A new law forbids discriminating against those who refuse to provide such data | Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill that regulates the collection and use of the biometric data of the country’s citizens. ● The legislation approved by Putin on Thursday introduces a new state-operated Unified Biometrics System (UBS), set to be created next year. The UBS will handle all biometrics collected from Russian nationals, including face images and voice samples. However, the law prohibits forcibly collecting such data. ● Russians seeking to maintain the privacy of their biometric data will be able to opt out of having it collected. They will also be able to easily have it deleted from the system should they change their minds if it has already been gathered. The legislation also outlaws any discrimination against those who decide not to provide such information, stating that a refusal cannot be used as grounds for denying an individual state-provided services or employment. ● Effectively, the law makes the state the sole operator of biometric data in the country. Previously, any legal entity was able to collect and use such data in Russia. The legislation also restricts the participation of foreign actors in biometrics collection, enabling only state-owned entities to gather such data.

Blandt det amerikanske materiel, der i dag ankommer til Aarhus Havn, er hjulkøretøjer, bæltekøretøjer og containere, som sendes videre på lastbiler og østpå til #AtlanticResolve – USA’s styrkede tilstedeværelse i Europa. #dkforsvar #værdatkæmpefor #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/Baz5Q1pV6M

— Forsvaret (@forsvaretdk) January 16, 2023

The equipment will be used in connection with Operation Atlantic Resolve, which aims to enhance NATO’s so-called "deterrence posture" along its eastern flank, bolstering the air, ground and naval presence in the region — a process that has escalated amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict. The equipment will be used in connection with Operation Atlantic Resolve, which aims to strengthen the US presence in Europe, the Danish Armed Forces informed in a press release. MORE

■ Images on DuckDuckGo.com
■ CNN: Ukraine Has Become a ‘Weapons Lab’ for Western Arms
■ Ukraine is Test Lab for Western Weapons ‘In Every Sense’, US Media Says
■ Report: Supply of British Tanks to Kiev Will Leave London ‘Weaker’, UK Military Chief of Staff Says
■ UK to Give Ukraine 'Hundreds' of Armored Vehicles, Including 'Bulldogs' (01/16/23)

The 53rd annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will take place in Davos on Monday and will continue through January 20. | The main issues on the agenda of the forum will be energy and food crises, high global inflation, investments in emerging technologies, as well as current geopolitical risks for the world's economy. ● High-ranking officials from across the globe, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, South Korean President President Yoon Suk Yeol, Colombian leader Gustavo Petro and others, are expected to take part in the event. ● A delegation from Russia will not participate in the meeting for the second year in a row since organizers decided not to invite Russian representatives in response to Moscow's ongoing military operation in Ukraine.

■ Who pays for Davos? (World Economic Forum)

■ What is the WEF Meeting in Davos and What Should Be Expected From It This Year? | Why is WEF Hated in Some Corners? | While the WEF has been praised by some for serving as a platform where decision-makers can meet and talk through problems affecting the world, and offer hints about where elites want to take their companies, countries or even the entire planet, in other corners, particularly among the conservative and libertarian Right and the anti-liberal Left, the WEF is treated with varying degrees of disdain, annoyance and distrust. There are several reasons for this.

UK to Deliver 100s More Armored Vehicles to Ukraine Including Bulldogs, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace Says | UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that the UK would provide Ukraine with "hundreds" of armored vehicles, including Bulldog armored personnel carriers. 💬 "Hundreds more armored and protective vehicles will also be sent [to Ukraine], including Bulldog [armored personnel carriers]," he said, speaking in the House of Commons with a statement on Ukraine.

In late November, US media reported that Washington is considering expanding its training of the Ukrainian military that may include drills for up to 2,500 troops monthly at an American base in Germany. | On Sunday, the US military started the “new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces” on German territory, an American media outlet has cited General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as saying. According to the general, the complex training, which will include “classroom instruction and field work,” is due to be combined with an array of new weapons, artillery, tanks and other vehicles heading to Ukraine from Western countries. He added that it would be “ideal” if the newly trained forces are able to use all the incoming weapons and equipment “sometime before the spring rains show up.”

