The World Blog by humble servant.

The leaders of Germany, Spain, and Portugal have named the incumbent French president Emmanuel Macron as their preferred candidate at the upcoming second round of the election, warning the voters against supporting National Rally’s leader, Marine Le Pen. In a surprising move on Thursday, three days before the vote in France and amid Russia’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa published a joint column in the Le Monde and El Pais newspapers. After claiming in the beginning of the article that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “aggression” targets not only Ukraine but also the values which France and its European partners defend, the authors of the article came to their main point. EU targets Macron's French presidential rivalREAD MORE: EU targets Macron's French presidential rival According to Scholz, Sanchez, and Costa, “the populists and the extreme right” in their co...

My personal journey into the drama-infused existence of Gonzalo Lira began in mid-February 2022, when I appeared as part of a panel discussion organized by Joe Lauria of Consortium News (CN), which included the British writer Alexander Mercouris. It was just prior to the Russian “special military operation” kicking off in Ukraine. Alexander and I subsequently appeared on several CN-hosted panels to discuss the war in Ukraine, and in conversations following the broadcast he mentioned a fellow he called “Gonzo Lira” and asked if I followed him. I indicated that I did not, and Alexander replied that I should, as “Gonzo” resided in Kharkov, and had some first-hand insights into the conflict that I might find interesting. Alexander asked if he could forward my contact information to Gonzo Lira, and I agreed. I must admit that I did not follow up on Alexander’s recommendation to follow Gonzo and had forgotten about our conversation about Mr. Lira when, sometime in late March, I was sudden...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is like a crocodile chewing on Ukraine’s leg, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters on Thursday, while traveling to India. He said that he didn’t see how Kiev could possibly negotiate with Russia, and added that the West would keep sending artillery and other weapons to Ukraine. “It’s very hard to see how the Ukrainians can negotiate with Putin, given his manifest lack of good faith and his strategy, which is evident, to try to engulf and capture as much of Ukraine as he can and then perhaps to have some sort of negotiation from a position of strength – or even launch another assault on Kiev,” Johnson said. “I really don’t see how the Ukrainians can easily sit down and come to some kind of accommodation. How can you negotiate with a crocodile when it’s got your leg in its jaws? That is the difficulty that the Ukrainians face.” While he doesn’t see how Putin can be a “valid interlocutor,” Johnson said this was something for the Ukrainia...

Former US President Donald Trump has slammed claims that he stormed out of a recent interview with Piers Morgan and has released an audio recording of how his sit down actually ended. Trump accused Morgan of being “just like the rest of the Fake News Media.” On Wednesday, TalkTV, which is set to broadcast the interview on April 25, released a highly dramatized promotional video for the sit-down, dubbing it “the most explosive interview of the year.” The promo provided a 30-second video summary of the discussion over incredibly loud cinematic music and portrays Trump as growing increasingly frustrated with Morgan’s questions. The video ends with Trump seemingly cutting the interview short, saying “Turn the camera off” and telling Morgan that he is “very dishonest” as he rises from the chair to take off his microphone. However, an audio recording of that very same interview, released by Trump’s team, suggests a completely different story. In the recording, Trump and Morgan can clearly ...

It is still possible to rescue Ukrainian fighters trapped in Mariupol, but Kiev will need foreign help to do so, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday. Meanwhile, Russia declared the city to be completely cleared of troops loyal to Kiev, with only a few die-hards left at the Azovstal factory complex. “There is a military way” to unblock Mariupol, Zelensky told local media during a press conference with the prime ministers of Spain and Denmark in Kiev. “We need to prepare for it. We are preparing to be strong, but here we need the help of our partners. It’s difficult, by ourselves,” he added. Earlier on Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin that the Azov Sea port is fully in the hands of Russian and Donetsk People’s Republic troops, with the exception of a surrounded group holed up at the Azovstal steel plant. Shoigu estimated their number to be around 2,000. Some 8,100 Ukrainian troops, militants and mercenaries were in Mariupol whe...

nternational disputes should be resolved through dialogue and not by sanctions, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, while presenting his country's new Global Security Initiative. Speaking via videolink at the international forum in the province of Hainan amid the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, Xi chose not to comment on other specific international issues, highlighting instead his general vision of a global security framework. “We, humanity, are living in an indivisible security community. It has been proven time and again that the Cold War mentality would only wreck the global peace framework, that hegemonism and power politics would only endanger world peace and that bloc confrontation would only exacerbate security challenges in the 21st century,” Xi said. The Chinese leader underlined that international security is “indivisible” and therefore respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, non-interference in each other's internal affairs ...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the main obstacle to peace between his country and Russia, renowned Italian journalist and historian Angelo D'Orsi has told D’Orsi has been left disappointed by the coverage of the Ukrainian conflict in the Western media, including in his home country of Italy. In March, he refused to continue cooperating with major newspaper La Stampa after it used a photo of the aftermath of a missile attack on Donetsk by the Kiev forces to illustrate a headlining article bout about Russian strikes in western Ukraine. The paper has reached “the bottom of journalistic dishonesty” with this move, D’Orsi insisted in one of the interviews. The veteran journalist rejects attempts to portray Zelensky as a hero, warning that the Ukrainian leader is actually “a very dangerous character.” “In my opinion, Zelensky now represents the biggest obstacle to achieving peace because it seems obvious to me that he’s is ready to sacrifice his country and his people in...

