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Foreign AffairsRe: Indonesia To Ditch Visa And Mastercard by BidenDTrounce: 8:59pm On Mar 24, 2023
A flower-laying ceremony was held on Friday in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade to commemorate the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia.

The ceremony was led by Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Nikola Selakovic, and was attended by Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Belarusian Ambassador Valery Brilev, President of the Union of War Veterans of the National Liberation Wars of Serbia (SUBNOR) Vidosav Kovacevic, as well as public figures and numerous ordinary citizens.

The commemoration took place in Belgrade’s Tasmajdan Park, where a monument depicting a child with wings and engraved with the inscription "We were just children" has been erected. The monument portrays Milica Rakic, a three-year-old girl who was killed by shrapnel on April 17, 1999, in the bathroom of her home in a suburb of Belgrade, which was located far from any military facilities. According to the Serbian government, Milica was among the 87 children who were killed in the NATO bombings.

Friday marks the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, which was unleashed on March 24, 1999, and lasted for 78 days. The alliance’s leadership argued that the main rationale for the operation, codenamed Allied Force, was to prevent the genocide of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population. According to NATO sources, its aircraft flew 38,000 sorties and carried out 10,000 bombing strikes.

The bombardments killed, according to Serbian estimates, 3,500-4,000 people, and left about 10,000 others (two-thirds of them civilians) injured. Material damages totaled up to $100 billion. During the three months of the bombing campaign, NATO forces dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium in bombs and shells on Serbia. Subsequently, the Balkan country’s cancer rates surged to first place in Europe. In the first ten years following the bombardments, about 30,000 people developed cancer, of which an estimated 10,000-18,000 died.

[url]https://tass.com/world/1594213
[/url]

Foreign AffairsRe: Tanzania & India Switch From US Dollar To Local Currencies In Bilateral Trade by BidenDTrounce(op): 8:58pm On Mar 24, 2023
A flower-laying ceremony was held on Friday in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade to commemorate the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia.

The ceremony was led by Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Nikola Selakovic, and was attended by Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Belarusian Ambassador Valery Brilev, President of the Union of War Veterans of the National Liberation Wars of Serbia (SUBNOR) Vidosav Kovacevic, as well as public figures and numerous ordinary citizens.

The commemoration took place in Belgrade’s Tasmajdan Park, where a monument depicting a child with wings and engraved with the inscription "We were just children" has been erected. The monument portrays Milica Rakic, a three-year-old girl who was killed by shrapnel on April 17, 1999, in the bathroom of her home in a suburb of Belgrade, which was located far from any military facilities. According to the Serbian government, Milica was among the 87 children who were killed in the NATO bombings.

Friday marks the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, which was unleashed on March 24, 1999, and lasted for 78 days. The alliance’s leadership argued that the main rationale for the operation, codenamed Allied Force, was to prevent the genocide of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population. According to NATO sources, its aircraft flew 38,000 sorties and carried out 10,000 bombing strikes.

The bombardments killed, according to Serbian estimates, 3,500-4,000 people, and left about 10,000 others (two-thirds of them civilians) injured. Material damages totaled up to $100 billion. During the three months of the bombing campaign, NATO forces dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium in bombs and shells on Serbia. Subsequently, the Balkan country’s cancer rates surged to first place in Europe. In the first ten years following the bombardments, about 30,000 people developed cancer, of which an estimated 10,000-18,000 died.

[url]https://tass.com/world/1594213
[/url]

Foreign AffairsRe: BREAKING NEWS!!! President Putin Makes Surprise Visit To Mariupol, Russia. by BidenDTrounce: 8:56pm On Mar 24, 2023
A flower-laying ceremony was held on Friday in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade to commemorate the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia.

The ceremony was led by Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Nikola Selakovic, and was attended by Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Belarusian Ambassador Valery Brilev, President of the Union of War Veterans of the National Liberation Wars of Serbia (SUBNOR) Vidosav Kovacevic, as well as public figures and numerous ordinary citizens.

The commemoration took place in Belgrade’s Tasmajdan Park, where a monument depicting a child with wings and engraved with the inscription "We were just children" has been erected. The monument portrays Milica Rakic, a three-year-old girl who was killed by shrapnel on April 17, 1999, in the bathroom of her home in a suburb of Belgrade, which was located far from any military facilities. According to the Serbian government, Milica was among the 87 children who were killed in the NATO bombings.

Friday marks the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, which was unleashed on March 24, 1999, and lasted for 78 days. The alliance’s leadership argued that the main rationale for the operation, codenamed Allied Force, was to prevent the genocide of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population. According to NATO sources, its aircraft flew 38,000 sorties and carried out 10,000 bombing strikes.

The bombardments killed, according to Serbian estimates, 3,500-4,000 people, and left about 10,000 others (two-thirds of them civilians) injured. Material damages totaled up to $100 billion. During the three months of the bombing campaign, NATO forces dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium in bombs and shells on Serbia. Subsequently, the Balkan country’s cancer rates surged to first place in Europe. In the first ten years following the bombardments, about 30,000 people developed cancer, of which an estimated 10,000-18,000 died.

[url]https://tass.com/world/1594213
[/url]

Foreign AffairsRe: Why Don't You Release Assange?': Mexican President Strikes Back At US. by BidenDTrounce(op): 8:21pm On Mar 24, 2023
A flower-laying ceremony was held on Friday in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade to commemorate the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia.

The ceremony was led by Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Nikola Selakovic, and was attended by Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Belarusian Ambassador Valery Brilev, President of the Union of War Veterans of the National Liberation Wars of Serbia (SUBNOR) Vidosav Kovacevic, as well as public figures and numerous ordinary citizens.

The commemoration took place in Belgrade’s Tasmajdan Park, where a monument depicting a child with wings and engraved with the inscription "We were just children" has been erected. The monument portrays Milica Rakic, a three-year-old girl who was killed by shrapnel on April 17, 1999, in the bathroom of her home in a suburb of Belgrade, which was located far from any military facilities. According to the Serbian government, Milica was among the 87 children who were killed in the NATO bombings.

Friday marks the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, which was unleashed on March 24, 1999, and lasted for 78 days. The alliance’s leadership argued that the main rationale for the operation, codenamed Allied Force, was to prevent the genocide of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population. According to NATO sources, its aircraft flew 38,000 sorties and carried out 10,000 bombing strikes.

The bombardments killed, according to Serbian estimates, 3,500-4,000 people, and left about 10,000 others (two-thirds of them civilians) injured. Material damages totaled up to $100 billion. During the three months of the bombing campaign, NATO forces dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium in bombs and shells on Serbia. Subsequently, the Balkan country’s cancer rates surged to first place in Europe. In the first ten years following the bombardments, about 30,000 people developed cancer, of which an estimated 10,000-18,000 died.

[url]https://tass.com/world/1594213
[/url]

Foreign AffairsRe: Ukraine Ceasefire ‘unacceptable’ – White House by BidenDTrounce: 8:17pm On Mar 24, 2023
A flower-laying ceremony was held on Friday in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade to commemorate the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia.

The ceremony was led by Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Nikola Selakovic, and was attended by Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Belarusian Ambassador Valery Brilev, President of the Union of War Veterans of the National Liberation Wars of Serbia (SUBNOR) Vidosav Kovacevic, as well as public figures and numerous ordinary citizens.