■ Ukrainian forces begin expanded U.S. military training in Germany
■ US launches expanded training for Ukrainian troops in Germany

Dead bodies are being stored in makeshift morgues to deal with a backlog of deaths over the winter months as the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) struggles to cope and hospitals reach full capacity. Temporary mortuary sites are being opened up across the UK in a bid to deal with increased demand following a deadly Christmas/New Year holiday period. | Some sites that were erected to compensate for the number of Covid-19 deaths during the pandemic are now reopening their doors again. Others installed include one at a council gritting yard in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and another at a former landfill site near a nature reserve in Wollaston, Northamptonshire. It is estimated around 4,000 more Brits died than normal towards the end of the year - with a combination of flu, Covid and hospital and ambulance delays all blamed. As a result, the refrigerated units - some which resemble shipping containers - are being used to cope with the current winter death rates.

■ SHOCKING - 50 000 excess deaths in Britain (01/14/23)

Fixing the sabotaged pipelines and resuming imports from Russia would be cheaper than buying LNG, Saxony’s governor has said | The governor of the German state of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, has called for the repair of the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines, arguing that operators are running out of time before the vital gas link becomes unusable. In an interview with Germany’s Funke Media Group on Saturday, Kretschmer said that while 💬 “the issue of Russian gas is not on the table” as long as the conflict in Ukraine is ongoing, Germany must preserve the option to “buy something other than expensive liquefied natural gas after the war.” Therefore the Russian-German consortium responsible for Nord Stream “must ensure that the pipeline can be repaired.” “We’re running out of time. If the damage is not repaired, Nord Stream will become unusable for a long time.” ● Germany began importing Russian gas via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in 2011, until deliveries were halted by Russia’s Gazprom in September after it said EU sanctions were impeding vital maintenance. Its sister pipeline, Nord Stream 2, was due to come online this year, but certification was indefinitely suspended by Berlin in February, days before Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call on Saturday that London would send Kiev 12 Challenger 2 tanks. 💬 "The Prime Minister outlined the UK’s ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine, including through the provision of Challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems," Sunak's office said. ● Sunak and Zelenskyy also agreed on "the need to seize on this moment with an acceleration of global military and diplomatic support to Ukraine," in particular, welcoming the commitment by Poland and other countries to start sending tanks to Kiev.

■ UK PM confirms tank shipment to Ukraine

The growing role of digital currencies draws the attention of the world's governments seeking to find a way to stabilize their countries' financial systems by introducing new technologies. | The Bank of Tanzania is considering the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the institution stated, saying that it "has adopted a phased, cautious and risk based approach" to the issue. ● The central bank is taking into account the experience of other states, noting that six countries have canceled the adoption of CBDC due to challenges in the implementation phase. ● In October 2021, Nigeria became the first African country to introduce the use of a central bank digital currency, eNaira. According to the country's government, the currency "serves as both a medium of exchange and a store of value, offering better payment prospects in retail transactions when compared to cash payments." South Africa and Ghana have been reported to participate in pilot CBDC projects, with several other African countries being in the research stage.

New communications equipment capable of working under strong radio-electronic impact has been supplied to the Belarusian army, the country's defense ministry said on Saturday. | The newly supplied armaments and military equipment are "capable of operating in conditions of strong radio-electronic impact, while ensuring accurate data transmission in digital mode to the end recipient," Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry (SAMI) deputy chief Oleg Mishchenko said. ● Army supplies prioritize radar and satellite communications equipment and electronic warfare tools, as well as the equipment for air defense, such as the Russian-made S-400 and Tor systems, which have already been put into service, the Belarusian defense ministry's broadcaster, VoenTV, reported within the same Telegram post.

