The World Blog by humble servant.

A cursory look at the documents regarding the foundation of the Ukrainian state would make it appear quite European and democratic, which is exactly the reason why many might have dismissed Vladimir Putin’s talk about neo-Nazis in Ukraine as rhetoric and propaganda. The truth, however, is much more complicated and cannot be summarized by saying "Ukrainian president is Jewish, and thus all allegations are untrue". Tell me who your heroes are, and I will tell you who you are One historical figure who has emerged as a hero in post-Maidan Ukraine is Stepan Bandera, a leader and ideologist of the militant wing of the far-right Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Today, there are streets named after him, people sing songs in his honor and carry his portrait. Born in Galicia (at the time part of Austria-Hungary) on January 1, 1909, Stepan Bandera was tried on terrorism charges in Poland on multiple occasions. In 1934, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commute...

Saudi Arabia considers selling oil in yuan – media Top oil producer distances itself from petrodollar hegemony Saudi Arabia is considering selling some of its oil to China in yuan rather than dollars, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, citing “active talks” between Riyadh and Beijing. Such a move could further marginalize the petrodollar paradigm that has controlled the global financial system for over half a century, placing the dollar’s status as the international reserve currency at risk. China buys over a quarter of the oil exported by Saudi Arabia, meaning that denominating those deals in yuan would significantly boost the international profile of the Chinese currency. Currently, 80% of global oil sales are transacted in dollars, with the Saudis trading exclusively in the US currency since 1974 – when Washington offered Riyadh security guarantees in exchange for its loyalty to the petrodollar system. Saudi Arabia & UAE snub phone calls wit...

Ukraine will respond “harshly and promptly” to any unfriendly gestures, including Israel’s decision to suspend the visa-free regime and demand electronic permits of Ukrainians wishing to enter the country, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff said on Tuesday. Andrey Yermak thanked Israel for its peacemaking efforts, but said Tel Aviv’s decision to restrict entry to refugees was “surprising.” Kiev will respond to “any steps that harm the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainians,” he said. “I will remind all our partners: your peoples have long and clearly shown and said what you need to do. See and hear your constituents. They made their choice. They support Ukraine. They are with us. And you?” Yermak wrote on Facebook, in Ukrainian.  Yermak’s comments came after Tel Aviv announced that Ukrainians visiting the country would need to declare if they have an invitation from an Israeli citizen and wait for permission to enter. On Sunday, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said any Ukra...

The Russian Foreign Ministry has sanctioned over 300 Canadian individuals in response to a similar move by the Canadian government. Delivered on Tuesday in response to what it calls the “outrageous hostility of the current Canadian regime,” Moscow’s sanctions list includes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The list also includes the ministers of foreign affairs and national defense, and most of the deputies of the House of Commons of the Canadian Parliament.  “Aggressive pro-Bandera elements” in Canada are also banned, the Russian announcement revealed, referring to the Ukrainian WW2-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. Those sanctioned are barred from entering the Russian Federation. Canadian troops were accused by Jewish groups last year of involvement in training neo-Nazi battalions in Ukraine. It was also revealed by media that Canadian officials had met in 2018 with members of the notorious neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. The Russian Foreign Ministry defended its latest step, declaring...

Ukraine admits it won’t be part of NATO Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the UK Joint Expeditionary Force meeting NATO allies don’t want to see Ukraine among their ranks and Kiev realizes that, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Western leaders on Tuesday. Now Kiev seeks protection from individual member states. “We’ve been hearing for years that the [NATO] doors were supposedly open, but now we know we won’t enter there. That is the truth, and we must acknowledge that,” Zelensky said during a video call with the UK Joint Expeditionary Force, a meeting of the leaders of Nordic and Baltic nations hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “I am glad that our people are beginning to understand that and to rely on ourselves and those partners that aid us,” he added. The Ukrainian leader apparently included the people he was addressing on the list of good friends of Ukraine, despite most of them leading NATO allies. He said the military organization was in no position to offer the security guarant...

Russia on Tuesday sanctioned US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and ten other administration officials and political figures. Moscow has said that the sanctions are a reciprocal measure, imposed after Washington blacklisted top Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin. The latest additions to Russia’s  “stop list”  were announced by the Kremlin on Tuesday, and were described as a  “counter reaction”  to the  “extremely Russophobic course taken by the current US administration.” Appearing at the top of the 13-name list is President Biden, followed by Blinken and Austin. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, CIA Director William Burns, and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki are also named. Further down the list, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Biden’s son Hunter – whose dealings with a Ukrainian energy firm have previously been...

West accused of engineering ‘artificial default’ in Russia Moscow is ready to pay off its debts, but half of the nation’s forex reserves are frozen abroad West accused of engineering ‘artificial default’ in Russia © Getty Images / Andrii Yalanskyi Washington and its allies want to push Russia into an “artificial default” by making it impossible to pay off the country’s foreign debts despite having the money to do so, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Monday. “The freezing of foreign currency accounts of the Bank of Russia and of the Russian government can be regarded as the desire of a number of foreign countries to engineer an artificial default which has no real economic grounds,” the minister said. The latest wave of Western sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine targeted Russia’s banking and financial sectors, with nearly half of the country’s foreign currency reserves, worth $300 billion, frozen by foreign central banks. Russia is due to pay $117 million on two of its dollar-d...

Ending dependence on Russian energy will be ‘painful’ – Johnson The UK spends ‘billions of pounds’ to ease the cost of living but cannot do that for long, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned The British Prime Minister has called for a speedy end to “dependence” on Russian oil and gas, comparing it to “addiction,” in his guest piece for the Daily Telegraph published on Monday, warning that the process will be “tough” and “painful” for British households. Abandoning Russia’s oil and gas supplies has become an imperative now, Johnson argued in his lengthy guest piece, as he called it a “terrible mistake” that the UK and other western nations had not stood up to Moscow’s “bullying” sooner. He also implied Russia’s military action in Ukraine is to blame for the rising energy prices, saying that as Russia’s “bombs fall, the cost of oil and gas rises still further, meaning less money in your pocket.” And “that is why that dependence [on Russian oil and gas] must – and will – now end,” he ...

Venezuela oil deal not being discussed, White House says The US has been looking for a replacement for Russian oil White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that the possibility of the United States importing oil from Venezuela is “not an active conversation at this time” after US officials met with the Venezuelan government to discuss the matter. After being asked by a reporter on Monday about her previous comments, which advised journalists to “not focus a lot” on the possibility of the US importing oil from Venezuela, and whether such comments meant the US government was ruling out such a deal, Psaki claimed an oil deal was not yet being discussed. “I was saying it’s not an active conversation at this time,” she said. Senior US officials traveled to Venezuela this month to meet with President Nicolas Maduro’s government amid Russia’s conflict with Ukraine – leading to speculation that the US was considering Venezuela as a replacement for Russian oil. Venezuela is Russia’s...