The General Assembly of the United Nations voted to expel Russia from the Human Rights Council. Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to ban all imports of Russian oil and revoke Russia’s most-favored nation trade status.
In other news, according to the latest presidential election poll in France, Marine Le Pen is leading Emmanuel Macron.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, MM, Reader from Chicago, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Conservative Finance Critic and leadership frontrunner Pierre Poilievre released a video following the announcement of the Trudeau Liberals’ 2022 budget, which was tabled on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Barack Obama has suggested that people’s access to online anonymity be contingent on whether they’re “rude, obnoxious, cruel, or lie.”
Obama made the comments during a keynote conversation with The Atlantic’s Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg at the “Disinformation and Erosion of Democracy” conference.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Ketanji Brown Jackson Confirmed as Supreme Court Justice
The US Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Jackson was President Joe Biden’s pick to succeed Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced retirement earlier this year.
After contentious confirmation hearings in the Judiciary Committee, Jackson’s nomination hit a tie that was split along party lines, before the nomination went to the full Senate. The Senate, near split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, easily voted through her nomination after all 48 Democrats voted to confirm Jackson along with two independents and three Republicans also voted to confirm.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A quarrel between California teachers on how to teach math has resulted in law enforcement officers and lawyers being involved after a teacher posted a contract to Twitter that includes the home address of a Stanford University professor.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former Disney Channel Child Actor Claims Network Hyper Sexualized Female Costars
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Actor and former Disney child star Cole Sprouse accused Disney Channel of over sexualizing his former female costars.
The Riverdale actor and former star of Disney’s “Suite Life of Zack and Cody” said that he has a “very complicated relationship to celebrity culture.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Four Dead After Shooting in Latimer Community
JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) — Four people are dead after a shooting in Jackson County Thursday evening.
Sheriff Mike Ezell confirmed deputies were dispatched to Oak View Circle in the Latimer community to the report of a shooting. Ezell said when deputies arrived, they found four people dead.
Ezell said preliminary investigation points to this incident being a murder-suicide, but this investigation is ongoing…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Kidd Creole: Hip-Hop Pioneer Found Guilty of First-Degree Manslaughter
The Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five member faces a potential 25-year sentence for fatally stabbing a homeless man in 2017
Hip-hop pioneer Kidd Creole has been found guilty of first-degree manslaughter for stabbing a homeless man in 2017.
The musician, real name Nathaniel Glover, 62, was an original member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five alongside his brother Melle Mel, AKA Melvin Glover. (He is not associated with Kid Creole and the Coconuts, the band led by August Darnell.)
On 1 August 2017, he had a run-in with a 55-year-old homeless man named John Jolly, whom he believed was attempting to solicit him for sex. Glover stabbed Jolly, who later died in hospital.
When he was arrested the day after the assault on a charge of second-degree murder, Glover admitted to the attack during a videotaped police interview, although he was unaware at the time of Jolly’s death.
“To tell the truth, I thought he was gay and because I thought he was gay, and he was saying that to me, ‘what’s up,’ I was thinking that he was thinking I was gay,” Glover told police. “So I was a little annoyed by that.
“He approached me. I got a little nervous. So then I tried to back up a little bit, and he moved forward, and then I just took the knife and stabbed him … I wish I never would have seen him. It’s all my fault, because I chose to stab him. I have to take responsibility for that.”
Prosecutors alleged that Glover’s motives were homophobic. His lawyers said he stabbed Jolly out of fear and argued that Jolly’s medical records did not support the allegation that he had died of a stab wound, and claimed that a combination of alcohol and hospital-administered sedatives had in fact contributed to Jolly’s death…
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
In the first quarter of 2022, free speech video-sharing platform Rumble set new all-time record highs in all key performance measures. The growth is an indication of people shunning Big Tech platforms because of their censorship policies.
In the first quarter of 2022, Rumble recorded a 22% increase in monthly active users (MAUs) compared to the last quarter of 2021, to an average of 41 million MAUs. In the month of March alone, Rumble had 44.3 million MAUs.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ryerson Students Sue University Over Vaccine Mandate
A group of Ryerson University students is suing after being deregistered for refusing to comply with the school’s vaccine mandate.
On March 28, Ryerson University announced that it would soon be ending its vaccine mandate as well as a number of other COVID-19 safety policies, which had been in effect since the school returned to in-person instruction last September.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Senate Votes Unanimously to Bar Imports of Russian Oil, Revoke Favored Trade Status
On Thursday, Senate members voted unanimously to ban the importation of Russian oil as the country’s invasion of Ukraine continues, and to revoke the nation’s favored trade status with the United States.
