RT News - December 13th 2022

In Donetsk, five civilians have been killed and five more wounded after recent Ukraine artillery attacks on Donetsk city. This is the result of one of dozens of similar attacks yesterday, across civilian only regions of the Donetsk republic.

In Kherson, 20 people have been "hunted down and killed" by Kiev forces for being "collaborators". Recall as Ukraine forces entered Kherson earlier, 39 were killed for the same reason and more than 100 in total killed on the orders of Ukraine's Galina Lugovaya. 200 more went missing. She said "there is no other way. I have talked to the military and they have said so. They will just shoot them like dogs" The Ukrainian armed forces 35th Brigade responded "After we eat, we'll be looking for the demons who voted for Russia in the referendum. A night hunt awaits us" Many Kherson civilians were also tied up and beaten for alleged treason as the Kiev army arrived. This video documented some of it https://rumble.com/v1ufq7g-rt-news-november-14th-2022-late.html -

Fake news: Someone has been passing off footage of Ukraine atrocities committed in Donbass as being Russian strikes on Ukraine cities. (QS: it's times like these I'm glad I keep this archive, where I try to document as best I can, what goes on in the day, complete with footage/images) Strangely enough on the same video above, it documents the removal of major international press work permits in eastern Ukraine by decree of Pres. Zelensky. I only put down the English language ones which were on the list but doubtless that Italian and French "major outlets" had also their work permits removed. https://twitter.com/DontDenyThe/status/1593150234133430272 Both Italian and French press are using images and videos of bombing and shelling carried out by Ukraine Kiev forces on civilian areas of Donbass. The question is - who is giving them this footage and images and why are countries leaders allowing the perpetration of fake news?

The Ukrainian government cracks down on a number of senior clergymen in the country, after President Zelensky says they're connected with the Russian Orthodox Church.

New revelations in the Twitter Files show that management banned Donald Trump despite subordinates in the company saying he didn't break the rules. Once upon a time this could never have been legitimately allowed (for USA at least. Smith-Mundt saw to that (and thus propaganda was allowed only internationally, officially - original https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%E2%80%93Mundt_Act - and this is what superceded it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2013#Smith%E2%80%93Mundt_Modernization_Act_of_2012 - it was part of the justification for "Defence Spending" in 2012/2013) So now you know why there is such quantity of propaganda in USA now and not all of it is obviously just PR or even true in any way.

Mass demonstrations erupt in Belgrade in support of ethnic Serbs in the breakaway province of Kosovo, after troops are reportedly deployed on both sides of the administrative border.

In Palestine a teenage girl was shot dead by Israeli forces. 13 bullets were used to kill her, four hit her body. The official Israeli line is "the killing was unintended."

An Israeli General now MP says Israel should show less mercy to Palestinians.

In Peru the "new President" has said there will be elections but not for two years. Please see previous posts for background. Report from Ben Norton.

Africans are fed up with being manipulated and coerced by USA and it's allies. The US/African leaders summit commenced in 2014 and has only happened once before this one, which commences today. Report from Karabo Letlhatlha.
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Below 1) ---- China vows response to latest US sanctions
2) -----Germany should do business with Russia again – Scholz
3) -----EU nations lodge formal protest over Macron comment – Reuters
4) ----- Russia reports budget surplus on booming energy profits
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via RT website 13 Dec, 2022 02:44

1) ---- China vows response to latest US sanctions

Beijing urged Washington to drop the penalties and stop acting like a “world policeman”

China has condemned a new round of US sanctions targeting officials for alleged rights abuses in the Tibet region, saying the “illegal” penalties are merely an excuse to meddle in Beijing’s internal affairs.

Asked about the latest round of sanctions imposed last Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the move “grossly interferes” in his country’s affairs and “gravely undermines” relations with the US, adding that China would take “effective and resolute measures” in response.

“The US imposed illegal sanctions on Chinese officials under domestic law and the pretext of so-called human rights issues in Tibet,” he told reporters on Monday. “Affairs related to Tibet are purely China’s internal affairs and brook no interference from any other country.”

"The US has no right to impose unwarranted sanctions against other countries and is in no position to act as a ‘world policeman.’ We urge the US to withdraw its so-called sanctions immediately."

The US Treasury announced a wave of new sanctions against 40 people in nine countries last week to mark ‘International Human Rights Day’, including current and former officials in North Korea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guinea, Iran, Mali, China, Russia, and the Philippines. Two Chinese nationals, Wu Yingjie and Zhang Hongbo, were targeted for alleged “human rights abuses” in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, where the Treasury claimed the government has carried out arbitrary detentions and other violations as part of an effort to “restrict religious freedoms.”

Coinciding with the sanctions, US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns also issued a statement slamming Beijing for its “repressive” policies in the Xinjiang and Tibet regions, as well as Hong Kong, even suggesting the government had committed “crimes against humanity” against Muslim minorities. However, Wang rejected the criticism as “unwarranted,” instead asking Washington to reflect on its own past abuses and “fix its poor track record first.”

