Russia responds to Danish Nord Stream probe refusal

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has suggested that Copenhagen is doing Washington’s bidding

Denmark has never been interested in finding the real culprits behind the explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines last September, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has claimed. She noted that Copenhagen had dragged its feet on granting permission for the second leg of the gas conduit and is refusing to cooperate with Moscow now that it has been sabotaged.

In a statement released on Saturday, Zakharova suggested that Copenhagen’s long-standing aversion to the Nord Stream project is due to American influence.

“Copenhagen, which so ferociously defends US interests in Europe, was in the first place not interested in conducting an investigation that could shed light on” those behind the sabotage, the Russian official wrote.

She pointed out that Denmark has yet to respond in a meaningful way to any of the numerous requests Russian authorities have made about the investigation into the blasts, including one by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin last year. Zakharova also reminded Danish officials that Moscow is the owner of the destroyed gas pipelines.

According to the statement, “despite Denmark’s refusal [to participate] in a joint investigation into the sabotage,” Russia will continue to insist on being “given answers to the questions posed earlier.” Zakharova went on to warn that Moscow would not let Copenhagen “sweep the issue under the rug,” adding that only an open international probe that includes Russia would be able to establish the facts and present them in an objective manner.

Appearing on Russia’s Russia 1 TV channel on Thursday, Zakharova described Denmark’s refusal as a “fraud” and a “total scam.”

Earlier that day, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen ruled out the possibility of Moscow participating in the probe, explaining to journalists that “Denmark, Sweden and Germany all have rule of law and one can have confidence in our investigations.”

Russia has accused the three countries of obstruction and asked the UN to initiate an impartial international investigation.

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were built under the Baltic Sea to deliver Russian natural gas to Germany and onward to Western Europe. Both conduits were ruptured and made inoperable by explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.

https://www.rt.com/news/573190-zakharova-russia-denmark-nord-stream-probe/

https://www.dia.mil/About/Reserves/

Hunter Biden’s Lawyers Seeking Depositions From Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani

Hunter Biden’s lawyers told a federal judge on Friday they are seeking to depose Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani in a countersuit regarding Hunter’s laptop.

Hunter Biden is suing John Paul Mac Isaac, the Delaware computer repairman who attempted to fix Hunter’s damaged computers in 2019.

John Paul Mac Isaac’s life changed in April 2019 when a visibly drunk Hunter Biden stopped by his computer repair shop with three damaged MacBook Pro laptops.

One was destroyed beyond repair and he gave that back to Hunter.

The other required a keyboard that he loaned to Hunter. He never got that keyboard back. The third laptop Hunter left with Mac Isaac to fix.

Hunter Biden never returned to John Paul Mac Isaac’s repair shop to retrieve his property.

After many failed attempts to reach Hunter Biden, John Paul Mac Isaac took lawful ownership of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop.

Now Hunter Biden is suing John Paul Mac Isaac and is seeking punitive damages.

Hunter’s lawyers are also targeting Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani for ‘disseminating’ Hunter Biden’s data for political purposes.

NBC News reported:

Lawyers for Hunter Biden stepped up their legal offensive against top Trump allies on Friday by filing a countersuit regarding the alleged dissemination of Biden’s electronic data and notifying a federal judge of their intention to seek depositions from Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani.

The court filings include a lawsuit targeting John Paul Mac Isaac, the computer repair shop owner who said Hunter Biden abandoned a water-damaged laptop at his Wilmington, Delaware, store about 18 months before the 2020 election. Biden’s attorneys are alleging invasion of privacy and argue Mac Isaac helped copy and disseminate Hunter Biden’s data for political and commercial purposes.

In the lawsuit, Biden is seeking the return of any copy of his data, compensatory and punitive damages for Mac Isaac’s “willful, wanton and reckless conduct,” as well as reimbursement of attorneys fees.

The countersuit and responses to Mac Isaac’s original lawsuit cite public statements that Mac Isaac, Bannon, Giuliani and others have made regarding their involvement with Hunter Biden’s electronic data. The new suit alleges that Delaware law did not permit Mac Isaac to access or copy the data, drawing a distinction between abandoned “equipment” and data on or embedded within a device.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/hunter-bidens-lawyers-seeking-depositions-from-steve-bannon-and-rudy-giuliani/

>>18534741

MORAN

Dumbshit

Know your surrounds

Peace Protest Against US's Militarism, Sanctions Policy Taking Place in Washington

A peace demonstration is taking place in Washington on Saturday as people are protesting against US's military support for Ukraine and its aggressive actions against numerous countries, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

People have gathered in the city center, carrying coffins wrapped in the flags of the countries where the US has sent its troops in the past 20 years. Protesters are also holding banners that read: "Feed the People, Not the Pentagon," "Fund People's Needs, Not the War Machine," "Disband NATO."

Participants of the demonstration are demanding that the US stop sending money and weapons to fuel the Ukraine conflict, end "militarism and sanctions," including the ones imposed against Syria, and avoid escalation in relations with China, among other things.

The organizers stated that the protest aimed to warn people of the threat of a "global war," while also raising public awareness of "the human and financial toll of US militarism at home and abroad." The protest coincided with the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, the organizers added.

The US has been the most active military supporter of Ukraine since the start of Moscow's military operation there in February 2022. Over the past year, Washington has supplied Ukraine with military equipment worth more than $50 billion, excluding other types of assistance worth tens of billions of dollars.

https://sputniknews.com/20230318/peace-protest-against-uss-militarism-sanctions-policy-taking-place-in-washington-1108550657.html

>>18535015

UBS Seeks $6 Billion Government Backstop As It Rushes To Finalize Credit Suisse Takeover

Update (17:45ET): As negotiations drag on late on Saturday night local time, Bloomberg reports that liabilities at the Credit Suisse investment bank are proving to be a key sticking point in the takeover talks ("UBS is worried about the balance sheet risk associated with the investment bank, which has suffered a string of losses and scandals in recent years"), with Reuters adding that UBS is asking the Swiss government to cover about $6 billion in costs if it were to buy Credit Suisse. The $6 billion in guarantees "would cover the cost of winding down parts of Credit Suisse and potential litigation charges."

There are other snags: one sources cautioned that the talks to resolve the crisis of confidence in Credit Suisse are encountering significant obstacles, and 10,000 jobs may have to be cut if the two banks combine.

Meanwhile, with UBS facing pressure from the Swiss authorities to carry out a takeover of its local rival as soon as possible to get the crisis under control, the FT reported that Switzerland is preparing to use emergency measures to fast-track the deal, the Financial Times reported, citing two people familiar with the situation.

The banking sector's fundamentals are stronger and the global systemic linkages are weaker than during the 2008 global financial crisis, Goldman analyst Lotfi Karoui wrote in a late Friday note to clients (available here to pro subscribers). That limits the risk of a "potential vicious circle of counterparty credit losses," Karoui said.

"However, a more forceful policy response is likely needed to bring some stability," Karoui said. The bank said the lack of clarity on Credit Suisse's future will pressure the broader European banking sector.

A senior official at China's central bank said on Saturday that high interest rates in the major developed economies could continue to cause problems for the financial system.

Elsewhere, there were multiple reports of interest for Credit Suisse from other rivals. Bloomberg reported that Deutsche Bank was looking at the possibility of buying some of its assets, while U.S. financial giant BlackRock denied a report that it was participating in a rival bid for the bank.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ubs-seeks-government-backstop-it-rushes-finalize-credit-suisse-takeover-deal-soon-tonight