The energy ban legislation passed 100-0, and comes nearly a month after Biden signed an executive order with similar wording, according to CNBC.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
South Carolina House Passes Bill Banning Biological Males From Women’s Sports
South Carolina may soon become the next state in the US to pass legislation protecting women’s sports from biological male competitors.
On Tuesday, South Carolina’s House of Representatives passed the “Save Women’s Sports Bill” in a 82-28 vote, according to the Daily Mail.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Suspect in Sacramento Mass Shooting Released on $500,000 Bond
One of the suspects arrested after Sunday’s mass shooting in Sacramento that claimed the lives of six people has been released on a $500,000 bond.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The FBI Boosts Its Social Media Surveillance Technology
Both US law enforcement and Babel Street CEO Jeffrey Chapman seem to like to keep it in the family: Chapman is a former Treasury Department official and a former intelligence officer, whose data mining “AI” company will now furnish the FBI with 5,000 licenses for one of its tools.
The contract is worth up to $27 million.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Insiders “Panicking” Elon Musk Will Prevent Them From Censoring Content
Twitter insiders are “panicking” over their ability to censor content being restricted following Elon Musk becoming its largest shareholder, according to a Reuters report, with one analyst revealing he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Twitter restores Donald Trump’s account now that Musk is on the board.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Musk had become the largest shareholder of Twitter after acquiring a 9.1% stake.
The following day, it was announced that the Tesla Chief Executive had taken a seat on the company’s board.
This has prompted alarm and “fear” amongst Twitter employees and managers, according to the report, because Musk is a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” (as if this is a bad thing).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Following Mitt Romney’s announcement Monday that he will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, practically assuring that Biden’s nominee will prevail, Tucker Carlson noted that just one year ago Romney opposed Jackson being elevated to a LESSER court, asking ‘so what changed?’
As the Washington Post reports, Romney has made a ‘historic flip’ in expressing support for the same person he voted against for a seat on the DC appeals court last year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Biden Jokes About Starting World War 3
In another incredible moment of stupidity Wednesday, Joe Biden deviated from his teleprompter and joked that he might start a third world war.
Biden was speaking at the national conference of North America’s Building Trades Unions, the AFL-CIO group for workers in the construction industry, when he made the idiotic remark.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: The Atlantic Writer Calls Hunter Biden’s Laptop ‘Totally Irrelevant’
The Atlantic‘s Anne Applebaum dismissed a pointed question Wednesday about the influence that Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop from hell could have had on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Applebaum then called the sensational story “totally irrelevent” and one she’s not “interested” in covering.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Trudeau Liberals Commit to Spending $31 Billion More in 2022 Budget
Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the federal budget on Thursday, with the Liberals signaling that they will be committing to a more fiscally responsible approach than what has been seen in the past two years, and even the years before that.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada to Instate Two-Year Ban on Foreign Homebuyers in Attempt to Curb Rising Prices
In an attempt to quell skyrocketing real estate prices across Canada, the federal government is planning on instating a two-year ban on most foreigners buying homes.
It’s no secret that Canada has one of the exorbitant real estate markets in the world, with the average price of a home currently sitting at $869,300. Over the past two years alone, prices have gone up by over 50%.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poilievre Slams Guilbeault for Calling Bay du Nord Project a ‘Difficult Decision’
Pierre Poilievre called out Liberal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault for saying it was a “difficult decision” to green-light Bay du Nord.
On Wednesday, Liberal Environment Minister Stevn Guilbeault approved the Bay du Nord oil project.
Despite the fact that it is subject to the most stringent emissions rules to date, Guilbeault said giving the green light was a “difficult decision.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Second Suspect in Ottawa Apartment Arson Not Connected to Freedom Convoy: Police
Despite rumors allegedly being spread by even government officials, Ottawa police have come forward to clarify that a second arson suspect in the attempt to burn an apartment building down had no connection with the Freedom Convoy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Britain to Send Armoured Vehicles to Ukraine, Train Soldiers: Report
The top brass of the United Kingdom’s military have reportedly drawn up plans to ship armoured vehicles to Ukraine to combat the Russian invasion, according to Britain’s paper of record.
A report from The Times of London has claimed that British military chiefs believe that increasing the UK’s arms shipments to Ukraine will be crucial for the war effort in Ukraine over the next three weeks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brexit leader Nigel Farage has accused the European Union of rank hypocrisy for “funding Putin’s war machine”, as the bloc admitted to spending €35 billion on Russian gas since the invasion of Ukraine.
