Russia reacts to US senator’s Putin assassination plea

Senator Lindsey Graham’s call for a plot to kill the Russian president is “unacceptable and outrageous,” Russian ambassador to the US said

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham pleaded on Thursday for “somebody in Russia” to “step up to the plate” and assassinate President Vladimir Putin, and who would thus do the country and the world “a great service.” The Russian ambassador to Washington has rebuked the remarks, calling them “unacceptable and outrageous.”

The South Carolina senator advocated assassinating Putin during an appearance on Fox News, and cited historic examples of plots to kill famous political leaders, including Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler.

“Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?” Graham inquired. “The only way this … ends, my friend, is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out.”

Commenting on the remarks, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov called them “unacceptable and outrageous.” He said it showed that “Russophobia and hatred in the United States towards Russia” had gone off-scale and asserted that Graham was de facto advocating an act of terrorism to further Washington’s political goals.

Moscow was fearful for the future of the American nation, considering that people like the senator are at its helm, the Russian diplomat added.

Attempts to kill foreign leaders are not unheard of in US foreign policy. Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was arguably the most famous example. He was targeted by multiple plots hatched by the CIA, as revealed by the Church Committee in the 1970s.

A more recent example was Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. He was personally targeted by NATOairstrikes during the bloc’s 2011 air campaign to destroy the country’s military and secure a victory for anti-government forces. He was ultimately captured by the rebels after his fleeing motorcade was hit by an airstrike, and was summarily executed.

https://www.rt.com/news/551201-putin-assassination-plot-grahem/

4 Mar, 2022 13:03

Ukrainian refugees could be housed in oligarchs’ mansions

The UK’s deputy PM said it’s ‘absolutely’ possible that Ukrainian refugees could stay in the seized homes of Russian oligarchs

Ukrainian refugees could be housed in oligarchs’ mansions

Sutton Place, Surrey © Wikipedia

UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has shown his support for the idea of housing Ukrainian refugees in the confiscated properties of some of Russia’s wealthiest people.

During an LBC radio broadcast on Friday, Raab, formerly the UK foreign secretary, confirmed that the property assets owned by Russian oligarchs in the UK could be confiscated, subject to “evidence and the legal basis.”

The fresh wave of sanctions against Moscow, prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has seen restrictions imposed on some Russian oligarchs – and proposals are being looked at to confiscate properties belonging to Kremlin-linked elites.

Asked if captured mansions and apartments could be used for housing the Ukrainian refugees, Raab answered: “Yes, absolutely.” He added that the government was looking “at everything in the round.”

The proposal to use confiscated properties as shelters for the Ukrainian refugees has been supported by several MPs, including Labour’s Chris Bryant. Bryant suggested using the Surrey mansion of industrialist Alisher Usmanov, who was sanctioned by London on Thursday.

According to the Times, the Secretary of State for Housing Michael Gove has ordered his team to draw up legislation that would allow the government to seize Russian oligarchs’ properties without paying them compensation.

According to a report published earlier by the same outlet, British authorities have not rushed to impose sanctions against some of Russia's wealthiest moguls, out of fear of huge lawsuits that might follow.

However, these considerations have not stopped the UK government from sanctioning some heavyweights: besides Usmanov, restrictions have been imposed on former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov.

According to UK authorities, Usmanov “owns Beechwood House in Highgate, worth an estimated £48 million, and the 16th century Sutton Place estate in Surrey.” Igor Shuvalov’s assets in the UK, according to the UK government statement, include “two luxury apartments in central London worth an estimated £11 million.”

The full asset freeze and travel ban for Usmanov and Shuvalov have been caused by their “close links to the Kremlin,” the statement said.Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched a military attack on Ukraine last week, saying it was necessary to “demilitarize” the country and protect the Donbass region and Russia’s own security interests. The war was condemned by the West, which has responded with harsh new sanctions against Moscow.

https://www.rt.com/russia/551229-oligarchs-properties-refugees-uk/

4 Mar, 2022 12:41

Russia criminalizes ‘disinformation’ about army

Moscow has also accused Washington of launching an information war over the conflict in Ukraine

By Alexey Viryasov

Russian lawmakers have approved legislation that could see people put behind bars for up to 15 years if found guilty of peddling so-called false information about the actions of the army, amid Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine.

On Friday, the lower chamber of Russia’s parliament voted to introduce the law to heavily penalize citizens spreading fake allegations against the country’s armed forces.

The chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, weighed in on the move, insisting that it is needed “to protect our soldiers, officers, in order to protect the truth.”

“Literally by tomorrow, this law will force punishment – and very tough punishment – on those who lied and made statements which discredited our armed forces,” he asserted.

Defaming the Russian army could result in a fine of almost $13,500, or three years in jail. An offender could spend up to 15 years behind bars for intentionally spreading ‘fake’ information that causes significant damage to national security, under revisions to the existing law.

Anyone calling for anti-Russian sanctions may also find themselves in hot water. If deemed to be guilty, they could receive a fine of $5,000 or a three-year prison sentence. Later on Friday, the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, adopted the legislation, meaning that it will be sent to President Vladimir Putin for his approval.

On Thursday, Volodin claimed that the measure was necessary to counter what he deemed to be the impacts of a US disinformation campaign. “American social networks, controlled by Washington, launched an information war against Russia,” he insisted. “We cannot help but react to what is happening. It is necessary to make a decision to combat the spread of fake information. It is important to us that the information shared is true, and those who create and distribute it are responsible,” Volodin wrote.

Moscow launched the military operation in Ukraine last Thursday. According to the Kremlin, the goal of the intervention is “to protect the people [of Donbass] who have been tortured for eight years by the Ukrainian regime.” It came after requests from the leaders of the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics for assistance in combatting what they claim is a spike in “aggression” from Kiev’s armed forces.

https://www.rt.com/russia/551223-state-duma-criminalizes-disinformation-army/

4 Mar, 2022 11:28

HomeWorld News

Hungarian PM says countries can’t count on NATO to protect them

Viktor Orban gave an interview on relations with the EU and sanctions against Russia

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday morning that he felt he couldn’t count on the Western bloc when it comes to real action concerning the country’s security.

“NATO will protect us when we are ready to defend ourselves. Anyone who thinks NATO will protect us is wrong,” he said in an interview for Kossuth state radio.

Orban praised the fact that Hungary had managed to reorganize its army since 2010 and was strong enough to protect itself and its allies. Still, he believes the country should stay away from war, as it was not “Hungary’s job to sort out world politics.” The president added that the safety of Hungarian citizens was his top priority in this conflict.

Orban also warned that Western sanctions against Russia pose an “immediate danger” to the economy, noting that they have already had an impact in Hungary, where energy prices escalated rapidly, prompting further inflation.

“Sanctions have a price as it is a double-edged weapon, and we will pay this price in the short term,” he said in the interview, adding that it was “

“only the beginning of the crisis.”

Orban also commented on Ukrainian refugees arriving in Hungary. While about 70% to 80% of the 140,000 displaced citizens are going to other countries, he said Hungary wants to offer jobs to those who stay, and the prime minister has already initiated talks with employers. He added that the country is ready to accommodate refugees for three months, but warned that they will then have to integrate themselves into Hungarian society. He also stressed the importance of healthcare, as the coronavirus pandemic remains an issue.

According to the UN, more than one million people have fled Ukraine since Moscow began its offensive last Thursday, heading to Poland, Russia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and other countries in order to find safety.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion, the European Union and other countries have placed a number of severe sanctions on Moscow, including barring several of the country’s banks from the global payment system, SWIFT, and closing airspace to Russian aircraft. Prominent international brands such as Apple, IKEA, H&M and Airbnb have also suspended their operations in Russia over the Ukrainian conflict.

https://www.rt.com/news/551215-hungarian-pm-cannot-count-nato/

Putin comments on Russian offensive in Ukraine

Russia’s president has announced financial support measures for troops and gave an update on current state of military conflict

Families of Russian soldiers who died in the line of duty in Ukraine are set to receive compensation of over seven million rubles ($65,000) from the government, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. Putin made the pledge during a meeting with the members of the country’s Security Council.

The leader has also refuted claims circulated by some media outlets that the payouts amount only to 11,000 rubles ($100). Those who were wounded are eligible for a lump sum of three million rubles ($28,000), while servicemen with permanent disabilities will receive lifetime pensions from Russia, according to the president.

The offensive is proceeding strictly according to its “schedule,” Putin stressed, while admitting certain issues were experienced during the military operation. For instance, the Russian military has established safe corridors for Ukrainian civilians to escape the combat zone, yet local “neo-Nazi” forces and foreign “mercenaries” have been trying to prevent them from leaving, he said.

“Nationalist and neo-Nazi groups, foreign mercenaries, including those from the Middle East, are using civilians as human shields,” Putin stated. “As I’ve already said, there is absolutely objective data, photos of how they place heavy military equipment in residential areas of cities.”