The commemoration took place in Belgrade’s Tasmajdan Park, where a monument depicting a child with wings and engraved with the inscription "We were just children" has been erected. The monument portrays Milica Rakic, a three-year-old girl who was killed by shrapnel on April 17, 1999, in the bathroom of her home in a suburb of Belgrade, which was located far from any military facilities. According to the Serbian government, Milica was among the 87 children who were killed in the NATO bombings.

Friday marks the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, which was unleashed on March 24, 1999, and lasted for 78 days. The alliance’s leadership argued that the main rationale for the operation, codenamed Allied Force, was to prevent the genocide of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population. According to NATO sources, its aircraft flew 38,000 sorties and carried out 10,000 bombing strikes.

The bombardments killed, according to Serbian estimates, 3,500-4,000 people, and left about 10,000 others (two-thirds of them civilians) injured. Material damages totaled up to $100 billion. During the three months of the bombing campaign, NATO forces dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium in bombs and shells on Serbia. Subsequently, the Balkan country’s cancer rates surged to first place in Europe. In the first ten years following the bombardments, about 30,000 people developed cancer, of which an estimated 10,000-18,000 died.

[url]https://tass.com/world/1594213
[/url]

Foreign AffairsRe: China’s President Xi Calls Putin "Dear Friend" As They Meet In Moscow (Photos) by BidenDTrounce: 8:14pm On Mar 24, 2023
A flower-laying ceremony was held on Friday in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade to commemorate the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia.

The ceremony was led by Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Nikola Selakovic, and was attended by Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Belarusian Ambassador Valery Brilev, President of the Union of War Veterans of the National Liberation Wars of Serbia (SUBNOR) Vidosav Kovacevic, as well as public figures and numerous ordinary citizens.

The commemoration took place in Belgrade’s Tasmajdan Park, where a monument depicting a child with wings and engraved with the inscription "We were just children" has been erected. The monument portrays Milica Rakic, a three-year-old girl who was killed by shrapnel on April 17, 1999, in the bathroom of her home in a suburb of Belgrade, which was located far from any military facilities. According to the Serbian government, Milica was among the 87 children who were killed in the NATO bombings.

Friday marks the 24th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, which was unleashed on March 24, 1999, and lasted for 78 days. The alliance’s leadership argued that the main rationale for the operation, codenamed Allied Force, was to prevent the genocide of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population. According to NATO sources, its aircraft flew 38,000 sorties and carried out 10,000 bombing strikes.

The bombardments killed, according to Serbian estimates, 3,500-4,000 people, and left about 10,000 others (two-thirds of them civilians) injured. Material damages totaled up to $100 billion. During the three months of the bombing campaign, NATO forces dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium in bombs and shells on Serbia. Subsequently, the Balkan country’s cancer rates surged to first place in Europe. In the first ten years following the bombardments, about 30,000 people developed cancer, of which an estimated 10,000-18,000 died.

[url]https://tass.com/world/1594213
[/url]

Foreign AffairsRe: Retail Sales Drops In Europe by BidenDTrounce: 12:10pm On Mar 24, 2023
pansophist:
Ladies and gentlemen, to the lovers of true freedom, self-determination, and prosperity, the time we all wish for is right here before us. A multipolar world where no single power dominates everywhere, putting Africa knee-deep in poverty, backwardness, and suffering.

President Xi and President Putin are the torchbearers of this solemn task, and we must give them all the support they need. These two countries have never in their history harmed Africa, instead, they helped us a lot. From decolonization to infrastructure and loans, and never killed any of our revolutionary leaders.

You know that a person is good when he helps you when he was poor, not when he is rich. China in the time of Mao has been building infrastructure all over Africa (read about the Tazara railways), a time when China is as poor as Bangladesh.

But the west enslaved our ancestors for four hundred years, then colonized us, and are the wealthiest bloc, but still, refuse to help us. Instead, they keep killing our leaders, calling us monkeys, seeing us as inferiors, and sanctioning our economies. Should I continue? Their evil in Africa is beyond words.

I know there are many slaves in our midst, just like Judas Iscariot, who will sabotage any effort to free themselves, since the only world they know and are comfortable in is a white man's hegemonic world, but good will always defeat evil. They can enslave your body. but never allow them to enslave your soul.

It will only get better from here.

Foreign AffairsRe: US Politicians Howl At China's President Xi Meeting With President Putin by BidenDTrounce: 12:09pm On Mar 24, 2023
pansophist:
Ladies and gentlemen, to the lovers of true freedom, self-determination, and prosperity, the time we all wish for is right here before us. A multipolar world where no single power dominates everywhere, putting Africa knee-deep in poverty, backwardness, and suffering.

President Xi and President Putin are the torchbearers of this solemn task, and we must give them all the support they need. These two countries have never in their history harmed Africa, instead, they helped us a lot. From decolonization to infrastructure and loans, and never killed any of our revolutionary leaders.

You know that a person is good when he helps you when he was poor, not when he is rich. China in the time of Mao has been building infrastructure all over Africa (read about the Tazara railways), a time when China is as poor as Bangladesh.

But the west enslaved our ancestors for four hundred years, then colonized us, and are the wealthiest bloc, but still, refuse to help us. Instead, they keep killing our leaders, calling us monkeys, seeing us as inferiors, and sanctioning our economies. Should I continue? Their evil in Africa is beyond words.

I know there are many slaves in our midst, just like Judas Iscariot, who will sabotage any effort to free themselves, since the only world they know and are comfortable in is a white man's hegemonic world, but good will always defeat evil. They can enslave your body. but never allow them to enslave your soul.

It will only get better from here.

Foreign AffairsRe: Update On Bakhmut Front by BidenDTrounce: 12:07pm On Mar 24, 2023
pansophist:
Ladies and gentlemen, to the lovers of true freedom, self-determination, and prosperity, the time we all wish for is right here before us. A multipolar world where no single power dominates everywhere, putting Africa knee-deep in poverty, backwardness, and suffering.

President Xi and President Putin are the torchbearers of this solemn task, and we must give them all the support they need. These two countries have never in their history harmed Africa, instead, they helped us a lot. From decolonization to infrastructure and loans, and never killed any of our revolutionary leaders.

You know that a person is good when he helps you when he was poor, not when he is rich. China in the time of Mao has been building infrastructure all over Africa (read about the Tazara railways), a time when China is as poor as Bangladesh.

But the west enslaved our ancestors for four hundred years, then colonized us, and are the wealthiest bloc, but still, refuse to help us. Instead, they keep killing our leaders, calling us monkeys, seeing us as inferiors, and sanctioning our economies. Should I continue? Their evil in Africa is beyond words.

I know there are many slaves in our midst, just like Judas Iscariot, who will sabotage any effort to free themselves, since the only world they know and are comfortable in is a white man's hegemonic world, but good will always defeat evil. They can enslave your body. but never allow them to enslave your soul.

It will only get better from here.

Foreign AffairsRe: Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut In Ukraine) Fully Sealed Off By Russian Forces by BidenDTrounce(op): 12:06pm On Mar 24, 2023
pansophist:
Ladies and gentlemen, to the lovers of true freedom, self-determination, and prosperity, the time we all wish for is right here before us. A multipolar world where no single power dominates everywhere, putting Africa knee-deep in poverty, backwardness, and suffering.

