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International-UN-NGOs

AI and War Top Agenda as Globalist Elites Gather for Bilderberg Meeting

2024-06-03

[Breitbart] Global elites representing the upper echelons of power in politics, banking, big tech, media, industry, and academia converged this week in Madrid, Spain to discuss Artificial Intelligence, the “future of warfare”, and more at the shadowy Bilderberg Meeting as the “off the record” conference turns 70 years old.

Founded in 1954 with a meeting hosted by Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands in the Hotel de Bilderberg in the Dutch village of Oosterbeek, the annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group is believed to be a driving force behind numerous globalist projects.

Unlike similar institutions such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Bilderberg Meeting is conducted strictly behind closed doors with participants bound by the Chatham House Rule, which prohibits the disclosure of the identity of those behind any idea mentioned within the meeting. Officially intended to allow for the free flow of discourse, the back-room nature of the meeting of global elites has fostered many theories about the influence the conference may exert on international policy.

This belief is perhaps not without merit. A 2023 study from Lukas Kantor of Prague’s Charles University found that at least 133 politicians were elevated to positions of power after attending a Bilderberg Meeting, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and current French President Emmanuel Macron.

According to Kantor, at least 42 participants became either prime ministers, presidents, or the top officials of international organisations such as the European Union, NATO or the International Monetary Fund (IMF). While he acknowledged that most participants were never elevated to a top political position, Kantor said that it is likely that “politicians invited to the exclusive meetings gain valuable contacts, insider information and probably some backing”.

“From 2019 to 2023, all key international organizations—EU, NATO, IMF, and UN—have been chaired by Bilderbergers (Ursula von der Leyen, Jens Stoltenberg, Kristalina Georgieva and Antonio Guterres). It seems improbable that this is just a coincidence,” Kantor wrote.

Link

Europe

Germany: Knife attack in Mannheim, suspect shot

2024-06-01

[DW] Several people, including a police officer, were stabbed after a knife-wielding assailant reportedly attacked a right-wing protest in Germany's Mannheim.

A police officer was reportedly among those injured during a stabbing attack in the German city of Mannheim on Friday around midday.

Police said that a "firearm was used against the attacker," injuring the suspect. They added there was no further danger to the public.

"First responders, emergency services and a rescue helicopter have been deployed," they said.

The attack took place during a right-wing demonstration on one of Mannheim's central squares. Videos from the scene show civilians trying to subdue the attacker and him stabbing a police officer.

A different policeman eventually shoots the assailant while he is grappling with another man.

MOTIVE FOR ATTACK STILL UNCLEAR
In an online statement, police said they could not immediately provide details on the number of the victims or the severity of the injuries.

However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
local newspaper Mannheimer Morgen cited a police front man as saying that one of the officers on the scene sustained severe injuries. Later, the DPA news agency said the officer was undergoing surgery.

Outspoken Islam critic Michael Sturzenberger was due to speak at the event, which is a part of his "Open Eyes" tour. His organization "Pax Europa" said the 59-year-old Sturzenberger was among those injured.

Mannheim Mayor Christian Sprecht said he was "speechless" after the attack.

The right-leaning mayor urged the people not to speculate about the motives behind the attack before Sherlocks publish their findings.

The Daily Mail has photos, and adds:

A police officer is 'fighting for his life' after being stabbed by a knifeman who injured six others in a German city. The attacker went on a rampage and stabbed a well-known Islam critic, a police officer and several bystanders at an anti-Islam rally in Mannheim, Germany which was livestreamed on YouTube this morning. The officer remains in a critical condition, after under going emergency surgery for multiple hours for two stab wounds to the head.

The knifeman was rubbed out by officers at the scene, and has been named by local outlet Der Spiegel as Sulaiman A., a 25-year-old who was born in Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
, Afghanistan, and lived in the Hesse state.

It is believed that authorities were not previously aware of him.

The force was criticised on social media for their handling of the situation after it appeared that the injured officer tackled one of the victims of the attack, seemingly misunderstanding the unfolding situation. The video showed that this gave the knifeman an opportunity to stab the officer as his back was turned, before the attacker was rubbed out.

The shocking spree unfolded in Mannheim city centre where anti-Islam campaigner Michael Stuerzenberger was speaking at an event of the Citizens' Movement Pax Europa (BPE) - a group that advocates against the 'Islamisation' of Europe.

Chaos broke out at the event when a man dressed in a dark hooded jacket, green shirt and tracksuit bottoms tackled Stuerzenberger to the ground and ~~violent~~ mostly peacefully swung a large blade at him, prompting terrified screams from onlookers. Other BPE members sprinted over and tried to drag the knifeman away, but the would-be killer wriggled free and dove on top of the bloodied victim to plunge the weapon in for a second time.

Police descended on the scene almost immediately - but not before the attacker had left two people lying on the floor, blood pooling on the cobblestones.

One officer then made a potentially fatal mistake. Amid the confusion, he waded in and jumped on one of the victims, seemingly having mistaken him for the aggressor. This misread of the situation gave the bloodthirsty attacker a chance to circle behind and ram his blade into the policeman's neck. His colleagues were heard screaming 'throw the knife away!' - but with the knifeman not responding to any orders the officers opened fire from near point blank range and sent him crashing to the ground.

German media reported the knifeman died from his gunshot wounds, while his victims were rushed to hospital.

