Time Magazine has named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky its “Person of the Year,” continuing the corporate media practice of promoting the puppet leader of a nation NATO is using to wage a proxy war against Russia.
Jimmy Dore and antiwar activist and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern discuss whether Zelensky really deserves an honor that in the past has been bestowed on such luminaries as George W. Bush, Ayatollah Khomeini and Adolf Hitler.
EU MEP Clare Daly for Ireland: "It was Britain that planted the seeds of Israel’s apartheid regime in Palestine.”
India taught Germany a Lesson:
That's why the EU continues to FAIL in the International Arena
The study of geopolitics is a difficult and very painstaking task. However, it must be admitted that geopolitics will never make you bored.
Watching the work of politicians from different countries, you understand how different they all are. Involuntarily, you understand how much they differ from each other in their character and level of intelligence.
My friends, in this video, I would like to talk to you about German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock.
In particular, I would like to discuss her visit to India, which ended in complete failure for Germany and a personal fiasco for Annalena Baerbock herself. Annalena Baerbock's visit to India somehow reminded me of the visit of the German national football team to Qatar. They both failed resoundingly.
Annalena Baerbock went to India on a state visit in order to establish economic cooperation between Germany and India and also to convince the Indian authorities of the need for New Delhi to join the "price cap" for Russian oil and India's participation in all plans of the West to isolate Russia.
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Personal note on Deutschland
I lived in Germany twice. In 1959 we rented the upstairs from a local farm family in Landscheid, near Spangdahlem AFB where my step dad was stationed. I played soccer with the other kids (I was seven at the time) and helped in the fields to bring in the cows at night and the hay. I loved this place and the family that adopted us into their lives. I returned to Landscheid in the 1980's while on a speaking tour across Germany and visited our former landlords and their son.
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| Lindsey Air Station in Wiesbaden |
Our 2nd time in Germany was 1964-1966 when we lived in Wiesbaden, again near a US airbase. We had our car tires slashed while living our first year downtown two blocks from the Hauptbahnhof. I saw my first 'Yankee go home' graffiti on a wall as I walked to school in the 7th grade. Once while playing baseball at a field on the base that was plunked down right in the middle of town (Lindsey Air Station) I noticed an old man staring at us with his two hands woven into the chain-link fence. The look on his face lives with me today - it said, 'Take your strange game and go home. Return our neighborhood to us again.'
(Wiesbaden was recently named a key US-NATO coordination post for the war in Ukraine.)
Visiting Roman fortifications along the Rhine River with our school class brought home to me that maintaining a military occupation on other lands is a contradiction in time. The former Roman barracks that we were standing upon was by then just a stone floor - no walls, no roof.
We are currently witnessing the historic collapse of the US imperial project. More than 800 US bases around the world must shut down. The sooner the better.
I hope that the German people will soon take back their beautiful nation from the corrupt corporate agents running Berlin.
Bruce
Did one ever need more evidence that the corporate owned and run mainstream media is utterly disgusting?
Of all the people living on this lovely orbiting rock and water satellite Earth, this is the best person that this media rag could come up with?
Zelensky was elected in the spring of 2019 with heavy support from the Russian-ethnic territory of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. Why?
Because Zelensky campaigned as the peace candidate in the election. He garnered more than 73% of the votes while incumbent war-monger Petro Poroshenko trailed far behind at 24%.
Zelensky promised he would "reboot" peace talks between the Kiev government and the self-defense forces in the Donbass who had been virtually daily attacked by the Ukrainian Nazi-led army since the coup of 2014. It was clear the vast majority of the people wanted peace.
"I think that we will have personnel changes. In any case we will continue in the direction of the Minsk [peace] talks and head towards concluding a ceasefire," Zelensky said at the time.
Zelensky was installed as a candidate by the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky (who had his own private army) and owned a popular TV station that aired a show which Zelensky starred in called 'Servant of the people'. When he ran for president he called his newly formed political party by the same name as the show.
According to the Pandora Papers, millions from Kolomoisky flowed to the accounts of Zelensky and his associates. The money was deposited in off-shore banks where there was warm weather and lower taxes. Today Zelensky owns mansions in several luxurious locations around the globe and quite likely has a Swiss bank account where many millions from US-EU 'aid' have been deposited.Once in office Zelensky quickly began to back track on his promises of peace in Ukraine. He received threats from the Nazis that any serious negotiations would be met with his death. In addition the US-UK-NATO made it abundantly clear that Zelensky had a choice - either follow the west's instructions by expanding the war or face an uncertain future. Zelensky chose to betray the Ukrainian people by continuing the massive internal corruption and the war.
