RT News - November 18th 2022

Ukraine troops worse than animals, savages, the troops in the employ of Ukraine "government". The brutal killing of unarmed POWS is a heinous war crime. In some graphic and disturbing images posted online Ukrainian troops appear to execute Russian prisoners of war with Moscow calling the footage a demonstration of Kiev's brutality - which Ukraine's allies support. It's not the first time such barbarity has happened to unarmed Russian POWs.

Ukraine's ex-president Poroshenko - who had signed the Minsk peace deals on Donbass - admits he never intended to stick to the agreements, and simply used them to prepare for a new war with NATO's help. More damning is the fact that US and UK along with others in the alliance gave £$€ billions of taxpayer money to Ukraine without ever insisting that the mandated by United Nations Minsk protocols were implemented. (QueenStreet comment - we need to be asking our MPs, MEPs and regional Assembly members and leaders why this was allowed to happen, plus the funding for the grooming and growing of the fascist elements in Ukraine 2008-2014 to facilitate the deadly coup in 2014. I can find no list of UK .gov objectives in this matter or any vote facilitating the use of public money to enable it use for this matter.)

Poland is asking for more Russian oil despite telling the world it has called for a ban on Russian oil imports.

Unaccountable USA. For the fifth year in a row, the Pentagon audit has failed to account for 61% of it's $3.5 trillion asset spend. Anthony Blinken is also being asked to provide more information about FTX and aid being donated to Ukraine using it as a mechanism. FTX was the second largest donor to the Democrats in the recent mid-term elections (the biggest donor was George Soros, $128 million) FTX gave them $40 million.

The APEC summit has commenced in Bangkok, Thailand. Western countries try to drum up support against Russia. Emmanuel Macron (France) used his entire podium time to deliver an anti-Russian speech. The Chinese President warns against Western hegemony and protectionism at the APEC summit in Bangkok amid tensions with the US over trade and the Taiwan issue.
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via RT website 18 Nov, 2022 15:57

---- West using Ukraine as proxy to fight Russia – top Turkish official ----

The US doesn’t want the conflict to end, deputy leader of Erdogan's party warns

The West is using Ukraine to wage a war against Russia and has gone so far as to sabotage Turkish diplomacy that sought to negotiate an end to it, the deputy leader of Türkiye’s ruling AKP party, Numan Kurtulmus, told CNN Turk on Friday.

“This war is not between Russia and Ukraine, it is a war between Russia and the West,” Kurtulmus told the outlet, adding that “the US and some countries in Europe” are prolonging the conflict by supporting Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is talking to both Moscow and Kiev, said Kurtulmus, and in March managed to organize negotiations in Istanbul that looked promising. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, “were going to sign” a deal, but “someone didn’t want” that to happen.

According to Ukrainian media, Kiev received a message in April that the West was not interested in peace with Russia, which encouraged Zelensky to break off the talks. The messenger was reportedly none other than the UK prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson.

“There was progress on certain issues, and we were reaching the final point, and then suddenly we saw that the war accelerated,” Kurtulmus told CNN Turk on Friday. “What we want is an end to this war. Someone is trying not to end the war. The US sees the prolongation of the war as its interest.”

In his opinion, the conflict has made much of Europe clamor for NATO to become more active against the perceived threat from Russia, which benefits Washington.

According to Kurtulmus, the “balance of the world system disappeared” with the demise of the Soviet Union, and a “fierce power struggle” is currently taking place.

“It is essential to establish a global political system. It is necessary to establish new institutions that will ensure world peace,” he said.

Kurtulmus is a former Turkish deputy prime minister, who has been Erdogan’s deputy at the head of AKP since 2018. His comments came as Russia agreed to extend the Turkish-negotiated deal for exporting grain through the Black Sea by 120 days, on the condition Kiev doesn’t use the sea corridor to carry out more attacks.
https://www.rt.com/russia/566778-ukraine-conflict-west-prolonging/
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via RT website 18 Nov, 2022 17:38

---- Ukraine tried to pressure Georgia into joining fight against Russia – PM ----

Kiev attempted to push Georgia into joining the conflict against Moscow, Irakly Garibashvili claims

Georgia could have been turned into a “shooting range” if opposition leaders had managed to take control of the country, Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili claims. He said Kiev had tried to pressure Tbilisi into joining the conflict with Russia.

In an address to parliament on Friday, Garibashvili said that Ukrainian attempts to open a “second front” against Russia in Georgia were “not an interpretation, and not a legend,” but a “direct quote” from what was said at a press conference.

“These people [the Georgian opposition] are their [Ukrainian officials] allies. Imagine if these people had been at the helm of the Georgian government today,” Garibashvili said. “Does anybody have any doubt that a ‘second front’ would have been opened in Georgia, turning the country into a ‘shooting range?’”

Tbilisi has so far refrained from taking part in the Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine, and Garibashvili stated in April that his country would not join the fighting, as it would run counter to Georgia’s national interests.

Shortly after Russia launched its military operation in late February, a number of officials in Kiev, including the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council, Aleksey Danilov, called on several countries, including Japan, Poland, Moldova, and Georgia, to open up a series of “second fronts” by attacking Russia and seizing such border regions as the Kuril Islands and Kaliningrad. No countries have so far taken Kiev up on the request.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.

In early October, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, officially became part of Russia following referendums that saw the majority of local residents vote in favor of accession.
https://www.rt.com/russia/566780-ukraine-georgia-second-front-russia/
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via RT website 18 Nov, 2022 17:24

---- India explains need for tougher oversight of digital currencies ----

PM Narendra Modi warned an international forum that cryptocurrencies were being used to fund terrorism

ndia’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for tighter regulation of digital currencies in order to prevent them from being used to finance terrorist groups. Speaking at the No Money for Terror Ministerial Conference on Counter-Terrorism Financing in New Delhi on Friday, Modi warned that “private currencies” presented a major security risk.

“New kinds of technology are being used for terror funding and recruitment,” he said, explaining that “challenges from the dark net, private currencies and more are emerging” and “there is a need for a uniform understanding for new finance technologies.”

“From a uniform understanding, a unified system of checks and balances and regulation can emerge,” Modi continued.

It was not Modi’s first attack on cryptocurrencies. Last year, he warned that Bitcoin and its ilk could “spoil our youth” if it ended up “in the wrong hands.” While India last year announced it would ban “all private cryptocurrencies” and create an official digital currency, it opted earlier this year to instead tax crypto profits at a 30% rate. There are an estimated 15-20 million investors in crypto living in India.

India is far from the only country that has considered cracking down on decentralized digital currencies. The EU earlier this month announced amendments to its anti-money-laundering rules that would prohibit banks and crypto exchanges from dealing in privacy coins such as Monero, which, unlike Bitcoin, conceals its blockchain data from public view. Crypto asset providers would also be required to verify customer identities even for occasional transactions valued at under €1,000 ($1,040) and inquire about the nature of larger transactions.
https://www.rt.com/news/566782-india-modi-regulate-crypto-terrorism/
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