Kremlin responds to ‘gas blackmail’ claims by EU

Russia says its decision to require payment in rubles for natural gas stems from ‘unprecedented hostile steps’ taken by the EU against Russia

Russia has denied using natural gas exports as a tool to “blackmail” Europe, a claim voiced by the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the switch to gas trade in rubles stems from the EU's own actions.

“This is not blackmail. Russia has been and remains a reliable supplier, committed to its obligations. The conditions that were outlined in the presidential decree, the need for them was caused by unprecedented hostile steps against us,” Peskov stated, adding that the decision was communicated to natural gas buyers long before it took effect.

We've been robbed of a significant amount of our reserves. And this required a transition to a new system.

Earlier on Wednesday von der Leyen accused Moscow of using natural gas trade as a "blackmail" tool following Gazprom's decision to halt exports to Poland and Bulgaria. The EU Commission president described the move as “unjustified and unacceptable,” adding that it highlighted the “unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier.”

“The announcement by Gazprom that it is unilaterally stopping delivery of gas to customers in Europe is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail,” she stated.

The decision to bring gas exports to Bulgaria and Poland to a complete halt was announced by Gazprom on Wednesday morning, with the energy giant citing the two countries' failure to pay in rubles for the fuel delivered in April.

The supply of gas will resume only when the two nations comply with Russia’s new payment scheme, the company said, warning Sofia and Warsaw against trying to siphon off Russian transit gas intended for other countries.

Further countries may be cut off from Russian gas supplies should they fail to switch to the ruble payment scheme, Peskov warned. To avoid this, they need to open accounts at Gazprombank and make payments in euros or dollars that would then be converted into rubles.

“There are no additional difficulties for buyers here. It is a sacrifice of the national economy for the sake of false prejudices, the desire to punish our country to the detriment of their own citizens,” he said, adding that Russia has already calculated the risks the ongoing standoff might bring to the national economy and taken precautionary steps.

The ruble payment scheme was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in late March. The measure applies to countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia but continue to import its gas.

Since then, several importers have signaled their readiness to accept the Moscow-proposed scheme. On Monday Uniper, Germany's largest buyer of Russian gas, said it would be possible to pay for future supplies in the Russian national currency without breaching Western sanctions.

https://www.rt.com/russia/554616-kremlin-eu-gas-blackmail/

Left-Wing Daily Beast Reporter Encouraged Torture, Murder of Arrested Dissident Ukrainian War Reporter

Gonzalo Lira is a journalist, YouTube personality, and ‘manosphere’ writer going by the name “Coach Red Pill.” Lira also had an active Telegram channel.

Lira, a Chilean-American who moved to Ukraine several years before the war, happened to be in Kiev at the time of the invasion.

Lira made many videos criticizing Ukraine President Zelensky and the tactics of the Ukrainian forces, including their neo-Nazi elements. He also criticized NATO’s provocations that caused the war. Lira claimed he had the opportunity to leave Ukraine but chose to stay and report that which was being suppressed in the western media.

Reports were that he had gone missing. He has since emerged and said that he was arrested and held by Ukrainian forces, who took all of his electronics including his phone and laptop.

This arrest came after the Daily Beast ran a shameless hit piece on Lira last month under the byline “Mark Hay.”

LEFT-WING REPORTERS ENCOURAGING ARREST OF DISSIDENT WAR REPORTERS

Mark Hay is the biological name of transexual “Sarah Ashton-Cirillo.”

Lira had recently made a video claiming that the Daily Beast Contributor had doxxed Lira and informed the Ukrainian regime of Lira’s location.

DAILY BEAST REPORTER MADE REPEATED COMMENTS HOPING ARRESTED REPORTER WOULD BE HARMED, KILLED

Biologically male Sarah Ashton-Cirillo bragged about the disappearance and at-the-time potential death of Lira, noting that any criticism or journalism perceived as criticism of Ukraine was illegal after all:

OUT OF CONTROL MAINSTREAM MEDIA ENCOURAGING GOVERNMENTS TO ARREST, KILL, ALTERNATIVE MEDIA REPORTERS

While Lira was missing, Ashton-Cirillo referred to him as a “Russian Puppet” and joked whether “he has the time” referencing his potential murder at the hands of Ukrainian agents while he was missing.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/left-wing-daily-beast-reporter-encouraged-torture-murder-arrested-dissident-ukrainian-war-reporter/

Multiple Attacks Reported in Moldova’s Breakaway Region of Transnistria

The head of the Russian-backed enclave said the attacks could be traced back to Ukraine

Over the past few days, multiple attacks and explosions have been reported in the breakaway Transnistria region of Moldova that borders Ukraine. Transnistria has been a de facto independent state since 1992 and hosts about 1,500 Russian troops on a “peacekeeping” mission.

On Monday, several explosions that were said to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades reportedly hit Transnistria’s Ministry of State Security in the capital Tiraspol. On Tuesday, the territory’s Security Council said a “terrorist attack” hit a military unit near Tiraspol.