Today the agri-biz corporations Monsanto and Cargill have taken ownership of huge swaths of rich Ukrainian farm soil for their GMO production plans. (Much of Europe and Russia have previously banned GMO's.)
Ukraine has become the tool - the hammer - to wage the western war on Russia. The goal is regime change and the breaking up of the Russian Federation into smaller nations that would then allow western resource extraction companies to steal the vast resource base of Russia.
Zelensky is being rewarded for his subservience and puppetry. He's become an actor on the global stage where western deception is foremost. His primary job now is continue the fighting as long as possible and to create a pretext that will drag NATO fully into the war against Russia.
But the Time Magazine 'prize' is also a sign of desperation by the Washington-London-Berlin-Brussels axis. They are losing their war on Russia and the western sanctions are causing serious blow-back on EU economies. The populace in Europe has increasingly become restless. By awarding Zelensky this 'honor' the elites hope to mollify the populace just a bit longer - long enough to squeeze out a victory against Moscow.
But those days are over. In fact Europe will now face another truly massive flow of refugees from Ukraine. Already millions of Ukrainians had fled to either Russia or Europe. Now as Russia shuts down the energy system of Ukraine millions more will flee into an already destabilized and disheartened Europe.
So one could say that European nations will suffer Karma for their arming and funding (along with the US & UK) of this war.
The multi-polar world order is each day coming closer to fruition. The decline of the US-UK-EU is in motion - every passing moment sees the economic and political crisis multiplying for the once powerful western imperialist nations.
Their day in the sun - as king of the hill - is over. Much to their own arrogant making.
Bruce
"In #China’s population of 1.4bn people a tiny minority of just 10,000 across the country protested about the #Covid lockdowns.
The overwhelming majority of the people support the policy says #AngeloGiuliano
What do Russians think about the war in Ukraine?
In this reportage, I travel to Rostov-on-Don, Russia to speak to the locals about the hard facts of the War and what they think about it.
As expected many of them support the decision of the Russian Government to join the war but not all. You may be very surprised by what they have to say.
Now that Ukraine Drone attacks hit airfields deep in Russia in Kursk and other cities things are changing fast. Russian missile strikes continue to force emergency power shutdowns across Ukraine.
The city of Bakmut/Artyomovsk seems to be almost ready to come under Russian control.
~ Patrick Lancaster is a US Navy veteran who has been living and reporting from the Donbass region (eastern Ukraine) since at least 2014.
Nine days before leaving office, Trump designated Cuba a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Two years later, Biden has kept Cuba on the terrorism blacklist.
Ironically, Cuba has been a victim of U.S.-based terrorism — not a sponsor of terrorism.
There is no credible evidence to support the designation, which is aimed to devastate Cuba’s economy by cutting it off from international credit and investment.
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| Ahmed Shehada, 16, was killed by Israeli forces in Nablus |
Two boys were killed
Within less than 12 hours.
Ahmed Shahada,
Sixteen years old,
Was killed by the bullets
Of Israeli soldiers who
Invaded Nablus.
Aryeh Schupak,
Fifteen years old,
Was killed by a bomb,
Planted by a Palestinian,
In West Jerusalem.
Knesset Member Ofer Kasif
Said on the Knesset floor
That both boys are victims of
The ongoing occupation
Which claims the lives
Of Israelis and Palestinians alike.
But MK Kasif remains
An isolated voice.
The current Knesset abounds
With extreme nationalists and racists,
Some of whom are slated
For senior ministerial positions
In the new cabinet.
In their eyes,
Only Arye Shechupek
Was a victim,
And they called upon God
To avenge his blood.
Ahmed Shahada is
In their eyes a "terrorist"
Who deserved to die
And the soldiers who shot him
Should be commended.
When this is
The dominant mindset
In the Knesset and the government,
The cycle of bloodshed
Is bound to spin
Faster and faster, and claim
Ever more victims.
~ Gush Shalom statement, Dec. 1, 2022
It is all coming out now about the Biden family's lies, crimes, and censorship.
Russia was blamed by the Democrats for the Hunter Biden story which was largely ignored by the corporate dominated media - just prior to Uncle Joe's election for prez.
Now with the release of the Twitter files on this story we can all see what was actually going on.
Will these same media outlets refuse to cover the release of these files?
Censorship by omission.
Ania K. from Poland interviews Scott Ritter about how the Ukraine war is now, and will in the future, impact her country.
