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  1. #6576
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Absolutely right to take the piss out of the silly wanker.

  2. #6577
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    What else would you expect. There on the shitty end of the stick snd they know it.

  3. #6578
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    National Park Partially Closes After Viral Investigation into Putin’s Mansion

    A part of Valdai National Park in northwestern Russia has been closed to visitors since an investigation revealed that President Vladimir Putin and his alleged mistress own property in the area, the independent Meduza news website reported Friday.


    Authorities announced that the specially protected zone of the national park had been expanded due to the “worsening ecological condition of Valdai Lake” on March 3, just three days after independent media outlet Proekt’s viral investigation was released.


    The protected zone expansion, which makes the area de facto banned to all visitors, includes the part of Valdai Lake that hosts luxury property allegedly owned by Putin and former Olympic rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.


    Kabaeva, 39, is believed to have been in a relationship with the Russian president since the early 2000s and to have had several children with him.


    The Kremlin has long denied any relationship between Putin and Kabaeva, while news articles on their rumored engagement have been quickly punished by Russian censors.


    Violation of the protected zone is punishable by a fine of up to 4,000 rubles ($52) for individuals or, in case of “severe damage” to the territory, up to 200,000 rubles ($2,607) or two years of community service.


    The decision to shut down the lake area was widely condemned by local residents, who also believe its primary aim is to protect Putin’s mansions and not the park’s unique ecosystem, according to social media posts cited by Meduza.


    “The national park worried neither locals nor visitors for a long time. It is clear that all changes are because of the residence,” user vik wrote on an online forum for residents of the town of Valdai.

    Of Ear Noodles and Maniacal Printers - The Moscow Times

  4. #6579
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Latinodancer View Post
    “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul".



    ― Carl Jung
    Well I wasn't talking about you but, yeah, it applies to you also.


  5. #6580
    A Cockless Wonder
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    Putin arrest warrant: Biden welcomes ICC's war crimes charges

    US President Joe Biden has welcomed the International Criminal Court's issuing of an arrest warrant against his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

    The ICC accused President Putin of committing war crimes in Ukraine - something President Biden said the Russian leader had "clearly" done.

    The claims focus on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia since Moscow's invasion in 2022.

    Moscow has denied the allegations and denounced the warrants as "outrageous".

    It is highly unlikely that much will come of the move, as the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects without the co-operation of a country's government.

    Russia is not an ICC member country, meaning the court, located in The Hague, has no authority there.

    However, it could affect Mr Putin in other ways, such as being unable to travel internationally. He could now be arrested if he sets foot in any of the court's 123 member states.

    Mr Putin is only the third president to be issued with an ICC arrest warrant.

    President Biden said that, while the court also held no sway in the US, the issuing of the warrant "makes a very strong point".

    "He's clearly committed war crimes," he told reporters.

    His administration had earlier "formally determined" that Russia had committed war crimes during the conflict in Ukraine, with Vice-President Kamala Harris saying in February that those involved would "be held to account".

    The United Nations also released a report earlier this week that found Moscow's forced removal of Ukrainian children to areas under its control amounted to a war crime.

    In a statement on Friday, the ICC said it had reasonable grounds to believe Mr Putin committed the criminal acts directly, as well as working with others. It also accused him of failing to use his presidential powers to stop children being deported.

    Analysis: Will Putin ever face a war crimes trial?
    Explainer: What war crimes is Russia accused of?
    Explainer: What is the International Criminal Court?

    Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also wanted by the ICC for the same crimes.

    ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has said the warrants were "based upon forensic evidence, scrutiny and what's been said by those two individuals".

    The court had initially considered keeping the arrest warrants a secret, but decided to make them public to try and stop further crimes being committed.

    "Children can't be treated as the spoils of war, they can't be deported," Mr Khan told the BBC.

    "This type of crime doesn't need one to be a lawyer, one needs to be a human being to know how egregious it is."
    Media caption,

    WATCH: Can Vladimir Putin actually be arrested?

    Mr Khan also pointed out that nobody thought that Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader who went on trial for war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, would end up in The Hague to face justice.

    "Those that feel that you can commit a crime in the daytime, and sleep well at night, should perhaps look at history," Mr Khan said.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any of the court's decisions were "null and void" and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev compared the warrant to toilet paper.

    Russian opposition activists have welcomed the announcement. Ivan Zhdanov, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has tweeted that it was "a symbolic step" but an important one.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his thanks to Mr Khan and the ICC for their decision to press charges against "state evil".

    Putin arrest warrant: Biden welcomes ICC'''s war crimes charges - BBC News

  6. #6581
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    MARCH 19, 2023 BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR


    US paranoid about Russia-China summit

    "
    The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Vladimir Putin can only be seen as a publicity stunt by the Anglo-Saxon clique, with the US leading from the rear. Ironically, though, the ICC acted on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Iraq in 2003, which led to horrific war crimes but the “judges” at Hague slept over it. Both Washington and London admit today that the 2003 invasion was illegal — based on trumped up allegations against Saddam Hussein.
    There’s no chance, of course, that the ICC warrant will ever be taken seriously. ICC has no jurisdiction in Russia, which, like the US, is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. But the intention here is something else.

