Did anyone else get text from Truth Social like this? Just got it 13 minutes ago
I have an iphone
10 May, 2022 17:03
Japan imposes new sanctions on Russia
Tokyo has put Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and over 140 other people from Russia and the Donbass republics on its backlist
The Japanese government has imposed a new round of sanctions on Russia over its continued military action in Ukraine. The restrictive measures target eight Russian officials, businessmen, and their family members, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, as well as over 130 individuals from the Donbass republics, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, are also on the list.
The restrictive measures involve freezing the assets of these people in Japan, the ministry said. Tokyo also banned exports destined for 71 Russian companies, including shipbuilding and research facilities, as well as defense companies. Russia’s state anti-aircraft systems manufacturer, Almaz-Antey, was among the companies targeted by the sanctions.
Separately, the export of quantum computers, 3-D printers, and other high-tech products to Russia is prohibited as well. Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu said that Tokyo strongly condemns Russia’s actions in Ukraine and also confirmed that Japan would phase out imports of Russian oil in line with the recent decision by the G7, which includes the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated that phasing out Russian oil is a “very difficult decision” for a nation “heavily dependent on energy imports,” adding that it will take time.
Japan has supported the Western sanctions regime since the launch of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. Tokyo has frozen the assets of Russian individuals, banned the import of certain goods, and started phasing out imports of Russian coal, which amount to about 11% of the nation’s coal needs.
The developments have resulted in a rift between Tokyo and Moscow. On May 4, Russia banned 63 Japanese officials, including Kishida, and public figures from entering the country. Japan’s foreign minister, as well as the defense, finance, and justice ministers, also made the list.
In March, Moscow terminated a 1991 arrangement allowing Japanese citizens to visit the Kuril Islands without a visa, and broke off talks with Japan on formally ending the Second World War, citing Tokyo’s “openly unfriendly” conduct.
The two nations never formally signed a peace treaty after WWIIbecause of a dispute over the four southernmost islands in the Kuril chain, which Japan calls the Northern Territories. In April, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi called the islands “illegally occupied” in the ministry’s annual foreign policy overview.
https://www.rt.com/news/555264-japan-new-sanctions-russia-ukraine/
10 May, 2022 18:40
US intelligence estimates Russia’s plans for Ukraine
America’sspy agencies reckonVladimir Putin is preparing for a “prolonged” conflict, and wants to seize territory
US intelligence estimates Russia’s plans for Ukraine
Director of National IntelligenceAvril Hainestestifies during a Senate Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, May 10, 2022 © AP / Jose Luis Magana
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told Congress on Tuesday that, in the view of the US’ spy agencies, Russian President Vladimir Putin was gearing up for a “prolonged” conflict in Ukraine, and was looking to establish control of Ukraine’s southern coast, from the Donbass in the east to Transnistria in the west.
“We assess President Putin is preparing for a prolonged conflict in Ukraine during which he still intends to achieve goals beyond the Donbass,” Haines told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Haines explained that according to her “indications,” Putin is seeking to extend Russian control from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics – which collectively make up the Donbass region – along Ukraine’s Black Sea coast to the breakaway province of Transnistria on the Moldovan border.
Doing so would be a major strategic win for Russia, and would leave Ukraine landlocked. However, Russia’s objectives in this regard are unclear. Upon sending troops into Ukraine in February, Putin stated that Russia’s military operation was intended to “demilitarize” Ukraine, to “denazify” its leadership, and to protect the Russian-speaking population of the Donbass republics, who have lived under legal and military persecution since 2014. Putin did not state any clear territorial end goals in Ukraine.
To take land up to Transnistria, according to the US’ spy chiefs, Putin would need to declare a full mobilization and call up additional troops, something that has not happened yet. However, with fighting raging along the borders of the Donbass republics and Ukrainian territory, Haines said that Russia’s currently deployed forces would likely try to “crush the most capable and well-equipped Ukrainian forces fighting to hold the line in the east” in the “near term.”
