29 Jan, 2024 16:52

Put nuclear weapons in Cuba – Russian MP

Aleksey Zhuravlev has suggested that Moscow should deploy missiles in “friendly” countries

Russia should place its nuclear weapons in “friendly countries” near the US in response toWashington’s alleged plans to move its own tactical arms to Europe, lawmaker Aleksey Zhuravlev has suggested.

His comments came after The Telegraph reported on Saturday that the US is looking to deploy its nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years, in order to counter a supposedly increased threat from Russia.

In a post on Telegram, Zhuravlev, who is first deputy chairman of the Russian parliamentary defense committee and leader of the Rodina (Motherland) party, pointed out that Britain has its own nuclear weapons, and that the US has already deployed part of its atomic arsenal to several European countries close to Russia.

“Therefore, it’s unlikely that additional deployment [of nuclear weapons to the UK] would have an effect on the military-political landscape,” Zhuravlev surmised.

Nevertheless, the politician suggested that Moscow should consider deploying its own nuclear weapons closer to the US and send them to “friendly countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.”

Zhuravlev admitted, however, that weapons systems have made a big leap in the years since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. “Russian hypersonic missiles launched from our territory would reach the US faster than subsonic ones launched from the American underbelly,” the MP wrote. (Is he saying South America or just Cuba?)

He also pointed out that Russia has strategic aviation as well as a vast arsenal of submarines stationed in unknown locations around the world’s oceans.

“We have ways to respond to any encroachments by the US and NATO, which it controls,” Zhuravlev said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously warned thatMoscow would be forced to enact “compensatory countermeasures”in the event that American nuclear warheads return to Britain. Russia has also repeatedly accused the West of fueling tensions in Europe, and has cited NATO’s continued eastward expansion as one of the root causes of the Ukraine conflict.

Meanwhile, a number of Western officials – including from the UK, Germany, Estonia, and even the chair of NATO’s Military Committee – have stoked fears of a supposed Russian attack on Europe in the next few years, and have called on Western governments and citizens to prepare for a major conflict with Moscow.

Russia, however, has vehemently denied any plans to invade neighboring European countries, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov calling such claims a “hoax.” Russian President VladimirPutin has also stressed that Moscow “has no interest… geopolitically, economically or militarily… in waging war against NATO”and would instead prefer to improve ties with the US-led bloc.

https://www.rt.com/russia/591482-russia-nuclear-weapons-us/

(The Fear Mongers, just can’t stop themselvesThey do this, so that their citizens live in constant fear.)

>>20324932 (You) Prince Harry-linked charity faces crime claims (PN)

Found 9,257 UK NGOs working in Africa

Figures refer to charities registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, based on areas of operation supplied to the Charity Commission by the charities themselves. Charities that say they work in more than 50 countries are not included. Total spending of these organisations includes work they carry out outside of Africa.

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https://ngoexplorer.org/region/continent/africa

These NGO's are only from England and Wales, not WW

I downloaded a spreadsheet of all the charities in Africa and who they are and what they do, where they are from, but the site saysthey use cookies, can they track the excel spreadsheet?(Might be a silly question to you, but I'm not tech savvy.) If not, I'll post it here for researchers.

29 Jan, 2024 14:52

Zelensky (lies as much as Bidan) claims huge increase in size of Kiev’s forces

The Ukrainian president has said that his army now numbers nearly 900,000 soldiers

There are currently 880,000 people serving in Ukraine’s armed forces, according to President Vladimir Zelensky, who insisted that Kiev wants to mobilize even more troops, primarily males who left the country after the start of the conflict with Russia.

Just last month, Zelensky claimed that Kiev’s ground forces numbered over 600,000 service personnel, while in February 2022, when Russia launched its offensive, the Ukrainian army officially had only about 260,000 servicemen.

In an interview with the German public channel ARD news broadcast on Monday, the Ukrainian leader stated that Kiev now has “a million-strong army,” adding that there are also over 30 million people who are working in the country right now, one million of whom are employed in the defense and security sectors. (NO ONE would ever believe that.)

At the same time, Zelensky noted that between 6.5 million and 7.5 million people had left Ukraine since the start of the conflict and stated that Kiev wants to repatriate citizens who are eligible for military service.