Vadim Krasnoselsky, the leader of Transnistria, said the attacks could be traced back to Ukraine. “The traces of these attacks lead to Ukraine,” Krasnoselsky said, according to Russia’s Tass news agency. “I assume that those who organized this attack have the purpose of dragging Transdniestria into the conflict.”

Both Russia and Moldovan President Maia Sandu expressed concern about the attacks. “This is an attempt to escalate tensions. We decisively condemn such acts,” Sandu said. She attributed the blasts to “internal differences between various groups in Transnistria that have an interest in destabilizing the situation.”

The attacks in Transnistria came after a Russian general said Moscow could seize Ukraine’s Black Sea coast to create a corridor to the breakaway territory, although it’s not clear if that is one of Russia’s official goals. “Control over the south of Ukraine is another way to Transnistria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed,” said Rustam Minnekaev, the commander of Russia’s Central Military District.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/04/26/multiple-attacks-reported-in-moldovas-breakaway-region-of-transnistria/

Bill Hwang Arrested: Archegos Owner Charged With Racketeering, Securities And Wire Fraud

After the spectacular collapse of Archegos Capital Management, the SEC announced last October that they were investigating whether the firm engaged in market manipulation.

On Wednesday, owner Bill Hwang and his former CFO, Patrick Halligan, were arrested at their homes and charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to manipulate the share prices of public companies in order to boost profits, according to Bloomberg.

They said the plan, which relied heavily on leverage, helped pump up the firm’s portfolio from $1.5 billion to $35 billion in a single year. -Bloomberg

According to the 40-page indictment, Hwang engaged in a "fraudulent scheme" that included "interlocking deceptive acts and misconduct, through false and misleading statements to security-based swap ("SBS") counterparties and prime brokers and manipulative trading designed to artificially move the market, which, in tandem, increased Archegos’s assets under management from around $4 billion to over $36 billion in just under six months."

From March 2020 until its collapse in March 2021, Archegos, at Hwang’s direction, underwent a period of rapid and exponential growth, achieved largely through the entry into SBSs with about a dozen Counterparties, which subjected Archegos to significant exposure to rising and falling share prices of the issuers referenced in its SBSs. Archegos’s growth thus presented the firm with a predicament. To continue growing, and otherwise maintain the gains it had achieved through its ramp-up of exposures, Archegos needed to ensure that (1) the value of those exposures would continue to appreciate, and (2) its Counterparties would continue to extend credit margin and trading capacity necessary for Archegos to enter into even more SBSs.

In order to overcome this issue, Archegos "chose not to rely on ordinary market forces," and instead "engaged in a brazen scheme to manipulate the market for the securities of the issuers that represented Archegos’s top 10 holdings" by purchasing both securities and SBSs related to those issuers.

Archegos, through Hwang and Tomita, effected this scheme by dominating the market for its Top 10 Holdings, as well as by “setting the tone” (i.e., engaging in large pre-market trading), bidding up prices by entering incrementally higher limit orders throughout the trading day, and “marking the close” (i.e., engaging in large trading in the last 30 minutes of the trading day) and by other non-economic trading, all with the goal of artificially inflating the share prices of its Top 10 Holdings.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bill-hwang-arrested-archegos-owner-charged-racketeering-securities-and-fraud

Creep busted after allegedly luring 80 children into making porn

A California man was arrested and booked Tuesday after he allegedly posed as a girl online to lure more than 80 children into making pornographic videos, police said.

Demetrius Carl Davis, 24, was arrested by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office after an investigation identified more than 80 child victims that Davis allegedly groomed into doing and filming sex acts that he saved on his cell phone and computer, Fox 40 of Sacramento reported.

Davis would pose as “Lizzy” to communicate with children, often ages 6 to 13, before convincing them to do and record sexual actions with their siblings or other children, said sheriff’s office spokesperson Sgt. Rod Grassmann.

“What’s particularly heinous about this is that this grooming led up to our suspect asking these children to perform sexual acts on their siblings, other relatives and other kids that they know and film it and then send that video to our suspect,” Grassman said in a video address.

Davis allegedly reached out to the children over social media, where he had multiple accounts, police said. He is believed to have contacted over 100 children from across the U.S. and several other countries, Fox 40 reported.

In December, police executed a search warrant for Davis’ residence, where they found “numerous” devices with sexual recordings, they said.

“At that time, we did not have enough evidence to arrest him on site, but we took all those electronics,” Grassmann added. “Over the last several months, we have forensically analyzed all of those and have identified 80 different victims and an additional 15 to 20 internationally, which we have not identified yet.”

Grassman said the abuse may have started in late 2020. He encouraged parents to play an active role in learning who their children communicate with online.

“Every electronic device connected to the internet is like an open window to the entire world. You have no idea who is talking to your child,” he said.

Davis was arrested on suspicion of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14.

https://nypost.com/2022/04/27/demetrius-carl-davis-busted-after-allegedly-luring-80-children-into-making-porn/

Macron Pelted With Tomatoes in First Public Outing After Re-Election

French President Emmanuel Macron was pelted with a flurry of tomatoes during his first public appearance since winning re-election on Sunday.

