RT News - February 25th 2023

Africa, NIGERIA elections: General elections are set to begin in Nigeria today. Africa's most populous nation and largest economy is to elect its president, vice president and members of parliament. Extra security has been drafted for the day and army rapid response teams are allocated for each of the country's regions. Citizens are worried about "foreign interference" Paloum David reports.
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United Nations Security Council, Russia: Russia has accused the US of fuelling the conflict in Ukraine and has cited Washington's interference in other countries as evidence of nefarious activities. Caleb Maupin reports.
(QS: please also see this video which made me feel so ashamed of every part of the western "diplomats" and the governments which instruct them, in the United Nations https://rumble.com/v2at28g-all-lives-are-priceless-russian-ambassador-interrupts-minutes-silence-for-u.html?mref=6zof&mc=dgip3&ep=2 ) Once again the western allies have distorted the facts so much.
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Russia and China slam the West for attempting to monopolize security at the expense of other nations as the UN Security Council mulls over a path to peace for Ukraine.
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USA - sec. of state Blinken has been ridiculed for his comments about bullies during an interview with CBS news. Fiorella and Lionel report.
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USA - "Biden Lied" - we get to see the full interview with Seymour Hersh in Afshin Rattansi's Going Underground show.
https://rumble.com/v2atfik-seymour-hersh-on-why-us-blew-up-the-nordstreams-compares-his-source-to-edwa.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=2
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also see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9roLUHoEi4 Investigate Nord Stream Revelations: Stop Nuclear World War III!
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Hakeem Jefferies, a top US congressman, side stepped an intervention by a journalist who asked him to explain U.S. government's role in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline attack. Jose Vega talks about the constant denials, not just of the pipeline attacks.
Washington and the EU continue to deny the report from Seymour Hersh and it's contents.
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A Palestinian man is killed and at least four others are injured by the IDF in multiple clashes across the West Bank, as tensions between Israel and Palestine escalate. So far this year alone, 65 Palestinians have been killed by Isralie forces, including 13 children. The western world remains silent.
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More sanctions for Russia from USA, UK and EU (see below). In the main, the citizens of the west pay the price of the sanctions (QS as well as entirely funding the proxy war against Russia without consent or vote and in the main, entirely against their will - in Britain the approval rate for UK .gov (cross party) stands at 12% - that up from 6% in October - source is YouGov) Jack Rasmus analyses.
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Russia's ARTEL docfest: Concentrating on the conflict and the special operation in Ukraine, the excellent "RT Documentary" will be showing themed films from the year just gone in the docfest. Marina Kosareva presents. (Lexus and Vovan were there... :-) )
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Show more

below, via RT website --- -- A) --- Ukraine prepares attack on Crimea – Zelensky
B) --- There’s only one potential ‘scenario’ for Ukraine talks – Russia’s envoy
C) --- Russia responds to UN vote on Ukraine (re-post)
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1) --- NATO majors float Ukraine negotiations plan – WSJ
2) --- Russian diplomat responds to US over ‘big country bullying’
3) --- Russia comments on China’s Ukraine roadmap
4) --- Biden says he won’t visit Ohio town hit by toxic spill
4a) --- White House sees ‘no indication’ of Kiev misusing aid
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5) --- Dmitry Trenin: One year on, here's how the Ukraine conflict is changing the world order - ANALYSIS
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6) --- China breaks ground on world’s largest green hydrogen project
7) --- There’s only one potential ‘scenario’ for Ukraine talks – Russia’s envoy
8) --- Biden must rein in illegal Israeli settlements – former ambassador
9) --- NATO and EU react to Chinese peace roadmap for Ukraine
10) --- QS info
11) --- Russia hit with fresh sanctions
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24 Feb, 2023 22:31

A) --- Ukraine prepares attack on Crimea – Zelensky

Kiev already has the resolve necessary for the assault, but is still building up its capabilities, the president says

Ukraine is preparing an offensive to try and seize Russia’s Crimean peninsula, President Vladimir Zelensky said on Friday at a press conference. Kiev is forming new units specifically for the task, with servicemen undergoing training abroad, he revealed.

“We’re taking military steps, we are preparing for them. We are mentally prepared already. We prepare technically, with weapons, forces, we form new brigades, we form offensive units of various kinds and types, we are sending people for training not only in Ukraine, you know, but also in other countries,” Zelensky stated.

The president, as well as other top officials, has repeatedly pledged to re-capture all of the former Ukrainian territories from Russia, including Crimea. The peninsula broke away from the country back in 2014 in the aftermath of the Maidan coup in Kiev, joining Russia after a landslide referendum.

Four other formerly-Ukrainian territories, namely the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, were incorporated into Russia after the overwhelming majority of their populations voted in favor of the idea last September.

