The main source of the Bucha tragedy reports is a videotape, taken by the Ukrainian National Police, of one of their convoys driving through a street in the town. A dozen or so corpses litter the roadway, many of them appearing to have been bound. This video has gone viral, producing a pandemic of anguish and anger that has swept over much of the world, capturing the attention of heads of state and the head of the Catholic Church alike, resulting in a tidal wave of condemnation and outrage directed at Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. The cause-and-effect relationship between the video and the global backlash is clear – the former could not exist without the latter.
For its part, Russia has vehemently denied the allegations, and has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss what the Russian Foreign Ministry has called the “criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals” in Bucha. The presidency of the Security Council is held by Great Britain, and the British mission to the UN has denied the Russian request, stating that a discussion on Ukraine currently scheduled for Tuesday, April 4 would serve as a forum for any discussion about Bucha.
One would think that the Security Council, which has shown a readiness in the past to meet on short notice to discuss the events coming out of Ukraine, would seek to accommodate Russia’s request on a matter of such importance. The goal of the British, however, does not appear to be the rapid search for truth and justice, but rather to buy time to allow the political fallout from the alleged massacre in Bucha to develop further.
One example of this tactic manifesting itself is the reaction of US President Joe Biden. “You saw what happened in Bucha,” he explained in comments to reporters, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is a war criminal.” Biden took advantage of the Bucha crisis to advocate for the delivery of more weaponry to Ukraine. “We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight,” he said. “And we have to gather all the detail so this can be an actual – have a war crimes trial.”
All this from the president of a country which has refused to recognise the International Criminal Court. For reasons which should be obvious to anyone willing to apply some critical thought.
- Scott Ritter (ex-US Marine Corps intelligence officer and author of 'SCORPION KING: America's Suicidal Embrace of Nuclear Weapons from FDR to Trump.' He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector)
Anonymous
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NATO to target China – Stoltenberg
Beijing poses a “systemic challenge to security,” according to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
NATO plans to deepen its cooperation with partners in Asia as a response to a rising “security challenge” coming from China, which refuses to condemn Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine, the US-led bloc's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg revealed during a press conference on Tuesday.
He announced that the bloc will host foreign ministers from member states as well as Finland, Sweden, Georgia, and the EU. However, the Norwegian-born official also noted that its Asia-Pacific partners – such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea – have been invited as well, stating that the current security crisis has “global implications.”
The ministers will discuss new strategic concepts which will account for the military conflict in Ukraine, but will also include for the first time the issue of China’s “growing influence and coercive policies on the global stage which pose a systemic challenge to our security and to our democracies.”
“We see that China has been unwilling to condemn Russia’s aggression and has joined Moscow in questioning the right of nations to choose their own path,” said Stoltenberg, urging that democracies must stand up for their values against “authoritarian powers.”
According to the US government-funded Freedom House, five of NATO's thirty members are not considered to be full democracies – Turkey, Hungary, Albania, North Macedonia & Montenegro.
He expressed hope that the bloc would be able to deepen its cooperation with its Asia-Pacific partners in areas such as “arms control, cyber, hybrid and technology.”
Since the start of Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine, Beijing has held off on taking a particular stance on the issue, calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict but refusing to condemn Moscow’s actions or join the sweeping economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the likes of the US, Canada, the UK, the EU, Japan, Australia, and other nations.
For the last few weeks, the US has increasingly been putting more pressure on China to “pick a side,” with Joe Biden warning Beijing of potential “consequences” and “costs” should China choose to back Russia in the Ukraine conflict, either militarily or by helping circumvent international sanctions.
[ RT ]
They still think that repeating lies will make them stick in people's mind. They forgot there is social media and open source information channels doing the damage control nowadays.
Just take Channel News America. Repeating and repeating the same regurgitated stuff, all one sided propaganda stuff, thinking it will stick.
Do not be mistaken. I just watch to enjoy the extent of the fabrication and it does provide laughter, the best medicine for stress.
These one-sided propaganda are nothing else but simple and easily followed pure propaganda. There is no need to show proof in order to state that it is pure propaganda.
Everything falls into order, once you take it as pure and simple propaganda, nothing more and nothing less.
You would think the Russians are so stupid to leave behind clear evidence of their alleged "war crimes" against civilians when they departed from Bucha !
Those shot dead with hands tied behind their backs could be Donbas rebel prisoners whom the Ukrainians executed and then placed in Bucha to frame the Russians.
The Americans are infamous for lying and black ops, what is new? It is so easy to fabricate such evidence as these are part and parcel of their psyops.
Only the dull and daft would believe in them.
And they would not allow the inspectors to investigate the truth, just like the bioweapon labs and Fort Detrick.
