9 Apr, 2023 07:29

Ukraine will eventually reveal ‘horrible’ losses – ambassador

The true number of casualties will be acknowledged only once the conflict is over, Vadim Pristaiko has said

Ukraine will reveal the extent of its “horrible”losses once its conflict with Russia is over, Vadim Pristaiko, Kiev’s ambassador to the UK, said in an interview released on Friday.

Asked by British tabloid the Daily Express to comment on casualties among Ukrainian military personnel and civilians, Pristaiko said “it has been our policy from the start not to discuss our losses.”

“When the war is over, we will acknowledge this.I think it will be a horrible number,” he added.

Pristaiko dismissed any possibility of talks between Moscow and Kiev – at least until Russia withdraws its troops from the territories Ukraine claims as its own. “So, we have to fight to the very last of them or, very unfortunately, the last of us as well,” the envoy said.

The ambassador also commented on the assault brigades that Ukraine says it has assembled for a much-anticipated spring offensive against Russia. “Whoever says there are 40,000 men in these brigades, I would like to point out thatwe have mobilized a million men,” Pristaiko stated. (Yeah right!)

Both sides of the Ukraine conflict rarely provide data on their losses. However, last autumn, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put Kiev’sfatalities at 100,000, a claim that was disputed by Ukraine and later removed from the official’s website. In December, Mikhail Podoliak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, put the death toll among Kiev’s military at between 12,000 and 13,000 people.

Russia has not officially updated its losses since last September, when Moscow’s Ministry of Defense estimatedthat 5,937 service members had died.

Pristaiko’s comments come as Ukrainian and Western officials claim that Ukraine will launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks. Commenting on statements about a potential Ukrainian push, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that the Russian military “thoroughly tracks all the relevant information”on the matter.

https://www.rt.com/russia/574421-ukraine-losses-horrible-russia/

8 Apr, 2023 19:33

Soros junior's White House access revealed – NYP

Alexander is regarded as his father’s ‘new ambassador,’ one critic claims

Alexander Soros, the son of billionaire and longtime Democratic Party donor George Soros, has made at least fourteen visits to the White House since Joe Biden took office, according to visitor logs seen by the New York Post.

The younger Soros, 37, a noted Democratic Party fundraiser, met with Biden administration officials a minimum of twelve times last year, according to recently updated logs. He also visited twice in 2021.

Alexander Soros is the chair of the liberal Open Society Foundations, whose remit, it says, is to provide grants to causes that promote “the growth of inclusive and vibrant democracies.”

His father George Soros set up the foundation, which has distributed more than $32 billion to various causes supporting liberal issues since 1998. He is a deeply controversial figure within some conservative sections in the US and abroad, who argue that his ‘philanthropy’ is merely political meddling.

“[He has done] tremendous damage to our country,” said Mike Howell of the Oversight Project at theConservative Heritage Foundationtold the New York Post on Saturday. “The Soros agenda is one of death and destruction in the name of open borders and ending Western civilization.”

The nature of Alexander Soros’ White House visits include a meeting last December 1 withNina Srivastava, an assistant to former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain. Later that same evening, Soros was among 330 attendees at a state dinner to honor French president Emmanuel Macron, records show.

A day later Soros junior met with Mariana Adame, who advises the counselor to President Joe Biden, as well as Deputy National Security Advisor Johnathan Finer, according to the logs. The content of the meetings remains unclear, and the White House did not respond to inquiries made by the New York Post.

“All throughout the White House, there is a Soros hold somewhere,” a critic of George Soros, Matt Palumbo, also told the Post. “[Alexander] is his father’s new ambassador.”

The elder Soros has again recently come under fire from right-wing critics recently after it was revealed he donated $1 million to a political action committee that later backed Alvin Bragg – the Manhattan DA pursuing a criminal conviction of Donald Trump. Soros denies directly funding Bragg or even knowing who he was.

https://www.rt.com/news/574406-us-alexander-soros-white-house/

9 Apr, 2023 15:00

Macron refuses to back US line on China

The French president distanced himself from Washington’s confrontational policy on Taiwan

Western Europemust pursue “strategic autonomy”and avoid getting dragged into confrontations on behalf of the US, Emmanuel Macron told Politico on Sunday. The French president has made similar assertions before, but has nevertheless followed Washington’s lead on Ukraine. (Finally the EU is considering themselves as used by US, going to China is probably not the next step.)

