21 May, 2024 15:00

Date of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to EU revealed – media

Brussels is pushing to launch formal discussions on Kiev and Moldova joining the bloc as early as next month, Politico reports

The European Union is aiming to launch formal accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova as soon as June 25, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing diplomatic sources.

Policymakers from Brussels and Kiev are reportedly holding intensive consultations as they try to persuade Hungary to greenlight the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession bid. Commenting on condition of anonymity, five sources familiar with the matter told Politico that officials in Kiev and the EU have teamed up to address concerns about Hungarian minorities in Ukraine.

According to one EU diplomat, Budapest could seek to get Ukrainian accession talks out of the way before Hungary assumes the six-month rotating presidency of the EU Council in July. Belgium has scheduled an intergovernmental conference for the end of next month, a few days before the end of the Hungarian presidency, the source said.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky applied for “immediate” EU membership shortly after Russia launched its military campaign against its neighbor, with Kiev’s application for the bloc being signed on February 28, 2022. Moldovan President Maia Sandu soon followed suit, filing a formal membership application on March 3. In June 2022, President of the European Council Charles Michel announced that Ukraine and Moldova had both been granted EU candidate status.

At the time, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo signaled that providing Ukraine with EU-candidate status was a “symbolic message” of support for Kiev in the conflict with Russia.Actual EU membership, however, is still “many years” away and Ukrainemust first meet the bloc’s standards, he explained.

In October, Michel told Der Spiegel that the EU could admit Ukraine by 2030 if “both sides do their homework.” Last May, Sandu said in an interview with Bloomberg that Moldova could also join the EU by 2030, including the breakaway region of Transnistria, which currently hosts a Russian peacekeeping force.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in October thatMoscow has never opposed Ukraine’s potential accession to the EU, as Russia does not see any military threat in economic cooperation between Kiev and international partners. At the same time, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested thatUkraine’s accession to the bloc would undermine the pan-European system and could ultimately lead to its collapse.

https://www.rt.com/russia/597990-date-negotiations-ukraine-accession-eu/

(Admitting Ukraine would be the worst mistake of their lives. Ukraine is already demanding from EU countries daily. Permanent Welfare State Ukraine)

>>20895981

14 May, 2024 17:43 (More Insanity)

Ukraine demands part of NATO states’ GDP

Kiev also wants unrestricted weapons deliveries and frozen Russian assets

Ukraine wants unrestricted access to Western weapons, even more aid, and all frozen Russian funds, President Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak revealed on Tuesday.

At the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, organized by the pro-Ukrainian NGO Alliance of Democracies, Yermak announced a report authored by the group he co-chairs with the NGO head and former NATO secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The ‘International Working Group on Security Issues and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine’ includes former British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson, former Finnish Prime MinisterSanna Marin, former US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton, retired US Army GeneralWesley Clark, and former US special envoy for UkraineKurt Volker, among others.

“It is important that allies spend 0.25% of their GDP on military aid to Ukraineand unlock $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to support our country,” Yermak said in a Telegram post summarizing the report.

According to Russian estimates, the US and its allies have provided over $200 billion worth of military aid to Kiev. While some EU countries have already contributed more than 0.25% of their GDP to arm Ukraine, Latvia last month pledged to do so annually for the next three years.

Another recommendation from the report, which Rasmussen presented at the Copenhagen event,was to lift “all restrictions on the supply of conventional weapons” to Kiev. Yermak chimed in to argue that there also should beno restrictions on the use of these weapons.

Rasmussen andYermak also called on NATO to invite Ukraine to its Washington summit this summer and set “a clear timeline” for Kiev’s membership, which they said should be “no later than July 2028, subject to the fulfillment of specific conditions.”

A NATO invitation to Ukraine would “become motivation and support for our military and all [our] citizens,” Yermak explained on Telegram.

Ukraine’s membership in NATO is a red line for Russia and preventing it is one of the reasons Moscow gave for launching its military operation in February 2022.

Zelensky expected a formal invitation to the bloc at last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius and launched a tirade on social media when it did not arrive. The US-led bloc eventually said it would be in a position to invite Ukraine “when allies agree and conditions are met.”

