30 Apr, 2023 19:04

Epstein papers expose his prominent contacts – media

Documents have reportedly shown that the sex offender set meetings with a future CIA chief, an Obama aide and a Rothschild banker

FutureCIA director William Burns, banker Ariane de Rothschild and an ex-aide to US President Barack Obamaare among the noteworthy people who had meetings with financier Jeffrey Epstein after he was publicly registered as a child-sex offender, according to a newly unearthed trove of documents from the late financier.

The previously unpublicized documents, including thousands of pages of emails and schedules from 2013 to 2017, reveal that Epstein booked multiple meetings with such prominent figures as US spy chief William Burns and with Kathryn Ruemmler, a former White House counsel who later became a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs Group, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. All of the encounters were arranged after Epstein served jail time in 2008 for procuring a teenage girl for prostitution in Florida.

Burns, then deputy secretary of state in Obama’s administration, first met with Epstein in 2014 in Washington and later visited his townhouse in Manhattan twice, according to the documents. CIA spokeswoman Tammy Kupperman Thorp told the WSJ that Burns didn’t know anything about the notorious financier “other than that he was introduced as an expert in the financial services sector and offered general advice on transition to the private sector.”

Ruemmler had a professional relationship with Epstein, who introduced her to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and other potential legal clients, a Goldman Sachs spokesman told the newspaper. “I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein,” Ruemmler said.

The WSJ said the documents suggested that Epstein knew his guests well. For instance, he asked an assistant to ensure that avocado sushi rolls were served when he met with Ruemmler. He and his staff also discussed whether Ruemmler would be uncomfortable with the presence of young women at his townhouse. One visitor, anthropologist Helen Fisher, said that after a 2016 lunch with Epstein at the townhouse, he invited her to speak with his staff, and six attractive young women filed into the room.

Ruemmler, who had dozens of meetings with Epstein over the years, was introduced by the convicted pedophile to de Rothschild, the documents show. After the introduction, the de Rothschild family’s Swiss private bank hired Ruemmler’s law firm to assist with US regulatory issues.

In 2013, Epstein asked de Rotshchild to help find him a new assistant, “female . . . multilingual, organized.” She agreed to “ask around.” He had more than a dozen meetings with de Rothschild and sought her help with luxury furnishings and business deals.

After Epstein was arrested in 2019 for alleged sex trafficking of underage girls, the bank, Edmond de Rothschild Group, claimed that de Rothschild never met the financier and had no business ties to him. The bank told the WSJ that its earlier statement was incorrect and that de Rothschild met with Epstein as part of her normal duties, but she had no knowledge of legal proceedings against him or concerns about his conduct.

The earlier case against Epstein in Florida attracted major media coverage and led some politicians to return donations to the financier. Some business associates, such as retail billionaire Leslie Wexner, cut ties with him. “Despite the negative press, Epstein’s days were filled from morning to night with meetings with prominent people,” the WSJ said.

Previously reported Epstein documents showed that he had links with such celebrities as Gates, former President Bill Clinton and the UK’s Prince Andrew. He died in a New York City jail in 2019, allegedly by suicide. His death gave rise to the meme “Epstein didn’t kill himself,” which suggested that he was killed to cover up evidence about the powerful people with whom he associated.

The documents uncovered by the WSJ showed that Epstein also had meetings arranged with former IsraeliPrime Minister Ehud Barak, Bard College President Leon Botstein, author Noam Chomsky, movie director Woody Allen and Joshua Cooper Ramo, then co-CEO of Henry Kissinger’s consulting firm.

https://www.rt.com/news/575586-epstein-documents-reveal-his-contacts/

30 Apr, 2023 18:12

Hungary issues NATO rebuke to Zelensky

Ukrainian president had publicly accused Budapest of behaving “inappropriately” for a member of the US-led bloc

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto hasrebuked statementsby Ukrainian President VladimirZelensky, who has publiclyaccused Budapest of behaving “inappropriately” for a NATO member state.

It was “fortunately” not for Zelensky to decide on Hungary’s behavior, Szijjarto said in a Facebook post on Sunday, suggesting also that Budapest already provides enough support for Kiev.

“Hungarian people have already paid an extremely high price for this war,” Szijjarto wrote, adding that multiple representatives of Ukraine’s Hungarian ethnic minority had persisted in the ongoing hostilities between Kiev and Moscow.

