Seriously, does Biden know he’s the president?

In a minute or so we’ll get to President Joe Biden and whether his casual off-the-cuff remarks can trigger the end of the world.

I mean the ultimate showdown between the United States and Russia.

You know, nuclear-tipped rockets flying and landing back and forth…you and me right in the middle.

All because our president suffers from loose lips.

A foggy president is a danger to ourselves and to our truest, most valuable ally, Israel.

But first we must get to what’s really bothering America, still, even back to last Sunday when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.

Slapped him across the face after Chris Rock said something about Will Smith’s wife during the Oscars.

Solid right hook from the actor who played Muhammad Ali in a movie.

  • The New York Post devotes an entire section, article after article, for “The Slap Heard Around The World.”

Fortunately, both men are African American.

If, say, Will Smith were White, there’d be riots. As it is, what we’ve got is a misunderstanding between two very rich and very successful entertainers, Will Smith the actor, Chris Rock the comedian, a contretemps that has made it to the top of every news cycle…and is still going strong.

Ukraine, sure. That’s being covered, and so are the nuke talks between Team Biden and the mullahs of Iran, in which the concessions exclusively come from us, not them, diplomacy, if that’s the word, that can spark here too a war of the worlds, only this time between us and Iran… with Israel caught in the middle.

Must I provide the details, after everybody else has already provided an opinion? Americans already know the story. Israelis are just as savvy.

The envelope, please? Well, the consensus has it that Will Smith went too far. He has finally apologized, but faces disciplinary action from the Academy.

He could be sentenced to 30 years hard labor in Siberia, or a week watching “The View.” If it were me, I’d choose Siberia.

What strikes me about all this, as always, is that in America we have the luxury to focus on so much that is mundane, frivolous and silly.

Most other nations are not so lucky; Israel facing a new round of deadly terrorist attacks, for example. This charmed life of ours too often we take for granted.

Nothing of this Will Smith/Chris Rock business is life-changing for you or for me.

But this is…

Enter Joe Biden.

After overindulging on too much cultural popcorn, I got caught up on the latest political firestorm from Fox News.

To learn that Joe Biden has been making one gaffe after another.

I say Fox News because the Big Three Networks find no imperfections, ever, in Joe Biden.

Most seriously, while in Poland, was Biden’s off-script comment:

“For G-d’s sake, this man [Putin] cannot remain in power.”

This would be okay if he was talking to his wife around the dinner table after a tough day at the office.

Out loud, was this a call for regime change, from the leader of one nuclear superpower to another? Is Biden aware that such loose talk starts wars?

Is Biden aware that when he talks every word counts?

No, he is not aware, when he says that he is only expressing moral outrage and a “personal” observation.

But there are no “personal observations’ when a man becomes President of the United States. Everything he says in public is taken as policy and doctrine.

  • A president never speaks only for himself. He speaks for the nation…and you can bet Putin took it “personal.”

Putin must be counting down toward lift-off ever since Biden called him a “killer” with George Stephanopoulos on ABC-NEWS.

Obviously, this man Biden has no inkling of the power of his office, and still wakes up every morning surprised that he is president.

As are the rest of us.

Source: Jack Engelhard – Arutz Sheva

What paying for gas in rubles means for foreign buyers

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday on a special procedure for buyers from countries that imposed sanctions on Russia to pay for gas in rubles, making the measure official.

  • Here’s what this means.

Which countries are affected?

  • The “unfriendly countries” Putin referred to are those that imposed sanctions meant to damage the Russian economy, and froze the nation’s foreign currency reserves.

They include the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Switzerland, most of the 27 nations of the European Union, and a number of smaller countries.

Do foreign companies have to buy rubles?

  • Not necessarily.

The decree offers the option of opening an account in an authorized Russian bank, such as Gazprombank, which is already one of the main financial institutions through which payments for Russian gas are made.

The buyer will then transfer the gas payment to this account (in full accordance with the contractual terms and in its currency of choice), which the bank would then sell on the exchange for rubles, credit to the buyer’s ruble account, and transfer the funds to the gas provider.

Do ruble payments violate the current contracts?

  1. The decree does not imply a permanent change in the payment currency, but only introduces a new settlement procedure, so that the payment can reach the Russian supplier.

This way it does not violate existing contracts, as buyers will continue to make payments in their currency of choice.

Does the payment switch violate Western sanctions?

No.

Russian gas exports are not subject to sanctions, neither is the ruble, nor a number of Russian banks, including Gazprombank (with the exception of the UK where the bank is sanctioned).

Gazprom does not violate the essential terms of its existing contracts with the newly established procedure, but at the same time complies with Putin’s decision on the transfer of payments for gas in rubles.

What happens if countries refuse to switch payment methods?

  • Their gas contracts can be nullified, according to the Russian president.

