US warns its dual citizens will be stuck in Ukraine amid mobilization drive

JUNE 5, 2024 3:16 PM CET BY VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA

KYIV —Men of conscription age who are dual citizens of Ukraine and another country are now not able to leave Ukraine— prompting a warning from the U.S. embassy to its nationals in the country.

“Under Ukraine’s martial law, men between 18 and 60 are not permitted to leave the country,” the embassy in a statement on Tuesday. “Previously, dual U.S.-Ukrainian citizens in this group could enter and then depart Ukraineif they had deregistered their Ukrainian residency and registered their U.S. residency.This exception was revoked as of June 1.”

A loophole had previously allowed men of conscription age to travel outside of Ukraine — despite the exit ban imposed during martial law —if they could prove they lived permanently overseas. However, a newly enforced mobilization law that entered into force in May removed this exception as of the beginning of June.

The U.S. Embassy advised those dual citizens who are in the country “to shelter in place and obey local orders.” Those who fall inside the category andare not currently in Ukraine have been advised to stay away if they do not wish to stay indefinitely.

Kyiv does not recognize dual citizenship, with Ukrainian passport holders normally being obliged to drop other citizenships, though enforcement of this rule is limited. “It is likely just codification of existing policy,” a Ukrainian-U.S. citizen, granted anonymity due to risks attached to his citizenship status, told POLITICO.

“There were rumors almost immediately after the full-scale invasion began, that dual citizens were being turned back from the border, so I think they’ve been doing this for a while,” he said. “I suspect I would have never been allowed to leave even before this was officially announced.”

Andriy Demchenko, spokesman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, explained thatborder guards indeed treated Ukrainians with dual citizenship as Ukrainians who all must protect the countryfrom the Russian invasion. “For example, at the border, we have repeatedly discovered male citizens of Ukraine who, at passport control, pretended to be foreigners,” Demchenko told POLITICO.

At the same time, Ukrainian men of conscription age, who had sufficient evidence to prove permanent residence abroad, were previously allowed to travel outside of Ukraine, Demchenko added.

“However, with the change in legislation, this opportunity for them is now limited too,” Demchenko said.

https://www.politico.eu/article/us-ukraine-law-dual-citizens-stuck-mobilization-drive/

5 Jun, 2024 19:34

Kiev regime tortured US journalist to death – Putin

The Russian president has chided Washington for ignoring the incarceration and killing of American blogger Gonzalo Lira

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called out the US government for neglecting to even ask questions after an American journalist was tortured to death in a Ukrainian jail earlier this year.

Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday in St Petersburg, Putin was asked whether Russian officials would help facilitate an investigation of a French journalist who was reportedly killed last month in a missile strike west of Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine).

He offered to help enable the probe, but he also contrasted the response to the Frenchman’s death to how the administration of US President Joe Biden reacted when American blogger Gonzalo Lira died in Ukraine earlier this year.

“They tortured an American journalist to death in a Ukrainian prison, and the US is not even asking what happened to him,”Putin said. “No one went to the trouble of asking what actually happened.”

Lira, a dual US-Chilean citizen who moved to Ukraine in 2010, died in the Kiev regime’s custody in January, reportedly after suffering from pneumonia and a collapsed lung. He had been jailed since May 2023 on accusations that he justified Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine.

The US State Department confirmed Lira’s death, but it declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding his incarceration. The journalist’s father, Gonzalo Lira Sr, said his son was tortured by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s government, and US officials “did nothing” to help him. He added that the journalist may have sealed his fate when he criticized not only Zelensky’s government, but also Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Putin also noted thatat least 30 Russian journalists had been killedin the combat zone since the conflict with Ukraine began in February 2022.“No one is giving us the opportunity to investigateand to learn what happened to them.”