During a a visit to a market in the commune of Cergy in the Parisian suburbs on Wednesday morning, President Macron was bombarded with tomatoes as he tried to meet members of the public.

The French leader was said to have not been injured in the attack, with his security detail quickly covering up Mr Macron with umbrellas as the tomatoes came down upon him.

According to a report from the French broadcaster BFMTV, the visit to the market in the Val-d’Oise prefecture was the first interaction the head of state has had with the public since securing a second five-year term on Sunday. The broadcaster went on to note that the visit was only announced early Wednesday morning.

Prior to being subjected to spontaneous acts of fruit, Mr Macron said of his visit to Cergy: “This trip illustrates the will of the President of the Republic since 2017 to go on the ground, in contact with French people, to exchange with them, listening to their concerns, expectations and needs.”

It is unclear whether the umbrellas used by Macron’s security detail to protect him from the improvised missiles were of the ordinary type, or the reinforced kevlar specials designed to slow blades, acid, and even bullets reported to have been created for then-president Nicolas Sarkozy a decade ago.

Though Mr Macron handily secured victory over his right-wing populist opponent Marine Le Pen, by a margin of 58.5 to 41.5 per cent, France has already seen widespread unrest, with leftist groups staging protests and riots following the re-election of the former Rothschild banker as president.

Despite the wide margin of victory, exit polling has indicated that the youth of France are turning away from the globalist policies of Mr Macron, with Le Pen securing nearly as many votes from Millennials.

At the time of this reporting, it is unclear as to the identity of the perpetrator or indeed the motivation behind throwing cherry tomatoes at the French leader.

It is not, however, the first time that Mr Macron has been assaulted while meeting with the French public. Last year, for instance, he was filmed getting slapped in the department of Drôme by a man who later described himself as a right-wing “patriot”. The man was later sentenced to four months in prison.

In September of last year, President Macron was also assailed by a man throwing an egg at him, however, the egg bounced off his shoulder without breaking on the French president.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/04/27/watch-macron-pelted-with-tomatoes-in-first-public-outing-after-re-election/

BOMBSHELL study catches Gmail suppressing Republican emails: Ronna McDaniel | Wake Up America

https://www.bitchute.com/video/kvZjYGZgjVg/

Why Didn’t A Catastrophic Mudslide At Babi Yar In 1961 Unearth Millions Of Bones Of Nazi ‘Holocaust’ Victims?

Official court historians of World War II agree that up to 100,000 assorted victims of “Nazi terror” were buried at the Babi Yar Ravine in Kiev — yet we are told that the sacred remains of these victims have been left undisturbed out of “respect” for the surviving family members — and Jewish burial “laws.”

Those who have questioned the official narrative of Babi Yar have called for independent forensic investigation of the site — in order to set the official history on solid factual grounds — but Jewish leaders have resisted this — and thereby fueling the lingering doubts as to whether or not any strong corroborating evidence could be unearthed at Babi Yar, putting the doubters to rest once and for all.

But one of the most troubling aspects of this controversy is that a massive flood occurred at Babi Yar in 1961 — which displaced millions of tons of dirt and debris from the site. Given that the human body has 206 bones — each of the 100,000 victims buried at Babi Yar would have disinterred upwards of 20 million bones, turning the immediate vicinity into a virtual bone yard.

The evidence of this “Nazi atrocity” should have been overwhelming and unavoidable during clean up afterward — yet the Soviet press heavily censored any mention of this catastrophe, an golden opportunity to further discredit the “Nazi regime” and prove once and for all the physical evidence of the Holocaust of Bullets™ at Babi Yar.

Clearly, the story of this flood was censored because it proved incontrovertibly that the official version of events at Babi Yar is simply not supported by the evidence at the site, revealed for all the world to see in the wake of this massive flood.

Radio Free Europe writes:

“Babyn Yar was the site of one of the worst Nazi massacres. About 34,000 Jews were killed in the ravine in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on September 29-30, 1941, soon after the Nazis occupied the city. Over the succeeding months, they killed about 100,000 people at the site, including Soviet prisoners of war, communists, Ukrainian nationalists, and Roma.

Today, Babyn Yar is one of the terrible symbols of the Holocaust. But after World War II, Soviet authorities preferred to bury the site under a landfill. Later, the massacre site was filled with liquid waste from nearby brick factories. The plan was to drain the waste and have the remaining mud and pulp fill the ravine.

But on the evening of March 12, 1961, amid heavy rain, the pumping station at the dam failed. And at 8:30 a.m. the next day, the 4 million cubic meters of slurry that had been dumped into Babyn Yar for over 10 years broke through the site’s small earthen dam and inundated the city’s low-lying Kurenivka district.

The embankment — 4 meters high and 20 meters wide — collapsed, and the liquid mud it had been holding back all those years was unleashed, destroying everything in its path.

