RT News - February 23rd 2023 Late

Donbass, Donetsk: NATO/ U.S. made HIMARS have once again been used to shell civilian only areas. Three paramedics were killed whilst travelling in an ambulance; a woman was also killed and another wounded. There have been five strikes against the city. As more civilians are killed in the Ukrainian shelling of Russia's Donetsk republic RT reports from the scene of one of the latest attacks, Roman Kosarev.

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"The west intends to divide Russia" Sergey Shoigu said as he addressed military personnel on Russia's Defender of the Fatherland day.
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United Nations: Hungary reiterated its calls for peace in Ukraine and ending of supplying weapons etc., to Kiev before the conflict becomes a global one.

China's Wang Wenbin FM spokesman has said the supply of weapons to Ukraine results in them often being put into the hands of criminal groups. Nikki explains the problem of international concern. "The US is the world's largest warmonger" NATO has been responsible for 80% of the world's wars since it's creation. Benjamin Chiao analyses the problem with supplying Ukraine with weapons and the west's double standards.
Beijing sends a clear message to Washington, calling it the world's 'largest warmonger' as China says the US should reconsider its policy of arming Ukraine, warning that the weapons could end up on the black market.

A new US Inflation Reduction Act reportedly threatens to hamper EU and British businesses due to its overwhelming focus on green policies. Indonesian Finance Minister spoke from Bengaluru, India and said it would negatively impact Indonesia's economy.
The UK's Kemi Badenoch said she is concerned the new act may negatively impact the global economy. (QS - seriously suprised this has been allowed to be said by someone from UK government!) Rachel Marsden reports on the new US act.
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Africa, Burkina Faso: The French have been "kicked out" from BF and the last troops left last week. That hasn't stopped them from taking a close look at its neighbour, Ivory Coast for some "new ties". Sebastien LeCornu was right there today. RT speaks to the locals to get their reaction. Noufou Zougmore reports on the general "anti-French sentiment"
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India: US Treasury sec. Janet Yellen has arrived for the G20 summit (QS - is it my imagination or are all US officials getting very old and doddery?). She took the opportunity to have a swipe at Russia (QS: as usual). She said the world economy is in a better place than predicted (QS hmmmmm). Balaji Chandromohan talks about her presence at the summit.
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South Africa are considering downgrading their Israeli embassy after the African Union urged member states to cut ties with Israel saying it's a colonial power. Said Sadek reports from Cairo.
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As the US-led invasion of Iraq nears its grim 20th anniversary RT investigates the legacy of the hawkish Neocon agenda, that ultimately led to the Ukraine conflict.
Iraq War: "One of the deadliest conflicts of our time" and the legacy of lies. RT continues its series on "Iraq, 20 years on" Caleb Maupin discusses.
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Below, via RT website ---- 1) --- Crimean Bridge repairs completed after terrorist attack – official
2) --- Russian warplane crashes near Ukrainian border
3) --- Official rebuffs claim of explosions near nuclear plant
4) --- Russia sets date for historic lunar mission
5) --- NATO issues China warning
6) --- Ukraine now a ‘battle of logistics’ – NATO chief
7) --- Musk accuses top US official of ‘pushing war’ in Ukraine
7a) --- State Department globalists responsible for Ukraine coup – Trump
8) --- NATO country snubs Ukraine weapons request
9) --- US directing global pressure campaign against China – Politico
10a) --- US ‘quadrupling’ number of troops in Taiwan – WSJ
11) --- European Commission bans TikTok
12) --- British supermarkets begin rationing vegetables
13) --- Humanitarian crisis looming – climate watchdog
14) --- EU won’t fine banks which fail to reveal Russian assets – Politico
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23 Feb, 2023 14:03

1) --- Crimean Bridge repairs completed after terrorist attack – official

All car lanes have been restored 39 days earlier than planned, a deputy prime minister has said

The Crimean Bridge, which was targeted by a Ukrainian sabotage attack several months ago, has resumed road traffic at full capacity, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced on Thursday.