The shocking incident was quickly labelled a terror attack by the BPE.

It was evident well before the attack that Stuerzenberger, 59, was aware violence could break out. Speaking at the rally on livestream before he was set upon by his attacker, the activist was heard explaining how the event would 'de-escalate' if there was a prospect things could turn ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful. Stuerzenberger been assaulted at previous rallies, most notably in 2022 when he was punched in the face by an enraged Moslem in the city of Bonn.

'We want to first see if we can manage a sensible discussion as always, of course we will de-escalate if it gets heated.

'There was a staunch Moslem there earlier who was pretty agitated and he shouted, ''you don't belong here you are worse than the AfD''...

'We still have democracy here, we have freedom we have our basic laws, our values and that is what we have to defend,' he said, referencing the professed desire of some hardline Islamic groups in Germany who have advocated for the introduction of Sharia law in their districts.

Islam and immigration have become contentious issues in Germany in recent months, particularly amid the rising popularity of right-wing political entities, primarily the 'Alternative for Germany' (AfD) party.

Germany has been a major destination for refugees, especially since 2015 when Chancellor Angela Merkel
<span class=Inverse>Angela Merkel</span>

<span class=Inverse>Angela Merkel</span>

...chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom. Now they make faces at her for inundating the country with Moslem colonists...
- who famously declared in 2017 that Islam was 'not the source of terrorism' - opened the country's borders to over a million asylum seekers.

The move was highly divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
, praised by many liberal commentators as a morally just, humanitarian policy but slammed as dangerous and short-sighted by more conservative mouthpieces. It also fuelled the growth of anti-immigration groups like the BPE, which was founded in 2008, and Pegida, an organization founded in Dresden in 2014 to protest what its members saw as the failure of government to counter the arrival and influence of Islam in Germany.

But the influx of ~~migrants~~ colonists and a rise in the number of incidents involving refugees have triggered more intense debate as of late.

The AfD has capitalised on these concerns and made anti-Islam and anti-immigration messages the cornerstone of its campaigns. In 2017, the party's founder, Alexander Gauland, explicitly vowed to fight an 'invasion of foreigners' and was lambasted by more centrist and leftist commentators. But the party's popularity has grown rapidly - the AfD enjoyed significant success in Germany's state elections in October, winning its biggest-ever share of votes in the powerful state of Hesse and gaining a significant portion of votes in Bavaria.

Islam is currently the second largest religion in Germany after Christianity, with between 3 million and 4.7 million adherents according to most estimates. In 2017, Pew Research Centre predicted that as much as 20 per cent of the population in Germany could be Moslem by 2050 if immigration continues apace.

Changing demographics and the introduction of new values has been a source of anxiety for some living in Germany. A study by the Criminal Research Institute of Lower Saxony found that 67.8 per cent of surveyed students believe that the Qur'an is 'more important' than the laws in Germany.

Nearly half of them (45.6 per cent) think that 'Islamic Theocracy is the best form of government'.

And more than a third (35.3 per cent) said that they can understand violence against people who insult Allah or the prophet Mohammed.

Link

Europe

Germany Says It Will Arrest Netanyahu As Israeli Envoy Appeals To Berlin To Defy ICC

2024-05-23

[MSN] Israel’s Ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor, was rebuffed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government on Wednesday after the envoy made a dramatic appeal on X, formerly Twitter, to the Federal government to reject the ICC’s legitimacy fully.

Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, was asked on Wednesday if the German government would execute an ICC arrest order against Prime Minister Netanyahu for alleged war crimes during Swords of Iron.

Hebestreit said, "Of course. Yes, we abide by the law."

On Tuesday, before Hebestreit’s announcement, Prosor wrote on X in both German and English, “This is outrageous! The German 'Staatsräson' is now being put to the test—no ifs or buts. This contrasts with the weak statements we hear from some institutions and political actors. The public statement that Israel has the right to self-defense loses credibility if our hands are tied as soon as we defend ourselves.”

Staatsräson is the German word that refers to Germany's pledge to ensure Israel’s security is part of its national security and interests. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared during her 2008 Knesset speech that Israel is part of Germany’s raison d'etre—or state of being.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

'China is increasingly connected with Russia': what Scholz came to ask Beijing for

2024-04-17

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Gregor Spitzen

[REGNUM] For many German chancellors, relations with China over the years have been a yin and yang: war and peace, trade and boycott, human rights and Realpolitik.

The leaders of the Federal Republic of Germany, since the time of Helmut Schmidt, were well aware of the huge role of China in global geopolitics and trade, and therefore always tried to build relations with Beijing as pragmatically as possible, avoiding slippery topics that could disrupt the fragile consensus.

“We have very good continuity in relations with China when it comes to German chancellors,” says Jörg Wuttke, honorary president of the European Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. “It started with Schmidt, continued under Kohl, and then under Schröder and Merkel, who always tried to recognize China as an equal partner and interact with it on economic issues.”

For their constructive approach and some understanding of the “oriental” mentality in the Middle Kingdom, both Helmut Kohl, who did not pay much attention to the situation with “human rights” in the PRC, and Angela Merkel, who visited China 14 times during her 16 years of rule, were really highly valued.

Olaf Scholz, according to some European experts on China, is viewed in Beijing as “a pragmatist who continues Merkel’s policies through social democratic means.”

