6 Jul, 2023 08:20

NATO summit won’t satisfy Kiev’s expectations – Ukrainian spy chief

Kirill Budanov has suggested he is not optimistic about the upcoming event in Vilnius

The head of the Ukrainian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR),Kirill Budanov, is “certain” that Kiev will not be invited to become a NATO member at the bloc’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania next week, The Times has reported.

“The NATO summit is quite difficult for me to commend, for a very simple reason: the expectations of our society will not be satisfied,” Budanov said in an interview published by the British paper on Wednesday.

“I’m sure some words will be declared, but nothing besides that. I’m pretty sure what will be spoken ahead; I have seen the drafts of the speeches [prepared for the NATO summit],” he claimed.

According to The Times, the spy chief sounded “momentarily more disappointed in the behavior of his allies than that of his enemies.”

The president of host nation Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, said earlier this week that Kiev would not be invited to join NATO at the gathering in Vilnius. However, he insisted that the bloc’s leaders would still “agree on those wordings that will not disappoint the Ukrainians and will say more than what we are used to saying.”

He noted that “there’s already agreement on the establishment of a NATO-Ukraine Council to strengthen Kiev’s integration into the alliance.” According to the schedule provided by NATO’s press service, the council’s first meeting will take place on July 12 – the second day of the event in Vilnius.

When asked about Kiev’s NATO bid on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied that Ukraine “would have to make reforms to meet the same standards as any NATO country before they join.”

Ukrainian President VladimirZelensky earlier rejected any “substitute for NATO” being offered to Kiev. According to reports, Zelensky even threatened not to attend the summit in Vilnius unless the US-led bloc offered“concrete” guarantees or a roadmap to full membership.

Russia, which sees NATO as hostile and vigorously opposes its eastward expansion, highlighted Kiev’s push to join the bloc as among the main reasons for launching its military operation in Ukraine more than a year ago.

(They are never satisfied with anything! NATO members and leaders have said many times, Kiev must fulfill the requirements before they join NATO, but Kiev expects exceptions.)

https://www.rt.com/russia/579272-nato-ukraine-budanov-vilnius/

Ukraine authorities expose piles of cash in Supreme Court corruption probe

Reuters

May 15, 202311:21 PM EDTUpdated

May 15 (Reuters) - Ukrainian anti-graft authorities said on Monday they were investigating large-scale corruption in the country's Supreme Court system and shared a photograph of piles of dollars neatly lined up on a sofa.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) did not name anyone accused of corruption, but two local media organizations reportedSupreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazievhad been detained on suspicion of receiving a$3 million bribe.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

The country's anti-graft authorities displayed the photograph on its Facebook page, which said the discovery followed investigations by NABU and the office of the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor (SAP). (Both agencies are corrupt with the influence of Soros)

"NABU and SAP have exposed large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court, namely a scheme for the leadership and judges of the Supreme Court to receive bribes," the bureau said in the post. "Emergency investigative actions are under way."

Brussels has made fighting corruption a precondition for Kyiv to join the 27-member European Union. Despite progress in recent years, Ukraine ranks 116th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, a local news website, and online outlet Ukrayinska Pravda both quoted unnamed officials saying Kniaziev had been detained without providing further details.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Kniaziev for comment after normal business hours.

Dzerkalo Tyzhnia quoted its source as saying the money came from backers of Ukrainian billionaire Kostyantyn Zhevago, who was arrested in France in December at Kyiv's request in relation to embezzlement charges.

The businessman told the court he did nothing wrong and should not be extradited.

The money had come from supporters of a court decision in April that favored pellet producer Ferrexpo Plc, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia quoted its source as saying. It saidanother 18 Supreme Court judgeswho heard the Ferrexpo case werenow being searched.

The case addressed a repurchase of about 40.2% of shares in the company's Ukraine subsidiary, Ferrexpo Poltava Mining, which was sold to Zhevago and other parties.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-authorities-expose-piles-cash-supreme-court-corruption-probe-2023-05-16/

6 Jul, 2023 11:21

Belarus president outlines deal with Wagner

Alexander Lukashenko says he doesn’t expect the private military company to cause any trouble in his country

Wagner troops could be used to defend Belarusafter they relocate from Russia, where they took part in a failed revolt last month, President Alexander Lukashenko has said. (I thought they already relocated.)