Ukraine has long demanded access to Russian assets frozenby the US and its allies at the start of hostilities in 2022. While Washington has favored their outright confiscation, the EU – which holds about 80% of the impacted sovereign funds – has been more hesitant, as any Russian retaliation would impact the bloc’s main clearinghouse and the euro in general. Moscow has said it would respond to the “theft” of its assets with equal measure, targeting the property of the offending countries under its jurisdiction.

(Look who’s involved in these proposals, all the people that get their laundered money from Ukraine.)

https://www.rt.com/russia/597585-ukraine-nato-aid-weapons-yermak/

21 May, 2024 12:41

US could sanction NATO applicant for ‘undermining democracy’ – Politico

Washington has threatened to punish Georgian politicians who voted for a ‘foreign agents’ law, the outlet has reported

The UScould sanctionmembers of the Georgian government after the country’s parliament passed a new ‘foreign agents’ law opposed by Washington, Politico reported on Monday, citing a draft document.

Georgia’s Transparency of Foreign InfluenceAct would require NGOs, media outlets, and individuals receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroadto register as entities“promoting the interests of a foreign power.”They must also disclose their donors or face a fine of up to $9,500.

On Friday, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the law, although the move is seen as largely symbolic and is expected to be overruled by parliament.

In their draft bill targeting politicians in the former Soviet state, US lawmakers accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of an “increasingly illiberal turn.” They also claim Tbilisi has “openly attacked US and other Western democracy promotion organizations” while embracing “increased ties” with Russia and China.

In a bid to “secure democracy,” the proposed US legislation would impose sanctions on government officials who have “material responsibility for undermining or injuring democracy, human rights, or security in Georgia.”

It would also impose visa bans on politicians and the familiesof those responsible for the passage of “Russia-style” foreign agent legislation, the report said. Georgian security services and law enforcement who have clamped down on protests against the bill would also be targeted.

Zourabichvili, who is an independent, vetoed the controversial law on Friday following weeks of street protests and clashes with police in the Georgian capital. The president has argued that if signed into law, the bill would undermine the country’s aspiration to join the EU.

The presidential veto is seen by some political experts as largely symbolic, because parliament is controlled by the Georgian Dream party, which is expected to overrule it.

During a visit to Georgia last week,Assistant US Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brienwarned of “restrictions coming from the United States” if Tbilisi adopts the legislation. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has also said that once enforced, the law would compel Washington to “fundamentally reassess” its relationship with Georgia, which is also seeking to join NATO.

If the government in Tbilisi abandons the law, however, the US could sign off on a major military and trade package, Politico said, citing a draft document. Along with improved access to US markets, thebill calls for a liberalization of the visa regime for Georgian citizens, it added.

https://www.rt.com/news/597983-georgia-foreign-agents-law-us-sanctions/

(NGO’s are the ones that flood countries and enact Color Revolutions. This new President was elected by a color revolution. Foreign NGO’s enact all kinds of terror and destruction by Antifa etc. of conservative countries in the EU, or any country friendly to Russia,or has Russian citizens living in their countries. The US forcing countries to be manipulated by NGOs is obvious that USAID want their liberal/progressive armies to control these countries from within. I’d tell the US to FO, and keep your NATO offer. US is trying to do another Color Revolution in Georgia, look at the protestors. Last year they had major protests also.)

21 May, 2024 10:42

Syrian first lady diagnosed with leukemia

Asma Assad is suffering from the acute myeloid strain of the disease, the presidency has revealed

Asma Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), his office revealed on Tuesday.

The condition was identified after the first lady underwent a series of tests following the onset of symptoms, the statement said. The 48-year-old will require isolation during her treatment, it added.

AML is a highly lethal type of cancer which affects bone marrow and can progress rapidly. Previous chemotherapy is a risk factor for the disease.

Asma Assad was previously diagnosed with breast cancer, but announced her full recovery in 2019 after receiving chemotherapy at a Syrian military hospital.

The British-born investment banker married Bashar Assad in December 2000, five months after he had taken power following the death of his father, Hafez Assad.

https://www.rt.com/news/597977-asma-assad-diagnosed-leukemia/

Anons save this pic for future memes, Blinken proposed marrying the FM Kuleba, I guess.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (L) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) prior to their talks in Kyiv, on May 15, 2024.

