12 Mar, 2022 12:24

Israeli PM advises Zelensky to accept Putin’s demands– media

Ukrainian and Israeli officials havedenied that Volodymyr Zelensky was urged to ‘surrender’ to Moscow’s proposals

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has reportedly advised Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to Russia’s proposals to end the ongoing bloody conflict in his country, according to Israeli media on Friday. Top officials in Kiev and Israel have denied the reports, however.

“If I were you, I would think about the lives of my people and take the offer,” the Jerusalem Post quoted Bennett as having told Zelensky on Tuesday during a phone call, citing an unnamed senior Ukrainian official.

“Bennett told us to surrender,” the official said, according to the Post, which added that Kiev apparently had “no intention” of agreeing to President Putin's demands.

However, a top official in Bennett’s office quickly denied that any suggestion to surrender had been made, saying the Israeli PM “doesn’t intend to give Zelensky any recommendations or advice at any stage,”Axios reported.

On Saturday, top Ukrainian government adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also denied that Zelensky had been advised to surrender.

Israel, “just like other conditional intermediary countries, does not offer Ukraine to agree to any demands of the Russian federation,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter, saying this would be “impossible, for military and political reasons.”

Israel has stepped into a mediator role amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, with Bennett flying to Moscow to meet with Putin last week and speaking to Zelensky by phone. The Israeli premier was also in contact with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron following his meeting with the Russian leader.

The unnamed Ukrainian official also claimed Bennett was using mediation as an “excuse” to avoid sanctioning Russia or sending military aid to Ukraine, according to a report by Haaretz, and that Bennett should be acting as more than merely a “mailbox” between Moscow and Kiev.

“If Bennett wants to be neutral and mediate, we would like to see him appoint someone who will deal with the matter day and night to try and reach a compromise,” he reportedly said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/551759-bennett-zelensky-putin-surrender/

12 Mar, 2022 20:25

Putin could expand military activities into a ‘NATO country,’ top EU diplomat claims

Fear, you must have Fear! These people are really sick!

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine risks spilling elsewhere, including into an unspecified “NATO country,” Josep Borrell has claimed

Europe is struggling between its desire to “support” Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian offensive and its fears that the war could spill over into other countries, the EU’s foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell told CNN Turk on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

“Everyone is trying to strike a difficult balance. On the one hand, we are trying to support Ukraine and, on the other hand, we are trying to prevent a bigger war,” he said.

The top diplomat also alleged that President Vladimir Putin could “expand his military activities” beyond Ukraine, explaining that “nobody should give excuses” to Russia’s leader to do so. Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov cautioned the West against its “mindless handover” of “dangerous arms” to Kiev, warning that his country’s troops could potentially treat convoys carrying them as legitimate military targets.

“It could be against one NATO country or it could be against another,” Borrell continued. “There are serious concerns. Putin will continue to attack and we need to limit the attacks here. We must isolate Russia from the international community, we must support Ukraine.”

He also reiterated the bloc’s support for Ukraine, claiming that the EU has responded “positively” to Kiev’s membership aspirations. Ukraine renewed its push for EU membership amid the conflict, with President Volodymyr Zelensky lodging a formal bid to join the union.

“Yes, we said that Ukraine belongs to the European family. This is an obvious fact, geographically and historically. There are some procedures. We started this process as well,” Borrell stated.

While the bid has been supported by several Eastern European members of the bloc, top EU officials, including Borrell himself, have rejected Kiev’s call for a fast-tracked accession. No fast-track procedure exists and an aspiring member state must meet assorted political and economic conditions to be merely granted an official candidate status.

Russia launched a large-scale offensive against its neighbor in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the 2014-15 Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state and to bring the years-long conflict in the country’s east to an end.

Moscow has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

https://www.rt.com/news/551781-putin-nato-ukraine-war/

12 Mar, 2022 18:09

Ukraine ready to buy anti-aircraft systems on credit, Zelensky says

Kiev is ready to take out loans or spend the “last money” from its budget on anti-aircraft weaponry

Ukraine desperately needs anti-aircraft weaponry amid the ongoing Russian offensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday during a press conference with foreign media. Kiev has extensively researched and pinpointed the armaments’ location in countries from which such systems could be bought, Zelensky said.

“There is anti-missile defense that can be installed in the country. Ukraine has discovered where it is located around the world. In detail, down to the warehouses,” he said, adding that Kiev was ready to purchase such systems from anyone ready to supply them,regardless of the costs.

We are ready to buy [these systems], we are ready to take loans, we are ready to pull the last money from our budget and give it right away.

The president also took new jabs at the West and its reluctance to establish a no-fly zone above Ukraine to counter Russia’s ongoing military offensive. Some politicians in the West would reject the idea until a bomb hits the café they are sitting in, Zelensky said.

While Kiev has repeatedly urged the US-led NATO alliance to impose a no-fly zone, the bloc has ruled it out, cautioning that any attempt to implement it could lead it into direct conflict with Russia.