Scholz is not the first German chancellor to have to balance good economic relations with political distancing from China. This line has always been a thin line, and the heads of government of Germany, which has powerful exports, had to overcome it. But it was much easier to do this before.

If during Kohl’s time, China’s share in Germany’s foreign trade was just over 1%, then when Angela Merkel left her post in 2021, the Celestial Empire’s share in the German economy was already 10%.

A year later, already in the first year of Scholz’s chancellorship, China bought 30% of the capacity of the seaport of Hamburg, the main trade gateway of Germany, which best characterizes the scale of bilateral economic relations between Germany and China.

THERE WILL BE NO AGREEMENTS
According to statements made in Berlin the day before Scholz's trip, the German government wants to continue doing business with China by developing bilateral relations.

Although many Western partners have criticized Berlin for refusing to follow the pro-American policy of “de-risking” (reducing the level of dependence on Chinese markets, goods or investments), the German government continues to treat China as one of its most important trading partners.

If the breakdown of ties with Russia brought Germany to recession and deindustrialization, then much more extensive trade ties with China, if broken, threaten Germany with real economic collapse. This is well understood both in the Bundeschancellery and even in the Ministry of Economics of Robert Habeck.

Olaf Scholz's visit began in a warm and friendly atmosphere, except for the chancellor's meeting in Chongqing with a third-rate official - the city's deputy mayor. Such a diplomatic heel, experts say, signals that Scholz arrived in China as a supplicant, who, in fact, has nothing to offer his Chinese partners.

There were rumors in Beijing long before the chancellor's visit that no important agreements would be signed.

“Every time the head of the German government came to China, one of the main events was the signing of trade agreements and treaties, but that, unfortunately, is in the past,” says Cui Hongjian, a Europe specialist at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

“Compared with his predecessors, Scholz has to take a broader position,” says Jörg Wuttke of the European Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. “On the one hand, he must continue to develop the German and European economies and protect them from excess capacity, and on the other, solve the geopolitical problem: China is increasingly tied to Russia in the conflict in Ukraine.”

China remains a huge market for large German companies. For example, in the chemical industry, China accounts for half of the world market, and in automobile manufacturing it accounts for about a third.

Unlike companies from other countries, the largest German players in these industries have decided to continue playing in the People's Republic. For example, BASF, Bosch, Daimler and Volkswagen.

It's also about jobs, a key issue for the SPD chancellor, although there is not much of classical social democracy left in Germany's modern, big-business-oriented Social Democratic party.

The main political topics of the Chancellor's visit to China are undoubtedly the Iranian-Israeli and Russian-Ukrainian conflicts.

Although Beijing has made it clear that it will maintain Russia's benevolent neutrality in Russia's operation in Ukraine and will side with Iran in the Middle East conflict, Berlin hopes that it can try to achieve success by calling on China to act on the "correct" side, from the German point of view. side of history.

It is not entirely clear on what such hopes are based, given that so far the appeals of Western politicians, and above all US President Joe Biden, to Xi Jinping have not had any impact on the situation.

That Beijing has no intention of changing its attitude towards Russia was further demonstrated just a few days ago when Xi personally received Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

China shares Russia's position in "maintaining social security and stability," Xi said, pointing to the two countries' joint efforts to "reform" a "rules-based world order" that Beijing and Moscow say is unfairly dominated by the West.

CHINESE DUMPING
China believes it can afford a difficult balancing act between partnerships with the United States and Europe. In Germany, they believe that the less Beijing can count on America and the more it finds itself in an economic crisis, the more the Celestial Empire depends on the EU.

Nevertheless, Beijing categorically refuses to feel dependent and continues to flood the European market with cars, solar modules and other goods produced at dumped prices.

According to some EU experts, China is playing with fire by underestimating the capabilities of European regulators, who may lose patience by responding to China with prohibitive tariffs and other anti-dumping measures.

During his trip, Olaf Scholz expressed support for open car markets in Europe for Chinese cars, but called for equal access to the Chinese market for European cars.

“The one thing that should always be clear is that competition must be fair,” Scholz said during a talk with students at Tongji University in Shanghai. “In other words, no dumping, no overproduction and no copyright infringement.”

In Brussels, however, things are not viewed as rosy as in Berlin. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen claims that China is currently experiencing “a dramatic overproduction of electric vehicles coupled with huge government subsidies”, and therefore the US, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey have already closed their markets from Chinese electric cars.

“The EU cannot be the only market that remains open to Chinese overproduction,” von der Leyen said. “We must not allow the same thing to happen in Europe as with solar panels: European manufacturers are unfairly forced out of the market due to dumping prices subsidized by the state, and as a result, production goes to China.”

In September, von der Leyen announced an antitrust investigation into market distortions caused by Chinese subsidies.

If the investigation finds that China is violating trade laws, the EU could impose punitive tariffs.

However, the German Automotive Industry Association (VDA) has already opposed the idea of the overly proactive President of the European Commission, trying to avoid a trade conflict with China for fear of jeopardizing many jobs in Germany tied to cooperation with the Middle Kingdom.

INCOME FROM THE MIDDLE EAST
Iran's strike on Israel significantly changed the political priorities of Scholz's meeting with Xi and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qian on Tuesday morning.

Initially, Beijing's role in the Ukraine conflict and China's excess production capacity were on the agenda.

Now Scholz wants to convince the country's leadership to use its influence on Iran to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East.