Once again taking up the mantle of criticising the globalist bloc, Nigel ‘Mr Brexit’ Farage said that German and other EU member states are propping up the Russian economy with one hand while sanctioning the country not the other.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Shock Election Poll: Le Pen Leads Macron
A shocking poll on the eve of the first round of the French election shows populist Marine Le Pen leading President Macron.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In the final days of the campaign for the first round of French presidential elections, right-wing hopefuls Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour have both highlighted the death of a Jewish man who was chased by a mob and hit by a tram.
Initially, it was thought that 31-year-olf Jewish man Jeremy Cohen had been accidentally killed after being run over by a tram in Bobigny, north of Paris in February but a video later emerged showing Cohen being beaten and chased by a mob of around ten people just prior to his death.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary to Pay for Russian Gas in Rubles as EU Looks to Increase Sanctions
As the European Union considers new sanctions against Russia, the Hungarian government has stated that it would be willing to pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles if Moscow demanded payment in its national currency.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who won a landslide national election victory in Sunday’s elections, told the media that his country would pay for Russian gas in roubles if the Russian government requested payment in the currency.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Online Safety Bill Gives the UK Government Unprecedented Power to Determine “Harmful” Content
The UK’s latest attempt to clamp down on free speech online, the 225 page Online Safety Bill, will give sweeping new censorship powers to the UK’s Secretary of State and its communications regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), if passed.
It gives the UK Culture Secretary the power to decide on and designate “priority content that is harmful.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK to Build 8 Nuclear Power Plants, Expand Offshore Oil Production in Energy Security Push
The British government will seek to construct eight nuclear power plants and expand domestic oil production in order to ensure energy security amid the global crisis.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s long-awaited energy strategy will include a major shift towards nuclear power and open up oil exploration in the North Sea in a tacit admission that so-called green energy sources will not be enough in order to secure energy security.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Extinction Rebellion: Oil Depots Held Hostage by Climate Crazies for Seventh Day
An oil depot in the UK has had its operations disrupted by a group of Extinction Rebellion-linked climate crazies, as the country faces the seventh day of disruption from anti-oil protesters.
Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire, England, had its operations ground to a halt thanks to an Extinction Rebellion-linked group of over 30 green extremists, who have climbed into the facility in the hopes of disrupting the UK’s fuel supply.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Microplastics Now Found in Lungs of Living Humans: New Study
New research performed by the UK’s Hull York Medical School has shown trace amounts of microplastics embedded deep in the lung tissue of living human beings for the first time ever.
These results coincide with those of another equally shocking recent study. Previously, The Post Millenial had reported on these tiny plastic particles also having been conclusively found in live humans’ bloodstreams.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Young Tennis Star Slaps Opponent After Defeat
Some young people now apparently think it’s OK to go around slapping anyone when they are annoyed or upset, a la Will Smith at the Oscars. The latest example of this occurred during an International Tennis Federation juniors tournament.
After losing the match, 15-year-old French tennis player Michael Kouame approached the net, seemingly to shake hands with the victor Raphael Nii Ankrah. However, when the winner got there, Kouame slapped him in the face.
All hell then broke loose with a ruckus ensuing.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tel Aviv Terrorist Killed After Shootout With With Police Special Forces
The terrorist who carried out the deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv is killed in a shootout with officers from the Yamam police counter-terrorism unit and the Shin Bet internal security service.
The man, who sparked a massive, hours-long manhunt after killing two and wounding more than 10 at a Tel Aviv bar, was found hiding near a mosque in Jaffa, the Shin Bet says.
The agency says he is a resident of the Jenin district of the northern West Bank.
There are no Israeli casualties in the firefight…
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Russia Voted Out of UN Human Rights Council
The United Nations General Assembly has banned Russia from the Human Rights Council on Thursday, due to “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” in war-torn Ukraine.
The US-led motion saw 93 nations vote in favor, with 24 voting against, and 58 abstaining. A two-thirds majority was required, not including abstentions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Defense Secretary Austin: Putin Has ‘Probably Given Up’ On Taking Kyiv
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “probably given up” on attempting to capture the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv.
“Putin thought he could really rapidly take over the country of Ukraine, very rapidly take over the capital city; he was wrong,” Austin testified during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Latest News in the Russia-Ukraine War
In Ukraine: Moscow is mobilizing troops to expand its control over Donbas, following their withdrawal from Ukraine’s north and towns around the capital, Kyiv. Fierce fighting is already under way in Luhansk, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said peace talks have left the two sides further apart than they were in late March.
