UKRAINE, War, Nuclear
Daily update ⋅ 4 March 2022
Russian minister warns of nuclear weapons in third World War; 'Won't let Ukraine get nukes ...
YouTube
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday warned that a third World War, should it break out, will be "nuclear and devastating".
Ukraine war: what is the Budapest Memorandum and why has Russia's invasion torn it up?
The Conversation
Russia agreed in 1994 to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and national borders in return for Kyiv agreeing to give up its nuclear arsenal.
Ukraine war: Demand for doomsday bunkers in the UK soars after Putin's nuclear threats - Daily Mail
Daily Mail
There is no evidence that Ukraine has nuclear weapons, though Lavrov yesterday questioned why the United States continued to maintain nuclear weapons ...
Russia-Ukraine war: Nuclear comments lead to rush for iodine in Central Europe - Mint
Mint
Russia-Ukraine war: Nuclear comments lead to rush for iodine in Central Europe. Ukrainian refugees crossing the border amid Conflict with Russia ...
At least 21 killed, over people injured in shelling of Kharkiv as Ukrainians flee to ...
ABC
The UN's nuclear watchdog believes Russia has taken control of the nuclear power ... abc.net.au/news/russia-ukraine-war-invasion-updates/100873914.
Russia takes city of Kherson as UN estimates 750+ civilians dead - The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
Thousands of Ukrainians prepared to block Russian forces from reaching the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station.
The Takeaway: Ukraine war looms over Iran nuclear talks, energy markets - Al-Monitor
Al-Monitor
More on the Ukraine War from Israel, Russia, Lebanon and Gaza; Nile Dam crisis escalates … all in less than 1,100 words. Iran's chief nuclear ...
Would the US nuclear umbrella have protected Ukraine from Putin? - ASPI's The Strategist
ASPI's The Strategist
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has revived many questions about nuclear deterrence. Whatever the outcome of what could be a long war, the issues it ...
Russia-Ukraine War: What Is Moscow's Nuclear Doctrine? | OPINION - The Quint
The Quint
Russia-Ukraine war: Is Putin sending a political message, or is he preparing for a nuclear strike? If yes, on whom? writes Brig Kuldip Singh ...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says third World War will be nuclear and disastrous ...
India Today
The second nuke threat from Putin administration comes on a day when the Round 2 of Russia-Ukraine talks are slated to take place. The first round of ...
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Looks like The Sun is about to set on the British Empire Finally
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Biden weighing sanctions on India over Russian military stockpiles
BY LAURA KELLY
The Hill.com
The Biden administration is weighing whether to impose sanctions against India over its stockpile of and reliance on Russian military equipment as part of the wide-ranging consequences the West is seeking to impose on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Donald Lu, the assistant secretary of State for South Asian affairs, on Thursday told lawmakers in a hearing that the administration is weighing how threatening India's historically close military relationship with Russia is to U.S. security.
"It's a question we're looking at very closely, as the administration is looking at the broader question over whether to apply sanctions under CAATSA or to waive those sanctions," Lu said.
The Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, passed in 2017 in the wake of the Kremlin's interference in U.S. elections, includes the authority to sanction transactions with Russian defense or intelligence sectors.
The law includes waiver authority for the president that was used for Turkey, an ally in NATO, until December 2020 when the Trump administration imposed sanctions under the law for Ankara's purchase of the Russian S400 missile defense system.
In 2016, India was named a "Major Defense Partner" with the U.S., a unique designation that serves to elevate defense trade and technology. Defense contracts between the U.S. and India are said to have amounted to $20 billion since 2008.
India is also a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the U.S., Japan and Australia, a grouping that focuses on countering China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.
President Biden held a video call with Quad leaders on Thursday, according to the White House, "to discuss the war against Ukraine and its implications for the Indo-Pacific."
Lu told lawmakers that the administration is "in the process of trying to understand whether defense technology that we are sharing with India today can be adequately safeguarded given India's historical relationship with Russia and its defense sales."
"It is critical that with any partner, that the United States is able to assure itself that any defense technology we share is sufficiently protected," he said.
Lu said the administration has been engaged in a "pitched battle" with Indian officials over the past couple of months leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials in the State Department urged New Delhi to "to take a clearer position, a position opposed to Russia's action."
The secretary said India's abstention at the United Nations and its commitment to provide Ukraine with humanitarian assistance are promising steps in a shift in its public position and that he expects an even greater shift in the aftermath of outrage at the death of an Indian student killed in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, by Russian bombing in recent days.
"I have had several conversations with Indian officials in the last 24 hours," Lu said. "What we can see, already, very quickly is that action has begun to turn public opinion in India against a country that they perceived as a partner, undeniably, that partner has killed a young person who was an innocent victim in Ukraine."
The Biden administration is weighing whether to impose sanctions against India over its stockpile of and reliance on Russian military equipment as part of the wide-ranging consequences the West is seeking to impose on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Donald Lu, the assistant secretary of State for South Asian affairs, on Thursday told lawmakers in a hearing that the administration is weighing how threatening India's historically close military relationship with Russia is to U.S. security.
"It's a question we're looking at very closely, as the administration is looking at the broader question over whether to apply sanctions under CAATSA or to waive those sanctions," Lu said.
The Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, passed in 2017 in the wake of the Kremlin's interference in U.S. elections, includes the authority to sanction transactions with Russian defense or intelligence sectors.
The law includes waiver authority for the president that was used for Turkey, an ally in NATO, until December 2020 when the Trump administration imposed sanctions under the law for Ankara's purchase of the Russian S400 missile defense system.
In 2016, India was named a "Major Defense Partner" with the U.S., a unique designation that serves to elevate defense trade and technology. Defense contracts between the U.S. and India are said to have amounted to $20 billion since 2008.