They also discuss Poland's role in the war - supplying troops to fight against Russia.
Mass conscription to the Polish Army has begun. 200k people are expected to be called up.
Unfortunately for France and the entire EU, the only thing that Emmanuel Macron could get from the Americans during his recent trip to Washington was a grandiose and extremely expensive dinner in his honor. Even though, the purpose of the trip of the French president to the United States was not at all the acquisition of gastronomic pleasures.
What exactly was the French president trying so hard to convince Biden of? And why was he sorely disappointed in the end?
The three-day visit of the French President to the United States ended in absolutely nothing. Observing the pro-government press and media, which in France, even the smallest success of the government, are trained to report to the public with pomp and fanfare, it becomes clear that now they have decided to practically not touch on the topic of Emmanuel Macron's visit to the United States.
And this despite the fact that high hopes were pinned on this visit.
The public pressure is growing on the EU leadership to stop acting as Washington's lapdogs. But they are running out of time as the sanctions blow-back on the EU is engulfing the continent like a dark angry cloud.
Clare Daly Member of the European Parliament from Ireland.
Calls NATO out for their endless war crimes on behalf of corporate capitalism.
Bruce
PS Thanks to Marvin Gaye and The Guess Who
By Finian Cunningham
Daniel Lazare in this interview with Finian Cunningham says that the United States of America is locked in a fateful political and economic crisis that will produce either of two outcomes. Either the country is heading towards more authoritarian rule or there will be a second American revolution.
Daniel Lazare is a journalist, author and commentator who specializes in critically analyzing the politics and Constitution of the United States. He has authored several books, including The Velvet Revolution and the Decline of American Democracy.
The Covid-19 pandemic over the past two years exposes the pathological diseased state of US capitalism where private profit is prioritized over public health. Over one million people have died in the US, by far the biggest death toll of any other nation.
By contrast, China’s death toll from Covid-19 stands at around 5,200, or 0.5 percent of the US. That shows that death and disease are not inevitable but actually a result of political choice. That choice is made in Washington under the diktats of capitalist imperatives. And it does not matter whether Democrats or Republicans are in power.
Yet despite the appalling neglect of public health and other vital needs, the United States is racked by militarism and a foreign policy of pursuing confrontation with Russia and China.
The contradictions of the US (and other Western states) demonstrate that capitalism is a dead-end system.
The two-party rigid framework in the US and its antiquated 18th century Constitution means that the system is not reformable, says Daniel Lazare.
Forebodingly, that means the United States in its political gridlock condition is moving towards increasing authoritarian rule under both Democrats and Republicans, or the people will take back control through a progressive revolution that puts the interests of workers and the general public first.
Daniel Lazare presents a stark choice for the future that is reminiscent of German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. Do we choose socialism or barbarism?
Star(t) Wars: Pentagon Accuses PRC of Militarizing Space, Threatening US Supremacy
China and Russia proposed a comprehensive treaty aimed at nipping the danger of the militarization of space in the bud more than a decade ago, but four successive US administrations in a row have dismissed the proposal as a “diplomatic ploy.”
The director of staff of the US Space Force has accused China of posing a growing threat to America in the race for military supremacy in outer space.
“I think it’s entirely possible they could catch up and surpass us, absolutely,” Lieutenant-General Nina Armagno said, speaking at an event hosted by a Sydney-based think tank on Monday. “The progress they’ve made has been stunning, stunningly fast.”
The US officer expressed concerns about a broad range of Chinese activities in space, ranging from the creation of new satellite communications systems and reusable spacecraft to long-term research on the prospects of mining asteroids and even planets for natural resources.
The threat China poses to the US in space is analogous to the one it poses on Earth, Armagno said. “[China] is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to achieve that objective,” the officer warned.
The Space Force director of staff went on to accuse Beijing of “reckless” missile testing activities, and of fouling up the area around Earth with space junk. “These debris fields threatened all of our systems in space, and these systems are vital to all nations’ security, economic and scientific interests,” Armagno said.
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| Current US Space Force domination of space |
Armagno’s criticism of the Chinese missile testing programs is rich, given that the United States currently has more satellites orbiting the planet (read, future space junk) than the rest of the world combined. Astronomers around the world have repeatedly complained about the dangers these satellites pose to Earth-based telescopes, while governments have expressed fears that US commercial satellites may have be equipped with hidden dual-use military capabilities.