“If unfriendly countries do not pay in rubles starting from April 1, we will consider this a default on gas contracts, in which case the existing contracts will be scrapped,” he announced on Thursday.

Source: RT

Germany and France react to Russia’s gas-for-ruble demand

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday that their countries won’t buy Russian gas with rubles, insisting that gas contracts in euro “must be observed.”

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Berlin that payments in the EU’s joint currency would be converted to rubles upon arrival in Russia.

  • Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Habeck said that the bloc would not be “blackmailed” by Russia into using rubles to buy gas.

Putin has demanded that, as of Friday, “unfriendly” countries – those who “illegally” sanctioned Russia’s central bank in response to the conflict in Ukraine – will have to pay for Russian gas in Moscow’s currency or have their supply cut off.

However, Habeck told reporters that existing gas contracts between European nations and Russia, which were negotiated in euro, “must be observed.”

Habeck reiterated an earlier statement from the Group of Seven major economies, which read, “We will under no circumstances accept paying for gas deliveries in a currency other than the contractually agreed currency.”

Putin spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanel Macron on Wednesday, and outlined a system whereby both countries would continue to pay in euros, which would then be converted to rubles by Russia’s Gazprombank – which has not been sanctioned by the EU – upon receipt.

“Scholz did not agree to this procedure in the conversation, but asked for written information to better understand the procedure,” a German official said, while a French official said, “France is against paying in rubles.”

It is unclear whether Habeck and Le Maire’s insistence that the original contracts in euros be honored extends to an outright rejection of the euros-to-rubles deal proposed by Putin on Wednesday.

As Putin’s deal would involve interacting with Russia’s central bank, European leaders have been reluctant to agree.

However, Habeck said that Germany is prepared for Russia to potentially cut off the flow of gas should a deal not be reached.

The Kremlin has threatened to shut off the gas flow to countries who refuse to pay in rubles, and Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Thursday that energy giant Gazprom is currently “considering the possibility of a complete halt in gas supplies … and is assessing the consequences of such a step.”

Germany is heavily dependent on Russian energy, with Russia providing more than half of its gas supply, and a third of its imported oil.

France counts on Russia to provide around a third of its gas and around 10% of its oil.

Habeck already urged citizens this week to reduce their consumption amid the growing likelihood of rationing, and on Wednesday told German broadcaster ZDF that Germans “will be poorer” as a result of the sanctions placed on Russia.

Source: RT

‘US doesn’t understand how Russia works’ – Kremlin

The Kremlin said on Thursday that claims of President Vladimir Putin being misled by his own military only prove how little the US really knows about Russia.

The response came after the White House and the Pentagon suggested that officials were afraid to speak the truth to Putin about the performance of the Russian Army in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he was dismayed by claims that advisers have misled the president.

“As it turns out, neither the State Department nor the Pentagon have the real information of what is going on in the Kremlin. They simply don’t understand President Putin, don’t understand the decision-making mechanism, and don’t understand the work we do,” he said.

According to the spokesperson: “It’s not only regrettable, but also raises concerns because such lack of understanding leads to wrong, rash decisions with bad consequences.”

The comment came after Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday that Putin “has not been fully informed by his Ministry of Defense at every turn over the last month.” He said the information has been gathered through intelligence.

A similar claim was made by White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield.

“We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,” she said during a press briefing. Bedingfield also stated that advisers were “too afraid to tell him the truth.”

Commenting on the Russian campaign in Ukraine, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday that “the main goals of the first stage of the operation have generally been accomplished.”

Moscow attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk.

The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to regularize the status of the regions within the Ukrainian state.

Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc.

  • Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

Source: RT

US-Israel Plot Against Pakistan: A Desperate Imran Khan’s Big, Bad Conspiracy Theory

Ever since Imran Khan married the daughter of Sir James Goldsmith in March 1995, allegations that he is supported by, and beholden to, the “Jewish lobby” have followed him in Pakistan, a country where conspiracies are relished.

Just a year after his marriage, Imran Khan founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), now the ruling party in Pakistan where Khan serves as Prime Minister.

Before he became an influential politician, Khan had been framed as an agent of the “Jewish lobby” by popular religious scholar, Dr. Israr Ahmed, who enjoyed a following of millions, way before anyone took Imran Khan seriously as a politician.

Despite these allegations, Khan managed to make his way to the helm of affairs, capitalizing on his popularity as a cricketing hero who helped Pakistan win the World Cup in 1992.

  • Today, Imran Khan may have been prime minster for nearly four years, but his critics continue to claim that he is an Israeli/Jewish agent.

Moulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of the Jamiat Ulema Islam- Fazlur Rehman and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) claimed just a few days ago that bringing Imran Khan’s government in Pakistan was a plot by international players, including Israel, which was now failing.

