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On February 16, 2022, a full week before Putin sent combat troops into Ukraine, the Ukrainian Army began the heavy bombardment of the area (in east Ukraine) occupied by mainly ethnic Russians. Officials from the Observer Mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were located in the vicinity at the time and kept a record of the shelling as it took place.

Until it decided to confront Moscow with an existential military threat in Ukraine, Washington confined the use of American military power to conflicts that Americans could afford to lose, wars with weak opponents in the developing world from Saigon to Baghdad that did not present an existential threat to U.S. forces or American territory. This time—a proxy war with Russia—is different.

The war in Ukraine has dominated the past year. Other global crises of soaring energy and food costs are collateral damage from the conflict in Ukraine. The conflict is not simply a localized one in the center of Europe on Russia’s doorstep involving a reactionary anti-Russian regime in Kiev. The conflict represents a historic showdown between the United States and its allies in the NATO military alliance it leads, and Russia. The showdown has been a long time coming. It didn’t have to happen in this violent, atrocious way. Russia had long warned the United States and its NATO partners...

Global world order is changing - Has the US finally lost its grip? THE GLOBAL world order appears to be changing at a rate not seen since the end of the Cold War, with new actors rapidly emerging, suggesting the US is fast losing its grip on the reins of power. By JAMES LEE 15:15, Sat, Aug 13, 2022 | UPDATED: 15:15, Sat, Aug 13, 2022 Major events have rocked the world over the last three years, from the global Covid pandemic to the outbreak of war in Ukraine, all of which are contributing to the changing face of world...

p>It’s no secret that China and Russia have been stashing away as much gold as possible for many years.China is the world’s largest producer and buyer of gold. Russia is number two. Most of that gold finds its way into the Russian and Chinese governments’ treasuries.Russia has over 2,300 tonnes—or nearly 74 million troy ounces—of gold, one of the largest stashes in the world. Nobody knows the exact amount of gold China has, but most observers believe it is even larger than Russia’s stash.Russia and China’s gold gives them access to an apolitical neutral form of money with no counterparty...

CommentaryRussia’s war in Ukraine, and the West’s response so far, has been a gift to China.The West’s strict sanctions on Russia have isolated the country from much of the world. It needs a financial lifeline.The war in Ukraine, and the West’s sanctions against Russia, is providing a unique opportunity for China to establish its currency in global trade and in turn destabilize the west. In other words, Beijing could now accomplish what it had wanted but was unable to achieve for years.Sanctioning Russia isn’t as simple as sanctioning Iran or North Korea. Russia is a major producer and exporter of...

Surprisingly, the virus affects only the countries that may have a capacity to control China’s hegemonist ambitions and not those securing aid and assistance from it. It is widely suspected that the COVID-19 virus was manufactured in a laboratory in China and was let loose on the world. It is China which is thus claimed to be largely responsible for the loss of more than 3.3 million lives and causing untold suffering to a far greater number of people. If we look at the list of death by countries, we will see that over half a million died in USA,...

China's Xinhua news agency and the Global Times state newspaper both praised Mr. Biden's "amazing show of respect for China and President Xi Jinping. Even when Xi was eating his lunch Joe was appropriately respectful, though he did mysteriously mumble 'if Oliver Twist can have pudding, then the God Damned President of the United States ought to have pudding.' Xi was puzzled and wanted to know who this privileged Mr. Twist is. This aside, the communication between the two leaders was a dramatic contrast to the disrespect shown to China by Mr. Trump. Trump was repeatedly and inharmoniously pushing his...

Qassem Soleimani is first senior official to reveal Tehran’s ambitions in Hashemite kingdom. A top commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said this weekend he believed Tehran had the ability to control events in Jordan, as it does in Iraq and Lebanon. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds force — the foreign wing of the Revolutionary Guards — was addressing a youth conference in Tehran. His remarks were the first time a senior Iranian official has openly discussed Iranian ambitions in Jordan.

US President Donald Trump will reportedly announce new tariffs on about $200 billion on Chinese imports. Meanwhile, Washington has invited Chinese officials to restart trade talks later this month. While Washington extends a carrot to Beijing, it is also swinging a stick. It is nothing new for the US to try to escalate tensions so as to exploit more gains at the negotiating table. The unilateral and hegemonic moves by the US will meet firm countermeasures from China. Against the backdrop of successive US offensives in the trade war, China will not just play defense. Nowadays economic and trade relations...

