6 Mar, 2022 14:38

Kekkity

British energy giant apologizes for purchase of Russian discounted oil

Shell pledges to commit profits to humanitarian aid for Ukraine

Europe’s largest energy company, Shell, announced plans to donate the profits from its latest purchase of Russian crude oil to a fund that helps Ukrainian refugees. The decision followed sharp criticism from Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba over the move, however, it did not violate any Western sanctions.

“We will commit profits from the limited amount of Russian oil we have to purchase to a dedicated fund,” the company said in a statement, published via its official Twitter account.

“We will work with aid partners and humanitarian agencies over the coming days and weeks to determine where the monies from this fund are best placed to alleviate the terrible consequences that this war is having on the people of Ukraine,” Shell added.

On Friday, the oil major purchased 100,000 metric tons of flagship Urals crude from Russia. The deal was reportedly carried out at a record discount as many firms shunning Russian oil due to the latest development in Ukraine.

The company added that it had been in “intense talks with governments and continue to follow their guidance around this issue of security of supply, and are acutely aware we have to navigate this dilemma with the utmost care.”

“We will continue to choose alternatives to Russian oil wherever possible, but this cannot happen overnight because of how significant Russia is to global supply,” Shell added.

Earlier this week, Shell announced plans to exit its joint ventures with Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom and its related entities.

https://www.rt.com/business/551365-shell-purchase-russian-oil-ukraine/

6 Mar, 2022 15:58

HomeWorld News

Anti Brexit GuyTony Blair thought invading Iraq was 'the right thing to do'

The former UK prime minister said leaders making big decisions must follow their ‘instinct’

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has again defended his decision to invade Afghanistan and Iraq post-9/11, by saying he thought it was the “right thing” to do at the time.

Speaking to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, on the BBC on Sunday, Blair said geopolitics is “very complex,” more complicated than people want to believe as they “search for simplicity.”

“People often say over Iraq or Afghanistan that I took the wrong decision,” Blair said, adding that he had to do what he “thought was the right thing” at the time.

On the “really big decisions,” Blair said leaders have to follow their “own instinct” but that they must also “be prepared to acknowledge when you've got things wrong.”

He explained that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington he decided that the UK had “to be with America in this moment” and to respond to any issues related to chemical, biological or nuclear weapons with “a strong, strong stand.”

Blair is unlikely to find understanding among many of his compatriots. A recent petition, which called for the former PM to be held accountable for “war crimes” and to strip him of his knighthood, has been signed by more than a million people. The petition reads that Blair was “personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent civilian lives and servicemen in various conflicts.”

This Chilcot inquiry, published in 2016, found there was no intelligence to back up Blair's pretext for launching the war in Iraq; that the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. It also concluded that Blair had knowingly exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein when making the case to MPs and the public for military action.

Blair did, however, admit that he “may have been wrong” about Iraq and Afghanistan, saying leaders don’t always know “how things are going to unfold” when they make a big decision.

Commenting on the war in Ukraine, Blair said it was “massively contrary” to UK interests, “to have a country, an independent sovereign country on the doorstep of Europe, essentially invaded and taken over.”

Moscow has claimed its recent invasion of Ukraine was needed to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country, to protect the Donbass region and to defend Russia’s own security amid NATO’s expansion eastward.

https://www.rt.com/news/551366-blair-iraq-war-decision/

Pope poops again in areas he doesnt understand, along with the misunderstanding of the Catholic Faith

6 Mar, 2022 13:57

HomeWorld News

Pope says Ukraine crisis ‘a war, not a military operation’

Pope Francis on Sunday called Russia’s “military operation” in Ukraine a “war” that is causing “death, destruction and misery,” and said he was sending two cardinals to Ukraine. Francis was earlier criticized for not directly blaming Russia and President Vladimir Putin for the bloodshed.

"In Ukraine rivers of blood and tears are flowing,” the Pontiff said during his Sunday address at St. Peter’s Square, Reuters reported. “This is not only a military operation but a war which is leading to death, destruction and misery," Francis added, referring to Moscow’s description of the conflict as a military operation rather than a conventional “war.”

“War is madness; please stop, look at this cruelty!” he declared, telling the faithful that he was dispatching two cardinals to the war-torn country as a sign of “the presence of the Pope.”

Before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Francis called repeatedly for peace, but refused to publicly call out Russia as an aggressor. Likewise when fighting broke out earlier this month he stuck to the Vatican’s traditional neutrality, calling for the evacuation of civilians from combat zones, urging both Russia and Ukraine to negotiate, and offering his services as a mediator.

The Pontiff has been criticized for not censuring Russia directly

Francis has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone, and last week met with Russia’s ambassador to the Holy See. However, a readout of the meeting simply said that Francis visited the ambassador to “express his concern about the war.”

Referring to the conflict as a “war” is the closest Francis has come to ascribing blame to Russia.

The pope’s neutrality isn’t shared by all of the Vatican’s top officials. In interviews with several Italian newspapers this week, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin described the war as being “unleashed by Russia against Ukraine,” AP reported. Elsewhere, some European Catholics have taken a similarly accusatory tone.

The head of the Polish bishops’ conference, Stanisław Gądecki, wrote to the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, this week, urging Kirill to “appeal to Vladimir Putin to stop the senseless warfare against the Ukrainian people.”

“I ask you in the most humble way to call for the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the sovereign state that is Ukraine,” he continued, asking Kirill “to appeal to Russian soldiers not to take part in this unjust war.”

Pope Francis is not the only international figure to offer to mediate between Ukraine and Russia. After two rounds of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Belarus failed to halt fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett flew to Moscow on Saturday for talks in the Kremlin with Putin, before speaking to Zelensky by phone. Returning to Tel Aviv on Sunday, Bennett told a cabinet meeting that resolving the Ukraine conflict is the “moral duty” of Israel.

https://www.rt.com/news/551364-pope-ukraine-war-russia/

Anons

We all lost friends and family. Jsyk. We all have pain and trauma. We will survive. Its more than painful. But we are anons.

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