US Central Command announced on Friday that that it had hit 85 Kata'ib Hezbollah targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for a recent drone attack on a U.S. military headquarters in Jordan near the border with Syria that killed three US service members. | The attacks were conducted last night. Officials in Iraq have condemned the attacks. Reportedly, the overnight air strikes on Syria killed at least 18 fighters. ● Kataib Hezbollah had said the attacks on the American headquarters in the region, including the recent one in Jordan, were in response to Washington’s full support for Israel’s massacre of the Palestinians in Gaza, which started in October 2023. Kataib Hezbollah, also called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have so far fired missiles at Israel's for its genocidal war in the besieged Gaza Strip. US military officials have not provided an estimated death toll but have said the strikes resulted in causalities.

■ Lloyd Austin: ‘We Don’t Know’ If Iran Was Involved in Jordan Drone Attack (antiwar.com)
■ Damascus says US occupation of Syrian territory ‘cannot continue’ (Malay Mail)
■ Military statement: A number of civilian and military martyrs in U.S. new aggression near borders with Iraq (SANA)
■ Iraq condemns US airstrikes as ‘breach of sovereignty', warns of 'disasterous consequences' (PressTV)
■ Most targeted sites completely evacuated before aggression (Al Mayadeen)
■ Yemen's Ansarullah vows to stand by Iraqi, Syrian resistance groups 'in battlefield' after US strikes (PressTV)
■ Iraq’s Nujaba: We’ll Keep up Ops against US until Occupation Ends, Gaza Genocide Stops (Alahed News)

The Yemeni army has carried out yet another attack in the Red Sea, this time targeting a British vessel amid tensions over the UK-US joint aggression against the Arab country to protect Israeli maritime interests in the region. | A Yemeni military source has been quoted by Al Jazeera that the British vessel was en route to an Israeli port in the occupied Palestinian territories when it was hit by Yemeni missiles on Thursday night. ● The spokesman for Yemen’s Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree has confirmed the attack, noting that the strike on the vessel was part of the country’s support for the Palestinian people in Gaza who have been under unprecedented bloody aggression by the Zionist regime nearly the four months. ● Yemen says it will keep targeting any Zionist or Zionist-linked vessels in the Red Sea as long as the war in Gaza continues and the besieged territory remains under the blockade. ● The Yemeni army has conducted over two dozen attacks on Israeli-linked commercial vessels in the Ted and Arab Seas since mid-November.

■ Yemen strikes British merchant ship in solidarity with Gazans (Tehran Times)

A Palestinian family in Gaza says they witnessed the summary execution of 15 men when Israeli soldiers raided their apartment last month. pic.twitter.com/JAhbcXNYO1

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 18, 2024

With each passing day, there is growing evidence that Israeli troops are functioning as mobile mass execution parties in Gaza. On Thursday, Al Jazeera published video interviews of residents of an apartment building in Gaza City, where residents said Israeli troops systematically tortured and executed 15 men. Heba Selem, a witness, stated: 💬 “They stripped them of their clothes except for their boxers and forced them to lay on their stomachs on the floor. They started to execute the men on the floor. They didn’t leave anyone. I swear to God, they turned the entire place into a bloodbath. ● “It’s a day you can’t forget, I can’t forget it.” Her husband was killed during the execution. “After they tortured my husband in front of us and they broke his jaw, and beat up his face, they beat him until his arms were bleeding. They stripped all the men, tortured them, and humiliated them, then executed them. That all happened while we watched.”

■ APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)(84 pages) Press Release (.pdf)
■ The Expression of Hatred for Gentiles (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)

In a world of cowardice and lies, telling the truth where – and when – it really matters takes courage. And it can cost you your life. | So, Gonzalo Lira is dead. As he warned in his last video message before being disappeared (this time, as it turned out, forever) by the Ukrainian regime, his political journalism has cost him his life. ● A successful social media commentator and American citizen, Lira died while incarcerated by Ukraine’s repression apparatus for his criticism of the Western and Ukrainian position on the war against Russia. His terms were often direct, even harsh and polemical. But he was not a spy or some sort of subversive influence agent. He was transparent and open to a fault, standing with his own name – and life – for everything he said. He was a political prisoner (yes, I agree with Tucker Carlson on this one); the official Ukrainian charges against him are a ludicrous disgrace. ● The immediate cause of his death is virtually certain to have been severe, prolonged, and systematic neglect, which led to his indirect killing – fully deliberate or not – by a condition (pneumonia and complications) that is perfectly treatable. In legal terms, this qualifies as, at least, manslaughter or even murder, committed by Ukrainian officers of the “law” and those issuing their orders.

