20 Jul, 2022 11:57

Ukraine sells billions in gold it may not have – Peter Schiff

The country has sold more bullion than it was reported as having prior to the conflict

Ukraine’s central bank has sold $12.4 billion of gold reserves since February, Reuters has reported. However, a precious metals expert says the numbers don’t add up.

“We are selling [this gold] so that our importers are able to buy necessary goods for the country,” the agency quoted Katerina Rozhkova, first deputy head of the National Bank of Ukraine, as saying on national television on Sunday. The gold was not being sold to support Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, Reuters added.

However, questions have been raised about the reported figures. In an article published on Schiffgold.com on Wednesday, American financial commentator and stock broker Peter Schiffdescribed the sale as “murky” and said it was unclear how Ukraine had sold so much gold. According to data from the World Gold Council and cited by Schiff, when Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine held about 27 tons of gold in its reserves, which was valued at just under $1.7 billion. In other words, Schiff writes, the central bank claims to have sold more than seven times its total bullion holdings.

Schiff goes on to explain that Ukraine could be tapping into domestic gold supplies held by commercial banks or other institutions, and there’s a possibility that other countries or private entities had given the country gold to sell.

Ukraine has been struggling to support its economy amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, with the government reportedly having requested to delay its foreign debt repayments by two years. The country’s GDP has been forecast to decrease by 30% this year.

https://www.rt.com/business/559307-ukraine-sells-billions-gold/

20 Jul, 2022 11:45

Ukraine wants to halt foreign debt payments – media

This follows the approval of a €1 billion EU loan to Kiev

The Ukrainian government has moved to delay payments on foreign debt for two years, the country’s media reported on Wednesday. The restructuring will have to be approved by the creditors first, the reports add.

According to an earlier story by Bloomberg, Kiev also wants to change the terms of GDP warrants as it explores the possibility of debt restructuring. GDP warrants are a subset of securities, mostly bonds, linked to GDP, where the payment amount varies in accordance with a country’s output. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development predicted in May that Ukraine’s GDP will contract by 30% this year.

Kiev wants to reach an agreement with bondholders by mid-August, before a $1.4 billion redemption and interest payment in September, the outlet says, adding that according to its own calculations, the move may save $3 billion in debt redemption costs over two years, and more with interest payments.

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s finance minister signed a credit agreement with the EU to receive a €1 billion ($1 billion) long-term loan from the bloc at the end of this month, according to a statement published on the website of the Ukrainian government.

In March, the European Commission proposed a €9 billion loan to Ukraine, set to be backed by guarantees from the governments of EU members. However, the bloc has struggled to structure the aid due to widespread concern about Kiev’s ability to pay its debt.

Separately, a €1.5 billion loan by the European Investment Bank was said to have been blocked within the EU because more guarantees were needed to secure the sum. Since February, the EU has given Ukraine a total of €2.2 billion in macro-financial support.

President Vladimir Zelensky said in June that Ukraine needs $5 billion in aid per month to stay afloat; however, the figure was nearly doubled later, when a presidential economic adviser reportedly told the Financial Times thatKiev needs $9 billion per month and that “it would be next to impossible” for Ukraine to survive without the money.

Shithole country, Ukraine

https://www.rt.com/business/559306-ukraine-halt-foreign-debt-payment/

20 Jul, 2022 09:08

US and UK want ‘real war’ between Russia and EU – Lavrov

Washington and London seek a larger confrontation, the foreign minister claims

The US and UK want to escalate the Russia-Ukraine conflict into a larger confrontation between Moscow and members of the European Union, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday in an interview with RT and Sputnik.

“Our American counterparts, British counterparts… with active support from Germans, the Polish and the Baltic states, they really want to turn this war into a real war and start a confrontation between Russia and European states,” Lavrov told RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan.

The Western governments are “keeping Ukraine from any constructive steps” towards a peace settlement, Lavrov argued. “[Ukraine is] not just [being] pumped with weapons. They are forced to use these weapons in an increasingly riskier way.”

Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring country in late February. Many countries, including NATO members, imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow and have been supplying Kiev with heavy weapons. The latest deliveries include US-made M142 HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and M777 howitzers.

Lavrov claimed that the US and Britain were acting to their own advantage in the conflict between Russia and the EU because the economies of the bloc’s members are bearing the brunt of the sanctions. He added that the US has been acting “irresponsibly” by stoking tensions with Russia.

They are playing a very dangerous game. I don’t think they understand it themselves. But then, in Europe, a lot of people are starting to understand that.

US President Joe Biden said last week that Russia must suffer “a strategic failure” in Ukraine and vowed more support for Kiev.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559297-us-uk-real-war-russia-europe-lavrov/

19 Jul, 2022 21:36

Putin tells US to stop ‘looting’ Syria

The Russian leader also urged Washington to end its illegal occupation in the Middle Eastern state

The US must stop “stealing” oil from the Syrian people, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday, after meeting with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts in Tehran.

The three guarantors of the Astana Process also agreed that the US should leave illegally held land in the trans-Euphrates region, and cease making the humanitarian crisis in Syria worse with unilateral sanctions.

“[The US has to] stop robbing the Syrian state, the Syrian people, exporting oil illegally,” Putin told reporters on Tuesday evening. He said this is the “common position” of Russia, Iran, and Turkey.

Several hundred US troops are illegally present in Syria, mainly controlling the oil wells and wheat fields in the country’s northeast, controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia since the defeat of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). The US-backed SDF has refused to reintegrate with the government in Damascus, which Washington wishes to see overthrown.

Since 2019, the US has sought to punish anyone trying to assist the reconstruction of war-torn Syria via the ‘Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act’, accusing the government of President Bashar Assad of war crimes and blocking all assistance to Damascus.

‘Future of Syria must be defined by Syrians themselves’ - Putin

At the summit with Turkish and Iranian counterparts, Putin highlighted that the three nations are set to take measures to promote a dialogue within Syria and that efforts to resolve Syrian crisis are effective.

Putin said on Tuesday that such sanctions have had “disastrous results” and that humanitarian aid to Syria “should not be politicized.”

During Tuesday’s summit in Tehran, Putin met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In a joint declaration, the three presidents confirmed their conviction that “there can be no military solution to the Syrian conflict,” only a political solution under the leadership of the UN. They also condemned the “unilateral sanctions violating international law,” which are exacerbating the humanitarian situation in Syria, urging the UN and other international organizations to “increase assistance to all Syrians, without discrimination, politicization and preconditions.”

Russia sent an expeditionary force to Syria in September 2015 at the request of Damascus, to help defeat IS and other terrorist groups. In January 2017, Moscow, Ankara, and Tehran launched the Astana Process – named after the capital of Kazakhstan – to resolve the conflict in Syria, which began in 2011.

https://www.rt.com/news/559279-putin-iran-turkey-syria/

19 Jul, 2022 21:04

Ukraine must win by winter – Zelensky aide

President's chief of staff said that his country needed more weapons, and quickly

The Ukrainian military must defeat Russia before winter, Andrey Yermak, chief of staff to President Vladimir Zelensky, said in an interview on Tuesday. Amid a shakeup in Ukraine’s government and Russian gains on the battlefield, Yermak insisted that more Western weapons could turn the tide.

“Today, our main goal is victory,” Yermak said, “to do this, we need our military to have everything they need. They have everything except sufficient equipment and sufficient weapons.”

The US alone has already allocated more than $55 billion worth of military and economic aid to Ukraine since February, and even though the Biden administration’s Lend-Lease program of arms shipments is set to come online in August, Yermak stated that time was not on his country’s side.

“The main task of Lend-Lease is that we get everything on time,” he explained. “It is very important for us not to enter the winter. After winter, when the Russians will have more time to dig in, it will certainly be more difficult.”

Asked whether Ukraine’s military could retake the Black Sea coastline before winter, as Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov told the UK’s Sunday Times earlier this month that it would, Yermak did not answer directly, saying instead that “our goal is definitely the de-occupation of all our territories,” without providing a timeframe.