NATO: Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in Brussels, pressed for more military assistance and said countries that continue to buy Russian oil or gas are supporting the “Russian war machine.” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the meeting addressed Ukraine’s need “for more air-defense systems, antitank weapons, lighter—but also heavier—weapons, and many different types of support.”
War-Crimes Accusations: The United Nations General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from its human-rights council after dead Ukrainian civilians were found over the past week when Russian troops retreated from towns near Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian forces of seeking to destroy evidence of killings in areas under their control. Residents of Bucha described how Russian soldiers killed civilians during their monthlong occupation.
Sanctions: The U.S. Congress passed legislation stripping Russia of its trade status and ban Russian oil imports, while the Commerce Department began enforcing bans on the export of technology and industrial goods to Russia. Mr. Zelensky said new Western sanctions against Russia were too lenient.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Says Russia-Ukraine War Likely to Last for Years
The Pentagon believes that the Russia-Ukraine war will turn out to be a “very protracted conflict” that is likely to go on for “years.”
The prediction was made during a House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday which was attended by General Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
I do think this is a very protracted conflict, and I think it’s at least measured in years. I don’t know about decade, but at least years, for sure, Gen. Milley told Congressional leaders.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Suspended From UN Human Rights Council
The United Nations general assembly has voted to suspend Russia from the UN human rights council over reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” by invading Russian troops in Ukraine.
Ninety-three countries voted in favour of the US-led motion, while 24 countries voted against and 58 countries abstained.
In a draft of the resolution, the 193-member general assembly expressed “grave concern at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine”, particularly at reports of rights abuses by Russia…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Viral ‘Russian Mobile Crematorium’ Tweet is From an 8-Year-Old YouTube Video
A viral tweet that remains unchecked by “fact checkers” claims to show a Russian-operated ‘mobile crematorium’ in Mariupol, but the image is taken from an 8-year-old YouTube video.
Whoops.
The tweet was posted by news outlet NEXTA, which boasts nearly a million followers on Twitter. The tweet has received over 7,000 retweets and almost 11,000 likes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Texas National Guard Drills in Prep for Coming Illegal ‘Mass Migration’ Surge
On Thursday, members of the Texas National Guard were seen running training exercises involving riot gear in preparation for an anticipated significant jump in illegal United States — Mexico border crossings next month.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Psaki Claims Texas’ Plan to Send Illegal Migrants to DC is a ‘Publicity Stunt’
“Now that the Texas Governor is saying that he’s gonna start busing border crossers to Washington DC, when they get here, are you guys gonna help them find a place to stay and something for them to do?” Fox New’s Peter Doocy asked in Thursday’s White House press briefing.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic University of America Clears Student of “Disorderly Conduct” Charge Over Memes
Catholic University of America (CUA) has decided that a student who shared a meme targeting a school’s chapter critical of participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports is not guilty of disorderly conduct for posting memes.
The allegation of engaging in disorderly conduct came after the student, Rory O’Connor, in late March shared a number of memes on Instagram directed against the stance taken by the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter on the issue of transgenderism in sports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Tucker Carlson Slams Utah’s ‘GOP’ Governor for Sharing ‘Preferred Pronouns’
Tucker Carlson called out Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox for sharing his preferred pronouns during a virtual student town hall in 2021. On Wednesday night, Carlson took aim at Republicans he says are not living up to conservative standards.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Since Start of Putin’s War in Ukraine, Russians Buying More Anti-Utopian Books, LitRes Says
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/04/since-start-of-putins-war-in-ukraine.html
Ha! It really is.
I have been sick with SARS since the beginning of the week and have been reading one of the apocalyptic novels by Canadian writer Douglas Copeland.
I’m going to re-read Lindsay’s Journey to Arcturus. I think this book is the best preparation for saying goodbye to this world without regret.
After all, as the author writes: “If you are not the Demiurge of this world, you are a loser”
Or as Thomas More used to say – we all go to the execution in the same cart
.
.
Nya Tider
Danish Ukrainian volunteer: Russian prisoners are executed
Published 8 April 2022 at 08.01
EXECUTED.
Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine are being executed and the country has virtually stopped exchanging prisoners. This picture is now given directly by a Danish volunteer soldier interviewed on the Danish state television channel TV2, who himself has a background in the Danish Armed Forces.
