US Senate advances aid bill for Ukraine and Israel
The legislation has cleared a procedural hurdle, heading toward a vote after border-security measures were stripped out
https://www.rt.com/news/592132-us-israel-ukraine-aid/
Ukraine is ‘artificial state’ – Putin
The country in its current form was created by the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the Russian president said
Modern Ukraine is a country that was artificially created by the actions of the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin after World War II, Russian President Vladimir Putin told American journalist Tucker Carlson on Friday.
In a wide-ranging and highly anticipated interview that lasted more than two hours, Putin described in detail the process by which Ukraine was created in its current form.
He recalled that, during the feudal fragmentation of Russia in the Middle Ages, Ukraine – which he described as being part of Russian lands – came under heavy Polish cultural, religious, and political influence. In the 17th century, the people of this region wanted to join the then-growing power of Moscow, but Russia wanted to avoid war with Poland.
Nevertheless, after a lot of deliberation, Moscow decided to bring this “part of old Russian lands” back into the fold, he said, which resulted in a war with Poland. Moscow reclaimed all of its “historic lands” during the reign of Catherine the Great, who ruled between 1762 and 1796, he recalled.
After the 1917 Communist Revolution in Russia and another war with Poland, Warsaw regained control over large swaths of western Ukraine, Putin continued. In the 1920s, the Bolshevik government established a Soviet Ukraine that “had never existed before.”
The Soviet authorities were “Ukrainizing” this region, in line with similar indigenization policies pursued in other areas, the president said.
“After the Second World War, Ukraine, in addition to the territories that had belonged to Poland, received part of the territories that had previously belonged to Hungary and Romania… So, we have every reason to affirm that Ukraine is an artificial state that was shaped at Stalin’s will.”
Putin added that these nations in principle have the right to discuss the return of their former territories, but denied that he had ever discussed the matter with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. However, he suggested that Hungarians living in Ukraine want to “get back to their historic land
https://www.rt.com/russia/592127-ukraine-artificial-state-putin/
US behind Nord Stream sabotage – Putin
The Russian president said the CIA is to blame for blowing up the Baltic Sea gas pipelines in 2022
The US had a clear motive to orchestrate the explosions at the Nord Stream twin gas pipelines in 2022 and the means to do so, Russian President Vladimir Putin told American journalist Tucker Carlson in an interview aired on Thursday.
The pipelines built to deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea were targeted in September 2022. Several EU countries launched investigations into the attacks, but no results have been published.
Asked directly by Carlson who blew up the pipelines, Putin replied: “You, of course,” referring to the United States.
“Maybe you personally have an alibi, but the CIA doesn’t have one.”
“I won’t go into the details but, as the saying goes, in such cases you must search for whoever has a vested interest [in the sabotage],” Putin said, adding that “who had the ability” to carry out the bombing on the seabed was a key question.
Not everyone can access the Baltic Sea seabed and carry out an explosion,” Putin added.
The Russian leader added that he had been “surprised” by Germany’s silence on the matter.
Putin and senior officials in Moscow have been saying that the US had the most to gain from the sabotage and pointed to Washington’s public opposition to the construction of the pipelines. Moscow accused the West of stonewalling the investigation.
In 2023, award-winning US journalist Seymour Hersh accused the US of bombing the Nord Stream. The White House dismissed the allegations at the time as “complete fiction.”
Following Hersh’s claim, several Western media outlets reported that Ukrainian citizens had been involved in the explosion. Kiev has denied having any ties to the sabotage.
https://www.rt.com/russia/592121-putin-us-blew-up-nord-stream/
Russia has no intention of attacking NATO – Putin
Moscow doesn’t want the world slipping into a global war, the Russian leader said
Russia has no intention of attacking NATO member states and will retaliate only if attacked first, President Vladimir Putin told American journalist Tucker Carlson in an interview aired on Thursday.
Western countries are “trying to intimidate their own population with an imaginary Russian threat,” Putin said. He added that “smart people understand perfectly well that that is false.”
Carlson asked the president if he can “imagine a scenario where you send Russian troops to Poland.”
Putin replied: “Only in one case: if there will be an attack on Russia from Poland. Why? Because we have no interests in Poland, Latvia or any other [NATO member].”