Military personnel attached to Evgeny Prigozhin’s private military company are being transferred to the country subject to“certain conditions,” including that they can bedeployed instantly if they’re needed to “defend the state,” he explained.

“I’m absolutely not worried and not troubled that we’ll have acertain numberof these fighters stationed here [in Belarus],”Lukashenko told journalists on Thursday.

The likes of Polish President Andrzej Duda and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky have vowed that “they won’t leave Belarus alone,” Lukashenko said, adding that “he must react” to such threats as supreme commander of the armed forces.

“The experience that Wagner and its commanders have, they’ll gladly pass it on to our military…. The ones that we need:in tactics, combat operations,” he continued. Wagner was instrumental in the capture of the strategic city of Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) from Ukraine in May. The PMC has also operated in Syria and Africa.

When asked about the possibility of Wagner attempting a mutiny in Belarus like they did in Russia last month, Lukashenko replied: “I don’t think that Wagner will somehow rise up and turn its guns against the Belarusian authorities and the Belarusian state. Everything happens in life. But today I don’t see such a situation.”

He also provided information regarding the whereabouts ofPrigozhin, saying theWagner head is currently not in Belarus, but in Russia, and that they had talked the previous day.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that theRussianauthorities “don’t have eitherthe ability or desire” to track Prigozhin’s movements. All of the statements made by Moscow and Belarus regarding the fate of Wagner in the wake of the failed mutiny “remain relevant,” he added.

In a short message on social media earlier this week, Prigozhin claimed that thebotched uprising by his menwas aimed at “fighting traitors and mobilizing the society” of Russia. “I think we succeeded in many of those goals,”he claimed.

Points from article;

1. Wagner troops are still in Russia at this point

1. Part of Wagner are being trasferred to Belarus “under certain conditions”. Not all of Wagner group in Russia

1. “Certain Number” of Wagner will be stationed in Belarus, not all

1. Wagner to train Belarus army in tactics and combat

1. Prigozhn is in Russia now, not Belarus

1. Russia is not tracking or aware of where Prigozhn is in Russia

1. Prigozhn says “botched uprising of my men”, so its not me and my men. Note: Putin has never stated Prigozhn led the uprising, only media

(Fake coup or partial coup by a limited number of Wagner, without their leader. Legacy news is still breathlessly saying “Putin has been weakened” kek)

https://www.rt.com/russia/579278-wagner-belarus-lukashenko-peskov/

Richard Baris at People’s Pundit Confirms Trump Campaign Did Not Know of California GOP Rule Change Scheme

July 6, 2023 | Sundance |

For two days Bannon Warroom frequent guest, Attorney Mike Davis, has been trying desperately to defend his friend RNC Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon for her participation in a California GOP scheme to support Ron DeSantis with proportional delegates.

In a series of Tweets and statements Mike Davis continually said he had firsthand knowledge the Trump campaign was aware of the rule change and did not contest it. However, Davis refused to say who on the Trump campaign had this knowledge and seemingly approved the delegate plan without challenge.

Mr. Davis became increasingly unhinged when questioned about the issue because it just did not make sense; yet Davis continued to claim the Trump campaign was aware.

It became increasingly obvious to those watching the repeated desperate denials that something was afoot, and it just did not reconcile. In short, the most likely scenario was that Mike Davis was being dishonest and less than fulsome with his statements. However, despite his credibility hanging in the balance, Mike Davis publicly continued to stick to his guns.

By the end of the second day, he really had no option; he had painted himself into a corner. When asked again last night by myself and others, he responded, “Why would I ever reveal the names of loyal Trump workers—names told to me in confidence?” Apparently painting the mysterious campaign workers as “loyal to Trump”even though the rulethey seemingly approvedwould be unfavorable to President Trump.

