International News & Views

De: Nancy Pozzi
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  • We want to provide courageous information, as uncomfortable as necessary, but at the same time safe, protected from unverified news or of dubious origin.
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  • Merkel blows a hole in Washington’s Nord Stream narrative.

    Merkel blows a hole in Washington’s Nord Stream narrative.
    Nov 30 2024
    Merkel blows a hole in Washington’s Nord Stream narrative.The former German chancellor has suggested a suspect and motive for the destruction of the pipeline, saying the not-so-quiet part out loud.Angela Merkel has just dropped a smoking gun into the pages of her new book. According to ‘Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021’, published on November 26, Berlin was fully aware that Washington wanted to kill off Nord Stream. And that it was just using Russia as a scapegoat to steal a massive new energy market for itself. “The United States argued that its security interests were affected by the building of the pipeline because its ally Germany would make itself too dependent on Russia. In truth, I felt that the United States was mobilizing its formidable economic and financial resources to prevent the business ventures of other countries, even their allies,” Merkel writes.“The United States was chiefly interested in its own economic interests, as it wanted to export to Europe LNG obtained through fracking.” This pretty much establishes that it was by premeditated design that Washington leveraged the Russian military operation in Ukraine as a convenient pretext to turn economic competitor Germany – and the EU more generally – into a vassal. But Merkel’s successor, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the rest of the German and European establishment, acted like Joe Biden was just coming to their rescue out of benevolence when he offered to sell them LNG to replace Russian gas – which turned out to cost several times the price, to the ongoing detriment of German and European industry and citizenry.Biden had stood beside Scholz at a White House podium in February 2022, talking like a mafia boss, saying that “there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2” if Russia enters Ukraine. Then the pipeline just mysteriously blew up in September 2022. Germany still hasn’t found those responsible, though.Hey, how about this guy who was standing right next to your chancellor? German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded Biden the Order of Merit in October, citing Germany’s “friendship” with the US, and telling Biden that “under your leadership, the transatlantic alliance is stronger and our partnership is closer than ever.” Yeah, close. Like family. Where you can help yourself to stuff that isn’t yours and wreck it – like an entire German car industry or a pipeline. Or where you can disapprove of a relationship – like the one that Germany had with Russia.Or maybe one can even do both of these things at the same time, like Miami-based American businessman, Stephen Lynch, seems to be attempting to achieve by asking for the US government’s approval in bidding on Nord Stream 2, majority-owned by a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, according to the Wall Street Journal. Now that Washington’s meddling has bankrupted the pipeline project and it’s set for the auction block, guess Lynch figures that maybe he can squeeze in between Russian gas and Germany’s desperation for cheap supply, with Uncle Sam’s blessing.“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for American and European control over European energy supply for the rest of the fossil-fuel era,” Lynch told the WSJ. It’s also a chance for US interests to profit from, and exert control over, both the EU and Russia, by wedging themselves between the two like they’re a chaperone on a teenage movie date. “I haven’t heard of Gazprom wanting to put gas transportation infrastructure in the hands of the USA,” the Kremlin has said, putting a damper on Lynch’s ambitions, which are perfectly aligned with what Merkel now says has been America’s objective all along.All these leads and Germany still hasn’t been able to nail the bad guys. Meanwhile, its official narrative continues to unravel. Just this week, Poland’s RMF FM News reported that researchers from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw found traces in water samples near the Nord Stream explosion site of TNT – trinitrotoluene – which is found in highly regulated military-grade explosives. Not exactly the kind of stuff that any random dude can just pick up at the local party store down the street along with other supplies for their big Friday night brewski bonanza.Poland has long given major side-eye to the official Western narrative as it’s been dripping out, notably into the German and American press. As their story goes, a bunch of rogue Ukrainian army types just decided after getting hammered together one night in a pub to go play Aquaman in the Baltic Sea and trash Nord Stream all on their own like it was their ex’s new boyfriend’s car. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and the CIA tried to stop them when they found out about the plans, but Zelensky’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny, just ignored them… and was then rewarded for doing so with an ambassadorship to Britain.So where would these Ukrainian dudes have scored the military grade TNT? ...
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  • Trump to push for Ukraine ceasefire before talks – CNN.