“It’s hard work,” Yermak admitted, “when there is an enemy against you who has much more weapons and men.”

In Reznikov’s estimation, Ukraine needs around 50 M142 HIMARS rocket artillery systems from the US to hold back the advancing Russian military, and 100 of these truck-mounted launchers to conduct a counteroffensive. Reznikov announced these figures during a meeting of the Atlantic Council, a NATO-backed think tank, on Tuesday.

To date, Washington has given Ukraine eight HIMARS systems, and the White House revealed on Tuesday that a fresh package of military aid to be announced this week will include more of these weapons systems.

Ukraine has suffered a string of losses on the battlefield, with the entirety of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) coming under the control of Russian-allied forces at the beginning of this month, and Russian and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) forces seizing operational control of Seversk – within striking distance of the major cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk – in recent days.

Meanwhile in Kiev,Zelensky’s government appears consumed by a witch hunt, with Zelensky firing Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova and the head of the country’s top security agency, Ivan Bakanov, over the weekend. According to the Ukrainian leader, “high treason and collaboration” was rampant in both services. Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday approved the firings, and Zelensky went on to remove five more regional bosses of Bakanov’s agency, as well as its deputy head, Vladimir Gorbenko.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559276-ukraine-win-winter-yermak/

20 Jul, 2022 09:19

HomeRussia & FSU

Russian troops given new orders in Ukraine

Moscow prioritizes an end to Kiev’s attacks on civilians

Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has inspected troops taking part in Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine. He ordered them to take measures to stop the Ukrainian military’s strikes on civilians, the ministry revealed on Wednesday.

Shoigu visited a command post of the ‘West’ grouping where he got a progress report on the military campaign from Lieutenant General Andrey Sychevoy.

“After hearing the report…, Sergei Shoigu gave instructions for a further increase of operational responsiveness related to destroying enemy unmanned aerial vehicles over areas at the Russian border, as well as to step up the prevention of attacks launched by nationalists on residential areas of the liberated settlements due to the delivery of new counter-battery warfare means,” the statement read.

Earlier this month, the ministry revealed that Shoigu had also met the commanding officers of the ‘South’ and ‘Center’ groupings and had given instructions to ramp up actions aimed at staving off rocket and artillery strikes on civilian infrastructure by the Ukrainian military.

The defense minister’s visit comes amid numerous Ukrainian strikes that have targeted residential areas. In an attack earlier this month, Kiev forces shelled the Russian-controlled city of Novaya Kakhovka in Kherson Region using US-made HIMARS launchers. Local officials said that the attack hit a cluster of warehouses containing chemicals. In addition to those killed and injured, the explosion damaged a hospital and church and left over 270 people homeless, they claimed.

The Ukrainian military said it had destroyed an ammunition depot in the city.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559291-ukraine-russia-strikes-civilians/

20 Jul, 2022 08:26

HomeWorld News

Sri Lanka elects new president amid crisis

MPs have backed acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe for the top job

The Sri Lankan parliament has chosen six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the island nation’s new president. His predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country last week and resigned after heated protests over the state of the economy.

Wickremesinghe’s candidacy was backed by 134 out of 223 MPs during a vote on Wednesday.

The 76-year-old political veteran has been acting president since Rajapaksa’s departure.

There are concerns that Wickremesinghe’s victory could lead to even more unrest as he’s a known ally of the Rajapaksa clan, which most Sri Lankans now blame for their economic woes.

The acting president imposed a state of emergency on Monday, giving himself more powers to crack down on dissent.

Sri Lanka had been “divided on party lines,” but now the “time has now come to work together,” Wickremesinghe told parliament following the vote.

“It is not necessary to say how hard the condition of the country is economically, we have to embark on a new program to go forward,” he insisted.

Wickremesinghe will be faced with a tough task as president. The country’s economy collapsed in recent months, leading to shortages of fuel, food, and other essentials. The depletion of foreign reserves forced the authorities in Colombo to engage in bailout talks with the IMF.