After Harmeet Dhillon began her own retreat, it became obvious the fabrications were soon to collapse. Mike Davis modified slightly clarifying that President Trump personally was unaware. “I never said President Trump saw or approved anything. I said theTrump campaignwas briefed about the proposed rules change and didn’t object.”

UPDATE:Richard Baris(People’s Pundit) was able tocontact the Trump campaignto ask themdirectly. According to Baris relaying information from the campaign, the Trump Campaign was not aware of any California GOP rule changes andwere not notifiedof the plan as designed by Jessica Patterson, Shawn Steel and Harmeet Dhillon,to change the delegate apportionments.

Mr Mike Davis, the former Chief Counsel for judicial nominations to Senator Chuck Grassley, former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch and frequent guest on the Steve Bannon Warroom podcast,lied in all his public statements.

Mike Davis wants to be the next Trump appointed Attorney General for the United States*. Take from that, what you will.

“There are trillions at stake!”

(Too bad I liked Mike Davis, this gives me a bad feeling. Either he is being lied to by Harmeet & GOP and he’s repeating the lie, or he willingly lied on behalf of the corrupt GOP and Harmeet to protect them! Either way, he is naive of how corrupt both are, and/or he knows it, which makes him untrustworthy. If Mike finds out he was mislead and wrong, he should apologize. *AG comment above, this started as a suggestion by Bannon and mostly was said in jest. He currently says “when I’m AG for 24 hours, I’ll clean that place out quickly.” I’ve never had the impression he was serious about AG of US. But maybe he does.)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/07/06/richard-baris-at-peoples-pundit-confirms-trump-campaign-did-not-know-of-california-gop-rule-change-scheme/

>>19132287

He used the wigs for disguises

Prigozhin is purportedly seen wearing various disguises in these images leaked to Telegram

6 Jul, 2023 12:16

Millions join Zuckerberg’s Twitter rival

The Meta chief says the app represents a “friendly” alternative to the Elon Musk-operated social network

Threads,Meta’s newly launched social mediaapp intended to rival Twitter, sawten million users sign up to the platform in its first seven hours, the company’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said. (How many are bots?)

Writing on the new platform soon after its debut late on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said the service would allow users to “build something great together” before revealing that it had received “10 million sign ups in seven hours.”

Threads is available on the Apple and Android online stores in around 100 countries, but its debut in the EU has been delayed due to privacy concerns.

The app has been hailed as an aggressive challenger to Twitter’s dominance of the social media market, which has come under fire due to several changes imposed on the platform following Elon Musk’s multi-billion-dollar takeover last year.

“It’ll take some time,” Zuckerberg wrote on the platform on Thursday in response to the question of whether Threads would become ‘bigger’ than Twitter. “But I think there should be a public conversation app with 1billion+ people on it.”

He added: “Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”

Threads has many features similar to those currently available on Twitter but will allow users to compose messages of up to 500 characters, compared to Twitter’s 280. Twitter’s paid subscription service, Twitter Blue, has a 10,000-character limit.

n response to a Threads post from American entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, commonly known as Gary Vee, soon after the app’s launch, Zuckerberg wrote that the development team “are definitely focusing on kindness and making this a friendly place.”

And in an apparent criticism of Elon Musk’s sometimes acerbic posts on Twitter, Zuckerberg wrote that so-called “s**t-posting,” a phrase used to describe the type of online trolling of which Musk is occasionally accused, is “not my style personally.”

In comparison to standalone social media challengers to Twitter’s throne like BlueSky and Mastodon, Threads has an advantage due to it having access to Meta-owned Instagram’s global audience of two billion people. Jasmine Engberg, an industry expert from Insider Intelligence, said Threads will only need one in four Instagram users to migrate to the platform “to make it as big as Twitter,” according to comments published by AdWeek on Wednesday.

There is no indication as of yet when the app will be available in the EU due to Brussels’ concerns about Meta’s handling of personal data on its Facebook and Instagram platforms. Harvesting user data is key to Meta’s targeted advertisements strategy, which delivers billions of dollars in profits each year.

https://www.rt.com/news/579282-tech-zuckerberg-threads-launch/

>>19132458

Does anyone believe this BS?