip | North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un left Pyongyang on a special train in the late afternoon on September 10 for a visit to Russia, the Voice of Korea radio station reported. ● It is stressed that he will be accompanied by North Korea’s high-ranking party, government and military officials on his trip. ● According to photographs published by the Korean Central News Agency, among others, the special train was boarded by Ri Pyong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Pak Jong-chon, head of the Workers’ Party of Korea military directorate. That said, members of the delegation have not been officially announced. ● On September 11, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un would take place shortly. The Korean Central News Agency has also announced the North Korean leader’s upcoming visit to Russia.

Ukraine’s president fears that some of his country’s Western backers are losing faith | Curtailing aid to Ukraine will only prolong the war, Mr Zelensky argues. And it would create risks for the West in its own backyard. There is no way of predicting how the millions of Ukrainian refugees in European countries would react to their country being abandoned. Ukrainians have generally “behaved well” and are “very grateful” to those who sheltered them. They will not forget that generosity. But it would not be a “good story” for Europe if it were to “drive these people into a corner”. [...] Meanwhile, a long war of attrition would mean a fork in the road for Ukraine. The country would lose even more people, both on the front lines and to emigration. It would require a “totally militarised economy”. The government would have to put that prospect to its citizens, Mr Zelensky says, without specifying how; a new social contract could not be the decision of one person. Almost 19 months into the war, the president says he is “morally” ready for the switch. But he will only broach the idea with his people if the weakness in the eyes of his Western backers becomes a “trend”. Has that moment come?

■ Inside Ukraine’s assassination programme (The Economist)
■ Zelenskyy Says Post-war Ukraine Will Emulate Israel, Won’t Be ‘Liberal, European’ (Ha'Aretz)

Dmitry Medvedev (Дмитрий Медведев) Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council | Everyone seems to be used to the boorishness and disgusting narcissism of Western countries, especially the United States. To their unconcerned belief in their rightness and exclusivity. To their universal boorishness on any issue. Peaceful or military. What can I say? It's nothing new. Just remember Grandmother Madeleine Albright: "If we have to use force, it's because we are America! We are a responsible nation. We stand tall. We look to the future." ■ But still, sometimes you catch yourself thinking: Well, look, good people. They don't live on another planet. Have they lost their minds? Unlawful sanctions against Russia and friendly countries - no problem, no need for any excuses. At the same time - don't touch Western assets in your backward economies. The West can supply any weapons to our enemies. Our friends are forbidden to do so, scaring them in every possible way with reprisals. It is quite legal to steal citizens of different countries around the world to bring them to trial in your glorious "Pindostan." Americans can't be touched, they are "sacred cows", even if they are spies, drug addicts shaking with withdrawal [symptoms], or pedophiles with saliva in the corners of their mouths. It's like that with everything. ■ I don't want to predict anything, but they'll expect that at some point the terrorists will launch another 11/09/2001-style attack, [maybe] with a nuclear or biological component. Or even worse: one of the leaders of nuclear countries will lose his nerve and make an emotional decision to use WMD. Especially since the nuclear club is constantly expanding and a significant part of it is not bound by any obligations. ■ And then that's it. That's it. It will be left only to collect money for a new monument in the neighborhood of Ground Zero. At best. ■ And in the worst case, the wreaths will just be lowered into the water...(Transl.: DeepL.com + Proof.: grammarly.com. Image: iStock)

The embassy says the Finnish authorities might seize privately owned vehicles | The Russian Embassy in Helsinki has urged citizens not to use cars with Russian license plates when visiting Finland, citing EU sanctions that allow the seizure of personal vehicles. The notice came after the European Commission confirmed that Russians are banned from bringing any vehicles across the bloc’s borders, even for personal use or short-term tourist trips. ● German media reported earlier this year that police and customs agents were towing away cars registered in Russia. Recent immigrants to Germany were among those who had their property confiscated. On Monday, the Russian Embassy in Berlin warned citizens against traveling to Germany, citing the “seizure” of cars.