■ Russia sends high-ranking military representative to closest ally (01/13/23)

Something very bad is happening. | I don’t know where to start. People like me and others have warned that this was going to happen, and sadly we were correct in our predictions. ● This is a horrible, horrible story. Yet it is not anywhere near as big of a story in the mainstream media as it should be. ● In 2022, Britain had the HIGHEST number of excess deaths since 1951 if you exclude the covid pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. ● There was a whopping 50 000 excess deaths in the country for the whole year. ● Remember when they told you to wear a mask and lock yourself inside for two years to save grandma? Remember how they had covid death trackers constantly on the TV to scare people into compliance? But now when people are dying in massive numbers, they are more or less completely ignoring it.

In 2020, during the “pandemic,” Japan had fewer all-cause deaths than all the previous 9 years. On 1 December 2021, Japan started administering the third dose, or “booster shots,” of Pfizer-BioNTech. At the end of 2022, 83% of Japan’s population was “fully vaccinated.”  | During 2022, Japan experienced the highest number of excess deaths in 11 years. Excess deaths were approximately four times the number of those in the years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. ● Japan is a compliant nation of people, achieving way above average covid “vaccination” rates compared to the rest of the world and the rest of Asia too. But it’s strange that they would be so zealously compliant to “protect” themselves from a disease that had absolutely no excess mortal impact. ● In fact, immediately after the covid “epidemic” in 2020, Japan had the most significant period of seasonal deficit in ten years in terms of mortality after no excess mortality whatsoever. And yet, in the aftermath of the mass mRNA experiment (to protect them against a virus/disease that they did not need protection from), they have experienced higher seasonal excess and lower seasonal deficit ever since.

■ BOMBSHELL – Pandemic of the vaccinated (Peter Sweden)
■ Covid Vaccines Are 'Obviously Dangerous' and Should Be Halted Immediately, Say Senior Swedish Doctors

Elena Panina (Елена Панина) | Colleagues have given information about a promising Japanese land- and sea-based cruise missile with a range of up to 1,500 km.

■ Another confirmation of Japan's accelerated militarisation. At the same time, Tokyo is not going to focus solely on its own development. As previously noted, it intends to deploy American ground-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 1,600 km by 2027.
■ Russia will have to respond symmetrically, and within four years. With the termination of the INF Treaty, Moscow said it would not be the first to deploy land-based medium-range missiles in Europe and Asia, but only in response. And now the Russian response is just around the corner.

The point is that we do not have much time to neutralise the Ukrainian crisis. Enemies are stepping up all along the perimeter of Russia's borders. (Translation: DeepL.com)

Nearly a year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the western narrative of an ‘unprovoked’ attack has become impossible to sustain | Hindsight is a particularly powerful tool for analyzing the Ukraine war, nearly a year after Russia’s invasion. ● Last February, it sounded at least superficially plausible to characterize Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops and tanks into his neighbor as nothing less than an “unprovoked act of aggression.” ● Putin was either a madman or a megalomaniac, trying to revive the imperial, expansionist agenda of the Soviet Union. Were his invasion to go unchallenged, he would pose a threat to the rest of Europe. ● Plucky, democratic Ukraine needed the West’s unreserved support – and a near-limitless supply of weapons – to hold the line against a rogue dictator. ● But that narrative looks increasingly threadbare, at least if one reads beyond the establishment media – a media that has never sounded quite so monotone, so determined to beat the drum of war, so amnesiac and so irresponsible.

The Swedish government will not extradite four people sought by Turkey, which says they are connected to a U.S.-based cleric it accuses of being behind a coup attempt in 2016, news agency TT reported on Thursday, without citing sources. | The extradition requests were made in 2019 and 2020, before Sweden and Finland signed a three-way agreement with Turkey aimed at overcoming Ankara's objections to the two Nordic countries joining the NATO military alliance. Sweden's High Court decided last summer the four could not be extradited, TT said, leaving the government no choice but to follow its decision. Sweden's Foreign Ministry could not comment immediately on the report. ● Turkey called a separate decision by the High Court in December to block the extradition of Turkish journalist Bulent Kenes a "very negative" development.