Neither reunification with Crimea, nor the latest incorporations of other regions got Western recognition, with Kiev and its backers considering these lands part of Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly warned Kiev against plotting an assault on Crimea. Early in February, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as Deputy Chair of the Security Council, said that any attack on Crimea would be interpreted as a direct attack on the country itself and would be “met with inevitable retaliation using weapons of any kind.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/572038-ukraine-zelensky-crimea-attack/
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24 Feb, 2023 22:13

B) --- There’s only one potential ‘scenario’ for Ukraine talks – Russia’s envoy

Addressing the West, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN claimed regaining the country’s trust would “not be easy, if at all possible”

Russia is only willing to discuss a peaceful resolution to reach the goals it had proclaimed for the military operation in Ukraine, Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s permanent representative to the UN, said on Friday. The diplomat made the remarks during a meeting of the UN Security Council that marked one year into the ongoing hostilities.

“Russia is ready to negotiate a peaceful realization of the goals of the special military operation, and will not even consider any other scenarios,” Nebenzia stated.

The official goals of the operation, according to Moscow, include the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine, as well as protecting the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk from Kiev’s onslaught, which has been dragging on since the 2014 Maidan events. Russian incorporated both republics, along with the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, after the overwhelming majority of their populations voted in favor of the idea last September.

Nebenzia insisted that Russia never harbored any plans to destroy Ukraine as an independent state. Despite repeated claims by the collective West, a cessation of hostilities by Kiev would only give Ukraine the chance to become a “normal” country again.

“Your slogans should actually sound like this: If Russia stops the hostilities, Ukraine will continue the discrimination and persecution of the Russian-speaking population for those who do not want to break [ties] with Russia, the violation of rights and freedoms and the glorification of Nazi criminals will continue,” the diplomat stated.

If Ukraine stops hostilities, it will get the chance to be reborn as a normal, peaceful, independent state and save many thousands of human lives.

The continuous support of Kiev by the collective West, and the US in particular, only fuels the conflict and further damages their ties with Russia, Nebenzia warned. Fixing ties with Moscow primarily serves Washington’s own best interests, he noted, adding that Russia already doesn’t trust anything the West says.

We no longer believe in your words and regaining our trust will not be easy, if at all possible – not words are important here, but deeds.

“So far, you are only making the situation worse by continuing to pump weaponry into the Kiev regime and help it on the battlefield. And you leave us no other options but to eliminate the threats to Russia emerging from the territory of Ukraine through military means,” the diplomat said.

At the same time, Nebenzia lauded Beijing’s efforts to bring the ongoing conflict to an end, commenting on the 12-point roadmap unveiled by China earlier in the day. The roadmap urged all sides of the conflict to “stay rational and exercise restraint,” while calling upon the international community to encourage all efforts to end the year-long hostilities.

“We welcome sincere efforts on the path towards peace, such as China’s proposal,” Nebenzia stated.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572030-ukraine-russia-talks-scenario/
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24 Feb, 2023 10:59

C) --- Russia responds to UN vote on Ukraine (re-posted)

The resolution passed by the General Assembly is “detrimental” to ending the conflict, Moscow’s envoy said

The non-binding “anti-Russian” resolution of the UN General Assembly will not bring the world closer to ending the Ukraine conflict, Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s permanent envoy to the organization, said following a resolution passed on Thursday.

The resolution calls for Russia to “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.” It also condemns Moscow for “aggression” against the neighboring state.

The document was backed by 141 countries, while seven, including Russia, voted against it. A total of 32 UN members, including China and India, abstained.

Ahead of the vote, Nebenzia slammed it as “detrimental” to the prospects of ending the conflict. “How can UN members aid a peaceful resolution to the heightened contradictions between Russia and the West? We can say with certainty: the tabled resolution will surely not help,” the diplomat stated.

[The document] is aimed at encouraging the West’s actions and at giving a pretext for our opponents to claim that Russia is supposedly isolated in the world. It means the continuation of their militaristic Russophobic line while using the so-called support from UN members as cover.

The General Assembly rejected an amendment proposed by Belarus that urged countries to “refrain from sending weapons to the zone of [the] conflict” and called for “the start of peace negotiations.”

Moscow sent troops into Ukraine exactly a year ago, citing the need to protect the people of Donbass, a predominately Russian speaking region, and Kiev’s failure to implement the 2014-2015 Minsk peace accords. Ukraine has accused Russia of unprovoked aggression.

Speaking before the General Assembly, Nebenzia reiterated that Russia launched its offensive “in order to end the eight-year war waged by the Kiev authorities against the people of Donetsk and Lugansk.”