    The mud-throwing at Putin is yet another display of President Biden’s visceral hatred towards the Russian leader that goes back to a joust in Moscow well over a decade ago when Putin told him off brusquely, and is timed to distract attention from the state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow on Monday, an event that not only has spectacular optics but is sure to intensify the “no limit” partnership between the two superpowers.

    The Anglo-Saxon clique is watching with dismay the talks in Moscow tomorrow. To be sure, Moscow and Beijing have decided to stand together to bury the US hegemony.

    Today, China exceeds the combined manufacturing capacity of the US and its European allies, and, equally, Russia has emerged as the world’s largest nuclear weapon state superior to the US both in the quantity and quality of weaponry.

    It has dawned on the American mind that Russia cannot be defeated in Ukraine. There is a chicken-and-egg situation facing NATO, according to a report in Politico. Massive investments are needed to catch up with Russia’s defence industry but Europe’s ailing economies have other critical priorities of survival and battling mounting social unrest.

    The notions of defeating Russia in a proxy war in conditions of “sanctions from hell” have turned out to be delusional. It is the US banks that are collapsing, it is European economies that are threatened by stagnation.

    The US’ exasperation is evident in the top secret mission by MQ-9 Reaper drone near the Crimean peninsula on March 14. US Global Hawk drones have been spotted regularly over the Black Sea in recent years but this case is different.

    The Reaper’s transponder was switched off as it approached Russia’s temporary regime for the airspace established for the purposes of the special military operation near the Crimean peninsula (which Moscow had duly notified to all users of international airspace in accordance with international norms.)

    In the event, Russia’s Su-27 fighter jets outmanoeuvred the Reaper, which lost control and drowned in the Black Sea. Moscow conferred state awards to the two pilots who drove Reaper to the seabed.

    Russian ambassador in Washington since warned that while Moscow is not seeking any escalation, any deliberate attack on a Russian aircraft in neutral airspace will be construed as “an open declaration of war against the largest nuclear power.”

    If the US had planned the drone incident to test Russia’s reaction, well, the latter has given an unambiguous response. And all this took place in the immediate run-up to President Xi’s visit.

    Biden since hit back by welcoming the ICC warrant on Putin saying “it’s justified… (and) makes a very strong point.” But Biden’s ageing memory is failing him again. For, the stated American position on ICC is that Washington not only doesn’t recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC but if any US national is arrested or brought before the ICC, Washington reserves the right to use military force to rescue the detainee!

    Furthermore, Washington has threatened reprisal against any country that cooperates with an ICC warrant against a US citizen. The George W Bush administration stated this categorically as US policy on ICC against the backdrop of the Anglo-American clique’s horrific war crimes in Iraq, and the US never resiled from it.

    By the way, there has been no referral by the UN Security Council or General Assembly to the ICC. So, who organised this arrest warrant? Britain — who else? The Brits bullied the ICC judges who are highly vulnerable to blackmail, as they draw fat salaries and would sup with the devil if it helped secure extended terms for them at the Hague. This becomes yet another case study of the piecemeal destruction of the UN system by the Anglo-Saxon clique in the recent years.

    Suffice to say, the drone incident and the ICC warrant vitiate the climate for any dialogue between Moscow and Kiev. Evidently, the Anglo-Saxon clique is worried like hell that China might spring another surprise as it did by mediating the recent Saudi-Iranian deal.

    In a meaningful remark, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Friday that Xi’s visit is partially to promote “peace.” Beijing has already released a “peace plan” for Ukraine, a 12-point agenda for “a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis,” which is on Zelensky’s desk in Kiev although the West studiously chose to ignore it.

    In a phone call on Thursday, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba that Beijing hopes “all parties will remain calm, rational and restrained, and resume peace talks as soon as possible.”

    The Chinese readout said Kuleba discussed “the prospect of peace talks … and noted that China’s position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis shows its sincerity in promoting a ceasefire and an end to the conflict. He expressed the hope to maintain communication with China.”

    Unsurprisingly, Biden is paranoid about China’s push to mediate between Moscow and Kiev. The point is, he and Zelensky are locked in a deathly embrace — the corruption scam involving the activities of Hunter Biden in Kiev is hanging over the father’s political career like the Damocles’ sword, while on the other hand, Zelensky is also fighting for political survival and is increasingly daring to act on his own accord.

    Disregarding western doubts about the wisdom of holding the shattered frontline city of Bakhmut in Donbass, Zelensky is digging in and keeping up an attritional defence that may drag on. (Politico)

    Evidently, Biden is acting like a cat on the hot tin roof. He can neither let go Zelensky nor can he afford to be locked into a forever war in Ukraine while Taiwan Straits is beckoning him to a greater destiny.