President Xi and President Putin are the torchbearers of this solemn task, and we must give them all the support they need. These two countries have never in their history harmed Africa, instead, they helped us a lot. From decolonization to infrastructure and loans, and never killed any of our revolutionary leaders.

You know that a person is good when he helps you when he was poor, not when he is rich. China in the time of Mao has been building infrastructure all over Africa (read about the Tazara railways), a time when China is as poor as Bangladesh.

But the west enslaved our ancestors for four hundred years, then colonized us, and are the wealthiest bloc, but still, refuse to help us. Instead, they keep killing our leaders, calling us monkeys, seeing us as inferiors, and sanctioning our economies. Should I continue? Their evil in Africa is beyond words.

I know there are many slaves in our midst, just like Judas Iscariot, who will sabotage any effort to free themselves, since the only world they know and are comfortable in is a white man's hegemonic world, but good will always defeat evil. They can enslave your body. but never allow them to enslave your soul.

It will only get better from here.

Foreign AffairsRe: Korea Announces Test-firing Of Two Cruise Missiles From Submarine by BidenDTrounce(op): 7:54am On Mar 23, 2023
Hotice085:
Monkey from Russia talking rubbish as usual
BidenDConquerer:
Whether he is a monkey from Moscow or you're an ape from Washington.
What everybody sha know is...
The West didn't need their Western Court (ICC) to apprehend Gaddafi in Libya or Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
I don't want to join the bandwagon of those dignifying this ICC warrant like it's relevant.
What is most important is...how does it isolate Russia? How does it affect the SMO in Ukraine.
If I comment on this ICC warrant again...no be Putin born me grin
Shey na adventure to Germany or Netherlands Baba would miss? grin
Most of the Nigerians arguing on this topic will never set thier foot outside the borders of 'great' Nigeria because of thier status...they can't afford it...majority of Nigerians live in poverty.
No one is yet to explain how this affects Russia/President Putin.
Is there any logical analysis?

Foreign AffairsRe: Update On Bakhmut Front by BidenDTrounce: 1:01pm On Mar 22, 2023
BidenDTrounce:
Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) has been fully sealed off by Russian forces and all the approaches to the city are under artillery control, Yan Gagin, military-political expert and adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on Wednesday.

"The city is in operational encirclement, which means that all the approaches and all the transportation arteries leading to it are under the control of our artillery. In principle, it can be said that the city has been actually sealed off," he said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

Currently, Russian forces control about 70% of the Artyomovsk area. The Ukrainian garrison positioned in the city numbers about 10,000-strong personnel, he added.

Artyomovsk is located on the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk People’s Republic and is a major transportation hub for the Ukrainian army’s supplies in Donbass. Fierce fighting for the city is underway. Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin has repeatedly said that there is no evidence of the Ukrainian army’s plans to leave Artyomovsk. Meanwhile, Kiev claims that the city’s defense will be bolstered. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky earlier said that Ukrainian troops would not surrender Artyomovsk and would fight for it as long as they could.
https://tass.com/politics/1592885
Foreign AffairsArtyomovsk (called Bakhmut In Ukraine) Fully Sealed Off By Russian Forces by BidenDTrounce(op): 1:01pm On Mar 22, 2023
Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) has been fully sealed off by Russian forces and all the approaches to the city are under artillery control, Yan Gagin, military-political expert and adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on Wednesday.

"The city is in operational encirclement, which means that all the approaches and all the transportation arteries leading to it are under the control of our artillery. In principle, it can be said that the city has been actually sealed off," he said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

Currently, Russian forces control about 70% of the Artyomovsk area. The Ukrainian garrison positioned in the city numbers about 10,000-strong personnel, he added.

Artyomovsk is located on the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk People’s Republic and is a major transportation hub for the Ukrainian army’s supplies in Donbass. Fierce fighting for the city is underway. Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin has repeatedly said that there is no evidence of the Ukrainian army’s plans to leave Artyomovsk. Meanwhile, Kiev claims that the city’s defense will be bolstered. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky earlier said that Ukrainian troops would not surrender Artyomovsk and would fight for it as long as they could.
https://tass.com/politics/1592885

Foreign AffairsRe: Why Don't You Release Assange?': Mexican President Strikes Back At US. by BidenDTrounce(op): 11:38am On Mar 22, 2023
BidenDConquerer:
And then, there's Julian Assange.
Locked up for exposing the War Crimes of the West.
It makes it very difficult/impossible to take the West seriously.
Foreign AffairsWhy Don't You Release Assange?': Mexican President Strikes Back At US. by BidenDTrounce(op): 11:38am On Mar 22, 2023
'Why Don't You Release Assange?': Mexican President Strikes Back at US Over Human Rights Report


Mexico’s president said the US government’s destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines and the ongoing political persecution of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange shows the US State Department’s accusations of human rights violations in Mexico “should not be taken seriously.”


Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador dismissed a report by the US government on Tuesday accusing his administration of human rights violations as “lies.”
The State Department issued its annual report Monday on “Human Rights Practices.” The publication criticized the Lopez Obrador administration’s treatment of journalists and claimed that in Mexico, “impunity and extremely low rates of prosecution remained a problem for all crimes, including human rights abuses and corruption.”
In a stinging rebuke broadcast during his daily news conference, Lopez Obrador described the allegations as politically motivated, and said America’s obvious double standards mean the report “should not be taken seriously.”

“Let's see, human rights? Why don't you release Assange?” he asked, referring to the jailed WikiLeaks publisher who faces potential extradition to the US on espionage charges after revealing war crimes committed by American forces abroad. “If you are talking about journalism and freedom, why are you holding Assange?” (I do not take the West seriously in all and any matter regarding human rights. They're uncivilized hypocritical liars).

“If you talk about acts of violence, how is it that an award-winning United States journalist tells us that the United States government sabotaged the Russian-European gas pipeline?” the president continued.
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh recently published a bombshell exposé revealing US divers used C-4 charges to demolish the Nord Stream pipelines, which had been providing Germany with cheap Russian gas. (that's what Germany gets for being a vassal state. The German people deserve the ensuing hardship).

“Why is a cartel, or several cartels, allowed to operate in the United States, freely distributing the fentanyl that does so much harm to young people in that country?”(How will the Bidens and the other criminals in the political class get their drugs)
“With all due respect, that is their nature,” (a diabolical nature) Lopez Obrador said of the US foreign policy elite, adding “they do not want to abandon the Monroe doctrine and… the so-called Manifest Destiny.”
The US officials behind the report, the president pointed out, “believe themselves to be the government of the world, and they only see the speck in the other's eye and not the error in their own.” (I've been saying this since 2020).

“But it's not worth getting angry over,” he explained, noting “that’s just that’s how they are.”
Mexico’s administration wasn’t the only Latin American government with choice words for the authors of the State Department report. Bolivia’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning US allegations of human rights violations in the Andean nation as “interference in internal affairs,” criticizing the ‘unilateral’ report for failing to maintain objectivity. The West categorically lacks the capacity/capability to be objective.

https://sputniknews.com/20230322/why-dont-you-release-assange-mexican-president-strikes-back-at-us-over-human-rights-report-1108668093.html

Foreign AffairsAleppo Airport Suspends Operations After Israeli Strike by BidenDTrounce(op): 11:16am On Mar 22, 2023
The Israeli Air Force conducted an airstrike on Aleppo International Airport in the early hours of Wednesday, forcing it to suspend operations, the Al Arabiya television channel reported.