“The Crimean Bridge is fully open for automobile traffic in all its lanes 39 days ahead of schedule,” he said. Khusnullin added that the move came after the bearing capacity of the bridge’s spans had been successfully tested.

According to the official, the repairs were organized to limit the impact on the structure’s operations. “Already on December 5, two weeks ahead of schedule, we opened the right side of the bridge, which had been damaged the most,” he commented.

The deputy prime minister also indicated that the authorities plan to restore the railway portion of the bridge in July 2023, and that work is underway to rebuild related infrastructure.

“Structural elements are currently being assembled and preparations are ongoing for their installation. The work is being carried out around the clock in two shifts, 305 people and 32 machinery units are involved,” Khusnullin explained.

In the aftermath of the blast, the Russian authorities managed to resume road traffic on the bridge within several hours, and it has rarely stopped since. Railway service was also restored shortly after the incident.

The Crimean Bridge, which serves as a critical link between the peninsula and mainland Russia, was damaged in a truck explosion on October 8, which killed at least four people.

At the time, the blast caused a partial collapse of the road used by automobiles and a fire on the parallel railway section where seven fuel tanks were ignited.

Russian investigators said the attack had been orchestrated by Ukrainian military intelligence. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Kiev “did not order” the blast.

Moscow accused Kiev of using “terrorist tactics” and subsequently stepped up large-scale missile strikes against Ukrainian military installations and energy facilities, leading to rolling blackouts across the country.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571976-crimean-bridge-repairs-car-traffic/
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23 Feb, 2023 11:18

2) --- Russian warplane crashes near Ukrainian border

The pilot of the Su-25 close air support aircraft was killed, the Ministry of Defense has said

A Russian military jet has crashed in Belgorod Region, which borders Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday. The pilot died in the accident.

In a statement, the ministry said that the Su-25 close air support aircraft went down “after completing a combat mission when returning to the base airfield,” adding that “its pilot has been killed.”

The Defense Ministry noted that the tragedy occurred in an unpopulated area, with no infrastructure damaged. “Preliminary data indicates that the accident was caused by a technical malfunction,” it stated.

According to unconfirmed reports, the pilot managed to eject himself from the aircraft and was taken to the hospital, but soon passed away due to his injuries.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod Region, said the jet went down in Valuysky District, located directly on the border with Ukraine and around 150km east of the city of Belgorod. He added that local authorities and first responders are investigating the matter.

A similar incident took place in Belgorod Region last June, with another Su-25 crashing in the area during a training flight. At the time, its pilot managed to eject himself and survived.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571971-russian-warplane-crash-belgorod/
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23 Feb, 2023 10:51

3) --- Official rebuffs claim of explosions near nuclear plant

The IAEA has said its team heard artillery fire near the Zaporozhye facility

Moscow has no heavy artillery systems stationed near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), situated close to the frontline with Ukraine, Renat Karchaa, an adviser at Russia’s national nuclear operator Rosenergoatom, said on Thursday.

He was responding to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Mariano Grossi, who said on Sunday that his team on the ground had heard “the sound of more artillery fire taking place close to the ZNPP” the previous day.

The IAEA deployed a monitoring team to Europe’s biggest plant in September.

Karchaa dismissed Grossi’s claim as “ridiculous.” “Not a single long-range artillery system or a multiple rocket launcher is stationed close to the plant. That would be impossible,” Karchaa told TASS news agency. “Russia will never place the nuclear power plant in danger. Unlike Ukraine, we care about nuclear safety.”

Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant. Washington and Kiev, meanwhile, claim that Russian troops have used the facility as a “shield.”

Russian officials have maintained that military personnel seen at the plant were only there to protect the facility.

