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General Admits U.S. Oversight of Weapons Going to Ukraine Is ‘Not as Rigorous as You Might Think’

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The United States has a limited ability to ensure the billions in weapons sent to Ukraine stays out of the wrong hands, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told Congress on Tuesday.

The Pentagon has previously acknowledged the difficulty of guaranteeing the final destination of more than $30 billion in weapons aid delivered so far to Ukraine. An ability to maintain only a small contingent of non-combat personnel dedicated to oversight at the embassy in Kyiv means it relies mostly on Ukrainian soldiers to inspect aid at destinations closer to the front lines and upload photos of weapons to a secure software for confirmation.

“There are some means and mechanisms of doing some accountability. It is not as rigorous as you might think,” Milley told Congress, adding he could elaborate on the reporting mechanism in a classified setting.

Milley pointed to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s forces as a proxy for the integrity of U.S. assistance in Ukraine.

“You can see the accountability on the battlefield,” he said. (Read more from “General Admits U.S. Oversight of Weapons Going to Ukraine Is ‘Not as Rigorous as You Might Think’” HERE)

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China Creates a New World Order as Biden Ignores the Threats

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. . .Once the repository of American and European hopes, Beijing has shown no interest in restraining Russia and restoring the pre-war European order.

Instead, it has leveraged the Ukraine war to begin building an alternative, Sino-centric system.

Its efforts are bearing fruit: As Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of their three-day summit in Moscow last week, “Right now we’re seeing a change we haven’t seen for 100 years, and we’re driving this change together.”

The change Xi references is most evident in the Middle East, where Russia’s war on Ukraine is driving America’s Gulf ally Saudi Arabia into the embrace of China. . .

Iran has seized on the Ukraine war to qualitatively upgrade its military. In return for supplying Russia with drones, munitions and — possibly — ballistic missiles, Iran will receive fourth-generation fighter jets and other advanced systems from Russia, potentially including sophisticated air defenses that could safeguard its nuclear sites. (Read more from “China Creates a New World Order as Biden Ignores the Threats” HERE)

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Where Is the Russian Banking Crisis?

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Sanctions were supposed to kill the Russian financial sector. It did, and it didn’t.

It did insofar as any globally ambitious Russian money center bank or asset manager had their expansion plans curtailed by sanctions. Doing business as a Westerner with a Moscow or St. Petersburgh-based bank is next to impossible now. Sanctions hurt.

“Because of the sanction environment, global banks, vendors, partners are extremely careful in dealing with Russia-based or connected counterparts, and always ask a lot of questions,” says Neri Tollardo, a former executive at Tinkoff Bank in Moscow, now living and working in Mexico as of mid-2022. “Banks do not process or accept payments in and out of Russia, and often times global counterparts have self-imposed compliance standards that are much stricter than the law,” he says.

So in this way, sanctions have hurt Russia’s financial institutions.

But a Russian banking crisis, one that looks like we have seen in the U.S. recently with Silicon Valley Bank and in Switzerland with Credit Suisse, has not occurred. There were never any runs on Russian banks. The ruble strengthened. And while most banks are protected by the state – led by Sberbank and VTB – the Russian Central Bank has spent much of the last decade working to clean up the financial system. This house cleaning, led by Central Bank president Elvira Nabiullina, which led to the closure of hundreds of private banks, is arguably why sanctions didn’t ruin Russian finance. Elvira had already taken the weak links out of the system. And there were many. For this reason, Russian banks have survived the West’s sanctions regime and stock market delistings better than anyone would have imagined. For a cynical Russian, watching Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse burn down while their bankers are gainfully employed is like smirking before the camera lens in front of a burning building. (Read more from “Where Is the Russian Banking Crisis?” HERE)

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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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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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Catholic Archbishop Warns Soros, Gates, Schwab Plotting Global ‘Coup D’etat’, Elites ‘Consider Russia an Enemy to Be Overthrown’

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By Just The News. Catholic Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò warned at a pro-Russian meeting that Democratic megadonor George Soros, World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab and Microsoft founder Bill Gates have “perpetrated a real world coup d’etat” for their actions during the COVID-19 pandemic followed by the war in Ukraine.