    Beijing’s stance has visibly hardened lately and the scorn that the US poured on China’s national pride by shooting down its weather balloon has only exacerbated the distrust. Similarly, the nadir has been reached for Russia with the Reaper drone provocation and the Anglo-Saxon clique’s ICC scam.

    Xi has chosen Russia for his first visit abroad in his third term also, the war in Ukraine notwithstanding. While announcing Xi’s visit to Russia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “As the world enters a new period of turbulence and change, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and an important power, the significance and influence of China-Russia relations go far beyond the bilateral scope.”

    Again, Biden would have thought he was putting Putin on the mat with the Reaper stunt and the ICC scam. But Putin is nonchalant, choosing today to make his first-ever visit to Donbass.

    Putin toured Mariupol, the port city that was bitterly contested by the NATO operatives in league with the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi brigade, drove a vehicle along the city streets, making stops at several locations and surveying reconstruction works. It is a defiant signal to Biden that NATO has lost the war."

    US paranoid about Russia-China summit - Indian Punchline
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  7. #6582
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Putin toured Mariupol, the port city that was bitterly contested by the NATO operatives in league with the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi brigade, drove a vehicle along the city streets, making stops at several locations and surveying reconstruction works. It is a defiant signal to Biden that NATO has lost the war."

  8. #6583
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    Good Lord . . . combine Russian and Chinese propaganda and you end up with OhWoe style bullshit - certainly looks like


  9. #6584
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Xi and Putin on Ukraine crisis, bilateral ties after signing China-Russia joint statement.

    1,587 views 22 Mar 2023

    "China and Russia on Tuesday highlighted their commitment to the settlement of the Ukraine crisis through peace talks, as the two heads of state signed a key political document to further the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era.

    In the joint statement signed by President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two nations made it clear that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be observed and international law must be respected.

    Moscow expressed appreciation to Beijing for consistently upholding an objective and impartial position on the Ukraine issue, and both sides oppose any country or bloc harming the legitimate security interests of other nations in pursuit of advantages in military, political and other areas.

    Russia reiterated its commitment to restarting peace talks as early as possible, and China expressed its appreciation for that, according to the joint statement.

    Russia also welcomed China playing a positive role in the political and diplomatic settlement of the crisis.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly signed and released here on Tuesday a Joint Statement of the President of the People's Republic of China and the President of the Russian Federation on Pre-2030 Development Plan on Priorities in China-Russia Economic Cooperation at the Kremlin.

    In the statement, the two sides agreed to firmly uphold the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, realize long-term independent development of the two countries, promote high-quality development of China-Russia economic and trade cooperation, inject new impetus into the comprehensive promotion of bilateral cooperation, maintain the momentum of rapid growth of bilateral trade in goods and services, and commit to significantly increase bilateral trade volume by 2030."



    Video in Chinese and Russian, with English subs.

  10. #6585
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Little Putin and his big brother Xi.

  11. #6586
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    Putin: China plan could end war, but Ukraine and West not ready for peace

    China's peace plan for Ukraine could be used as a basis to end the war, Vladimir Putin has said.

    How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?-f4c0a2f1-46ca-4c07-87a1-5b8cacf7b813-jpg

    But Mr Putin said the plan could be put forward only when they are ready "in the West and Kyiv".

    The Russian leader met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday in Moscow to discuss the conflict, and relations between the two countries.

    China's plan, published last month, does not explicitly call for Russia to leave Ukraine.

    Listing 12 points, it calls for peace talks and respect for national sovereignty, without specific proposals.

    But Ukraine has insisted on Russia withdrawing from its territory as a condition for any talks - and there is no sign that Russia is ready to do that.

    On Wednesday the Moscow-backed authorities in annexed Crimea said an attack by three waterborne drones on the Black Sea Fleet in the Bay of Sevastopol had been repelled with no damage to the fleet. The report could not be independently confirmed.

    On Monday, explosions in another part of Crimea were said by Ukraine to have destroyed Russian missiles being transported by rail.

    The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that calling for a ceasefire before Russia withdrew "would effectively be supporting the ratification of Russian conquest".

    In a joint news conference after talks with Mr Xi ended, Mr Putin said: "Many provisions of the Chinese peace plan can be taken as the basis for settling of the conflict in Ukraine, whenever the West and Kyiv are ready for it."

    But Russia had yet to see such "readiness" from the other side, he added.

    Standing alongside the Russian leader, Mr Xi said his government was in favour of peace and dialogue and that China was on the "right side of history".

    He again claimed that China had an "impartial position" on the conflict in Ukraine, seeking to cast Beijing as the potential peace-maker.

    The pair also discussed growing trade, energy and political ties between the two nations.

    "China is the leading foreign trade partner of Russia," President Putin said, pledging to keep up and surpass the "high level" of trade achieved last year.