Olha Bikus, an eyewitness, said that she saw whole houses and trees carried away by the tsunami of slurry, which didn’t stop until 10 a.m. The wall of mud completely destroyed 68 residential and 13 office buildings. In just a few minutes, almost 1,300 people found themselves homeless.

https://christiansfortruth.com/why-didnt-a-catastrophic-mudslide-at-babi-yar-in-1961-unearth-tens-of-millions-of-bones-of-nazi-holocaust-victims/

LEAKED RAW AUDIO: Full Twitter All-Hands Call 04-25-22

Veritas 45 mins

https://youtu.be/ja3cPPL3lks

UK Govt Threatens to Ban Twitter And Potentially Jail Elon Musk If He Allows Free Speech

The UK on Tuesday threatened to ban Twitter altogether and potentially jail Elon Musk if he violates their incoming "Online Safety Bill" by allowing free speech on his platform.

The move came just hours after the EU threatened to ban Twitter entirely if Musk allows free speech on the platform and the US threatened to "reform" Section 230 to hold social media companies "accountable" for the "harms they cause."

From CNBC:

Britain's Online Safety Bill would make it mandatory for social media services to tackle both illegal posts as well as material that is "legal but harmful," a vague definition that has attracted criticism from some in the tech industry over concerns that it may stifle free speech.

"Twitter and all social media platforms must protect their users from harm on their sites," a U.K. government spokesperson told CNBC.

"We are introducing new online safety laws to safeguard children, prevent abusive behaviour and protect free speech," the spokesperson said. "All tech firms with users in the U.K. will need to comply with the new laws or face hefty fines and having their sites blocked."

The stakes for platforms like Twitter would be even higher under the Online Safety Bill, which threatens jail time for company executives for serious violations, as well as penalties of up to 10% of annual global sales.

The legislation, which is yet to be approved by U.K. lawmakers, is expected to become law later this year.

Musk said earlier in the day after the EU's threats were issued that, "The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all."

"By 'free speech', I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people," Musk said.

It's truly remarkable how these Western regimes will condemn China and Russia for cracking down on dissent while they actively wage total war against free speech and free expression in their own countries against their own subjects.

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63055

Fertilizer giant CF Industries begs Biden to allow shipments for Spring planting, to prevent food shortages

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF), a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, today informed customers it serves by Union Pacific rail lines that railroad-mandated shipping reductions would result in nitrogen fertilizer shipment delays during the spring application season and that it would be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific for the foreseeable future. The Company understands that it is one of only 30 companies to face these restrictions.

CF Industries ships to customers via Union Pacific rail lines primarily from its Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana and its Port Neal Complex in Iowa. The rail lines serve key agricultural areas such as Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and California. Products that will be affected include nitrogen fertilizers such as urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as well as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), an emissions control product required for diesel trucks.

CF Industries is the largest producer of urea, UAN and DEF in North America, and its Donaldsonville Complex is the largest single production facility for the products in North America.

“The timing of this action by Union Pacific could not come at a worse time for farmers,” said Tony Will, president and chief executive officer, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. “Not only will fertilizer be delayed by these shipping restrictions, but additional fertilizer needed to complete spring applications may be unable to reach farmers at all. By placing this arbitrary restriction on just a handful of shippers, Union Pacific is jeopardizing farmers’ harvests and increasing the cost of food for consumers.”

On Friday, April 8, 2022, Union Pacific informed CF Industries without advance notice that it was mandating certain shippers to reduce the volume of private cars on its railroad effective immediately. The Company was told to reduce its shipments by nearly 20%.

CF Industries believes it will still be able to fulfill delivery of product already contracted for rail shipment to Union Pacific destinations, albeit with likely delays. However, because Union Pacific has told the Company that noncompliance will result in the embargo of its facilities by the railroad, CF Industries may not have available shipping capacity to take new rail orders involving Union Pacific rail lines to meet late season demand for fertilizer.

The application of nitrogen fertilizer is critical to maximizing crop yields. If farmers are unable to secure all the nitrogen fertilizer that they require in the current season because of supply chain disruptions such as rail shipping restrictions, the Company expects yield will be lower.

This will likely extend the timeline to replenish global grains stocks. Low global grains stocks continue to support high front month and forward prices for nitrogen-consuming crops, which has contributed to higher food prices.

CF Industries intends to engage directly with the federal government to ask that fertilizer shipments be prioritized so that spring planting is not adversely impacted.

“CF Industries’ North American manufacturing network continues to produce at a high rate to meet the needs of customers, farmers and consumers,” said Will. “We urge the federal government to take action to remove these Union Pacific rail shipment restrictions to ensure this vital fertilizer will be able to reach U.S. farmers when and where they need it.” [CF]

https://strangesounds.org/2022/04/fertilizer-giant-cf-industries-begs-biden-to-allow-shipments-for-spring-planting-to-prevent-food-shortages.html

World Health Organization Is Preparing Vote To Strip The US, And 194 Other Nations, Of It’s Sovereignty And Give Them TOTAL CONTROL Of The World

On May 22nd, the World Health Organization (WHO) will vote on whether or not to strip 194 countries, including the United States, of their sovereignty.

As part of the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset goal, the WHO is aiming to alter a treaty that would give them global control over human health.

