Putin’s Arrest Abroad Would Amount to ‘Declaration of War,’ Russian Official Says

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If Russian President Vladimir Putin were to be arrested overseas following the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for him, it would amount to a “declaration of war,” a top Russian official warned.

The ICC announced the arrest warrant for Putin last Friday, accusing him of being responsible for the thousands of children that have been forcibly deported to Russia, where they’ve undergone political reeducation training. The Kremlin quickly denounced the warrant and dismissed it.

“Just imagine — clearly that such a situation is never going to happen, but still — let’s imagine that it has happened. The incumbent head of a nuclear country arrives in, say, Germany and is arrested. What does it mean? A declaration of war against Russia. In such a case, all our weapons will target the Bundestag, the [German] chancellor’s office, and so on,” Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, who held the title of Russian presidency under Putin from 2008 to 2012, said Thursday, according to state news agency TASS.

German Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann said Berlin would have to implement the ICC decision and arrest the Russian president if he arrived in Germany. In response, Medvedev said, “Does he even realize that it would be a casus belli, a declaration of war?”

If Putin were arrested abroad, it would worsen Russia’s relationship with Western countries, he said. (Read more from “Putin’s Arrest Abroad Would Amount to ‘Declaration of War,’ Russian Official Says” HERE)

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Chinese Government Says It Will Not Allow Forced Sale of TikTok by US

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Chinese government officials have come out in official opposition to any forced sale of TikTok, creating a road bump for the Biden administration’s attempt to require a transfer of the platform to a domestic owner for it to stay in the United States.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry argued on Thursday that the proposed sale of TikTok to a U.S. client would involve the export of technology and has to be approved by the Chinese government. The government would likely not support it because it would undermine global investor confidence in the U.S. The government weighed in just before TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before Congress.

“If the news is true, China will firmly oppose it,” ministry spokeswoman Shu Jueting said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interdepartmental agency that reviews U.S. sanctions with international businesses, demanded that Chinese parent company ByteDance sell its stake in TikTok or risk being banned.

Chew has stated that TikTok will protect user data in the U.S. through “Project Texas,” a plan to store all U.S. data on localized servers. (Read more from “Chinese Government Says It Will Not Allow Forced Sale of TikTok by US” HERE)

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Russian Pop Star Found Dead From Drowning After Criticizing Putin

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Russian pop star Dima Nova was found dead from drowning on Sunday after criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was 34.

Born Dmitry Svirgunov, Nova founded the popular electronic group Cream Soda — whose song “Aqua Disco” became an anthem for anti-war protests in Russia, Newsweek reported.

In the song, the pop group called out Putin over his alleged $1.3 billion mansion. The song was commonly heard at protests against the country both before and after Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. These protests became known as “Aqua Disco Parties.” . . .

The report cited an article in a Russian news website People Talk that said Nova fell through the ice while crossing the Volga river in the Yaroslavl region, north east of Moscow. Svirgunov was not alone – he was reportedly with his brother Roma and a couple friends. (Read more from “Russian Pop Star Found Dead From Drowning After Criticizing Putin” HERE)

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Xi Jinping Uses Russia Trip to Position China as the Winner of Ukraine Invasion

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Chinese dictator Xi Jinping emphasized on Monday that his visit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, charged with human rights crimes before the International Criminal Court (ICC) less than a week ago, is intended to promote “friendship, cooperation, and peace,” positioning China as a mediator in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Xi will be in Moscow from Monday to Wednesday, meeting with Putin and other senior leaders. Xi has emphasized China’s potential role in the Ukraine crisis since arriving, promoting a Chinese “peace plan” debuted last month that demands a ceasefire, lays no blame on either side, and does not offer specificity on its demand for both sides to “calm down as soon as possible.”

Arriving on Monday, Xi vowed that China would “stand guard over the world order,” hinting at ambitions to mediate the Ukraine conflict.

Both Russia and Ukraine have offered tepid reactions to the peace plan but have encouraged Beijing to get more involved in the conflict in the role of mediator. If successful in halting some of the hostilities, Xi could use Ukraine to greatly elevate China’s international reputation as peacemaker, even as China continues to execute a years-long genocide on its own people.

The Russian news agency Tass reported that his first meeting with Putin on Monday lasted 4.5 hours and, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “obviously” addressed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Xi and Putin will return to talks at 3 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Peskov added, regarding both countries’ bilateral ties and the Ukraine invasion. (Read more from “Xi Jinping Uses Russia Trip to Position China as the Winner of Ukraine Invasion” HERE)

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Israel Could Strike Iran in Months Unless U.S. Steps In, Former Israeli General Says

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The window to prevent an Israeli strike against Iran’s growing nuclear program is closing quickly, a retired Israeli military general says.

Retired Brigadier General Amir Avivi says that the United States’ retreat from the Middle East, which has allowed China and Russia to move in, is quickly limiting Israel’s options for avoiding conflict. Israel’s timeframe for launching a strike against Iran has shortened to potentially as little as a few months.

An Israeli strike against Iran “is bad for everybody, but this is at the moment what’s going to happen, and maybe happen in three months, in six months, maybe a year,” Avivi told The Washington Free Beacon. Avivi spent three decades in the Israel Defense Forces before becoming the chairman of an Israeli national security think tank, the Israel Defense and Security Forum.