Last year, Rehman led an anti-Israel rally in Karachi, where he claimed that PM Imran Khan aimed to establish ties with Israel. Moulana was flanked by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former Pakistani prime minister.

Even opposition leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif has not shied away from using the Jewish trope for political point-scoring against Khan.

At a political rally, she accused Khan of being funded by Israel, and named Barry C. Schneps, an American Jewish lawyer, as being a financial benefactor of Imran Khan’s PTI.

So common is invoking Israel as a delegitimizing slur in Pakistani discourse that senior journalists indulging in petty arguments on social media use the “Israel card” to discredit their rivals.

On March 28, senior journalist Hamid Mir took a jibe at his fellow journalist Moeed Pirzada for what he alleged was advocating for better ties with Israel, in contrast to what he said was his own endorsement of the views of Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s on Israel (Jinnah explicitly rejected relations with Israel).

The next day, Moeed Pirzada hit back, writing on Twitter: “True to his spirit, Hamid Mir is distorting facts; it was a discussion in front of 40 plus journalists in 2019, when it was mentioned that Israel may have supported India’s attack on Balakot, I reminded PM that Arab countries (UAE & others) are forging close relations with Israel.”

This argument on Twitter may be considered something insignificant and petty. However, on any given day, there is at least one mention of Israel in Pakistan’s news landscape, reflecting how much this small Middle Eastern country is an obsessional part of the imagination of Pakistanis at all levels.

Knowing this, Imran Khan and his team have not shied away from using conspiratorial thinking, especially involving Israel, to their own advantage.

Tuesday, Pakistan’s Information Minister, Fawad Chaudhry accused former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the head of the largest opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) of meeting Israeli diplomats in London. He offered no proof for his claim.

In an earlier speech this week, Khan referred to Nawaz Sharif as “the man in London” and questioned his meetings with dubious players.

  • Nawaz Sharif’s brother, Mian Shehbaz Sharif, is the opposition’s joint candidate as prime minister, and with over 190 National Assembly representatives now committed to voting Khan out, when a majority of 172 is required, the ascent of the younger Sharif seems inevitable.

But at the crossroads of his political innings, facing a no confidence vote and having lost his majority in parliament, Khan is brandishing the weapon which has been used against him all his life: Conspiracy theories.

Waving a piece of paper in front of a charged crowd on Sunday, Pakistan’s premier claimed that the no confidence vote against him was actually a plot by a foreign power to remove him from power, as punishment for his efforts to secure an independent foreign policy in Pakistan.

His supporters charge that America is the prime mover in this attempted “coup,” and that the U.S. is particularly aggrieved by Islamabad’s failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and by Khan’s refusal to progress towards recognition of Israel. Khan has ratcheted up his populist anti-U.S. rhetoric at recent rallies, accusing his political opponents of being ‘slaves of America.'”

He made a particularly inauspicious trip to Moscow, meeting with President Vladimir Putin (and with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov) on the very day Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, a visit widely seen as a Kremlin manipulation play.

Accusing his political opponents of taking foreign money and being party to this conspiracy to remove him, Imran Khan presented himself as the savior of Pakistan’s autonomy in international relations.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi also confirmed that the alleged letter had been shown to the military establishment, the power behind the scenes and kingmaker in Pakistan.

Why then is Pakistan’s all powerful military and intelligence service silent when the Prime Minister is claiming to be a victim of a hostile foreign conspiracy? Surely, if there was any truth in Khan’s allegations, they would be actively seeking to defend Pakistan’s sovereign political processes?

A senior serving Pakistani official told me that the letter Khan was referring to may actually be an internal communication by Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the U.S., Asad Majeed Khan, who left office on 25 March.

According to the source, the former envoy shared U.S. concerns about Pakistan’s growing relations with Russia, especially after Khan’s bilateral meeting with Putin.

Wednesday, Khan handpicked a select group of journalists to a briefing about the letter. One of the participants said that he claimed that the imminent no confidence vote was also mentioned in the letter. No tangible evidence emerged from that meeting, either.

Practitioners of diplomacy and statecraft have privately commented that no state issues threats in writing unless there are exceptional circumstances and they are backed by international law.

This leads to the inescapable conclusion that even after Imran Khan became a victim of conspiracy theories all his political life, he decided to create one, a big one, in order to extend his waning political capital.

Consider: Imran Khan loses the vote of no confidence.

He can then very conveniently claim that he stood up against Western/Jewish powers, as a proud bastion of Islam, but failed. He will ask for votes for a chance to try again.

If he wins, Khan can claim that he defeated the Western/Jewish powers all by himself and that he should be elected again so he can continue to do so.

Such a narrative could become extremely popular with the masses of Pakistan who have long been fed a steady diet of anti-Americanism and antisemitism.