While the US and its NATO allies have poured billions of dollars worth of weapons into Ukraine in a bid to slow this advance, Haines claimed that “Putin most likely also judges that Russia has a greater ability and willingness to endure challenges than his adversaries,” and that “he is probably counting on US and EU resolve to weaken as food shortages, inflation and energy prices get worse.”
Notably, while the EU and US have been rocked by soaring inflation and record gas prices, the White House has until now insisted that Americans will not experience food shortages. Haines’ statement marks the first time that a US official has acknowledged that this may be a reality.
Haines also referred to the situation in Ukraine as Russia’s “military conflict with Ukraine and the West,” an apparent acknowledgment of the US’ role as a participant. In the eyes of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the West is already “essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy” due to its sharing of arms and intelligence with Kiev.
The Biden administration and lawmakers from both parties have resolved to continue bankrolling Kiev’s military. Congress on Monday reached a deal to send nearly $40 billion in military and other aid to Ukraine, nearly $7 billion more than Biden asked for last week, and Biden on Monday signed the Lend-Lease Act of 2022, removing legal limits on the quantity of arms Washington can send to Kiev.
Haines told the Senate that Putin would likely seek to intercept weapons shipments from the US in the “coming weeks.” Russian forces have already destroyed numerous warehouses and stockpiles of foreign-supplied arms, and Moscow has stated that these weapons, as well as convoys transporting them within Ukraine’s borders, constitute “legitimate targets.”
“Both Russia and Ukraine believe they can continue to make progress militarily,” Haines said, adding: “We do not see a viable negotiating path forward, at least in the short term.”
(Why do radical leftists look so ugly, it seems like its a requirement)
https://www.rt.com/news/555267-avril-haines-putin-ukraine/
10 May, 2022 18:35
Germany gives update on heavy weapons for Ukraine
Berlin will further support Kiev, but promises "no shortcuts" on EU accession
(I still dont get why they announce their sending weapons every time, just for them to be blown up)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed during a visit to Kiev that her country, along with the Netherlands, will provide Ukraine with state-of-the-art heavy weapons, including the Panzerhaubitze 2000, and will begin training for the Ukrainian military “over the next few days.”
Accompanied by her Dutch counterpart, Wopke Hoekstra for part of the visit to Ukraine, Baerbock said the seven howitzers Germany is giving Kiev to enable it “to protect its cities against future attacks” will arrive in Ukraine before the military training is complete. This way, she explained at a press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Kuleba, the soldiers will be prepared to operate the equipment immediately after their return to the warzone from Germany.
Berlin’s decision to send self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, announced three days ago by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, marked yet another U-turn in Germany’s post-Nazi policy of not sending heavy weapons to war zones.
“We will continue to support the European, free Ukraine. Humanitarian, financial, economic, technological, political and energy issues,” Baerbock said.
Russia has consistently warned the West against “pumping up” Ukraine with weapons, saying it will only lead to a prolonging of the conflict and long-term problems. Moscow also made it clear that it would consider any foreign weapons within Ukraine as legitimate targets.
During her surprise trip to the conflict-torn country, Baerbock said that Germany stands “unchangeably on the side of the Ukrainians and free Kiev,” adding that she is happy not only to announce the reopening of the German embassy in the capital, but to be able to say “free Kiev.” The minister explained that “in the dark days after February 24,” when Russia launched the military operation, the minister “had doubts about saying that phrase anytime soon.”
Germany is committed to continuing its pressure on Russia, Baerbock said, as the EU now considers its sixth package of sanctions against the “aggressor.”
“That’s why we are reducing our dependence on Russian energy to zero with all consistency – and forever,” she said.
However, the German minister had some disappointing news for Ukraine.Baerbock stressed that there would be “no shortcut” to EU accession, and while Ukraine would certainly receive “clear candidate status,” there should be “no empty promises” on the way forward.
During her visit to Ukraine, Baerbock was welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Hoekstra also attended the meeting.