The ZNPP was seized by Russian soldiers shortly after Moscow launched its military operation in the neighboring state almost a year ago. The Zaporozhye Region, together with three other former Ukrainian territories, eventually became a part of Russia after holding a referendum on the matter in September. The plant has since been taken off the Ukrainian grid.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571970-zaporozhye-nuclear-plant-artillery/
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23 Feb, 2023 08:18

4) --- Russia sets date for historic lunar mission

The Roscosmos agency has repeatedly delayed the launch of Moscow’s first post-Soviet moon lander, Luna-25, citing technical issues

Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, has revealed plans to launch its Luna-25 moon lander mission in midsummer of this year. The project, which would mark the resumption of Moscow’s lunar project after a decades-long hiatus, has seen multiple delays over the past few years.

Speaking to Russia’s TASS media outlet on Thursday, the Roscosmos press office said, “Taking into consideration the astronomical ‘window,’ the launch of ‘Luna-25’ spacecraft is planned for 13.07.2023.”

Back in September 2022, the space agency’s chief, Yuri Borisov announced the postponement of the launch to 2023, citing discrepancies found in the spacecraft’s avionics.

Luna-25 would become the first Russian lunar probe since 1976. Developed in the late 2000s, the mission has, however, been put off numerous times since.

Speaking last April, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Moscow will “resume the lunar program.” He went on to note that the plans will be implemented “despite all the difficulties and attempts to interfere from the outside.”

That same month, the European Space Agency announced it would cease cooperation with Roscosmos on Martian and lunar expeditions, citing Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

With a payload of 30kg of scientific equipment, a robotic arm and a drill, Luna-25 is expected, among other things, to conduct various experiments and take samples of lunar regolith.

The mission’s planned landing site is the Moon’s south polar region near the Boguslavsky Crater.

Roscosmos has previously expressed hope that the mission will become an “important step in space exploration” that will help deepen the understanding of the “mechanisms of the planets’ genesis, the appearance of water and, consequently, of life on Earth.”

Meanwhile, other nations, too, are looking to establish their own footholds on Earth’s satellite, with America’s NASA planning to resume human landings as early as 2025.

China has successfully launched a series of lunar missions in recent years, while India is planning to launch the Chandrayaan-3 lander mission in August of 2023.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571964-roscosmos-date-lunar-mission/
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23 Feb, 2023 03:10

5) --- NATO issues China warning

Western officials have alleged that Beijing plans to help resupply the Russian military

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has claimed that China is preparing to step up its support for Russia, saying the People’s Republic may seek to back Moscow’s efforts in Ukraine. Beijing rejected the charge, calling it “groundless speculation.”

Speaking to the Associated Press for an interview on Wednesday, Stoltenberg was asked whether the US-led military bloc had seen any indication that China might provide weapons or other assistance to Russia. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-nato-politics-jens-stoltenberg-e8874580698b31cdfac96a60f13eef5b

“We have seen some signs that they may be planning for that, and of course NATO allies, the United States, have been warning against it because this is something that should not happen,” he said, insisting Beijing must not take any role in the conflict in Ukraine.

The NATO chief went on to argue that the alliance is “no party” to the hostilities, even while stressing that it will support Kiev for “as long as it takes” in order to “ensure that Ukraine prevails.”

China was quick to respond to Stoltenberg’s comments, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stating that his country “stands on the side of peace” regarding Ukraine, while accusing the NATO head of “smears” and “groundless speculation.” https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202302/t20230222_11029628.html

“It is a known fact that NATO countries, including the US, are the biggest source of weaponry for the battlefield in Ukraine, yet they keep claiming that China may be supplying weapons to Russia,” Wang told reporters during a Wednesday press briefing. “This is a familiar trick used and exposed soon after the Ukraine crisis broke out.”

The spokesman added that while NATO claims to be a “regional defensive alliance,” it has frequently “ignored others’ security concerns” and “constantly sought to reach beyond its traditional defense zone.”