The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics broke away from Ukraine shortly after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. The two republics, together with two other former Ukrainian regions, eventually joined Russia after holding referendums in September.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572011-russia-un-ukraine-vote/
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24 Feb, 2023 21:01

1) --- NATO majors float Ukraine negotiations plan – WSJ

UK, France and Germany reportedly offered weapons and security commitments as a way of starting talks with Russia

London has proposed giving Kiev even more weapons and security guarantees just short of membership in the US-led military bloc, in order to encourage negotiations with Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Paris and Berlin reportedly support the initiative and have already advised President Vladimir Zelensky to talk, though he has refused.

Though French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly called for “a military offensive which pushes back the Russian front in order to open the way for a return to negotiations,” he has privately advised Zelensky to make “difficult decisions,” according to officials who spoke to the Journal.

Over dinner at the Elysee Palace earlier this month, Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Zelensky he needed to start considering peace talks, according to people familiar with the conversation. London, Paris and Berlin would not comment on the record.

“We keep repeating that Russia mustn’t win, but what does that mean? If the war goes on for long enough with this intensity, Ukraine’s losses will become unbearable,” a senior French official told the Journal. “And no one believes they will be able to retrieve Crimea.”

As a way to encourage Zelensky, the outlet said, British PM Rishi Sunak has put together a plan to give Kiev “broader access to advanced military equipment, weapons and ammunition,” to be considered at the NATO summit in July.

“The NATO summit must produce a clear offer to Ukraine, also to give Zelensky a political win that he can present at home as an incentive for negotiations,” an unnamed British official told the outlet. If Moscow sees that the West is prepared to support Kiev even more, maybe it will be persuaded it can’t achieve its military objectives, the official added.

France and Germany support the initiative and see it as a way to “boost Ukrainian confidence” and give it an incentive to start negotiations with Russia, according to unnamed officials from both countries.

Sunak’s plan does not include stationing NATO forces in Ukraine or offering Kiev “Article 5” commitments to intervene in case of an attack, the officials said. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Melnik said it was a good first step, but that Kiev needed “a clear commitment that it does not exclude NATO membership, which is the only solution for a lasting peace.”

On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry listed its conditions for the diplomatic solution of the conflict, which included the West ending its “supply of weapons and mercenaries” to Kiev and Ukraine returning to neutrality after being demilitarized and “denazified.”

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Russia is winning the logistical war of attrition, leaving it unclear how much the US-led bloc could spare for Ukraine in terms of weapons and ammunition.

Zelensky has rejected any negotiations with Moscow, saying on Friday that “There is nothing to talk about and nobody to talk about over there.”
https://www.rt.com/news/572032-macron-scholz-zelensky-negotiate/
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4 Feb, 2023 21:54

2) --- Russian diplomat responds to US over ‘big country bullying’

Antony Blinken ought to know American history, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has some nerve accusing Moscow of the kind of behavior Washington has a “short but bloody” history of, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

Asked about the billions of dollars the US has funneled to Ukraine in a TV interview to CBS, Blinken said that “viscerally most Americans don’t like to see a big country bullying another, and they just feel it’s wrong and want to do something about it.”

Blinken further claimed that after the Second World War, the world agreed on “some basic rules, some basic principles like one country just can’t attack its neighbor, it can’t try to seize its land by force, can’t try to erase it from the map, can’t bully it,“ and accused Russia of doing just that with Ukraine.

Commenting on Blinken’s remarks, Zakharova said she thought a secretary of state would need to know his own country’s history, and offered the US official a refresher course.

“I could be mistaken, but I thought Blinken was representing the US, and not some other country,” the diplomat said on Telegram. “Was it not the US that attacked Iraq? Or was Iraq not small enough?” she added.

n addition to the 2003 invasion, based on the false claim that Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction, Zakharova brought up nine other examples of US wars, starting with the 1846 invasion of Mexico and annexation of a third of its territory. https://t.me/MID_Russia/18601

The US controls Guam and Puerto Rico to this day thanks to the Spanish-American War of 1898. Several “regime change” interventions in Latin America and the Vietnam War also made the list, as did the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia and occupation of the Serbian province Kosovo, as well as the ongoing illegal occupation of a third of Syria, under the guise of fighting terrorism.

“The history of the United States, though short, is bloody and amounts to a country hostile to nations that do not obey its will,” Zakharova noted.

