8 Feb, 2023 14:26

Russia warns of direct clash with US

Washington is seeking a deterrence advantage, which could cause an outright war, Moscow has warned

The US has “unleashed a total hybrid war” and is putting two nuclear nations on a path to direct confrontation, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said. Moscow claimsWashington’s demands for nuclear inspections in Russia are “cynical” and noted its “obvious” assistance in Ukrainian attackson Moscow's strategic nuclear forces.

The allegations were part of the Ministry’s public comments on the status of the New START treaty, the last remaining US-Russian agreement on nuclear weapons reduction. According to US media, the Department of State notified the Congress last week that Russia was in “noncompliance” due to a refusal to facilitate inspections on its soil.

TheRussian Foreign Ministry said that was not truesince the treaty allows suspension of inspection. Washington was the first to block Russian monitors from doing their job in the US, it alleged. The ministry said that “created obvious unilateral benefits” for the US and prompted a response in kind from Moscow.

The 2010 treaty was signed in a different environment and is based on the notion that the US and Russia areequal partners who seek to build trustand improve global security through disarmament, the ministry explained. But now that Washington has declared the “strategic defeat” of Russia as its goal and ramped up tensions in all aspects of bilateral relations, there can be no “business as usual” with the US, according to the statement.

“Until Washington revises its hostile stance regarding Russia and drops the policy of increasing the threats towards our national security,” Moscow will consider any proposed gestures of goodwill under the nuclear treaty “unjustified, untimely and uncalled for.”

The Russian ministry didn’t elaborate on which “strategic nuclear forces objects” the Ukrainian side attacked with US help, which allegedly involved “military-technical and information-intelligence” aspects.

The Russian Defense Ministry has previously blamed Ukraine for two attacks against Engels air base in Saratov Region. Both happened in December and reportedly involved Soviet-made long-range drones. The first incident coincided with a similar attack against the Dyagilevo airfield in Ryazan Region.

Both Russian airfields host strategic bombers, which can carry and deploy nuclear weapons in addition to conventional air-launched missiles.

https://www.rt.com/russia/571172-nuclear-treaty-breach-russia/

A picture taken on July 17, 2014 shows wreckages of the malaysian airliner carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur after it crashed, near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine.

8 Feb, 2023 16:47

MH17 probe suspended

The international investigation team says it cannot determine who operated the missile that shot down the Malaysian Boeing

Investigators behind the criminal probe into the July 2014 downing of Malaysian flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine said on Wednesday they had not been able to find sufficient evidence that could lead to new prosecutions and are therefore suspending the investigation. The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) stressed, however, that the case will be resumed if new information comes to light.

“The investigation has now reached its limit. All leads have been exhausted,” said Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer as the JIT issued its latest report on the tragic incident.

According to the JIT, the Malaysian Boeing was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile. In their report, the team claims there are “strong indications” that the air defense system was provided to anti-Kiev rebels in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on the personal orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

They admit, however, thatthere is not enough information to meet the “high bar of complete and conclusive evidence,” which is why the investigation cannot make any definitive accusations. The team also stated that it has been unable to confirm the identities of the Russian officers believed to have been operating the BUK system allegedly responsible for the tragic incident.

The Malaysian Airlines flight was shot down as it flew over the east of Ukraine in July 2014. All 298 people on board were killed. The incident took place at a time when Ukrainian government forces were engaged in fierce battles against the rebels who opposed the outcome of an armed coup in Kiev.

Back in November, the JIT’s investigation, which was launched in 2019, was used by a Dutch court to hand out life sentences to two Russian and one Ukrainian nationals who held high-ranking positions within the DPR’s forces at the time of the incident. The court accused them of being responsible for downing the civilian airliner. All three denied the allegations and were tried in absentia. Moscow called the ruling a “politically motivated verdict” that was handed out under “unprecedented pressure” and refused to extradite its citizens.

Russia has repeatedly denied responsibility for the downing of MH17 and has insisted that Ukraine possessed the same type of weapons system used to shoot down the airliner. Moscow has also blasted the JIT probe for neglecting to include evidence provided by Russia and failing to take into account Ukraine’s failure to provide raw radar data from the day of the tragedy. Kiev insists this information is not available.

https://www.rt.com/news/571185-jit-suspends-mh17-investigation/

(It’s only been 9 years, go on for the next 50, you all know who did it, and it’s not Russia)

8 Feb, 2023 16:05

Majority of Canadians say their country is ‘broken’ – poll

Half of the people are ‘angry’ about what they view as the country’s mismanagement, a new survey shows

Over two-thirds of Canadians – 67% – believe their country is “broken,” according to poll results published Monday by the National Post and Leger.