If this statement means ‘I respectfully thank the Hungarians for letting in and taking care of more than a million refugees from Ukraine, and I respectfully thank you for continuously sending aid’ then [the response is] ‘You are welcome and can count on us in the future as well.’

The sarcastic remarks by Hungary’s top diplomat apparently came in response to statements made by Zelensky in an interview with Nordic media outlets on Friday. TheUkrainian president accused Budapest of siding with Russia in the ongoing conflict and of treating NATO as an “adversary” altogether.

“It seems to me that confusion reigns among the Hungarian political elite. This is a very strange situation. Can a NATO country simultaneously be with Russia and against NATO?” Zelensky stated, adding that Budapest has been displaying “inappropriate behavior” for a member of the US-led NATO alliance.

Hungary has taken a reserved stance on the ongoing hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, which have been raging since February 2022. The country has opposed EU sanctions against Russia, particularly those harming its own interests, such as restrictions in the nuclear and conventional energy fields. Apart from that, Budapest has repeatedly said it will not support Ukraine’s applications to either NATO or the EU. Hungary has also refrained from providing military aid to Kiev and has refused to allow such shipments from elsewhere to flow through its territory.

Hungary and Ukraine have long been at odds over the fate of the ethnic Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Some 150,000 ethnic Hungarians, living primarily in the Transcarpathian region of the country, have been affected by the Ukrainianization efforts undertaken by the authorities of post-Maidan Ukraine. While the crackdown has primarily focused on Russian speakers, it affected other minorities as well.

Kiev, for its part, has long accused Budapest of meddling in the country’s domestic affairs, with its practice of issuing Hungarian passports to Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarians resulting in multiple diplomatic incidents.

(Zelensky and his Nazis obviously don’t understand how tiresome they are and why munitions are slowing down.)

https://www.rt.com/news/575572-hungary-ukraine-nato-zelensky/

30 Apr, 2023 21:42

Zelensky’s adviser (whines and) lashes out at Merkel

An adviser to President Vladimir Zelensky accused the former German Chancellor of “making excuses” over her own failures

Kiev has criticized claims by Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor from 2005 to 2021, who said this week that she’d “tried with what was at my disposal to prevent” the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The top adviser to Zelensky, Mikhail Podolyak, accused Merkel of “making excuses” for her own policy failures.

“Former Chancellor Merkel, who has made Europe totally dependent on Russian energy, makes excuses: ‘I did everything possible to prevent Russia from starting a war, and that is why I got… Russian cheap gas.’ Fantastic. After all, the war did not start, right?” Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

The purported desire of Merkel to obtain said “cheap Russian gas” has ultimately resulted in “destroyed Ukrainian territories and hundreds of thousands of innocent Ukrainian lives,”Podolyak went on. “If you cannot correct the mistakes of the past, just stop making excuses and encouraging the aggressor,” he added.

The remarks from Zelensky’s top adviser come in response to Merkel’s interview with Die Zeit, published on Saturday. In the interview, the ex-Chancellor claimed she has been supporting the Minsk process – an international effort to end the conflict in then-Ukrainian Donbass – in good faith. Merkel insisted that she had “tried with what was at my disposal to prevent” the ongoing hostilities, and even if the effort ultimately failed, she still believed that “diplomacy is a necessity.”

The remarks appeared to contradict the revelations made by Merkel in an interview with the same newspaper last December, when she admitted that the Minsk protocol had been an “attempt to give Ukraine time,” to help it “become stronger” – and the plan succeeded. At the time, it was “clear to all of us that the conflict was frozen, that the problem had not been solved, but that gave Ukraine valuable time,” she stated back then.

Similar revelations about the Minsk negotiations being merely a ruse to buy time for arming Ukraine had been made previously by the country’s ex-President Pyotr Poroshenko, as well as the former President of France, and another original signee of the accords, Francois Hollande.

(This is getting good, Zelensky et al are alienating every leader in the EU and NATO, the demon of Kiev speaks again!)

https://www.rt.com/russia/575588-ukraine-merkel-policy-failure/

30 Apr, 2023 16:27

Ukraine can't join NATO now – member state’s president

Lithuania’s Gitanas Nauseda said Kiev should not be admitted to the military bloc until its conflict with Moscow is over

Ukraine’s aspirations of joining NATO cannot be realized while the country remains locked in a military conflict with Russia, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has insisited. He noted, however, that a “definite road map”should be developed by mid-summer for Kiev’s eventual accession.