Officials in Washington and other Western countries have also alleged that China could soon boost assistance for Russia, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently warning such support would be a “serious problem.” An unnamed European official reached by AP claimed to have “unambiguous” intelligence showing that Beijing is considering supplying weapons, but said it is unclear whether any decision had been made. To date, officials have provided no evidence to support the allegations. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-biden-nato-politics-ad9f665011c50de28c13a23798107f17

Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow’s military action in Ukraine and continues to keep good ties with the Russian Federation. Last week, Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi announced that the People’s Republic was working on a peace proposal to end the conflict, but the details of the plan have yet to be revealed. While Wang visited the Russian capital for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the proposal was not discussed, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
https://www.rt.com/news/571951-stoltenberg-china-support-russia/
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23 Feb, 2023 16:52

6) --- Ukraine now a ‘battle of logistics’ – NATO chief

Russia is currently winning the race for ammunition, Jens Stoltenberg has said

With the conflict in Ukraine becoming a “war of attrition,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cautioned that the West should “not underestimate” Russia’s firepower advantage. Stoltenberg claimed that the Western bloc is stepping up ammo production, but was unable to define its end goal in Ukraine.

Speaking to CNN’s Christine Amanpour at the Munich Security Conference last weekend, Stoltenberg said that Russia has thus far been able to bring more ammunition and manpower to the frontline than Ukraine.

Ukraine’s ammo consumption is “higher than [NATO’s] total production,” he continued, adding that this situation “cannot continue.”

“So far we have depleted our stocks, but at some stage we need to get more ammunition produced,” he told Amanpour.

Despite Ukraine receiving tens of millions of dollars worth of Western weapons – including nearly 1.5 million artillery shells from the US alone, Russia has held a firepower advantage since the start of its military operation last February. The Ukrainian side is currently firing between 5,000 and 6,000 artillery rounds per day, according to most Western assessments, while estimates of Russian fire have varied hugely from anywhere between 5,000 and 60,000 shells per day.

Stoltenberg has repeatedly called on NATO members to step up their ammunition production to close the gap, as have other Western leaders. The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Sunday that Ukraine’s backers need to resolve the ammunition shortage within “a matter of weeks” if Kiev is to have any chance of success on the battlefield.

Since last fall, the conflict in Ukraine has “moved into a war of attrition,” Stoltenberg said, adding that a “war of attrition is a battle of logistics; as in how do you get enough stuff – materiel, spare parts, ammunition, fuel – to the front lines.”

While Stoltenberg was clear about the need for NATO to step up arms production, he was vague about how the US-led alliance wants the conflict to end. He told Amanpour that “nobody knows how and when this war will end,” and that it will “maybe” be resolved at the negotiating table.

Stoltenberg said that NATO will allow Ukraine to define what “winning” would look like, but would not directly say that he endorses Kiev’s stated goal of seizing the Russian territory of Crimea.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571985-stoltenberg-ukraine-logistics-ammunition/
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23 Feb, 2023 14:22

7) --- Musk accuses top US official of ‘pushing war’ in Ukraine

The Twitter tycoon singled out Victoria Nuland as the most pro-war voice in Washington

Nobody is pushing” the conflict in Ukraine more than US State Department official Victoria Nuland, Twitter CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday. Nuland, who helped to orchestrate the pro-Western coup in Kiev in 2014, has backed military strikes on the Russian territory of Crimea.

Nuland’s declaration last Thursday that Russian military bases in Crimea are “legitimate targets” for Ukrainian forces was interpreted by the Kremlin as proof of “US involvement in the Ukraine conflict.” In a post on Telegram, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Moscow would respond to such attacks “using weapons of any kind.”

“Nobody is pushing this war more than Nuland,” wrote Musk, who has previously warned that nuclear war could break out unless Ukraine abandons its claims to Crimea and both sides agree to peace talks.
on twitter : @elonmusk : Nobody is pushing this war more than Nuland 5:09 PM · Feb 22, 2023
Nuland’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict predates Russia’s military operation, ordered one year ago by President Vladimir Putin.

As assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs in 2014, Nuland helped organize the coup that saw Ukraine’s democratically-elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, replaced with the pro-Western Pyotr Poroshenko, who then began a campaign of military repression against the people of Donetsk and Lugansk.

During the coup, Nuland handed out cookies to protesters in Kiev and promised pro-Western politicians military aid and a billion-dollar loan guarantee program. In an infamous leaked call between Nuland and then-US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, the two discussed which person should replace Yanukovich from a list of opposition politicians.