Asked if he has “territorial aims across the continent,” Putin said that “it is absolutely out of the question.”
“You don’t need to be an analyst to understand that getting involved in a global war goes against common sense. A global war would bring all of humanity to the brink of destruction,” the president stressed.
Putin further argued that the Western government are using “scare tactics” to convince their taxpayers to provide more money to “weaken Russia” in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Moscow has repeatedly cited NATO’s continuing expansion eastward and its support for Kiev as one of the root causes of the current conflict in Ukraine. Russian officials have also warned that the delivery of weapons and other military equipment to Ukraine only leads to further escalation.
https://www.rt.com/russia/592136-putin-nato-territorial-claims/
Classified Ukraine documents discovered in Biden’s possession from time of Hunter’s Burisma work
The House impeachment inquiry into President Biden has previously sought to determine if any of the classified documents discovered in unsecured locations related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
According to the appendices listing the documents recovered in the Justice Department investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, the president retained talking points and a telephone call transcript with the Ukrainian prime minister from a key period in Hunter Biden’s Burisma Holdings employment.
One appendix also lists a classified briefing on U.S. Energy Assistance to Ukraine, from September 2014, shortly after Hunter Biden had joined the board of the Ukrainian energy company.
These are the latest revelations from Special Counsel Robert Hurr’s report on his investigation into potentially mishandling of classified documents by President Biden. Though Hurr ultimately declined to bring charges, the report has revealed new anecdotes about Biden’s mental acuity and showed that he willfully retained and shared classified documents.
In a folder entitled “VP Personal” DOJ investigators found two documents relating to a December 11, 2015 call between then-Vice President Biden and then Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyu
“A Telephone Call Sheet setting forth the purpose of and talking points for a call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk,” the summary of the first document reads.
“There is a handwritten note addressed to Mr. Biden's executive assistant: ‘Get copy of this conversation from Sit Rm for my Records please’ that is signed ‘Joe.’,” the summary continues.
The second document is the full transcript documenting this call with the prime minister.
In another location, the investigators found a memo entitled "U.S. Energy Assistance to Ukraine," dated to September 2014, just months after Hunter Biden formally joined the board of Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company.
You can read the special counsel’s report below:
report-from-special-counsel-robert-k-hur-february-2024-2.pdf
December 2015 was an important period for both Vice President Biden and his son Hunter regarding Ukraine.
Last year, Just the News uncovered new documents that showed that in late 2015, Joe Biden changed official U.S. policy by linking a $1 billion loan guarantee to the Ukrainian government with a requirement to fire Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma at the time.
In October, a Ukraine task force made up of State, Treasury and Justice Department officials concluded that Ukraine had made “sufficient progress” on its anticorruption and economic reforms to justify the loan guarantee.
Internal memos for then-Vice President Biden’s upcoming trip to Ukraine dated Nov. 22, 2015 urged the vice president to offer the $1 billion loan guarantee during his trip, citing Kyiv’s progress. Yet, by the time Biden arrived in Kyiv on Dec. 8, 2015, he had decided to link the loan guarantee to Shokin’s ouster.
https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/classified-ukraine-documents-discovered-bidens-possession-time
Australian State Media PANIC
Senate Advances $95B Foreign Aid Bill for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and Taiwan, Omitting Border Security Provisions — Here are the 17 RINO
In a 67-32 cloture vote, the Senate crossed party lines, with several RINO senators joining Democrats to move the foreign aid bill forward.
Republicans who joined Democrats in voting in favor include:
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Todd Young (R-IN)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
John Kennedy (R-LA)
John Thune (R-SD)
Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
Mitt Romney (R-UT)
Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Mike Rounds (R-SD)
Thom Tillis (R-NC)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Jerry Moran (R-KS)
https://citizenwatchreport.com/senate-advances-95b-foreign-aid-bill-for-ukraine-israel-gaza-and-taiwan-omitting-border-security-provisions-here-are-the-17-rino/
The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel
As the crisis involving the Israelis and Palestinians deepens after the October 7 Hamas attack, we might pause to examine how the state of Israel was created in the first place. At the current juncture, as World War III looms on the horizon, as massacres are currently being perpetrated by Israel against the civilian population of Gaza, with a death toll exceeding 9,000, of which over 4,000 are children, and as a Western armada is gathering in the eastern Mediterranean, it is befitting to review journalist Alison Weir’s book Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel. The book was published in 2014, is packed with often hard-to-access details, and is masterfully documented. Alison Weir is also head of a group she has founded: If Americans Knew.