While the US and its allies – claiming to speak for the “international community” – accuse Russia of an “unprovoked invasion” of Ukraine, Moscow has insisted that its actions amount to legitimate self-defense from aggression against both the Russian-speaking residents of Donbass and Russia itself.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572039-zakharova-blinken-bullying-history/
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24 Feb, 2023 19:02

3) --- Russia comments on China’s Ukraine roadmap

Moscow has named its conditions for a diplomatic settlement, blaming Kiev and the West for intransigence

China sincerely wants a diplomatic solution to the conflict, but the main obstacles to peace are the Ukrainian leadership and its backers in the West, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

“We highly appreciate the sincere desire of our Chinese friends to contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine by peaceful means,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement, commenting on China’s 12-point “roadmap” for peacefully ending the hostilities.

Moscow shares Beijing’s position that any sanctions not authorized by the UN Security Council are “illegitimate” and “a crude instrument of unfair competition and economic warfare.”

The two countries also agree on the UN Charter, the norms of international law, and the principle of the indivisibility of security. Those considerations informed Russia’s proposals for security guarantees, made to the US and NATO in December 2021 – proposals which the West rejected, Zakharova noted.

When it comes to Ukraine, “Russia is open to achieving its goals through political and diplomatic means,” Zakharova said, laying out the criteria for a “comprehensive, just and sustainable peace.”

"This involves the West ending the supply of weapons and mercenaries to Ukraine, the end of hostilities, the return of Ukraine to a neutral non-aligned status, recognition of the new territorial realities that have developed as a result of the people’s right to self-determination, the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, as well as the elimination of all threats emanating from its territory."

All citizens of Ukraine, including Russian-speakers and ethnic minorities, should be guaranteed their inalienable rights, and Kiev must end “all illegal restrictive measures and politicized lawsuits,” Zakharova added.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the main obstacle to peace is currently the Ukrainian ban on negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin, enacted by the government in Kiev at the end of September 2022.

The insistence of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on withdrawing Russian armed forces “from our new territories – Donbass, Crimea, Zaporozhye and Kherson,” testifies “to what extent official Kiev is detached from reality,” Zakharova said.

She also noted that the Ukrainian government stopped the peace negotiations with Russia, which Kiev had initiated, in April 2022. According to pro-government media in Ukraine, that decision was made after Boris Johnson – who was the British prime minister at the time – visited Kiev and said the West was unwilling to make peace with Russia.

NATO and the EU have rejected the Chinese proposal out of hand, saying Beijing had “no credibility” when it came to Ukraine, because it did not join them in denouncing Moscow.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572029-zakharova-ukraine-peace-china/
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25 Feb, 2023 05:11

4) --- Biden says he won’t visit Ohio town hit by toxic spill

US lawmakers are investigating the federal response to the environmental disaster, claiming officials waited too long to act

President Joe Biden has said he has no plans to visit East Palestine, Ohio – where a recent train derailment resulted in a massive toxic chemical spill – insisting there was no “request” for him to travel there.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Biden was asked whether he would visit the disaster-hit town, saying “At this point, I’m not.” While he offered no explanation for the refusal to meet with residents of East Palestine, the president went on to defend his administration’s response to the spill, amid vocal criticism from Republicans.

“You know, we were there two hours after the train went down – two hours… so the idea that we’re not engaged is just simply not there,” he said. “And initially, there was not a request for me to go out even before I was heading over to Kiev, so I’m keeping very close tabs on it. We’re doing all we can.”

GOP lawmakers in the House Oversight and Accountability Committee have launched a probe into Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s response to the chemical spill, claiming the high-ranking official “ignored the catastrophe for over a week.”

“This incident is an environmental and public health emergency that now threatens Americans across state lines,” Republicans wrote in a letter to Buttigieg. “The American people deserve answers as to what caused the derailment, and [the Department of Transportation] needs to provide an explanation for its leadership's apathy in the face of this emergency.”

The railway which operated the train that derailed in East Palestine, Norfolk Southern, has acknowledged the accident occurred after a wheel bearing on the vehicle gave out, saying that sensors on the train that should have detected the malfunction were not working properly. Intense friction in the bearing produced temperatures up to 215 degrees Fahrenheit and ignited a box car, with the blaze then spreading to 11 other cars containing hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride.

Officials later decided to carry out a controlled burn on site in order to prevent an explosion, after temperatures inside one of the tanks of vinyl chloride continued to rise to dangerous levels. However, the move has prompted fears of major environmental contamination among residents in East Palestine and neighboring towns, who have pressed local officials for assurances that their communities are safe.
https://us.cnn.com/2023/02/24/politics/joe-biden-east-palestine/index.html
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24 Feb, 2023 22:14

4a) --- White House sees ‘no indication’ of Kiev misusing aid

As Republicans press for funds to be audited, the Biden administration has denied any concern over corruption in Ukraine

Facing mounting pressure from Republicans to audit the billions of dollars’ worth of aid that the US is sending to Ukraine, President Joe Biden’s administration suggested on Friday that there’s no cause for concern that funds are being misappropriated.