Stephen Lendman | More monster than man, Gates’ self-serving agenda threatens the vast majority of people everywhere so privileged ones like himself can benefit more than already. His rage to mass-jab ordinary people for seasonal flu-renamed covid is all about destroying health while pretending that it’s the other way around. | [He said] that it’s not a “matter of if but when” another pandemic is coming failed to explain what’s invented, not real. He’s not satisfied by results of the mother of all state-sponsored health-destroying scams. He wants the next invented one to accomplish what the current one failed to achieve — notably because the craze to mass-jab is wearing thin. (More here)

Riley Waggaman | A rushed “security” bill paves the way for a privatized digital control grid | On Wednesday, December 21st, the Russian State Duma adopted a bill that regulates the collection and storage of biometric data in Russia...To prevent the misuse or mishandling of biometric data by private enterprises, the legislation requires all face scans and voice samples to be stored in a centralized Unified Biometric System (UBS). A press release published by the State Duma claims the bill “protects” the biometric data of Russians and guarantees that the collection of such data is completely voluntary. Sounds pretty good. What’s not to like? Well, for starters… (read on)

A video has surfaced from inside Ukraine showing NAZI Ukrainian soldiers manufacturing drones equipped with an explosive, gasoline (molotov cocktail) and an unknown radioactive substance, turning drones into flying "dirty bombs" against Russia! When these drones explode over a position, in addition to hitting military personnel with shrapnel, the contents of the radiation canister and of the Molotov cocktail are also sprayed, igniting, and leaving radioactive contamination at the site.

■ Ukrainian soldiers are proud of their dirty bombs on Donbas front lines (Videos)

The Russian Army has liberated Soledar from Ukrainian NAZIS after weeks of ferocious battles. Complicating the situation were miles of underground salt mines through which Ukraine could send reinforcements and ammunition. As Ukrainian troops surrendered, the horror stories began to emerge. | As seen in the photo above, surrendering Ukrainian troops are all wearing . . . summer uniforms. In the dead of winter! Many of the men are suffering severe frostbite and are likely to lose fingers, toes, even whole limbs from the frostbite. The men report they had little to no food or water, but were refused when they asked command for permission to surrender.

■ Five Reasons Why Soledar’s Liberation Is So Significant (Penny For Your Thought)

Russian Foreign Ministry (МИД России) | Response by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson M.V. Zakharova to a media question on the EU-NATO joint declaration signed in Brussels | Read in full

Question: How would you comment on the signing in Brussels of the Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation?
💬 Zakharova: The joint declaration on EU-NATO cooperation reaffirms the total subordination of the European Union to the objectives of the North Atlantic bloc, which is an instrument of forceful enforcement of US interests. ● Security in the Euro-Atlantic region - in violation of all OSCE commitments - is seen through the prism of countering our country, increasing supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kiev regime, increasing military mobility in the European 'theatre of war' and further NATO expansion. ● It is obvious that aggressive and confrontational approaches of NATO and the European Union to the states pursuing independent foreign policy, attempts to divide the states into "friendly" and "alien" will only impede the peaceful settlement of conflicts, weaken the international security in the face of the continuing challenges of terrorism, the threat of which, incidentally, is recognized in the document. ● The motives of the Americans are clear - to drag the EU into the "global rivalry" declared by Washington, as the declaration says, and then the Europeans will have the unenviable fate of an American vassal, losing their position in world politics and economy, becoming increasingly dependent on Washington with each step. (Translation: DeepL.com)

An EC spokesman has also called for criminalizing circumventing the bloc’s sanctions against Moscow | So stealing Russian assets is OK, but a disagreement about their economic war against Russia is "criminal"? | The EU supports Estonia’s push to create a legal mechanism for confiscating Russian assets which were frozen as part of Ukraine-related sanctions, European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said on Thursday as cited by RIA Novosti. Wigand has also called for criminalizing violations of the sanctions imposed on Moscow, adding that this would speed up the process of "seizing" frozen Russian assets. The EC outlined a proposal to harmonize criminal offenses and penalties for the violation of the bloc’s restrictive measures in December. The draft is expected to be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council soon.