According to the report, four missiles were fired towards the airport. Explosions were heard in Aleppo and Latakia.

Previously, the Israeli air force struck the airport on March 7. As a result, the facility had to suspend its operations for a few days.
https://tass.com/emergencies/1592635


Other countries are watching.
Russia is the protector of Syria(the West has been unable to depose Assad in Syria bc of President Putin's support). If Israel continues to attack Syria and Russia does nothing, it'll undermine the confidence of other countries that look up to Russia for protection against Western imperialism.
For illustration..Nigeria wants to move away from the Western sphere of influence but she knows she'll be attacked by the West...when Nigeria sees what the West does in Syria, Nigeria wouldn't want to be another Syria.
Provide weapons for Syrians and upgrade its air defense systems. Fine tune it's capability and capacity for retaliatory strikes and weak countries (like Nigeria) that are unable to protect themselves will do away with fear.
Foreign AffairsChina Boosts Russian Aluminum Imports Over Twelve Months — Customs Service by BidenDTrounce(op): 3:55pm On Mar 21, 2023
PREV Threads:
Isolated/Sanctioned Russia Now China’s Biggest Oil Supplier – Reuters
https://www.nairaland.com/7621473/isolated-sanctioned-russia-now-chinas

China's President Xi Jinping Arrives In Moscow
https://www.nairaland.com/7619752/chinas-president-xi-jinping-arrives



China scaled up its imports of Russian aluminum by fully 93.88% over the past 12 months to reach 538,590 metric tons, the Main Customs Administration of China reports.

The total value of Russian aluminum imported by China from March 2022 to February 2023 stood at $1.36 billion (up 93.69% year on year).

According to Chinese customs data, the total trade turnover between the two countries edged up by 29.3% in 2022 to a record high of $190 billion.

In late February 2023, the US imposed 200% duties on imports of aluminum products made in Russia. On March 10, 2023, Canada banned imports of Russian aluminum and steel altogether.
https://tass.com/economy/1592119

Foreign AffairsUk's Public Sector Borrowing At Highest Level by BidenDTrounce(op): 12:47pm On Mar 21, 2023
Public sector net borrowing in the UK reaches $20 billion (16.7 billion pounds) due to financing energy support schemes, which is a record level for February in 30 years of monitoring, UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday.

"Initial estimates for February 2023 show that the public sector spent more than it received in taxes and other income, requiring it to borrow £16.7 billion. This was £9.7 billion more than that borrowed in February 2022 and the highest February borrowing since monthly records began in 1993," the bureau's statement stated.

Furthermore, according to the ONS data, in February 2023, the public sector borrowings are 15 billion pounds higher than in pre-coronavirus February 2020.
Statistical report also indicates substantial grow in subsidiary and grant government expenses. The increase compared with a year earlier is around 9.3 billion pounds, the bulk of it being caused by energy support schemes.

In September 2022, then-UK Prime Minister Liz Truss announced freezing average energy bills at 2,500 pounds in order to support households and businesses struggling under rising energy prices.
After the Ukrainian conflict outbreak in February 2022, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe have bolstered sanction pressure on Russia. The logistics disturbance led to food and fuel prices grow in Europe and the United States. In the United Kingdom living cost increase hit millions of households.
https://sputniknews.com/20230321/uks-public-sector-borrowing-at-highest-level-due-to-energy-support-1108639748.html

Foreign AffairsRe: Invasion Of Iraq Anniversary: The US Learned Absolutely Nothing by BidenDTrounce(op): 10:05pm On Mar 20, 2023
Ukraine
Twenty years after the Iraq invasion, the US foreign policy establishment is attempting to use the same playbook in Ukraine. Just like it did with Iraq, Washington has sought to frame the conflict not only as a manichean struggle of good against evil. During his State of the Union address last year, US President Joe Biden declared that the fight between Ukraine and Russia was “a great battle for freedom: a battle between democracy and autocracy.” Needless to say, Biden conveniently omitted the fact that the “democratic” Kiev regime has shut down opposition political parties and television channels, actively persecuted Orthodox Christians, and restricted its ethnic Russian citizens from speaking their own language.

Another tactic from the Iraq repertoire has been to depict the Ukraine conflict as an existential crisis for the West. US top general Mark Milley told reporters last year that Russia’s victory over the Kiev regime would put the entire “global international security order” at risk. Milley did not attempt to provide any explanation for why Ukraine, a country notorious for political dysfunction and corruption, supposedly held the key to international peace and stability. Furthermore, if the “global international security order” is truly so fragile that its survival depends on a loose-cannon like Ukraine, then why is such an order worth saving in the first place?

Instead of posing these obvious questions to Washington policymakers, the mainstream media decided to once again serve as their propaganda machine. Ever since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine last year, the press has uncritically reported information received from the Pentagon, US intelligence officials, and the Kiev regime. At the same time, it has shamelessly accused skeptics of the US proxy war in Ukraine of “parroting Russian talking points” and acting as “Putin apologists.”

Just as in the lead up to Iraq, US officials assured their public that they could achieve victory at little cost. They promised that Western-led sanctions would collapse the Russian economy and bring the country’s military-industrial complex to a grinding halt. As the Biden White House put it, “Russia will very likely lose its status as a major economy, and it will continue a long descent into economic, financial, and technological isolation.” Simultaneously, many US analysts openly expressed hope that economic unrest would help to fuel either massive street protests or an elite coup in Russia.

However, this economic blitzkrieg strategy ended in total failure. Despite unprecedented sanctions, the Russian economy only experienced a minor downturn (2.5%) last year and is on pace to grow at a faster rate than Germany and the United Kingdom in 2023. Far from becoming an international pariah, Russia successfully moved to strengthen its cooperation with non-Western powers such as China, India, and Iran. Instead of political instability, Putin’s domestic support increased to its highest level in years, with a recent poll from Russian Public Opinion Research Center showing that 76% of respondents approve of his performance.

Notwithstanding these failures, Biden has pledged to support Ukraine “as long as it takes.” That is easier said than done. Top US and NATO officials have begun sounding the alarm in recent months that the current level of arms shipments to Ukraine is not sustainable in the long run. Earlier this year, David T. Pyne, former US Army combat arms and headquarters staff officer, told Sputnik it could take decades to remedy some of the shortages caused by the US proxy war in Ukraine.

Growing domestic political pressure could also force Washington to draw down American involvement in Ukraine just as it did in Iraq. An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last month showed that just 48% of Americans support continued weapons shipments to Ukraine, down from 60% in May 2022. Skepticism on Ukraine is also increasingly drawing support from Republican politicians such as former president Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and numerous conservative lawmakers.

The United States allocated more than $113 billion to Ukraine in 2022, more than twice the amount it spent on Iraq during the first year of the war. How much longer will American taxpayers be willing to write out such massive checks to Ukraine all the while their standard of living continues to visibly worsen each year? Especially if the current banking crisis sweeping the United States and Western Europe turns into a global recession?

Why History Repeats Itself
For any healthy political system to learn from its mistakes, it needs to hold the people in charge accountable. The opposite has happened in the United States.
Not only were the architects of the Iraq War not punished, many were promoted. Biden, who helped spearhead the Iraq invasion as chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was chosen by Barack Obama to become his Vice President in 2008. Twelve years later, Biden himself was elected President of the United States.