Middle East expert Ahmed Abuduh of the British think tank Chatham House says China's leadership views both the Iranian drone attack on Israel and attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea as consequences of the war in Gaza.

With this position, China wants to increase pressure on the United States to use its political weight against Israel to end the war.

In turn, the US’s constant calls for China to use its influence on Tehran are, according to a British analyst, an attempt by Washington to “draw attention to China’s inaction and selfish behavior.”

Since the US is well aware of China's limited influence on Iran, the main purpose of the constant demands is to show countries in the region that "Beijing is an unreliable partner, and the US is the only power that can guarantee regional security," Abuduh continues.

Beijing could ask Tehran to show restraint and then leave everything as it is, Abuduh said. Ultimately, it is not in China's interest to escalate the conflict in the Gulf region.

This could jeopardize the rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia that China sees as a diplomatic success.

“If the situation worsens, it will have a serious impact not only on China, but also on the entire regional situation and global security, which China does not want,” said Zhu Yongbiao, a professor at the Department of Politics and International Relations at Lanzhou University.

In recent years, China's leadership has been expanding its influence in the Middle East. It wants to secure access to energy resources and markets - especially in the face of growing geopolitical tensions.

Between 2017 and 2022, Chinese merchandise trade with the region nearly doubled. The People's Republic gets nearly half its crude oil from Gulf countries, including Iran, which the West has imposed sanctions on.

China has become the most important trading partner for many Gulf countries. It is logical that this strengthens Beijing’s political influence in the region.

China is trying to capitalize on this: the state wants to fill the power vacuum left by the United States in the region and find allies for a new world order without American dominance.

GERMANY'S EXPECTATIONS ARE CLEARLY TOO HIGH
The Chinese side, judging by the non-verbal signals sent through diplomacy, clearly does not perceive Scholz’s visit as fateful and breakthrough, capable of turning the page in relations between the two countries and bringing them to a qualitatively new level.

China knows that Europe, which has been in a state of economic crisis since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, cannot afford to risk its relations with the Middle Kingdom, and therefore makes maximum profit by actively dumping its high-tech products on the European market. China is clearly not going to give up its strategic alliance with Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese President Xi Jinping
It is also unlikely that Beijing in the Middle East conflict will abandon its important ally and trading partner in the region - Iran, which is opposed to Israel, which has turned on the “berserker” regime and, with its actions in Gaza, has alienated most of the civilized world community.

However, Olaf Scholz’s visit still achieved one important goal. A year later, the polite, diplomatic and good-natured Scholz, acting as a supplicant, managed to smooth out the negative impression from the visit of Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock, who tried in a defiant manner to lecture her Chinese colleagues on the nature of democracy and almost provoked an unprecedented cooling in German-Chinese relations.

Link

Europe

Violent Crime in Germany Hits 15-Year High

2024-04-11

Diversity is our friend.
[Armstrong Econ] Germany was once a safe nation. Violent crime has reached a 15-year high, with homicides, knife assaults, and rapes drastically increasing. Crime rose by 5.5% last year alone, with 6.6 million incidences reported. Other nations like the UK, US, Canada, France, Sweden, Finland, and everywhere else that permitted, if not encouraged, open border policies have also seen an uptick in crime but no one wants to point out the obvious.

Migrants were responsible for around 40% of violent crimes in Germany last year, but the non-German national population only composes 15% of the population. Angela Merkel sold off Germany in 2015 when she urged all refugees to come to Europe to seek a better life. The migrants never stopped showing up. Germany handled over 350,000 asylum applications in 2023, and that only accounts for those who went through the judicial process.

The left refuses to hold migrants responsible for crimes and will not acknowledge that different cultures simply do not integrate well into Western societies. Lamya Kaddor, a Green Party MP, said that migrants are simply over-represented in crime statistics. "The crime rate is higher among socio-economically disadvantaged groups, which very often include foreign nationals," she stated. Politicians like Kaddor do not care about the safety of their constituents and will never back away from open border policies

Link

Europe

Russian political scientist says Macron would like to rule Europe

2024-03-18

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Statements by French President Emmanuel Macron about the conflict in Ukraine are attempts to find leverage over Russia. Political scientist Yuri Svetov expressed this opinion to a Regnum correspondent on March 17, commenting on Macron’s words that he could allow a ground operation to “confront Russian troops” in Ukraine.

Svetov noted that after German Chancellor Angela Merkel left the political arena, Macron wanted to become the leader of a united Europe, but he failed. With the defeat of the Kyiv regime looming, the French leader suggested that he could become the leader of Europe opposing Russia, making more aggressive statements than the leaders of other European countries.

The political scientist explained that there is a distribution of responsibilities within NATO; each member of this alliance heads its own coalition. Thus, Germany, for example, leads a coalition to provide Ukraine with long-range weapons. The Czech Republic was searching for ammunition around the world, the Netherlands and Belgium were preparing F-16 aircraft. Then Macron announced that he was creating an alliance of countries ready to send troops to Ukraine. And only the Baltic countries supported him in this.

Svetov drew attention to the fact that Macron makes mutually exclusive statements. On the one hand, he declares that France is ready to send troops, on the other hand, that he will avoid a direct confrontation.