India is also a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the U.S., Japan and Australia, a grouping that focuses on countering China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.
President Biden held a video call with Quad leaders on Thursday, according to the White House, "to discuss the war against Ukraine and its implications for the Indo-Pacific."
Lu told lawmakers that the administration is "in the process of trying to understand whether defense technology that we are sharing with India today can be adequately safeguarded given India's historical relationship with Russia and its defense sales."
"It is critical that with any partner, that the United States is able to assure itself that any defense technology we share is sufficiently protected," he said.
Lu said the administration has been engaged in a "pitched battle" with Indian officials over the past couple of months leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials in the State Department urged New Delhi to "to take a clearer position, a position opposed to Russia's action."
The secretary said India's abstention at the United Nations and its commitment to provide Ukraine with humanitarian assistance are promising steps in a shift in its public position and that he expects an even greater shift in the aftermath of outrage at the death of an Indian student killed in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, by Russian bombing in recent days.
"I have had several conversations with Indian officials in the last 24 hours," Lu said. "What we can see, already, very quickly is that action has begun to turn public opinion in India against a country that they perceived as a partner, undeniably, that partner has killed a young person who was an innocent victim in Ukraine."
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Singapore PM Lee Kuan Yew
on USA
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Opinion Piece: 1
Vladimir Putin didn’t just invade the Ukraine on 24/02/2022, he officially ended the petrodollar system. How? Remember, Russians don’t do anything without a plan. They & China have been prepping for this moment for years & are now ready: Officially ended the petrodollar system.
Russia stated that NATO expansion into Ukraine was a Red line.
-They knew their invasion of Ukraine would be inevitable and would have strategized that the US/West’s response would be SWIFT $ system exclusions/sanctions.
-Reasonable to expect that Russia’s next step would have been to shut off oil/gas pipelines to Europe, as Russia has built up huge Yuan, gold & commodity reserves.
-This will cause massive price and supply disruptions (war level) to the western markets & monetary system.
- For years Russia & China have looked for ways to re-monetize gold & exit abuses of SWIFT system as a geo-political tool against them, but how to do it, how to exit, without West declaring it an act of aggression or war against West?
- This Ukraine invasion just accomplished that end for them. And the West is doing it themselves.
-Now, freed to declare themselves SWIFT system outcasts by the western govt hands, Russia can now say “we will turn oil pipelines back on, but not for dollars.”
- Russia then declares that Europe or anyone that wants Russian oil (as 3rd largest global producer) or Russian/Ukrainian wheat (1/4 of worlds production) must pay in gold, or use the ruble-yuan gold backed payment system.
- Their leverage as an oil producer (who cuts off supply) will cause almost immediate price shocks to the western world. A good part of the population could immediately be unable to heat their homes.
- Almost equal to the oil shock they’d cause is their ability to cause food shortages and price spikes through the disruption of wheat production.
-Unmentioned in all this is China. Who has been silent & not condemned Russia.That means silent approval & cooperation.
- China will act to soak up Russian production of oil and wheat to soften the blow to their “strategic partner”.
- This will again be through the Yuan-Ruble facility and at some point overtly-stated gold backing of that system by Russia and China.
- The West will of course declare those last two bullets as acts of global aggression and direct threats to the “world monetary system”.
- At this point that there will be a clear fracture of the world’s monetary system into 2 competing East/West structures, circling back to the initial point that the 50 year global petrodollar system has just officially been ended by Putin.
If the above analysis is indeed correct,then the threat 2 the petro- $ is no different 2 the time of Charles De Gaulle or Gaddafi,but on larger scale.They can't remove Putin as easy as they did with previous leaders who challenged their fraudulent petrodollar monetary system. expansion into Ukraine was a red line.
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Opinion Piece 2:
Professor Dennis Etler*
American political analyst who holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley
As I See It:
“Why is it that the West is so preoccupied with China?
The usual answer is that China's economic growth is challenging Western global hegemony which has held sway for at least 250 years. The Chinese military has also reached parity with that of the West, so it is no longer subject to Western intimidation and bullying. All that is true and reason for the West to want to savage China and portray it as the root of all evil.*
But there is one other consideration that must be taken into account. It's not only China's economic prowess and military might that frightens the West, it is also China's success as a nation versus the West's failure.
Moreover, China has forged a society in which there is harmony between its different ethnicities in contrast to the systemic racism that characterizes Western society.
Western ruling elites and their media mouthpieces do not want to acknowledge the fact that China has eliminated extreme poverty while more and more of their own people descend into poverty. They do not want to admit that China has constructed a 21st century infrastructure while they lag far behind. They do not want to confront the fact that the Chinese people ⁹overwhelmingly support their government while people in the West have lost confidence in their own, they do not want to accept that China beat COVIDC-19 while they haven't, and finally they are loathe to accept the fact that a non-white nation has out performed them and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future.
In order to deflect attention away from these truths the West has concocted a series of lies and slanders that allow them to deny reality. Instead of poverty alleviation the West imagines "genocide."
Instead of the advances in HSR, EVs, alt-energy and e-commerce they focus on "IP theft," instead of a socioeconomic system that serves the people, they accuse China of forced labor and forced sterilizations. Instead of seeing China as defending its national sovereignty in the South China Sea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, it's called an aggressor.
*All the China-bashing serves multiple purposes but ONE of the main reasons is to make sure that people in the West do not get to hear nor see what the real China is all about because if they did they may get ideas that the Western elites don't want then to have, such as socialism works for the betterment of the 99% while capitalism works primarily to enrich the 1%.”
This is the best one, do send this to your overseas friends because it is from the eyes of an American.
