RT News - December 22nd 2022 Late

Pres. Putin underlines the West's failed efforts to crush the Russian economy and also slams Washington for dividing and setting Post-Soviet states against Moscow. The press conference can be seen on this channel https://rumble.com/v21x4cc-pres.-putin-held-a-press-conference-after-state-council-meeting.-moscow-22n.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=14

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RT exclusively follows Wagner Group fighters as they advance through a Donetsk Republic city, one of the main hotspots of the war.

Why the propensity to continuously send weapons and aide to Ukraine?

Max Blumenthal tried to get answers from some Ukrainian diaspora before the Zelensky address in US congress. The answers show they live in a different reality to the rest of us, despite another $45 billion earmarked for Ukraine in 2023.

USA: The Pentagon has miscounted civilian victims of the US Army, according to a letter sent from congress members.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces the formation of a new coalition fuelling speculation that the country's politics are lurching further to the right.
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below: 1) -- Russia doing better than many G20 countries – Putin
2) -- Russia hosts most Ukrainian refugees – report
3) -- Russian watchdog reports on tackling fake news since start of Ukraine operation
4) -- Vandals destroy prehistoric aboriginal art
5) -- Zelensky is ‘houseguest who wouldn’t leave’ – Tucker Carlson
6) -- Kremlin assesses Zelensky-Biden meeting
7) --- FTX execs plead guilty to fraud charges
8) --- Feature - Selling a war: Report exposes how German media stirs up militancy in society and works to prevent negotiations with Russia
9) --- More than half of US House Republicans snubbed Zelensky’s speech – media
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22 Dec, 2022 16:30

1) -- Russia doing better than many G20 countries – Putin

The stability of the economy is due to the efforts of the government and business, the president has said

Russia is showing better economic results than many of the G20 nations despite the mounting sanctions pressure, President Vladimir Putin has stated. He made the remarks on Thursday at a press conference following a meeting of the Russian State Council, a top advisory body.

“As for the economy, despite the collapse, disarray and catastrophe predicted for us in the economic sphere, nothing of the kind has happened. Moreover, Russia demonstrates much better results than many countries of the G20, and demonstrates it consistently,” Putin said, adding that he was referring to macroeconomic indicators.

This has been achieved thanks to the efforts of those in government, business, and other economic actors, the president stressed.

“The labour market is stable. State finances are stable, there are no concerning moments there either. All this is not the result of something that fell from the sky. This is the result of the work of the government, regional teams, business, and the overall spirit in society, which demonstrates unity and the desire to work together to achieve the goal,” Putin noted.

One of the prime targets for Western sanctions before, Moscow has been subjected to multiple new waves of assorted restrictions over the conflict in Ukraine, which broke out in late February. The EU alone has so far adopted nine rounds of sanctions, targeting various sectors of the Russian economy and banking, banning exports, and personally pursuing Russian businessmen and public officials.

The continuous efforts to restrict the Russian fossil fuel trade have repeatedly been cited by numerous experts and officials as among the key causes of the ongoing energy crisis in the EU. Earlier, Putin likened such a policy on the bloc’s part to economic “suicide.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/568758-russia-doing-better-putin/
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22 Dec, 2022 16:58

2) -- Russia hosts most Ukrainian refugees – report

Over 2.85 million displaced residents have fled to the country, with Poland a distant second as a sanctuary, estimates by Statista show

Ukrainian refugees fleeing their homeland in 2022 have resettled in Russia more than any other country, according to a report by Statista published last week. It revealed some 2,852,395 people had left their conflict-stricken homeland for the neighboring country as of October.

Trailing Russia in a distant second is Poland, which hosted 1,529,355 Ukrainian refugees as of December. Another 1,021,667 have fled to Germany as of November, while Czechia is home to 467,862, according to numbers from earlier this month.

While Russia and Poland border Ukraine and thus present closer destinations for its inhabitants, Germany has attracted an outsized number of displaced people with its large financial support payments, which amounted to €449 ($475) per month as of June. Poland, by comparison, offered just over €15 ($16).

Since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February, 4.8 million Ukrainians have registered for the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive, which assures refugees access to living quarters, healthcare, welfare and other benefits, or other European refugee schemes.