    Mr Xi left Russia on Wednesday, his plane departing from a Moscow airport.
    Media caption,

    China 'not impartial in any way', White House says

    Earlier, Mr Xi called China and Russia "great neighbouring powers and comprehensive strategic partners".

    According to Russian state media, the two leaders also:

    Signed two joint documents - one detailing plans for economic co-operation and one on plans to deepen the Russia-China partnership
    Reached an agreement on a planned pipeline in Siberia to deliver Russian gas to China via Mongolia
    Agreed that nuclear war "must never be unleashed"
    Discussed their concern at the new Aukus pact - a defence agreement between Australia, the UK and US
    Expressed concern over Nato's growing presence in Asia on "military and security issues"

    There are growing concerns in the West that China might provide military support for Russia.

    How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?-pooh-piglet21-png

    Speaking in Brussels, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said his alliance had not "seen any proof that China is delivering lethal weapons to Russia".

    But he added there were "signs" that Russia had requested weapons, and that the request was being considered in Beijing.

    A joint statement released by China and Russia after the meeting between the two leaders said the close partnership between the two countries did not constitute a "military-political alliance".

    Relations "do not constitute a bloc, do not have a confrontational nature and are not directed against third countries", they added.

    Mr Putin also used the press conference to accuse the West of deploying weapons with a "nuclear component" and said Russia would be "forced to react" if the UK sent shells made with depleted uranium to Ukraine. .

    The UK's Ministry of Defence said depleted uranium was a "standard component" which had "nothing to do with nuclear weapons".

    Mr Xi was given a fanfare welcome when he arrived at the Kremlin for a second day of talks on Tuesday.

    He said he was "very happy" to be in Moscow and described talks with President Putin as "frank, open and friendly".

    His visit to Russia came days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Putin on war crimes allegations.

    The state visit was mirrored by Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's surprise visit to Kyiv - making him the first leader of Japan to visit a country in conflict since World War Two.

    President Zelensky said he will join the G7 summit in Japan in May via video link at the invitation of Mr Kishida.

    He told a press conference on Tuesday afternoon that he had also asked China to get involved in talks but was waiting for an answer.

    "We offered China to become a partner in the implementation of the peace formula," he said. "We invite you to the dialogue; we are waiting for your answer."

    Putin: China plan could end war, but Ukraine and West not ready for peace - BBC News

  12. #6587
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    Quote Originally Posted by Looper View Post
    His visit to Russia came days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Putin on war crimes allegations.
    He had to rub shoulders with someone who can give him tips on how to invade another country

  13. #6588
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    In Moscow, Xi and Putin bury Pax Americana

    In Moscow this week, the Chinese and Russian leaders revealed their joint commitment to redesign the global order, an undertaking that has 'not been seen in 100 years.'

    By Pepe Escobar

    March 22 2023

    How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?-xi-putin-jpg

    "What has just taken place in Moscow is nothing less than a new Yalta, which, incidentally, is in Crimea. But unlike the momentous meeting of US President Franklin Roosevelt, Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in USSR-run Crimea in 1945, this is the first time in arguably five centuries that no political leader from the west is setting the global agenda.

    It’s Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin that are now running the multilateral, multipolar show. Western exceptionalists may deploy their crybaby routines as much as they want: nothing will change the spectacular optics, and the underlying substance of this developing world order, especially for the Global South.

    What Xi and Putin are setting out to do was explained in detail before their summit, in two Op-Eds penned by the presidents themselves. Like a highly-synchronized Russian ballet, Putin’s vision was laid out in the People’s Daily in China, focusing on a “future-bound partnership,” while Xi’s was published in the Russian Gazette and the RIA Novosti website, focusing on a new chapter in cooperation and common development.

    Right from the start of the summit, the speeches by both Xi and Putin drove the NATO crowd into a hysterical frenzy of anger and envy: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova perfectly captured the mood when she remarked that the west was “foaming at the mouth.”

    The front page of the Russian Gazette on Monday was iconic: Putin touring Nazi-free Mariupol, chatting with residents, side by side with Xi’s Op-Ed. That was, in a nutshell, Moscow’s terse response to Washington’s MQ-9 Reaper stunt and the International Criminal Court (ICC) kangaroo court shenanigans. “Foam at the mouth” as much as you like; NATO is in the process of being thoroughly humiliated in Ukraine.

    During their first “informal” meeting, Xi and Putin talked for no less than four and a half hours. At the end, Putin personally escorted Xi to his limo. This conversation was the real deal: mapping out the lineaments of multipolarity – which starts with a solution for Ukraine.

    Predictably, there were very few leaks from the sherpas, but there was quite a significant one on their “in-depth exchange” on Ukraine. Putin politely stressed he respects China’s position – expressed in Beijing’s 12-point conflict resolution plan, which has been completely rejected by Washington. But the Russian position remains ironclad: demilitarization, Ukrainian neutrality, and enshrining the new facts on the ground.

    In parallel, the Russian Foreign Ministry completely ruled out a role for the US, UK, France, and Germany in future Ukraine negotiations: they are not considered neutral mediators.