Respondents across the political spectrum see a large divide between the issues they deal with in their daily lives and the issues their government chooses to focus on.

Respondents were asked whether they agreed with Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s claim that “It feels like everything is broken in this country right now,” though Poilievre’s name was not mentioned. Just 25% disagreed with the statement, with the remainder undecided.

Half of respondents reported feeling “angry” with the way Canada was being managed, withtwo out of five of those being “very angry.” Women were slightly more likely to be angry than men, and inhabitants of the midwestern provinces – Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan – were more upset than those on either coast.

More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents named “rising costs and inflation/interest rates” as the primary issue affecting Canadians, with “the state of healthcare” also commanding 59% of the vote. “Affording a place to live” came third, named by 43% of respondents, and “jobs and the economy” rounded out the top four with 40%.

This contrasts with where Canadians believe the federal government is focusing its energies. Just 28% see Ottawa concentrating, like them, on rising costs and inflation, while 27% said “environment/climate change” was the government’s primary focus. Another 25% said the government was chiefly concerned with “Canada’s response to the war in the Ukraine [sic],” while only 14% of poll respondents listed the Ukraine conflict as a significant issue affecting their own lives. Fully 22% of respondents confessed they had no idea what the federal government was prioritizing.

Local government was seen as slightly more in touch, with 37% of poll respondents reporting their provincial leaders were most focused on healthcare, 28% on rising costs and inflation, and 27% on jobs and the economy. However, 17% of respondents said they did not know what their local government was prioritizing.

Conducted late last month, the poll surveyed 1,554 Canadians randomly recruited from an online panel.

Canadians are far from alone in their economic malaise. Recent polls show two-thirds of Americans believe their country is on the wrong track, and the economy is widely considered to be the primary challenge facing the US.

https://www.rt.com/news/571186-canadians-poll-broken-economic-concerns/

>>18308221

yeah I would have thought it would be the men, so have the men in CA been beaten down more by gov?

8 Feb, 2023 14:41

Joe Rogan accused of anti-Semitism

The podcast host claimed that “Jews are into money” like “Italians are into pizza”

Joe Rogan has been accused of spreading “flippant anti-Semitism,” after he defended US Representative Ilhan Omar’s criticism of the role of money in the US-Israel relationship. The idea that Jewish people “aren’t into money” is “f**king stupid,” the podcast host argued.

Speaking to journalists Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti in the latest episode of his podcast on Saturday, Rogan condemned Republicans for kicking Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee over a 2019 statement about Israel. At the time, Omar said that American support for Israel was “all about the

Benjamins, baby.”

Although Omar apologized, Rogan said she shouldn’t have.

“She’s apologizing for talking about ‘it’s all about the Benjamins,’ which is just about money, she’s talking about money,” he said. “That’s not an anti-Semitic statement. I don’t think that is. The idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous, that’s like saying that Italians aren’t into pizza. It’s f**king stupid.”

"Saying Jews aren't into money is like saying Italians aren't into Pizza, it's fucking stupid." - @joeroganpic.twitter.com/CpspYIxFpG

— I,Hypocrite (@lporiginalg) February 7, 2023

Ball agreed, saying that Omar shouldn’t have apologized and that donor money is “a very obvious reason why… there’s been a uniparty consensus vis-a-vis the Israeli government” in Washington.

However, Rogan’s comments triggered a wave of condemnation online.

American Jewish Committee CEO and former Congressman Ted Deutch accused Rogan of invoking “the same tropes that have been used to persecute Jews for centuries,” warning him that “it’s dangerous to be so flippant in trafficking in anti-Semitic stereotypes.”

“Saying Jews are ‘into money’ is erasing our history,” the ‘Combat Antisemitism Movement’ added, while Jewish author David Baddiel called the stereotype a “racist myth.” (No it's not, you can love money and still have your history)

“Unless my history lessons really missed something out, no-one has exterminated a large section of the entire Italian community because of their love for pepperoni,” Baddiel quipped. (that's just a stupid comparison, BTWmore than 15 million Russian's were killed by Nazi's at Stalingrad, a lot more than the race we are always reminded of)

Joe Rogan has been at the center of numerous controversies in recent years, ranging from outrage over his past use of racial slurs to his promotion of ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19. More recently, Rogan spoke out against the portrayal of the Ukrainian government and military as “heroes,” when the media previously talked “about [the] massive corruption of Ukraine and how horrible it was over there.”

https://www.rt.com/news/571176-joe-rogan-jewish-money/