More than 7.8 million Ukrainians have been displaced this year in the conflict, which grew out of the previous eight years of fighting between the Western-backed government in Kiev and what were then the independent republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Under near-constant shelling by the government despite a supposed ceasefire brokered by France and Germany, the eastern provinces reportedly produced another million-plus refugees during this period, many of whom fled to Russia or elsewhere in Ukraine.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give 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. In September, Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, were incorporated into Russia following referendums.
https://www.rt.com/news/568759-ukrainian-refugees-settle-russia-europe/
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22 Dec, 2022 17:04

3) -- Russian watchdog reports on tackling fake news since start of Ukraine operation

Roskomnadzor says foreign non-profits funded "information stuffing” in an attempt to destabilize society

Over 157,000 fakes and calls for anti-war rallies have been blocked by Russia’s media watchdog since the start of Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine, Roskomnadzor reported on Thursday.

The regulator noted that what is called “information stuffing,” or dumping inaccurate and misleading information online, was carried out in American social media networks using the resources of foreign non-profit organizations in an attempt to destabilize Russian society. Those attempts have failed, Roskomnadzor’s deputy chief, Vadim Subbotin, said.

“Now there is a decrease in the amount of unreliable information detected in the Russian segment of the Internet,” Subbotin explained during a round table meeting on the hostile actions of the US and its allies against Moscow, including the use of colored revolutions in countries neighboring Russia.

He also noted that the number of fakes and other information stuffing in US-controlled social networks saw rapid growth during the first days of Moscow’s operation in Ukraine. The amount of such material in Russia’s internet space grew from 30 to over 5,000 posts a day, Subbotin said.

Additionally, a vast network of bots was also involved and carried out simultaneous injections of prepared fakes and massive DDoS attacks on Russian infrastructure, according to the regulator, who said the goal of these attacks was to trigger the collapse of Russia’s political and economic systems.

Subbotin noted that the decrease in the number of fakes in the Russian internet space had been caused not only by the blocking of the main resources where such information was shared, but also by their low effectiveness due to Russians supporting measures taken by Moscow.

Shortly after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in late February, social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter were officially blocked in the country by Roskomnadzor.

Meanwhile, Meta Inc, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has since been designated by Russian lawmakers as an “extremist” organization for allowing posts containing death threats against Russian people, despite such content violating the platform’s own rules.
https://www.rt.com/russia/568754-roskomnadzor-fake-news-blocked/
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22 Dec, 2022 17:17

4) -- Vandals destroy prehistoric aboriginal art

South Australian officials have been criticized for failing to secure Koonalda Cave, which was previously vandalized

Trespassers have ruined a one-of-a-kind sacred artwork in South Australia’s Koonalda Cave by drawing on it with their fingers, the state’s aboriginal affairs minister and attorney general, Kyam Maher, told local media on Wednesday, demanding a “severe penalty” for the unidentified vandals.

Dating back some 30,000 years, the art comprised “some of the earliest evidence of Aboriginal occupation of that part of the country,” according to Maher.

The graffiti, which reads “don’t look now, but this is a death cave,” left the artwork “unrecoverable,” archaeologist Dr. Keryn Walshe told The Guardian. “The surface of the cave is very soft. It is not possible to remove the graffiti without destroying the art underneath.”

The vandals allegedly removed parts of a fence protecting the site in order to crawl underneath and enter the cave, a protected national heritage site since 2014. “This isn’t some sort of accidental disturbance,” Maher said. “This is someone who has deliberately got through fencing, barbed wire and gone in and destroyed this.”

Maher vowed to increase the punishment for violating the state’s Aboriginal heritage protection laws, which currently carry a sentence of up to six months’ prison time or a $10,000 fine, The government is also considering installing a live video monitoring system and has been consulting with the indigenous Mirning people, for whom the cave is sacred, to improve security, he added.

For some, however, this was too little, too late. Walshe pointed out that the fence had become “inadequate” over the last four decades, allowing previous vandals to gain access, countering Maher’s insistence it was sufficient to keep most would-be trespassers out.

“The failure to build an effective gate, or to make use of modern security services... has in many ways, allowed this vandalism to occur,” Dr. Clare Buswell, chair of the Australian Speleological Federation’s Conservation Commission, told the Aboriginal lands parliamentary standing committee in July – a month after the government was first informed the vandalism had happened.