“Such statements by Macron are an attempt to find leverage on Russia. At the same time, Ukraine did not invite French troops to its territory. Previously, the West frightened the Russian Federation with supplies of HIMARS MLRS, Storm Shadow missiles, and F-16 aircraft, which supposedly should turn the tide of the conflict. Macron probably believes that intimidating Russia with the possible introduction of French troops into Ukraine could work,” the political scientist suggested.

Svetov did not rule out that this step could be taken against the backdrop of the approaching defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At the same time, attention will be focused on the fact that it is not NATO troops that are being brought into Ukraine, but those of an individual country.

The expert also recalled Macron’s words that if Russian President Vladimir Putin calls him, he will pick up the phone and listen to the Russian leader’s proposal. That is, the French president had the impression that the Russian president was asleep and was wondering how he could get through to Macron. This indicates how inadequately he feels his role and place in the world, the political scientist emphasized.

As Regnum reported, when asked by journalists whether the French General Staff had scenarios “just in case,” Macron admitted that they were “preparing for all scenarios.”

Macron expressed his readiness to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. He assured that if Putin calls him, he will pick up the phone and listen to Russia’s proposal.

Former adviser to the head of the Pentagon, Colonel Douglas McGregor, said that the French president is trying to retain power with bellicose statements addressed to Russia.

The leader of the Patriots party, Florian Philippot, said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin openly laughed at his Ukrainian and French colleagues Vladimir Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron in an interview with journalist Dmitry Kiselev. We are talking about President Putin’s answer to the question about the negotiations on Ukraine. The head of state emphasized that the negotiation processes should be based on the real situation on the ground, and not on “wants after the use of psychotropic drugs.”

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Three options. How to guarantee the West's implementation of peace agreements

2024-03-15

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Gevorg Mirzayan

[REGNUM] On March 13, Vladimir Putin’s interview with Russian journalist Dmitry Kiselev was published. In an almost two-hour conversation, the Russian president touched on many topics, including relations with the West on the Ukrainian issue. The American and European media, of course, paid attention to the nuclear aspect of these relations, although the negotiation aspect was much more interesting. And here it was necessary to read between the lines.

Yes, nominally the Russian president made it clear that the diplomatic path to ending the conflict is not only open to him, but is also a priority. “We have never refused negotiations,” said the head of state. And this is the right approach, because the most effective option for ending the conflict is not a purely military path, but a military-diplomatic one. An option in which your victory will be documented and recognized by all direct and indirect parties to the conflict.

However, at the same time, Vladimir Putin makes it clear that here and now the diplomatic track is, if not impossible, then at least difficult to achieve.

“Are we ready to negotiate? Yes, we are ready. But only we are ready for negotiations, not based on some “wants” after the use of psychotropic drugs, but based on the realities that have developed, as they say in such cases, on earth,” the head of state explained.

And this is a clear signal to the West. The fact is that in recent weeks, against the backdrop of serious supply disruptions to the Kiev regime, the unfolding internal political crisis in Ukraine, the successes of the Russian army and a number of other factors, many experts from all sides of the conflict have started talking about the possibilities of organizing a new approach to the negotiation project. Chinese and Turkish potential mediators became more active, and Western countries began to persuade Moscow to engage in diplomatic dialogue. But dialogue is not based on “realities on earth.” The West is still not ready to recognize Russia’s new territorial acquisitions, and certainly not ready to force Kyiv to leave the Russian cities it currently occupies in the DPR, Zaporozhye and the Kherson region. The United States and Europe only agree to freeze the conflict on the principle of “who owns what, controls it.” Apparently, with some promises about Ukrainian neutrality and so on. And the Western media are now presenting this almost as a grandiose concession to Moscow, for which the Russians should be grateful.

Vladimir Putin made it clear that Russia does not need such negotiations. “ We must clearly and clearly understand for ourselves that this is not a pause that the enemy wants to take for rearmament, but this is a serious conversation with security guarantees for the Russian Federation.”

And the key word here is guarantees. A word that makes negotiations unlikely not only in the short term, but also in the medium term.

Yes, at some point (if the Kiev regime continues to crumble) the West will be ready to recognize new Russian territories. But, as the president noted earlier, the territorial issue is not the main one from the point of view of the goals of the Northern Military District. Russia needs guarantees of the demilitarization of the remaining Ukrainian territory and its non-aligned status. At the same time, against the background of total distrust of Western promises (which arose because the West regularly broke its word - just look at Angela Merkel’s confessions regarding the Minsk agreements), the president needs confidence that what is written on paper will be respected.

“The guarantees must be spelled out, they must be ones that would suit us, in which we will believe. This is what we are talking about. Now it is probably premature to talk publicly about what this could be. But we certainly won’t buy into some empty promises,” the president said.

How can the West guarantee that the remaining territory of Ukraine will not join NATO? What guarantees can there be that in one or two election cycles, the new leaders of the West will not call the foreign policy orientation of Ukraine’s scrap “its sovereign choice”, and then be drawn into NATO?

There are only three options.

The first is to have nothing to include. To do this, the entire territory of Ukraine must either be liberated by Russia or divided between Russia on the one hand and a number of European countries (Poland, Romania and/or Hungary) on the other.

The second is to minimize damage. Russia can understand and accept that it is being deceived, but make sure that the harm from this deception is small. To do this, it is necessary to ensure that the remaining part of Ukraine itself does not cause much damage to the Russian Federation - that is, it is cut off from the sea and deprived of most of its territory and resource base.

