8 Oct, 2023 16:18

Military solution to Ukraine conflict unlikely – Italian defense minister

Guido Crosetto also noted that Rome cannot be expected to support Kiev indefinitely as its own stocks are limited

It is unlikely that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will be resolved on the battlefield,Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosettohas predicted. He also revealed that Rome is considering ways to bring the two sides to the negotiating table, while continuing to arm Kiev.

In an interview with Corriere della Sera published on Sunday, Crosetto acknowledged that no matter how much Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government wants to support Ukraine indefinitely, the policy is simply not realistic. He pointed out that the hostilities there have dragged on for over a year and a half, adding that the “more time passes, the more the possibility of helping Ukraine with resources that are not unlimited decreases.”The official emphasized that this does not indicate a change in Italy’s policies but rather the finite nature of the country’s stocks.

According to the official, the “situation in Ukraine is getting worse,” with Kiev having “great difficulty in regaining lost ground,” and Moscow being unable to “conquer” the nation.

“We are witnessing the impossibility of resolving the conflict on the field,” Crosetto argued, adding that Italy was busy looking for ways to “build dialogue tables, achieve peace.”

He concluded by claiming that if Russia prevails in Ukraine, its tanks will be rolling toward European borders, making the prospect of World War III more likely.

Late last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated that Moscow is ready for peace talks with Kiev in principle, adding, however, that it has yet to see any “serious proposal.” The diplomat dismissed Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s peace formula as a “pure ultimatum,” which Russia would never accept.

Russian officials have previously pointed out that President Zelensky effectively ruled out negotiations when he signed a decree last October prohibiting dialogue with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this month, POLITICO reported, citing a European official, that EU member states have reached their limit in terms of weaponry they can provide to Ukraine without compromising their own defenses.

“We cannot keep on giving from our own stockpiles,” the anonymous official told reporters.

In a separate story around the same time, the media outlet claimed that support for funding the Ukrainian government was “showing more cracks than ever,” citing the recent failure of the US Congress to allocate more aid money in its stopgap budget, as well as the election victory of former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who vowed when he was campaigning that he’d stop assistance to Kiev.

Meanwhile, on Friday, POLITICO alleged that the Biden administration is looking for “creative” ways to secure further military aid for Ukraine, amid mounting opposition at home. The supposed workarounds under consideration include using the State Department’s foreign military financing program as well as a three-way swap of air-defense systems involving Poland, the media outlet claimed.

https://www.rt.com/news/584340-italian-defense-minister-ukraine/

8 Oct, 2023 12:09

Israel officially at war – Netanyahu’s office

The invocation of Article 40 allows the government to carry out “significant military activities,” the prime minister’s office says

Israel’s security cabinet voted on Saturday night to officially go to war following a major attack on the country by Palestinian armed group Hamas, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

The invocation of Article 40 of Israel’s Basic Law allows the government to take “significant military action that may lead, with a level of probability close to certain, to war,”Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday.

Under the legislation, the prime minister will be able to make certain decisions regarding the war with just the approval of the security cabinet, it added.

Netanyahu’s office also said the government had asked the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to activate emergency regulationsallowing for detainees to be held in custody for a longer period without being brought before a court.

Netanyahu declared that Israel was at war in his first message a few hours after Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel and sent its fighters into Jewish settlements near the border with Gaza on Saturday morning.

“Citizens of Israel, we are at war. And we will win,” the prime minister said in his address. “The enemy will pay a price like they have never known before,” he vowed, referring to Hamas.

ZAKA, a volunteer group that handles human remains after terrorist attacks in Israel, has said thatmore than 600 Israelis have been killedsince the launch of the surprise attack by Hamas. The figure includes 44 troops, whose deaths had earlier been confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

According to the IDF, more than 400 Hamas fighters have been killed by Israeli security forces in the past 30 hours.

The death toll from Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza has reached 313 people, with almost 2,000 others wounded, the local health ministry has said.

Fighting between the sides is continuing in several Israeli settlements near the border with Gaza.

(We will find out that Israel funded the terrorists to start the war?)

https://www.rt.com/news/584329-israel-war-hamas-declaration/

8 Oct, 2023 03:19

Biden may request $100 billion for Ukraine – Telegraph

The US president is reportedly considering asking Congress to passenough funding to get through the 2024 election

US President Joe Biden is reportedly plotting a potential “one-and-done” Ukraine aid request that would be so big, he wouldn’t need to seek any more funding approvals from Congress until after the 2024 election, The Telegraph reported on Saturday.

The new aid request could be as large as $100 billion, enough to avoid continued legislative controversies that could hinder Biden’s re-election bid next year, the British newspaper said, citing people familiar with White House discussions. Such a proposal would dwarf the $24 billion funding request that US House lawmakers stripped out of the stopgap spending bill that they passed last week to avert a government shutdown.

“The big package idea isfirmly supported by many throughout the administration,” the newspaper’s source said. “Supporters of Ukraine want this to be a one-and-done, big bill, and then not have to deal with it until after the next election.”

Biden’s administration is scrambling to find temporary ways to keep money and weapons flowing into Kiev, supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces, until a major aid bill is passed by Congress. For instance, a US State Department grant program could reportedly be tapped to provide around $650 million in funding.

White House officials were quoted by the media as saying that only a few weeks remain before a possible lapse in Ukraine funding, which they have warned could have devastating consequences on the battlefield.

Republican lawmakers have become increasingly critical of Biden’s Ukraine policy, with some arguing that massive aid to Kiev is only prolonging the bloody conflict at the expense of bigger domestic priorities. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out of his leadership post earlier this week, the first such congressional ouster in US history, reportedly after some of his fellow Republicans heard that he had promised Biden a separate Ukraine aid bill to be approved after passing the stopgap funding measure.

The Biden administration won’t decide on whether to propose a one-and-done aid package for Ukraine until after a new House speaker is elected, possibly next week, according to The Telegraph’s report. Getting a $100 billion bill passed may require the president to make concessions to conservative Republicans on such issues as illegal immigration.

US Representative Lauren Boebert, one of the Republicans who have been critical of Biden’s Ukraine policy, suggested in an interview on Friday that the new House speaker may have to pledge to oppose more funding for Kiev. She noted that a majority of Republicans in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted against a $300 million Ukraine aid bill last week.

“For the first time, we saw that Ukraine funding alone does not have a majority of the majority’s support,”Boebert told US podcast host Steve Bannon. “Any speaker has to recognize that and not allow more funding for Ukraine to come to the floor. We are absolutely tired of spending it.”

Congress has already approved four rounds of Ukraine funding, totaling about $113 billion. The Pentagon warned last week that it had exhausted “nearly all available security-assistance funding for Ukraine.”

(Bidan’s strategy won’t get him through the election, we have been living with “Weekend At Bernie’s” for two & 3/4s years and he’s only becoming more dead. He’s universally hated and even democrats secretly hate him; but they cannot admit it to their conservative friends, because they know “they themselves“ are responsible for the state of the country! TDS has serious consequences for our country.)

https://www.rt.com/news/584294-biden-100-billion-ukraine/

>>19692563 S Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tells CNN that the US has reports that several Americans have been killed and others reported missing during the Israeli conflict with Hamas PN

Wait a minute, Joe and him along with the military didn’t care who was left in Afghanistan and they still don’t,so they had to drag a “Americans are captured” in Israel for the US to care? I guess there wasn’t enough engagement according to AI on social media and Media platforms.

You know AI is how they produce their media narrative to manipulate right?

BTW they also got an Egyptian policeman to kill three Jewish tourists on a sightseeing tour in Egypt. Proof the world is antisemite!