His comments come as the country's armed forces continue to experience dire personnel shortages on the battlefield, as has been admitted by a number of top Ukrainian military officers and commanders, including the head of the country’s armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny.

While Kiev doesn’t publish its casualty figures, Russia’s Defense Ministry has estimated that Ukraine’s forces have lost as many as 160,000 service personnel since the launch of their failed summer counteroffensive, and that, over the course of the conflict, nearly 400,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded.

Meanwhile, multiple media reports have also suggested that the quality of Kiev’s soldiers has also diminished. Earlier this month, the commander of Kiev’s 5th Assault Brigade, Aleksey Tarasenko, told Espresso TV that the average age of soldiers in the Ukrainian army is now over 40 years and that “young men” were desperately needed.

The US outlet Daily Beast also reported last week, citing interviews with Ukrainian men who have been avoiding mobilization, that Kiev was now sending untrained conscripts to the frontline shortly after drafting them from the streets, with many of them failing to last even a few days on the battlefield.

In light of these personnel shortages, late last year Kiev intensified its mobilization efforts, with Zelensky stating at the time that the military was looking to call up an additional 500,000 new recruits. One Ukrainian official even proposed mobilizing the country’s entire population.

Ukrainian lawmakers, in turn, have been debating proposals to amend the country’s mobilization laws to lower the draft age, to recruit more women and to penalize draft-dodgers by cutting off their bank accounts.

https://www.rt.com/russia/591474-ukraine-army-increase-zelensky/

(Kek, he’s just trying to get the $60 Billion from the US, and he thinks people are that stupid.)

28 Jan, 2024 19:18

Man killed in Istanbul Catholic church (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

Turkish president Tayyip Recep Erdogan has called for the masked suspects to be found within 24 hours

Two masked gunmen shot and killed a person during a mass service at a Catholic church in Istanbul on Sunday, Turkish officials have confirmed. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Sunday’s attack at the Italian Santa Maria Catholic Church in the Sariyer district in the northeastern section of Istanbul’s European side, occurred just before noon local time.

Yerlikaya added that theperson shot dead appeared to have been deliberately targetedby the killers, whose identities were concealed by masks. “A comprehensive investigation was launched on the matter and work has been started to capture the attackers,” Yerlikaya wrote on social media on Sunday.

Istanbul governor Davut Gul said that the victim was a Turkish national and that there were no other injuries related to the incident, according to Reuters.

ISTANBUL The moment when terrorists stormed a Catholic Church during Mass, shooting parishioners and killing at least one person pic.twitter.com/hCckX8Rj7m — Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) January 28, 2024

Turkish president Tayyip Recep Erdogan expressed his sorrow at the incident in calls to the church’s priest, a local official from his ruling AK Party and Poland’s consul general in Istanbul, the news agency added.

Erdogan said that the assassins would be found “within 24 hours” and that the “necessary steps” were being taken to locate the suspects.

Pope Francis also offered condolences after his weekly Angelus prayer from the Vatican on Sunday. “I express my closeness to the community of Saint Mary Draperis Church in Istanbul that suffered an armed attack during mass that caused one death,” the Pontiff said, referring to the chapel by its English title.

CCTV obtained by Turkish media shows the attack in graphic detail. Two gunmen enter the church, apparently following a man dressed in black before he is shot and fatally injured, the footage shows. Afterwards, the two assailants calmly leave the church.

The uncle of the victim, whose identity has not yet been officially confirmed, said thatthe 52-year-old was intending to become a Christian but had not yet been baptized. Türkiye is a predominantly Muslim country – with just 0.2% of the population estimated to be Christian or from other recognized religions like Judaism. (Erdogan actually tries to squash other religions there.)

https://www.rt.com/news/591415-turkiye-catholic-church-shooting/

>>20325789

Hagia Sophia: Turkey turns iconic Istanbul museum into mosque

10th July 2020, 02:41 EDT Erdogan does not care about Catholics, Christians or any other religion.1/2

The world-famous Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul -originally founded as a cathedral - has been turned back into a mosque.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the decision after a court annulled the site's museum status.