“It was wilful, deeply incised, damaging the art, and nothing has been done since to protect the site, so this could continue until some protection is installed,” she said. “It’s simply not good enough for the minister to say, oh, we’ll just increase the amount of fines or other punitive actions.”
https://www.rt.com/news/568761-vandals-destroy-aboriginal-cave-australia/
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22 Dec, 2022 16:44

5) -- Zelensky is ‘houseguest who wouldn’t leave’ – Tucker Carlson

Listening to the Ukrainian president demanding money was a “humiliating scenario” for Congress, the Fox News host said

Fox News host Tucker Carlson condemned American lawmakers for applauding Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s demands for more weapons and money. Carlson argued that the US gets nothing in return for the tens of billions of dollars it funnels to Kiev.

Zelensky arrived in Washington on Wednesday, and after a meeting with US President Joe Biden, addressed a session of Congress on Capitol Hill. There, the Ukrainian leader thanked the US for the roughly $68 billion in military and economic aid it’s sent to his government already, before calling on Democrats and Republicans to “invest” even more.

“So the leader of a foreign government, dressed in a sweatshirt, waltzes into the United States Congress and starts demanding money, and then has the gall to tell the people sitting there who are giving him tens of billions of dollars more of your money that it’s not charity, it’s an investment,” Carlson told his prime time audience that night.

“Where do you get off talking to us like that?” Carlson continued. “Do we hate ourselves so much? Do we have so little respect for the US that we put up with that, applaud it?”

Carlson is one of a handful of prominent American conservatives who have consistently opposed the US’ bankrolling of Ukraine. He has argued that arming Kiev against Russia risks dragging the US into the conflict, and that American money would be better spent at home, shoring up the country’s border with Mexico and addressing the spiralling fentanyl crisis.

The Fox host has condemned both Democrats and Republicans for propping up Zelensky’s military. Pointing out that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell described supporting Ukraine as the US’ “number one priority,” Carlson slammed McConnell for not asking Zelensky about “his current and ongoing war against Christianity,” considering many of McConnell’s conservative voters “go to church on Sunday.”

“It may be impossible to imagine a more humiliating scenario for the greatest country on Earth,” Carlson said of Zelensky’s speech and the multiple standing ovations it received from lawmakers. “This was bipartisan masochism. The Uniparty is alive and well.”

“He’s the houseguest who would not leave, and every moment we tolerate him, the demands become bigger.”

Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, described Zelensky’s trip to the US as a “Hollywood-style” jaunt intended to ensure that the US “proxy war” against Russia continues.

Congress will vote this week on a $1.7 trillion spending bill that allocates another $45 billion to Ukraine, bringing the total amount given to Kiev to around $113 billion since February, or more than half of the country’s pre-conflict GDP. Moscow has repeatedly warned Western nations against arming Kiev, stressing that this would only prolong the conflict.
https://www.rt.com/news/568752-tucker-carlson-zelensky-congress/
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22 Dec, 2022 13:13

6) -- Kremlin assesses Zelensky-Biden meeting

Spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, insists both leaders are reluctant to address Moscow’s concerns

Washington seems intent on waging a proxy war against Russia using Ukraine as a tool, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said. He added that the main takeaway from Wednesday’s meeting between the two countries’ leaders is that neither the US nor Ukraine is prepared to pay attention to Russia’s concerns.

“Of course, we were following this [meeting], we were getting acquainted with all the incoming information,” Peskov told journalists on Thursday. He added that in Moscow’s eyes, “neither President [Joe] Biden nor President [Vladimir] Zelensky uttered any words that could be construed as, so to speak, potential readiness to take heed of Russia’s concerns.”

The Kremlin spokesperson went on to lament the fact that the US president had failed to warn his Ukrainian colleague against shelling residential areas in Donbass. He also said that neither side called for peace.

According to Peskov, the US is continuing to wage war against Russia indirectly, “to the last Ukrainian.”

He also noted that further weapons deliveries from the US and other countries will only serve to prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people.

Late on Wednesday, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, also accused Washington of waging a proxy war against Moscow, adding that the US and Ukraine are hell-bent on the “manic idea of defeating the Russians on the battlefield.”

On Wednesday, Zelensky arrived in Washington for his first official foreign visit since Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in late February.