After leaving the State Department during Donald Trump’s presidency, Nuland is now serving as President Joe Biden’s deputy secretary of state for political affairs. In recent months, she has endorsed regime change in Russia, celebrated the US’ alleged destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, and called for the indefinite flow of arms into Ukraine.

Musk is not the only prominent American to condemn Nuland’s role in instigating the conflict in recent days. In a campaign video released on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump called Nuland and “others like her” in the Biden administration “warmongers and ‘America Last’ globalists.” Nuland was “obsessed with pushing Ukraine towards NATO,” he declared, claiming that the conflict would have “never happened if I was your president.”
https://www.rt.com/news/571981-elon-musk-victoria-nuland/
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21 Feb, 2023 22:31

7a) --- State Department globalists responsible for Ukraine coup – Trump

The former president vowed to “clean house” and purge Washington of “warmongers”

Former US President Donald Trump has blamed “warmongers and ‘America Last’ globalists” at the State Department for pushing Ukraine toward conflict. Trump, who is running for president in 2024, promised to rid Washington of “warmongers, frauds and failures” if re-elected.

In a campaign video released on Tuesday, Trump warned that “World War III has never been closer than it is right now,” and laid the blame on “all the warmongers and ‘America Last’ globalists in the Deep State, the Pentagon, the State Department and the national security industrial complex.”

The former president singled out Victoria Nuland, the US deputy secretary of state for political affairs, who he said was “obsessed with pushing Ukraine towards NATO.”
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https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1628118558663401472
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Trump added that Nuland and “others just like her” at the State Department supported the 2014 “uprisings” in Ukraine that saw the democratically-elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, replaced with the pro-Western Pyotr Poroshenko, who then began a campaign of military repression against the people of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Nuland met with rioters in Kiev in 2014, where she promised pro-Western politicians a billion dollar loan guarantee program and military assistance. In an infamous leaked call between Nuland and then-US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, the two discussed which person should replace Yanukovich from a list of opposition politicians.

Trump claimed, as he has on several occasions over the last year, that the conflict in Ukraine would have “never happened if I was your president.”

“I was the only president who rejected the catastrophic advice of many of Washington’s generals, bureaucrats and so-called diplomats who only know how to get us into conflicts,” he continued, adding that “we need to get rid of the corrupt globalist establishment that has botched every major foreign policy decision for decades.”

“The State Department, Pentagon, and national security establishment will be a very different place by the end of my administration,” Trump said, claiming that “the warmongers, frauds and failures in the senior ranks of our government will all be gone.”

Opposition to America’s “forever wars” was a core component of Trump’s 2016 platform. Although Trump was the first president in decades not to involve the US in a new foreign conflict, he was criticized by his base for briefly hiring noted war-hawk John Bolton as his national security adviser, and for authorizing missile strikes on Syria.

While President Joe Biden has pledged to indefinitely supply Kiev with weapons, Trump says he would call Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin if elected and “have a deal made in 24 hours.”
https://www.rt.com/news/571877-trump-state-department-ukraine-coup/
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23 Feb, 2023 14:19

8) --- NATO country snubs Ukraine weapons request

Athens will not transfer the Russian-made S-300 missile systems to Kiev, the Greek defense minister has confirmed

Greece cannot afford to donate its Russian-made S-300 anti-air missile systems to Ukraine, Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos said on Wednesday.

“For a long time, Greece has been asked to contribute the S-300s, but we have said that we can’t fulfill this request because … we can’t weaken our defense,” Panagiotopoulos told broadcaster ERT. The minister added that Greece was “looking at various possibilities” for helping Kiev.

The news comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Athens on Tuesday, where he thanked the country for its “unwavering support” of Ukraine.

In December, Panagiotopoulos said Greece could potentially transfer the S-300s to Ukraine if Washington replaced them with MIM-104 Patriot missile systems. The minister later revealed that Athens had not received a formal proposal from Washington on the matter.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned at the time that Moscow would view the transfer of the S-300s as an “openly hostile act.” She said bilateral treaties bar Athens from providing Russian-supplied weapons to anyone without Moscow’s approval.