Built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453. In 1934 it became a museum and is now a Unesco World Heritage site.

Islamists in Turkey long called for it to be converted to a mosque but secular opposition members opposed the move. The proposal prompted criticism from religious and political leaders worldwide. Defending the decision, President Erdogan stressed that the country had exercised its sovereign right in converting it back to a mosque.

He told a press conference the first Muslim prayers would be held inside the building on 24 July. "Like all our mosques, the doors of Hagia Sophia will be wide open to locals and foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims," he added.

A change is coming to Hagia Sophia, which has endured since the 6th century, outlasting the Byzantine empire and the Ottoman era. Now, once again, it will be a mosque. But Turkish officials say Christian emblems, including mosaics of the Virgin Mary which adorn its soaring golden dome, will not be removed.

Making changes at Hagia Sophia is profoundly symbolic. It was Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, who decreed that it should be a museum.

President Erdogan is now taking one more step to dismantle Ataturk's secular legacy, and remould Turkey according to his vision.The Turkish leader - who presents himself as a modern day conqueror- is making no apologies for the change. He says anyone who doesn't like it - and plenty abroad don't - is attacking Turkey's sovereignty.

Reclaiming Hagia Sophia plays well with his base - religious conservatives - and with Turkish nationalists. Critics say he's using the issue to distract attention from the economic damage done here by the Covid19 pandemic.But many in the international community argue that the monument belongs to humanity - not to Turkey- and should have remained unchanged. They say it was a bridge between two faiths, and a symbol of co-existence.

Shortly after the announcement, the first call to prayer was recited at Hagia Sophia and was broadcast on all of Turkey's main news channels. The cultural site's social media channels have now been taken down.

What has the reaction been?

• Unesco has said it "deeply regrets" the decision to turn the museum into a mosque and called on the Turkish authorities to "open a dialogue without delay."

• The organisation had urged Turkey not to change its status without discussion.

• The Hagia Sophia has huge significance as a religious and political symbol

• The head of theEastern Orthodox Church has condemned the move, as has Greece - home to many millions of Orthodox followers.

• Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said it was an "open provocation to the civilised world".

• "The nationalism displayed by President Erdogan… takes his country back six centuries," she said in a statement.

•The court ruling "absolutely confirms that there is no independent justice" in Turkey, she added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53366307

>>20325821

Erdogan is a radical Muslim,he wants to erase all images and presence of Christianity, and any other religions. He wants and is working for the whole world as Muslim or you die.

2/2

The site is now one of Turkey's most visited tourist attractions. But the Council of State, Turkey's top administrative court, said in its ruling on Friday: "It was concluded that the settlement deed allocated it as a mosque and its use outside this character is not possible legally." "The cabinet decision in 1934 that ended its use as a mosque and defined it as a museum did not comply with laws," it said.

The Church in Russia, home to the world's largest Orthodox Christian community, immediately expressed regret that the Turkish court had not taken its concerns into account when ruling on Hagia Sophia. It said the decision could lead to even greater divisions.

While the move is popular with conservative religious supporters of President Erdogan, Turkey's most famous author, Orhan Pamuk said the decision would take away the "pride" some Turks had in being a secular Muslim nation."There are millions of secular Turks like me who are crying against this but their voices are not heard," he told the BBC.

History of a global icon

• Hagia Sophia's complex history began in the year 537 when Byzantine emperor Justinian built the huge church overlooking the Golden Horn harbour

• With its huge dome, it was believed to be the world's largest church and building

• It remained in Byzantine hands for centuries apart from a brief moment in 1204 when Crusaders raided the city

• In 1453, in a devastating blow to the Byzantines, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II captured Istanbul (formerly known as Constantinople) and the victorious conqueror performed Friday prayers inside Hagia Sophia

• The Ottomans soon converted the building into a mosque, adding four minarets to the exterior and covering ornate Christian icons and gold mosaics with panels of Arabic religious calligraphy

• After centuries at the heart of the Muslim Ottoman empire, it was turned into a museum in 1934 in a drive to make Turkey more secular

• Today Hagia Sophia is Turkey's most popular tourist site, attracting more than 3.7 million visitors a year

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53366307

>>20325834

How one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites became the center of a deadly crisis

The crisis at the Temple Mount continued over the weekend. A fragile resolution was reached late Monday evening.