Russia’s president also reiterated his stance on Ukraine, and the goal of protecting it from the far-right groups that have seized control in the country.

“Russians and Ukrainians are one nation, I will never give that up,” he stressed.

https://www.rt.com/russia/551174-putin-ukraine-offensive-remarks/

https://twitter.com/BensmanTodd/status/1499731114151272453?s=20&t=gzIH41At9h75Two82cq2mQ

>>15779912

Affirmed

https://twitter.com/Doc_0/status/1499736458030206979?s=20&t=gzIH41At9h75Two82cq2mQ

>>15779978

For someone that was a JAG lawyer you’d think he’d know to never say this.

Why did he do it?. I think he wants out of the senate because he knows a very big reveal on the corruption including his is coming. It could be panic, but he was trying to accomplish something

Maybe big news coming out today and he wants yo divert from it.

>>15779989

NATO is Mafia like Ukraine us Mafia, they’ve been promising this to Ukraine and others to get them to do things a NATO country cannot.

Trump is right NATO is broken and corrupt

Spygate Figure Whose Attorney Outed Him To The New York Times Now Wants His Name Hidden In Court Documents

BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND

MARCH 04, 2022

Because the special counsel’s office did not identify Rodney Joffe, either by name or in all but name, John Durham has nothing to answer for.

No longer able to control the media narrative about Rodney Joffe’s role in peddling the Alfa Bank hoax to the FBI and CIA, his attorneys now seek to silence Special Counsel John Durham. That revelation came from a brief docket entry in a federal district court earlier this week documenting a sealed motion to intervene that Joffe’s lawyers had filed in the criminal case against Michael Sussman, in which they asked for references to “Tech Executive-1” to be expunged from the court filings.

The special counsel’s office indicted Sussmann on September 16, 2021, charging the former Clinton campaign lawyer with one count of lying to FBI General Counsel James Baker when Sussmann provided Baker information purporting to show a secret communication channel between the Trump organization and the Russian-based Alfa Bank. Specifically, the indictment charged that “Sussmann lied about the capacity in which he was providing the allegations to the FBI,” with Sussmann falsely stating “he was not doing his work on the aforementioned allegations ‘for any client.’”

According to the indictment, Sussmann was acting “on behalf of specific clients, namely, (i) a U.S. technology industry executive (‘Tech Executive-1’) at a U.S. Internet company (‘Internet Company-1’), and (ii) the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign (the ‘Clinton Campaign’).”

At no point in the indictment, or in later court filings, did Durham name Joffe as Tech Executive-1, or even for that matter name the “U.S. Internet company” at which Joffe worked. Nonetheless, in a transparent attempt to frame the narrative about his role in pushing the Alfa Bank hoax, Joffe’s attorney confirmed that his client was “Tech Executive-1” in an interview with The New York Times.

The New York Times Helps Both Ways

The Times’ chief Clinton spinner, Charlie Savage, along with Adam Goldman, then provided Joffe’s legal team a PR assist in the September 30, 2021 article, “Trump Server Mystery Produces Fresh Conflict.” With a subhead proclaiming that internet researchers were pushing back on suggestions in the Sussman indictment that they did not believe their own Alfa Bank research, the Times article quoted Joffe’s attorney, Steven A. Tyrrell, as he framed his client as merely a concerned tech expert.

“His client had a duty to share the information with the F.B.I.,” the Times reported Tyrrell as stating. Savage and Goldman then aided that take by noting that Joffe in 2013 “received the F.B.I. Director’s Award for helping crack a cybercrime case, and retired this month from Neustar, another information services company.”

In addition to Joffe’s attorneys outing him in the Times article, attorneys for Joffe’s colleagues in the Alfa Bank “research” all went public on their clients’ behalf too. “The indictment’s ‘Originator-1’is April Lorenzen, chief data scientist at the information services firm Zetalytics,” her attorney Michael J. Connolly confirmed. And “the indictment’s ‘Researcher-1’ is another computer scientist at Georgia Tech, Manos Antonakakis,” with “Researcher-2” confirmed as David Dagon by his lawyer.