The Chinese military has apparently test-fired their most advanced shipborne hypersonic missile – dubbed YJ-21 or ‘Eagle Strike-21’ – ahead of the Chinese Navy’s 73rd anniversary celebrations, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Thursday. A short video clip that has surfaced on social media shows what appears to be the YJ-21 missile being launched from China’s Type 055 warship – the Chinese Navy’s largest and most advanced destroyer, according to the SCMP. Few details about the missile are available so far. Citing Chinese defense experts, the SCMP has reported that it might have a range of between 1,000 to 1,500 kilometers (621 to 932 miles) and is designed to target aircraft carrier strike groups. “The ship-borne YJ-21 missile, which has a range up to 1,000km, is able to hit any vessel in an aircraft carrier strike group,” a Beijing-based naval analyst, Li Jie, told the SCMP. The Type 055 destroyers have up to 112 vertical launch missile cells, the pap...

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded to the “unfriendly actions” of three Baltic states on Thursday, by closing their consulates and declaring their staff ‘personae non grata’. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had previously announced their decision to close their Russian consulates. The ministry summoned top representatives of the diplomatic missions of these countries to express a “strong protest” over such measures. During the meeting, Russia announced it would forbid the operations of all three countries’ Consulates General in Saint Petersburg, as well as of Latvia’s consulate and Estonia’s consulate in Pskov. The foreign ministry specified that the decision was made “on the basis of the principle of reciprocity,” as well as taking into account the military assistance that was being provided by these countries to Kiev, and “the covering up of the crimes of Ukrainian nationalists against the civilian population of the Donbass and Ukraine.” The heads and other officials of the Est...

The Ukrainian government is reportedly trying to convince European nations to eliminate Russian gas shipments via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The move is intended to force Russia to move more of its Europe-bound gas supplies through Ukraine, according to energy officials as quoted by Reuters. Increased shipments via Ukraine would bolster Kiev’s budget with more transit fees that could help the country’s wartime defense, as well as deter Russia from damaging Ukraine’s gas pipelines, the officials reportedly told lawmakers and Biden administration officials in Washington. Russia “depends on us transporting gas from Russia to Europe. This is something to leverage in our discussions with them and Europe can help,” according to Olga Bielkova, director of international affairs for the Gas Transit System Operator of Ukraine, as quoted by media. US gas prices spike on increased exports to EuropeREAD MORE: US gas prices spike on increased exports to Europe Shipments of Russian natural gas ...

Responding to US sanctions against Russian government officials and their family members, Moscow has sanctioned 29 US citizens, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Vice President Kamala Harris. They are banned from entering Russia indefinitely. The “executives, businessmen, experts and journalists who shape the Russophobic agenda, as well as the spouses of a number of high-ranking officials” are being banned in response to anti-Russian sanctions affecting families of officials, scientists, cultural and business figures, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. In addition to Zuckerberg, Moscow has blacklisted LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, as well as the presidents and CEOs of military industry giants Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, L3 Harris Technologies, Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries and drone-maker AeroVironment have also been sanctioned. The director of the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies...