Finally, the third option is that it would be unprofitable for the West itself to violate its obligations. For example, if the guarantees on Ukraine are part of a large package deal that will regulate Russian-Western relations in a new multipolar world. That is, simply put, part of the new Yalta.

All three options are different, but they have one thing in common - time. All of them are unrealizable in the short or even medium term (unless, of course, there is a sharp collapse of the Kyiv regime). To implement them, Moscow still needs to liberate many more territories, and the West has to go a very long way from the current recognition of the impossibility of defeating Russia to the realization of the need to accept its victory. These processes will take many months, and only after their completion can any serious negotiation process begin.

Link

Europe

'Anti-Semites' and 'agent of the Kremlin' are preparing to stir up the German parliament

2024-02-26

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Kamran Hasanov

[REGNUM] Germany, suffering from an economic crisis, is also experiencing a political crisis. Its beginnings were observed back in 2017, when the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party burst into the Bundestag, taking away points from the ruling SPD and CDU. Then Chancellor Angela Merkel needed five months to put together a coalition. This was the longest government formation in the history of Germany.

Now the crisis has become even more pronounced. Society is becoming increasingly polarized; traditional parties do not fully reflect the opinions and interests of voters. Some echoes of this crisis can be seen in local elections.

For example, Olaf Scholz’s “traffic light coalition” lost the elections in Hesse and Bavaria miserably last year. The stakes are higher now because parliamentary elections are approaching. Moreover, the majority of citizens (59%), according to Bild polls, want them to be held ahead of schedule - this year.

Oddly enough, it would even be beneficial for Scholz, with his record low rating, to agree to early elections. After all, every day he loses, perhaps, the only trump card of any politician in Germany - success in the economy. Finance Minister Christian Lindner said bluntly: “We are becoming poorer and less competitive.”

His skepticism is confirmed by statistics. The OECD cut its forecast for GDP growth this year by half - from 0.6% to 0.3%, and the IMF - from 0.9% to 0.5%. German media are hinting at an imminent recession; of the major economies, only Argentina, with its crazy inflation, is doing worse.

In 2025, Scholz may lose his second trump card - Ukraine. The counteroffensive has failed, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are surrendering territories, and the EU is having problems with the allocation of funding and weapons. The Chancellor is trying to get other member countries to increase spending, but no one is in a hurry to do this. Scholz had difficulty accepting the responsibility of arming Ukraine, starting with helmets and ending with tanks. Now he was left virtually alone. Further support for Kyiv may turn out to be not only pointless, but also dangerous.

Recently, the Bundestag out of harm's way blocked the CDU/CSU proposal to transfer Taurus missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 500 km. Everyone understands that strikes deep into Russia could lead Germany to war.

In the wake of the economic crisis and the failure of the Ukrainian “case,” new parties began to form in Germany. In the past three months, it became known about the emergence of at least three major players. The pioneer was Sarah Wagenknecht : having split off with ten politicians from the Left faction, she formed the party “For Sanity and Justice”.

Its supporters could be millions of Germans who oppose the transfer of weapons to Ukraine, anti-Russian sanctions and the “green concentration camp” where Scholz wants to drive the energy sector. Immediately after the creation of the party, its rating was 7% - this is enough to enter parliament.

Wagenknecht was a consistent supporter of normal relations with Russia and criticized sanctions. And now she warns against dragging Germany into a direct war, which, in her opinion, is inevitable in the case of Taurus deliveries.

At the beginning of the year, the former head of the Federal Service for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maasen, made his presence felt by creating his own “Union for Values.” Maasen is a former head of counterintelligence who was fired from his post in scandal in 2018. Then, in the city of Chemnitz, a refugee killed a German citizen, and Maasen was dismissed for his sympathy for right-wing extremists. Now he has gathered in his new party the dissatisfied from among the “Merkel” faction of the CDU/CSU, who are haunted by the same economic crisis and the war in Ukraine.

Although Maasen condemns the SVO, he also wants peace through negotiations, and considers Vladimir Putin a “skillful politician.” The former head of counterintelligence has long been among the most active critics of the transfer of German weapons and missiles to Ukraine.

“If we deliver weapons rather than first aid kits, we obviously risk becoming participants in the war. You have to imagine this: we are now a warring party against Russia... Because of the supply of weapons, we can now become the target of Russian attacks. This means that Germany will be drawn into the war, and we will not have our own military goals,” he warned a year ago.

Maasen considers his former colleagues insufficiently right-wing and conservative and hopes to win elections in the eastern states, where the AfD’s position is traditionally strong. Sarah Wagenknecht, who, by the way, like Maasen, opposes uncontrolled migration, also wants to achieve victory in the Landtags (local parliaments) of the three East German states in the near future.

The third challenge to the German political mainstream was Dava.

…we call it dawa, literally outreach. But jihadis and other traditionalists mean it as an offer to peaceably convert rather than be conquered.

In Arabic, the word means "converting non-Muslims to Islam." But the party’s leaders do not pursue such a goal, and its electoral base is Muslims and Germans with a migration background, mainly Turks. The group's leaders, ethnic Turks Mustafa Yoldas, Fatih Zingal and Ihsan Unlu, are well-known representatives of the Turkish-Muslim community in Germany.

It sounds like Dava is, or wants to be, the Muslim Brotherhood of Germany.