Arman Soldin, who worked for Agence France-Presse as a video coordinator, was reportedly killed on May 7 amid heavy fighting near Chasiv Yar. TheWhite House, which remained silent on Lira’s death, honored the 32-year-old Soldinby saying that the world was “indebted” to journalists who perished while exposing “the horrors of Russia’s invasion.”

https://www.rt.com/news/598818-putin-says-ukraine-tortured-us-journalist-to-death/

Senator Whitehouse Accused of Supporting Legislation Beneficial to Wife’s Financial Interests

By JAMES LYNCH March 7, 2024 4:38 PM

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) was the subject of an ethicscomplaint last month accusing him ofsteering legislation that proved beneficial to his wife’s consulting business and clients. Conservative watchdog Judicial Watch filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee urging them to investigate Whitehouse for potential conflicts of interest connected to his wife Sandra Whitehouse’s consulting business.

“There is strong evidence that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse may have violated Senate ethics conflicts of interest rules. The Senate Ethics Committee should immediately investigate this serious issue,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.“Senator Whitehouse seems to have stepped over the lineof standard environmental legislative advocacy and used his Senate office toadvance his and his wife’s personal and financial interests.”

A proponent of overhauling the Supreme Court, Whitehouse is leading Senate Democrats’ “ethics” investigation into the Supreme Court concerning the influence of “dark money” on conservative justices. “The problem is that those very powerful rightwing billionaires got sloppy, and their gift program to take care of certain Supreme Court Justices started breaking gift and disclosure rules — very likely tax rules, as well, with a few of the amenable Supreme Court Justices whom they were rewarding with lavish entertainments,” Whitehouse said in December.

His comments refer to the left-wing outlet ProPublica’s campaign against Clarence Thomasfor accepting gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow. The outlet is bankrolled by the Sandler Foundation, a patron of left-wing activist groups seeking to undermine the Supreme Court.

Senator Whitehouse’s wife,Sandra Whitehouse, is the president of Ocean Wonks LLC, a Rhode Island-based consulting firmwhose clients have received millions from legislation supported by Senator Whitehouse, the ethics complaint states.

The ethics issues involving Senator Whitehouse began in 2009 when offshore wind companyDeepwater Wind received a $22.3 million grantafter he pushed the Obama administration’s transportation department to approve the federal funding, local media reported at the time. Deepwater Wind reportedly hired Sandra Whitehouse less than three weeks after her husband pushed for the grant, but Whitehouse’s office denied the hiring took place.

Since then, Whitehouse has repeatedly celebrated Deepwater’s offshore wind projects backed by federal contracts. TheInflation Reduction Act(IRA) signed by PresidentBiden in 2022 contained a 30 percent tax credit for an offshore-wind project Deepwater began in 2016.

Ocean Conservancy, a DC-based environmental nonprofit, has paid Sandra Whitehouse $2.6 million since 2009, according to Influence Watch. The2023National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) allocated $1.4 billionfor an ocean exploration program thatdirectly benefits Ocean Conservancy, the ethics complaint says.

The nonprofit supported a provision in the 2015 budget bill establishing a subagency for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), anOcean Conservancy partner, to dole out grantsfor the protection of coastal infrastructure. The National Coastal Resilience Fund hasgiven $466 million in grantssince it was established.

AltaSea, a California-based aquatic agriculture nonprofit, paid Sandra Whitehouse$490,000for consulting work from 2015-18, tax filings show. The Commerce Department also supplied the firm with a$3 million grantduring the time it compensated her, the ethics complaint documents.

“Given Senator Whitehouse’s longstanding practice of sponsoring or cosponsoring legislation that directly benefits his wife and/or her clients,we urge the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct a preliminary investigation to disinter the full extent of Mrs. Whitehouse’s consulting activities, with both for-profit and nonprofit entities, that may create a reasonable appearance of a conflict of interest with Senator Whitehouse’s official duties” the ethics complaint concludes.

Senator Whitehouse co-founded the SenateOcean Caucus in 2011 and supported at least24 bills that benefitted his wife’s clients, the Daily Caller previously reported.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/senator-whitehouse-accused-of-supporting-legislation-beneficial-to-wifes-financial-interests/

5 Jun, 2024 17:45

Nothing will change after US elections – Putin

Russia’s relations with Washington will not be impacted, no matter who is elected president

The upcoming presidential contest in the US will not fundamentally alter Russian-American relations, President Vladimir Putin has said.