■ EU greenlights "seizure" [theft] of personal phones and cars from Russians

Myanmar uses the yuan to pay for supplies of Russian petroleum products, Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations of Myanmar Kan Zaw told Sputnik, adding that the parties are preparing an agreement on the mutual conversion of national currencies. | 💬 "We are using yuan and not [paying] with rubles at this moment. But we are trying to make the kyat-ruble agreement [on the mutual conversion] … [the agreement] is going [to be signed] very soon," Kan Zaw said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok. In addition, Kan Zaw expressed hope that Myanmar would conclude an agreement with Russia on tourism on the sidelines of the EEF. ● Last September, Prime Minister of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing told Sputnik that the country had begun purchasing Russian petroleum products. Myanmar will begin accepting cards of the Russian Mir payment system in October, Kan Zaw said. The 8th EEF is taking place on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University in the Russian city of Vladivostok from September 10-13. RIA Novosti is the official media partner of the forum.

■ Yuan Bounces Back From 16-Year Low After People's Bank of China Steps In (Sputnik News)
■ Moscow boosts ruble settlements with NATO country (RT.com)

A new peer-reviewed study has revealed a disturbing spike in cancer cases among young people. | The study was published in the renowned BMJ Oncology and analyzed data from 1990 and 2019. It was conducted by a team of researchers from Zhejiang University School of Medicine and the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute. The researchers found a staggering 79% surge in new cancer cases in people under 50 over the course of three decades. During the study, researchers analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. The 2019 study looked at the prevalence of 29 cancers in 204 countries or regions. The researchers investigated the number of new cases, deaths, subsequent health repercussions, and risk factors for people aged 14 to 49. In 2019 alone, early-onset cancer cases in that age group totaled 3.26 million, an increase of 79.1% since 1990.[To avoid a problem similar to a common flu, they took a dangerous, insufficiently tested concoction. - Editor]

■ Covid mRNA Shots Have Triggered VAIDS Epidemic, Study Warns (Slay News)
■ We Won't Be Fooled Again (James Howard Kunstler)
■ We Are at War in the US and Globally: A Summary of Everything (Sasha Latypova)
■ Orientation for new readers (Katherine Watt)(Bailiwick News)

Late Friday, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit Morocco 77 kilometers (48 miles) southwest of the city of Marrakesh. King of Morocco Mohammed VI on Saturday declared three days of national mourning following the disaster, with the national flag to be flown at half-staff on all public buildings. | Moroccan geological researcher Dr. Kamal Aghroud told Sputnik that “an earthquake...in Morocco has not been observed in the country since 1755.” 💬 “Previous earthquakes of this magnitude have not been recorded in the past, including the Al Hoceima earthquake in 2004, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, and the Agadir earthquake in 1960, which was the most destructive because it killed about 15,000 people at that time, it was about 6 points.” He noted that "the earthquake was the result of a new movement of faults in the High Atlas mountain range, but it was not expected to reach a magnitude of 7," explaining that "aftershocks are still possible, but they are of a lesser magnitude and may not be felt." ● According to the researcher, the likelihood of a tsunami occurring after an earthquake is low, given that “the epicenter of the earthquake is located in the earth’s crust deep under the city of Marrakesh, and the city itself is located quite far from the sea.”

■ More than 2,000 killed as powerful earthquake strikes Morocco (RT.com)