Sweden’s new ally
“Slava Ukraini!” – film themselves jubilantly executing Russian prisoners of war
Nazis from Azov handled the slaughter of Russian prisoners of war
Here Ukraine shoots Russian POWs
Ukrainian TV calls for murder of Russian children
Ukraine: Muslim soldiers to be buried wrapped in pigskins
View all
– ‘I heard about a successful prisoner exchange, and that’s all,’ says the soldier who calls himself Jonas and is fighting on Ukraine’s side in the war.
– People are being killed, he says.
Jonas claims to have killed several Russians in combat himself, but stresses that he did not participate in the killing of captured Russians.
However, he has spoken to several Russian soldiers executed by the Ukrainians. One of them, a mere 18-year-old Russian, told Jonas that he worked as a computer programmer back home in Russia and that he didn’t want to be involved in the war in Ukraine at all.
– The next morning he was buried, Jonas tells Danish TV 2.
TV 2 says it has checked the man’s identity and verified that he is part of the Ukrainian army. He is trained in the Danish Armed Forces.
In early March, Ukraine’s Special Operations Command released a statement announcing that Russian artillerymen would no longer be captured or shown mercy, but instead “slaughtered like pigs”. However, this was not reported by a single established Swedish newspaper.
Even yesterday’s report on Danish TV2 was completely missed by a united Swedish media corps.
The question of war crimes or crimes against humanity by the Ukrainian armed forces is a sensitive one in Sweden, which has sent arms to the country in violation of its long-standing practice of not exporting arms to countries at war.
https://apolut.net/tragoedie-in-der-ukraine-waere-leicht-vermeidbar-gewesen-von-rainer-rupp
The tragedy in Ukraine could easily have been avoided
by Rainer Rupp
Published: 8 April 2022 |
Number of comments: 6 comments
If the news from the Wall Street Journal, the central organ of American big business, is true, the paper has uncovered a huge, misanthropic scandal.
A commentary by Rainer Rupp.
For the death of thousands and the suffering of tens of thousands of people in Ukraine, on either side, appear in a completely different light because of the Wall Street Journal’s revelation. The tragedy could have been avoided thanks to a diplomatic initiative by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron that was finally taken seriously. However, the peaceful solution that was planned failed at the last moment, mainly due to the arrogant, nationalistic fanaticism of the political leadership in Ukraine, combined with Washington’s apparent disinterest in a negotiated solution.
Kiev’s inept overestimation of the combat capability of the US/NATO-trained armed forces, whose backbone was and still is the fascist volunteer battalions, together with the bottomless stupidity of the political dilettante Volodymyr Selensky, has inevitably led to the present disaster.
The professional actor Selensky, who had already played the role of the President of Ukraine in a TV satire as a political clown, probably thought at the beginning of the current crisis that he was playing the heroic winning role in the US/NATO script written by Washington. But the happy Hollywood ending promised in the script caught up with the harsh reality of Russian successes in demilitarisation and the still ongoing denazification of Ukraine.
The script for the US/NATO sanctions to destroy the Russian economy had also apparently been written by political amateurs from the American film industry. The Western scriptwriters had apparently expected Moscow to turn the right cheek for the next slap on the wrist after the first harsh sanctions blow on the left cheek. Instead, Russia has responded with counter-sanctions, with the result that the US and NATO sorcerer’s apprentices are now being economically destabilised by their own witchcraft. All this could have been avoided, according to the Wall Street Journal, if Chancellor Scholz and President Macron had had a modicum of lucidity and a little political courage towards the warlords in Washington.
In Germany, too, galloping inflation, falling output, mass unemployment and even more impoverishment now threaten, but in return there is €100 billion for military rearmament, on top of the annual budget for the Bundeswehr. In view of these developments, one can only shake one’s head in amazement. Not only has the government of the traffic light coalition completely failed, but also the opposition parties CDU/CSU and Die Linke. They have all emerged as willing helpers of the Ukrainian Nazis and eager supporters of the US/NATO orchestrated war hysteria against Russia.
But now it’s time to take a closer look at the Wall Street Journal article. It is entitled: “Vladimir Putin’s 20-year march to war in Ukraine – and how the West mishandled it” (Vladimir Putin’s 20-year march to war in Ukraine – and how the West mishandled it). In the very long article, which of course defends US policy, one finds the following paragraph hidden deep in the text, quite by accident:
“Scholz then made a last-ditch effort to broker a deal between Moscow and Kiev. On February 19 in Munich (at the so-called “security conference”), he told Selensky that Ukraine should renounce its ambitions to join NATO and declare Ukraine’s neutrality as part of a broader European security agreement between the West and Russia. The pact would be signed by Putin and Biden, who together would guarantee Ukraine’s security.”