Washington, DC has become an anti-meritocracy in which well-connected conformists are rewarded for their failures, while patriotic dissenters are demonized and marginalized. Unless that changes, the United States will continue marching from one foreign policy disaster to another.
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Foreign AffairsRe: Ukraine Ceasefire ‘unacceptable’ – White House by BidenDTrounce: 9:35pm On Mar 20, 2023
BidenDConquerer:
Zelensky should just say (to the West) give me more weapons or I'll accept a Chinese brokered peace deal (which will gravely embarrass the West).
The West is still licking the wounds of the succesful Iran-Saudi peace deal mediated by China...the war mongering West won't survive another blow.
That Iran-Saudi peace deal was like a miracle.
Aftermath of a potential Chinese brokered peace deal to cease hostilities.


EU nations agree to jointly buy weaponry for Ukraine

Member states have pledged to send a combined 1 million artillery shells to Kiev within the next 12 months.

Eighteen EU nations have agreed to tap their artillery stockpiles and jointly purchase more shells so they can provide 1 million rounds to Ukraine over the next 12 months.

The deal was finalized at a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers on Monday. Ukraine’s Western allies are racing to ensure that Kiev has the munitions it needs to battle Russian forces after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned last month that the conflict was consuming ammunition at a pace “many times higher than our current rate of production.”

“We are taking a key step toward delivering on our promises to provide Ukraine with more artillery ammunition,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. He added that the orders for 155-millimeter shells would be aggregated and fast-tracked through the EU Defence Agency.

The plan approved on Monday was based on Borrell’s proposal earlier this month to provide 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in EU financial incentives to nations that committed to tapping their ammunition inventories for Ukraine, as well as another 1 billion euros to help fund joint procurement of new shells.

Borrell claimed last month that Russian artillery forces were firing about 50,000 shells a day, and Ukraine didn’t have enough ammo to match Moscow’s firepower. “It is the most urgent issue,” he said at the time. “If we fail on that, the result of the war is in danger.”

Even if the nations that signed on to Monday’s agreement are able to deliver on their pledges – Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters in Brussels that “many, many details” aren’t yet resolved – 1 million rounds would last for only 20 days at the firing rate cited by Borrell. US officials have estimated that Ukraine is currently firing around 4,000 to 7,000 shells daily.

German politician Michael Gahler, a member of the European Parliament, called the deal to jointly buy ammo for Ukraine a “good, albeit late initiative.” He added, “We have lost time, too much time last year because the reality was that many member states, including my own, remained too passive for too long in spite of strong verbal commitments … We need to deliver to Ukraine as long as it takes for Ukraine to win, and we need to replenish our stocks in time, as soon as possible, in order to be able to defend ourselves.”

Russian officials have repeatedly cautioned that sending arms to Ukraine will prolong the bloodshed and risk escalation into a wider conflict.

https://www.rt.com/news/573311-eu-nations-to-jointly-supply-ammo-to-ukraine/

Foreign AffairsRe: Twenty Years Later, US Still Struggling With Anarchy Unleashed By Iraq Invasion by BidenDTrounce(op): 9:04pm On Mar 20, 2023
BidenDTrounce:
In March 2003, the United States launched an invasion of Iraq on false pretenses and without a clear long-term strategy. Twenty years later, it is repeating many of the same mistakes in Ukraine.

This time, however, the stakes are much higher. The United States is no longer the undisputed superpower that it was in the early 2000s. Two decades of failed military interventions abroad, poor economic governance at home, and dysfunctional culture wars have significantly undermined its potential.

Iraq was a costly mistake, but Ukraine has the potential to be something much worse. By waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, the United States risks becoming drawn into a direct confrontation with another nuclear power. The recent MQ-9 Reaper incident demonstrates that instead of trying to avoid such a dangerous escalation, Washington is taking ever-more provocative actions against Russia. Such a reckless attitude is a recipe for disaster.

Iraq
More than a decade before the invasion of Iraq, senior US officials kicked-off a large-scale propaganda campaign depicting Saddam Hussein as the modern embodiment of evil. They denounced Hussein, who had been a trusted American ally in the 1980s, as a brutal dictator whose troops murdered Kuwaiti babies by throwing them out of incubators. They insisted that the Iraqi leader was secretly developing weapons of mass destruction and collaborating with the al-Qaeda* terrorist group. They went so far as to compare Hussein to Adolf Hitler, arguing that Iraq posed an immediate threat to the Middle East, but also to the United States and the rest of the “civilized world.” (fear mongering to manipulate the emotions and win support of the populace).

All these claims were blatant lies. In the lead up to the Iraq War, the US government manipulated and sometimes outright fabricated data used to justify military intervention. Analysts within the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies were instructed to write briefings according to talking-points developed by senior George W. Bush Bush administration officials. The US media was an active accomplice in selling the Iraq War to the American public. Intelligence officials leaked cherry-picked, unreliable data to major newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times, who published it on their front pages without any independent verification. Meanwhile, cable news outlets flooded the airwaves with supporters of the Iraq War, including many retired generals.

Skeptics of the war were angrily denounced as “unpatriotic” and “pro-Saddam.” In some cases, they were threatened with professional and even legal reprisals for their dissent. One illustrative example is Scott Ritter, who served as the United Nations chief weapons inspector for Iraq from 1991 to 1998. Ritter told Sputnik that the FBI began harassing him and his family in 1996. When he resigned from his position two years later over the Bill Clinton administration’s interference with his inspections, the agency leaked false accusations to the press about him handing classified information to the Israelis. That lie sparked a three-year legal investigation against Ritter, including on charges punishable by the death penalty. Although his name was eventually cleared, the ordeal came at a heavy professional cost for Ritter.

Proponents of the invasion promised a quick, decisive victory. Their optimism didn’t seem too far-fetched at first. In less than six weeks after the war started, the United States defeated the Iraqi military, captured Baghdad, and disposed of Hussein along with the rest of his senior leadership. This triumphant blitzkrieg prompted the Bush administration to move onto even grander ambitions. Many senior officials began speaking of Iraq as a potential democratic beacon in the Middle East, the beachhead from which they would transform the entire region along the lines of liberal ideology.


The euphoria did not last long, however. Although the Bush administration was able to quickly crush Baathist Iraq on the battlefield, it had no clear strategy for managing or rebuilding the country. Instead of becoming a democratic utopia, Iraq was soon torn apart at the seams by sectarian violence. The Bush administration tried throwing money and additional troops at the problem, but without much success. The situation on the ground continued to degrade until it hit a new boiling point in summer of 2014, when hundreds of Daesh** fighters in pickup trucks routed the US-trained Iraqi army and captured nearly one third of the country’s territory. To add insult to injury, the jihadists not only seized Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul and strategic oil fields, but also large amounts of US weaponry and ammunition.