Burns’ statement “fully reveals the hegemonic, high-handed and bullying nature of the US and its political agenda of using human rights issues as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs and undermine China’s stability, development and ethnic solidarity,” the spokesman continued, going on to say that the US has “turned a blind eye to its own human rights violations” both at home and abroad.
https://www.rt.com/news/568136-china-respond-tibet-sanctions/
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via RT website 12 Dec, 2022 22:03

2) -----Germany should do business with Russia again – Scholz

Economic cooperation can resume once Moscow is defeated in Ukraine, the German chancellor has said

Once Russia ends the conflict in Ukraine, it should be given a chance to do business with Germany again, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday. He repeated that Moscow must and will not win, however.

A Russian government that ends hostilities “needs a chance to restart economic cooperation, in another time when this is possible,” Scholz said in Berlin at a meeting of the Eastern Committee for German Business (OA), a trade association focused on relations with Eastern Europe. “Now is not that time.”

"At the moment, the relationships we have are being scaled back,” Scholz said, according to the weekly Zeit. The EU is “tightening the sanctions” now, but Russia will remain the largest country on the European continent after the conflict is resolved. “It is therefore very important that we make preparations for this time.”

Scholz described the current conflict as an attempt by President Vladimir Putin to re-create a Russian Empire that is destroying the country’s future instead, and accused Moscow of atrocities against Ukrainian civilians. Russia must not win “and Russia will not win, either,” he told the business group.

Berlin’s determination to ditch Russian energy imports – pushed mainly by Scholz’s Green coalition partners – created troubles for Germany even before gas deliveries were disrupted by the sabotage to the Nord Stream pipelines in September. Germans are now trying to make up significant energy shortages from elsewhere.

Earlier this month, Berlin’s ambassador in Washington admitted to the economic troubles, but said this was a small price to pay for a “profound transformation” of her country into a remilitarized continental power, more hostile to Russia and closer to the US.

For all of Scholz’s promises to help Ukraine, Kiev has continued to browbeat Berlin about deliveries of tanks and even more artillery. Last week, the chancellor’s predecessor, Angela Merkel, admitted that the 2014 Minsk agreement was not aimed at resolving the conflict in Donbass, but to "give Ukraine time" to arm against Russia.

Putin said he was disappointed by Merkel’s admission and that the trust between Moscow and Berlin was now “almost at zero.”

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 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.
https://www.rt.com/news/568135-scholz-germany-russia-trade/
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via RT website 13 Dec, 2022 09:34

3) -----EU nations lodge formal protest over Macron comment – Reuters

The Baltic states, Poland and Slovakia are said to oppose the suggestion that Russia should be given security guarantees

France is facing a backlash from a group of fellow EU member states over President Emmanuel Macron's proposal that NATO should offer Moscow security guarantees, if and when the parties to the ongoing Ukraine conflict sit down for peace talks.

Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Slovakia have lodged a formal protest against Macron's suggestion, according to Reuters.

Citing diplomatic sources, the news agency reported that the Czech Republic, which now holds the EU Council presidency, had assisted in preparing the demarche, which was delivered it to the French foreign ministry. However, it is not clear whether Prague itself, or any other nations, backed the document, the report adds.

According to the report, the draft demarche distributed by the Czech Republic to EU member states last week argued that Russia’s previous efforts with respect to European security architecture sought to divide and weaken Europe.

On December 3, Macron told the French TF1 TV channel: “We need to prepare what we are ready to do, how we protect our allies and member states, and how to give guarantees to Russia the day it returns to the negotiating table.”

Macron added that one of the “essential points” NATO had to address is Russia’s concern that the military bloc “comes right up to its doors, and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia.”

His suggestion quickly came under fire from Ukraine and the Baltic states.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski, for his part, told reporters that Russia had no right to “expect security guarantees from anyone.”

He also warned those thinking otherwise that they were making a “strategic mistake.”

French diplomats tried to downplay the comment, insisting that it was taken “out of context.”

Meanwhile, Macron himself urged European allies not to “create controversy where there is none.”
https://www.rt.com/news/568147-eu-nations-protest-macron-security-guarantees/
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13 Dec, 2022 10:42

4) ----- Russia reports budget surplus on booming energy profits

Oil and gas revenues added an extra $9 billion to Moscow’s coffers

Russia’s budget surplus more than quadrupled in November, recording another month of significant growth in revenues from fossil fuels, according to the latest Finance Ministry report.

Data released on Monday shows that the surplus reached 557 billion rubles ($9 billion) in the first 11 months of the year. That’s up from 128.4 billion rubles (over $2 billion) reported for January-October.

The report said that revenues from oil and gas have been surging, already exceeding the full-year target in the first 11 months. The budget received more than 10 trillion rubles (around $160 billion) in revenue from energy exports, up by 111.7% for the year.

According to International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates, oil and gas revenue accounted for nearly half of Russia’s federal budget in 2021.

Analysts attributed the fiscal surplus to dividends and a windfall tax paid by energy giant Gazprom. The temporary windfall payments were set by the government after Russian oil and gas companies reported record profits this year, despite the Western sanctions.

Under the law, which was signed by President Vladimir Putin in November, the country’s energy exporters will have to pay increased taxes on excess profits until 2025. The tax changes are expected to add an additional $50 billion to the state’s coffers over the next two years.
https://www.rt.com/business/568152-russia-budget-surplus-energy-profits/
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