US officials have repeatedly accused China, Russia, Iran and North Korea of seeking to militarize outer space, after spending nearly 15 years ignoring proposals by Moscow and Beijing to create comprehensive, verifiable rules to prevent the deployment of military hardware in space.
In 2008, China and Russia put forth the Proposed Prevention of an Arms Race in Space (PAROS) Treaty, with the draft agreement banning the deployment of space-based weaponry, anti-satellite spacecraft, and other space technology which can be used for military purposes. Russian and Chinese diplomats have repeatedly returned to the idea in the years since, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressing as recently as last year that “generally accepted, legally binding measures which can prevent a military confrontation in outer space” can still be created, with PAROS serving as a jumping off point for negotiations.
Successive US administrations have dismissed the Russian-Chinese proposal as a “diplomatic ploy by the two nations to gain a military advantage” against the US, and in 2019, the Trump administration formally created Space Force as a separate branch of the US military, formalizing the Pentagon’s space-based ambitions. Space Force has been granted a complement of over 8,400 personnel, 77 spacecraft and satellites. The military branch has a proposed FY 2023 budget of $24.5 billion, about $5 billion more than it got in 2022.
Alongside its refusal to negotiate treaties aimed at preventing the militarization of space, Washington has also taken a number of steps over the past two decades to degrade strategic stability back home on Earth, such as its withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, the scrapping the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, and nearly letting the clock run out on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in early 2021.
A leaked confidential strategy paper shows Germany is preparing for a potential war with Russia.
As it boosts its budget and plans to become the world’s third-biggest military spender. Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel obtained a leaked confidential strategy paper that reveals the country’s military is preparing for a potential war with Russia.
The German military, the Bundeswehr, released the secret 68-page document internally in September.
The Bundeswehr chief, Inspector General Eberhard Zorn, warned that Germany could be attacked, and he proposed plans for a future armed conflict with Russia. The report claims that Germany faces “existential” threats. The document opens stating, “War in Europe is a reality again.” It predicts that the most likely scenario would be a conflict with Russia on NATO’s eastern flank.
Der Spiegel noted that the strategy paper stresses the need for “deterrence.”
In the past few decades, the German military has focused on small, specialized units, but this report says the armed forces will now prioritize training large units that are always ready for war. The document reaffirms the Bundeswehr’s commitment to the US-led NATO cartel, but also makes it clear that Berlin is beginning to consider its own strategic autonomy independent of Washington.
Der Spiegel summarized the document as an outline for a “mega-reform” of the armed forces. The Germany newspaper has not translated the article into English, and the striking report got almost no coverage in the English-language press.
Germany will also speed up the procurement of US-made F-35 fighter jets to maintain its capability to deploy nuclear weapons as part of NATO’s shared deterrence, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said.
Russia perceives the global expansion of the US-led military bloc’s reach as a major threat. Moscow spent $77 billion on its military in 2022 while the US Pentagon budget was well over $1.2 trillion (once you add up the hidden pots of gold in various other department budgets like nuclear weapons spending in the Department of Energy).
It appears the Nazis are today running the government in Berlin and many of the world's governments.
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| Military Cemetery in Olsztyn, Poland |
SouthFront
With the approaching winter, the gradual depletion of supplies of military equipment and ammunition from Europe to Ukraine, as well as heavy losses of the AFU [Armed Forces Ukraine] in the Donetsk region, dissatisfaction with the Polish government’s actions is growing among Poles.
From the very beginning of the conflict, Poland has taken a position of full-fledged support for Kiev. One of the results of this was the adoption by the Ukrainian parliament in July 2022 of the law on special guarantees for Poles. Many media saw this gesture as preparation for Poland’s gradual takeover of Ukraine’s border regions; however, there was no further development of this process.
Using extremely aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric, Warsaw sent several thousand Polish military personnel to participate in the combat operations, acting under the guise of volunteers and members of the Ukrainian International Legion. According to Michal Dworczyk, head of the Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister, Ukraine has received more than $1.5 billion worth of military equipment, and total aid from Poland has exceeded $3.7 billion.
Nevertheless, the so-called refugee fatigue associated with the need to help millions of Ukrainians who have fled their homes is increasingly being discussed in Poland. For example, in Lodz, locals are increasingly paying attention to the rude behavior of Ukrainians, not understanding why they need help in the future. According to the Polish portal Wyborcza.pl, a large number of refugees intend to stay in Poland permanently, preferring cities such as Katowice, Bydgoszcz and Białystok. Poles fear that with the onset of winter more Ukrainians will flood into Poland, fleeing from the shortage of heating and water in their apartments.