“We have seen no indication to date that any of the resources or weapons we've provided to Ukraine have been misused, misplaced, stolen, sold on the black market or captured by the Russians,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a press briefing. He made a similar claim in January, apparently ignoring reports suggesting otherwise.

CBS News reported in August that only about 30% of the Western weapons sent to Ukraine were making it to the front lines, saying the weaponry had to get through a complex network of “power lords, oligarchs [and] political players” to reach the troops. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky last month fired several senior officials in his government for profiteering from Western aid. Ukraine consistently ranks among the most corrupt countries in Europe, according to Transparency International.

Washington has allocated $113 billion in aid to Kiev since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began a year ago. Lawmakers in Biden’s Democratic Party and even some Republicans have brushed off calls to set up stronger oversight of the massive aid packages, even though the Pentagon has acknowledged that the sheer scale of the program creates a “very real” risk of resources being misused.

With Republicans winning control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, the Biden administration has faced growing calls for accountability. The House Oversight Committee demanded on Wednesday that the administration turn over documents proving that the military and economic aid allocated to Ukraine isn’t being lost to “waste, fraud and abuse.”

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, said on Thursday that she will introduce a bill to force an audit of the Ukraine aid program. “That is exactly what the American people need, an audit of Ukraine, because we have no idea where all this money’s going,” she said in a Fox News interview.

Recent polling shows that public support for US involvement in the Ukraine crisis is waning. An Associated Press-NORC poll released last week showed that only 48% of Americans support continued military aid to Kiev.
https://www.rt.com/news/572040-white-house-dismisses-ukraine-aid-concerns/
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24 Feb, 2023 11:43 - Analysis -

5) --- Dmitry Trenin: One year on, here's how the Ukraine conflict is changing the world order - ANALYSIS

The West's failed Ukraine strategy has empowered the Global Majority to reject US domination - Dmitry Trenin

In his recent landmark address to Russia’s parliament, President Vladimir Putin cited the war in Ukraine and US/NATO involvement in the conflict as the main reason for his decision to “suspend” Moscow’s participation in the 2010 New START Treaty on strategic nuclear weapons. Putin also suggested that Russia should be ready to resume nuclear testing.

Effectively, this announcement, promptly turned into law by the Russian parliament, means a formal end to the long-ailing institutions of strategic arms control that began over 50 years ago. If New START is followed by the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) and then the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty), strategic deregulation will be complete. Putin’s logic is that the United States cannot be allowed to inspect Russian missile bases while at the same time pursuing a policy of “strategically defeating” Moscow in Ukraine.

The Kremlin’s decision was anything but a bolt from the blue. The proxy war in Ukraine came as the culmination of a decade-and-a-half-long process of steady deterioration of Russian-American and Russian-EU relations. Ever since it became clear – somewhere in the mid-2000s – that Russia would not fit into the US-dominated order, and that Washington, and its, allies would not let Russia sign up on terms that Moscow would find acceptable, the trajectory of the relationship has generally pointed toward confrontation.

True, there was a brief period, which coincided with the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev (2008-12), which witnessed, besides the signing of New START, an attempt to build a strategic partnership between Russia and NATO and modernization and technology partnerships between Russia and key Western countries, including the US and Germany. That attempt, however, turned out to be the last hurrah of the efforts to integrate Russia into, or at least with, the West following the end of the Cold War.

Essentially, while Moscow was looking for equal and indivisible security, as well as technology and business opportunities, Washington and Berlin were mostly interested in softening and diluting Russia’s domestic political regime. There was also no question of treating Russian security concerns about NATO’s enlargement seriously: Moscow had to accept the post-Cold War order in which it no longer had a decisive voice. That mismatch of key goals could not last long. Already by 2011-12, the outlook for Russia-West relations could be summarized as something like: it will get worse before it gets worse.

Right now, we are still on the same trajectory – things can become even more grim than they are now.

Hopefully, the credible threat of complete annihilation – the heart of nuclear deterrence – will still protect us from the very worst outcome, but the changes wrought by the Ukraine war on the global strategic landscape during its first year are indeed massive. Strategic deregulation between Moscow and Washington has already been highlighted. In practice, this will mean that each party will be free to build, structure, and deploy its strategic forces as it sees fit, and rely on its own so-called national technical means – such as spy satellites and other forms of intelligence – as the prime source of information about the other. It is natural to expect that under such circumstances both parties would have a powerful incentive to engage in worst-case-scenario planning.