After the war on terror, subsequent governments as well as the Pakistani establishment have successfully indoctrinated the masses to believe that America is a fundamental enemy of Muslims. Imran Khan took this to a different level when he termed Osama bin Laden, a terrorist who is responsible for the deaths of thousands and whose 9/11 plot triggered the war on terror, a “martyr.”

Despite having been an international playboy who indulged in a colorful lifestyle entirely contrary to the teachings of Islam, Imran Khan has been able to rebrand himself as a reformed and devout Muslim who is willing to sacrifice anything for the interests of Pakistan and the Muslim ummah.

To this end, Khan has successfully pulled off two sessions of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Islamabad, the latest one featuring Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

And despite successes in diplomacy with Russia, China and the Muslim world, Khan has not yet received a single phone call from U.S. President Joe Biden, a signal of how much the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan has weakened ever since the Biden administration came into power.

This is in contrast to PM Khan’s relationship with the Trump administration, who invited him to Washington in 2019 and called Khan a “great athlete and a very popular prime minister,” and even volunteered to “campaign for him.”

But after the U.S.-Pakistan dynamic took a turn for the worst, Khan, who has also been referred to as “Pakistan’s Trump,” is using an enigmatic and unsubstantiated letter to save his dwindling political capital.

Politicians using conspiracy theories involving foreign nations may temporarily revive declining political fortunes. But it is the nation and its people who suffer from the promotion of manipulative fantasies over facts and the truth, from incitement towards hate and scapegoats, and from the lost opportunity of cooperation with nations that could and should be friends.

Source: Hamza Azhar Salam – HAARETZ

Header: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan arrives to attend a military parade to mark Pakistan National Day in Islamabad, PakistanCredit: Anjum Naveed /AP

77 ships await entry to Israel’s ports

Seventy seven ships are currently waiting offshore from Israel’s ports, waiting to enter in order to unload their cargoes, as the global goods shipping crisis hit the country harder than most.

  • The number has risen from 68 in mid-March but has eased slightly from 88 at the start of the week.

One of the reasons that the crisis is hitting Israel hard is that the government is not allowing Israel’s new ports to open their empty quays to unload any cargoes.

The government has agreed to the Histadrut’s demand to protect the competitive advantage of the state-owned ports over privately-owned ports.

Waiting at sea costs ship owners an estimated $20,000 per day for which they are compensated by the importers who ordered the goods.

These costs are likely passed on to consumers.

Source: Globes

France’s Macron is a key enabler of NATO’s anti-Russian provocations

During NATO’s US-led intervention in Iraq, then-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair played the role of shotgun-riding sidekick to then-US President George W. Bush when the prime minister was in the best position to mitigate the headlong rush into war. Now, the role of enabler in the conflict ginned up by NATO against Russia in Ukraine goes to French President Emmanuel Macron.

And it’s the people of Europe – including French citizens who are set to head to the polls on April 10 and 24 to decide whether Macron deserves a second five-year presidential mandate – who are on the verge of realizing just how much Macron’s kowtowing to the US is going to personally cost them.

In February 2019, Foreign Policy magazine claimed that “Macron is going full De Gaulle,” and that, “France’s president is pushing around Britain, Germany, and Italy – and going back to his country’s foreign-policy roots.”

If it truly had been the case that Macron was acting like the legendary French president and former World War II era General Charles de Gaulle, then Macron would have stood up to the US as it pushed its NATO allies to arm and train Ukrainian fighters while recklessly and flagrantly ramping up antagonism and belligerence towards Russia.

President de Gaulle was so incensed by Washington’s willingness to have France’s armed forces come under US-led NATO collective control that he pulled Paris out of the integrated military command in 1966, at the very height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union that represented the military alliance’s entire raison d’être.

De Gaulle shuttled between Moscow and Washington afterwards, armed with the credibility of having rejected strict alignment with either global superpower, and thereby allowing him to act as a truly honest and independent broker on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

  • To further underscore France’s total independence, de Gaulle ratified a foreign affairs, science, and technology cooperation agreement that same year with the Soviet Union, which set France on a divergent course from its Western allies.

But in 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy reintegrated France into NATO, and Macron has been trying to regain France’s previous reputation as a truly independent broker between Moscow and Washington.

He even tried to reorient NATO’s strategic objectives by calling it “brain dead” and emphasizing that it should redefine its focus to counterterrorism missions. Macron has also advocated in favor of the Gaullist position of Europe as an independent world power unto itself.

But recent actions speak much louder than Macron’s words. And it didn’t start with the Ukraine conflict.

Last year, the Australian government canceled a €50 billion submarine acquisition contract with France, with Washington being the ultimate beneficiary, as President Joe Biden announced that a new China-targeting alliance would include Australia, Britain, and the US, with France excluded despite having significant overseas territories in the region.

Despite various French experts suggesting that Macron should have responded to the costly snub by pulling France out of US-led NATO, Macron instead settled for undefined future American help in the Sahel region of Africa.