Most German media accuse Dava and their leaders of having ties to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling the party the German wing of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.

…which considers itself the Muslim Brotherhood of Turkey, even though they aren’t Arabs.

The heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Brandenburg and Bavaria want to ban it altogether.

That would be prudent, yes.

Besides “Erdogan’s party,” Dava’s second “nickname” is “Turkish AfD.” Like the Alternative for Germany, it is accused of extremist methods and views, anti-Semitism and a desire to “undermine democracy.” The alarm in the media and among legislators of traditional parties says a lot about Dava's prospects. For now, she aims to get into the European Parliament after the 2024 elections, but in the future, participation in voting in the elections to the Bundestag cannot be ruled out.

The three new parties differ in their ideology and programs, but they are united by the degree of hatred that “traditional” political forces feel towards them. The Maas party is accused of right-wing extremism, Wagenknecht of working for the Kremlin, and Dava of anti-Semitism.

Don’t be silly. I’m sure Dava is anti-Christian and anti-atheist as well.

But each of these newcomers has a chance to enter the Bundestag next year.

In certain cases, we can talk about the prospects for a coalition of new forces. It is difficult to imagine an alliance between the “migration” Dava and the anti-migration Wagenknecht and Maasen. However, a coalition of the latter two is quite possible precisely on the basis of control over migration and unity of views on freezing the Ukrainian conflict.

Theoretically, AfD could also join them. It will be easy for them to find a common language with the former head of counterintelligence Maasen, and with the Wagenknecht party, according to AfD co-chairman Tino Hrupalla, they are also ready for coordination and cooperation.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

WSJ: US wants to deploy reconnaissance drones in three African countries

2024-01-05

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The United States wants to deploy its reconnaissance drones in African countries with access to the Atlantic Ocean to prevent the spread of Islamist groups in the region. The Wall Street Journal writes about this on January 3.

Washington has begun “exploratory talks” aimed at deploying American unarmed surveillance drones at airfields in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Benin, American and African officials told the publication.

It is assumed that with the help of drones, the United States will be able to track the movements of militants from the terrorist groups “Islamic State” (an organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation) and Al-Qaeda (an organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation). The Americans will transmit this information to the local military.

As reported by IA Regnum, earlier German political scientist Alexander Rahr, commenting on the events surrounding the rebellion in Niger, said that the United States wants to use Africa in its own interests. According to him, for the Americans, Africa is another tool for ensuring world domination.

Link

Europe

Over 7,000 Women in Germany Have Been Raped or Sexually Assaulted by Asylum Seeking Migrants Since 2015: Report

2023-12-31

The fun jihad of rape.

[Breitbart] Since opening the gates to unfettered mass migration in 2015, at least 7,000 women have been raped or sexually assaulted in Germany by alleged asylum-seeking illegal migrants, an analysis of government figures has found.

A report from the Swiss-German paper of record, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, claimed that statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) show that more than one thousand women — mostly Germans — have been sexually assaulted by migrants seeking refuge every year since 2017.

Extrapolating from this figure, the paper calculated that therefore at least 7,000 women have been raped or sexually assaulted by asylum seekers since former German Chancellor Angela Merkel ushered in the European Migrant Crisis in 2015 by unilaterally opening the gates of Europe to massive waves of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

Last year, NZZ reported, asylum-seeking migrants were vastly overrepresented in reported cases of rape and sexual assault. Out of the estimated 10,000 suspects, 6,366 were German while 3,679 were foreigners. Of those, 1,115 were asylum-seeking migrants, meaning that while they represented just 2.5 per cent of the population, they were responsible for over 11 per cent of the sex assaults and rapes.

This confirms longstanding trends, with migration researcher Ruud Koopmans finding that asylum seekers were five times more likely to be involved in cases of rape and that they were 3.3 times more likely to perpetrate sex crimes as a whole, including sexual harassment and sexual abuse.

While the fact that around 70 per cent of all asylum-seeking migrants in Germany are young males likely plays a role in their overrepresentation in sex assault figures, however, Koopmans noted that certain regions are overrepresented within this group, including Syrians, Afghanis, and Pakistanis, all of whom come from societies in which women are not afforded the same rights as in Western nations.

The deputy chairman of the German Federal Police Union, Manuel Ostermann, said that the migrants committing sexual assault and rape — mostly against German women — are often already known to the police and sometimes have already been convicted of a crime but remain in the country due to lax deportation standards.

“Anyone who commits crimes against sexual self-determination must not have the right to remain in Germany,” he told NZZ.

“We are experiencing a collective loss of freedom in Germany, especially for women,” Osterman continued, noting that it is “not uncommon for women to avoid public places or festivities because the objective and subjective risk of becoming victims of a violent act is constantly increasing.”

Responding to the report, the co-leader of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party, Alice Weidel said that it was “the frightening result of the irresponsible policy of open borders since 2015.

The co-leader of the AfD, which has surged to second place in most polls on the back of growing anger about migration policy, added that the focus of the government should not be on “tolerance towards foreign criminals, but on protecting our own citizens.”

The leftist Minister of the Interior, Social Democrat Nancy Fraser, who is charged with protecting the nation’s borders, refused to be drawn on the issue of mass migration, merely stating: “These acts are abhorrent. This applies regardless of the nationality of the suspects.”