21 May, 2024 15:37

Russia launches tactical nuclear drills (VIDEO)

The exercise will involve the delivery of nuclear weapons to troops, covert deployment, and preparations to a strike, the Defense Ministry has said

The troops of Russia’s Southern Military District launched thefirst stage of recently announced tactical nuclear drillson Tuesday, the Defense Ministry has said.

The exercise is designed to serve as adeterrent amid continued escalation between Russia and the West, through the demonstration of Moscow’s ability to respond to any external threats, the Ministry said earlier.

It will involve deliveries of nuclear weapons to troops from their storage sites, nuclear arming of tactical missiles, and preparations for missile launches, the ministry announced in a statement on Telegram.

The troops will be using the Iskander-M systems, which can fire 9M723-1 ballistic missiles or the 9M728 cruise missiles, both of which can carry tactical nuclear warheads with yields between five and 50 kilotons.

The Southern Military District forces willalso practice covert deployment operationsusing the systems, as part of launch-preparation drills, according to the military.

The exercise will also involve nuclear arming of the air-launched missiles, including the state-of-the-art, hypersonic Kinzhal. The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles and the Kh-32 cruise missiles that are delivered by Russian bombers are capable of carrying warheads similar to those mounted on Iskander projectiles. During the drills, Russian aircraft are to fly on patrol missions armed with these missiles, according to the ministry.

A video published by the military shows crews of several Iskander-M systems arming them with missiles and preparing them for launch.

The drills are “aimed at maintaining the combat readiness of the personnel and equipment of the non-strategic nuclear-weapon units,” the ministry’s statement said. It added that Russian forces should be ready to “unconditionally” ensure sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, amid “provocative statements and threats” made by some Western officials.

Moscow announced the drills earlierin May, citingwhat it called a “new” and “unprecedented” escalation in the Ukraine conflict. The Kremlin pointed to statements by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has repeatedly refused to rule out a NATO deployment in Ukraine.

Similar ideas have been voiced by US House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. Former UK prime minister and current Foreign Secretary David Cameron also stated recently that Kiev has the right to use British weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia. In response, Moscow summoned the British ambassador and warned of a potential response to such attacks.

https://www.rt.com/russia/598001-russia-tactical-nuclear-drills/

RAY McGOVERN: Russia & China — Two Against One

May 17, 2024

Xi Jinping’s reception of Putin yesterday in Beijing sealed the increasingly formidable strategic relationship,fundamentally misunderstood in Washington.

By Special to Consortium News Ray McGovern1/2

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s extremely warm reception of President Vladimir Putin yesterday in Beijing sealed theincreasingly formidable Russia-China strategic relationship. It amounts to a tectonic shiftin the world balance of power.

The Russia-China entente also sounds the death knell for attempts by U.S. foreign policy neophytes to drive a wedge between the two countries. The triangular relationship has become two-against-one, with serious implications, particularly for the war in Ukraine. If U.S. President Joe Biden’s foreign policy geniuses remain in denial, escalation is almost certain.

In a pre-visit interview with Xinhua,Putin noted the “unprecedented level of strategic partnershipbetween our countries.” He and Xi have met more than 40 times in person or virtually. In June 2018, Xi described Putin as “an old friend of the Chinese people” and,personally, his “best friend.”(Does Xi have best friends?)

For his part, Putin noted Thursday that he and Xi are “in constant contact to keep personal control over all pressing issues on the Russian-Chinese and international agenda.” Putin brought along Defense Minister Andrey Belousov as well as veterans like Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and key business leaders.

Joint Statements Matter

Xi and Putin signed a strong joint statement Thursday, similar to the extraordinary one the two issued on Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. It portrayed their relationship as “superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era.Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation …”

The full import of that statement did not hit home until Putin launched the Special Military Operation into the Donbass three weeks later. China’s muted reaction shocked most analysts, who had dismissed the possibility that Xi would give “best friend” Putin, in effect, a waiver on China’s bedrock policy of non-interference abroad.

In the following weeks, official Chinese statements made clear that the principles of Westphalia had taken a back seat to “the need for every country to defend its core interests” and to judge each situation “on its own merits.”

Nuclear War

Thursday’s statement expressed concern over “increased strategic risks between nuclear powers” — referring to continued escalation of the war between NATO-supported Ukraine and Russia. It condemns “the expansion of military alliances and creation of military bridgeheads close to the borders of other nuclear powers, particularly with the advanced deployment of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery, as well as other items.”