Today, the current value of that US offer is questionable in the wake of France’s withdrawal from Mali.

So what net gain did Macron secure for France in exchange for shrugging off Washington’s screw-over of the French economy? Not much.

Likewise, in the run-up to the Ukraine conflict, Macron should have known better than to follow along with Washington’s dangerous game. He had every opportunity to adopt an independent stance amid Washington’s arming, training, and supporting of Ukraine and its brazenly anti-Russian stance that had already resulted in sanctioning the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction to the detriment of 40% of Europe’s gas supply.

As holder of the six-month rotating Council of Europe presidency, Macron sat on his hands and zipped his mouth as the EU attempted to crush Russia with sanctions, blocked Moscow’s foreign reserves, and cut it off from the global banking system. He then stood idly by while the EU quashed media outside of the heavily state-subsidized or corporate-consolidated press, thereby reducing the chance that light would be shined on the potential nefarious consequences for the French people of such actions.

Now, with Russia asking Europe to pay for gas in rubles in the wake of the financial difficulties imposed on it by the West, Macron has decided to react.

He told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call this week “that it was not possible for Western gas clients to pay their bills in roubles,” according to Reuters.

With Russian gas used in France for everything from industrial production to car fuel, Macron is now in a race against time.

Will the French people re-elect him in April before or after they realize how badly Macron’s failure to stand up to America has effectively sanctioned French citizens?

Earlier this week, Macron announced a proposal for “food vouchers to help the most modest households and the middle class families to cope with the additional costs” due to sanctions and war-related inflation of food and gas costs.

What’s next? Bread lines and rationing?

These sanctions clearly don’t benefit the French people, so why did Macron not dial down the belligerence by standing up to Washington when it was cheerleading Ukrainians as proxies for its anti-Russian belligerence? He should have known from the submarine deal screw-over that Washington is always looking out for itself, even if it’s to the detriment of Europe.

It’s still not too late for Macron to make his mark on history in the way that de Gaulle did. He could publicly call on the EU to drop all Russian sanctions in light of the harm they are causing his own citizens and industry, and push Ukraine and Russia together to work out their issues while refusing to support or encourage any further NATO belligerence or interference. Doing so would represent a truly courageous and independent stance by Macron in favor of peace, French leadership, and European independence at a time when the world needs it most.

Source: Rachel Marsden – RT

Moscow’s new gas payment scheme explained

Russian gas buyers from “unfriendly countries” will be obliged to open a ruble account in an unsanctioned Russian bank, RBC reported on Thursday, citing sources with knowledge of the new payment mechanism.

“The proposed scheme requires the mandatory opening of accounts in Russian rubles in a Russian bank by a foreign buyer of Russian gas,” a government source said.

“The payment from the buyer to Gazprom will have to be made exclusively in rubles.”

A source close to Gazprom has confirmed to RBC the structure of the new payment plan.

The deadline set by the Russian government for switching to rubles in gas payments is March 31.

Source: RT

Russia offers SWIFT alternative for dollarless trade with India – report

The Indian government is reportedly considering Moscow’s proposal to turn to the Russian payment system, which allows direct rupee-ruble transfers in bilateral trade.

The mechanism developed by the Russian central bank is expected to boost commerce between the two countries by avoiding dollar-denominated trade, and allow the world’s third biggest oil consumer to continue purchases from Russia, bypassing Western sanctions.

The scheme involves rupee-ruble-denominated payments via Russia’s messaging system, SPFS.

  • The final decision is expected to come after a two-day visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to India, according to unnamed people with knowledge of the matter, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Lavrov’s visit to India is scheduled for Thursday, and Russian central bank officials will reportedly visit the country next week to discuss the details.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, the Reserve Bank of India regularly meets with executives from the country’s banking system to discuss matters such as exposure to Russia and risks from the latest sanctions.

The arrangement is expected to allow Indian exporters keep doing business with Russia despite the latest penalties that ban the use of the SWIFT interbank messaging system.

It would allow India to continue purchases of Russian oil, weapons, and other goods.

Under the proposal, rubles will reportedly be deposited into an Indian bank and converted into rupees, and the same system will work in reverse.

Russia also wants India to link its Unified Payments Interface with their MIR payments system for seamless use of cards issued by banks of both countries after Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia.

Last year, India exported $3.3 billion worth of goods to Russia, mostly pharmaceutical products, tea, and coffee, and imported $6.9 billion worth of Russian products, including arms and defense goods, mineral resources, fertilizers, metals, diamonds, and other precious stones.

The world’s sixth biggest economy also imports Russian oil, with the country’s major refiner, Indian Oil Corp, increasing purchases over the past month.

Source: RT

Which Nations are on Russia’s ‘Unfriendly’ List?