The WHO World Health Assembly will vote on the issue from May 22 to 28.

In a new video, The Pulse’s Joe Martino interviews Shabnam Palesa Mohamed, a member of the steering committee of the World Council for Health, who points out that the treaty gives the WHO:

“… an inordinate amount of power to make decisions in sovereign countries as to how people live and how they deal with pandemics, from lockdowns to mandates over treatment.”

In an open letter on the WHO’s pandemic treaty, the World Council for Health writes, in part:

“The proposed WHO agreement is unnecessary, and is a threat to sovereignty and inalienable rights. It increases the WHO’s suffocating power to declare unjustified pandemics, impose dehumanizing lockdowns, and enforce expensive, unsafe, and ineffective treatments against the will of the people.

It’s the usual Marxist one-size-fits-all approach. Everyone will be on the same page and science will cater to GLOBAL political whims.

It will cost millions of dollars or more and money will be laundered by them and their pickpockets.

The WHO appears to want to push the treaty through quickly without public participation and input.

“It is undemocratic, it is unconstitutional and therefore it makes the treaty invalid and unlawful,” Mohamed says. She also made note of the many WHO health policy failures due to their “conflicts of interest.”

It is much worse than we thought. The rule change includes very dangerous amendments – 13 of them. Investigative reporter Leo Hohmann reports that these amendments will NOT require approval by 2/3 of the United States Senate. It’s not called a treaty. It’s amending a treaty we are a part of.

If they are approved (as submitted by the United States) by a simple majority of the 194 member countries of the World Health Assembly countries), these amendments would enter into force as international law just six months later (November 2022). The details of this are not crystal clear.

Our administration is actively destroying the Constitution by making us part of a global new world order.

“It essentially wipes out 194 nation’s sovereignty,” says investigative reporter James Roguski.

Mr. Roguski has a website with information at Don’tYouDare.info.

This gives us the one-world government in an instant:

https://en-volve.com/2022/04/26/world-health-organization-is-preparing-vote-to-strip-the-us-and-194-other-nations-of-its-sovereignty-and-give-them-total-control-of-the-world/

Ex-NATO analyst paints a completely different picture of Ukraine war

The retired Swiss Colonel Jacques Baud has written a lengthy article in which he paints a completely different picture of the war in Ukraine than portrayed in the Western media. The former NATO analyst helped Ukraine build its army for years.

Baud noted that the so-called Russian-backed separatists in Donbass were never supported in any way by Russia for the past eight years. After the Maidan coup in 2014, the Russian-speaking part of the population – civilians – were attacked by Ukrainian soldiers. In cities like Odessa, Mariupol, Luhansk and Donetsk massacres were carried out by them. Since then, a civil war has raged in the country.

Baud was working as an army analyst for NATO in 2014, when his team discovered that the rebels’ weapons were not supplied by Russia, but by Russian-speaking defectors from the Ukrainian armed forces.

How did he know this?

There was a massive exodus, after which Baud had to help to rebuild the image of the Ukrainian army. This turned out to be a long and arduous process. In the process, extremist paramilitary militias, including the Azov Battalion, sprung up.

In 2020, 40 percent of the Ukrainian army consisted of these militias, Baud said. He describes the members as cruel fanatics. They were funded, trained and armed by the United States, Great Britain, Canada and France.

Baud further pointed out that President Zelensky announced last year that he intended to take Crimea and he sent his troops south to complete the task. In February, the Ukrainian army began bombing Donbass on a large scale.

The former colonel added that US President Biden announced on February 17 that Russia would attack Ukraine within days. How did he know this? Since February 16, the civilian population of Donbass has been massively bombed by the Ukrainian army. The European Union, media, NATO and Western governments nonetheless kept mum as this was happening.

Three reasons

It seems the European Union and Western countries deliberately did not say anything about the massacre in Donbass because they knew it would provoke a Russian response, the ex-NATO analyst said.

He also pointed out that in January saboteurs with Western equipment were caught in Donbass who spoke Polish. They had wanted to cause incidents with chemical substances in Gorlovka. Baud said Joe Biden knew the mass bombing and acts of sabotage would lead to a Russian invasion.

According to him, there are three reasons for this war: the expansion of NATO, refusal of the West to implement the Minsk agreements and the large-scale attacks on the civilian population of Donbass over the past eight years.

https://freewestmedia.com/2022/04/22/ex-nato-analyst-paints-a-completely-different-picture-of-ukraine-war/

Israel rejecting Russian, Belarusian asylum requests despite being party to treaty

Escaping arrest and even torture, dissidents face further hardship in Israel, with their requests neither approved nor denied for years, leaving them in limbo in a foreign country

Thousands of asylum seekers from Russia and Belarus have sought refuge in Israel before and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine but the state has so far adopted a strategy that leaves them in limbo, lacking any legal rights.

Asylum seekers from Russia and Belarus include anti-regime protesters who fear arrest and torture if forced to return to their homelands, where anti-protest measures have increased since the war in Ukraine was launched on February 24.