Washington will follow the lead of the European Union and ban all Russian-affiliated ships from docking at US ports, President Joe Biden announced on Thursday. This applies to all vessels flying the Russian flag, owned, or operated by Russian entities. “No ship, no ship that sails under the Russian flag, or that is owned or operated by a Russian interest, will be allowed to dock in a US port or access our shores. None,” Biden said on Thursday morning at the White House, after meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister. The EU banned Russian ships from its ports on April 6. Biden said the move intends to “deny Russia the benefits of [the] international economic system that they so enjoyed in the past.” In addition to the port ban, Biden announced a program to let Ukrainians immigrate into the US directly, another $500 million in direct economic aid to Kiev – totaling $1 billion since February – and yet another $800 million in weapons, ammunition and equipment. The new aid will see “d...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s claims that he has not received a peace proposal from Moscow “raise certain questions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. The day before, Peskov announced that Russia had sent a draft agreement to Kiev, adding that “the ball was now with the Ukrainian side.” However, later that day, Zelensky, speaking at a press conference with EU Parliament President Charles Michel, said that he “hadn’t seen anything” and “didn’t hear anything.” “I’m sure they (Moscow) didn’t give us anything,” he claimed. The Kremlin spokesman, responding to those remarks, said that they “raise certain questions why President Zelensky was not informed about our text proposals.” Peskov added that, nevertheless, Moscow would expect the Ukrainian negotiators’ response. “Our latest draft was handed over to… the Ukrainian negotiating delegation, so we will continue to wait for an answer,” he told the media. Russia sends peace proposal to UkraineREAD MORE: Russi...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that relations between Moscow and New Delhi will be one of the key topics up for discussion during his two-day visit to India to meet with his counterpart Narendra Modi. The UK has been trying to persuade India to reconsider its close ties to Russia in light of the military conflict in Ukraine, as New Delhi has so far refused to condemn Moscow for attacking its neighbor. However, Johnson will apparently refrain from trying to “lecture” Modi during his visit, according to the PM’s spokesperson. “The UK would not seek to lecture other democratically elected governments on what course of action was best for them. Rather we would look to offer new opportunities which benefited both the people of UK and India,” said Boris Johnson’s spokesperson Max Blain on Tuesday, ahead of the PM’s visit to India. Blain added that Britain would “work with other countries to provide alternative options for defense procurement and energy for India to diversi...

Sanctions imposed on Russia are creating serious risks to the global economy, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said via video link at a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington, DC on Wednesday. “Excessively loose budgetary and monetary policy pursued in recent years in developed countries created inflationary pressure last year, and the sanctions imposed against Russia not only further strengthened it, but also led to new risks in the economy,” Siluanov said. Spiking prices for energy and agricultural produce will hit developing and low-income countries, the minister warned, adding that some countries will face severe social consequences. Russia not facing default – central bankREAD MORE: Russia not facing default – central bank According to Siluanov, Russia has never refused to fulfill its obligations and continues to comply with all contracts’ terms, while shipments of goods across the global markets are being artificially restrained by sa...

When French voters head to the polls on Sunday to choose their next president, will the result mirror that of the 2017 election? Five years ago, the same Macron-Le Pen matchup resulted in a blowout, with Macron winning with 66% of the vote against Le Pen’s 34%. The perennial phenomenon of the French “Republican Front” struck again. In other words, all other first-round voters cast their ballots against Le Pen rather than for Macron. Older French voters in particular have an inherent fear of the “far right,” and overwhelmingly vote reflexively against it. But why is this the case? It all started when the predecessor of Le Pen’s National Rally party – the National Front, led by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen – benefited from former Socialist French President François Mitterrand’s openness to smaller parties’ electoral participation in the 1985 legislative elections, and ended up winning 35 seats in the National Assembly. Mitterrand has long been accused of opening the doors to the corrid...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called off an assault on the Azovstal steel plant in the Black Sea port of Mariupol during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu on Thursday. The facility still harbors some 2,000 Ukrainian militants, including the neo-Nazi 'Azov' regiment, according to Shoigu. “We always need to think about preserving the lives and health of our soldiers and officers," Putin told the defense chief, adding that, in this particular case, they should not be sent to assault the steel plant. “One should not get into those catacombs and crawl there underground, in these industrial facilities," the president said. Built back in Soviet times, the Azovstal steel plant has a vast network of well-fortified underground tunnels built to withstand heavy bombardments. An aide to the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, Yan Gagin, had once described these tunnels as an underground city. Retreating Ukrainian forces, including the notorious ...

Moscow has responded to recent threats by Ukraine’s Armed Forces about a potential strike on the Crimean Bridge which connects Russia with the Crimean peninsula. “Such statements are nothing less than the announcement of a possible terrorist act. This is unacceptable. There are many signs here of deeds that are subject to legal verification and subsequent punishment," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. The response comes after Alexey Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, stated on Wednesday that if Ukraine had the chance, it would have struck the Crimean bridge long ago, and that Ukraine’s Armed Forces would do it now if possible. “If we had the opportunity to do this, we would have done it already. If there is an opportunity to do this, we will definitely do it,” said Danilov in an interview with Radio NV, when asked if Ukraine could strike the Crimean bridge, since it is being used to send reinforcements. Former R...

As we can all admit, the international order is falling into disarray, and a formal inquiry into allegations of atrocities committed by the United States in Syria must be a prerequisite to upholding international law. According to a Tuesday report by Press TV, the Syrian government has sent letters to UN officials asking for such a formal investigation into alleged atrocities committed by the US-led coalition in the city of Raqqa. “The time has come to shed light on the humanitarian, political, and legal aspects of the matter,” Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in two identical messages, addressed to UN Secretary General António Guterres and to the rotating president of the UN Security Council, Barbara Woodward. The ministry noted that virtually the entire city was razed by US bombing runs that took place between June and October 2017, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths. As the Associated Press reported at the time, the devastation of that city raised serious que...