In an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica published on Saturday, Nauseda said letting Ukraine join the US-led military bloc right now “would be too difficult.” The leadership in Kiev is also well aware of this fact, he added.

Instead, the alliance needs to “define stages and formulae of how to act after” the conflict is over, Nauseda continued. He expressed hope that this could be done during the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12, 2023.

He acknowledged that the issue of Ukraine’s possible accession “will be the most complicated element to deal with” during the event. According to the Lithuanian head of state,some member states are still reluctant to send “strong signals” to Ukraine.

Last week, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius asserted that “this is now not the time to decide” on Ukraine’s possible future within NATO. Echoing the Lithuanian president, he said this issue could be “carefully” considered only after Kiev succeeds in “repelling this attack.” (Ukraine will not succeed, these are empty promises, there’s a real reason why they have not beem admitted to the EU for 15 years and NATO, its called uncontrolled corruption)

The decision should be made “with a cold head and hot heart, and not the other way round,” he stated.

Around the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban tweeted “What?!” in response to an article reporting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s remarks in Kiev last Thursday.

During a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, the military bloc’s chief said: “Ukraine’s rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.” Stoltenberg added that “over time, our support will help to make this possible.”

However,he stopped shortof offering any timeframe for Ukraine’s possible accession to the alliance.

Commenting on Stoltenberg’s remarks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stressed that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO remains one of the key goals of Russia’s military campaign against its neighbor.

Explaining the need for military action against Ukraine last February, President Vladimir Putin cited the country’s possible accession to the alliance as one of the reasons for the move.

(More signs and confirmation Ukraine will never join NATO and the EU is tired of Ukraine. Only one member of NATO can object admitting a member, so far 3 have spoken out. I hope NATO dies from this.)

https://www.rt.com/news/575571-lithuanian-president-ukraine-nato-membership/

30 Apr, 2023 14:03

Ukraine links attack on Crimea to ‘counter-offensive’

Kiev is attempting to undermine Russian logistics, according to a military spokesperson

Saturday’s drone attack on an oil terminal in Russia’s Crimea was part of Kiev’s preparations for its planned counteroffensive, Natalya Gumenyuk, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s southern command, has claimed.

An explosion rocked the key port of Sevastopol on Saturday morning as a UAV crashed into one of the fuel-storage facilities in the city. Theblaze engulfed about a thousand square metersand destroyed four oil tanks, local authorities said. There were no fatalities or injuries as a result of the incident, they added.

Kiev has been saying for a long time that undermining the Russian military’s logistics was “one of the elements of preparation for powerful, active actions by the Defense Forces” of Ukraine, Gumenyuk said during a live TV appearance on Sunday.

Speaking about the previous day’s attack in Sevastopol, she claimed that “this work represents that preparation for a broad, large-scale offensive, which everybody is expecting.”

Crimea, which reunited with Russia in 2014 following a referendum held after the violent coup in Kiev that year, has been a frequent target of aerial and naval drone raids since the conflict erupted into open fighting in February last year. The Ukrainian military and the authorities in Kiev have usually been reluctant to take responsibility for the attacks, most of which have been repelled by Russian forces.

In an interview with Nordic media outlets on Friday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that the “counteroffensive will happen” and expressed hope that it’ll allow Kiev to “de-occupy” Crimea as well as Russia’s newly-incorporated territories: the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who serves at present as deputy head of the country’s Security Council, said that Zelensky’s claims were “delusional,” but warned that, nonetheless, they shouldn’t be discounted.

According to Medvedev, Russia should foil the counteroffensive bydelivering “mass destruction of personnel and military equipment” and inflicting a “maximum military defeat” on the Ukrainian military. After that, the “Nazi regime in Kiev” must be “completely dismantled,” he added.

Earlier this week, Politico reported that Ukraine’s prime backer, the US, has been concerned that the impact of the much-hyped counteroffensive could fall short of expectations. Meanwhile, the New York Times warned thatWestern support for Kiev could weaken if the operation doesn’t bring “a decisive victory.”

Former Ukrainian defense minister Andrey Zagorodnyuk complained earlier this month that “the vast majority ofWestern politicians, analysts and journalists don’t see the liberation of Crimea as a realistic prospect” because significant Russian forces are situated there. Kiev should do more to persuade the US and its allies to support an attack on the peninsula, he insisted.