One of those asylum seekers is Dmitry (alias), who escaped Belarus after participating in protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and entered Israel with a tourist visa about a year ago, leaving his wife and two children behind and hoping to reunite with them in Israel.

“After the war in Ukraine began, in which Belarus is aiding Russia, the regime became even more violent toward protesters and started threatening their families,” an associate of Dmitry told Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site.

Arriving in Israel shortly after Dmitry, his wife and two children were refused asylum by the state and detained at Ben Gurion Airport. Dmitry appealed his family’s detention and rented a small apartment for them, thinking they would soon be reunited.

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Thousands of asylum seekers from Russia and Belarus have sought refuge in Israel before and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine but the state has so far adopted a strategy that leaves them in limbo, lacking any legal rights.

Asylum seekers from Russia and Belarus include anti-regime protesters who fear arrest and torture if forced to return to their homelands, where anti-protest measures have increased since the war in Ukraine was launched on February 24.

One of those asylum seekers is Dmitry (alias), who escaped Belarus after participating in protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and entered Israel with a tourist visa about a year ago, leaving his wife and two children behind and hoping to reunite with them in Israel.

“After the war in Ukraine began, in which Belarus is aiding Russia, the regime became even more violent toward protesters and started threatening their families,” an associate of Dmitry told Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site.

Arriving in Israel shortly after Dmitry, his wife and two children were refused asylum by the state and detained at Ben Gurion Airport. Dmitry appealed his family’s detention and rented a small apartment for them, thinking they would soon be reunited.

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But his appeal was rejected and his family deported. Alone again in a country that doesn’t seem to want him, Dmitry will likely leave Israel soon and seek refuge for his family elsewhere.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-rejecting-russian-belarusian-asylum-requests-despite-being-party-to-treaty/

Surprise: Ex-general pushing for NATO troops in Ukraine has weapons industry ties

Ret. US Gen. Philip Breedlovewants to escalate the military conflict with Russia but media outlets don’t disclose he works for defense firms.

Weapons companies and military contractors stand to book new orders and enjoy heightened demand for new weapons systems, as the United States and NATO countries scale up spending in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Coincidentally or not, one of the most high-profile advocates for dramatically escalating NATO’s involvement in the war — literally calling for putting troops and arms inside Ukraine — quietly moonlights as a consultant for weapons firms and defense contractors, interests that presumably stand to benefit from a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

More importantly, that conflict of interest hasn’t been disclosed in any of his media appearances or interviews.

On Sunday, retired U.S. general and former top NATO commander Gen. Philip Breedlove told The Times of London:

So what could the West do? Well, right now there are no Russian troops west of the Dnieper River. So why don’t we put Nato troops into western Ukraine to carry out humanitarian missions and to set up a forward arms supply base?

The escalation of NATO boots on the ground inside Ukraine would make NATO a direct participant in the war, dramatically increase the likelihood of Russian attacks on NATO personnel and facilities, and raise the risk of a nuclear conflict.

Breedlove, whom The Times notes is “advising the Biden administration on Ukraine,” also works as a consultant for the weapons industry, a fact which The Times did not disclose.

According to Breedlove’s LinkedIn profile, he works as a “Senior Advisor to Culpeper National Security Solutions,” a firm that the Washington Post’s David Ignatius wrote about in 2019 in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Ignatius wrote:

A U.S. plan to train and modernize the Saudi intelligence service is also on hold, pending State Department approval of a license. This project was developed by Culpeper National Security Solutions, a unit of DynCorp, with help from some prominent former CIA officials. No work on the project has been done.

DynCorp was a scandal-plagued military contractor with an expertise in military flight operations support, whose primary client was the U.S. government until its acquisition last year by Amentum, a company that boasts of its “deep relationships with customers in the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Energy.”

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/04/26/surprise-ex-general-pushing-for-nato-troops-in-ukraine-has-weapons-industry-ties/

US Is Feeding Ukrainians Real-Time Targeting Data Telling Them Where to Fire to Kill Russians

"Ukrainian forces have used specific coordinates shared by the US to direct fire on Russian positions"

Coupled with US shipments of artillery and shells means we are soon looking at a situation where US-provided guns fire US-provided ammo on US-provided coordinates.

Source: NBC News

As Russia launched its invasion, the U.S. gave Ukrainian forces detailed intelligence about exactly when and where Russian missiles and bombs were intended to strike, prompting Ukraine to move air defenses and aircraft out of harm’s way, current and former U.S. officials told NBC News.

That near real-time intelligence-sharing also paved the way for Ukraine to shoot down a Russian transport plane carrying hundreds of troops in the early days of the war [No wreckage was ever shown. Probably never happened.], the officials say, helping repel a Russian assault on a key airport near Kyiv.

It was part of what American officials call a massive and unprecedented intelligence-sharing operation with a non-NATO partner that they say has played a crucial role in Ukraine’s success to date against the larger and better-equipped Russian military.

The details about the air defenses and the transport plane, which have not previously been reported, underscore why, two months into the war, officials assess that intelligence from U.S. spy agencies and the Pentagon has been an important factor in helping Ukraine thwart Russia’s effort to seize most of the country.