Critical staff shortages resulting in widespread burnout are reportedly to blame for growing disillusion | More than two-thirds of doctors in the Austrian capital, Vienna, “regularly” consider resigning, a survey conducted by the Vienna Medical Association revealed on Tuesday. Respondents cited the seemingly insurmountable problems of overwork and understaffing. ● Three in four doctors surveyed complained their workload was too heavy, while a quarter claimed their employer did not provide required breaks. Pessimism reigns supreme, with 91% doubting the punishing workload will improve in the future and over half (55%) expecting an even greater workload to come. [Post-covid fatigue? Being forced to ignore medical ethics, could this have anything to do with it?:] Austria adopted some of the strictest Covid-19 medical mandates in the world during the pandemic, imposing mandatory vaccination for all citizens last February. Violators would be fined every three months, with the total amounting to over $4,000 per year, and barred from entering public places. However, that policy was dropped the following month.

■ COVID-19 Vaccines Can Cause Sudden Cardiac Deaths: Warns Expert, Calls For Its Withdrawal From Market

Moscow’s deputy head of its Ukraine mission has arrived in Belarus on a “working trip” | The Russian Ground Forces commander-in-chief, General Oleg Salyukov, arrived in Belarus on Thursday with a group of Defense Ministry officials on a “working trip,” the ministry said in a Telegram post. ● Saluykov visited a military range where Russian troops are stationed, and received updates from unit commanders on operational coordination and joint combat training. The general also inspected the facilities and living conditions of the Russian troops, and spoke with the soldiers, according to the Defense Ministry. ● Russian troops are undergoing an “intensive combat training course” on the Belarusian training ranges, the ministry said, adding that exercises are run both during the day and night. The course involves firing and tactical driving exercises, as well as psychological training and tactical medicine.

Объясняет Readovka | Kiev's fears - Ukraine seriously fears a Russian offensive from the territory of Belarus | It is not only the Russian army that is preparing, but also the enemy — here the word "fears" or "fears" should rather be applied — in anticipation of large-scale events on the SSR fronts, the feeling of which now hovers in the air. The Ukrainian command is trying diligently to strengthen its defences in the Rivne region, fearful of a possible Russian offensive from Belarus. By the way, General Salyukov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Forces, arrived in RB yesterday. ● Of all the fears of the Ukrainian command, the approach of Russian forces from the direction of Belarus is probably the most enduring. To protect against hypothetical "hordes from the east" the AFU is building fortifications near Rivne and installing mine barriers in the north of the Kiev region - on transport routes and infrastructure facilities. They want to build a kind of "Zaluzhny Line" around the capital - the AFU construction battalions are building reinforced concrete pillboxes. At least geography has not been abolished in Ukrainian schools - the enemy has realized that Kiev is not a deep rear in relation to the Belarusian border. ● The activity of the Ukrainian armed forces in the regions bordering Belarus has also been noticed by western publications - the other day, Reuters released several reports on the actions of the Ukrainian army in this direction. Konrad Muzyka, head of the analytical company Rochan Consulting, invited by journalists as an expert, assessed the Russian-Belarusian exercises as "the largest since the Cold War. ● The enemy is also pulling in infantry - TRO units in the capital region are forming a large grouping of troops. The embassies of Ukraine's respected Western friends are in the capital - they must be defended to the last man. ● As we said earlier, it is impossible to say with certainty now whether the prospects of a Russian offensive from the territory of Belarus are realistic. If it happens, even with all the Western support, it is absolutely unclear how and by whom the AFU plans to hold a front that has doubled in size in theory. Whether such an offensive happens or not, we are in any case in for a brutal but interesting time. (Link)(Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator)(free version)

Joe Biden's lawyers discovered a second batch of classified documents from his vice presidency stint at a new location on January 11, US media reported, just a day after the US president was "surprised" when briefed about the first set of records related to Ukraine and Iran, among other security issues, found in his private office. | Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden offered some scathing comment on Joe Biden’s classified document scandal. The man who himself blew the lid on a widely-cast net of cyber espionage organized by the US ironized on his Twitter feed that the US President appeared to have "absconded with more classified documents than many whistleblowers." 💬 The real scandal isn't that Biden had classified documents coming out of his socks, because sadly they've all been doing it. The scandal is that the DOJ found out about it a week prior to the midterm elections and chose to suppress the story, conferring a partisan advantage.