Brazil, the Next (Regional or Global) Threat to the U.S. Economic Supremacy? What Chuck Pierce saw about the U.S. and Brazil By Julio Severo In 2008, I met Chuck Pierce. He told me and a group of evangelical leaders in Brazil that God had removed his national anointing from the U.S. in 2008. For me, the confirmation came next year, when Obama (a pro-Islam, pro-sodomy and pro-abortion creature) became the U.S. president. Under his presidency, the U.S. has become the biggest exporter of the homosexual ideology in the world. Pierce also said that God was looking for another nation...

U.S. Homosexual “Marriage” Will Affect Other Countries But in a strange cover-up, big leftist media denies that the U.S. is the leader of the global homosexual movement By Julio Severo Because of the U.S. global cultural hegemony, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of homosexual “marriage” will affect other nations, and homosexual activists in many parts of the world are excited in their expectation to use the court ruling to advance their cause, according an Associated Press report. Even though large U.S. companies (Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc.) and even the U.S. government have greatly incited the trend...

Taipei is very closely watching Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong—and so far it doesn’t like what it sees. The events of the past three weeks in Hong Kong have underlined two major points. First, Beijing’s policy has not changed. Second, China’s attempt to reintegrate Taiwan with the mainland has been postponed indefinitely—perhaps forever. Beijing’s preeminent leader, Xi Jinping, has refused to allow Hong Kongers to participate in the nomination process that is the first step in the selection of the next leader of the province. This does not surprise anyone in Taipei. Even though Beijing formally accepts the one country-two...

The Sudanese government has summoned both the United States and South Sudan ambassadors following the re-arrest of Christian convert Miriam Ibrahim over "forged" travel documents. Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services agency said that Ibrahim had attempted to travel to the US using an American visa and documents issued by South Sudan. A post on Facebook, in which the agency referred to her using her Muslim name, read: "The airport passport police arrested Abrar after she presented emergency travel documents issued by the South Sudanese embassy and carrying an American visa." "The Sudanese authorities considered (the action) a criminal violation,...

The Obama administration is working around the clock to come up with ways to punish Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. But will any of them work? Behind the scenes, Obama administration officials are preparing a series of possible battle plans for a potential economic assault on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, an administration source close to the issue told The Daily Beast. Among the possible targets for these financial attacks: everyone from high-ranking Russian military officials to government leaders to top businessmen to Russian-speaking separatists in Ukraine. It’s all part of the work to prepare an executive...

Senior military analyst Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney spoke to Arutz Sheva on Tuesday, warning that rising Russian and Iranian influence, coupled with America’s waning Middle East presence, has put the US in the most dangerous situation it has been in since the 1930s just prior to World War II. … The General urged the world to wake up to the Iranian nuclear threat, which he fears may be allowed a free hand following deals in the ongoing Geneva conference. Aside from the Iranian danger, McInerney noted that spreading Russian influence poses a serious threat. In particular, McInerney highlighted the...

A genuinely pro-capitalist U.S. foreign policy would advance both the national and rational self-interest of Americans, which is: to live and flourish under authentic freedom, true justice, and the rule of law, with individual rights to life, liberty, and property protected by government against the initiation of force or fraud by hostile foreigners. To be clear, this does not mean fighting unjustified wars in Viet Nam, Iraq or Libya. Both President Obama and the GOP-led Congress failed yet again this week to abide by these principles as they apply to U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Libya. Not only do...

Irish President Michael Higgins is under fire following an interview with the Financial Times in which he said that the EU was “hegemonic” and faces a “moral crisis” as much as an economic one. He also urged the European Central Bank to reform or risk social upheaval and a loss of popular legitimacy. He has attracted the ire of critics who say he has overstepped the constitutional limits of his office. …

While guns have taken the brunt of the blame for the recent scourge of mass murders in America, it didn’t take long for the race, class and gender crowd to jump into the fray and proclaim that these tragedies were also caused in part by “frustrated white male privilege.” So says Hugo Schwyzer, a Pasadena City College professor of history and gender, who argues that these particular crimes were all committed by “spoiled, frustrated, disconnected white males who feel ignored or marginalized,” according to The College Fix. What’s more, these murderers all came from bucolic suburban environments, added Schwyzer, who...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao told his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma, on Thursday that China will work with the African Union in finding a solution to the Libyan crisis, state news agency Xinhua reported. Turkey and the African Union have proposed separate road maps aimed at establishing a ceasefire and moving through stages from Muammar Gaddafi quitting power to a democratic transition. . China said last Thursday it would skip last week's meeting in Turkey between Western powers, Arab governments and leaders of Libya's opposition National Transitional Council, saying that the way the group worked needed "further...