8 Jul, 2023 23:25

Germany wants to block Ukraine’s NATO bid – Telegraph

Berlin reportedly prefers alternative security arrangements for Kiev to avoid direct conflict with Moscow

Germany stands against offering Kiev a clear roadmap or concrete guarantees of joining the Western military bloc at an upcoming summit in Lithuania, the Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday, citing NATO officials.

“Berlin is stand-offish at the prospect of offering immediate membership… It wants a process and time to develop guarantees to essentially block membership,” an unnamed source within the military bloc told the British outlet.

Germany is reportedly wary that Kiev would immediately invoke Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which stipulates that an attack against one NATO member “shall be considered an attack against them all.”

Last month, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that “we have to take a sober look at the current situation.” He argued that even Ukrainian officials admit “that joining NATO is out of the question” for as long as the conflict with Russia is raging, and the Western bloc should focus on other means of “support” for Kiev.

US President Joe Biden voiced similar concerns in a recent interview, saying Ukraine’s NATO membership would mean “war with Russia,” and hinting instead at a sort of arrangement “a la the security we provide for Israel.”

French President Emmanuel Macron also mentioned the ‘Israel model’, saying in June that “we have to build something between the security provided to Israel and full-fledged membership.”

The US, Germany and France are “understood to be working on a series of bilateral security offers” to Kiev, which would then be placed under an umbrella ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ endorsed by NATO and the EU, the Telegraph wrote.

Ukraine has demanded an invitation from NATO, or at least an announcement of when it might be ready to bring it on board, at the upcoming summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. President Vladimir Zelensky reportedly even threatened to skip the summit unless the bloc offered “concrete” guarantees.

Despite some shift in rhetoric, NATO’s official position on Ukrainian membership remains mostly unchanged since 2008, when it declared that the bloc’s “door is open” and Ukraine “will become a member” at an unspecified point in the future.

Moscow has repeatedly said that it views NATO’s expansions to the east as a threat to its security, and has listed Ukraine’s neutrality as one of the conditions for any lasting peace between the two countries.

https://www.rt.com/news/579415-germany-ukraine-nato-summit/

>>19146928

I’ve done that but I never put myself in jail. You are released anon!

DAVID BLACKMON: A Backlash Against Net-Zero Policies Is Finally Beginning To Take Shape

July 8, 2023

The past week has been a very interesting one, to say the least, as the media has suddenly filled with story after story documenting a rising backlash against net-zero policies in the Western world.

From environmental, social and governance (ESG) to insurance alliances to recent elections in Europe, the tide seems to be turning against the destructive outcomes of policies pushing net-zero and “energy transition” goals. With recent elections in Europe having resulted in the institution of more conservative governments in Sweden, Greece and Italy, and public attitudes in other EU nations trending in that direction, a developing backlash is not at all surprising.

Austria’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NEKP) said Tuesday that its climate targets for 2030 will not be reached in time. The revised plan rolled out this week cuts the country’s greenhouse gas reduction goals from 48% below 2005 levels to a 35% reduction.

The UK Guardian reported Tuesday that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government is developing plans todrop the country’s costly, £11.6 billion climate and nature funding plan dueto its overwhelming cost. Government officials estimate that meeting the pledge would consume 83% of the Foreign Office’s official development assistance budget on the global international climate fund.

Earlier in the month, Poland’s climate minister, Anna Moskwa, promised to appealthe EU’s recently-adopted mandate to ban internal combustion engine automobiles by 2035 to the EU’s highest court. “We don’t agree with this and other documents from the Fit for 55 package and we’re bringing this to the European Court of Justice. I hope other countries will join,” Moskwa told Radio Zet on June 10. “We will file the motion in the coming days.”

On Wednesday, the United Nations-administered Net Zero Insurers Alliance (NZIA) announced it has dropped all requirements for members to set or publish greenhouse gas emission-reduction targets. The revision comes as 23 Republican state attorneys general in the United States threatened to file lawsuits over the group’s alleged violations of U.S. anti-trust laws. At least 18 of the 30 members of the alliance had rescinded their memberships in the group due to those allegations.

Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is leading an investigation over similar anti-trust allegations against so-called ESG investment houses which boast about collectively controlling trillions of dollars in investment capital. The Daily Caller reported it had obtained copies of letters the Committee sent to the CEOs of Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), which is co-chaired by Michael Bloomberg.

Jordan’s letters were sent just days after BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told an audienceat the Aspen Ideas Festival that he was “ashamed” of his involvement in the debate over ESG, which he claimed had become “politicized.” Whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship here is anyone’s guess.

