The World Blog by humble servant.

The April 9 visit by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson played a major role in persuading Kiev to break off negotiations with Moscow, the newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda reported on Thursday, citing officials close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The West had originally advised Zelensky to flee because Russia would win in 72 hours, but was now backing him fully, they claimed. According to the “behind-the-scenes look” at the negotiations with Russia published in the Kiev-based outlet, Ukraine’s western allies were convinced that the Russian military would seize Kiev within three days and offered Zelensky to govern from exile in London or Warsaw. When Kiev still stood on February 27, and Russia offered negotiations, Zelensky sent a delegation with the goal of creating the impression he was willing to make a deal. According to Ukrayinska Pravda (UP), the points of agreement made public by Russian envoy Vladimir Medinsky after the March 29 talks in Istanbul, Turkey “are in fact...

The head of US nuclear forces has sounded an alarm in Congress, suggesting that Washington’s ability to deter attacks by rivals may be lacking amid threats from Russia and a rapid buildup of China’s strategic weaponry. “We are facing crisis-deterrence dynamics right now that we have only seen a few times in our nation’s history,” US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) chief Admiral Charles Richard said on Wednesday in a Senate hearing. He reiterated concerns over “three-party deterrence dynamics,” of which he warned lawmakers in March, citing the Ukraine crisis. “The nation and our allies have not faced a crisis like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in over 30 years,” Richard said. “President [Vladimir] Putin simultaneously invaded a sovereign nation while using thinly veiled nuclear threats to deter US and NATO intervention.” Meanwhile, Chinese leaders are “watching the war in Ukraine closely and will likely use nuclear coercion to their advantage in the future,” the admiral said. “Their in...

When US President Joe Biden announced on April 27 that a new Disinformation Governance Board would serve the Department of Homeland Security, it was just the latest turn of the screw on freedom. This time, it’s an affront to citizens’ right to a diversity of information. It’s one thing to correct inaccurate information, but this new entity seems more oriented towards narrative-policing that cracks down on the interpretation of information rather than the accuracy of it. Headed by a former communications advisor to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Nina Jankowicz, one of the board’s first responsibilities will be to address “disinformation coming from Russia as well as misleading messages about the US-Mexico border,” according to CBS News. Interesting that these two issues – immigration and foreign conflicts – are currently viewed as two of Washington’s most significant failures, which have given rise to populist dissent. Make no mistake, it’s the dissent that’s the ultimate target. Bi...

Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng has said that Taipei will abandon its plan to purchase new US anti-submarine warfare helicopters produced by Lockheed Martin Corp, saying they were excessively pricey. “The price is too high, beyond the scope of our country's ability,” the island’s defense chief said at a parliamentary hearing on Thursday. Local media, however, have reported that Washington rejected the sale, in the belief that it was not in line with the island nation’s needs. Washington has failed to deliver on previous contractual obligations to Taiwan. Despite showering American defense manufacturers with money, Taipei is still awaiting $14.2 billion worth of military equipment that it has already ordered from the US since 2019. US lagging on its Taiwan obligations – mediaREAD MORE: US lagging on its Taiwan obligations – media Recently delayed purchases include Howitzer artillery systems and mobile Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. The latter are in high demand as W...

Russian assets that have been frozen in the EU as part of sanctions against Moscow over the conflict with Kiev should be seized and allocated for the reconstruction of Ukraine, European Council President Charles Michel said on Thursday. “I’m absolutely convinced that this is extremely important not only to freeze assets, but also to make it possible to confiscate them, to make them available for rebuilding the country. I’m personally convinced,” Michel insisted in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine news agency. He revealed that he had already told the Council’s legal service to come up with “some possible ideas in order to find a legal solution in line with the principles of the rule of law, that would facilitate and make possible the confiscation of the assets of the people who are sanctioned by the EU or by other countries in the world.” Acting in such a manner should be “a question of fairness, a question of justice” for Brussels, he added. However, Michel acknowledged that impl...

Elon Musk is expected to serve as Twitter’s interim chief executive officer for a few months after he completes his $44 billion acquisition of the social media giant, CNBC reported on Thursday. According to an SEC filing, also released on Thursday, Musk secured approximately $7.14 billion in equity commitments from friends and other investors to buy Twitter. CNBC sources said the businessman handpicked the investors, ranging from $1 billion from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison to $5 million from Honeycomb Asset Management, which invested in SpaceX. Sources added that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey may back the takeover, and Musk was discussing with him the possibility of contributing shares immediately or prior to closing the merger. Media reported earlier that Musk had lined up a new CEO for Twitter who will replace current chief executive Parag Agrawal. Musk repeatedly criticized Twitter’s content moderation practices and a top executive responsible for setting speech and safety ...

The Chinese government has ordered a comprehensive “stress test” to see how the country would handle sanctions like the ones imposed by the West on Russia, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday, citing sources. An unnamed person with direct knowledge of the matter told the paper that an extensive exercise began around late February and early March when Western allies imposed sweeping sanctions against Moscow. The source said that several key Chinese government agencies had been asked to come up with responses if the West imposed similar embargoes on China. “Those involved in this exercise use how Russia was treated as a baseline for China’s own policy response should it be treated in a same fashion by the West,” the source explained, adding: “This stress test involves a range of methodology, including modelling.” Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Beijing, said that “From Beijing’s perspective, if the US-led Western allies...