Moscow has maintained that foreign weapons would not change the course of the Ukraine conflict and would be treated as legitimate targets by Russian forces.
https://www.rt.com/news/571978-greece-s300-ukraine-transfer/

from December 19th 2022 "Russia would consider a Greek plan to provide Ukraine with S-300 air defense systems previously acquired from Moscow to be an “openly hostile act,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday. Greece has mulled sending such Soviet-era arms to Kiev if the US agrees to replace them with MIM-104 Patriot systems." https://www.rt.com/russia/568541-greece-arms-supplies-ukraine-russia/
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23 Feb, 2023 12:42

9) --- US directing global pressure campaign against China – Politico

The State Department reportedly instructed diplomats to fight Beijing’s “false information”

Washington has launched a concerted diplomatic campaign behind closed doors aimed at pressuring China over the recent balloon incident and the Ukraine conflict, Politico magazine reported on Wednesday, citing officials familiar with the matter and a diplomatic cable.

The effort was said to have been initiated after the US accused Beijing of sending “a high-altitude surveillance balloon” over its territory. The balloon first entered US airspace on January 28 and was shot down by a US fighter jet on February 4.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said later there would be “a serious problem” if China sends weapons to Russia during its conflict with Kiev.

According to the report, on February 5, the White House sent an “action request” with 28 talking points to its diplomatic posts around the world. It was said that officials were instructed to use “private diplomatic engagements” to tell their counterparts in host countries that Beijing was spreading “false information” about the balloon.

At the same time, the State Department reportedly urged diplomats to stress that Washington was “not looking to escalate the situation.” A State Department official was quoted as saying that the cables were “fact-based” and “not an effort to engage in a messaging exercise or to put spin on the ball.”

US diplomats have held more than a dozen meetings with Chinese officials since late January and have briefed allies about new intelligence, Politico said.

Beijing claimed that the balloon was a civilian weather research airship that had veered off course. The Chinese Foreign Ministry maintained that the spying accusations were part of Washington’s “information warfare.”

China also denied providing arms to Moscow. “It is the US, not China, that has been pouring weapons into the battlefield,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Monday. “On the Ukraine issue, China’s position boils down to supporting talks for peace.”

Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday. Wang said Beijing was seeking to strengthen ties with Russia and continue to work together towards a “multipolar world.”

Putin said that Moscow was anticipating a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a later time.
https://www.rt.com/news/571975-us-china-pressure-campaign/
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23 Feb, 2023 17:08

10a) --- US ‘quadrupling’ number of troops in Taiwan – WSJ

Up to 200 soldiers will reportedly head to the island to train its military against a hypothetical “Chinese invasion”

Washington is planning to send between 100 and 200 troops to Taiwan “in the coming months,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing anonymous officials. The personnel will be tasked with training the Taiwanese military against what was described as a “rising threat from China.”

The deployment will more than quadruple the US military presence on the island, according to the Journal. According to the Pentagon’s Defense Manpower Data Center, there were 23 American soldiers in Taiwan as of autumn 2022.

These Americans have been acting as advisers and trainers for the US weapons and equipment sent to Taipei. The new troops will also train the Taiwanese in tactics “to protect against a potential Chinese offensive,” according to unnamed US officials.

There were also Taiwanese troops in the US, with “a contingent” training alongside the Michigan National Guard in the north of that state, the Journal reported. When reached for comment, the Pentagon said only that the US “commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid.”

“We don’t have a comment on specific operations, engagements, or training, but I would highlight that our support for, and defense relationship with, Taiwan remains aligned against the current threat posed by the People’s Republic of China,” Army Lieutenant Colonel Marty Meiners, a Pentagon spokesman, told the Journal.

The expanded training is intended to “thwart a possible invasion by China,” and has been planned for months, long before this month’s incident with the Chinese “spy balloon,” officials who spoke to the Journal said. They also don’t believe it amounts to “anywhere close to a tipping point” for Beijing.