Putin spoke with heads of international news agencies on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

“We believe no serious changes will happen after the elections,” the Russian leader explained, in response to a question from Reuters.

Putin reminded reporters that he had already commented on this issue, describing the incumbent US president Joe Biden as “an old-school politician” and “more predictable” than his predecessor and challenger Donald Trump.

“Everyone took my statement about Biden as some kind of joke at his expense,” Putin noted, adding that the American president’s reaction – toattack and insult the Russian leader– just proved his point thatBiden was predictable.

Putin pointed out thatRussia “never had any special relations” with Trump, whom the Democrats in 2016 accused of being a kind of Russian agent. The Republican president had in fact introduced “massive sanctions” against Russia and exited the INF treaty.

By prosecuting Trump in court, however, the Americans are “burning themselves up from the inside, their state, their political system,” Putin told reporters. “They are burning it down to the ground.”

The entire world can see that the persecution of Trumpis just abuse of the American judicial system for political purposes, the Russian president said. He pointed to a spike in Trump’s popularity and fundraising after the felony conviction in New York as proof that Americans don’t believe in the impartiality of their justice system anymore.

“The current administration is making one mistake after another,”Putin said.

Asked if a change in the White House might translate into a change of US policy on Ukraine, the Russian president said it would depend on the next administration’s goals.

If their objective is to make the US stronger and build better relations with the rest of the world instead, “then something might change,” Putin replied.

“Nobody in the US cares about Ukraine’s interests,” Putin said. Americans are “not fighting for Ukraine or the Ukrainian people, they are fighting for their own grandeur and global leadership.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/598809-putin-us-elections-relations/

Second Right Wing Campaigner Stabbed in German City of Mannheim in Four Days

OLIVER JJ LANE 5 Jun 2024

An election candidate in Germany was stabbed in the head and stomach on Tuesday night after confronting a gang of men tearing down election posters,the second stabbing of a right winger in a single German city in four days.

62-year-old Alternative for Germany (AfD) council election candidate Heinrich Koch was stabbed in Mannheim on Tuesday. German newspaper Die Welt reports the right-wing campaigner was cut on the ear and stomach by the assailant and was taken to the hospital.

The injuries are not life threatening but required stitches.

The 25-year-old perpetrator was allegedly part of a group of three who had been stealing election postersin the city, it is said, and the activist had given chase. Two managed to escape, but one of the gang is said to have slashed with a box-cutter type knife. He then fled, but was later arrested.

The alleged knifeman was sent to a psychiatric hospital because he was “mentally ill”, it is reported.Playing down a political motive for the knife attack, Welt states “there is no concrete evidence” that the attacker, who had been stealing political posters, even knew the man he was stabbing was a politician.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said the attack was a “horrifying act” and wished her party colleague a fact recovery from both the injuries and the shock of having been so attacked. Party MP Tino Chrupalla said it wasAfD members who were the most frequent victims of political violence in Germany, but said such attacks would not stop them from campaigning.

The attack came just four days after another stabbing in Mannheim, where an Afghan migrant attacked the set-up of a political demonstration in a city square. Michael Stuerzenberger, a veteran anti-Mosque and anti-Islamification campaigner was seriously stabbed and a responding police officer, who had the misfortune of accidentally arresting the wrong person, was stabbed to death.

Police were also initially cagey about the potential motive of that attack, but days later admitted the mass stabbing against an anti-extremist Islamismrally was probably an act of of extremist Islamism. The suspect, who was supposed to have been deported years ago, is still in hospital after being shot by police.

As reported, the stabbing of right-wing, anti-Islamification activists in Mannheim last week and the debate around it that has since erupted comes just days before this week’s European Parliament elections and German local elections taking place on Sunday. Footage of the attack, which was inadvertently livestreamed, spread across global social media and talk of deportation policies has intensified in the last days of the election campaign.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/06/05/second-right-wing-campaigner-stabbed-in-german-city-in-four-days/