On May 13, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law the List of Unfriendly Nations, which included the United States and the Czech Republic.

On March 5, 2022, as Russia’s military operation in Ukraine progressed, the list was updated to include 45 more nations and jurisdictions.

The countries and territories mentioned in the list have imposed or joined the sanctions against Russia.

  • Click on the image to enlarge

Source: Strategic Culture Foundation

US: Russian forces pulling out of Chernobyl

Russian forces have begun to pull out of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power site, a US defense official said on Wednesday, according to AFP.

“Chernobyl is (an) area where they are beginning to reposition some of their troops – leaving, walking away from the Chernobyl facility and moving into Belarus,” the US official said.

“We think that they are leaving, I can’t tell you that they’re all gone.”

Russian troops seized control of the Chernobyl site – where radioactive waste is still stored – on February 24, the first day of the invasion of Ukraine.

  • Russian forces later captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility after hitting it with artillery fire, setting it ablaze.

There were also reports of artillery shells damaging a nuclear research facility in the city of Kharkiv, though there was no “radiological consequence”.

Wednesday’s development comes a day after Moscow said it would scale back attacks on two key Ukrainian cities.

US President Joe Biden later expressed skepticism over Russia’s announcement, saying he was waiting to see what Russia offers in ongoing talks with Ukraine and how Moscow readjusts its troop presence.

“We’ll see,” Biden said. “I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are.”

Source: Arutz Sheva

Watch: Hillary Clinton reportedly fined by Election Commission for lying about Trump

The US Federal Election Commission has reportedly fined Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee over complaints they violated federal law.

The fine was in relation to improperly describing expenditures to law firm Perkins Coie, who then hired research firm Fusion GPS to do opposition research on then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The Coolidge Reagan Foundation filed a complaint with the FEC three years ago about the Clinton campaign’s conduct.

The FEC responded on Wednesday, claiming it fined the Clintons (USD) $8,000 and the DNC’s treasurer (USD) $105,000.

Source: Sky News Australia

The “Great Reset,” Contradiction, Collusion, the US, Israel, China, Ukraine, Russia and Governments of the World: Bedmates?

“Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government.”

  • Dr. Henry Kissinger, Evians, France, 1991

There is an old expression that states: “May you live in interesting times,” but today, that is a monumental understatement. We certainly have always lived in interesting times, but today we live during terrifying times, while the common man continues to be mesmerized by ignorance, fear and indifference, and cannot begin to fathom the scope of our most dangerous and darkened world. The massive paradigm shifts necessary in order to accomplish what was once called the “New World Order,” have been ongoing for many decades, and for the most part, have been hidden behind the cloak of “conspiracy theory.” This mass avoidance of the obvious truth, has led to the near completion of global slavery, all in the name of total irresponsibility by society as a whole.

The drive for a singular global governance has never ceased, but only the name has changed. It now lives under the banner of “The Great Reset,” as openly outlined for all to see by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

This is not the work of just one country or government, but all countries; under the brutal guidance of the ‘claimed’ masters of the ‘universe,’ including the central banking monsters, the corporate giants, the politicians at every level, the billionaire proxies and their ‘non-governmental organizations, ’and the media whores.

What this means, is that almost the entirety of the political classes are but pawns in this game of total dominance, and in fact, work closely together as enforcers of government policy meant to depopulate the earth, reengineer humanity, corrupt and poison the younger generations, destroy all past history and moral behavior, and implode, rebuild and digitize the economic system, all to gain control of every aspect of life.

In order for this grand plot to be achieved, the masses must go along willingly; voluntarily complying with every order given by the state. To date, especially this past two years, this has been the case, and almost complete acquiescence by the great majority has been solidified.

If there is a current head to this snake, it is the United States, but given recent plotted events, that could change over time; in that, any global governing system will require that the ‘elite few’ have all the control.

All governing systems will be required to work as one, albeit, certain governments or ‘nation states,’ those that will include the U.S., Zionist Israel, Russia, China, and particular European governments, will certainly have a seat at the top levels of any ruling chain of command. As to the exact hierarchy, at this point, there is no way to be sure.

This brings us to recent and current events; those being the initiation of the terror of the fake “COVID’ and ‘pandemic’ fraud, the players involved, the response to that bogus threat, and now to the staged Russia/Ukraine scam, which are all part of the ‘Great Reset’ agenda.

The collusion evident is staggering to say the least, and includes all the major cast of state actors. This is where the U.S. involvement has been crucial in the decades long buildup of totalitarian and dictatorial systems that now are in positions of power in this world. A conspiracy certainly, but one that has deep roots in contradiction and inversion, the doctrines of evil that must exist in any plot to rule the world. This is the essence of this madness, and is overlooked by the masses to be sure, but is also ignored by many claiming to be truth telling ‘journalists.’ Everyone wants to isolate and blame a stated ‘particular’ enemy as the cause of all political action, but if all are working together as one, are not they all enemies of the people?