In an interview while traveling within China this week, Macron told the news site that “Europe faces a great risk” if it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours.”

“The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” Macron said. “The question Europeans need to answer… is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”

Macron met with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to the interview, concluding afterwards that if “Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine, how can we credibly say on Taiwan: ‘watch out, if you do something wrong we will be there’?”

Hours after Macron left Chinese airspace, Beijing launched military exercises around Taiwan, a move widely perceived as a response to the island’s pro-independence leader Tsai Ing-Wen holding a meeting with US lawmakers in California on Wednesday.

Relations between China and the US are at an historic low point, with US President Joe Biden suggesting on several occasions last year that Washington would intervene militarily to prevent Beijing reunifying Taiwan with the mainland. While world leaders including Macron are seemingly content to stay out of the Taiwan standoff, their insistence on pushing China to denounce Russia over its military operation in Ukraine has angered Xi, according to media reports and commentsfrom Chinese officials.

The conflict in Ukraine has also largely scuppered discussions of “strategic autonomy” in Europe. While Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had talked extensively about lessening their reliance on the US in recent years, a change in power in Berlin saw Olaf Scholz’ government reverse decades ofpacifist foreign policy to arm Ukraine at Washington’s behest, while both France and Germany have supplied armored vehicles, ammunition, and in Germany’s case, tanks, to Kiev’s forces.

With rising energy costs and inflation contributing to domestic instability, Macron has nevertheless backed all 10 of the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions packages. Despite speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin on several occasions since last February, Macron has not managed to push the Kremlin toward halting its operation in Ukraine.

The French president “is still talking about the strategic independence of the EU,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov remarked last summer, adding “I am certain they will not be allowed to have it.”

https://www.rt.com/news/574436-macron-autonomy-china-taiwan/

9 Apr, 2023 21:11

Russia almost shot down British spy plane – WaPo

The incident could have drawn the US and NATO directly into the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Washington Post says

Russia and NATO were just a step away from a potential all-out war last year after a Russian fighter jet almost shot down a British surveillance aircraft, theWashington Post claimedon Sunday, citing a new document from a trove recently leaked from the Pentagon.

The incident, which occurred in late September 2022 was allegedly much more serious than London had previously admitted, the newspaper reported. Back in October 2022, Britain’s Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace told the parliament about the incident, adding that Moscow blamed it on a technical malfunction and London accepted this explanation.

The document, seen by WaPo, describes it as a “near-shoot down of UK RJ” – a reference to the ‘River Joint’ moniker common for the RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft used to collect radio transmissions and electronic messages. The UK said in October that the plane had been intercepted by two Russian Su-27 fighters over the Black Sea, with one of them “releasing a missile” near the British plane.

According to WaPo, the incident could have potentially triggered Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, possibly leading to a direct involvement of NATO forces in the conflict in Ukraine, or even a direct conflict between Moscow and the military bloc.

Neither has the US or the UK nor has Russia commented on the document’s contents, WaPo said. The same paper also suggested that the US took a more cautious approach towards reconnaissance missions in the Black Sea region and in particular told itsAir Force to stay away from the CrimeanPeninsula, the newspaper reported.

A map contained in the document shows several lines drawn over sections of the Black Sea to mark the areas where American surveillance aircraft can and cannot fly, WaPo reported. One of them goes about 12 nautical miles off the coast of Crimea – a distance marking the territorial waters of a nation under international law.

Another one drawn about 50 nautical miles from the shore is called “SECDEF Directed Standoff.” According to the US media outlet, this line might indicate that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin might have ordered theUS Air Force to keep their aircraft away from the peninsula.

Unlike France and the UK, which made crewed surveillance flights over the Black Sea, the US relied on drones, including the RQ-4 Global Hawk, the RQ-170 Sentinel, and the MQ-9 Reaper, the document said, adding that several such unmanned flights take place every month.

In March, the Pentagon accused Russian pilots of reckless flying and claimed that one of the Russian jets had clipped the propeller of a US MQ-9 Reaper drone, causing it to go down. Russia denied hitting the drone or using weapons against it. It also said the US aircraft was flying with itstransponder switched off in a no-go zonedeclared by the Russian military.

A video allegedly shot by the drone only showed a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet buzzing over it and allegedly ejecting fuel in the process. According to CNN, thePentagon has further reroutedits surveillance drone flights over the Black Sea in the wake of the incident.

https://www.rt.com/news/574445-russia-shot-down-british-plane/

Fuck around and find out moment

Air Force released confidential records of AF personnel that went on to run on the Republican ticket. A total 13 people, they gave to a “third party democrat research firm that than passed it on to the media”. AF is pathetic in their response.