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has compared the terms for a civilian evacuation allegedly put forward by Ukrainian troops besieged at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol to demands made previously by terrorists in Syria. Speaking on Thursday, Peskov reacted to reports that the Ukrainian forces holed up at the plant wanted to exchange civilians held there for food and medicine. Earlier an unnamed representative of the Russian Command in charge of the operation at the vast Azovstal plant made the claim to Russia’s Ria Novosti news outlet. The official told journalists that “we’ve seen such methods before, for instance in Syria,” where terrorists also tried to exchange people for food. According to the Ria Novosti report, “more than 200 civilians, including women, children and the elderly could be held in Azovstal’s underground tunnels and bunkers.” Vyacheslav Volodin, who is the Chairman of Russia’s State Duma, also commented on the report on Thursday. In his Telegram post, he cl...

8 Years Ago See your memories Johnnie Ellington II May 4, 2014 · Washington has no intention of allowing the crisis in Ukraine to be resolved. Having failed to seize the country and evict Russia from its Black Sea naval base, Washington sees new opportunities in the crisis. One is to restart the Cold War by forcing the Russian government to occupy the Russian-speaking areas of present day Ukraine where protesters are objecting to the stooge anti-Russian government installed in Kiev by the American coup. These areas of Ukraine are former constituent parts of Russia herself. They were attached to Ukraine by Soviet leaders in the 20th century when both Ukraine and Russia were part of the same country, the USSR. Essentially, the protesters have established independent governments in the cities. The police and military units sent to suppress the protesters, called “terrorists” in the American fashion, for the most part have until now defected to the protesters. With Obama’s incompetent ...

The Bank of England has raised its base rate from 0.75% to 1% on Thursday, in an attempt to curb soaring inflation that is predicted to surpass 10% by the year end. The measure has sent the cost of borrowing to its highest level since February 2009. The regulator has warned that the cost-of-living crisis could plunge the economy into recession this year. Last month inflation in the UK rose to 7% – the highest rate in 30 years, driven by rising fuel costs against the backdrop of the Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia. The Bank’s official target for this year was set at 2%. READ MORE: Britons face biggest crisis in decades The development sent the British pound plunging to its lowest level since July 2020, as the currency hit 1.2393 against the dollar early Thursday afternoon London time, shedding nearly 2% of its value against the greenback. According to the central bank, real household disposable income will fall sharply this year due to rising energy prices, and unemployment wou...

The US has assisted Kiev’s forces in killing Russian generals by sharing intelligence on their location inside Ukraine, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing senior American officials. Washington reportedly provided Kiev with information on Russia’s mobile military headquarters, which are said to relocate frequently in the conflict zone. Kiev then combined this data with its own intelligence to carry out artillery strikes or other attacks that led to the deaths of commanding officers, sources told the paper. The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to specify how many Russian generals exactly were killed with American help. They also didn’t reveal the methods used by Washington to acquire data on Russian command headquarters over concerns that it could hamper further intelligence gathering. The NYT pointed out that throughout the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, US agencies have relied on a variety of sources, including classified and commercial s...

The US is stepping up its training program aimed at familiarizing more Ukrainian troops with the American-made weapons being supplied to Kiev by Washington, The Hill reported on Thursday, citing unnamed Pentagon officials. According to the outlet, hundreds of Ukrainian service members are currently being trained by American instructors in a number of European countries, where they are acquainted with US-made artillery systems, drones and radars. The Hill report pointed out that the latest numbers revealed by US defense officials indicate a major increase compared to just “about a dozen such troops” in early April. Over 220 Ukrainian troops have now been trained in the use of US-manufactured artillery, including the 155-mm M777 Howitzer – 90 of which Washington has pledged to provide to Kiev, the outlet said. Twenty more Ukrainian service members on Sunday completed their training program on the state-of-the-art Phoenix Ghost loitering munition. A senior US defense official cited ...

Slovakia warned on Wednesday that it will not be able to agree to the European Commission’s proposal for a ban on Russian oil, and has called for more time to find alternative fuel suppliers. The proposed embargo is part of the latest Ukraine-related sanctions against Moscow that would see crude imports from Russia phased out within six months and refined products by the end of the year. An exemption was drafted for Slovakia and Hungary, which are heavily dependent on Russia, giving them until the end of 2023 to comply. The proposed time frame “is unfortunately not enough,” Slovakia’s deputy economy minister in charge of energy policy told internet publication Politico on Wednesday. “We are expecting at least three years,” Karol Galek added, explaining that a key refinery in the country requires heavy Russian oil and that it’s impossible to secure alternative supplies within the proposed time frame. Slovakia gets roughly 96% of its oil from Russia. Galek stressed that the current pr...

Consumer prices in Turkey soared by 69.97% in April compared to the same month last year, according to official data released on Thursday. Inflation has soared amid rising energy prices against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and due to a lira crash late last year. The figure, released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, exceeded the central bank’s estimate of 68% and represents the steepest increase in two decades. Month-on-month, consumer prices rose 7.25%. Food prices have risen by 89% since last year, and transportation costs by 105.86%. According to the data, the annual core inflation was 52.37%. The government hopes that the rising cost of living – fueled by increased commodity prices attributed to the Ukraine conflict – will begin to slow down after May. Turkey imports 93% of the oil and 99% of the gas it consumes. Sanctions piled on Russia’s energy sector over the conflict in Ukraine and other geopolitical factors have led to a worldwide rally of oil and gas p...

Due to its long track record of disinformation, the US government has no right to tell the American people what the truth is, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has stated. He went to list a number of examples of where Washington had lied to its own people, and the rest of the world. During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Paul grilled Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over the so-called ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ his agency has announced to supposedly help social media platforms filter out ‘fake news.’ “Here’s the problem: we can’t even agree what disinformation is,” the Republican Senator pointed out. “You can’t even agree if it was disinformation that the Russians fed information to the Steele dossier.” He was referring to the controversial and largely discredited report that relied on info from anonymous sources to allege collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and Moscow a “If you can’t agree to that, how are we ever going to come to an agreement on what is di...