Wednesday, September 21, 2022

US taking Putin’s nuclear weapons comments seriously

"Washington has slammed as “irresponsible” a recent warning by President Vladimir Putin
that Russia is prepared to use any means necessary to protect its territorial integrity.
Putin further claimed that several senior officials in NATO states have suggested using tactical nuclear weapons against Moscow’s forces, and said Russia is prepared to use all means necessary to defend itself and its people." RT

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Why Nigerien Protesters Want French Army Out & Wave Russian Flags

"The latest protests in Niger were organized by the M62 movement, a group of NGOs which reportedly describes itself as "peaceful" and committed to "the dignity and sovereignty of the Nigerien people." Seydou Abdoulaye, the coordinator of the M62 Movement, told Agence France Presse (AFP) that Nigeriens demand the immediate departure of French troops from Niger as the military deployment violates Niger's sovereignty and destabilizes the Sahel.
France has beefed up its presence in Sahel since January 2013 when it launched Operation Serval to halt the advance of a coalition of Tuareg rebel and Islamist fighters in Mali. The French intervention came on the heels of the 2011 destruction of Libya by NATO. Following the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi’s government by NATO-backed rebels, the power vacuum saw greater destabilization in the region. The French-led Operation Barkhane succeeded Operation Serval in August 2014: approximately 4,500 French troops were deployed between Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad.
The fact that Nigeriens carried Russian flags during the protests could be explained by the people's belief that "Russia’s presence in the region may rescue them and Russia as a strong nation is maybe able to secure the region by fighting the insurgency," according to Dr. Ismael Buchanan.
On the other hand, the pro-Russian sentiment in Niger could be driven by Mali's decision to invite Russian military advisers from the PMC Wagner Group to cope with the rebel and jihadism threat following France's unilateral decision to pull out from the country." Sputnik

Pakistan PM's Legs Were 'Trembling' During Meeting With Vladimir Putin

"Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan mocked the behavior of the nation's current
leader Shehbaz Sharif during the latter’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Samarkand.
A video of the meeting, which has been widely shared online, shows Sharif struggling to plug in his translator earphone in front of the Russian President.
The video was also featured on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, a popular American comedy talk show." Sputnik.

Monday, September 19, 2022

Turkish banks suspend use of Russian payment system

"Turkey’s Isbank and Denizbank announced on Monday that they have halted the use of
Russia’s Mir payment system following a warning from Washington that financial institutions risk secondary sanctions if they help Moscow bypass US penalties." RT

Ban On All Russian Tourists In Baltic States & Poland Takes Effect

"Travel bans targeting Russian citizens took effect in four out of the five European Union
countries bordering Russia. This comes after the EU considered but didn't ultimately go through with implementing a bloc-wide travel ban, saying visa policies would be up to individual nations.
"Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania imposed new restrictions as Finland decided to remain open, though it has cut back the number of consular appointments available to Russian travelers seeking visas," Al Jazeera reports." ZEROHEDGE

‘They won’t invade, will they?’ Fears rise in Russian city that Ukraine war could cross border

"The war has become impossible to ignore in Belgorod, southern Russia, just miles from the
border with Ukraine. Russian soldiers retreating from the Ukrainian counterattack now roam the streets. Air defences boom out overhead several times a day. The city is once again filled with refugees. And, at the border, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers stand within sight of each other.
The following day, some 400 National Guard troops are reinforcing positions held by the Russian border guards. Even there, an activist who was present said, soldiers were soul-searching among themselves. Within eyeshot are Ukrainian troops on the other side in a tense standoff." Guardian

 

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Leaked documents expose Ukrainian attempts to destabilize Russia and draw NATO into a full-scale war with Moscow