“One of the difficult things to determine is what really is objectionable to China,” one official said.

China has repeatedly warned the US against arming Taiwan and warned Washington to abide by the treaties and agreements governing their relationship. The US used to recognize Taipei as the “Republic of China” but switched that recognition to Beijing in 1978, adopting a One-China policy.

Taiwan has been a point of contention between China and the US since 1949, when the Communists won the civil war against the Kuomintang. The Americans helped evacuate the defeated nationalists to the island, which was liberated in 1945 from 50 years of Japanese rule.

The People’s Republic of China has pointed to Taiwan’s status as Chinese territory for over 200 years before it was ceded to Japan as a war trophy in 1895. Beijing seeks to reunite what it calls a renegade island with the mainland, preferably by peaceful means.
https://www.rt.com/news/571984-us-troops-taiwan-china/
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23 Feb, 2023 15:25

11) --- European Commission bans TikTok

Employees of the EU’s executive body reportedly have until mid-March to delete the app from their devices

The European Commission (EC) has ordered its employees to uninstall the popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from corporate devices, explaining the move as necessary to bolster cybersecurity.

To protect the EC’s data and increase its cybersecurity, its management board has “decided to suspend the TikTok application on corporate devices and personal devices enrolled in the Commission mobile device services,” according to a statement posted by the body on Thursday.

Staffers have until mid-March to comply or else lose access to their EC email and Skype for Business apps, EURACTIV reported, citing an IT email sent to staff.

A TikTok spokesperson told EURACTIV that the ban is “misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions” about the social media platform. The spokesperson said the company had “contacted the Commission to set the record straight and explain how we protect the data of the 125 million people across the EU who come to TikTok every month.”

Last month, a group of Republican lawmakers in the US introduced the ‘No TikTok on United States Devices Act’, which seeks to ban the platform on all devices in the country. One of the bill's authors, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), argued at the time that the app “opens the door for the Chinese Communist Party to access Americans’ personal information, keystrokes, and location through aggressive data harvesting.”

In December 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to “eliminate all cybersecurity risks posed by TikTok” and prohibited the use of the app on government-provided devices. Reports at the time suggested that lawmakers and staff at the US House of Representatives had also been instructed to uninstall the app from any corporate devices.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last year that the agency had “national security concerns” about TikTok, including the “possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users, or control the recommendation algorithm.”

Commenting on the allegations at the time, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning accused US officials of “spreading disinformation” in a bid to discredit a large Chinese firm competing with Western social media giants.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, also dismissed claims that it ever planned to track Americans.
https://www.rt.com/news/571983-eu-commission-tiktok-ban-report/
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23 Feb, 2023 14:39

12) --- British supermarkets begin rationing vegetables

Bad weather and high energy costs may result in tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers disappearing from shelves

The UK’s largest grocer, Tesco, has joined rivals Asda, Morrisons and Aldi by slapping limits on purchases of salad vegetables due to supply shortages, the company announced on Wednesday.

Tesco said it decided to limit the sales of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers to three per person. The company noted that it was introducing these limits as a precautionary measure, in order to ensure that more people get the goods they need.

Budget supermarket chain Aldi has also placed a “temporary” three-item limit on these vegetables. Asda capped purchase limits to three per person on eight products, including broccoli and raspberries, while Morrisons limited purchases to two per person on four products, including broccoli.

Analysts say the current troubles stem from two reasons. Firstly, suppliers in Morocco and Spain, the UK's biggest sources of fresh vegetables in the winter, have been suffering from cold temperatures, rain and flooding over the past month, which disrupted harvests and halted deliveries. Secondly, the UK’s own farmers have been struggling to power their greenhouses due to rising energy prices.

According to the British Retail Consortium, which represents all the major UK supermarkets, supply constraints are likely to last a “few weeks,” until the growing season kicks off and shops find alternative suppliers. The UK’s secretary of state for environment, Theresa Coffey, suggested on Thursday that British shoppers should switch to turnips and other seasonal UK vegetables instead of pining for overseas tomatoes.