■ Tragic News Predawn (Linh Dinh)

HMS Diamond (D34) | The December 26 attack upon a Russian Landing Vessel in port at Feodosia, Crimea, which completely destroyed that ship, was aided and abetted by the British to such a degree that Russia intends to have a NAMED British Warship fired-upon in retaliation! Russia is intentionally supplying the missiles to do the attack! (Covert Intel)

■ Russia heading to victory in Ukraine, says former UK senior officer (The National News)

Yemen’s defense minister has denounced the formation of a US-led maritime task force in the Red Sea to protect the passage of merchant vessels bound for the Israeli-occupied territories, cautioning the Western alliance that any assault on Yemeni soil will have dire consequences. | The Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7. The relentless Israeli strikes against Gaza have killed at least 19,453 people, most of them women and children, in Gaza. Another 52,286 individuals have been wounded as well. ● Reports revealed that Israeli shipping companies have already decided to reroute their vessels in fear of attacks by Yemeni forces.

■ If US attacks Yemen, its battleships will be struck: Sayyed al-Houthi (Al Mayadeen) | The leader of Ansar Allah movement slams the US action in the Red Sea as "illegal" and describes it as "a reckless and foolish aggression that only serves Israel." Ansar Allah leader, Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, reassured European companies, saying, “European vessels that do not have Israeli ports as their final destination are not at risk.”

■ U.S. defence secretary makes unannounced visit to USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier defending Israel (CTV News)
■ Netanyahu tells Biden Israel will act militarily against Yemen's Houthis if US won't: report (Fox News)
■ Malaysia Blocks Israeli Shipping Firm over Gaza Atrocities (Tasnim News Agency)
■ Who Are Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Attacking Israeli Ships? (Declassified)
■ Red Sea’s Gateway of Tears… As Usual, Uncle Sam’s Euro Vassals Pay the Price (Finian Cunningham)

South Africa has presented all the necessary documentation to the ICC | South Africa has submitted all necessary paperwork to the International Criminal Court (ICC), bringing war crime charges against Israel over its offensive in Gaza, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday, according to local outlet Eyewitness News. ● More than 19,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli air and ground assaults in Gaza since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "eliminate" Hamas in response to the Palestinian militant group's October 7 cross-border attack, in which it killed about 1,200 people and took 240 hostages. ● Last month, President Ramaphosa condemned the Hamas incursion during an emergency virtual BRICS+ meeting, accusing the militant group of violating international law. He insisted, however, that Israel is committing genocide and blamed the raging conflict on the Jewish state's occupation of Palestinian territory.

A spokesman for the Russian church branded the move “lawless” and an “attempt to intimidate parishioners” | Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been put on a criminal wanted list by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry. The document identified the Patriarch by his secular name and described him as “an individual hiding from the bodies of pre-trial investigation” and deemed him responsible for violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. ● The head of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said that a criminal case had been opened following the announcement and that measures will be taken to identify the Ukrainian special service officials who are seeking to prosecute the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. ● Patriarch Kirill has repeatedly called on his parishioners to support the participants of Russia’s military operation against Ukraine, who were “sacrificing their lives to protect our Orthodox people in the Donbas.”