Putin has undoubtedly briefed Xi on the U.S. missile sites already in Romania and Polandthat can launch what Russians call “offensive strike missiles” with flight time to Moscow of less than 10 minutes. Putin surely has told Xi about theinconsistencies in U.S. statements regarding intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

For example, Xi is aware — just as surely as consumers of Western media are unaware — thatduring a Dec. 30, 2021, telephone conversation, Biden assured Putin that “Washington had no intention of deploying offensive strike weapons in Ukraine.”

There was rejoicing in the Kremlin that New Years’ Eve, since Biden’s assurance was the first sign that Washington might acknowledge Russia’s security concerns. Indeed, Biden addressed a key issue in at least five of the eight articles of the Russian draft treaty given to the U.S. on Dec. 17, 2021. Russian rejoicing, however, was short-lived.

Foreign Minister Lavrov revealed last month that when he met Antony Blinken in Geneva in January 2022, the U.S. secretary of state pretended he’d not heard of Biden’s undertaking to Putin on Dec. 30, 2021. Rather,Blinken insisted that U.S. medium-range missiles could be deployed in Ukraine, and only that the U.S. might be willing to limit their number, Lavrov said.

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/17/ray-mcgovern-russia-china-two-against-one/

>>20896316

2/2

The Mother of All Miscalculations

When Biden took office in 2021, his advisers assured him that he could play on Russia’s fear (sic) of China anddrive a wedge between them. This became embarrassingly clear when Biden indicated what he had told Putin during their Geneva summit on June 16, 2021.

That meeting gave Putin confirmation that Biden and his advisers were stuckin a woefully outdated appraisal of Russia-China relations.Here is the bizarre wayBiden described his approach to Putin on China:

“Without quoting him [Putin] — which I don’t think is appropriate — let me ask a rhetorical question: You got a multi-thousand-mile border with China. China is seeking to be the most powerful economy in the world and the largest and the most powerful military in the world.”

The ‘Squeeze’

At the airport after the summit, Biden’s aides did their best to whisk him onto the plane, but failed to stop him from sharing more wisdom on China:

“Russia is in a very, very difficult spot right now. They are being squeezed by China.”

After these remarksPutin and Xi spent the rest of 2021trying to disabuse Biden of the “China squeeze” on Russia: itwas not a squeeze, but a fraternal embrace. This mutual effort culminated in a Xi-Putin virtual summit on Dec. 15 of that year.

The video of the first minute of their conversation was picked up by The New York Times, as well as others. Still, most commentators seemed to miss its significance:

Putin:

“Dear friend, dear President Xi Jinping.

Next February I expect we can finally meet in person in Beijing as we agreed. We will hold talks and then participate in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games. I am grateful for your invitation to attend this landmark event.”

Xi:

“Dear President Putin, my old friend. It’s my pleasure to meet you at the end of this year by video, the second time this year,our 37th meeting since 2013.

You have hailed … China-Russia relations as a model in international collaboration in the 21st Century, strongly supporting China’s position on safeguarding its core interests, and firmly opposed to attempts to drive a wedge between our two countries. I highly appreciate it.”

Is Biden still unaware of this?Have his advisers told him that Russia and China have never been closer, with what amounts to a virtual military alliance?

The Election

Putin has said he is aware that Washington’s policy toward Russia “is primarily impacted by domestic political processes.” Russia and China certainly assess that Biden’s policy on Ukraine will be influenced by the political imperative to be seen as facing Russia down.

If NATO country hotheads send “trainers” to Ukraine, the prospect of a military dust-up is ever present.What Biden needs to knowis that, if it comes to openhostilities between Russia and the West, he is likely to face more than just saber rattling in the South China Sea — andthe specter of a two-front war.

The Chinese know they are next in line for the ministrations of NATO/East.

Indeed, it is no secret that the Pentagon sees China as enemy No. 1. According to the DOD’s National Defense Strategy, “defense priorities are first, defending the homeland, paced to the growing multi-domain threat posed by the People’s Republic of China.”

The Pentagon will be the last to sing a requiem for the dearly departed unipolar world. May sanity prevail.