(Ukraine and its leaders are not listening to the accelerated rhetoric of Medevev, they should! Russia’s patience is running out. Scott Ritter said this in a video last night, making the bear angry is not a good idea!So far they have been conservative to only take care of their primary mission, it won’t last much longer with Ukraine going into Russian territory and destroying people and plants. Ukraine needs to listen to experts. Or else it will really turn into a very bloody war and destruction for the Kiev and the leaders. Russia still considers Ukrainians as related and will try to protect the innocents.)

https://www.rt.com/russia/575570–drone-strike-ukraine/

30 Apr, 2023 15:25

First Chinese world chess champion crowned

A rollercoaster match ended with Ding Liren winning the title

Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren prevailed over Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi on Sunday in a tiebreak to win what has been hailed as perhaps themost exciting world chess championship match in a generation.

With the score deadlocked at a 7-7 tie after 14 grueling classical games – the final of which on Saturday clocked in at six and a half hours – the action shifted to a series of four shorter games to break the tie. Had a winner still not emerged, a series of two ‘blitz’ games would have ensued.

The first three games ended in a draw, with neither player able to muster significant winning chances. In game four, however,Ding managed to seize the initiative with the black pieces. But Nepomniachtchi fought back and double-edged play followed, with the Russian eschewing an opportunity to steer the game toward a clear draw and thus a final ‘blitz’ tiebreak.

When nothing subsequently materialized for Nepomniachtchi, he appeared to choose a perpetual check line, a technique whereby a player repeats a series of checks on the opponent’s king but without being able to make any progress.

With less than two minutes on his clock and a world title on the line, Ding declined the repetition and played an unexpected and brave move that pinned his own rook to his king – but in doing so deprived his opponent of further checks. With two passed pawns as compensation for a less safe king,Ding played with razor-sharp precisionand managed to push his pawns while denying Nepomniachtchi counterplay.

After Ding successfully parried one final shot of desperation from Nepomniachtchi, the Russian extended his hand inresignation. A stunned Ding, overcome with emotion, was unable to stand up from the board.

Ding’s journey to becomingChina’s first-ever world chess championand the first new title holder since 2013 was a most improbable one. He only qualified for the Candidates Tournament, the round-robin that determines who takes on the defending champion, after Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin was removed. However, because pandemic restrictions in China had left him short of the required number of rated games, he was forced to embark on a punishing schedule of tournaments hastily arranged by the Chinese Chess Federation.

In the Candidates Tournament, meanwhile, Ding finished second – to Nepomniachtchi – and was only catapulted into the championship match when five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen opted not to defend his title.

The absence of Carlsen, who has dominated professional chess for the last decade, was initially seen as diminishing the stature of the match. However, as Ding and Nepomniachtchi traded blow for blow and thrilled viewers with tense and topsy-turvy games, the encounter was increasingly seen as what former world champion Viswanathan Anandcalled “a match for the ages.”

Nepomniachtchi, who was making his second straight appearance in the world title match after squaring off with Carlsen in Dubai in 2021, saw his bid to join a long list of Soviet and Russian world champions fall agonizingly short. Ding will pocket €1.2 million (more than $1.3 million) for prevailing in the match, while Nepomniachtchi, as runner-up, will take home €800,000.

https://www.rt.com/news/575573-ding-liren-world-chess-champion/

>>18778437

Did Russia tell him to concede to China because of China being an objective ally, nah they wouldnt do that

30 Apr, 2023 23:24

ISIS ‘caliph’ killed in Syria – Erdogan

The anti-terrorist operation was carried out by the Turkish intelligence agency, President Erdogan has announced

The leader of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS),Abu Hussein al-Qurashi, has allegedly been killed in an operation by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Syria, becoming the terrorist group’s third self-proclaimed “caliph” to be eliminated in the past 15 months.

MIT agents had been tracking al-Qurashi “for a long time” and “neutralized” him on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview aired on Sunday by broadcaster TRT Turk.

“We will continue our struggle with terrorist organizations without any discrimination,” he said.

The operation was reportedly carried out around 1 am on Saturday in a village near Jindires, about seven kilometers (four miles) from the Turkish border. Turkish forces surrounded a compound where al-Qurashi was believed to be staying and battled with IS fighters. The caliph refused to surrender,then detonated explosives that had been strapped to his body.

Al-Qurashi became the terrorist group’s fourth leader last November, after his predecessor, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, was killed in battle. US military officials claimed that the previous al-Qurashi had been killed in mid-October by Syrian rebels in southern Syria’s Daraa province. He had been on the job for only about eight months, taking the helm after predecessor Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi killed himself and his wife and children during a raid in northern Syria by US special forces.