Acute mountain sickness, caused by reduced air pressure and lower oxygen levels at high altitudes, accounts for nearly half of all deaths | A total of 18 people died in 2023 on slopes of the world’s highest mountain, Everest, making it the deadliest mountaineering season since the summit was first reached 70 years ago, according to The Himalayan Database that stores information on all expeditions in the Himalayas. ● Acute mountain sickness, caused by reduced air pressure and lower oxygen levels at high altitudes, accounts for nearly half of all deaths. Lower oxygen availability may case pulmonary and cerebral edema, hallucinations and tachycardia. Besides, mountaineers have to endure extreme physical stress while climbing, and often suffer from dehydration. In some cases, these factors can be fatal. ● A total of 317 climbers have perished on Everest during the entire 70-year-long history of successful ascents to the world’s highest mountain. The previous deadliest climbing season, with 17 deaths, was recorded in 2014. ● The Guardian reported in May that this year the Nepalese government had issued the all-time high number of climbing permits - 479. Ascending the mountain is impossible without this document. The newspaper quotes President of Nepal National Mountain Guide Association Ang Norbu Sherpa as saying that more and more inexperienced climbers are trying to reach the summit. People with little or no experience in climbing have been making summit attempts, he explained. ● Variable weather was named as another possible reason for this year’s high death rate. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, the director of Nepal's tourism department, told The Guardian that climate change was the main cause for unsettled weather on the mountain.

X owner Elon Musk condemned Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar for demanding new thought crime legislation in response to Thursday's fiery but mostly peaceful protest against mass immigration. 💬 "Irish children were stabbed by a foreign man in Dublin yesterday yet the government twist the story and use the backlash as an opportunity to pass new hate speech laws," X user Sir Doge of the Coin commented on Friday. "The Irish government want all of your freedoms." "Ironically, the Irish PM hates the Irish people," Elon Musk responded.

■ Riots and arson grip Dublin after stabbing spree (VIDEOS) (11/24/23)

The African National Congress said it could not support the “genocidal actions of the Israeli regime” | South Africa’s ruling party has said it will support a motion to sever diplomatic relations with Israel and shut down its embassy in Pretoria. South African officials have condemned Israel’s assault on Gaza, even calling for a formal war crimes probe. ● In comments on Thursday, African National Congress (ANC) spokeswoman Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the party would approve legislation to cut ties with Israel until it agreed to a ceasefire, originally introduced by leftist opposition faction the Economic Freedom Fighters.

■ South Africa refers Israel to ICC (11/16/23)

At least 50 people were martyred and dozens of others injured as the ‘Israeli’ occupation warplanes targeted a mosque in Sabra Neighborhood in the center of the Gaza Strip amid the regime's genocidal war. | The attack was carried out during prayers, when the mosque was full of worshippers. Another ‘Israeli’ strike on telecommunications towers in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip left at least one child martyred. ● The Zionist occupation regime has encouraged Palestinians to move from northern Gaza to the south for their safety, but ‘Israel’ in fact bombs everywhere and nowhere is safe now. So far, at least 11,500 Palestinians, including 4,710 children and 3,160 women, have been martyred, and around 32,000 others wounded since October 7, when the regime started bombing the blockaded coastal territory. ● Also on Wednesday, head of the Orthopedic Department at al-Shifa, Gaza's biggest hospital, which was raided by the ‘Israeli’ forces on Wednesday, said ‘Israeli’ bulldozers and tanks invaded the facility, and demolished parts of the premises.

The Lebanese and Palestinian Resistance, as well as the Yemeni Armed Forces, attack the Israeli occupation forces as part of their effort to support the people and Resistance in Gaza. | The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah announced Tuesday that they targeted Israeli artillery positions in northern occupied Palestine. The Lebanese resistance fighters targeted Israeli occupation artillery positions in occupied Palestine in response to the targeting of one of the resistance points in Iqlim Al-Tuffah. Simultaneously, intense artillery shelling by the occupation reached the outskirts of the towns of Al-Labouneh, Al-Naqoura, and Alma al-Shaab, as reported by an Al Mayadeen correspondent in southern Lebanon.

■ 347 Israeli Soldiers Killed Since Start of Hostilities With Hamas, Says IDF (Sputnik News)
■ sraeli Soldier Killed, 3 Seriously Injured in Gaza Clashes (Al Manar TV)

An Ohio-class guided missile submarine arrived in the Middle East on Sunday, as per a social media post by the US Central Command. | According to the US press, the heavily armed submarine sends "a message of deterrence" to Israel's "regional adversaries, as the Biden administration "tries to avoid a broader conflict amid the Israel-Hamas war."
The deployment of the submarine is triggering concerns, as per the DC-based think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. The crux of the matter is that the US has already amassed a huge military force in the Middle East over the unfolding Gaza war.