Ray McGovern’s first portfolio as a C.I.A. analyst was Sino-Soviet relations. In 1963, their total trade was $220 MILLION; in 2023, $227 BILLION. Do the math.

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/17/ray-mcgovern-russia-china-two-against-one/

Gina Chon Updated May 21, 2024, 5:30am EDT1/2

Imprisoned ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro predicts Fed Chair’s ouster and ‘mass deportations’ in a second presidential term

The Scoop

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would be gone in the first 100 days of a second Donald Trump term that would also include mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and more tariffs on Chinese goods, former White House economic adviser Peter Navarro told Semafor from the federal prison where he is serving a four-month sentence for refusing to cooperate with a congressional probe into the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol.

Navarro, who directed Trump’s Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy until 2021, has remained loyal to the former president. Donald Trump Jr. and other members of the candidate’s inner circle have visited Navarro at the minimum-security facility in Miami where he is being held, a signal that he could have a prominent role in another Trump administration.

Navarro laid out the former president’s economic priorities in an exclusive interview, writing his responses on the email system at the prison’s law library, where he works.

Navarro said he hopes to speak at the Republican National Convention if he can make it out in time, with his scheduled release date of around July 17 falling in the middle of the gathering. He wants to tout Trump’s economic agenda, laid out in a book he has been wrapping up in prison, The New MAGA Deal, which will be released the week of the convention.

His time behind bars hasn’t tempered Navarro, an anti-China hardliner who battled with more globally minded Wall Street executives who joined the Trump administration. He continues to bash Gary Cohn, Trump’s ex-director of the National Economic Council, and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, both Goldman Sachs alumni.

Navarro shared his views on Trump’s unfinished business, who should lead the Fed, and what he thinks about JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. The correspondence has been edited for length.

The View From Peter Navarro

Gina Chon: What are Trump’s economic priorities if he wins?

Peter Navarro: The New MAGA Deal documents 100 actions in 100 days. At the top of the trade list is Trump’s Reciprocal Trade Act, originally introduced by Congressman Sean Duffy in 2019. If countries refuse to lower their tariffs to our levels, the president would have the authority to raise our tariffs to theirs. It is the most common sense route to balancing our trade deficit and thereby stimulating economic growth, and strengthening the US dollar. It should appeal to protectionists and free traders alike.

Chon: What didn’t get done in the last term that would be back on the table?

Navarro: One of the biggest pieces of unfinished Trump business is to solidify Buy American, Hire American government procurement, and reshore our private sector supply chains and manufacturing back to US soil. We are dangerously vulnerable to foreign coercion in everything from defense applications and tech, to pharmaceuticals.

Trump will also quickly seal the border and begin mass deportations. Biden has imported a wave of crime and terrorism along with an uneducated mass that drives down wages of Black, brown, and blue-collar Americans. Blacks and Hispanics, particularly males in the workforce, are flocking to Trump in droves.

https://www.semafor.com/article/05/21/2024/imprisoned-ex-trump-aide-peter-navarro-predicts-ouster-of-fed-chair-jay-powell

>>20896420

2/2

Chon: What are the plans for the Fed and current Chair Jay Powell?

Navarro: Powell was Mnuchin’s folly — Powell raised rates too fast under Trump and choked off growth. To keep his job, Powell then raised rates too slowly to contain inflation under Biden. My guess is that this punctilious non-economist will be gone in a hundred days one way or the other. Former Council of Economic Advisers Chair Kevin Hassett would be a logical replacement; former CEA Chair Tyler Goodspeed would be a bold choice.

Chon: Is there a place for someone like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in a Trump administration?

Navarro: I’m sure if Jamie raises $100 million for Trump 2024 and doesn’t hedge his Biden bet, there may be an ambassadorship somewhere in Asia where JPMorgan helped offshore millions of American jobs.

Frankly, [Blackstone CEO] Steve Schwarzman’s unforgiveable alleged unregistered foreign lobbyist activities in weakening the China trade deal has made it difficult for those of us in Trump World to trust that Wall Street denizens like Dimon, [Citadel CEO] Ken Griffin, and Schwarzman will ever represent Main Street.

Chon: What about people like Gary Cohn or Steven Mnuchin, whom you labeled as “globalists,” returning in a second Trump term?