Leaders and representatives of the world’s 20 largest economies met in New Delhi Saturday, reaching a compromise on a joint declaration on global priorities by leaving out Western-proposed criticism of Russia over its military operation in Ukraine. Sputnik spoke to experts to get a sense of what the declaration's "consensus language" really means. | Day one of the two-day G20 summit in New Delhi, India wrapped up on Saturday, with the intergovernmental forum’s members reaching a consensus on economic development, climate change, and pledging to work together toward peace, security and conflict resolution. ● A Russian official told journalists that “very complex” talks took place on formulating the consensus-based joint statement, with the BRICS bloc and its partners “refusing to accept Western narratives” on the crisis in Ukraine. ● The text of the 83-point statement refrained from condemning Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, instead underscoring the need for “all states” to “act in a manner consistent with” the UN Charter, and highlighting the negative global economic and security impact of the ongoing crisis. The text of the document called for a resumption of the Black Sea Grain Deal, but also measures to ensure the “immediate and unimpeded deliveries of grain, foodstuffs, and fertilizers/inputs from” from both Russia and Ukraine, including “to meet the demand in developing and least developed countries, particularly those in Africa.”

■ What’s in the G20 leaders’ declaration? (RT.com)

Ana Maria Mihalcea, MD, PhD | The childhood MMR vaccine is loaded with nanobots. They are so small that on my highest magnification, you can barely see them, but they are clearly there. I tried to go up to 4000x with my Oil objective but could not visualize them. I took many videos and if you look at the entirety of the documentation it is clearly stunning. The MMRV vax is supposed to be stored at -56F. Thawed it looks exactly like the C19 bioweapon. Filaments do assemble and large areas of hydrogel clots. Without a cover slip, the self-assembly is much more visible. This is given to 9-month-old babies, then again at 15 months, and then at 6 years of age. This is the 5th childhood vaccine I looked at. It all looks the same to me, it is loaded with self-assembly nanotechnology. Almost makes me wonder if they just use the same ingredients just put a different label on it. Any doctor or individual who has ever been called an anti-vaxxer needs to get these articles (I will put all of them together in one post, I have a couple more “ vaccines” to go) and sue anyone who has accused them. The Big Pharma Criminals, the medical societies, medical boards, physicians, and healthcare providers who get kickbacks called “Pay for Performance” - the more they shoot children up with this. The schools and other agencies that are mandating this are all complicit in poisoning our future generation. This is literally a criminal enterprise. Undisclosed clot-forming chemicals and nanotechnology are in these shots. Any doctor with a conscience needs to get a darkfield microscope and replicate this work. If you have a soul left, you cannot poison one more child with this. Ever again. Parents who love their children, you cannot buy into this vaccine propaganda again. NOBODY can justify injecting this material into babies. You can see that the liquid is dense and many layers of activity are seen including larger hydrogel pieces. I wanted to show the miniscule swarming in the background that is clearly involved in self assembly. A human red blood cells has about a diameter of 6.8 micrometers. I would say these small nanobots are at least 1000 times smaller than that.

The United States is planning to keep backing Kyiv in a state of war down to the last Ukrainian regardless of the cost, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, commenting on today's unannounced visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Kyiv. | Blinken arrived in Kyiv for an official visit earlier in the day, according to Ukrainian media reports. The US broadcaster, in turn, reported, citing a senior US State Department official, that Blinken is expected to announce over $1 billion in further aid to Ukraine. According to another UK media outlet, he seeks to discuss Kyiv’s controversial counteroffensive and assess measures to improve energy security.

■ The Human Cost Of Mounting Ukrainian Casualties (The Gateway Pundit)
■ ‘Hail Azov’: Neo-Nazis Say They Love Biden Because He Sends Rockets to Ukraine (National File)
■ Blinken to announce more than $1 bln in aid to Kyiv regime (TASS)
■ US pushes Ukraine to war, special military op continues — Kremlin (TASS)