The U.S. has funded, fully supported, and guided China’s buildup as a world leading economic and military power for well over five decades.

This is no secret, but mostly ignored. The same is true of Russia ever since before World War II, including and throughout the cold war, when Russia’s technology and nuclear programs were facilitated by U.S. funding and support at every level. The same can be said about the evil partnership with Zionist Israel, and its corrupt and murderous intent against those in Palestine, the entire Middle East, Iran, and its aggression against others, and its support of U.S. aggression in those regions and around the world.

What about the current ties and partnerships between all these despicable nation states, and the intimidating horror that they bring to the table of corruption and human suffering and slaughter?

Most all the major nations at the top of the power pyramid are joined at the hip, and are all attempting to advance the same agendas at once. All of these country’s governments either are or have been supported and funded by the U.S.

The U.S. continues to fund either directly or through back doors, many of these heinous nation states. Israel has been funded and armed by the U.S. since its inception, Russia for decades in the past, China for the past fifty plus years, and Saudi Arabia concerning oil and its murderous U.S. proxy wars in Yemen. Other U.S. proxy wars have been funded and armed in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, many parts of Africa, Ukraine, Georgia and any number of others around the world. They all work as one, including all of NATO.

It seems everyone wants to take a side. This is very telling, as this further causes what appears to be division amongst the plotting nations, but the plan of divisive strategy is meant only to separate the masses, not the rulers.

Ukraine has been supported, armed, and controlled by the U.S since at least 2014, when the U.S. puppet Zelensky was put into power due to a U.S. regime change coup. Now, the master class has temporarily scrapped the ‘COVID’ lie for the Ukraine ‘crisis,’ and all is going as planned, or is it?

It seems that everything happening is staged in advance, accepted by all the major players involved, and all a part of the agenda of the ‘Great Reset.’

After all, one particular power will not control the world, as the people, as weak as they seem, will always want to believe that ‘their’ country is involved and in the driver’s seat of any power system locally.

The hegemonic structure can never boil down to one, it must be a shared control so as to appease the commoners of each region of power.

Consider that virtually every country on earth acted in concert for the ‘Covid’ scam, a seemingly impossible feat, but each government controlled their own country during the past two years. All were acting as clones for the set agenda outlined by the WEF, including Putin in Russia. All are on board the ‘COVID scam, the ‘climate change’ agenda, and all are on board concerning this so-called ‘organic’ war in Ukraine.

The U.S. has had close ties with Russia for a very long time, and is just now acting as if Putin is the reincarnated Hitler, another ruler put into power by the U.S. and U.S. banks and corporations.

Putin is tied deeply with Klaus Schwab at the WEF, he is on board with every stated agenda, Russia is supported due to total neutrality, by U.S. ally Israel, and this false flag called the Russia/Ukraine war will drive Russia, China, and possibly Israel together, leaving NATO and the West seen as antagonist and separate, when nothing of the sort seems likely.

Zelensky and Putin are both heavily tied to the WEF and all its agendas, and Putin has been extremely close to Henry Kissinger, so much so that Kissinger has been an advisor to Putin for years. But all the other ruling parties in the U.S. and NATO are as well.

In addition, the China model developed, funded, and orchestrated by the U.S., is the model being sought by the West and much of the rest of the world; this by design. There are many more similarities and close ties than not in this game of thrones being played out in real time.

All of these countries assumed ‘leaders’ want a spot at the table of world power in the new world being created, and the only question is which countries will be seated on top in that new forum of power. All want a seat, but all will have to be involved at some level if this takeover is to work.

In other words, this is a sculpted and planned takeover, it is not arbitrary or out of control, except in the quest for the highest position, and the West will necessarily be eliminated as it currently exists, simply because there will be no single power over all. This will be a joint dictatorship.

If success is to be had by the ruling cabal, the current monetary structure will have to be destroyed in favor of a new digital system with total control by the central banking entities at the top of the power pyramid.

Digitization at every level will be desired, control by manipulative and even fatal bioweapon injection will continue, and new threats will be brought about out as each achieves its desired goal.

War could certainly play a role, but world war using nuclear weaponry seems far-fetched at this point, if for no other reason than risk to the ruling class. The threat itself should be enough to corral the proletariat herds.

Are all these countries and puppet ‘leaders’ on board with this master plan?

It seems so, although many will not be aware of their complicity in the grand scheme, as they are mere patsies in the master’s plot. They will be rewarded for their efforts to destroy the current state of being, but many will never know of the real controlling element of evil. This final takeover will be bioweapon rich as well; a primary objective in order to control all.

All that is necessary in order for this atrocity of global governance to come to fruition, is the voluntary acceptance by the masses.