■ US nuclear submarine sent to confront Iran – Bloomberg (RT.com)
■ After Nasrallah's speech, US and Israel escalate Gaza war (The Cradle)

A heart-wrenching incident unfolded in southern Lebanon, where a Zionist military aggression took the lives of three Lebanese children, alongside their grandmother on Sunday evening. | The victims of this tragic incident include Samira Abdel Hassan Ayoub, along with her granddaughters Remas, Talin, and Enas. Their mother, Hoda Abdel Nabi Hijazi, sustained injuries when a civilian car (CRV), situated between the towns of Blida and Ainata along the southern border between Lebanon and occupied Palestine, was targeted by Israeli enemy aircraft, directly striking it and igniting a fire. In response to this heinous crime, Hezbollah released a statement announcing that Islamic resistance fighters targeted Kiryat Shmona settlement with a series of Grad missiles. [...] The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, has made a statement, asserting that the Israeli crime will not go unpunished. He has declared that the incident will be pursued through international diplomatic channels, with a formal complaint to be lodged with the United Nations Security Council. Mikati pointed out that this crime stands as a stark contrast to the calls for calm and the acquiescence to the occupation’s actions against Lebanon. He viewed this act as yet another blemish on the global conscience that has, regrettably, overlooked the Israeli occupation’s actions in southern Lebanon and Gaza.

The Israeli military detained a film crew from German broadcaster ARD in the West Bank and threatened journalists with weapons, the Tagesschau broadcaster, part of the ARD media group, reported on Sunday. | The journalists were detained after they filmed violence against Palestinians by radical Jewish settlers, the report said, adding that ARD in Tel Aviv sees this as a clear attack on press freedom. The situation was resolved only an hour later, after the arrival of additional Israeli military and police forces, the report added. ARD in Tel Aviv promised to hire a lawyer to determine the legal consequences of the incident.

She has called for the envoy’s expulsion for as long as Israel ignores demands for a ceasefire | Israeli ambassador Dana Erlich “should no longer enjoy diplomatic status in Ireland," Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou McDonald said on Friday. McDonald’s party, which has deep historical ties to the Palestinian cause, has repeatedly condemned Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. 💬 "[The Israel Defence Forces] are engaged in a ferocious military offensive against a civilian population; breaking international law by targeting civilians, destroying civilian infrastructure, forcing mass population displacement and cutting off vital supplies of water, food, medicines and fuel,” McDonald told reporters. Erlich’s presence in Ireland has become “untenable,” McDonald continued, adding that the ambassador should “no longer enjoy diplomatic status in Ireland while Israel refuses the imperative for ceasefires and as the suffering and death toll grow.”

■ Turkey recalls ambassador from Israel for consultations over Gaza operation (TASS)
■ Erdoğan accuses Israel of committing crime against humanity
■ Türkiye crossed out Netanyahu, will bring Israel’s war crimes to ICC, says President Erdoğan
■ Oman calls for international court to investigate 'war crimes' by Israel in Gaza

WARNING WARNING WARNING
Very Distressing
Not for the faint-hearted

Evil defined: These are videos where Jewish criminals (religious and non-religious) speak freely about what they want to do or are going to do to the Palestinians. This mindset is absolutely shocking to a normal person. After that, there are some photos here that most certainly are not for the faint-hearted. They can never be "un-seen" again. So be warned. MORE

The attack on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Tuesday left several hundred people dead | The strike on a Gaza hospital that left hundreds dead should serve as a signal both to Palestinian armed groups and Israel to end the hostilities, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. ● Speaking to journalists at China’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, Putin described the powerful explosion that rocked Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, killing at least 500 people according to local authorities, as a “tragedy” and a “terrible incident.” ● “Hundreds of dead and wounded, of course, this is a catastrophe... especially in a humanitarian place. I expect this to be a signal that this conflict should end as soon as possible. In any case, it should lead to the start of some kind of contacts and negotiations,” he said.