This begs the natural question: What exactly did the United States achieve in Iraq Although Washington spent nearly $2 trillion and sacrificed more than 4,000 American soldiers in Iraq, it has no real positive accomplishments to show for it. The debacle exposed the incompetence of the US political and military leadership. Despite possessing the world’s largest economy and most powerful army, the Bush administration was defeated by rag-tag militias carrying Kalashnikov rifles (don't even get me started on Afghanistan).
To make matters even worse for Washington, the geopolitical standing of the US in the Middle East is weaker in 2023 than it was in 2003. The recent Chinese-brokered diplomatic deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran is just the latest sign that the era of American hegemony in the region is coming to an end.

https://sputniknews.com/20230320/the-us-learned-absolutely-nothing-from-iraq-1108602479.html
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Foreign AffairsInvasion Of Iraq Anniversary: The US Learned Absolutely Nothing by BidenDTrounce(op): 9:02pm On Mar 20, 2023
In March 2003, the United States launched an invasion of Iraq on false pretenses and without a clear long-term strategy. Twenty years later, it is repeating many of the same mistakes in Ukraine.

This time, however, the stakes are much higher. The United States is no longer the undisputed superpower that it was in the early 2000s. Two decades of failed military interventions abroad, poor economic governance at home, and dysfunctional culture wars have significantly undermined its potential.

Iraq was a costly mistake, but Ukraine has the potential to be something much worse. By waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, the United States risks becoming drawn into a direct confrontation with another nuclear power. The recent MQ-9 Reaper incident demonstrates that instead of trying to avoid such a dangerous escalation, Washington is taking ever-more provocative actions against Russia. Such a reckless attitude is a recipe for disaster.

Iraq
More than a decade before the invasion of Iraq, senior US officials kicked-off a large-scale propaganda campaign depicting Saddam Hussein as the modern embodiment of evil. They denounced Hussein, who had been a trusted American ally in the 1980s, as a brutal dictator whose troops murdered Kuwaiti babies by throwing them out of incubators. They insisted that the Iraqi leader was secretly developing weapons of mass destruction and collaborating with the al-Qaeda* terrorist group. They went so far as to compare Hussein to Adolf Hitler, arguing that Iraq posed an immediate threat to the Middle East, but also to the United States and the rest of the “civilized world.” (fear mongering to manipulate the emotions and win support of the populace).

All these claims were blatant lies. In the lead up to the Iraq War, the US government manipulated and sometimes outright fabricated data used to justify military intervention. Analysts within the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies were instructed to write briefings according to talking-points developed by senior George W. Bush Bush administration officials. The US media was an active accomplice in selling the Iraq War to the American public. Intelligence officials leaked cherry-picked, unreliable data to major newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times, who published it on their front pages without any independent verification. Meanwhile, cable news outlets flooded the airwaves with supporters of the Iraq War, including many retired generals.

Skeptics of the war were angrily denounced as “unpatriotic” and “pro-Saddam.” In some cases, they were threatened with professional and even legal reprisals for their dissent. One illustrative example is Scott Ritter, who served as the United Nations chief weapons inspector for Iraq from 1991 to 1998. Ritter told Sputnik that the FBI began harassing him and his family in 1996. When he resigned from his position two years later over the Bill Clinton administration’s interference with his inspections, the agency leaked false accusations to the press about him handing classified information to the Israelis. That lie sparked a three-year legal investigation against Ritter, including on charges punishable by the death penalty. Although his name was eventually cleared, the ordeal came at a heavy professional cost for Ritter.

Proponents of the invasion promised a quick, decisive victory. Their optimism didn’t seem too far-fetched at first. In less than six weeks after the war started, the United States defeated the Iraqi military, captured Baghdad, and disposed of Hussein along with the rest of his senior leadership. This triumphant blitzkrieg prompted the Bush administration to move onto even grander ambitions. Many senior officials began speaking of Iraq as a potential democratic beacon in the Middle East, the beachhead from which they would transform the entire region along the lines of liberal ideology.


The euphoria did not last long, however. Although the Bush administration was able to quickly crush Baathist Iraq on the battlefield, it had no clear strategy for managing or rebuilding the country. Instead of becoming a democratic utopia, Iraq was soon torn apart at the seams by sectarian violence. The Bush administration tried throwing money and additional troops at the problem, but without much success. The situation on the ground continued to degrade until it hit a new boiling point in summer of 2014, when hundreds of Daesh** fighters in pickup trucks routed the US-trained Iraqi army and captured nearly one third of the country’s territory. To add insult to injury, the jihadists not only seized Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul and strategic oil fields, but also large amounts of US weaponry and ammunition.

This begs the natural question: What exactly did the United States achieve in Iraq Although Washington spent nearly $2 trillion and sacrificed more than 4,000 American soldiers in Iraq, it has no real positive accomplishments to show for it. The debacle exposed the incompetence of the US political and military leadership. Despite possessing the world’s largest economy and most powerful army, the Bush administration was defeated by rag-tag militias carrying Kalashnikov rifles (don't even get me started on Afghanistan).
To make matters even worse for Washington, the geopolitical standing of the US in the Middle East is weaker in 2023 than it was in 2003. The recent Chinese-brokered diplomatic deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran is just the latest sign that the era of American hegemony in the region is coming to an end.

https://sputniknews.com/20230320/the-us-learned-absolutely-nothing-from-iraq-1108602479.html
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Foreign AffairsRe: Russia-Ukraine War: World News, Weapons & Battlefield Discussions - Live by BidenDTrounce: 9:53am On Mar 20, 2023
HornyTave1:
Pls who can teach me to block myself from seeing okeysoninv's post?

my eyes deh pain me from his wanton lack of comprehensive reasoning.
grin
Foreign AffairsRe: Twenty Years Later, US Still Struggling With Anarchy Unleashed By Iraq Invasion by BidenDTrounce(op): 9:52am On Mar 20, 2023
Iraqis Suffering From ‘Disastrous Medical Diseases’ Caused by US-Led Invasion: Advocate


The US-led invasion of Iraq has resulted in a dramatic rise in birth defects in the country, a problem that will remain in Iraq "forever," anti-nuclear advocate Helen Caldicott told Sputnik

On March 19, 2003, at 10:16 p.m. EST, President George W. Bush in a televised address from the Oval Office said the US and coalition forces were in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq and "free its people," marking the start of an invasion and occupation that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and combatants.
"The ‘shock and awe war’ crime initiated by George W Bush and his co-freres was both a nuclear and conventional war, initiating disastrous medical diseases and congenital abnormalities which will haunt the people of Iraq forever," Caldicott said.


She emphasized that the United States had deployed missiles armed with uranium 238, resulting in microscopic particles polluting the air and surrounding soil, "to be spread by the wind for the rest of time."
According to Caldicott, the US and British militaries used more than 1,700 tons of depleted uranium in Iraq during the 2003 invasion.


"Iraqi doctors in Fallujah since 2005 have been overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs and far more cancers than they documented before the battle for Fallujah between US troops and the Iraqi people," Caldicott told Sputnik.

She added that in Fallujah, where two massive US military operations took place, 25% of newborns were seriously deformed and the rate of leukemia is 38 times higher, while the childhood cancer rate is 12 times higher than in populations in neighboring Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait.

"Despite the fact that the US war with Iraq came to a close on December 18, 2011, families in numerous Iraqi cities are now living with a dramatic rise in birth defects and cancer from radioactive weapons that were detonated near homes, schools, and playgrounds during the nearly seven-year conflict and these diseases will be perpetuated for the rest of time," Caldicott said.