    A multipolar patchwork quilt

    The next day was all about business: everything from energy and “military-technical” cooperation to improving the efficacy of trade and economic corridors running through Eurasia.

    Russia already ranks first as a natural gas supplier to China – surpassing Turkmenistan and Qatar – most of it via the 3,000 km Power of Siberia pipeline that runs from Siberia to China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province, launched in December 2019. Negotiations on the Power of Siberia II pipeline via Mongolia are advancing fast.

    Sino-Russian cooperation in high-tech will go through the roof: 79 projects at over $165 billion. Everything from liquified natural gas (LNG) to aircraft construction, machine tool construction, space research, agro-industry, and upgraded economic corridors.

    The Chinese president explicitly said he wants to link the New Silk Road projects to the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). This BRI-EAEU interpolation is a natural evolution. China has already signed an economic cooperation deal with the EAEU. Russian macroeconomic uber-strategist Sergey Glazyev’s ideas are finally bearing fruit.

    And last but not least, there will be a new drive towards mutual settlements in national currencies – and between Asia and Africa, and Latin America. For all practical purposes, Putin endorsed the role of the Chinese yuan as the new trade currency of choice while the complex discussions on a new reserve currency backed by gold and/or commodities proceed.

    This joint economic/business offensive ties in with the concerted Russia-China diplomatic offensive to remake vast swathes of West Asia and Africa.

    Chinese diplomacy works like the matryoshka (Russian stacking dolls) in terms of delivering subtle messages. It’s far from coincidental that Xi’s trip to Moscow exactly coincides with the 20th anniversary of American ‘Shock and Awe’ and the illegal invasion, occupation, and destruction of Iraq.

    In parallel, over 40 delegations from Africa arrived in Moscow a day before Xi to take part in a “Russia-Africa in the Multipolar World” parliamentary conference – a run-up to the second Russia-Africa summit next July.

    The area surrounding the Duma looked just like the old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) days when most of Africa kept very close anti-imperialist relations with the USSR.

    Putin chose this exact moment to write off more than $20 billion in African debt.

    In West Asia, Russia-China are acting totally in synch. West Asia. The Saudi-Iran rapprochement was actually jump-started by Russia in Baghdad and Oman: it was these negotiations that led to the signing of the deal in Beijing. Moscow is also coordinating the Syria-Turkiye rapprochement discussions. Russian diplomacy with Iran – now under strategic partnership status – is kept on a separate track.

    Diplomatic sources confirm that Chinese intelligence, via its own investigations, is now fully assured of Putin’s vast popularity across Russia, and even within the country’s political elites. That means conspiracies of the regime-change variety are out of the question. This was fundamental for Xi and the Zhongnanhai’s (China’s central HQ for party and state officials) decision to “bet” on Putin as a trusted partner in the coming years, considering he may run and win the next presidential elections. China is always about continuity.

    So the Xi-Putin summit definitively sealed China-Russia as comprehensive strategic partners for the long haul, committed to developing serious geopolitical and geoeconomic competition with declining western hegemons.

    This is the new world born in Moscow this week. Putin previously defined it as a new anti-colonial policy. It’s now laid out as a multipolar patchwork quilt. There’s no turning back on the demolition of the remnants of Pax Americana.

    ‘Changes that haven’t happened in 100 years’

    In Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350, Janet Abu-Lughod built a carefully constructed narrative showing the prevailing multipolar order when the West “lagged behind the ‘Orient.’” Later, the West only “pulled ahead because the ‘Orient’ was temporarily in disarray.”

    We may be witnessing a similarly historic shift in the making, trespassed by a revival of Confucianism (respect for authority, emphasis on social harmony), the equilibrium inherent to the Tao, and the spiritual power of Eastern Orthodoxy. This is, indeed, a civilizational fight.

    Moscow, finally welcoming the first sunny days of Spring, provided this week a larger-than-life illustration of “weeks where decades happen” compared to “decades where nothing happens.”

    The two presidents bid farewell in a poignant manner.

    Xi: “Now, there are changes that haven’t happened in 100 years. When we are together, we drive these changes.”

    Putin: “I agree.”

    Xi: “Take care, dear friend.”

    Putin: “Have a safe trip.”

    Here’s to a new day dawning, from the lands of the Rising Sun to the Eurasian steppes."

    In Moscow, Xi and Putin bury Pax Americana

  14. #6589
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    In Moscow this week, the Chinese and Russian leaders revealed their joint commitment to redesign the global order, an undertaking that has 'not been seen in 100 years.'

  15. #6590
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    China's plan, published last month, does not explicitly call for Russia to leave Ukraine.
    So it's a waste of fucking space then.