It is true that of the five 'established' nuclear powers and the four other countries that possess nuclear arms, only two – America and Russia – have historically engaged in nuclear arms control. For years, Washington sought to find ways to link Beijing to the US-Russia strategic dialogue, thus leading to a tripartite arrangement. China, which was never interested in the US offer, is now believed to be in the process of substantially expanding and improving its strategic nuclear forces. Whether and when Beijing will be ready to engage Washington in strategic arms talks is anyone’s guess. After the the US formally designated China as its principal adversary, Sino-American relations have been growing increasingly tense. In any event, managing a strategic equation among the three leading nuclear powers, one of which regards the other two as its adversaries, will now become more difficult.

Strategic deregulation is not just the absence of binding treaties. It is also likely to mean the unraveling of the conceptual framework for arms control, which was originally developed by the Americans in the 1960s and then accepted by the Soviet Union. Any future arrangements among the world’s nuclear powers – whenever it comes – will require a wholly new concept that might be based on the agreed-upon and mutually fitting elements developed by the participating countries, with their vastly different strategic environments and cultures. It will certainly be a most daunting task.

Putin’s angry reaction to NATO’s call for Russia to observe New START and let US inspectors in has opened up another relatively minor issue: the nuclear weapons of Britain and France. The Soviet Union had long insisted on including those two countries’ nuclear arsenals in the US ceilings, and only relented during Gorbachev’s perestroika. With Paris and London taking an active role in the proxy war in Ukraine, Moscow is no longer pretending that UK and French nuclear forces are there solely to defend their own countries. They are seen as part of the combined arsenal of the adversarial, US-led West. This is no big deal for the moment, but any conceivable future arrangement would have to address the issue of the Anglo-French forces.

In geopolitical terms, the war in Ukraine energized Washington to build a global coalition to oppose Russia. This is often presented as a major achievement of the administration of President Joe Biden. Yet, to look at this from a different perspective, the Russia (and China) policies of the three successive US administrations – Obama’s, Trump’s, and particularly Biden’s – have led to a major split among the great powers that widened from competition to bitter rivalry (with China) and proxy war (with Russia in Ukraine).

US efforts to get China to distance itself from Russia appear ridiculous in a situation where Washington’s strategy appears to be to defeat/contain its two main adversaries one by one, and, moreover, to pit them against each other. The famous Kissingerian triangle is now pointed in a different direction: it is Washington that has the worst possible relations with the other two. As for Moscow and Beijing, they are getting even closer as a result.

Closer cooperation and coordination between China and Russia amid the war in Ukraine, which is gradually emerging on the platform of common strategic interests, represents a major shift in the world power balance. What is more – and what goes well beyond the usual Western concept of 'great power competition' – is the rise of over a hundred actors of different caliber in many parts of the world that have refused to support the US, and its allies, on the Russia sanctions and have maintained or even expanded their trade and other relations with Moscow. These countries insist on following their own national interests as they see them and seek to expand their foreign policy autonomy. At the end of the day, this phenomenon – call it the Rise of the Global Majority (no longer silent) – could be the single most important development so far en route to the new world order.

Dmitry Trenin is a research professor at the Higher School of Economics and a lead research fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. He is also a member of the Russian International Affairs Council.
https://www.rt.com/news/571927-war-reshaping-world-order/
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25 Feb, 2023 05:30

6) --- China breaks ground on world’s largest green hydrogen project

The country has substantially increased its renewable capacities

China has begun construction of a large-scale green hydrogen project that will use solar and wind power in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to Sinopec Group, the country’s biggest oil refiner.

The company expects the project, its second green hydrogen enterprise, to produce 30,000 tons of green hydrogen and 240,000 tons of green oxygen annually.

According to Xu Zhendong, executive director of the Inner Mongolia branch of Sinopec Star Petroleum, the green hydrogen and green oxygen produced there will be transported via pipelines to a pilot coal deep-processing project to replace part of what is produced using the existing coal-to-hydrogen method.

Inner Mongolia is currently one of China’s biggest coal-mining regions but is set to become a renewable energy hub. Although China still relies heavily on its large coal industry, it is hoping to make a gradual transition to renewable alternatives and achieve decarbonization over the coming decades. The country is planning to become carbon neutral by 2060 following a peak in carbon emissions in 2030.

Hydrogen is considered green since it is produced from renewables, such as solar and wind sources, and does not result in carbon dioxide emissions.

After becoming fully operational, the project is expected to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by some 1.43 million tons. That is equivalent to planting around 825,000 trees, according to Xu.