According to Pentagon data, during the war in Iraq, 4,431 soldiers were killed, while about 32,000 were injured. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2003 and 2006 alone, up to 223,000 Iraqis fell victim to the war. International experts estimate that the war in Iraq claimed from 1 to 1.4 million lives of Iraqis.

https://sputniknews.com/20230320/iraqis-suffering-from-disastrous-medical-diseases-caused-by-us-led-invasion-advocate-1108581535.html
Foreign AffairsTwenty Years Later, US Still Struggling With Anarchy Unleashed By Iraq Invasion by BidenDTrounce(op): 9:45am On Mar 20, 2023
PREV Thread:
War Criminal Biden Celebrates US Invasion Of Iraq Anniversary
https://www.nairaland.com/7618530/war-criminal-biden-celebrates-us

Rather than impose a Western-aligned order in the Middle East, as neoconservatives and neoliberals had hoped, the US-led invasion of Iraq ushered in a new era of international terrorism and lawlessness that is expanding across the globe and continues to threaten American interests, experts told Sputnik.

On March 19, 2003, at 10:16 p.m. EST, President George W. Bush in a televised address from the Oval Office said the US and coalition forces were in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq and "free its people," marking the start of an invasion and occupation that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and combatants.
Bush’s foreign policy team, which included people like security aide Condoleezza Rice, Pentagon Chief Donald Rumsfeld, and Vice President Dick Cheney, who dubbed themselves the "vulcans" - a reference to the Roman god of fire - strongly believed only through military power could they transform the Middle East and install free market democracies.

On the other hand, many Democrats also backed the invasion on humanitarian grounds and the conviction that the people of Iraq needed to be liberated from living under an authoritarian ruler.
Political commentator and historian Dan Lazare believes Bush and his team and those who believed the humanitarian justification likely did not foresee that their bid to democratize the region would open a power vacuum that was eventually filled by terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS) (banned in Russia).

The Western Invasion of other countries is similar to stories from the old testament in the bible where one country invades, loots and subjugate the other because the invading country perceives his culture/religion to be superior. The West employs the same tactics in it's conquests... genocide, artificial famine, impoverishment etc.
The bible was also used to enslave black people with the slave masters taking out verses from the bible to justify thier ownership and cruel treatment of another being. Why did it stop? Did the bible get updated? Although that form of slavery was abolished, a new and repackaged system of slavery was introduced.

"The significance of the 2003 invasion is that it opened up a new era of international lawlessness, aggression, and destruction," Lazare told Sputnik. "US militarization had set the entire region ablaze, and the anarchy created by the ‘vulcans’ continues to grow."

CIVILIZING’ MISSION CULMINATES, BACKFIRES
The head of US Central Command in testimony to a senate committee on March 16, lending credence to this notion, said the IS branch in Afghanistan is about six months away from developing the capability to conduct an external attack on Western interests abroad.
Lazare said that a direct line can be drawn from the path the US chose to take at the end of the Cold War to 9/11 and the war in Iraq. Instead of turning "swords into plowshares" following the demise of the Soviet bloc, he added, the US under both Republican and Democratic presidents began gearing up for a new age of war.

Lazare suggested that bringing Western civilization to the Middle East was simply a new cover story for meeting purely geopolitical ends.

"The Carter Doctrine, unveiled in January 1980, declared the administration's determination to reassert control over the Gulf and turn it, more or less, into an American lake," he said. "This is the essential backdrop for 'shock and awe' some 23 years later... when the center of the world trade in fossil fuels was suddenly in play."

In any case, decades of intricate Cold War maneuvering would come back to haunt the US, he said, including support for the mujahideen in Afghanistan.
"9/11 - an unexpected by-product of Afghan intervention - provided Bush II with an excuse to topple Saddam Hussein in an attempt to impose greater US control on the Gulf than ever. Instead of influencing events from afar, America would now supervise them directly and up close," he added.

But then a Sunni insurgency erupted and the US got bogged down. Iraq, however, was simply a stepping stone for the US to destabilize the region further – from the intervention in Libya to the Washington and Saudi-backed jihadist war against Damascus, he added.

Democracy Institute Director Patrick Basham said so much Iraqi and Western blood has been spilled and trillions of dollars wasted by the US chasing the elusive dream of building a peaceful, stable, pro-Western liberal democracy throughout Iraq.

"In hindsight, the Iraq invasion was the catalyst for many tragic events, mostly within Iraq itself, but also throughout the Middle East and the West," Basham told Sputnik.
The misguided interventionist urge, he added, can be seen across the West’s entire ideological spectrum.

"Astonishingly, and without either empirical foundation, logic, or country-specific understanding, neoconservatives predicted pro-Western liberal democratic nirvanas would arise in the literal and figurative democratic deserts of Iraq, Libya, and Syria," he said.

Meanwhile, he added, Western neoliberals in each case stressed humanitarian catastrophes, especially in the Syrian context.
Basham also pointed out that the US not only failed to achieve its objectives, but the governments that followed Saddam Hussein turned their backs on Washington and embraced Tehran.

"Western-initiated regime change always produces replacement governments that are even more hostile to the West’s agenda and security interests than were the respective national governments deposed by Western military might and political choreography," he said.

According to California State University Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Beau Grosscup, the bid to replace a once pro-US dictator, who had decided to look after his own country's interests first, with a government friendly to Washington’s, was not just a failure - it proved counter-productive.

In the long run, the invasion of Iraq ended up undermining the US establishment’s two strategic "New World Order" goals of preventing the rise of a competing power and maintaining access or possession of strategic resources.
And the US during the process discovered that nationalism is a very strong sentiment for most populations, not only for America.
"Regime change is very difficult," Grosscup observed. "Even when you appear to hold most of the cards."



There are many insane excuses for US failures and defeat in Afghanistan.
Was the US invasion of Iraq a success for the Iraqi people? Iraq is a destabilized country where staggering crime and insecurity is a norm. The standard of living of Iraqi citizens is also very poor and comparable to that of Nigerians in IDP camps.

ParasiteWest:
There cannot be a right government until the West is put in their place. The interest of the West in developing countries is to make sure the developing countries remain impoverished so the citizens of those countries would find migration to the West for 'greener pastures' attractive where they're then exploited and exposed to modern day slavery. Their intent is to keep the West as a 'paradise' in the minds of the manipulated public. The West influenced the politics of Africa directly/indirectly. The right govt will get the 'Gaddafi treatment'

Foreign AffairsKorea Simulates Tactical Nuclear Strike by BidenDTrounce(op): 8:59am On Mar 20, 2023
Pyongyang said its latest missile launch, overseen by Kim Jong-un, practiced a “counterattack” on a “major enemy target”

North Korea says it fired a missile “tipped with a test warhead simulating nuclear payload” as part of a two-day drill over the weekend, demonstrating the country’s firepower and readiness to respond to any “reckless moves,” amid joint military exercises on the peninsula by South Korean and US forces.

“It is impossible to practically deter war with the mere fact that our country possesses nuclear weapons,” state-run news agency KCNA quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as saying on Sunday. “It is only when the North is fully equipped with a nuclear attack posture that it can carry out its important strategic mission of deterring war.”

Kim attended Sunday morning’s missile launch along with his daughter Ju-ae. KCNA called the drill “virtual comprehensive tactical training for nuclear counterattack.” The first day of the exercise on Saturday included testing “the reliability of the command, management, control and operation system for tactical nuclear forces.”