The Times article then proceeded to push the narrative that the researchers all stood by the Alfa Bank theory, with Joffe’s attorney claiming their research “culminated in the well-supported conclusions that were ultimately delivered to the F.B.I.” Jody Westby and Mark Rasch, lawyers for Dagon, told the Times that “the Alfa Bank results ‘have been validated and are reproducible. The findings of the researchers were true then and remain true today; reports that these findings were innocuous or a hoax are simply wrong.”…

https://thefederalist.com/2022/03/04/spygate-figure-whose-attorney-outed-him-to-the-new-york-times-now-wants-his-name-hidden-in-court-documents/

https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1499594915839365125?s=20&t=gzIH41At9h75Two82cq2mQ

Fear Of Donald Trump Kept Putin From Invading Ukraine. Here’s How Trump Pulled It Off

BY: JOHN RATCLIFFE AND CLIFF SIMS. MARCH 03, 2022

Trump not only successfully deterred Russia from acting against Ukraine, he effectively deterred a lot of bad behavior across the planet.

A recent Harvard-Harris poll found that 62 percent of Americans believe that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Donald Trump were still in the Oval Office. As former senior intelligence officials under President Trump, we agree with that view.

Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 when George W. Bush was president. Russia took Crimea in 2014 when Barack Obama was president. Russia has now invaded Ukraine with Joe Biden as president. However, when Donald Trump was president, Russia did not seize territory from any of its neighbors.

During his four years in office, Trump not only successfully deterred Russia from acting against Ukraine, he effectively deterred a lot of bad behavior across the planet. He focused on ending America’s foreign wars rather than launching new ones. At the same time, he brokered the Abraham Accords to expand peace in the Middle East.

The exercise of American power to deter adversaries is a complicated business. It involves a mix of military, economic, political, and diplomatic strategies and actions that together communicate the costs of threatening U.S. national interests.

Ultimately, the art of statecraft boils down to whether a president projects American strength that deters adversaries, or projects American weakness that emboldens our adversaries.

So how did Trump succeed in containing Putin while the Russian autocrat has run wild with others in the White House? Why was he so successful at spreading peace elsewhere? We believe the long answer begins with these ten ways that Donald Trump projected American strength and kept the bad guys in check:

During his four years in office, Trump not only successfully deterred Russia from acting against Ukraine, he effectively deterred a lot of bad behavior across the planet. He focused on ending America’s foreign wars rather than launching new ones. At the same time, he brokered the Abraham Accords to expand peace in the Middle East.

The exercise of American power to deter adversaries is a complicated business. It involves a mix of military, economic, political, and diplomatic strategies and actions that together communicate the costs of threatening U.S. national interests.

Ultimately, the art of statecraft boils down to whether a president projects American strength that deters adversaries, or projects American weakness that emboldens our adversaries.

So how did Trump succeed in containing Putin while the Russian autocrat has run wild with others in the White House? Why was he so successful at spreading peace elsewhere? We believe the long answer begins with these ten ways that Donald Trump projected American strength and kept the bad guys in check:

Rebuilt the American Military

Crusaded for American Energy Dominance

Set the Tone by Launching Surgical Missile Strikes in Syria in Early 2017

Developed Strong Relationships with Middle Eastern Nations Based on Mutual Interests

Was Ruthless with the Taliban While Winding Down the Afghanistan War

Crushed the ISIS Caliphate

Demonstrated a Consistent Willingness to Take out the Bad Guys

Stood Up to China

Strategically Used Unpredictability as an Asset in Foreign Affairs

Advanced Tough Russia Policies and Provided Lethal Aid to Ukraine while Maintaining an Open Dialogue

Each of these points are worthy of unpacking in-depth, but there are several that illustrate the dramatic difference in approach between Trump and Biden, starting with Afghanistan.

When President Trump initiated the process of ending America’s longest war, senior officials huddled in the Situation Room to discuss tactical challenges on the ground. The president reminded the group of America’s humiliating withdrawal from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War, and said we must do whatever it takes to leave in a safe, orderly, and dignified way. When military leaders bemoaned the costs and logistical challenges of bringing home our equipment, the president said that he did not care if it was a helicopter or a styrofoam cooler. If it had an American flag on it, it was either coming home or getting destroyed to keep it from falling into the hands of our enemies. He vowed that we would leave on our terms, or we would not leave at all…

https://thefederalist.com/2022/03/03/fear-of-donald-trump-kept-putin-from-invading-ukraine-heres-how-trump-pulled-it-off/

>>15780106

Good point and Hannity let Graham get away with doing nothing when he had the power to expose tge Hoax,

>>15780082

They are the original Mafia, the template for all of them

>>15780073

Sounds very possible. Lindsey is held captive by Trump