Dmitry Medvedev | What more proof do these hypocrites from the commission need? | The UN International Commission of Inquiry into violations in Ukraine has not found sufficient evidence that the actions of the Russian military in the country should be qualified as genocide. This is what its head, Erik Møse, stated. At the same time, he mentioned some "large number of war crimes" committed by unknown persons. ■ If the members of this commission want to find genocide and war crimes in Ukraine, they should stop acting like blind moles. And, having wiped their eyes properly, simply look in the right direction. In the direction of the criminal Kyiv regime. To objectively assess how mercilessly it drowned Donbas in blood for eight years, until Russia launched a special military operation. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide states that "genocide means acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such." This is exactly what the Kyiv regime has been doing since 2014, regardless of the change of names of the co-conspirators of this crime at the top. ■ According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, over 3,000 civilians have been killed in Donbas during the years of armed conflict. In 2014 alone, almost 2,000 people were killed and more than 4,000 civilians were wounded in the territories that declared their independence from the criminal Kyiv regime. Even in relatively calm periods, the death toll was in the dozens. For eight years, the civilian population of Donbas has been subjected to massive shelling, as a result of which women, children, and the elderly have been killed. The intent of the scoundrels in Kyiv to kill the inhabitants of Donbas and commit war crimes is obvious. ■ What more proof do these hypocrites from the commission need? You have to lose your conscience completely not to see this and try to find evidence that genocide is allegedly coming from Russia. ■ The convention also states that those who commit genocide shall be justly punished. The ragtag bunch of misfits, who are guilty of killing civilians in Donbas, will receive deserved punishment for everything they have done. That is why the special military operation must go on until its goals are fully realized. Until the final victory over those who have subjected their people to abuse and extermination for eight years. ■ And may they be damned regardless of the legal qualification of their actions. May they burn in hell! (T.: DeepL.com + P.: grammarly.com)

The owner of X (aka Twitter) claims the Anti-Defamation League tried to kill his social media platform with bogus anti-Semitism allegations | Billionaire Elon Musk has upped the ante in his feud with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), suggesting that he may have to sue the Jewish civil rights group for trying to destroy his X (formerly Twitter) social media platform with fraudulent claims of anti-Semitism. “To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League,” Musk said on Monday in an X post. “Oh, the irony,” he added. ● The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who bought Twitter last year for $44 billion and later renamed it X, blamed the ADL for a 60% drop in advertising revenue. He said the ADL had pressured advertisers not to use the platform by falsely associating X and its new owner with anti-Semitism. “They almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter,” he wrote. ● Musk’s latest comments come two days after he suggested that he might poll X users on whether to ban the ADL from his platform. He posted the idea in response to a message from conservative Dutch activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek, who declared that people are fed up with “labeling everything we don’t like as hateful/racist/dangerous/far-right.” She added that people are no longer afraid of the ADL’s intimidation tactics, claiming “Your labels have lost their power.”

Berlin cites sanctions in order to justify the confiscation of vehicles owned by ordinary people | The Russian Embassy in Berlin has warned its citizens against bringing their cars into Germany, citing the instances of confiscation of vehicles with Russian license plates.💬 “We continue to note that German customs authorities are occasionally seizing private vehicles that were registered as property of Russian nationals and temporarily imported into Germany for personal use or transit purposes,” the embassy wrote in a statement on Telegram on Monday. It added that Moscow had repeatedly lodged protests over the measure, but to no avail. “Until the situation is clarified, Russian nationals are strongly advised against importing vehicles with Russian license plates into Germany,” the embassy wrote.

PSYOP-19 Blowback: US Suicides Hit an All-Time High Last Year | In Pfizer’s data one of the listed DEATHVAX™ side effects was suicide. During the first year of the “pandemic,” The Center for Disease Crimes (CDC) claimed that suicides decreased. [...] According to an article by AP, around 49,500 people committed suicide last year in the U.S. That is the highest number ever, according to the latest government data. [...] The reason this article was especially difficult to write is because my dear friend committed suicide this past Saturday.