Those capabilities were put to the test in “various hypothetical emergency situations,” KCNA added, practicing “the order of action to quickly move on to a nuclear attack while inspecting the accuracy of nuclear attack order and reception procedures, nuclear weapon handling order and operation procedures in accordance with different nuclear attack plans from a strict safety standpoint.”

The ballistic missile was equipped with a mock nuclear warhead and was launched from Pyongan Province. It allegedly traveled 800 kilometers before being “accurately” detonated 800 meters above its target off the peninsula’s eastern coast. KCNA noted that the test was conducted amid a “tense situation” with the large-scale exercises being conducted by Seoul and Washington.

The launch marked North Korea’s fourth “warning shot” in the past week. A US B-1B strategic bomber returned to the peninsula on Sunday, making a “show of force against North Korea,” according to South Korea’s Yonhap News.

Seoul’s joint drills with the US, which began on March 13 and will run through March 23, are the largest exercises by the two allies in at least five years. Pyongyang has repeatedly condemned such war games as rehearsals for an invasion of North Korea and said last month that they could be considered a “declaration of war.”

Foreign AffairsRe: President Putin Visits Command Center In Charge Of Millitary Op In Nazi Ukraine by BidenDTrounce: 5:48pm On Mar 19, 2023
BidenDConquerer:
Whether he is a monkey from Moscow or you're an ape from Washington.
What everybody sha know is...
The West didn't need their Western Court (ICC) to apprehend Gaddafi in Libya or Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
I don't want to join the bandwagon of those dignifying this ICC warrant like it's relevant.
What is most important is...how does it isolate Russia? How does it affect the SMO in Ukraine.
If I comment on this ICC warrant again...no be Putin born me grin
Shey na adventure to Germany or Netherlands Baba would miss? grin
Most of the Nigerians arguing on this topic will never set thier foot outside the borders of 'great' Nigeria because of thier status...they can't afford it...majority of Nigerians live in poverty.
No one is yet to explain how this affects Russia/President Putin.
Is there any logical analysis?
https://www.nairaland.com/7616094/how-icc-warrant-successfully-isolates#7616094.7

Foreign AffairsRe: President Putin Visits Command Center In Charge Of Millitary Op In Nazi Ukraine by BidenDTrounce: 5:38pm On Mar 19, 2023
pansophist:
Your views goes under the assumption that the world order as we know it will be in force up to the next decade, and that countries Putin will ever visit are idiots.

Arresting Putin if he visits India for example means two things. That Indian leaders have brought war on themselves, and that they are subservient to the anglo world order.

The world is at the dawn (or morning) of multipolarism, and countries will increasingly reject western long arm jurisdiction. No country will want to be caught in the mess of turning up Putin to ICC. Even if they want to, can they?

As for future Russian President giving Putin to ICC, that's never going to happen. It's like hoping that God will give his son Jesus to the devil, sound very stupid isn't it? You must also be aware that Russia is not a signatory to ICC, just as the US, so Russian Court will not enforce such arrest of its president.

I hope to live in a world where everyone and every country will be treated equally with respect, justice, equality. For the human race to build a community of shared prosperity.

Where Asia to Africans will be like moving to Abuja, and Argentina would be like moving to Bangalore for Indians. The world is too divided, politically, Economically and with borders, and it should not be so.

With all our developments, civilisations, and intelligence, we still treat each other like how predators treats a prey. With suspicion and superiority. We can't call ourselves civilised if these are our features. This world order must go.
pansophist:
Rubbish.

They should enter Russia to arrest him. Then I shall take them serious. Only weak countries can be punished by ICC, not powerful empires like Russia and China.

This is where their hypocrisy stinks. As we speak now, the territory the US occupies and stealing Syrian oil is larger than the territory Russia occupies in Ukraine. When will Biden go to ICC?

Rubbish like this is why the global South have lost faith in the evil anglo American empire. They stand behind fake morality, but if you scratch a bit, it's nothing more than an empire of lies.
Foreign AffairsRe: Russia Celebrates 9th Anniversary Of Crimean Reunification With Russia by BidenDTrounce(op): 2:04pm On Mar 19, 2023
orisa37:
Laugh me for what? That's insane smile. PUTIN is EATING HUMAN FLESH. AS YOU SEE HIM SO, HE'S SMILING AT HIS BRAIN TUMOUR.
From cancer to brain tumor... the list is endless grin
Foreign AffairsRe: Indonesians Urged To Abandon Western Payment Systems by BidenDTrounce(op): 5:02am On Mar 19, 2023
Tanzania & India Switch From US Dollar To Local Currencies In Bilateral Trade
https://www.nairaland.com/7617235/tanzania-india-switch-us-dollar#121852390

Foreign AffairsIndonesians Urged To Abandon Western Payment Systems by BidenDTrounce(op): 5:00am On Mar 19, 2023
PREV Thread:
Tanzania & India Switch From US Dollar To Local Currencies In Bilateral Trade
https://www.nairaland.com/7617235/tanzania-india-switch-us-dollar#121852390



Russia sanctions show Visa and Mastercard could become a “problem,” President Joko Widodo warned.

The leader of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country has suggested that Indonesia must reduce its dependence on foreign payment systems to negate the risk of a potentially disastrous economic fallout should the country ever come into crosshairs of Western sanctions.

Addressing a business forum in Jakarta this week, President Joko Widodo argued that Indonesia must shield itself from geopolitical disruptions, citing the sanction attack on Russia’s financial sector by the US, the EU and their allies over the conflict in Ukraine.

“Be very careful. We must remember the sanctions imposed by the US on Russia. Visa and Mastercard could be a problem,” Widodo said Wednesday at a gathering that promoted the use of Indonesian-made products and services.

Last year, Indonesia rolled out a Domestic Government Credit Card (KKP) program to facilitate transactions between the central and regional governments, and the president urged the public sector to blaze a trail in adopting this and other domestic systems, stressing that eventually “everyone should be able to use” locally-issued bank cards so that “we can be independent.”

“If we use our own platforms, and everybody is using them, from ministries and local administrations to municipal governments, then we can be more secure,” Widodo said, according to the Jakarta Post.

However, in order to compete with Visa and Mastercard, any domestic alternative must be accepted internationally, experts cited by the Post argued, expressing doubt that local providers are ready for costly investments in infrastructure upgrades.

Indonesia's domestic interbank system GPN currently supports only local debit cards and requires some adjustments to properly serve credit cards and international transactions, Indonesian Credit Card Association (AKKI) executive director, Steve Marta, told CNBC Indonesia on Saturday.

Indonesia is a major economy, ranked world’s seventh with $4.37 trillion GDP based on purchasing power parity, between Russia and Brazil.

Moscow rolled out its own national card system Mir soon after the US first targeted the country with sanctions in 2014, and prepared the internal National Payment Card System (NSPK) to smoothly take over all Visa and Mastercard transactions should the companies attempt to pull the plug.

Last year, as Moscow was hit by further sanctions in response to its military operation in Ukraine, international payment systems indeed halted their services, but locally-issued Western-branded cards continued to work within the country via the NSPK. While these cards can no longer be used internationally, their expiration dates were extended indefinitely to give users enough time to comfortably migrate to the Mir system.

Russia also has its own financial messaging system, SPFS, which ensures the transactions between banks both inside and outside the country, and acts as a substitute for SWIFT that blocked many sanctioned Russian banks.

https://www.rt.com/business/573209-indonesia-visa-mastercard-sanctions/

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