During his meeting with Biden at the White House, the US president pledged to back Kiev for “as long as it takes.” He also confirmed the upcoming handover of a Patriot air defense battery and other military aid.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned the Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, warning that they could lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.
https://www.rt.com/news/568732-kremlin-comments-biden-zelensky-meeting/
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22 Dec, 2022 16:13

7) --- FTX execs plead guilty to fraud charges

The collapsed crypto exchange’s co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison are reportedly cooperating with investigators

Two associates of former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried have pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange, US Attorney Damian Williams revealed on Wednesday.

He said that former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison were cooperating with the Justice Department's investigation.

Ellison (28) ran the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, which was a subsidiary of FTX. She had previously worked with Bankman-Fried at Jane Street and was reportedly his girlfriend at times.

According to her plea agreement, which was cited by Business Insider, Ellison faces seven charges that collectively carry a maximum prison sentence of 110 years. Those include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and commodities fraud. She also faces a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Meanwhile, Wang (29) was Bankman-Fried’s college roommate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with whom he later cofounded FTX in 2019. Wang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, commodities fraud, and securities fraud.

The charges were released the same Wednesday night that Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas and landed back in New York, where he faces eight federal criminal charges from the same prosecutors who accepted plea deals from Ellison and Wang.

Bankman-Fried is suspected of defrauding investors out of nearly $2 billion. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the fallen crypto billionaire concealed both risks and FTX’s relationship with its trading firm, Alameda Research, and used commingled customer funds.

He also diverted billions of dollars of customer funds to help grow his other entities. Alameda Research was reportedly allowed to carry a negative balance on FTX and was exempt from the exchange’s risk protocols.

According to the SEC complaint, Bankman-Fried personally directed that FTX’s “risk engine” not apply to Alameda and hid the extent of the ties between the two companies from investors.

The SEC also charges that, as late as last month, Bankman-Fried was continuing to mislead investors while trying to fill a multi-billion-dollar hole in FTX’s balance sheet. It only stopped when FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy protection on November 11, the regulator said.
https://www.rt.com/business/568731-ftx-execs-plead-guilty-fraud/
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22 Dec, 2022 09:58

8) --- Feature - Selling a war: Report exposes how German media stirs up militancy in society and works to prevent negotiations with Russia

A shock study exposes how the press is pushing for confrontation with Moscow in the EU's most powerful state

Last week, the University of Mainz published a study of German news coverage of events in Ukraine, and Berlin’s official response to the crisis. The conclusions confirm that since February 24, the media has played a major role in keeping the conflict going, and making a negotiated settlement less likely, due to almost universally biased, pro-war, anti-Russia content being published at all stages.

Researchers at the university analyzed German-language reporting on the Ukraine conflict between February 24 and May 31, assessing the content of around 4,300 separate articles published by the country’s eight leading newspapers and TV stations: FAZ, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Bild, Spiegel, Zeit, ARD Tagesschau, ZDF Today, and RTL Aktuell.

During this time, Ukraine was portrayed positively in 64% of all coverage, and President Vladimir Zelensky in 67%. By contrast, Russia was portrayed “almost exclusively negatively” 88% of the time, and President Vladimir Putin in 96% of cases. Almost all reports – 93% in total – attributed sole blame for the war to Putin and/or Russia. The West was named as “jointly responsible” in only 4% of instances, Ukraine even less so at 2%.

The perspectives of Russia on the conflict were only considered or mentioned in 10% of news reports, less than the viewpoint of any other country, including Moscow’s neighbors. Alternative for Germany and the Left Party, which both oppose arming Ukraine and prolonging the fighting, “had practically no media presence in reporting on the war.” Government messaging and statements from ministers were completely dominant, being the focus in 80% of news coverage, more than four times above the figure for opposition parties.

In media discussions of “measures most likely to end the war,” economic sanctions against Russia were “by far the most frequently reported,” and approved of in 66% of cases. Diplomatic measures were mentioned “much less frequently,” while “humanitarian measures” were even less regularly featured.

In all, 74% of the reports surveyed portrayed military support to Ukraine “extremely positively.” Delivery of heavy weapons was endorsed “a little less clearly, but still considered to be largely sensible,” with 66% “overwhelmingly in favor.” Less than half – 43% – gave the impression that diplomatic negotiations would be useful, and this was largely due to Der Spiegel’s reporting that clearly marked diplomacy as the most sensible option for Berlin “by far.”

“Der Spiegel was the only media examined to rate diplomatic negotiations more positively than the delivery of heavy weapons,” the academics conclude.

