Moscow reacts to Xi-Zelensky call

Ukraine has so far rejected every reasonable peace proposal, the Russian Foreign ministry has said

Ukraine’s “unrealistic” demands are standing in the way of peace negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has stated. She made her comments in response to a question about the phone call between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The leaders spoke on Wednesday for the first time since Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring state in February 2022.

Zakharova praised Beijing for its efforts to help restart meaningful negotiations. She said Russian and Chinese visions for a path to peace were “broadly in tune” with one another. “The problem lies not with the lack of good plans,” Zakharova said.

The Kiev regime has so far not been receptive to any reasonable initiative aimed at a political and diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. Its occasional agreement to hold negotiations is being tied to ultimatums with obviously unrealistic demands.

The spokeswoman blamed Kiev for the eventual breakdown of negotiations last spring when Russian and Ukrainian teams held several rounds of meetings. Kiev, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that negotiations can resume only after Russia surrenders its recently incorporated territories. Moscow has called such demands unacceptable.

Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia in the wake of the 2014 coup in Kiev. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, did the same after holding referendums on the matter in September.

In October, Zelensky signed a decree that declared the “impossibility” of conducting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Beijing, which unveiled a 12-point roadmap for peace in Ukraine in February, has maintained that the conflict can only end through dialogue. China, unlike many Western countries, has also refused to condemn Russia for its actions.

China named diplomat Li Hui its special envoy to Ukraine and “other countries” on Wednesday. Xi said that the envoy would be tasked with conducting “in-depth communication with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.” Li was China’s ambassador to Moscow from 2009 to 2019.

Zelensky, meanwhile, has appointed former strategic industries minister Pavel Ryabkin as the country’s new ambassador to China.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575377-russia-ukraine-unrealistic-talks/

Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm Supports Requiring U.S. Military to Adopt All-Electric Vehicle Fleet by 2030

Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm testified today that she supports requiring the U.S. military to adapt all-electric vehicles by 2023.

Senator Joni Ernst asks, “Do you support support the military adopting that EV fleet by 2030?”

Granholm, ” I do. And I think we can get there as well.”

Granholm seems to prioritize everyone’s interests over those of the American people. She bends over backwards to defend China, praising them for green energy investments, despite their terrible record on emissions. She also claimed that America doesn’t have the moral authority to criticize China, despite their known human rights abuses.

She laughed about banning gas stoves.

At the SXSW festival in March, Granholm shouted about climate change in a desperate attempt to get more people to pay attention to her speech. “It is an existential threat! Do you care about climate change?!” Granholm shouted.

And now she wants to jeopardize our national security and safety and hobble our military.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/biden-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm-supports-requiring-u-s-military-to-adopt-all-electric-vehicle-fleet-by-2030/

"Good Riddance": Military-Industrial Complex Celebrates Tucker Carlson's Fox News Exit

Members of the military-industrial complex interviewed by Politico celebrated Tucker Carlson’s exist from Fox News, with one declaring, “Good riddance!”

Carlson was unceremoniously booted from the network on Monday despite being the most popular prime time TV news host in America.

He was reportedly given barely 10 minutes notice of the decision before it was revealed to the media.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, members of the military-industrial complex and the deep state are all but popping champagne corks in response to the news.

“We’re a better country without him bagging on our military every night in front of hundreds of thousands of people,” one senior DoD official told Politico.

“Good riddance,” added another.

When reporter Lara Seligman asked Tucker Carlson what he thought about top Pentagon officials expressing glee at his departure, the former Fox News host texted, “Ha! I’m sure.”

Carlson had repeatedly taken swipes at US military bosses for appearing to be more focused on amplifying narratives about “diversity” than defending America.

“When AOC, The View, the Pentagon, and big pharma are all celebrating your ousting you were probably doing the Lord’s work,” commented Auron MacIntyre.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nicholas Waddy, political analyst and associate professor of history at SUNY Alfred, told Sputnik that Carlson’s departure will “solidify the neo-conservative, hawkish orientation of Fox News” when it comes to supporting conflicts like the one in Ukraine.

“The more important question, though, is whether oppositional media and journalism, and thus democratic pluralism, can survive in an environment in which ‘misinformation’ and ‘libel’ are so opportunistically defined,” Waddy added, “and in which a media organization can be buried in litigation, as well as abandoned by skittish advertisers, and thus stifled financially if it strays from political orthodoxy.”

As we highlight in the video below, there were a number of reasons for Carlson’s exit, but prime amongst them was his constant questioning of how much taxpayer money was being used to prolong the war in Ukraine and what the end goal was.

https://summit.news/2023/04/26/good-riddance-military-industrial-complex-celebrates-tucker-carlsons-fox-news-exit/

Duke Prof Calls For $14 Trillion In Reparations For Black Americans

A Duke University professor of economics called for $14 trillion in reparations for the descendants of American slavery this past week, which equates to approximately $350,000 per recipient.

Appearing on the “Dr. Phil” show, William Darity said cash reparations should be designed to reduce the wealth gap between white and black Americans, which currently stands “in excess of $840,000 per household,” according to Fox News.

As for where that prodigious amount of money would come from, Darity said the feds.

“It would be paid by the federal government in the same way in which the federal government has met the expenses that were paid out for the purposes of trying to deal with the great recession and also, most recently, with the economic downturn associated with the great pandemic,” Darity said.

The professor previously estimated that a total of $10 to $12 trillion would be necessary for reparations.

Darity (pictured), who also is a professor of public policy and African/African American Studies, responded to Dr. Phil’s worries about financial mismanagement by noting no one ever worries about that when it comes to payments to other communities.

Phil had said that “from a psychological perspective that if you take $350,000 or $840,000, and you write a check to any group of people […] and say, ‘There you go. Best of luck.’ You come back in six months. They’re going to be broke.”

As part of his point, Phil pointed to how much money was squandered during the COVID pandemic.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/duke-professor-calls-for-14-trillion-in-reparations-for-black-americans/

US Sending Nuclear Submarines To South Korea For 1st Time In 40 Years

In a move which is certainly to explode tensions on the peninsula further at a moment things are already on edge, the US is sending nuclear-armed submarines to dock in South Korea for the first time in four decades.

Senior Biden administration officials say the move is part of a broader and "more visible" plan to make clear to Kim Jong Un that Washington is ready to defend Seoul against the increasing nuclear threats from Pyongyang.

The last time nuclear-armed submarines were docked in South Korea was in the 1980s; however, the new plan will see such nuclear assets, including long-range bombers, sent to the peninsula only on a temporary basis and not permanently.

According to details in The Associated Press, and in relation to President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the White House and Congress this week:

The planned dock visits are a key element of what’s being dubbed the “Washington Declaration,” aimed at deterring North Korea from carrying out an attack on its neighbor. It is being unveiled as Biden is hosting Yoon for a state visit during a moment of heightened anxiety for both leaders over an increased pace of ballistic missile tests by North Korea over the last several months.

The three senior Biden administration officials, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement, said that Biden and Yoon aides have been working on details of the plan for months and agreed that “occasional” and “very clear demonstrations of the strength” of U.S. extended deterrence capabilities needed to be an essential aspect of the agreement.

The escalation in deterrence policy is also being framed in Washington as necessary to avoiding a nuclear arms race on the peninsula, given that in the wake of frequent new North Korean weapons tests, Seoul officials have begun to consider a nuclear option.

Biden officials say that in return for the US nuclear protection, the south is expected to reaffirm its commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-sending-nuclear-submarines-south-korea-1st-time-40-years