Navarro: Gary Cohn did everything he could to block Trump’s trade agenda, particularly steel and aluminum tariffs. When [former Commerce Secretary] Wilbur Ross and I finally outmaneuvered him, he quit in a huff — good riddance.

Mnuchin did everything he could as well to stop or soften Trump’s trade agenda and regularly clashed with Ross, Lighthizer, and myself. Together, Cohn and Mnuchin prove, as I wrote in my Taking Back Trump’s America book, that Bad Personnel is both Bad Policy and Bad Politics.

Chon: Trump wants to ratchet up tariffs on Chinese products, which he started when he was president. Given the challenges the Fed is facing in tamping down inflation, won’t tariffs make the problem worse?

Navarro: The imposition of tariffs on Communist China had ZERO impact on inflation. In a general equilibrium economic world, tariffs over time boost growth and real wages; they are not inflationary.

Chon': Nippon Steel’s effort to buy US Steel is facing challenges in Washington. Should that deal go through?

Navarro: If Trump had been president, Cleveland Cliffs would have consummated its merger with US Steel and created a real American national champion in the world market. The Nippon deal is bad for America.

Chon: Are there US companies or industries that you think are un-American or acting against American interests?

Navarro: American multinational corporations naturally want to offshore American jobs in their search for cheap, sweatshop labor and pollution havens.That’s why God created tariffs. KEK

Correction

An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the Republican National Convention, which is in July.

https://www.semafor.com/article/05/21/2024/imprisoned-ex-trump-aide-peter-navarro-predicts-ouster-of-fed-chair-jay-powell

JOHN KIRIAKOU: The Heroism of David McBride

May 16, 2024

By 2014 McBride had compiled a dossier into profound command failings that saw examples of potential war crimes in Afghanistan overlooked and other soldiers wrongly accused. On Tuesday he was sentenced to nearly six years in jail. David McBride outside the Supreme Court in Canberra in November 2023. Special to Consortium News1/2

Sometimes a whistleblower does everything right. He or she makes a revelation that is clearly in the public interest. The revelation is clearly a violation of the law. And then he or she is even more clearly abused by the government. It would be great if these stories always had happy endings. Unfortunately, they don’t.

In this case, the whistleblower, the hero,Australian David McBride has been sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for telling the truth. He will not be eligible for parole for 27 months.

David McBride is former British Army officer and a lawyer with the Australian Special Forces who blew the whistle on war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan,specifically the killing of 39 unarmed Afghan prisoners, farmers, and civilians in 2012.

After failing to raise a response through official channels, McBride shared the information with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which published a series of major reports based on the material.

The ABC broadcasts in 2017 led to a major inquiry that upheld many of the allegations. Despite this, the ABC and its journalists themselves came under threat of prosecution for their work on the story.

The ABC offices in Sydney were raided by the national police, but in the end the government did not prosecute an ABC journalist because it was not in the public interest. McBride himself, however, was prosecuted for dissemination of official information.

Two Tours in Afghanistan

Let’s go back a few years. McBride at the time already was a seasoned attorney.After studying for a second law degree at Oxford University, he joined the British military and eventually moved back to Australia where he became a lawyer in the Australian Defence Forces (ADF). In that role he had two tours in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2013.

While on deployment, McBride became critical of the terms of engagement and other regulations that soldiers were working under, which he felt were endangering military personnel for the sake of political imperatives determined elsewhere.

By 2014 McBride had compiled a dossier into profound command failings that saw examples of potential war crimes in Afghanistan overlooked and other soldiers wrongly accused. His internal complaints were suppressed and ignored.

McBride’s reports also looked at other matters, including the military’s handling of sexual abuse allegations. After his use of internal channels had proven ineffective, McBride gave his report to the police. And eventually, he contacted journalists at ABC.

ABC’sAfghan Files documented several incidents of Australian soldiers killing unarmed civilians, including children, and questioned the prevalent “warrior culture” in the special forces. Subsequent to McBride’s disclosures, the behavior of other Coalition Special Forces in Afghanistan also came under sustained investigation.

In many ways, McBride’s reports went further than the issues identified by ABC. Amid prevalent rumors that Australian troops were responsible for war crimes, questionable deaths in Afghanistan had led to calls for investigations.

Report Vindicated McBride & ABC

In November 2020, the Brereton report (formally called the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force Afghan Inquiry report) was published, utterly vindicating McBride and the ABC. Judge Paul Brereton found evidence of multiple incidents involving Australian personnel that had led to39 deaths.