At the same time, last month articles about the deaths of Poles who took part in military operations in Ukraine have become more frequent in the Polish media. According to Niezalezny Dziennik Polityczny, the cemetery in the town of Olsztyn already contains over 1,200 new graves, supposedly belonging to volunteers who died fighting the Russian military. It is noteworthy that the 16th Polish mechanized infantry division is based in this city, and the remains of the dead were cremated and buried in American-style standardized tombstones.
Nevertheless, there are regular military drills of NATO countries on the Polish territory, the last of which took place in early November with the participation of more than 2,000 soldiers and 300 pieces of machinery, and the scenario of the exercises was designed for possible confrontation with the Russian army. Currently, the Polish government is making serious efforts to agitate citizens to join the national armed forces. However, this often does not find a response among ordinary Poles, who fear that their lives would be endangered if a full-scale war with Russia breaks out in Europe.
I often get asked where I get my news information so I thought I'd share some of my faves with you.
Take a look and have at it. Videos and news sources.
I occasionally click on corporate media but usually only to get a look at the distorted view they are pushing on a particular issue.
Bruce
German Statesman Slams EU Leaders' Spinelessness, Demands NATO's Dismemberment, Closure of US Bases
Germany has found itself reaping the consequences of the crisis in Ukraine, facing skyrocketing energy and food costs, recession and the danger of permanent deindustrialization as Washington and Brussels continue to call for more and more sanctions against Russian energy to try to “punish” Moscow for its military operation in Ukraine.
The United States and its allies have spent the entire period since 2014 preparing for a confrontation with Russia in Ukraine, Oskar Lafontaine, a veteran German statesman with over forty years of political experience under his belt, has said.
“Of course, I also mean the conflict in Ukraine, which began with the Maidan putsch in Kiev in 2014. Since then, the US and its Western vassals have been arming Ukraine and systematically preparing it for confrontation with Russia. Ukraine thus became a de facto, if not de jure, member of NATO. This backstory has been studiously ignored by Western politicians and the mainstream media,” Lafontaine told Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten in an interview published Sunday.
Lafontaine slammed the German government over its limp-wristed response to the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, which he characterized as a “declaration of war on Germany.” It was “pathetic and cowardly” of the federal government to try to “sweep incident under the carpet,” despite evidence that “the USA either carried out the attack directly or greenlit it,” the politician said.
“It was a hostile act against the Federal Republic, and not only against us, and once again makes clear that we must free ourselves from American tutelage,” Lafontaine stressed. The politician pressed his country’s leaders to force the removal of all US military bases and nuclear weapons from German soil, and called for the creation of a European security architecture with France, separate from NATO, which he called an “obsolete” alliance that acts as a “tool to enforce the US’s claim to remain the sole power in the world.”
Lafontaine admitted that freeing Germany from Washington’s grip wouldn’t be easy, but stressed that he can’t see “any alternative” to such a radical step. “If we and other European countries continue to remain under US tutelage, they will push us over a cliff to protect their own interests,” he said.
“To use a hackneyed expression: We are experiencing the birth pangs of the transitional phase from a unipolar to a multipolar world order. And the question arises whether we will have a place of our own in this new world order, or be drawn into Washington’s conflicts with Moscow and Beijing as American vassals,” the politician emphasized.
Recalling his decades of experience in politics, Lafontaine lamented in decades past, German leaders, “at least in some conflicts, had German interests in mind, and did not throw them overboard in anticipatory obedience” to Washington. “You need to have a backbone when you are the head of a country. The image of Chancellor Scholz standing like a schoolboy next to President Biden when he announced that nothing would come of Nord Stream 2 was humiliating.”
Ukraine Disaster
Asked whether he believed Washington has achieved its aims in Ukraine, Lafontaine said that the answer was both “yes and no,” with the principle successes being the ruined relations between Russia and the European Union, and the “sidelining” of Berlin and Brussels “as the US’s potential geostrategic and economic rivals, for the time being.”
“They are setting the policies of EU states even more than before the Ukraine conflict (thanks also to compliant politicians in Berlin and Brussels). They can also sell their dirty fracking-derived gas, and the US defense industry is doing great business,” the politician said.
“On the other hand, they have not succeeded in ‘ruining Russia’, as [German Foreign Minister Annalena] Baerbock put it…overthrowing [Vladimir] Putin and installing a puppet government in Moscow to get better access to Russian raw materials, as was the case in [Boris] Yeltsin’s time,” Lafontaine said.