And of course the ESG issue is “politicized.” The entire pursuit is highly political — almost toxically so — by its very nature. The campaign towards “net zero” and this “energy transition” from fossil fuels to renewables is entirely driven by political decisions and policies.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/07/08/opinion-a-backlash-against-net-zero-policies-is-finally-beginning-to-take-shape-david-blackmon/

Trump kicks up a hornet’s nest: WH now refuses to rule out if the cocaine belongs to Hunter…

July 8, 2023 (7h

President Trump has a unique talent for stirring the pot. He’s got this “thing” where he says out loud what many folks are thinking, whether they’ll own up to it or not. And this really ruffles the feathers of the upper crust who prefer to exist in a bubble of phony courtesies and insincerity. When it comes to “CokeGate” at the White House, Trump really kicked up a hornets nest, putting the regime in a tight spot. He got the ball rolling with a few zingers on Truth, placing Hunter firmly in the spotlight.

2023.07.07-02.15-revolvernews-64a81de4f1a22.png

2023.07.07-02.15-revolvernews-64a81df8e4b55.png

Those posts put the media and left in a panic.

We’re also learning some new very interesting developments in CokeGate. A new report from NBC has pinpointed where the coke was actually found, and it wasn’t the library, after all.

Slay:

The White House cocaine story has just changed again, blowing the scandal wide open.

Now NBC is reporting the mystery cocaine was “found one floor below the main West Wing offices and the same floor as the Situation Room and a dining area.

“The entrance is near where some vehicles, like the vice president’s limo or SUV park.”

This is an area an MSNBC reporter said: “Wasn’t necessarily covered by cameras all that well.”

“We are doing everything possible to attempt to identify who may have brought this item into the White House,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

This situation showcases a sad possibility that’s crystal clear to most of us — it’s likely Hunter’s coke — but the powers that be are doing a heck of a job trying to dodge it. It’s almost like they’re passing the hot potato of blame, even when we can all see exactly what’s happening right before our eyes.

Kilmeade:

"It doesn't usually happen that cocaine's found in the White House, when you have a guy there who has spent years on camera, in still and in video, on crack, using cocaine."

pic.twitter.com/o0TGQIdhIX

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 7, 2023

But it was President Trump who got things going and placed the regime between a rock and a hard place by calling a spade a spade. As a result, the regime is now refusing to rule out Hunter as the owner of the cocaine.

Daily Mail:

The White House batted away new lines of questioning Thursday about cocaine discovered at the White House – with a spokesman invoking the Hatch Act to avoid giving a direct answer to a charge leveled by Donald Trump.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates was asked about ‘pretty wild’ posts by the former president, who claimed cocaine discovered at the White House Sunday belonged to the president or his son Hunter, who has acknowledged illegal drug use in the past but says he is clean now.

‘I don’t have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act,’ Bates responded, invoking the law barring politicking by government officials during their official duties. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has regularly used the law as a crutch during briefings, but recently got her own warning about running afoul of its intricacies from the Office of Special Counsel.

President Trump is saying what everyone out there is thinking — of course it was probably Hunter’s cocaine, he was at the White House the day before, and looked suspiciously “hyped on” on the balcony during the July 4th festivities.

I’m not saying Hunter Biden snorted cocaine at the White House but if he did, I would expect it to look exactly like this. pic.twitter.com/n3VykREfgq

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 5, 2023

We also know that Hunter tends to get very careless with his “things” and leaves them lying around when he’s high as a kite — as he did with the laptop from hell.

THERE'S HUNTER!!!😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/SnLlsAzJjH

— il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) July 6, 2023

Unfortunately, Joe Biden’s enabler mindset towards his loser son has transformed the White House into a coke den.

Revolver:

It doesn’t matter how much Joe, the Enabler in Chief, tries to protect and shield his son; it’s a pointless and fruitless endeavor because when Hunter, an addict at heart, is chafing and dying for some blow, nothing can stop him.

[…]

It doesn’t matter how much Joe, the Enabler in Chief, tries to protect and shield his son; it’s a pointless and fruitless endeavor because when Hunter, an addict at heart, is chafing and dying for some blow, nothing can stop him.

https://www.revolver.news/2023/07/trump-kicks-up-a-hornets-nest-wh-now-refuses-to-rule-out-if-the-cocaine-belongs-to-hunter/

Well, could it get worse? Yes it could!

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/meanwhile-finland