Among his recommendations were the investigation of these incidents for possible future criminal charges.

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/16/john-kiriakou-the-heroism-of-david-mcbride/

>>20896514

2/2

There would be almost no criminal charges, however. At least, there would be only one eventual criminal charge against one single soldier in the murder of Afghan civilians. There have been no charges against the officers who covered up the war crimes.

Instead, though, there would beserious charges against McBride for “theft of government property” (the information) and for “sharing with members of the press documents classified as secret.” He faced life in prison.

McBride’s sentence illustrates the challenges that Australian whistleblowers face when reporting evidence of waste, fraud, abuse, illegality, or threats to the public health or public safety.

First, just like in the United States, there are no protections for national security whistleblowers. McBride took his career — indeed, his life — into his hands when he decided to go public with his revelations. But what else could he do?

Second, as in the United States, there is no affirmative defense. McBride, like Edward Snowden, Jeffrey Sterling, Daniel Hale and like me, was forbidden from standing up in court and saying, “Yes, I gave the information to the media because I witnessed a war crime or a crime against humanity. What I did was in the public interest.”

Those words are never permitted to be spoken in a court in the United States or Australia.

Recalling Nuremberg

Third, Australia is in dire need of some legal reforms. The judgein McBride’s case said at sentencing that McBride, “had no duty as an army officer beyond following orders.”That defense was attempted at Nuremberg and it failed. It’s time for the Australian judiciary to get into the 21st century.

There are a couple points of light in this whole fiasco. The Brereton Commission did indeed recommend that 19 members of the Australian Special Forces be prosecuted for war crimes. So far, one has been charged with a crime. He is accused of shooting and killing a civilian in a wheat field in

Uruzgan Province in 2012.

And McBride will be allowed to appeal his conviction. Still any other light at the end of the tunnel is likely an oncoming train, rather than relief for the whistleblower.

But the bottom line is this. There is a war against whistleblowers in Australia just like there is in the United States.

Indeed, Andrew Wilkie, a former Australian government intelligence analyst-turned-whistleblower, and now member of Parliament, says that“the Australian government hates whistleblowers” and that it wanted to punish David McBrideand to send a signal to other government insiders to remain silent, even in the face of witnessing horrible crimes. I would say exactly the same thing about the United States.

I’m proud to call David McBride a friend. I know exactly what he’s going through right now. But his sacrifice will not be in vain. History will smile on him. Yes, the next several years will be tough. He’ll be a prisoner. He’ll be separated from his family. And when he gets out of prison, well into his 60s, he’ll have to begin rebuilding his life. But he is right and his government is wrong. And future generations will understand and appreciate what he did for them.

John Kiriakou is a former C.I.A. counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act — a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration’s torture program.

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/16/john-kiriakou-the-heroism-of-david-mcbride/

Are you fucking kidding me, at Mar A Lago, deadly force, did they plan on killing him if he was there?

@julie_kelly2

Tons of new unsealed filings on classified docs case–I will try to post as much as I can (there goes the workout) but this is mind-blowing.

FBI authorized the use of deadly force at Mar-a-Lago

1:21 PM · May 21, 2024

·

1M

Views

https://x.com/julie_kelly2/status/1792969008657948733

>>20896540

@julie_kelly2

Oh my God

Armed FBI agents were preparing to confront Trump and even engage Secret Service if necessary.

They were going to go door to door to terrorize MAL guests and even pick the locks.

Gestapo

https://x.com/julie_kelly2/status/1792970849861116080

>>20896556

Julie Kelly

@julie_kelly2

Here is the use of deadly force instructions attached to the FBI's operational instructions.

Head of Washington FBI field office when this was executed: Steven D'Antuono. Recall who authorized the raid:

Merrick Garland The FBI risked the lives of Donald Trump, his family, his staff, and MAL guests for a publicity stunt to make it look like Trump stole national security files.

People need to be arrested for this.

https://x.com/julie_kelly2/status/1792972717781586109

>>20896570

You do understand you don't authorize deadly force in a search and seek matter right?

>>20896617

notableGarland the DOJ, the FBI and anyone else in planning this needs to be arrested.

I think its time for the "real military"