Earlier, Baerbock visited the battle-scarred Kiev suburb of Irpen and the town of Bucha, the site of alleged atrocities against civilians that Kiev attributes to Russian forces. Moscow has denied the accusations and says they are part of a Ukrainian “smear campaign” against its military.
https://www.rt.com/russia/555260-germany-ukraine-weapons-minister/
10 May, 2022 13:07
Investors dump Apple for Campbell Soup
Tech giants have lost $1 trillion in value in recent days amid market uncertainty
Key global technology giants have lost over $1 trillion of their value in the last three days of trading amid a stock selloff in the US, CNBC reported on Monday.
Apple has shed $220 billion in market capitalization since Thursday, Microsoft is down around $189 billion, while Tesla and Amazon also suffered big losses, according to figures provided by the outlet.
This comes amid a wider selloff in US markets, which fell sharply on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday. The downturn carried over into Monday and over the last three days, the Dow Jones ended up plummeting more than 5%, the S&P 500 shed 7%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost around 10%.
More traditional stocks, meanwhile, such as food companies Campbell Soup, General Mills and J.M. Smucker, have been on the rise, as investors seem to be preferring safer parts of the market at a time of economic uncertainty.
The US central bank’s 50 basis-point hike on Wednesday, the biggest since the year 2000, came amid intensifying efforts to tackle soaring inflation. The cost of living in the US is being driven higher by surging energy prices as a result of Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia, a major energy exporter.
https://www.rt.com/business/555245-investors-dump-apple-for-campbells/
10 May, 2022 12:35
German minister lights candle in Bucha (VIDEO)
Annalena Baerbock arrived in Ukraine on a previously unannounced visit
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock started her surprise visit to Ukraine by traveling on Tuesday to the town of Bucha, the site of alleged atrocities against civilians that Kiev attributes to Russian forces. Moscow considers the allegations to be part of a Ukrainian “smear campaign” against its military.
Baerbock has thus become the first member of the German government to visit Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian military offensive. She was welcomed by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova.
According to the journalists accompanying Baerbock, who was escorted by heavily armed security guards, the Green Party minister used her visit to Bucha as a chance to speak with local residents.
Claiming that “the worst crimes imaginable” have been committed in the town, Baerbock said, as quoted by Die Welt: “That’s why it's incredibly important to me to be here today.”
Stressing the importance of a thorough investigation of the events in Bucha, the German minister said that this was something that the international community owed to the victims.
“And these victims, you also feel that so strongly here, we could be these victims,” she said.
Baerbock, who was sporting a flak jacket, visited a local church where she lit a candle to honor the victims of the conflict, and admitted that the contrast between everyday life in the town and the terrible events which allegedly took place there was striking.
“You see playgrounds, supermarkets, people going to work. And then you see the worst traces of crime right next to it,” she said.
A video posted on social media by ZDF correspondent Katrin Eigendorf features Baerbock watching footage of the alleged atrocities shown to her by a local priest.
Baerbock’s itinerary will also include a meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Kuleba.
In April, Kiev accused Russia of genocide after revealing disturbing images of what it claimed to be evidence of Russian troops having deliberately killed civilians in Bucha, a town northwest of Kiev. Moscow denied the allegations and said Kiev was manipulating and fabricating evidence to frame Russian troops and undermine the peace process. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in his turn, stressed that he was “deeply concerned” by the alleged “violation of human rights,” but stopped short of calling the events in Ukraine a “genocide,” explaining that this term “is strictly defined in international law.” He also noted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) was investigating the matter.
The German minister’s trip to Ukraine came a day after Victory Day, which is celebrated in former Soviet republics on May 9. Back in April, Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that Kiev had refused to host him, reportedly due to his good relations with Moscow. Later, Steinmeier held a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which the latter invited all of Germany’s leadership to visit Ukraine.
https://www.rt.com/russia/555244-germany-minister-ukraine-visit/
9 May, 2022 13:24
An open letter to the American people, as Russia celebrates its WW2 victory over the Nazis
To those who have forgotten the sacrifices the ‘Greatest Generation’ made to defeat Hitler
In his 1998 classic, ‘The Greatest Generation’, famed NBC journalist Tom Brokow examined the lives and experiences of some of the millions of American men and women who fought in the Second World War.