The crisis is being blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic, which cut tourist revenue for the island, and Rajapaksa’s ban on chemical fertilizers, which was a major blow to agriculture.

https://www.rt.com/news/559292-sri-lanka-president-parliament/

20 Jul, 2022 07:55

White House makes 'annexation' claim

Moscow is laying the groundwork to make swathes of Ukrainian territory part of Russia, the White House says

Russia is preparing to annex Ukrainian lands by arranging “sham” referendums on the territories it currently controls, like it did with Crimea eight years ago, the White House has said.

“We have information today, including from downgraded intelligence that we’re able to share with you, about how Russia is laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory that it controls in direct violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” John Kirby, US intelligence, National Security Council spokesman, told journalists on Tuesday.

Russia launched a military campaign against Ukraine in late February. The US and their NATO bloc allies responded by imposing sweeping sanctions on Moscow and provided Kiev with heavy weapons.

While fighting alongside the forces of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), Russian troops took control of Ukraine’s southern Kherson Region and the majority of Zaporozhye Region. They also took areas of Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, which borders the LPR.

Kirby argued that Moscow would organize “sham” referendums on the occupied territories, while using what he called “an annexation playbook, very similar to the one we saw in 2014.” That year, Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia in the wake of a coup in Kiev. Kirby promised “additional sanctions” if Russia annexes Ukrainian territory.

The Russian Embassy in Washington released a statement on social media on Tuesday, saying that “the claims about the aggressive nature of the Russian military’s special operation are fundamentally false.”

“We are returning peace to the liberated territories, creating circumstances for normal life and respect for equal rights of citizens regardless of ethnicity and language.”

The embassy added that “the leadership of the Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that the population of the liberated territorieswill decide on their future independently, by themselves.”

Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, noted that “the US has been, and is imposing ‘additional sanctions’ even without the accession of the regions of Ukraine to Russia.”

The threat of more sanctions will have no effect on Russia’s decision making, Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel. “On the contrary, it has strengthened the determinationto act in accordance with the chosen path.”

https://www.rt.com/news/559290-us-russia-ukraine-annexation/

20 Jul, 2022 13:19

Wikipedia designated as lawbreaker

Russia wants its search engines to inform users that the platform promotes false information about the Ukraine conflict

Russia's state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has obliged search engines to label Wikipedia as being in violation of the law, saying that the online encyclopedia promotes misleading information about the conflict in Ukraine.

The watchdog said on Wednesday that it would take steps to punish Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., which hosts Wikipedia, due to its failure to delete content deemed in violation of Russian law. With this in mind, the regulator “has decided to apply a coercive measure which would see search engines inform internet users about a violation of Russian legislation by a foreign entity.”

According to Roskomnadzor, the measure will apply until the company is in full compliance with national law.

In April, Russia slapped two fines totaling 5 million rubles (some $86,500 at the current exchange rate) on Wikimedia Commons for failing to delete a number of articles. Most of them were classified by the court as pieces spreading misinformation about the Russian military and its actions during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, while two contained information on making explosives.

In early March, Russia adopted a law that allows the authorities to impose substantial fines on persons and entities for discrediting the Russian armed forces or calling for sanctions against Moscow. If an offense leads to “grave consequences,” a perpetrator may face a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559314-wikipedia-russia-law-fake/

20 Jul, 2022 13:31

Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant attacked by Ukrainian drones

The local authorities say vital NPP infrastructure has not been damaged

A Ukrainian nuclear power plant located in the city of Energodar has been attacked by three ‘kamikadze drones’ belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian media reports, citing local officials.

According to them, Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, located in southeastern Ukraine, has not been damaged.