I certainly hope Space Force is much more diligent, they wouldn’t exist except of PDJT

Streamed on: Mar 30, 2:50 pm EDT

Episode 95 LIVE: Military Misadventures (feat. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna) – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

https://rumble.com/embed/v2cx1b0/?pub=4

>>18668336

The military relies on Congress never doing their job. It’s sickening they haven’t repealed the 2001 and 2002 AUMF (think thats the initials), so the military can go to war on a 22, 21 year old authorization. WTF

>>18668322

Thank God, instant karma for those who hate God

>>18668341

It’s disgusting and the Dalai Lama and his monks think its freakin funny

>>18668349

Amen

>>18668377

What plan? I trust and thats pretty amazing Trump saying it. Was Kash on the QT?

>>18668431

Kek seriously

Slopahopoulos

>>18668463

Didn’t Elon just ask for a pause? Seems contradictory to me

>>18668528

It’s getting close but Macron is withdrawing

BREAKING: Former Missouri Solicitor General D. John Sauer reveals that Biden White House staffers were badgering social media companies to censor content and suppress lawful speech!At least 20 or maybe more from the WH pressured social media, relentlessly badgered the SM to censor Americans

https://rumble.com/embed/v2cwi8c/?pub=4

(Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government, Social Media & Free Speech, 03/30/23)

>>18668565

Almost all “suggestions” by the WH and Flarety was in response to legally acceptableFree Speech

>>18668584

But Elon won’t close the backdoor

Lindsay Graham gets his rocks off with death and war, just like McCaul

9 Apr, 2023 19:51

US ‘open’ to deploying troops in Taiwan – lawmaker

Senator Lindsey Graham declared that he would “fight for” the island because it’s “a democracy”

US ‘open’ to deploying troops in Taiwan – lawmaker

US Senator Lindsey Graham has declared that he would support a formal defense alliance with Taiwan and would send US troops to fight a hypothetical Chinese invasion. Graham, one of the most hawkish Republicans in Congress, claimed that defending Taiwan is in the US’ national security interest.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, the Republican lawmaker claimed that the US policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan – under which Washington recognizes, but does not endorse, China’s sovereignty over the island – is not working, and should be replaced with a formal defense agreement.

“So the question for the Congress, should we have a defense agreement with the island of Taiwan?” he asked. “I’d be very much open to using US forces to defend Taiwan, because it’s in our national security interest to do so.

“I believe in a One China policy, but I would be willing to fight for Taiwan because Taiwan is a democracy,” he continued, later adding that the US has an economic incentive to fight China over the island. “90% of the high-end chips are made in Taiwan,” he said. “[China] would have a monopoly on the digital economy.”

Graham said he would support the sale of US-made fighter jets to Taipei, and would back the movement of “war forces to South Korea and Japan.”

There are currently several dozen US troops stationed in Taiwan, and the Wall Street Journal reported in February that Washington plans to increase this number to between 100 and 200.

Graham’s position on Taiwan is hawkish, but in line with that of a growing number of both Democrats and Republicans. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday. Meanwhile, during a visit to Taipei on Friday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul told Fox News that Congress would authorize military action against China in the event of an invasion of Taiwan.

McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, flew to Taipei last summer to meet with President Tsai. Defying calls from Beijing, US President Joe Biden did not intervene to stop Pelosi’s trip, and the president suggested on several occasions that he would use military force to deter any attempts by China to invade the island.

In a policy paper released last August, Beijing stated that it would strive for a peaceful reunification with Taiwan but would not renounce the use of force to achieve this goal if necessary. Beijing responded to Tsai’s visit to California by launching simulated strikes on Taiwan on Sunday.

Graham is a longtime advocate of military intervention and regime change, and called last year for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

https://www.rt.com/news/574443-lindsey-graham-troops-taiwan/

>>18668611

Esplain

>>18668543

Yep, I can confirm. It seems its gotta get worse to get better

>>18668448

Cardillo sounds a bit insane, or more than a bit. Does he think he’s an influencer? I don’t even like that word

>>18668680

Excellent idea!

>>18668725

Funny they use Bannon to smear him, his power is unlimited, he can influence the most dedicated real democrat as RFKjr. I suspect RFKjr will be on Bannons war room soon. Kek