  16. #6591
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    Quote Originally Posted by Looper View Post
    US President Joe Biden has welcomed the International Criminal Court's issuing of an arrest warrant against his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
    Is that the same ICC who's authority is rejected by the US?
    "U.S. policy toward the ICC has been clear and consistent: The U.S. has refused to join the ICC because it lacks prudent safeguards against political manipulation "
    The U.S. Should Not Join the International Criminal Court | The Heritage Foundation

    I guess now we will need to remove the "consistent" part from the above quote.
    Last edited by Buckaroo Banzai; 24-03-2023 at 11:07 AM.
    The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.

  17. #6592
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai View Post
    Is that the same ICC who's authority is rejected by the US?
    Yup



    Quote Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai View Post
    "U.S. policy toward the ICC has been clear and consistent: The U.S. has refused to join the ICC because it lacks prudent safeguards against political manipulation "

    Reason: It's against the Constitution which predates the ICC because:

    ...unconstitutional because it would allow the trial of U.S. citizens for crimes committed on U.S. soil, which are otherwise entirely within the judicial power of the United States....

    But yes, bullshit on the side of the US

  18. #6593
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai View Post
    Is that the same ICC who's authority is rejected by the US?
    "U.S. policy toward the ICC has been clear and consistent: The U.S. has refused to join the ICC because it lacks prudent safeguards against political manipulation "
    The U.S. Should Not Join the International Criminal Court | The Heritage Foundation

    I guess now we will need to remove the "consistent" part from the above quote.
    Again: There is nothing to stop the ICC issuing warrants for the arrest of American, Russian, Chinese or other war criminals, regardless of whether or not they are members.

    What are you moaning about exactly?

  19. #6594
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    MARCH 27, 2023 BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR


    Moscow calls out US’ rules-based order in Europe

    "
    Baroness Goldie is an experienced Scottish politician and life peer who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2005 to 2011 and as the UK’s Minister of State for Defence since 2019. She is anything but a party girl like Liz Truss who often had to swallow her indiscreet words betraying ignorance.

    Certainly, Baroness Goldie understood perfectly well the implications of what she put down in a written statement at the House of Lords on March 20 in her answer to Lord Hylton’s seemingly innocuous question: “To ask His Majesty’s Government whether any of the ammunition currently being supplied to Ukraine contains depleted uranium.” (By the way, Lord Hylton is one of 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords; he is currently the longest-serving Crossbench member of the House of Lords, since 1968, and is a dynamic campaigner for peace and the interests of the vulnerable and the marginalised.)

    Baroness Goldie’s answer was: “Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium. Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.”

    It is a fair guess that the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace kept 10 Downing Street informed — and even more important, had prior consultations and concurrence with his US counterpart, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin — before the above announcement by the UK Government.

    Both Wallace and Austin are military people and understand why ammunition tipped with “depleted uranium” is needed in the current stage of the proxy war in Ukraine if at all Kiev is to mount a credible enough counter-offensive in spring when the tide of the war is distinctly turning in Russia’s favour in Donbass.

    Equally, both must be well aware that the legality of the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia is still an open issue. In response to NATO’s bombing campaign, former Yugoslavia instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice on April 29, 1999, against the ten NATO members directly involved in the attack — Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the US — citing a series of violations of the law of nations (which included the obligation not to use prohibited weapons.)

    Although the ICJ rejected Belgrade’s request for provisional measures, it, nonetheless, declared itself profoundly concerned with the use of force by Western powers in Yugoslavia, which “under the present circumstances … raises very serious issues of international law.” Suffice to say, the cases brought by Yugoslavia against the NATO respondents still remain on the ICJ’s docket although the petitioner got dismembered.

    Make no mistake, Washington and London are consciously repeating the war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. The Anglo-Saxon clique’s core objective is a calculated escalation of the proxy war that is certain to draw forth a robust reaction from Moscow, as predictable as night follows day.

    Indeed, that is precisely what happened when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday that Russia will deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Putin linked this to a request from Belarus in reaction to Baroness Goldie’s statement in London a week ago.

    More importantly, Putin also drew the analogy of the US placing its nuclear weapons on the territories of the allied NATO countries for decades.

    The EU and NATO went ballistic after Putin’s disclosure. EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said on Sunday Moscow’s decision was “an irresponsible escalation and threat to European security.” He promised to impose “further sanctions” against Belarus!

    A NATO spokeswoman called Moscow’s decision “dangerous and irresponsible.” Interestingly, though, the Biden administration neatly side-stepped the issue, focusing instead that the US has not seen any signs that Russia has moved nuclear weapons to Belarus or anywhere else!

    In good measure, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby added, “We’ve in fact seen no indication he (Putin) has any intention to use nuclear weapons, period, inside Ukraine.”

    But then, Putin also made it clear that Russia would first complete construction on a storage facility in Belarus for the tactical nuclear weapons by July 1.

    Kirby was fudging. What is the game plan? First, the Anglo-Saxon clique would hope that the issue will create further disquiet and insecurity in Europe vis-a-vis Russia and would rally European countries behind the Biden administration at a time when fault lines were appearing within the transatlantic alliance over a protracted war in Ukraine that might be catastrophic for European economies.