China is the world’s largest producer of hydrogen, though most of it is currently produced from coal. The country’s annual output is expected to reach up to 200,000 tons of hydrogen – thanks to renewables – in order to cut carbon dioxide emissions by up to two million tons by 2025.
https://www.rt.com/business/571845-china-world-biggest-hydrogen-project/
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24 Feb, 2023 22:13

7) --- There’s only one potential ‘scenario’ for Ukraine talks – Russia’s envoy

Addressing the West, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN claimed regaining the country’s trust would “not be easy, if at all possible”

Russia is only willing to discuss a peaceful resolution to reach the goals it had proclaimed for the military operation in Ukraine, Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s permanent representative to the UN, said on Friday. The diplomat made the remarks during a meeting of the UN Security Council that marked one year into the ongoing hostilities.

“Russia is ready to negotiate a peaceful realization of the goals of the special military operation, and will not even consider any other scenarios,” Nebenzia stated.

The official goals of the operation, according to Moscow, include the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine, as well as protecting the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk from Kiev’s onslaught, which has been dragging on since the 2014 Maidan events. Russian incorporated both republics, along with the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, after the overwhelming majority of their populations voted in favor of the idea last September.

Nebenzia insisted that Russia never harbored any plans to destroy Ukraine as an independent state. Despite repeated claims by the collective West, a cessation of hostilities by Kiev would only give Ukraine the chance to become a “normal” country again.

“Your slogans should actually sound like this: If Russia stops the hostilities, Ukraine will continue the discrimination and persecution of the Russian-speaking population for those who do not want to break [ties] with Russia, the violation of rights and freedoms and the glorification of Nazi criminals will continue,” the diplomat stated.

If Ukraine stops hostilities, it will get the chance to be reborn as a normal, peaceful, independent state and save many thousands of human lives.

The continuous support of Kiev by the collective West, and the US in particular, only fuels the conflict and further damages their ties with Russia, Nebenzia warned. Fixing ties with Moscow primarily serves Washington’s own best interests, he noted, adding that Russia already doesn’t trust anything the West says.

We no longer believe in your words and regaining our trust will not be easy, if at all possible – not words are important here, but deeds.

“So far, you are only making the situation worse by continuing to pump weaponry into the Kiev regime and help it on the battlefield. And you leave us no other options but to eliminate the threats to Russia emerging from the territory of Ukraine through military means,” the diplomat said.

At the same time, Nebenzia lauded Beijing’s efforts to bring the ongoing conflict to an end, commenting on the 12-point roadmap unveiled by China earlier in the day. The roadmap urged all sides of the conflict to “stay rational and exercise restraint,” while calling upon the international community to encourage all efforts to end the year-long hostilities.

“We welcome sincere efforts on the path towards peace, such as China’s proposal,” Nebenzia stated.
https://www.rt.com/russia/572030-ukraine-russia-talks-scenario/
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24 Feb, 2023 19:25

8) --- Biden must rein in illegal Israeli settlements – former ambassador

By building on Palestinian land, Israel is breaking a deal it made with the US nearly 20 years ago, Daniel Kurtzer said

The administration of US President Joe Biden should remind Israel that its ongoing settlement of the West Bank violates a deal it struck with Washington in 2004, former US ambassador to the country Daniel Kurtzer said on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu granted retroactive authorization to nine settlements in the occupied West Bank earlier this month. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated afterwards that 10,000 homes for Jewish settlers would be built in these locations. While the UN Security Council issued a statement denouncing the move, the US reportedly intervened to thwart a Palestinian plan to issue a legally binding resolution instead.

Retroactively authorizing these illegally built outposts is “a significant violation of a commitment that the Israeli government made in writing to the American government back in 2004,” Kurtzer told a Jewish Democratic Council of America conference on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised in 2004 that he would demolish any unauthorized Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Sharon tore down 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank the following year, but outposts began going up again under Netanyahu in 2012, and 132 are now officially sanctioned by the Israeli government, according to data from Israeli activists.

“Not only are they not dismantling these illegal outposts, but they’re trying to legalize them ex post facto,” Kurtzer said. “And there have been many that have been built since that time, so that the number is really quite significant.”

“I hope the Biden administration reminds Israel that this is a commitment in writing that the both of us have in our files,” he added.

Netanyahu granted Smotrich control over civilian issues in the West Bank on Thursday, giving the hardline Zionist minister authority over planning, construction, and land allocation. Smotrich’s first act was to authorize plans for more than 7,000 new homes, some of which are located in outposts that have not been formally legalized yet.

Critics of Israel’s settlement policy argue that by chipping away at Palestinian land, the government is lowering the chances of reaching a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority.