    Trump to push for Ukraine ceasefire before talks – CNN.
    Nov 28 2024
    Trump to push for Ukraine ceasefire before talks – CNN.
    Moscow and Kiev have both set conditions for negotiations that require major concessions from the other side.
    US President-elect Donald Trump will likely try to bring about a ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict before attempting to push Moscow and Kiev to the negotiating table, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.
    The Republican claimed on the campaign trail that he could end hostilities between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours if reelected to the White House. People in Trump’s orbit have put forward competing ideas, which are being reviewed by Mike Waltz, the president-elect’s pick for national security adviser, according to CNN.
    The discussions are still at an early stage, two sources familiar with the issue told the network. Few advocate Ukrainian membership of NATO, the report said.
    There is a wide gap between the conditions that officials in Russia and Ukraine have respectively outlined for a diplomatic engagement.
    Andrey Yermak, the powerful chief-of-staff of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, this week told the Swedish outlet Dagens industri that a return to the pre-2022 situation would be “a starting point” for talks. The remark apparently backtracks on Kiev’s previous demand for full control over the territory to which it lays claim, including Crimea, before any negotiations could happen.
    Before Kiev launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in August, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to order a ceasefire as soon as Ukraine drops its ambition to join NATO and withdraws its troops from former Ukrainian regions which have joined Russia.
    The proposal has now been withdrawn, and according to Moscow, no talks can happen as long as there is a Ukrainian presence in Kursk Region. Kiev wants to hold on to the seized land to use it as a bargaining chip.
    Several Trump allies have outlined how they believe the conflict could be resolved. Keith Kellogg, Trump's pick to be special envoy on the Ukraine conflict, wants to freeze military combat and suspend Kiev’s bid for NATO membership. Richard Grenell, Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, who was also considered for national security adviser, has urged the creation of “autonomous zones” as part of a settlement.
    Russian forces have been rapidly gaining ground on the front line in recent months. Some Ukrainian military officials have warned that Kiev’s forces are on the verge of collapse.
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    3 m
  • NATO admiral urges businesses to prepare for ‘wartime scenario’.

    NATO admiral urges businesses to prepare for ‘wartime scenario’.
    Nov 26 2024
    NATO admiral urges businesses to prepare for ‘wartime scenario’.
    Western economies have grown too dependent on Russia and China, and could be blackmailed in the event of war, Rob Bauer claims.
    Businesses in NATO countries should prepare themselves for a “wartime scenario” and adjust their production lines and supply chains to be less vulnerable to blackmail by nations such as Russia and China, the outgoing chief of the US-led bloc’s military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, said on Monday.
    Speaking at a European Policy Center think-tank event in Brussels, he urged Western industries and businesses to implement deterrence measures.
    “If we
    can make sure that all crucial services and goods can be delivered no matter what, then that is a key part of our deterrence,” Bauer argued.
    “Businesses need to be prepared for a wartime scenario and adjust their production and distribution lines accordingly. Because while it may be the military who wins battles, it’s the economies that win wars,” the NATO official said. He mentioned China and Russia in the context of how he believes wars are waged in the economic sphere.
    “We thought we had a deal with Gazprom, but we actually had a deal with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” he stated, apparently referring to the drop in Russian gas supplies to the EU, which took place after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
    At the time, the EU declared that ending its reliance on Russian energy was a key priority, and many members voluntarily halted their imports, while supplies also plunged due to the sabotage of Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines.
    American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh blamed the sabotage on the CIA, alleging that the agency had carried out the attack under the direct orders of the White House – an allegation it has denied.
    Bauer then extended his warning to China, claiming that Beijing could use its exports to NATO states and the infrastructure that it owns in Europe as leverage in the event of a conflict.
    “We are naive if we think the [Chinese] Communist Party will never use that power. Business leaders in Europe and America need to realize that the commercial decisions they make have strategic consequences for the security of their nation,” the official claimed.
    It is unclear what “wartime” Bauer is predicting in his statements.
    NATO has long declared Russia to be a direct threat, and Western officials have repeatedly claimed that if Moscow is allowed to win the conflict in Ukraine, it could then attack other European countries.
    Russia has dismissed these claims as nonsense. Restrictions that Moscow introduced in trade with the West have largely come in response to unprecedented economic sanctions placed on the country in connection with the Ukraine conflict.
    Beijing has also faced its share of trade barriers and restrictions introduced by Western states, and introduced similar measures in response. According to most experts, including many in the West, the sanctions policy has backfired on Western economies, leading to supply shortages and inflation.
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    3 m

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