    However, Washington is hard-pressed to respond to Putin’s remark that Russia is only doing something that the US has been doing for decades. The point is, a mutual commitment not to deploy nuclear weapons in third countries was one of the proposals Moscow made to Washington in December 2021, alongside a commitment that Ukraine would not join NATO. The US ignored it and instead precipitated, with great deliberation, the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.

    The crux of the matter is, as with the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, the Russian decision on tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is retaliatory, drawing attention to the US missiles stationed close to its borders. (An estimated 100 nuclear weapons are stored in vaults in five European countries — Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Turkey.)

    Worse still, the US practices a controversial arrangement known as “nuclear sharing”, under which it installs nuclear equipment on fighter jets of select non-nuclear NATO countries and train their pilots to carry out nuclear strike with US nuclear bombs. This is happening when the US, being a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has promised not to hand over nuclear weapons to other countries, and the non-nuclear countries in the NATO’s sharing arrangement have themselves promised not to receive nuclear weapons from the nuclear weapon states!

    The NATO declared last year that seven NATO countries contributed dual-capable aircraft to the nuclear sharing mission. These countries are believed to be the US, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey and Greece. And all are signatories to the NPT!

    Welcome to the “rules based order”! What is perfectly permissible to the West is forbidden for Russia!

    Finally, the diplomatic pirouette by Baroness Goldie has yet another dimension: Britain’s decision to send depleted uranium weaponry to Ukraine is confirming its reputation as the most reckless and unscrupulous state in the whole NATO alliance.

    There is no question that depleted uranium munitions are radioactive and toxic and their heavy use in the Yugoslavia and Iraq wars has been linked to birth defects and cancers. It has been tied to “the highest rate of genetic damage in any population ever studied” in Fallujah, the city subjected to two brutal US sieges during the invasion of Iraq.

    The toxicity of depleted uranium munitions has been accepted by many NATO countries and the European Parliament has called for its use to be banned. Following the death of 366 Italian soldiers with conditions linked to the substance, Italy legislated in 2019 to make it easier for veterans to sue for damages to exposure.

    Why is Britain behaving like an outlier? Britain appears to be creating conditions in Europe to justify the basing of nuclear-armed US bombers at Lakenheath in Suffolk, which were removed in 1991 in line with the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty.

    The peace movement in Britain is moribund. Count on the warmongers and Russophobic elites in the UK to seize the Russian retaliation in Belarus to demand yet another tit for tat escalation. Expect the US bombers to return to Lakenheath in a near future. "

    Moscow calls out US’ rules-based order in Europe - Indian Punchline
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?-16-euronuclear-jpg  

  20. #6595
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Why the fuck is hoohoo whining about NATO?

    If it wasn't for the high heeled war criminal, Finland and Sweden wouldn't even by wanting to join it.


  21. #6596
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Moscow Elite in a Panic Over Tape Blasting Putin as ‘Satan’

    Two prominent supporters of Vladimir Putin have been accused of calling the Russian president “Satan” and a “dwarf” in a leaked phone conversation that has erupted into a full-blown scandal.


    The 35-minute phone call, shared by Ukraine’s Channel Five, allegedly features Russian oligarch and former senator Farkhad Akhmedov and prominent Moscow music producer Iosif Prigozhin delving into a profanity-laced tirade against Putin and his inner circle.


    The Russian government has “fucked us, our children, their future, their destiny,” Akhmedov allegedly said in the leaked call, referring to the Kremlin’s handling of the war in Ukraine, according to Meduza. “He’s Satan,” he goes on to say of Putin in the phone call, which reportedly took place on Jan. 24.


    A significant portion of the conversation was dedicated to criticizing the Russian president and other members of the Kremlin elite for allegedly using Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as a scapegoat for Moscow’s failures in the war on Ukraine.

    They call Shoigu “a dumbass, behind his back, of course,” Prigozhin allegedly complained on the call. “They are the dumbest people. My opinion is simple: they act like kings, like fucking gods. They are finished creatures... I can’t say anything good about them. They are scumbags, damn it.”


    “These are cockroaches, damn it, in a glass, they are already nibbling each other,” Akhmedov added. “They will destroy one, then they will devour each other, they will seize the throat there. They will drown each other.”


    Though Prigozhin initially claimed the recording was fake in a video message—suggesting it was the product of “neural networks” that “allow you to make miracles”—he later admitted that at least some of the phases heard on the tape were real.


    “The recording is a symbiosis of spoken phrases, and those that were generated and never uttered,” Prigozhin said this in a seemingly panicked interview with the St. Petersburg edition of Fontanka, adding that he doesn’t remember the conversation but that the “this whole story is extremely unpleasant” for him.


    An unnamed source in Russia’s FSB security agency has allegedly confirmed the authenticity of the tape, telling iStories that “the FSB leadership recently held a meeting and instructed subordinates to take action” on the scandal.