“At a time in their lives when their days and nights should have been filled with innocent adventure, love, and the lessons of the workaday world,” Brokow observed, “they were fighting in the most primitive conditions possible across the bloodied landscape of France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and the coral islands of the Pacific. They answered the call to save the world from the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled, instruments of conquest in the hands of fascist maniacs. They faced great odds and a late start, but they did not protest. They succeeded on every front. It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced.”
I was born in 1961, some two decades after the United States entered the Second World War. By this time, the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had receded into the history books, replaced by a new and even more menacing foe, the Soviet Union. I grew up with the mantra “better dead than red”…
In 1977, my family moved to West Germany. My father had been reassigned to the 17th Air Force, headquartered at Sembach Air Force Base. We opted to live off base, in “the economy” as we called it, eventually settling into a magnificent house in the village of Marnheim owned by a German family who had been renting it out to US servicemen for decades. The house had a history, too. In 1945, it had served as a temporary headquarters for General George S. Patton as his 3rd Army advanced through the Rhein Pfaltz region of Germany during the Second World War.
We were three decades removed from that war when we moved to Germany, but reminders of that conflict were all around us. I spent the summer of 1978 working in a meat inspection facility staffed by what we euphemistically called “DPs,” for “displaced persons.” When the Second World War ended, millions of Europeans who had been enslaved by Nazi Germany found themselves liberated from their prison-like existence, but with no home to return to.
They were also deeply resentful of the German people for having imprisoned them and destroying the Europe of their childhood….
One of the most poignant reminders lay across another border, this one to the west, where, near the Luxembourgish town of Hamm, the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial was located. The final resting place for more than 5,000 Americans who died fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, Hamm was also where General Patton was laid to rest following his accidental death in December 1945 …Their parent’s forgetfulness about the nature of the regime which killed so many millions in pursuit of the ambitions of one of the most odious ideologies of all humanity – Nazism….
But it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to live and work in the Soviet Union, as part of a US inspection team stationed outside a Soviet missile factory in Votkinsk, that I realized the extent to which this sacrifice marked the daily reality of the Soviet people. In downtown Votkinsk, there was a monument to the citizens who lost their lives during the war, as well as those who had been awarded the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” for their wartime service.
Everywhere one traveled in the Soviet Union there were similar monuments constructed in communities that had made it an essential reality of their being never to forget the sacrifices made by their version of the “Greatest Generation” in saving not only their fellow citizens, but much of Europe as well, from the scourge of Nazi Germany….
Unlike the Germans, the Russian people don’t forget.
Sadly, I cannot say the same thing about the American people. There will be no Victory in Europe celebration in the United States this year, just as there hasn’t been for years past. We have forgotten our “Greatest Generation” and the sacrifices they made for our future. There is no American “Immortal Regiment” of family members marching proudly down the main streets…
We have forgotten what they even fought for.
There was a time when the United States and Soviet Union fought together to overcome the scourge of Nazi Germany and the ideology it espoused…..
I can’t help but think that Tom Brokow’s “Greatest Generation” would be ashamed by the actions of those for whom they sacrificed everything, and who have still proven insufficient for the task of honoring their memory in action and in deed
https://www.rt.com/russia/555114-victory-day-america-nazis/
10 May, 2022 21:46
Multiple Russian governors resign
All the newly resigned governors would have seen their mandates expire in September
Five Russian governors announced their resignation in one day on Tuesday. All of them would have seen their mandates expire later this year ahead of the regional elections scheduled for September 11, Russia’s national voting day in 2022.
Two of the governors – Sergey Zhvachkin of the Siberian Tomsk Oblast and Valery Radaev of the Saratov Oblast in the Volga Federal District – had served for two consecutive terms and had occupied their posts for a decade since 2012. Although Russia passed a law allowing governors to serve for more than two terms in a row in 2021, both have said they would not run for another term at the upcoming elections.