The issue of sexual violence from migrants has been longstanding in Germany. A string of sex attacks by mostly North African and Middle Eastern migrant men on New Year’s Eve in 2015, which was brought to international attention by reporting from Breitbart London, saw over a thousand women in Cologne sexually assaulted or raped. The vast majority of the perpetrators never faced justice, with merely six men being convicted of sex crimes in connection to the string of attacks.

Link

-Great Cultural Revolution

For the West to Live, Immigration(ism) Must Die

2023-12-05

[American Thinker] After expelling a large number of illegal aliens approximately 20 to 25 years ago, the Japanese government made a firm statement I’ll never forget. "Japan is for Japanese," Tokyo unabashedly explained. "Others are welcome to come and visit, but they’re expected to go home." And just like that, Japan exhibited the historical norm: defending your homeland and preserving national cohesion — without hesitation or apology.

The West — the modern West — has been a different story. Shortly before his death at age 100, famed diplomat Henry Kissinger warned of immigration’s effects after having witnessed the support for Hamas inside Germany. It was "a grave mistake to let in so many people of totally different culture and religion and concepts," he announced, "because it creates a pressure group inside each country that does that." Of course, he was just stating the obvious. In fact, we’re so far down the balkanization rabbit hole that there’s only one thing to figure out: What should have been one’s first clue?

How about when French intellectual Christian de Moliner suggested in 2017 that his nation be divided to avoid civil war with its Muslims? How about in 2021, when 20 retired French generals and more than 1,000 other military members signed an open letter warning that this looming conflict was drawing nigh?

How about in 2014, when it emerged that more than 1,400 mostly native British girls were raped and tortured by Muslim gangs and that authorities turned a blind eye to the crimes for more than 16 years, hamstrung by political correctness?

How about in 2001, when Swedish anti-Western social engineer Mona Sahlin, commenting on the Islamization of her land, actually said that "the Swedes must be integrated into the new Sweden; the old Sweden is never coming back"?

How about in 2018, when mass migration author and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel — after years of leftist claims that stories about Muslim dominated "no-go zones" were right-wing propaganda — admitted that, yes, they do exist?

Link

Europe

'Revenge of reality': it’s dangerous to be a European

2023-10-19

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by David Narmania

[RIA] In Brussels, Swedes were urged “not to flaunt that they are Swedes.” And they advised them to fold the flags and remove other signs by which their nationality could be determined. This is understandable - the Belgian police and intelligence services went all out on Monday, so no one can guarantee the safety of the guests.

Let us remind you: in the evening during a national football match, a native of Tunisia shot two Swedish fans and wounded a woman. After that, without hesitation, he continued to drive around Brussels at night. It was only possible to neutralize him the next morning in one of the capital’s cafes. Probably at that moment he was having breakfast with local waffles, amazed at his own impunity.

In Brussels, a man began shooting at people before a football match between the national teams of Belgium and Sweden.

And then the press spoke. And it turned out: the police had had information for several years that the illegal immigrant held radical views and even wanted to go to a hot spot. They also knew that the attacker was transporting refugees into the country. But they didn't do anything.

To an impressionable reader, against the backdrop of a series of sad news about conflicts and terrorist attacks occurring in recent years, it may seem that something is wrong with the world. On the contrary, the world works according to the same laws that determined the course of events before.

It is inhumane to justify the terrorist attack in Brussels, but to believe that it happened on its own and did not become a logical result of the policies of Western countries is unacceptable naivety. And we're not just talking about police punctures. The problems lie much deeper.
Belgian police outside a cordoned off area near the place where an alleged

It seems that it is no coincidence that it was Swedish citizens who became victims of the terrorist : Stockholm supported Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and zealously defends the right to burn the Koran to anyone who pleases. In this regard, a logical question arises: is it worth sacrificing the safety of one’s own citizens in the name of freedom to violate the faith of others?

And the position of the Swedish leadership on this issue reflects the ocean of problems of the global West like a drop of water. Europe is teeming with Islamist radicals of all stripes: such is the painful legacy of colonialism and the Arab Spring.

I would say it’s the painful legacy of Chancellor Angela Merkel declaring Germany open to refugees from Syria, and eventually anyone else who came and claimed to be fleeing something awful, but go on...

The latter, to put it in the simplest possible terms, was presented as an attempt to make the Middle East something similar to Europe. Of course, this was just a “marketing ploy” to protect the interests of the Western architects of these unrest, but all this turned out to be a diametrically opposite result - Europe itself began to resemble the Middle East. And this is by no means why he is usually loved.

In the liberal glass castle built after the victory in the Cold War, the West began to throw stones. Confidence in his own superiority played a cruel joke on him.

The West began to build the world on principles that it itself did not believe in, but which became a convenient tool for manipulation. Where necessary, they will help the “rebels,” and where necessary, they will fight the “terrorists.” Where necessary, they will condemn “war criminals,” and where necessary, they will support “self-defense.” Where necessary, they will support the “sovereign choice of the people,” and where necessary, they will brand “separatists.” And further down the list.

Now you have to pay for it. Some of the states that suffered from this policy have grown stronger and are challenging the West. But this is an external rival - at least it’s clear how to fight it. But neither Europe nor the United States knows how to fight the internal enemy - the radicals who have already become part of the West, whose peoples have felt all the delights of the “end of history”. The example of Sweden is indicative in this case. A world is coming in which it is dangerous to be European.

Link

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