Origin of Zionism in the U.S. Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel begins by explaining that support for Zionism, defined as the desire for creation of a Jewish national state somewhere in the world, goes back in U.S. history to the late 1880s, around the time that the Zionist Movement was becoming prominent in Europe. By the 1910s, there were thousands of U.S. adherents, though many Jews opposed Zionism as not in the interests of the Jewish people and certain to result in antagonism toward them. Probably a majority of Jews in the U.S. had never even heard of Zionism and/or were happy to have assimilated into American society. In fact, there was nothing that could even be viewed remotely as an “anti-Semitism problem” in the U.S. at this time.
Role of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Louis Brandeis and Creation of the Parushim. Still, some very powerful people became Zionists, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, whose main disciple was future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. Brandeis formed a secret organization called the Parushim, whose sole purpose was to bring about the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. This Zionist organization required an oath that appeared to give life and death power over its sworn members.
“Parushim,” also spelled “Purushim,” is the Hebrew word from which the name “Pharisees” is derived, meaning “separatists.” From the Pharisees came Rabbinical Judaism and the idea that, “We should not assimilate or acculturate at all.” (prezi.com) I would note that Alison Weir’s book did not aim at giving an account of the deeper motivations of the Zionist movement, other than its claim to be a reaction to European “anti-Semitism.” For more depth, I would recommend a careful reading of the classic The Controversy of Zion by British journalist Douglas Reed (1895-1976).
Justice Louis Brandeis was close to Wall Street banker Jacob Schiff. Brandeis was also closely involved with the creation of the Federal Reserve System, as was Schiff, though Brandeis’s involvement in political issues was largely behind the scenes.
The Federal Reserve, I would add, was largely a project of the U.S. Money Trust and the British/European Rothschilds. The Rothschilds were also heavily involved in Zionism and in the creation and support of the Zionist state. The fact that Zionism was sponsored by some incredibly rich people might cause us to ask to what extent financial rewards played a role in the rapid conversion of many Jews and non-Jews to Zionism during this period. For information on creation of the Federal Reserve, see my own book, Our Country, Then and Now (Clarity Press, 2023).
More
https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2024/02/the-hidden-history-of-how-the-u-s-was-used-to-create-israel/
Meta blacklists Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei
The tech giant says it prohibits people with a “violent mission” or those “engaged in violence”
Meta has banned multiple Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accusing him of breaching policies regarding “dangerous individuals and organizations.”
The social media company confirmed the bans in a statement to multiple news outlets on Thursday, with Middle East Eye reporting that accounts in both English and Farsi had been disabled.
”We have removed these accounts for repeatedly violating our Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy,” a Meta spokesperson told AFP and other news agencies.
While the spokesperson did not say exactly how Khamenei’s accounts had run afoul of that policy, the move comes after repeated calls by pro-Israel groups to take action against the Iranian leader’s online presence in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. Tehran has denied involvement in the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel, but has voiced strong support for Hamas and Palestinians more broadly amid the latest conflict.
Meta says it does not allow “organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on our platforms,” adding that it will also “remove glorification, support and representation of various dangerous organizations and individuals.”
Khamenei’s Farsi-language Instagram page had more than 5 million followers, while the English version boasted more than 200,000. His former Facebook page appears to have had a smaller presence, with around 16,000 followers.
Several verified accounts under Khamenei’s name remain active on X (formerly Twitter), including handles that post in multiple different languages. In the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack, the Ayatollah declared that “the cancer of the usurper Zionist regime will be eradicated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the Resistance forces throughout the region,” with X later stating the post would “remain accessible” for the “public’s interest.”
https://www.rt.com/news/592142-meta-blacklists-iran-ayatollah/
US Warns Against Impending Israeli Assault On Refugee-Packed Rafah
White House: "without evacuating the civilian population to safe areas" there will be "mass casualties."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he has voiced "concerns" to Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding the Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) impending ground operation against the far southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees have until this point sought out the greater 'safety' of Rafah. But Al Jazeera observes that "Panic is growing in Rafah over an imminent ground invasion after Israel’s prime minister ordered his military to prepare to enter the city in the southern Gaza Strip that is sheltering 1.2 million people with nowhere else to go as he rejected Hamas’s truce plan and rebuffed US efforts to reach a deal."