AlthoughTürkiye’s anti-terrorism operations have focused largely on militant Kurdish groups, including the PKK, the Islamic State also has been a thorn in Ankara’s side, killing a combined 315 civilians in dozens of attacks. US-allied Syrian rebels accused Türkiye last year of giving IS a “safe zone” in northern Syria. Turkish officials dismissed the allegation as “utterly ridiculous.” Türkiye was one of the first countries to identify the Islamic State, then known as ISIS, as a terrorist organization, in 2013, and has been fighting the group for years.

This weekend’s MIT operation comes just two weeks before Türkiye’s presidential election. Erdogan will be seeking re-election in a battle with pro-Western opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Polls show that the race is currently a dead heat.

(Hmm is in CiC still in force? I think so according according to Derrick Johnson)

https://www.rt.com/news/575590-erdogan-isis-leader-killed-syria/

>>18778214

Really? Its funny but eat food off the floor

>>18778230

Yes Scott Ritter said on a video last night posted here, over 300,000 Ukrainians have died, and future generations will be genetically inferior because the young and strong were killed in an unnecessary war! think what they are willingly doing to their nation. Bidan, Zelensky and EU leaders should be humg

>>18778421

None of them are, Russia notified every ally country including Pompeo as SOS, the UN etc that Ukraine was killing 14,000+ innocent citizens, they all ignored it. The US and EU believed Ukraine could win or if not. Russia would still be called liars and killers. The entire world ignored genocide by Ukraine, they all deserve what they get

>>18778606

Yep, just like they sent more conservatives to WWI and II, dems had hold longer than most knew

>>18778315

Where’s his arrest of illegal immigrants, he’s useless and won’t send them back

>>18778349

The leaders are addicted on the money and money laundering, they keep on saying they can win, they are willing to kill all their young and healthy for money. The same as bidan. May they be all damed to the 9th circle of hell

>>18778533

Kek they said it was a stomach flu, erdogan met the DS in the US under Bidan

30 Apr, 2023 21:42

Brits urged to swear oath to their king for first time

The Archbishop of Canterbury will call for a “chorus of millions” to recite a pledge of fealty to the UK monarchy

Next week’s coronation of King Charles III willfeature an invitation for all British people to swear their allegiance to the new monarchand his descendants in what organizers have billed as a “chorus of millions.”

The ceremony has been revised to include a “homage of the people,” rather than the traditional “homage of peers” in which dukes pledge their allegiance to the sovereign, according to plans announced on Saturday by the Church of England.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will call upon “all persons of goodwill” in the UK and its territories – those attending the ceremony at Westminster Abbey and those watching on television or the internet – to recite the following vows: “I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty and to your heirs and successors according to the law, so help me God.” The archbishop will then proclaim, “God save the king” and ask all to respond: “God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the king live forever.”

The public pledge is among several tweaks to a ceremony with ancient traditions, some of which date back nearly half a millennium. “Our hope is at that point, when the archbishop invites people to join in, that people wherever they are, if they’re watching at home on their own, watching the telly, ill say it out loud this sense of a great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the king,” a Lambeth Palace spokesperson said.

Among other changes to the traditional ceremony, the coronation will feature female clergy taking a prominent role and leaders of other faiths presenting the king with regalia for the events, including his robe, ring and bracelets. A hymn will be sung in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic. The service will celebrate tradition while adding “new elements that reflect the diversity of our contemporary society,” the archbishop said.

However, King Charles III will take the traditional oaths, including a pledge to maintain “the Protestant Reformed religion.”The archbishop will preface the oath by saying that the Church of England will seek to foster an environment where “people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely.”

(This is not good when they have to ask for it, he’s not well liked and he’s certainly not king like. UK going down big time.)

https://www.rt.com/news/575589-uk-coronation-public-oath-to-king/

>>18778753

Queen Elizabeth whatever her flaws, she was loved. The monarchy is dead with this degenerate filth. I feel sorry for England. Any Brits on the board, do you have more insight???

>>18778753

What to hell is going on with his pants? Do they even fit? The curse of killing your wife and mother of your sons, he’s a dead man walking. His eldest son will not be much better. Actually neither of them

>>18778787

I don’t disagree but they did love her, this guy couldn’t even to pretend to be royal

>>18778753

Did you all notice his wife was behind him?