The EU-NATO declaration on security is promoting American, not European interests, Russian Foreign Ministry has said | The declaration on cooperation signed by the European Union and NATO is further proof that the EU is under the thumb of the US-led military bloc, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. In a statement, Zakharova said that the document, signed a day earlier, 💬 “confirms that the European Union is completely subjugated to the tasks of the North Atlantic bloc, which serves as a tool to coercively enforce US interests.” She went on to say that “under the guise of ‘strengthening the transatlantic bond’” the declaration promotes the provisions of NATO’s strategic concept, which was adopted in June 2022. According to the diplomat, the declaration views transatlantic security “through the lens of opposing our country, ramping up arms and military hardware supplies to the Kiev regime, increasing military mobility in the European ‘theater of war,’ and further expansion of NATO." The document’s provisions basically formalize “the secondary nature” of the EU defense policies to those of NATO while “nullifying the EU’s claims to autonomy in this area,” she stated.” ● The EU-NATO joint declaration was signed on Tuesday by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, President of the European Council Charles Michel, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. They vowed to elevate their partnership “to the next level,” noting that the West is confronted “with the gravest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades” amid the Ukraine conflict.

Most fascinating thing about the Ukraine war is the sheer number of top strategic thinkers who warned for years that it was coming if we continued down the same path. No-one listened to them and here we are. Small compilation 🧵 of these warnings, from Kissinger to Mearsheimer.

■ Ukraine Is Shedding Blood for ‘NATO Mission’: Ukrainian Defense Minister

Zelensky says Ukraine wants more than NATO's 'open door' | Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said last week that Ukraine is “shedding blood” for a “NATO mission” in candid remarks about the relationship between Kyiv and the Western military alliance. 💬 “At the NATO Summit in Madrid (in June 2022), it was clearly delineated that over the coming decade, the main threat to the alliance would be the Russian Federation. Today, Ukraine is eliminating this threat,” Reznikov said in an interview on Ukrainian TV last week. “We are carrying out NATO’s mission today. They aren’t shedding their blood. We’re shedding ours. That’s why they’re required to supply us with weapons,” he added.

Believe it or not, it’s now the No. 1 cause of death for this age group. Is there a silent epidemic that’s impairing and destroying your immune system (and literally obliterating 90 percent of your DNA repair mechanism)? And, what extreme remedies can reverse the attack? | Evidence showing the COVID shots are a public health disaster keeps mounting. In late December 2022, Steve Kirsch1 and Jessica Rose,2 Ph.D., both published Substack articles detailing some of the latest evidence showing the shots are destroying people’s immune systems and have triggered an avalanche of turbo-charged cancers. ● Kirsch’s article3 features results from a recent survey he conducted. It included four questions: age, whether the deceased was jabbed or not, year of death and cause of death. While the number of responses is low, major insights can still be gleaned by looking at the trends.

Elena Panina (Елена Панина) | The harsh reaction of the collective West, which has taken the maximum possible sanctions against Russia, continues to have a negative impact on the economies of the EU countries above all. At the same time, the leverage of the West is weakening considerably in a confrontation that the parties involved perceive not as just another regional conflict, but as an existential confrontation in fact. | Europe, which has entered the sanctions arena as a fearless gladiator with NATO as its shield, is gradually having to admit that, despite all its desire to punish Moscow for its political independence, the West is running out of trump cards. The backlash against the EU economy cannot be concealed, nor can Russia be stopped. "Nine sanctions packages and less than zero impact!" - lamented MEP Guy Verhofstadt, for example. ● 2022 was a year of lost illusions - both in the West and in Russia. But while Moscow seems to have said goodbye to the possibility of equal political and economic cooperation with the West, European politicians are not yet ready to admit that the period of development of EU countries was largely due to cheap Russian resources and not to the brilliance of Brussels bureaucrats. (Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)