The Russian State Duma voted on Thursday to extend Elvira Nabiullina’s term as the governor of the country’s central bank for another five years. On March 18, President Vladimir Putin submitted a proposal to the lower house of the Federal Assembly to nominate Nabiullina to serve another term. Her current five-year term ends in June, and federal law had required the president to nominate her or another candidate by March 24. The Kremlin said then that Putin’s high respect for the central bank’s work resulted in the proposal. The 58-year-old Nabiullina has governed Russia’s central bank since June 2013. In 2017, her mandate was extended for five years. Prior to taking the post, Nabiullina worked as a presidential adviser for a year and had previously headed the Ministry of Economic Development.

Austria’s energy giant OMV says it has suspended all imports of Russian oil ahead of the possible EU embargo on them. “The purchase of oil from Russia was always very low ... we replaced it with other oil from the market,” an OMV spokesman said, as quoted by newspaper Kronen Zeitung. In early March, the corporation said it would reconsider its participation in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. OMV has also halted investments in Russia. Unlike Germany, Austria is expected to take the potential EU embargo on Russian oil supplies in its stride. According to data from Statistics Austria and the Association of the Mineral Oil Industry, Russian oil accounted for only 7.8%, or 596,000 tons, of the country’s imports in 2021. However, Austria is still heavily reliant on Russian natural gas. Since the country is landlocked, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are impractical. ‘Impossible’ for Austria to ban Russian gas – energy giantREAD MORE: ‘Impossible’ for Austria to ban Russi...

efense Forces plane from landing in its territory on Thursday, Sanae Takaichi, a policy chief of the ruling Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), told local media on Thursday. The aircraft was scheduled to collect supplies from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mumbai and deliver them to Europe. “The acceptance of SDF aircraft was rejected by India, the point of loading,” Takaichi told a meeting of the party’s Policy Research Council Board. The Japanese media have reported that the move was the result of a lack of coordination, citing government sources. Takaichi also criticized Tokyo by saying “the government has not done enough groundwork.” Neither Tokyo nor New Delhi have commented on the development so far. The UN refugee agency had previously requested transport for relief supplies, which were stockpiled in India and the United Arab Emirates. They were destined for Poland and Romania, which have accepted Ukrainian refugees fleeing the conflict between Mosc...

o nation has sent any fighter jets to Ukraine, Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby admitted on Wednesday as he apologized for having created a false “impression” and retracting an earlier statement from the US Defense Department on arms supplies to Kiev. "I was mistaken," Kirby said, adding that, although he did not say that "Ukraine had received 'whole aircraft'," that was "the impression that I gave you." The spokesman has explained that he himself got a misguided impression about another nation following through with its offer to provide Ukraine with "whole fixed-wing aircraft." "It has not. So, I was in error in saying that, in past tense, they had been given whole aircraft. I regret the error," Kirby added. On Tuesday, the Pentagon spokesman told journalists that Ukrainian troops “have received additional aircraft and aircraft parts to help them … get more aircraft in the air.” He did specify at the time, though, that the US o...

Russia has all the necessary financial resources to allow the economy to function under sanctions pressure, the Governor of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina said on Thursday at a meeting of the State Duma. She stressed there is no danger of default for the country. “Russia has the resources, all the necessary financial resources. No default threatens us,” she said. Since the end of February, the United States and its allies have introduced several packages of sanctions against Russia, which have targeted, among other things, the country’s financial sector. This included freezing nearly half of Russia’s foreign currency reserves. Earlier this month, the US Treasury stopped Russia from paying holders of its sovereign debt more than $600 million from reserves held in American bank accounts, saying that Moscow had to choose between draining its dollar reserves and default. In this regard, Russia’s Ministry of Finance for the first time made a payment on external debt in rubles. Moody...

Russian forces have fully captured the key Donbass Black Sea port-city of Mariupol, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. However, more than 2,000 militants, loyal to Kiev, still remain entrenched at the Azovstal steel plant in the city, he added. President Vladimir Putin has called Shoigu’s plan of storming the area “inadvisable” and instead ordered him to “safely block” the area while extending to those inside another offer to lay down their arms. The last hold outs are cut off from supplies. When Mariupol was encircled in early March, some 8,100 Ukrainian soldiers, foreign mercenaries, and nationalist militants – including members of the notorious Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion – remained inside, according to the minister’s estimates. More than 1,400 militants have laid down their arms, Shoigu said, adding that over 142,000 civilians have also been evacuated from the city. It has been under siege for weeks. Russia gives Ukrainian troops another chan...