■ LIVE: Israel accused of committing a ‘crime of genocide’ after hospital bombing, which killed hundreds (MEE)

■ Dmitry Medvedev (Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council) | The monstrous attack on the hospital in the Gaza Strip is certainly a war crime. And the final responsibility for it lies with those who cynically capitalize on wars in different countries and on different continents. Who recklessly hand out huge sums of money for weapons, loading their military-industrial complex. Who falsely broadcast their global mission to protect democratic values. The United States of America. (T)

Israeli forces have opened fire on a vehicle near the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, killing two Palestinian youths. | The victims, identified as Hudhayfah Fares and Abd al-Rahman Atta, were shot dead after Israeli troops targeted their car near the village of Shufah, south of Tulkarm in the northwestern part of West Bank, on Thursday. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death of Atta, 23, and Fares, 27, saying they were killed during confrontations with the occupying regime’s forces, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported. The two slain Palestinians were from the Tulkarm camp and lived in the suburb of Dhanaba, east of the city. Violent clashes erupted in the Tulkarm refugee camp after Israeli forces invaded it, and fired live rounds, stun grenades and teargas canisters towards Palestinians.

Russia has launched three waves of air strikes against NATO infrastructure across Ukraine. Weapons shipments, military bases, maintenance factories, maintenance centers, weapons and ammunition depots have been hit. | At the same time, a train carrying depleted uranium shells and the Rivne thermoelectric power station were hit.

This is the first Russian attack on Ukraine's power grid ahead of the coming winter. Explosions across Ukraine: Targets hit in Rivne, Lviv, Drohobych, Kyiv. Overnight, the Russian Armed Forces carried out combined attacks against Ukrainian targets in various regions of the country. In particular, targets in Lviv were hit. Reports speak of the destruction of the largest logistical support complex of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in western Ukraine, through which supplies of equipment and weapons from Poland and NATO were carried out. At about 06:25, three rocket attacks occurred on the territory of the town of Drohobych, 75 km south of Lviv. Two missiles hit a specific industrial facility. A series of explosions were recorded in Kyiv. The mayor of the city, Klitschko, confirmed attacks on targets in several areas of Kyiv, including Goloseevsky and Darnitsky. Fires engulfed military installations. According to Klitschko, the Svyatoshinsky district was left without power overnight. The town of Rivne in western Ukraine was subjected to a massive missile attack. There, according to some reports, a facility housing military equipment recently trans-ferred to Kyiv from NATO was destroyed. Finally, according to some reports, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Command base in Kherson was hit. Information is received about the death of at least six officers leading operations in the southern direction. →

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

The former Russian president has dismissed the idea of Moscow eventually reconciling with the West as illusionary | Washington and its allies in Europe and elsewhere continue to support Kiev despite it acting increasingly like the Nazis during World War II, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a Telegram post on Saturday. Moscow should abandon hope of reconciling with the West and see it for what it is, he believes. ● The leaders of Ukraine are “increasingly talking about ‘holding all Russians accountable’,” Medvedev said, adding that Kiev sees all Russian citizens as ‘Russians’ regardless of their ethnic background. In a thinly veiled reference to the Nazis’ plans for the Soviet Union, the former president said that the world had already seen similar aspirations. ● Medvedev noted that Ukraine is still being supported by almost every single Western leader, as well as by the heads of Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. All of them “are direct and obvious Nazi accomplices,” he stated, adding that “they should be treated as the leaders of a pro-Nazi coalition.”

Dmitry Medvedev | The leaders of the Banderite "Ukraine" are increasingly talking about the need to "bring all Russians to justice" (it is clear that by "Russians" they mean the entire population of our country, regardless of nationality). This has already happened somewhere, eh? ● Bandero-Ukraine is supported by almost all bosses of Western countries. Therefore Biden, Trudeau, Sunak, Scholz, Macron, Meloni, as well as leaders of the vilest Poland, ossified Scandinavian countries, militaristic Japan, marsupial animals from Australia and New Zealand, and other plague fleas like the Baltic States are direct and obvious accomplices of Nazis. And we should treat them as leaders of the countries of the Nazi coalition. ● And not to indulge in sweet dreams of how we will once reconcile and live as a big polyamorous family with non-binary genders. (Translation: DeepL.com)

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia's Federation Council (Senate) said today that if Ukraine wants to join NATO, it must cede territory to Russia, INCLUDING ITS CAPITAL, KIEV, and move its capital to Lviv. | Medvedev was commenting on the idea of the Chief of Staff of the NATO Secretary General, Styan Jensen, that Ukraine can get membership in NATO, if it agrees to cede territories to the Russian Federation, noting that the idea is interesting, but that the issue of Ukrainian territory as a whole disputed. 💬 "In order to join the Alliance, the Kiev authorities will have to give up even Kiev itself, the capital of Old Russia, and they will have to move their capital to Lviv." ● In related news, Russia's Defense Minister, Shoigu, said today "Ukraine's military resources are 'almost exhausted' and that "Russia has ended Western military dominance."