The head of the Kirov Oblast – another region in the Volga Federal District – Igor Vasilyev, who had occupied his position since 2016, has said he had asked President Vladimir Putin to relieve him of his duties since he plans to work at “the federal level.” The governor previously worked with the Russian State Register – a federal agency that deals with everything related to land and real estate.
The other two outgoing governors are Nikolay Lyubimov of the Ryazan Oblast in central Russia and Alexander Evstifeev, the head of the Mari El Republic – an autonomous region of the indigenous Mari people. Both had served as governors since 2017. Evstifeev also previously served as a Moscow region Commercial Court judge. Neither of them publicized the reasons for their resignations.
Putin has already signed a decree appointing acting governors for all five regions. Two of them – Vladimir Mazur (Tomsk Oblast) and Alexander Sokolov (Kirov Oblast) – previously worked with the presidential administration. Pavel Malkov, who is about to take over the Ryazan Oblast from Lyubimov, previously headed the Russian state statistics service (Rosstat), which was responsible for the national population census in 2021.
In the Saratov Oblast, Radaev will be replaced by his deputy, Roman Busargin. Mari El Republic is to be temporarily headed by Yury Zaitsev, the ex-government head of the Russian republic of Kalmykia. All of the acting governors will get a chance to stand in the September elections in their respective regions.
Although the string of resignations did attract media attention in Russia, Russian political analysts did not view it as an extraordinary event. “There is nothing new about it,” Aleksey Markin, the deputy head of the Center for Political Technologies, told the Interfax news agency, adding that, previously, governors also sometimes announced their resignations ahead of elections if they felt their popular support was waning.
“When a single governor did that, [people] paid little attention to such events,” Markin added.
https://www.rt.com/russia/555273-five-governors-announce-resignation/
11 May, 2022 00:58
Spy chief fired amid cyber-snooping scandal
Pegasus spyware reportedly used against Catalan independence movement and top government figures in Madrid
Spain has fired national intelligence center (CNI) director Paz Esteban on Tuesday in the wake of two spyware scandals. One operation saw key figures in the Catalan independence movement targeted with Israeli spyware program Pegasus, while the other scheme, allegedly foreign in origin, saw top officials in Madrid’s government also subjected to “illicit” and “external” targeting with the same software.
The former spy chief reportedly acknowledged last week that her agency had spied on 18 members of the Catalan independence movement with judicial approval, including the regional president Pere Aragones.
Allegations that Madrid spied on pro-independence Catalan politicians since 2017 were first revealed through a joint investigation by the Guardian and El País in 2020, and with further findings published by Toronto-based cyber research firm Citizen Lab earlier this year.
The Spanish government said an “external” actor had spied on PM Pedro Sanchez, defense minister Margarita Robles and interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, but would not name the culprit publicly.
Robles, whose department oversees the CNI, acknowledged there had been “shortcomings” – including the fact that it reportedly took a year to discover three of the nation’s top officials had had their phones hacked – but insisted on referring to the personnel shakeup as a “new step” for the intelligence agency, focusing more on Esteban’s replacement, CNI veteran Esperanza Casteleiro.
“She knows the center very well, has worked there for almost 40 years, and is working for Spain,” the defense minister continued, adding that she hoped the documents Esteban had revealed before the congressional committee detailing the surveillance of the Catalan officials would eventually be declassified so the nation could see all judicial rules had been followed.
Madrid’s handling of the scandals has been attacked from all sides. Conservatives have accused the socialist PM of throwing Esteban under the bus to please the Catalan independence movement. Catalan leaders insisted that firing her was “a concession to common sense,” while the leftist Podemos party has demanded guarantees such events won’t happen again. Even Amnesty International has weighed in, accusing Madrid of using official security “as an excuse to cover up possible human rights violations.”
Pegasus, made by Israeli company NSO Group, infamously allows the attacker to remotely snoop on the target’s iPhoneas well as watch and listen through the camera and microphone. It has been found installed on the phones of activists and political opposition leaders around the world, despite its manufacturers’ insistence that it was only sold to governments looking to use it to track criminals and terrorists.
https://www.rt.com/news/555278-spain-spy-chief-fired/