Speaking at the Founding Congress of the International Movement of Russophiles last week in Moscow, Viganò said, as translated: “We cannot be surprised that, after de-Christianizing the Western world, this elite considers Russia an enemy to be overthrown. The Russian Federation undeniably stands as the last bastion of civilization against barbarism.”

He also said the elites use global organizations such as NATO, the United Nations and similar groups for the “indoctrination of the masses.” (Read more from “Catholic Archbishop Warns Soros, Gates, Schwab Plotting Global ‘Coup D’etat’, Elites ‘Consider Russia an Enemy to Be Overthrown'” HERE)

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Who Is Carlo Maria Viganò?

Source: Wikipedia.

Carlo Maria Viganò (Italian pronunciation: [vigaˈnɔ]; born 16 January 1941) is a bishop of the Catholic Church who served as the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States from 19 October 2011 to 12 April 2016. He previously served as secretary-general of the Governorate of Vatican City State from 16 July 2009 to 3 September 2011. He is best known for having publicized two major Vatican scandals. These were the Vatican leaks scandal of 2012, in which he revealed financial corruption in the Vatican, and a 2018 letter in which he accused Pope Francis and other church leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

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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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Why Putin Will Probably Have to Cancel Most Travel Outside of Russia for Now; Arrest Warrant Issued

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By Townhall. Vladimir Putin will probably have to cancel all travel plans, at least to nations that are signatories of the International Criminal Court. Today, that body issued an arrest warrant on allegations that Russia has committed heinous war crimes in Ukraine. The announcement was met with strong denials from the Kremlin, which was predictable, claiming that these moves at placing pressure on Moscow are done only to discredit Russian Federation (via NBC News):

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Friday for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for war crimes in Ukraine.

Putin committed the “war crime” of overseeing the unlawful abduction and deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia, the court said in a news release.

. . .Now, let’s be honest: this is a mostly symbolic gesture. The ICC has no police force, and even if they did, they wouldn’t barge into the Grand Kremlin Palace, slap cuffs on Putin, and airlift him to The Hauge. They rely on signatory states’ police forces to execute the warrants, which is most of Europe. The United States doesn’t recognize ICC jurisdiction. Still, it could cause a headache for Joe Biden or whoever is the next president should Putin defy international norms, as he’s done often, and travel here—because the pressure to do something could be mind-splitting—or any nation that recognizes the ICC for something like a significant international summit. (Read more from “Why Putin Will Probably Have to Cancel Most Travel Outside of Russia for Now” HERE)

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How an International Arrest Warrant for Putin Puts a New Spin on Xi Visit to Russia

By PBS News Hour. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week highlighted China’s aspirations for a greater role on the world stage. But they also revealed the perils of global diplomacy: Hours after Friday’s announcement of the trip, an international arrest warrant was issued for Putin on war crimes charges, taking at least some wind out of the sails of China’s big reveal.

The flurry of developments — which followed China’s brokering of an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume diplomatic relations and its release of what it calls a “peace plan” for Ukraine — came as the Biden administration watches warily Beijing’s moves to assert itself more forcefully in international affairs.

U.S. officials had no immediate public comment on the arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, but privately they expressed satisfaction that an international body had agreed with Washington’s assessment that Russia has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

The Biden administration believes China’s desire to be seen as a broker for peace between Russia and Ukraine may be viewed more critically now that Putin is officially a war crime suspect, according to two U.S. officials. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the matter publicly, said the administration hopes the warrants will help mobilize heretofore neutral countries to weigh in on the conflict. (Read more from “How an International Arrest Warrant for Putin Puts a New Spin on Xi Visit to Russia” 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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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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