By Sarah WildmanJul 25, 2017Erdogan is in every plot to eliminate Christianity, Judaism, and any other religion that exists, except Muslim, he’s got a plan WW

A fight over a holy patch of ground in the center of the Old City of Jerusalem has triggered violence, political chaos, and religious strife. And now, despite a fragile truce, the situation still threatens to spiral further out of control.

The dispute began July 14 when a pair of Israeli police officers were shot and killed near the al-Aqsa Mosque, in the area known as the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif, one of the holiest places in the world for both Muslims and Jews. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu temporarily shut down all access to the site and installed metal detectors that anyone hoping to pray there would need to pass through. (Only Muslims are permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, by law, though non-Muslims may visit.)

The problem is that Israel made the moves without consulting the Muslim authorities who control access to the site, sparking protests and deadly violence across the region. The Waqf, the Muslim custodians of the site, called for Muslims to pray outside of the metal detectors — and essentially boycott prayer on the Temple Mount — until the dispute was resolved.

On Monday, late in the evening Jerusalem time, Netanyahu’s government finally agreed to remove the metal detectors and find a different type of security measure.

It may have been too late, with the fight over access to the Temple Mount now spreading to both Jordan and Turkey, two of Israel’s closest allies in the Muslim world. The latest blow came Tuesday,when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of trying to take control of the Temple Mount and upend the status quo.

“Everyone who knows Israel is aware that restrictions on al-Aqsa mosque are not due to safety concerns,” he said, speaking to parliamentarians in Ankara.Erdogan added a call for all Muslims to head to Jerusalem. “Come, let’s all protect Jerusalem,” he also said.

The Muslim custodians of the site also expressed dismay at the Israeli government’s compromise proposal of a separate but still technological security measure. They called for Muslims to continue to boycott the site until they had a chance to assess the new recommendations.

Netanyahu’s metal detectors, in other words, had touched the third rail of Israeli politics: the very fragile 50-year-old status quo agreement that gives authorities from each of the world’s three monotheistic religions control over Jerusalem’s holy spaces. Here’s how we got so close to the precipice, and why the situation is still not entirely under control.

Violence triggered more violence. Then things got even worse.

Anger swept the Muslim world after Israel installed the metal detectors, with protests extending all the way to Ankara and Amman.

In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the tensions turned into actual bloodshed. On Friday, three Palestinians, including two teenagers, were reported shot dead during massive protests. At least 200 more were wounded across the region.

Also on Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was breaking off all diplomatic relations with Israel — including crucial conversations on security coordination — in protest over the new security measures on the Temple Mount.

The violence soon spread to neighboring Jordan, where on Sunday a handyman attacked an Israeli security guard at a residence on the Israeli embassy compound in the capital of Amman. The guard shot and killed both his would-be assailant and a bystander.

While it wasn’t immediately clear if the attacker acted because of the Temple Mount controversy, the incident came in the wake of widespread protests in Amman over the crisis.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, it wasn’t clear if the Jordanians would let the guard out of the country. Israel, for its part, refused to turn over the guard, claiming diplomatic immunity.

By Monday morning, diplomats were zigzagging their way across the Middle East, trying to find a way to defuse the escalating tensions. Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s special envoy for the Middle East, arrived in Israel Monday morning and was set to also visit Amman. Israel sent its own envoy to Jordan to smooth things over with the Hashemite Kingdom’s government…

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/7/25/16019736/jerusalem-temple-mount-netanyahu-violence-jordan-palestine

>>20325867

reallynotableThe Baltics will expose the death Pharma companies

29 Jan, 2024 08:04

Ukrainians fueling increase in Poland’s crime rate – Rzeczpospolita newspaper

More than 17,000 legal violations were committed by foreign nationals in the country in 2023, according to police data

The influx of Ukrainian refugees to Poland since the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev has had a negative impact on crime in the country, the Rzeczpospolita newspaper has reported, citing data it received from the police.