Kurtzer called the settlement process a “creeping annexation” of the West Bank, and declared that “if Israel is still interested in a peace process, it’s going to have to stop a number of the actions that it’s taking…and the United States will have to demonstrate our own resolve in advancing Israel in that direction.”
https://www.rt.com/news/572033-israel-netanyahu-settlements-biden/
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24 Feb, 2023 18:00

9) --- NATO and EU react to Chinese peace roadmap for Ukraine

The 12-point document elicited a cold reception in the West

The Western backers of Ukraine in the ongoing conflict with Russia have offered a reserved reaction to a Chinese proposal for bringing the hostilities to an end. The 12-point roadmap was published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg effectively brushed off the proposals, stating that Beijing lacks “credibility” to float such a settlement plan altogether.

“China doesn’t have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told reporters, while mentioning the close ties between China and Russia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered a similar reaction, stating that the roadmap was, in effect, a vague set of principles rather than a concrete plan of action. She also accused China of already siding with Russia, despite Beijing maintaining a neutral position in the hostilities.

“You have to see them against a specific backdrop, and that is the backdrop that China has already taken sides by signing, for example, an unlimited friendship right before the invasion. So we will look at the principles, of course, but we will look at them against the backdrop that China has taken sides,” she stated.

Some individual members of the EU have voiced their opinions on the roadmap as well. German government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner, for instance, said it included some “important elements,” but also lacked other positions, namely a demand for Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

Poland, one of the top supporters of Kiev, provided a more positive reaction, with President Andrzej Duda stating it could help pave the “way towards peace.” “We cannot ignore such a great partner and such a great power as China,” he said.

Unlike most Western countries, China has refused to condemn Russia’s military operation in Ukraine and has not imposed economic restrictions on Moscow. Top Chinese officials have repeatedly said that Beijing wants to find a peaceful solution to the hostilities rather than fuel them through arming Kiev.

The 12-point roadmap urged each side of the conflict to “stay rational and exercise restraint,” while calling upon the international community to encourage all efforts to end the year-long hostilities. “All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible, so as to gradually deescalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire,” the document said.
https://www.rt.com/news/572025-nato-eu-china-ukraine/
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10) --- New way to read selected posts from RT
https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/rtnews09687388602762-epaper-rtnews/eu+approves+new+anti+russia+sanctions-newsid-n429275128?mode=pwa&action=click
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A computer picks what goes on this site for the channels. I am not sure what criteria it uses but anything is better than nothing. I was thinking just the other day, what would happen to the archive if something happened to me or my internet.
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We are constantly told "the west is not at war with Russia" and yet the people posing as our governments choose to censor Russian news as if we are at war with them.
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It's true that if Russian media was still on regular TV channels and media like youtube, twitter etc that the public would certainly be making the justification of the proxy war against Russia, entirely funded by the public, very much more difficult.
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QS info and opinion
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24 Feb, 2023 17:47

11) --- Russia hit with fresh sanctions

The new measures from Australia, New Zealand, and the UK coincide with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine

Australia, New Zealand, and the UK have simultaneously unveiled new rounds of sanctions against Moscow. Russia’s defense, industrial, and banking sectors were targeted, with London also banning the export of “every item Russia is using on the battlefield.”

Australia’s sanctions impose travel bans on 90 Russian individuals, while blacklisting five defense manufacturers, including Kalashnikov Concern and aviation giant Tupolev. In announcing the sanctions, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese added that Canberra would send an unspecified number of surveillance drones to Kiev.

New Zealand sanctioned 87 Russian “political actors” and their entire families, including members of Russia’s Central Election Commission, which oversaw the referenda that saw four former regions of Ukraine overwhelmingly vote to join the Russian Federation in September. A number of military commanders were also added to New Zealand’s blacklist.

In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government sanctioned 92 individuals, including senior executives in the nuclear power industry, executives from two defense firms and four banks, and other “Russian elites.”

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch also announced that the UK would ban the export of “every item Russia has been found using on the battlefield to date,” including aircraft parts, radio equipment, and electronic components that can be put to military use. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-sanctions-ban-every-item-russia-is-using-on-the-battlefield

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, with President Vladimir Putin vowing to demilitarize and neutralize the country, while protecting the Russian-speaking majority in Donetsk and Lugansk. In the year since, Russia has become the most-sanctioned country in the world.

Despite Western leaders’ insistence that these sanctions “are working,” as Badenoch said on Friday, Russia’s economy contracted by only 2.1% last year, far less severely than the 11.2% predicted by the World Bank in April. With energy revenue higher than before the conflict began, Russia’s economy is predicted to grow faster than the UK’s this year.

The US also announced a new round of sanctions against Russia on Friday, raising import levies on more than 100 Russian metals and restricting exports to 90 Russian companies. In Brussels, EU leaders were unable to agree on a tenth sanctions package on Thursday. Talks resumed again on Friday.
https://www.rt.com/news/572026-australia-new-zealand-uk-sanctions/
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