“From the get-go, we leaned pretty heavily forward in sharing both strategic and actionable intelligence with Ukraine,” a U.S. official briefed on the matter told NBC News. “It’s been impactful both at a tactical and strategic level. There are examples where you could tell a pretty clear story that this made a major difference.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said, “We are regularly providing detailed, timely intelligence to the Ukrainians on the battlefield to help them defend their country against Russian aggression and will continue to do so.”

NBC News is withholding some specific details that the network confirmed about the intelligence sharing at the request of U.S. military and intelligence officials, who say reporting on it could help the Russians shut down important sources of information.

“There has been a lot of real-time intelligence shared in terms of things that could be used for specific targeting of Russian forces,” said a former senior intelligence official familiar with the situation. The information includes commercial satellite images “but also a lot of other intelligence about, for example, where certain types of Russian units are active.”

Ukraine continues to move air defenses and aircraft nearly every day with the help of American intelligence, which is one reason Russia has not been able to establish air dominance. In some cases, Ukraine moved the targeted air defense systems or planes just in time, the officials said.

“The Russian military has literally been cratering empty fields where air defenses were once set up,” one U.S. official said. “It has had an enormous impact on the Russian military’s ability on the ground.”

https://anti-empire.com/us-is-feeding-ukrainians-real-time-targeting-data-telling-them-where-to-fire-to-kill-russians/

Lloyd Austin Vows to Move ‘Heaven and Earth’ to Keep Arming Ukraine

Austin made the comments at a conference on arming Ukraine in Germany attended by 40 countries that he said will be held monthly

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Tuesday vowed that the US will keep moving “heaven and earth” to send weapons into Ukraine as Washington and its allies are pledging to intensify military aid for Kyiv. The Pentagon chief made the comments at a conference at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany that was attended by military leaders from about 40 nations.

“I would like this whole group today to leave with a common and transparent understanding of Ukraine’s near-term security requirements because we are going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them,” Austin said in his opening remarks at the conference.

Austin, a former Raytheon board member, announced that a similar meeting on arming Ukraine will be held each month in a forum he dubbed the Ukraine Contact Group. “We’re going to extend this forum beyond today,” he said. “The group will be a vehicle for nations of good will to intensify our efforts, coordinate our assistance, and focus on winning today’s fight and the struggles to come.”

The formation of the group is the latest example of the US’s massive support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Since the invasion started on February 24, the US has pledged about $3.7 billion in military aid for Kyiv, and more is coming. The US’s European allies have also pledged to increase aid, including Germany, which announced at the conference that it is sending tanks to Ukraine for the first time.

Austin led the conference in Germany after he traveled to Kyiv with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to meet with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. After his short visit to the Ukrainian capital, Austin said in Poland on Monday that one of the US goals in Ukraine is to see a “weakened” Russia.

The US and most of its NATO allies have made it clear that they are digging in to support Ukraine against Moscow and isolate the Russian economy for the long term. The campaign is a boon for US arms makers, who are being asked to ramp up production and offer new weapons to meet Ukraine’s needs.

The massive support for Kyiv, which includes intelligence sharing to target Russian troops, risks provoking Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that by giving Ukraine arms, NATO is “essentially entering into a proxy war.”

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/04/26/lloyd-austin-vows-to-move-heaven-and-earth-to-keep-arming-ukraine/

Trump appeals NY judge’s contempt ruling

Former President Trump on Wednesday began his appeal of a New York state judge’s ruling holding him in contempt and fining him $10,000 for every day that he doesn’t comply with a state attorney general subpoena.

Trump’s attorney filed a notice of appeal with the New York Supreme Court just two days after Judge Arthur Engoron found the former president in contempt.

In a written order issued on Tuesday, Engoron said it was unacceptable that Trump had continued to challenge the subpoena’s request for documents weeks after the judge had rejected Trump’s legal challenge against it.

“OAG has satisfied its burden of demonstrating that Mr. Trump willfully disobeyed a lawful court order of which he had knowledge prejudicing OAG,” Engoron wrote, using an acronym for the Office of Attorney General.

“The purpose of civil contempt is not to punish, but, rather, to coerce and/or to compensate. OAG seeks to fine Mr. Trump $10,000 per day until he satisfies his obligations, which this Court, which has wide discretion in such matters, finds to be reasonable.”

The judge ruled in February that Trump must provide New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) with documents and testimony as part of her civil investigation into alleged fraud at his company.

Trump is appealing the order to sit for a deposition with investigators, but had not challenged the order to turn over documents.

Trump’s attorney Alina Habba said earlier this week that they disagreed with the judge’s contempt ruling and vowed an appeal.

“This does not even come close to meeting the standard on a motion for contempt and, thus, we intend to appeal,” Habba said.

“The judge’s order was clear: Donald J. Trump is in contempt of court and must pay $10,000 a day until he complies with our subpoenas,” James said in a statement. “We’ve seen this playbook before, and it has never stopped our investigation of Mr. Trump and his organization. This time is no different.”

https://thehill.com/regulation/3468882-trump-appeals-ny-judges-contempt-ruling/

piss take

Biden’s Transport Czar Recently Bought Stock In a Chinese Company Singled Out for Forced Uyghur Labor Use.