Atotal of 17,278 violations of the law were committed by foreigners in Poland last year, 2,400 more than in 2022, the paper said in an article entitled “The Dark Side of Migration,” published last week. In 2013, the figure stood at just 3,500, the outlet noted.

Ukrainians were responsible for more than a half of the crimes, followed by citizens of Georgia and Belarus, police data suggested, according to the paper.

One in three violations was related to alcohol abuse and drunk driving. There were 4,898 such cases last year, with Ukrainian citizens reportedly involved in 70% of them. Driving while intoxicated is becoming a “growing problem” in Poland, with the high level of alcohol detected in blood samples from the perpetrators “surprising” even experienced police officers, the paper wrote.

Many migrants also fail to observe court-ordered bans over drunk driving. In 2023, 871 foreigners, 518 of them Ukrainians, were charged with driving while banned, which is punishable by up to three years behind bars. According to police figures, there were only 400 such incidents in 2022.

Some foreign nationals feel impunity as they are not citizens of the country, traffic expert Wojciech Apiary told Rzeczpospolita.

”There are 2.5 million Ukrainian citizens in Poland, so this phenomenon has to be related to this”fact, Miroslaw Skorka from the Association of Ukrainians in Poland said. The Ukrainians might be “drinking more” and getting behind the wheel due to “cultural” reasons, he suggested.

According to police data, the number of thefts and drug-related crimes by foreigners also went up in Poland last year, reaching 3,240 and 2,451 respectively. In 208 cases, perpetrators were caught with “significant amounts” of narcotics on them.

”We have more and more foreigners. In their own countries, they’re often afraid to break the law, but in Poland they believe themselves to be guests, to whom more is allowed,” Professor of Criminology Brunon Holyst said, calling for social campaigns to explain the consequences of violating the law.

https://www.rt.com/news/591437-ukraine-poland-crime-refugees/

29 Jan, 2024 15:02

WaPo columnist again highlights shifting Western view on Ukraine

There is ‘a sense of desperation’ among the leadership in Kiev, Ishaan Tharoor has reported

The leadership in Ukraine is losing hope of success in the conflict with Russia amid waning Western support and a lack of battlefield achievements, a Washington Post writer has claimed.

Kiev continues to demand more weapons and aid from the US and its allies, although officials in Washington “anticipate a lean year ahead, where Ukraine’s increasingly exhausted forces focus more on consolidating their defense than chipping away at Russia’s land-grabs,” the newspaper’s Ishaan Tharoor told readers.

“It’s hard to ignore the sense of desperation in Ukraine’s corridors of power” after almost two years of military conflict with Moscow, the foreign affairs columnist stressed.

Ukraine’s attempted counteroffensive last year “failed to make strategic headway against Russia’s deep defensive lines,”Tharoor acknowledged. Fresh reports from the front line have warned that stocks of ammunition and artillery shells are running low for Kiev’s troops, he added.

At the same time, Moscow “stood its ground, withstood international sanctions and is preparing for fresh offensives,” while also regularly carrying out large-scale missile barrages against Ukrainian targets, he added.

According to the article, the tour of Washington and other Western capitals by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in late 2023 was an attempt to counter “international fatigue with the conflict and paralysis in US Congress over new supplemental funding for Kiev.”

The administration of US President Joe Biden is still unable to find common ground with Republican lawmakers, who are demanding tougher measures on the border with Mexico in exchange for agreeing another $60 billion in assistance for Kiev.

As a result, Pentagon officials arrived “empty-handed” at the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting in Brussels last week, Tharoor said. “The West may have already squandered its best chance to enable Ukraine to fully liberate its territory,” he added.

The fate of the conflict between Russia in Ukraine could soon be sealed by “the shortfalls on Ukraine’s front lines and divisions in Washington,” the article claimed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that Zelensky is “desperately” seeking to return to a situation when Kiev enjoyed “unlimited” funding and weapons supplies from the West. However, this will “never happen again” because the US and its allies are running out of arms and ammunition to send, he stressed.

Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated that “the goals of [Moscow’s] military operation [in the Ukraine conflict] are going to be achieved consistently and persistently.”

https://www.rt.com/news/591471-ukraine-us-aid-zelensky/

(WH uses WAPO to get their message out, also the CIA.)