Iran and Russia have deepened ties since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war last year. Iran has reportedly provided Russia with ammo and drones to fuel its war machine while pressuring Moscow to supply Tehran with S-400 missile systems. The anti-air missile system would bolster Iran’s defensive capabilities and make delivering a strike against sensitive or high-priority targets more difficult for Israel. (Read more from “Israel Could Strike Iran in Months Unless U.S. Steps In, Former Israeli General Says” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Gave $1M to Group Opposed to US Arms for Ukraine: Report

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A co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has donated more than $1 million to a group that is urging an end to US military support for Ukraine as the country tries to stave off a Russian invasion.

Ben Cohen — who with Jerry Greenfield started the ice cream behemoth in 1978 — told the Daily Beast: “I think the US should use its power to negotiate an end to the war, not prolong the death and destruction by supplying more weapons.”

Cohen is head of the People Power Initiatives — one of whose projects is Eisenhower Media Network, which bills itself as “an organization of expert former military, intelligence, and civilian national security officials … [which] seeks to reach broad, cross-partisan audiences in diverse media outlets and among the American people.”

The former national security officials promoted by EMN, including retired US Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, have argued that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was provoked by NATO expansion eastward.

Dennis Fritz, the director of EMN, told the Daily Beast: “We gave Putin just cause [to invade Ukraine].” (Read more from “Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Gave $1M to Group Opposed to US Arms for Ukraine: Report” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Putin Visits Russian-Occupied Mariupol (VIDEO)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip on Saturday to Mariupol, a Ukrainian city his forces captured last year.

Reports say Putin flew in by helicopter. Video from Russian media showed Putin driving a car through after dark, visiting buildings, and meeting with residents.

Russian state news service TASS said it was Putin’s first-ever visit to Donbass, a region in eastern Ukraine, and while there, he received a report from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin about efforts to rebuild the port city within the eastern region. (Read more from “Putin Visits Russian-Occupied Mariupol (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Ukrainian Commander Reveals True Scale of Losses – And Pays the Price

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Ukraine has demoted a top battlefield commander after he admitted his unit had been decimated in fighting around the city of Bakhmut.

The battalion commander, known by his call sign Kupol, gave an unusually frank assessment of Ukrainian losses in an interview from the front lines earlier this week.

He revealed that all of the original 500 soldiers in his unit had either been killed or injured, a rare acknowledgement from inside the Ukrainian ranks, where losses are kept strictly confidential. . .

Kupol told the Washington Post this week that the Ukrainian army training was often poor and that some of the rookie replacements didn’t know how to throw a hand grenade or fire a rifle. . .

Kupol said that he had been motivated to speak out to try to improve training levels but furious Ukrainian generals instead demoted him. The Washington Post said he had consented to have his picture taken but admitted he could face “personal blowback” for his honest assessment. (Read more from “Ukrainian Commander Reveals True Scale of Losses – And Pays the Price” HERE)

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White House Rejects China-Brokered Ceasefire in Ukraine

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The Biden administration came out against China’s push for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, saying Thursday that a pause in fighting would work to Russia’s advantage.

Chinese President Xi Jinping intends to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an effort to broker a peace deal between the two nations, which have been at war for over a year after Russia’s invasion. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the administration believes a ceasefire would work against Ukraine.

“While that sounds perfectly reasonable and it sounds like a good thing, a ceasefire right now would basically ratify Russia’s conquest. Russia would basically be free to use that ceasefire to further entrench its positions in Ukraine, to rebuild their forces, refit them, re-man them, retrain them so that they can then restart attacks at a time of their choosing.”

Kirby said the White House supports talks between Xi and Zelensky, but warned Beijing against adopting a stance that favors Russia.

Xi is scheduled to visit Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Chinese leader has also reportedly reached out to Zelensky, although details on that were also unclear. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in a Thursday phone call. (Read more from “White House Rejects China-Brokered Ceasefire in Ukraine” HERE)

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Escalation: Backed by U.S. And EU, Poland and Slovakia Sending Jets to Ukraine

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Russia has vowed to destroy all fighter jets donated to Ukraine by European nations after Poland and Slovakia, backed by new equipment and finance from the U.S. and the European Union, became the first countries to send warplanes to Kyiv.

Fighter jets have been a long-term demand for the Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelensky since the renewed Russian invasion at the start of 2022, but NATO leaders have shied away from what they considered a major escalation of their involvement in the conflict until now. Enabled by cash and replacement warbirds from the United States and the European Union, two European nations are sending fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days.

The first to announce it was sending jets was Poland, whose airforce operates many former-Soviet fighters. Warsaw announced Thursday it would be sending the first tranche of Mikoyan MIG-29 ‘Fulcrum’ fighter jets, a 1980s-era type roughly originally built as a parallel to the U.S. F-16. While that delivery will run to four jets, Poland has dozens and is reportedly preparing others for delivery. . .

As has been the case with other major escalations in levels of support to Ukraine — the provision of main battle tanks, for instance, where months of refusals from NATO nations ended with a rush of donations after the United Kingdom opened the floodgates by being the first to supply — Poland making the jets announcement has been closely followed. Slovakia has now said it will send its entire airforce’s stock of MIG-29s as well in an announcement on Friday just hours after Poland’s. . .

Slovakia is also receiving considerable support from Western powers to make the donation possible. The European Union is making a contribution of $200 million to the Slovakian government in “compensation” for them losing their jets, and the United States has agreed to supply $700 million of new military equipment — likely American-made fighters like the F-35 — to replace them. (Read more from “Escalation: Backed by U.S. And EU, Poland and Slovakia Sending Jets to Ukraine” HERE)

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