"......a hacker Telegram channel dubbed ‘Beregini’ published the action plan of the
Information and Psychological Operations Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO). According to official information, the tasks of this unit include working with the population of foreign countries, creating agent networks, and infiltrating special services and military organizations to conduct espionage and destroy people who pose a threat to the Ukrainian government (including in other countries), as well as preparing coups and the overthrow of regimes.
The SSO plan was prepared back in 2017, and this is just one of many similar secret documents created by Ukrainian spooks. It was just one that became public. But the presence of these plans and the real political and military steps taken by Ukraine, which coincide with SSO programs to a surprising extent, indicate that KI’ve has been actively carrying out anti-Russian activities since at least 2014, when a Western-backed coup took place in the country.
When studying the Ukrainian plan from 2017, the first thing that catches the eye is the variety of operations aimed at creating a split in Russian society.
Operation ‘Zaslon’ describes a scheme to influence the family members of Donbass soldiers and militiamen, as well as Russian army personnel. The operation’s main goals include blocking military units and encouraging desertion and resignations in the militaries of ‘Eastern,’ the document’s code word for Russia and the Donbass republics."After the outbreak of hostilities, Operation ‘Steppe Wind’ was activated. As stated in the SSO documents, its task is to demoralize the enemy and create tension between the Russian military and DPR and LPR fighters. According to Oleg Matveichev, a professor at the Higher School of Economics, “in fact, there are about 80,000 accounts maintained by Ukrainian students [on the Russian-language internet], but they pretend to be locals: ‘ordinary residents’ of Penza, Kurgan, Chita, and Khabarovsk.”  RT

‘Don’t. Don’t. Don’t’ – US President Biden warns Russia’s Putin against using nuclear or chemical weapons

"‘You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II’, said President Biden
in a television interview." SouthChinaMorningNews

Saturday, September 17, 2022

Zelenskyy raises flag in recently recaptured Izium

"Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky watched as his country’s flag was hoisted in Izium,
a city recently recaptured from the retreating Russians.
They left the war-scarred city last week after a lightning Ukrainian counteroffensive saw Kyiv reclaim large parts of the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Zelensky, with his hand on his heart, looked on and sang the national anthem as the flag was raised in front of a burned-out city hall building. " EuroNews

Friday, September 16, 2022

Ukraine Says Graves and ‘Torture Centers’ Found in Recaptured East

"After recovering swathes of territory in a lightning counter-offensive in the east, the
Ukrainian authorities also said they had discovered at least 10 "torture centers" around the Kharkiv region. Police chief Igor Klymenko said two of the sites were found in northeastern Balakliya.
Ukrainian officials said some 450 graves had been counted at a single site near Izyum." MT

Russian City Deputies Petition for Putin Resignation

"Dozens of municipal deputies from Moscow and St. Petersburg have called on President
Vladimir Putin
to resign in an open letter published Monday. 
The call for the Russian president to step down comes amid claims of vote rigging in this weekend’s local and regional elections as well as a massive advance by Kyiv’s forces that marked the biggest setback yet for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine." MoscowTimes

Russia-Installed Officials Killed in Occupied Ukraine

"A bomb explosion has killed the prosecutor general of eastern Ukraine's self-proclaimed
Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) and his deputy, pro-Moscow officials said
.
"Today, Prosecutor General Sergei Gorenko and his deputy Yekaterina Steglenko died as a result of a terrorist act," the press service of LNR head Leonid Pasechnik said on Telegram." MT

Futures Crater As Fedex Ushers In The Global Recession On $3.2 Trillion Triple Witch Day

"Another day, another selloff, this time one driven by a catastrophic repricing by Fedex, which
has plunged by the most ever this morning, down 20% and losing over $11BN in market cap......with equities extending declines with
an index of global stocks on track for the worst week since June....
edEx (FDX US) shares plunged 20% in US premarket trading after the package delivery giant pulled its fiscal 2023 earnings forecast, triggering a raft of downgrades from analysts, including at KeyBanc and JPMorgan. Amazon (AMZN US) and UPS (UPS US) also fell." ZH

A Stunned Wall Street Reacts To Fedex's Biggest Plunge Ever

"Fedex shares have plunged 21% in premarket trading, its biggest drop on record.....and - as usual on Wall Street - the move has triggered an avalanche of downgrades from countless banks such as Bank of America, Stifel, JP Morgan and KeyBanc... banks who are supposed to predict the move not react to it, and yet despite the biggest drop ever, there is still just one sell rating!" ZH

We're Going Into A Worldwide Recession, FedEx CEO Warns "Numbers Don't Portend Very Well"

"Following FedEx's ugly pre-announcement, CEO Raj Subramaniam, went further into the
drivers behind his company's decision to pull guidance during an interview with Jim Cramer of CNBC.
“I think so. But you know, these numbers, they don’t portend very well,” Subramaniam said in response to Cramer’s question about whether the economy is “going into a worldwide recession.”
FedEx’s top executive, who took over the role at the beginning of this year, said that declining worldwide cargo volumes were the primary factor in the company’s unsatisfactory performance." ZH