Initially almost the entire population of the northern half of the Strip moved south to the Khan Younis area, but after in past weeks it came under massive assault - as the IDF has sought to root out Hamas' command structure from there - throngs of Palestinian refugees were forced further south, to the border with Egypt.
According to Axios, "Blinken also expressed concerns about the failures of communication between the IDF and international organizations and insufficient deconfliction, which led to the targeting of UN personnel who were delivering aid, the sources said."
The report further indicates Blinken communicated the following to the Israelis:
The U.S. is concerned that an Israeli Defense Forces operation in the city without evacuating the civilian population to safe areas will lead to mass casualties.
It also fears that such an operation will push tens of thousands of Palestinians into Egypt. The Egyptian government has already warned the displacement of Palestinians to Egypt would lead to a rupture in its relations with Israel.
Of course, Israel has accused some of these organizations, especially the largest - the UNRWA - of being compromised by Hamas members and alleged associations with terrorists.
The White House on Thursday also issued statements saying truce negotiations are still "ongoing" - but the reality is that PM Netanyahu fully rejected the "delusional" Hamas demands, in particular the condition that Israeli troops must first completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-warns-against-impending-israeli-assault-refugee-packed-rafah
Pentagon Secretly Institutionalized DEI In Its K-12 Public Schools
Extreme curriculum being taught to the 70,000 children of service members.
In a Congressional hearing last spring, Gil Cisneros, then-Under Secretary for Military Readiness, announced that the Pentagon was closing its newly formed Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within its K-12 school system and reassigning its controversial DEI chief after a ten-month internal investigation.
The Pentagon’s climb-down was a big win for OpenTheBooks.com. We had worked alongside whistleblowers, journalists, other investigative non-profits, and ranking members of Congress to expose alleged conflicts of interest, violations of military ethics policies, and radical ideologies being forced on the kids of servicemen and servicewomen.
Today, we are announcing Cisneros was actually faking. The radical curriculum was not dismantled. Instead, it was stealthily embedded into the lesson plans and classrooms throughout the entire school system.
The Pentagon, under Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, is preventing details of their DEI policies from coming to light by abusing the Freedom of Information Act. They bamboozled the public with window dressing in Congressional hearings while forcing woke extremism on the roughly 70,000 children of our military service members.
It’s critical that taxpayers understand the scope of the DEI philosophy within the DoD’s schools – deployed servicemembers often have no alternative but to use the Pentagon-run school system, called the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).
Troubling Curriculum
DOD relentlessly promotes DEI-ideologies to school children of serving families through educational contractors with millions of dollars of taxpayer funding.
Here are some examples of what’s happening in the Pentagon’s schools:
Chat rooms to facilitate teacher-student conversations that are closed off to parents about sexuality and gender, and likely without their knowledge or consent.
Engaging four-year-olds in LGBTQ+ conversations. Elementary schools are the “perfect time” to “really show students the diversity of the gender expression and gender activity.”
Solidarity with the neo-Marxist Black Lives Matter organization to encourage teachers to “challenge our beliefs, examine our own biases, and reflect on how we need to evaluate the structures and systems in our classrooms.”
Video content on “dissent” and “equity” to “help educators facilitate classroom conversations and much-needed discussions about implicit bias and systemic racism, human rights, equity, social justice, dissent, protest, and empathy."
Marxist activism to dismantle systems of “power” and “privilege.” Suggesting a refusal to teach a “white-washed” curriculum and instead teach “social justice rather than heroes, holidays, and celebrations.”
A teaching handbook that recommends “critical conversations” with students about race, identity, and privilege and the way “injustice” affects our lives and society. These “explicit conversations” provoke “strong emotions” and crying students are expected.
https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/pentagon-secretly-institutionalized