Yet another top appointee has their fortunes tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

President Joe Biden’s top appointee to the Federal Transit Administration recently invested in a Chinese textile company that relies on forced Uyghur labor for the production of its clothes and footwear in China’s Xinjiang province.

Nuria Fernandez – Biden’s Administrator of the Department of Transportation (DOT) agency – purchased stock in Li-Ning Company on December 10th, 2021. The purchase was worth between $1,001 to $15,000, according to a financial disclosure report.

Li-Ning Company, founded by former Olympic gymnast Li Ning, has been identified by the U.S. government and human rights groups as relying on forced Uyghur labor to produce their goods in China’s Xinjiang region.

In Xinjiang, the Chinese Communist Party routinely subjects the ethnic minority group to forced labor, torture, mass surveillance, and involuntary sterilization.

Beyond relying on slave labor for its products, Li-Ning Company has publicly defended its use of cotton from the Xinjiang region amidst Western boycotts. The company was praised by the state-run Global Times newspaper, in an article entitled “More Chinese Brands Support Xinjiang Cotton Amid Global Giants’ Boycott.” The article praised companies who rejected campaigns to end the practice of forced Uyghur labor.

“Li Ning Co said in a statement sent to the Global Times that it is not a member of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a Switzerland-based cotton organization that has expressed concerns about Xinjiang cotton,” noted the article.

Li-Ning has described Xinjiang as “an important raw material producing area in its supply chain.”

https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/04/27/biden-dot-czar-bought-stock-in-chinese-company/

Brazil Arrests 58 in Massive Operation against Gang Members

In a massive operation that spanned four Brazilian states, authorities cracked down on a sophisticated money laundering network of the criminal gang Os Manos, arresting nearly 60 suspects.

More than 1,300 law enforcement officers targeted members of the Os Manos, which had plagued streets in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Investigation focused on more than 200 suspects, the Secretariat of Public Security said in a statement.

“The idea is not only to arrest low-level gang members, but members of all its levels, the leaders,” Brazilian Civil Police Chief Gabriel Borges told local media.

Locations in some 40 cities were raided. Officers seized one airplane, 40 luxury cars—including Maseratis, Audis, Cadillacs, and Porsches—as well as assets worth about US$10 million.

During the raids, a soft teddy bear was spotted in the bedroom of one of the gang leaders. It was stuffed with nearly $10,000. The money was supposed to be used by his wife in case of an emergency. She was arrested.

Os Manos has been a target of any Rio Grande do Sul administration since the state recognized it as the most prominent faction that is spread across the prison system with ties to other Latin American countries.

Local media revealed numerous wiretaps in which several accused talked about their illicit activities, such as robbing vehicles, trading vehicles for arms, and trafficking in drugs.

In one wiretap, an alleged gang member arranged to rob luxury cars.

“It’s the same robbery of a normal car, isn't it?!” the suspect tells another. “Or at least the tracker, right?! Then you have to block it [tracker], you have to keep it, then you have to take it off, then when you take it off, the signal remains, you have to put it somewhere else.”

In another case, a leader refers to arms trafficking on a wiretapped telephone line. “I deliver the cars to him there [a neighboring country], he hands me the weapons here.” The weapons were used to commit new robberies as well as to rent to other criminals.

What’s more, a gang member arranged to bring drugs from Bolivia and Paraguay after fixing an airplane. “Now we’re going to fill our pockets. Imagine that you look for 50 kilos per Sunday. The whole week fills our pockets. Zero risk.”

The dirty money was later laundered through “purchasing luxury properties, gemstones and vehicles, setting up shell companies and bank accounts belonging to front men,” Borges told local media.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/16250-brazil-arrests-58-in-massive-operation-against-gang-members

Michigan Man Charged with Hate Crimes for Attempting to Intimidate Protesters from Supporting Black Lives Matter

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/michigan-man-charged-hate-crimes-attempting-intimidate-protesters-supporting-black-lives

More than 700 Arrested in Joint Law Enforcement Operation in North Mississippi

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndms/pr/more-700-arrested-joint-law-enforcement-operation-north-mississippi

3 Mexican Mafia Members and 28 Associates Charged in Racketeering Indictment that Alleges Murders, Drug Trafficking and Gun Offenses

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/3-mexican-mafia-members-and-28-associates-charged-racketeering-indictment-alleges

Former Airman Enters Guilty Plea to Possessing More than 15,000 Child Sexual Assault Material Images, Videos in Project Safe Childhood Case

https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdga/pr/former-airman-enters-guilty-plea-possessing-more-15000-child-sexual-assault-material

>>16165202

>>16165149 3 Mexican Mafia Members and 28 Associates Charged in Racketeering Indictment that Alleges Murders, Drug Trafficking and Gun Offenses

>>16165119 More than 700 Arrested in Joint Law Enforcement Operation in North Mississippi