“Selensky said Putin cannot be trusted to respect such an agreement and that most Ukrainians want to join NATO. His answer caused German officials to worry that chances for peace were disappearing.”
The day after the meeting between Scholz and Selensky, French President Macron appealed to Biden to make a new push for diplomacy in a conversation between the leaders. According to the Wall Street Journal, Macron told Biden, “I think the last person who can do anything is you, Joe. Are you ready to face Putin?”
But Washington did not seem interested in another diplomatic effort. According to the paper, Macron had nevertheless spent the night of February 20 talking alternately on the phone with Putin and Biden.
But Biden or his White House advisers were apparently not interested in supporting Scholz’s proposal, namely to guarantee Ukraine’s neutrality as part of a broader European security agreement between the West and Russia with Putin. At Macron’s request, Biden simply told the French president that he could tell Putin he was ready for another phone call.
But the next day – adds the Wall Street Journal – Putin called Macron again and said he had decided to recognise the independence of the separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine. He said fascists are in power in Kiev, while Nato has not responded to his security questions and instead plans to deploy nuclear missiles in Ukraine.”
The details of the German proposal to peacefully end the crisis in Ukraine, which Macron supports, are unfortunately not known. But under the impression of the real course of the war, which has assumed catastrophic proportions for the Ukrainian side, the daydreams of the government in Kiev about NATO membership for a victorious Ukraine have faded. It is becoming increasingly difficult for Selensky and his government. With each passing day of the Russian special military operation, his political options are melting away.
Selensky, either out of arrogance, cluelessness or a mixture of both, has preferred to cling to the hollow promises of the US, Britain and NATO rather than follow common sense at the crucial stage of the diplomatic negotiations. Ukraine’s neutrality would not only have saved thousands of lives, but would also have ensured that the two Donbass republics could have remained in an independent Ukrainian federation within the framework of Minsk II.
Now, however, Selensky is “home alone”. In his last hope, he – a born actor – believes he can preserve Ukraine as it is, with fascist criminals in key state positions, with glowing theatrical video appeals to God and the world. Selensky continues to resist reality, as evidenced by his latest video appeal to the UN Security Council on 5 April, which he filled with unbearable massacre porn but easily translucent lies.
In his circle of advisers, however, they seem to have moved a good deal closer to reality. There is no other explanation for the fact that during the recent Ukrainian-Russian negotiations in Turkey, Selensky’s chief negotiator David Arachamija offered the Russians Ukrainian neutrality; basically nothing else that Scholz and Macron had already proposed as a solution to prevent the Russian military operation Selensky.
It is an eerie “irony” when one realizes that all the lives destroyed, all the towns, villages and industrial areas devastated by artillery fire, all the millions of refugees, all the suffering of the people on both sides of the front could have been prevented if Selensky had agreed six weeks ago to what his own negotiator has now voluntarily offered Moscow as a basis for negotiation. Much has changed on the ground in the meantime, however, and a return to the status quo ante, especially to Minsk II as far as the Donetsk People’s Republics are concerned, will probably no longer be possible.
But Chancellor Scholz, like President Macron, could have prevented the disaster in Ukraine. However, well aware of the fatal stupidity of Selensky’s misguided decision, neither Scholz nor Macron had the political courage to publicly say “no” to US/NATO promises of military support for Ukraine, which would have emboldened Selensky in his megalomania to stand up to Russia.
A “no” would have been absolutely necessary, as the intentions of the warmongers in Washington and London were already clear to all by then.
The aim, after all, was to use Ukraine as cannon fodder in a war of military and economic attrition against Russia.
It was also clear from the outset that this would entail heavy costs for the German economy and population and that the costs would be even higher in the future. Chancellor Scholz of the SPD has thus violated his oath of office, namely to avert harm to the German people. Instead, he has served the interests of the US/NATO and EU elites admirably. But with the Social Democrats it is like the story of the scorpion asking the frog to take him to the other shore. They can’t help it.
How simple! If only Nato membership could be avoided, Russia would not be interested in attacking… (And somehow its concerns about “nazis”, and Ukraine being an “artificial country created by Bolsheviks” would suddenly disappear).
So maybe if the other Nato members didn’t want to join, Russia wouldn’t want to attack anyone? Makes you wonder, why Nato was invented in the first place 🤔