Its reactor was not impacted by the attack either.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559319-zaporozhye-nuclear-power-plant-attacked/

>>16768232

They are telling fairy tales, they are not winning and wont win, because of the sheer ineptitude and corruption of the country leadership

>>16768095

They may be pilfering banks, clients and DS, wouldnt it be interesting if this one instance opens up the wholr can of worms

Youtube covering Joe & Hunter

https://twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer/status/1549734383187263492?s=20&t=MDyw076iwe4P2Ksojkuv5A

Colbert crew's behavior in Capitol complex caused Democrat staffer to call for emergency help

Stephen Colbert's comedy crew was warned "several times" it could not trespass on Capitol grounds, and its behavior in a congressional office building during an unauthorized nighttime visit was so boisterous it caused a Democratic congressman's staff to fear for his safety and call for emergency help, police say.

The description that authorities provided members of Congress this week — loud banging on doors, talk of a "cocaine orgy" and threats to place something under a congressman's door — is far different than the light-hearted account of "first-degree puppetry" that the CBS television comic offered after last month's high-profile arrest of his team.

The decision by the Biden Justice Department to decline prosecution of nine Colbert staffers for unlawful entry clearly upset the department, according to an official letter from the department's chief obtained by Just the News.

"It is unfortunate that despite all of the evidence the Department presented, including that the group or its leader had been told several times that they could not be in the buildings without an escort, that the U.S. Attorney's office declined to prosecute any members of the group for Unlawful Entry," Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger wrote Republican Reps. Rodney Davis of Illinois and Jim Jordan of Ohio in a letter dated Tuesday.

Manger revealed in the letter that the nine members of Colbert's staff who were arrested June 16 for unauthorized access to a House office building hadpreviously been rejected for press credentialsby the House Radio/TV Gallery, had been warned multiple times they could not stay in Capitol buildings without an escort, and were ejected by police from the complex just hours before their arrest for violating building rules.

The chief also revealed that two of the nine staffers when arrested refused to cooperate, citing their Miranda rights, and that one of the staffers initially falsely told responding police officers the Colbert crew was "credentialed staff."

You can read the full letter here:

220910 Response to RM Davis and RM Jordan Re information on the arrest of individuals on June 16 2022[36] copy[89] copy.pdf

The arrests occurred after an aide to Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman called police because he felt threatened by the team's behavior and feared for his safety. The crew was pretending to place invitations to a "cocaine orgy" at the Capitol and was boisterous but not filming at the time police arrested them, the letter states.

"On June 16, 2022, at approximately 8:26 p.m., the United States Capitol Police (USCP) communications center received a call from a staffer for Rep. Jamaal Bowman, (D-NY) working in Room 1605 of the Longworth House Office Building (LHOB)," the letter said, redacting the staffer's name. "He advised he could hear a man shouting outside his office, which is next to Rep. Lauren Boebert's office (R-Colo.)."

The Bowman aide, the letter continued, "stated he heard a man banging on Rep Boebert's office door saying, 'Do you remember me? Do you remember me? It's me. We're going to leave something under your door.'"

The Bowman aide "stated he was very concerned, locked his office door for safety and called the USCP emergency number," according to Manger.

Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, which oversees Capitol security, told Just the News on Tuesday night that federal prosecutors' decision to decline prosecution of the Colbert team only further created the perception of a two-tier system of justice.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Washington D.C. that made the Colbert decision is the same one that has prosecuted scores of Jan. 6 defendantsfor trespassing and other crimes related to the Capitol riot.

"The decision by the Department of Justice to not pursue the charges recommended by USCP further highlights the politicization of Capitol security and the double standard for Democrats," Davis said.

Manger's letter states that when police apprehended the team members,they claimed to be filming a skit, but no cameras were found operating..

Police said the crew did not have any official appointments on the day they were arrested but did have appointments a day earlier when they remained with their escorts inside congressional buildings. Staff from the offices of Democratic Reps. Jake Auchincloss and Ted Lieu were involved in helping the crew gain access to the congressional office buildings, the letter stated…

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/colbert-crews-behavior-capitol-complex-caused-democrat-staffer-call-emergency?utm_medium=social_media&utm_source=twitter_social_icon&utm_campaign=social_icons

>>16768550

Here’s the letter of Chief of Police regarding Colbert team