“A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce, and tomatoes and similar.

“But I’m conscious that consumers want a year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets, food producers and growers around the world try to satisfy,” she stated.

Meanwhile, industry experts warn there may be price increases as a result of the shortages in the coming weeks. It comes as food prices in the UK are already rising at their fastest rate in over 40 years, having jumped 16.8% year-on-year in December.
https://www.rt.com/business/571974-british-supermarkets-rationing-vegetables/
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23 Feb, 2023 13:23

13) --- Humanitarian crisis looming – climate watchdog

Experts expect below-normal rainfall in the coming months in already drought-stricken parts of the Greater Horn of Africa

Large swathes of the Greater Horn of Africa region will not likely see much rain until June, the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center warns. The organization says that countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda may be on course to experience a drought more severe than that of 2010 to 2012, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

The IGAD regional bloc issued the alarming forecast on Wednesday, saying in a statement that “in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda that have been most affected by the recent drought, this could be the 6th failed consecutive rainfall season.”

Rwanda, Burundi, eastern Tanzania, and western South Sudan are likely to face similar adverse weather conditions in parts, they added.

With the March-May period contributing up to 60% of the total annual rainfall in parts of the Greater Horn of Africa, “the current trends are worse than those observed during the drought of 2010-2011,” the weather monitoring organization said.

The Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG), co-chaired by IGAD, and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, estimated that approximately 23 million people are currently facing severe food shortages in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. They added that any changes for the better in the weather during the early summer will have a delayed effect on food security in the region.

IGAD’s executive secretary, Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, called for an “immediate scaling-up of humanitarian and risk reduction efforts.” He urged national governments, as well as humanitarian and development organizations, to “adopt a no-regret approach before it’s too late.”

Mohammed Mukhier of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for Africa expressed concern that the expected drought could further exacerbate “humanitarian challenges in the region, including the ongoing hunger crisis, the impacts of COVID-19 and internal displacement.”

According to UN estimates, 260,000 people, half of them children under five, died of drought-induced starvation in Somalia alone between October 2010 and April 2012.
Speaking in 2013, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Philippe Lazzarini, argued that a lack of early action despite indications of a looming drought was in part to blame for the massive death toll.
https://www.rt.com/africa/571973-horn-africa-drought-famine/
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23 Feb, 2023 13:18

14) --- EU won’t fine banks which fail to reveal Russian assets – Politico

The proposed measure reportedly faced pushback from nearly half of the bloc’s member states

The tenth round of EU sanctions on Russia will not include fines for banks that fail to report frozen Russian assets, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to the discussions.

According to the report, a group of 13 countries, including Austria, Germany, France and Italy, objected to the move during a meeting on Tuesday, citing the need for legal clarifications “which cannot be solved simply by reviewing a package of sanctions in a few days.”

Opponents of the move questioned the European Commission’s legal power to introduce such fines, and some cited the risk of administrative burdens. Several member-states offered to drop the issue concerning frozen assets from the package under discussion altogether. Talks are set to continue on Thursday.

Earlier this month, reports emerged that Brussels planned to order its banks to provide information about Russian assets they hold as part of the next package of Ukraine-related sanctions. The goal of the move is to map Russia’s frozen funds, including finding out exactly how much of the $300 billion in Russian foreign reserves are held in the bloc.

The measure was to apply to “natural and legal persons, entities and bodies” and require them to report on the whereabouts, market value and type of funds belonging to Russian entities, under threat of fines. The EU wants to use frozen Russian funds for the restoration of Ukraine. However, at present the bloc lacks a legal basis for such a move.

The proposal was part of the EU’s tenth sanctions package against Moscow, and Brussels is eager to adopt it in time to mark the first anniversary of the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, which falls on Friday. However, the package needs unanimous approval from all 27 member states in order to be adopted.
https://www.rt.com/business/571972-eu-fine-banks-russian-assets/
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