Dmitry Medvedev | A new idea for Ukraine from the North Atlantic Alliance office: Ukraine can join NATO if it gives up disputed territories. Why? The idea is curious. The only question is that all the allegedly disputed territories are highly disputed. And in order to enter the bloc, the Kiev authorities will have to give up even Kiev, the capital of Ancient Rus. Well, they will have to move the capital to Lviv. If, of course, the Przeks agree to leave Lemberg to the lovers of lard and coke. (T)

Similar headlines or sentiments will be found in pretty much any other 'western' magazine that still has some integrity. The catastrophic consequences of sanctioning Russia without any realistic assessment of its, and one's own economies should have led to a serious clean-up of all state and international bureaucracies involved in it. Alas, we have yet to see that anyone who was involved has been punished for these horrendous mistakes. The very same people are now involved in finding 'solutions' for the mess their shortsightedness created. It is no wonder then that people will vote for anyone other than those in charge. (© Image)

Earlier in the day, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had detained members of a neo-Nazi group plotting to kill Margarita Simonyan, the Rossiya Segodnya news agency's editor-in-chief, plus liberal journalist and socialite Ksenia Sobchak, at the behest of the Ukrainian military. | The latest suspected Ukrainian plot to assassinate Margarita Simonyan and Ksenia Sobchak "once against demonstrates the terrorist essence of Volodymyr Zelensky's regime, which is already responsible for a series of terrorist attacks," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday. Zakharova said Moscow doesn't really expect any real response from international organizations over the foiled plot, due to the "pathological hypocrisy [which] has long been a political tradition of Western liberalism and its unconditional reflex." Zakharova added that the "Kiev regime" plotting this and similar attacks against civilians continues to enjoy the "thorough support of Western curators." More here

Victoria Nuland says the US supports attacks on the peninsula | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Ukraine is preparing to launch attacks to recapture Crimea by forming new military units and sending troops to train in other countries. 💬 “There are military steps, and we are preparing for them. We are ready mentally. We are preparing technically: with weapons, reinforcements, the formation of brigades, in particular the assault brigades, of different categories and nature,” Zelensky said at a press conference, according to the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. ● According to Ukrinform, Zelensky said Ukrainian troops were being sent to train in other countries to learn how to use new weapons. “We have to be ready. Then, there will be corresponding fair de-occupation steps and, God willing, they will be successful,” he added. ● Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials have maintained that kicking Russia out of Crimea is one of their war goals, but Russia controls a good portion of territory to the north of Crimea in the Kherson Oblast. The Pentagon has also assessed it’s unlikely Ukraine can take the peninsula, which Russia has controlled since 2014.

■ Ukraine ‘will burn’ if it strikes Crimea, ex-Russian president warns (02/05/23)

There are countless fools in the power structures of Europe | Some Italian defense minister called the supply of armored vehicles and other weapons to Ukraine the prevention of World War III. A rare eccentric with the letter "m". ● The neighbors of the gifted minister from the evil misty kingdom with the empire complex went even further. They say that all the weapons that NATO has should be provided to Kiev "right now". And fighters, and hundreds of tanks, and long-range missile systems. Like this is the only way to prevent the expansion of Russia and, again, a world war. ● Firstly, the protection of Ukraine, which is not needed by anyone in Europe, will not save the decrepit Old World from retribution, if anything happens. Secondly, if the third World War begins, then, alas, it will not be on tanks or even on fighters. Then for sure – everything will be turned to dust. ● However, what can we expect from an entrepreneur with an incomplete higher education and his dim-witted neighbors, who were pumped up right at the workplaces located at 10 Downing Street during the pandemic. Although the spirit of W. Churchill would be pleased with the successors. (Translation: yandex.ru)