At the same time, the West has ramped up weapons deliveries to Ukraine. These include light anti-aircraft systems, namely US-made Stinger MANPADs, as well as Soviet-designed Strela missiles, still stockpiled by certain European countries.

Russia launched a large-scale offensive against its neighbor in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the 2014-15 Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state and to end years-long conflict in the country’s east.

Moscow has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country and vow not to join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force

https://www.rt.com/russia/551773-ukraine-anti-aircraft-weapons/

12 Mar, 2022 15:48

Russian mogul warns of return to 1917

Vladimir Potanin spoke out against the idea of nationalizing foreign businesses amid a mass exodus of corporate giants

Russia’s second-richest man Vladimir Potanin has spoken out against the idea of confiscating the assets of foreign corporate giants that have opted to quit the country. He said such actions could take the nation back to the tragic days of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

Potanin – the president and biggest shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, the world’s number one producer of palladium and high-grade nickel – has urged the Russian authorities to respond with pragmatism to its isolation from the global economy.

“Firstly, it would take us back 100 years, to 1917, and the consequences of such a step – global distrust of Russia on the part of investors, [which] we would experience for many decades,” Potanin said via Norilsk Nickel’s Telegram account.

“Secondly, the decision of many companies to suspend operations in Russia is, I would say, somewhat emotional in nature and may have been taken as a result of unprecedented pressure on them from public opinion abroad,”the billionaire added.

He claimed that foreign businesses would come back to the country, and called for this opportunity to be preserved.

“We see that the West’s own economies have suffered by imposing sanctions against Russia. So we must be wiser and avoid a scenario under which our sanctions hit us,” said Potanin, who has not been sanctioned by the West.

“We should not try to ‘slam the door’ but endeavor to preserve Russia’s economic position in those markets, which we spent so long cultivating.”

The EU, the US and some other counties have already imposed several rounds of severe sanctions on Moscow, targeting the country’s banking and industrial sector, freezing its foreign reserves, and causing a mass exodus of foreign businesses from the country.

Russian politicians have claimed that companies leaving Russia could be nationalized and restrictions could be imposed on property rights. A ban on voting by blocks of shares in subsidiaries has also been mooted, along with proposals to block assets and other measures.

However, instead of imposing such extreme measures, Russian President Vladimir Putin has supported the proposal for the external management of foreign companies leaving Russia.

“We ourselves are not going to close from anyone. We are open to work with all our foreign partners who want it,” he said.

https://www.rt.com/business/551768-potanin-foreign-businesses-confiscating/

12 Mar, 2022 17:41

NATO, the firefighter-arsonist

As the Russia-Ukraine conflict heats up, the bloc is now portraying itself as a first responder to the flames it helped to fan

The French have a wonderful term:the firefighter-arsonist. It’s used to describe a person or entity that lights a match and creates a firestorm, only to subsequently rush and put out the flames to heroic applause and accolades. At this stage of the conflict in Ukraine, it’s hard to imagine a better term for NATO.

There’s currently a concerted effort underway within the transatlantic alliance to portray the conflict in Ukraine as a Russia-Ukraine standoff unrelated to NATO. Except that the US-led West, of which NATO is key pillar, was largely responsible for not only the ignition of the conflict, but also for amassing the tinder in the form of “foreign aid” to civil society groupsknown for mobilizing public opinion against Russia, for delivering weapons, for ear-bending public officials with promises of NATO or European Union integration, and for its clandestine training of anti-Russian neo-Nazi proxy fighters. The Canadian military is currently investigating how on earth its personnel allegedly became involved in the last of those endeavours, despite being warned as early as 2015 before the training operation began.

The whole idea of clandestine operations is that NATO’s footprint is reduced along with its visibility. It’s mission accomplished in that sense, apparently, since there’s no denying that many people honestly believe the thrust of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s statement in a March 8 press conference that “We do not seek conflict with Russia.”

You’re joking, right? My, but how things seem to have changed for the better over the past two weeks – at least rhetorically – since this conflict popped off militarily. Because, prior to that, the entire raison d’être of NATO since the Cold War had been to relentlessly promote anti-Russian sentiment in the West while continuing to arm country after country with weapons that inched ever closer to the Russian border in spite of promises the alliance wouldn’t expand eastward.

But NATO’s aggressive posture now, thankfully, appears to be starting to shift towards de-escalation. This may be the wisest thing it has done in its entire existence – not that there’s much competition in that regard. But here’s hoping that it continues.

It’s always good news when a party involved in a conflict backs down from requests to set off World War III, as was the case when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked NATO to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine – which is not a member of the bloc, despite it being treated by the US State Department as its guesthouse – and NATO had at least enough survival sense to refuse. The measure would have mandated that NATO shoot down any Russian fighter jet over Ukraine, which would have been considered an act of war against Russia itself.

Zelensky’s seeming realisation that NATO membership is far-fetched is also a sign of a return to reality for his NATO cheerleaders. “I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that … NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,”Zelensky said in an ABC News interview that aired on Monday. That realisation should be the beginning of a codified sovereign and neutral positioning of Ukraine between Eastern and Western interests – something Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff, Ihor Zhovkva, reportedly confirmed to now be on the negotiating table, according to Bloomberg….