    Akhmedov, a billionaire, was sanctioned by the European Union in April last year as a close ally to the Kremlin and a “leading businessperson involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation.” He’s famously desperate to get his $460 million yacht back after it was frozen in a German port, even attempting to distance himself from Putin to meet that end.


    Prigozhin, the famous music producer, has been a longtime supporter of the Russian president—at least publicly. “I’m in shock now and don’t understand how to live with this shit,” he said in his interview with Fontanka after the scandal broke out, in which he described Putin as a “planetary figure.”

    Moscow Elite in a Panic Over Tape Blasting Putin as ‘Satan’

  22. #6597
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    ^Mr. Akhmedov should stay out of multistory buildings. He may fall out a window.

  23. #6598
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post
    The 35-minute phone call, shared by Ukraine’s Channel Five, allegedly features Russian oligarch and former senator Farkhad Akhmedov and prominent Moscow music producer Iosif Prigozhin delving into a profanity-laced tirade against Putin and his inner circle.
    Basically they are saying what most do behind closed doors


    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post
    ^Mr. Akhmedov should stay out of multistory buildings. He may fall out a window.
    True . . . and don't drink . . . anything

  24. #6599
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    Putin Is No Longer ‘Sane,’ Says Kremlin Insider Who Fled the Country

    A Russian officer who worked closely with Vladimir Putin as a captain in the Federal Guard Service has fled the country and defected to the West, warning the world that the Russian leader is no longer “sane” and has become a “war criminal.”


    Gleb Karakulov, who made his escape last October while on a trip with Putin to the capital of Kazakhstan, is now calling on both his former colleagues and Russian citizens to “break the silence” and help end the “criminal war” against Ukraine.


    In a lengthy interview with The Dossier Center—which says it was able to verify his account of his time providing secure communications for Putin—Karakulov warns that today’s Putin is not the same man he’d first encountered back in 2009.


    “Now he has shut himself off from the world with all kinds of barriers, the quarantine, the information vacuum. His take on reality has become distorted. A sane person in the twenty-first century, who looks objectively at everything happening in the world, let alone who can predict developments, at least in the medium term, would not have allowed this war to happen,” Karakulov is quoted saying.


    He says that his years working inside the Russian leader’s inner circle helped him see firsthand the scale of lies being told to the country’s people: “It opened my eyes.”


    “Thanks to my work in the FGS, I have seen how information is distorted… Sometime around 2014 I saw everything that fundamentally changed my perception. I flew to Crimea in March 2014. I had a chance to talk to people who live there. The referendum had already been held there, and I had the opportunity to ask people if they supported the annexation,” he said, adding that he didn’t see the unanimous support the Kremlin had boasted of.


    “That’s when I had my first alarm bells ringing,” he said.


    Karakulov also appeared to confirm that Putin experienced some kind of health scare just a couple months into his war against Ukraine, when the three-day blitzkrieg the Kremlin had counted on instead had turned into a series of battlefield humiliations for the Russian military.


    “He has annual medical checkups,” Karakulov said, explaining that the comms team is usually given a heads up that they will need to install equipment for Putin at the Central Clinical Hospital well in advance.


    But in spring of 2022, he said, “it was somehow unexpected and not at the time when it usually is.”


    On May 9, 2022, he said, he was supposed to go into quarantine for work the next day, but was suddenly told that plans had changed: “This is urgent, you are not going anywhere,” he recalled being told.


    As he pleaded to at least be allowed to take care of matters at home first, he said, supervisors told him, “No, you won’t go, you will go right now to the Central Clinical Hospital.”


    He said he suspects Putin likely does have some health issues simply due to his age, though he’d never heard anything about him being terminally ill.


    But the Russian leader is obsessively worried about his health, according to Karakulov.


    “Everyone is a little perplexed as to why [a strict lockdown] is still going on. Because everyone has been forced to get vaccinated. Everyone undergoes health screenings, monitors their health, and takes regular tests. I know that all of the President’s aides take PCR tests several times a day. I have no idea why; he’s probably just worried about his health,” he said.


    As for his former colleagues, Karakulov has one scathing bit of advice: “You mustn’t follow criminal orders and serve this war criminal, Vladimir Putin.”


    “It is up to you to stop this madness very quickly. I wish you would do that because it would save many lives,” he said.


    He went on to urge ordinary Russian citizens to stop buying into Kremlin propaganda about the war.


    “Our President has lost touch with the world. He has been living in an information cocoon for the past couple of years, spending most of his time in his residences, which the media very fittingly call bunkers. He is pathologically afraid for his life. He surrounds himself with an impenetrable barrier of quarantines and an information vacuum,” Karakulov said. “He only values his own life and the lives of his family and friends. The lives of your family and friends are of no interest to him.”

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/gleb-k...-sane?ref=home

  25. #6600
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    I wonder how the high heeled war criminal feels when he realises the reason NATO has just doubled its borders is because he invaded a sovereign state because he claimed he wanted to stop NATO expanding its borders.


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