The report did identify one area where media coverage was “certainly not pro-government.” On certain rare occasions, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his coalition were strongly criticized “for hesitating to flood Ukraine with heavy weapons” by all outlets apart from Der Spiegel.

The report adds that “not all members of the government were equally affected by the criticism.” While those who escaped censure aren’t listed, it’s a fair bet they are representatives of government coalition parties such as the Greens, who have been demanding that Berlin flood Kiev with arms from day one.

Overall, though, the study offers a disturbing view into how Germany’s entire media lined up behind the cause of war and a dangerous escalation against Russia. Meanwhile, consideration of alternative policies, such as supporting a diplomatic settlement or urging Ukraine to engage in productive negotiations to end the fighting as early as possible was almost completely absent – or indeed completely withheld – from any news reporting or analysis.

It also shows how journalists are among the most aggressive and effective lobbyists for war. Germany is just one country, and a similar investigation of media coverage of the conflict in any Western state would inevitably reach similar conclusions. In many cases, the findings could possibly be even more drastic, in terms of the one-sided, pro-war picture presented to average citizens by the press, and the lack of opposing, pro-diplomacy viewpoints.

This would surely be the case in the UK and US, the two countries most eagerly pushing proxy war with Russia. It has been confirmed that Kiev and Moscow reached a negotiated interim settlement in early April, whereby Russia would withdraw to its pre-February 24 position, and Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership in return for security guarantees from a number of countries.

However, at the very last minute, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly flew to Kiev and demanded that Zelensky step away from talks. This shocking fact has barely been mentioned in English-language news, but this should not surprise us.

These organizations and the journalists who work for them seem to have a forever war to sell. For that to happen, the Western public apparently cannot be allowed to know it’s possible to achieve peace by alternative means to death and destruction. It is also necessary, it appears, to mislead Europeans about the consequences of the conflict for their own economies and personal lives, as the University of Mainz study proves.

Between February 24 and May 31, the proportion of reports that mentioned or were about the “influence of the war on Germany,” such as energy shortages and price inflation, never rose above 15% in total per week. It is only lately the country’s media has begun to recognize this damage, and explored what it means for the average citizen. A majority of the public may not see the huge recession coming, or have any idea that it is self-inflicted.
https://www.rt.com/news/568595-how-to-sell-war/
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22 Dec, 2022 15:39

9) --- More than half of US House Republicans snubbed Zelensky’s speech – media

A total of 127 GOP lawmakers chose to snub the Ukrainian president, a tally by The Hill says

Only 86 out of 213 Republican members of the US House of Representatives showed up to hear Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky address Congress in Washington on Wednesday, according to The Hill. The snub occurred after the House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly rejected the proposal for an audit of military and other aid to Ukraine earlier this month.

Zelensky’s visit to the US was his first trip abroad after Russia launched a military campaign in the neighboring state in late February. He thanked the US for the support and requested more heavy weapons, including tanks and aircraft.

Some Republicans, however, have been demanding more transparency from the government when it comes to helping Ukraine. “Sadly, what I didn’t hear tonight was a clear explanation of where the first $50 billion we sent to support their efforts went,” Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who attended Zelensky’s speech, said in a video message on Twitter. She said that she would “not support sending additional money to this war” until an audit was completed.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spearheaded the bill to audit aid to Ukraine, was among those who ditched Zelensky’s address. “The American taxpayers are literally paying to prop up many countries all over the world in foreign aid, but America is virtually crumbling before our eyes,” Greene tweeted on Wednesday. She added that families in her district were struggling with growing food prices while the US was concerned with sending funds to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Representative Chip Roy described Zelensky’s speech as “more of the theater” used by the Democrats to convince voters that the funds slated for Ukraine were “just going to be magically created out of thin air.”

On Tuesday, Congress rolled out a spending bill containing more than $44 billion worth of aid to Ukraine. But Republicans calculated that the money set aside for Kiev exceeded $47 billion, according to the New York Times.

The Pentagon has unveiled an additional $1.85 billion aid package for Ukraine, which includes the Patriot air defense missile systems, armored vehicles, and grenade launchers, as well as artillery and tank rounds. Russia has repeatedly said that foreign weapons would not change the course of the conflict and would only cause more deaths in Ukraine.
https://www.rt.com/news/568743-gop-ditch-zelensky-speech/
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