China's UN envoy Zhang Jun said civilians should not be targeted in armed conflicts, but stressed that accusations should be based on facts.
“Reports and images of civilian deaths in Bucha are very disturbing, and the circumstances and specific causes of the incident must be ascertained,” he said. “Any allegations should be based on facts, and all parties should exercise restraint and avoid groundless accusations until conclusions are drawn.”
Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that Russian troops are not targeting civilians, dismissing accusations of abuse as lies. Nebenzia said that while Bucha was under Russian control “not a single civilian suffered from any kind of violence”.
The fake news proffered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his neo-Nazi compatriots surfaced even as the Phase 2 of Russia’s special operation is slated to begin within the week in the eastern Donbass region.
The alacrity with which French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz consumed the fake news is a harbinger of a new phase in the information war.
To be sure, a whole month lies ahead where the western strategy will be to incessantly manufacture fake news, intensify the information war. Even some false flag operation may be staged under the supervision of western intelligence operatives.
In a worst case scenario, Kiev may even play its last card — chemical weapons. Russia has publicised details of locations where Ukraine has kept stockpiles of chemical weapons. The US is known to have supplied as military aid special gear (gas masks, protective clothing, etc.) to cope with chemical weapons and given special training for collective protection.
The Philippines had asked New Delhi for a clarification on the BrahMos missile it is buying from India days after the Indian defence ministry admitted to a missile having been accidentally fired into Pakistan.
The Filipinos are obviously scared that their new BrahMos missile may fly accidentally into China !
The Philippines now regret spending US $375 million to buy the made-in-India missiles - India's first missile sale to a foreign party!
Beijing to Accelerate De-Dollarization as Yellen Threatens China
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday the Biden administration would be prepared to use all its sanctions tools against China if Beijing moved aggressively toward Taiwan.
"I believe we've shown we can impose significant pain on aggressive countries, as evidenced by sanctions against Russia," Yellen told lawmakers as she testified before the House Financial Services Committee. "I think you should not doubt our ability and resolve to do the same in other situations."
Yellen 's specific threat against China is likely to hasten Beijing's plans to increase usage of its yuan for trade settlements and reduce the composition of the dollar in its vast sovereign reserves.
Beijing says that the US, by freezing Russia's reserves and assets in US banks, has once again distorted the rules of international financial system into a weapon against its enemy . The more the US uses the dollar hegemony as a weapon, the more concerned the international community will be as to whether they will be hit by the same weapon in the future. Therefore, the global economy will feel an increasing urgency to reassess their reliance on the dollar when it comes to foreign exchange reserves.
Beijing says that it's based on the almost "risk-free" credibility of the US dollar and its banking system that many countries around the world keep their reserves at US banks and hold a large quantity of US bonds. But when the dollar's credibility began to give way to politics, the foundation of the existing international monetary and financial system starts to collapse.
In fact, many countries like China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia have already explored new ways to complete international trade settlement. Conditions are rife for a de-dollarization trade system to escape its hegemony. Yellen's threat and the crisis in Ukraine will accelerate the process.
Beijing should go all out to de-dollarise the USD.
Since the Gang of Five (USA, UK, Canada, Aussie and New Zealand) are so determined to inflict heavy punishments upon the Russians, and subsequently also China, there is no need to be shy or be uncomfortable to move away from this bipolar, or even multipola, entity.
The National Assets shell make sure all trades are done through their own financial systems.
Twitter bans Scott Ritter for questioning Ukraine narrative
Twitter “permanently suspended” the retired US Marine Corps officer Scott Ritter on Wednesday, accusing him of engaging in prohibited behavior by questioning the claims of Ukrainian authorities that Russian soldiers had massacred civilians in Bucha near Kiev. Ritter is best known as the former UN weapons inspector who doubted US claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, invoked by Washington as a pretext for the 2003 invasion.
“So apparently I’ve been suspended from Twitter for the crime of challenging the orthodox narrative of the so-called Bucha massacre,” Ritter said on his Telegram channel, sharing a screenshot of the message he received from the Big Tech platform.
“I’ve appealed, so who knows what the future will bring,” Ritter said, adding that “Freedom of speech in America today is an endangered concept.”
According to the screenshot, Twitter’s censors had decided that Ritter violated their rules against “harassment and abuse” by saying the Ukrainian police had committed crimes against humanity in Bucha, and were trying to shift blame onto Russia with US help.
Ritter’s tweet did not contain calls for abuse or harassment, or wish physical harm on anyone, Shadowproof journalist Kevin Gosztola pointed out, arguing that his ban “shows how Twitter Rules can be twisted to silence US foreign policy critics.”
Ritter is a retired US Marine who had inspected Soviet weapons under the now-defunct INF treaty, worked as the chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, and served on the staff of General Norman Schwarzkopf during the first Gulf War.
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