Will they succumb to their own slavery, or will they wake up? Only each in his own mind and spirit can answer that question.

“Advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.”

  • Project for a New American Century, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” p. 60.

Source: Gary D. Barnett – LewRockwell

Russia makes new allegations about US-funded biolabs in Ukraine

Documents and other evidence from US-funded laboratories in Ukraine suggest that Kiev was planning to use drones to deploy pathogens against the Donbass, as well as Russia itself, Moscow claimed on Wednesday.

The Defense Ministry also alleged that it has identified specific US officials involved in the development of bioweapons in the East European country. No direct evidence was provided to back up the assertion.

Of particular interest to Russian investigators are “documents testifying to the plans of the Kiev regime to use unmanned aerial vehicles capable of carrying and spraying deadly substances,” military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov outlined during a briefing.

Facts in the possession of the Russian military “prove that the Kiev regime was seriously considering the possibility of using biological weapons against the population of the Donbass and the Russian Federation,” Konashenkov added.

Russia has also identified “specific officials who took part in the creation of components of biological weapons,” the general went on to reveal. He did not name any of them, however, saying only they were “the heads of divisions and employees of the US Department of Defense, as well as its main contractors.”

These campaigns were “directly related to the son of the current US president, Hunter Biden,” Konashenkov added, citing investigations in the Western media.

Last week, the Daily Mail published emails showing Biden’s ties to the Pentagon contractor Metabiota, which specialized in researching potential pandemic-causing pathogens that could be used as bioweapons.

Biden’s involvement in the US funding of Ukrainian biolabs was brought up by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, in a briefing last Thursday.

The results of the further analysis of documents and other evidence obtained from Ukrainian biolabs will be shared in more detail “in the near future at a special briefing,” Konashenkov promised.

Washington has long claimed that allegations about Pentagon-funded biolaboratories in Ukraine were “Russian disinformation.”

Earlier this month, however, US diplomat Victoria Nuland testified before the Senate that there were “biological research laboratories in Ukraine” and the US was working with Kiev “to ensure that the materials of biological research do not fall into the hands of Russian forces.”

Source: RT

Israeli companies at NASDAQ want to bring lab-grown meat to the masses

An Israeli biotech company and food giant Tnuva rang the bell at NASDAQ Monday, celebrating their partnership to produce lab-grown meat, fish and dairy.

Pluristem Therapeutics and Tnuva have joined the race to create meat and dairy products from animal cells, using technology they say is more sustainable than natural methods and hoping to meet the demand for cruelty-free alternatives.

Tnuva is investing $7.5 million in the partnership, called NewCo, with an option to invest up to an additional $7.5 million over a year-long period.

Pluristem CEO Yaky Yanay called the initial product “cultured meat” and said it is grown from real meat cells, tissue, fat and muscle.

“We’re not talking about a substitute,” Yanay told the New York Jewish Week. “We will be able to provide a product that will be healthy and eventually affordable.”

Tnuva Chairman Haim Gavrieli said that what is important to the product is the taste, the texture, the sensory feelings and “of course, the price.”

“All around the world, there is a concern about food security,” Gavrieli said. “I think that this kind of collaboration will solve part of this problem in the next five to 10 years.”

Other Israeli companies are also trying to bring cultured meat to market.

Future Meat recently raised $347 million to launch a production facility in the US, and Aleph Farms has unveiled “cultivated” steak and ribeye.

Yanay, a vegetarian of 25 years, said that there may be some resistance to lab-grown meat, but ultimately, this cultured product will lead to “a more sustainable planet.”

“Human beings need to create, to build, to heal — not to destroy,” he said.

“As a Jewish person and as an Israeli, we need to make this world a better one. What we are doing will contribute to that.”

He added that there are many vegetarians who are choosing not to eat meat because of environmental concerns or because they do not want the animal to suffer. Cultured meat could provide them an option. “I’m waiting to see and eat the first burger coming from our labs,” Yanay said. “We are getting a lot of support from vegan associations that are telling us they would like to see this type of product.”

Yanay said they have had discussions with rabbis and are expecting the product to be certified as kosher and pareve — that is, neither meat nor dairy according to kosher rules.

“We are looking at the next generation of gastronomy in the Jewish kitchen,” he said.

Gavrieli said that as Tnuva is the largest kosher food company in the world and, as such, they will be able to help bring rabbis on board with this. “It is a religious decision,” he said. “But it is promising. It’s under discussion with leading rabbis in Israel right now.”

Pluristem is a publicly traded on NASDAQ as well as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Its muscle regeneration technology is already being used in hospitals around the world.

“What we celebrated by ringing the bell at NASDAQ was that we are joining forces,” Yanay said. “We’re going to be focused on cultured food, and we feel very blessed about this collaboration.”

Source: Jacob Henry – TOI