■ PSYOP-23 Rising: Mockingbird MSM Activated For Followup "Pandemic"
■ PSYOP-23 Rising: Mk Ultra Masking IS Effective (At Mind Control)

■ We Are at War in the US and Globally: A Summary of Everything (Sasha Latypova)
■ Orientation for new readers (Katherine Watt)(Bailiwick News)

Documents submitted to inquiry reveal the ‘UK intelligence community’ has been involved in the CDU since it was founded in 2019 | A government unit accused of seeking to suppress free speech during the pandemic worked with Britain’s intelligence agencies, senior civil servants have confirmed. Documents submitted to the Covid inquiry and marked “official sensitive” reveal that the “UK intelligence community” has been involved in the Counter-Disinformation Unit (CDU) since it was founded in 2019. ● The unit was set up by ministers to tackle disinformation – false information that is deliberately spread – and initially focused on foreign interference in the European elections. However, in 2020 it turned its attention to the pandemic and collected social media posts by members of the British public. The intelligence community – which includes MI6, MI5 and GCHQ – continued “working closely” with the CDU “where appropriate” during this time, documents show.

“Nothing can be ruled out” in such an “intense” proxy conflict between NATO and Russia in Ukraine, Dmitry Polyansky has said | The military confrontation in Ukraine has reached a point where it could easily spiral into a full-blown conflict between Russia and NATO, Moscow’s deputy envoy to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said on Friday. The diplomat blamed the US-led military bloc’s ever deeper involvement in the fighting between Moscow and Kiev. [...] Moscow sees “many indications that there are some instructors, mercenaries” in Ukraine, the deputy envoy stated. He also pointed to some “strange messages” about the deaths of NATO officers and generals. “That does raise major suspicions,” he said, adding that “we cannot rule out that they [NATO specialists] are participating in certain actions in Ukraine,” Polyansky added, without naming any specific examples. Polyansky also claimed that the current situation is “very bad” for the Ukrainian military and that “Western aid is their only salvation.” Many people in the US and elsewhere “are starting to understand that the Kiev regime is losing,” he added.

Ex-Italian PM claims 1980 passenger jet crash was failed attempt by France to kill Libyan president | More than 40 years after the mysterious shooting down of an Italian plane that carried 81 passengers, former two-time premier Giuliano Amato claims France was behind it [He] has accused France and the United States of being responsible for the deaths of 81 aircraft passengers in a mysterious crash more than 40 years ago, in a failed assassination attempt on former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. ● On the evening of 27 June 1980, the Itavia flight 870, with 81 people on board, crashed near the island of Ustica (north of Sicily), resulting in the deaths of passengers and crew members. The incident is one of Italy's worst air disasters in history. ● In an explosive interview published on Saturday by the newspaper La Repubblica, former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato said he supported the claim that France, with the assistance of Washington, sought to eliminate Libyan leader Gaddafi, believing he was on board the targeted aircraft. The passenger plane was shot down by a missile fired by a French fighter jet, Amato alleged.

The munitions will be used with US-made Abrams tanks | The US is set to arm Ukraine with controversial depleted uranium (DU) ammunition as part of an upcoming arms package for use with US-made Abrams tanks, Reuters reported on Friday. ● DU is a heavy metal that’s a byproduct of enriched uranium and is extremely dense, making it a good material for armor-piercing rounds. But DU ammunition is toxic and is linked to cancer and birth defects in places it has been used, including Iraq, where the US used an enormous amount of DU in the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion. ● The UK has already provided Ukraine with DU ammunition for use with British-made Challenger 2 tanks, but the US has yet to take the step. Earlier this year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was deploying nuclear weapons to Belarus, he said it was a response to the UK arming Ukraine with DU. ● According to Reuters, the arms package for Ukraine that will include DU ammunition is expected to be announced this week. The first Abrams tanks are due to arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks.

■ US to send controversial armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine (Business Insider)

Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Ambassador Peter Ford to hear his expert analysis of important issues developing in the Middle East region. | Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey are neighbors in an increasingly unstable Middle East, in which Saudi Arabia plays a key role. The US has meddled in the Middle East for decades and is responsible for the destruction of several countries who have not recovered from failed American policies. Peter Ford served as the British ambassador to Bahrain from 1999 to 2003 and Syria from 2003 to 2006, and is currently the London-based Co-Chairman of the British Syrian Society. He is an Arabist with long established expertise in the Middle East.