It’s also a favourable sign that when Poland offered to send its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine via an American airbase in Germany, Washington rejected the offer. With NATO member Hungary having refused weapons transit to Ukraine, that leaves just Poland for transit into Ukraine. Let that be another test of NATO’s newfound spirit of de-escalation.

So, what else could be contributing to Western officials’ change of heart? While NATO member countries – especially those in the European Union – have recently been keen to sanction and restrict anything that moves and remotely resembles something Russian, the economic hangover is starting to settle in already. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz now admits that Europe has “deliberately exempted” energy supplies from Russia from sanctions. “At the moment, Europe’s supply of energy for heat generation, mobility, power supply, and industry cannot be secured in any other way,” he added. “It is therefore of essential importance for the provision of public services and the daily lives of our citizens.”

The EU is now saying it will find other suppliers – eventually. But, in the meantime, energy prices have skyrocketed, with no end to their increase in sight…..

https://www.rt.com/news/551644-nato-firefighter-arsonist-ukraine/

12 Mar, 2022 14:26

Russia issues convoy warning to West.The ‘mindless’ handover of weapons to Kiev makes them ‘legitimate targets,’ Moscow said

Supplying Ukraine with Western arms only serves to worsen the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Saturday, warning that Russian forces could potentially target such deliveries.

“We have warned the US that pumping up Ukraine with arms from several nations orchestrated by [Washington] is not just a dangerous move but something that makes these [arms] convoys legitimate targets,” Ryabkov told Russia’s Channel One. He did not elaborate on where and when Russia might target the convoys.

Ryabkov also warned that the “mindless handover” of “dangerous arms” like portable air-defense and anti-tank missiles poses a threat to Western nations themselves.

Earlier this week, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also expressed concerns over such weapons getting “into the wrong hands” after the conflict ends. Portable air-defense missiles could pose a particular risk to civil aviation in the skies over Ukraine or Europe for years to come, he added.

On Saturday, Ryabkov said that supplying arms to Ukraine makes Washington’s negotiating position weaker in its relations with Moscow. All the US calls for the end of the conflict “are not perceived as serious signals,” he said, adding that a “policy of escalation” now “absolutely dominates” Washington’s agenda, despite mantras about taking a measured approach.

“It is the US that is the major source of international tension,” the deputy foreign minister said, slamming America’s “material support for the criminal regime in Kiev.”

The statements come amid Russia’s ongoing military offensive in Ukraine.

Moscow has accused Kiev of failing to implement the Minsk agreements to resolve its conflict with what were then two secessionist regions in Donbass, in Ukraine’s east.

Russia launched its operation on February 24, arguing it was aimed at “demilitarizing” Ukraine in the name of protecting the people of the Donbass republics, which Russia now recognizes as independent.

Kiev has blasted Russia’s operation as a totally unprovoked aggression and approached the US and its allies for aid. President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested military aircraft that Ukrainian pilots can fly, as well as other weapons.

Western nations have collectively condemned Moscow’s military action, has slapped Russia with unprecedented sanctions and has promised generous military aid to Ukraine. The US alone authorized a shipment of $350 million in military aid to Ukraine last month. Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia also promised weapons to Kiev, including anti-tank missiles and self-propelled howitzers.

https://www.rt.com/russia/551765-western-weapons-convoys-ukraine-target/

12 Mar, 2022 18:45

Israel shouldn’t exist as Jewish state, human rights watchdog claims

Amnesty International has revealed its “true face,” the country responded

Israel should not be preserved as a Jewish state, the Amnesty International US Director Paul O’Brien said, according to outlet The Jewish Insider.

Speaking on Wednesday to a Women’s National Democratic Club audience, O’Brien said that while his organization “takes no political views on any question, including the right of the State of Israel to survive,” Israel “shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.”

Amnesty International (AI) believes that “the right of the people to self-determination” should be protected, O’Brien stressed, but it opposes the idea “that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people.”

The American executive director’s remarks follow a recent AI report that accused Israel of “apartheid” towards Palestinians. The authors of the report, heavily criticized by both Israeli and US officials, said that “Israel must dismantle this cruel system and the international community must pressure it to do so.”

Commenting on the document, O’Brien said that its main purpose was to “collectively change the conversation” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his opinion, what is needed is a “safe Jewish space” rather than a “Jewish state.”

The Israeli authorities as well as pro-Israel groups have consistently called for a so-called ‘two-state solution’ which would allow both Israelis and Palestinians have their own independent states. Therefore, O’Brien’s stance has been met with outrage.

“Amnesty USA’s director reveals the true face of the organization, calling for the elimination of the nation state of the Jewish people. The truth’s out in the open along with Amnesty’s obsession & hate for the only country with a Jewish majority. There’s a name for this hate..,” spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lior Haiat tweeted…..

https://www.rt.com/news/551780-israel-state-jews-amnesty/