🇩🇪 Germany’s largest defense contractor is U.S.-owned — and it produces “eco-friendly mobility,” Werner Rügemer writes.

#Germany #war #militarisation

@strategic_culture

✍️ Articolo di A.Drobinin, Direttore del Dipartimento di Pianificazione della Politica Estera del Ministero degli Affari Esteri della Federazione Russa, nella rivista «Russia nella Politica Globale».

L'immagine di un mondo multipolare. Il fattore civiltà e la posizione della Russia nell'ordine mondiale emergente

I punti chiave

🔹Il mondo si sta spostando dalla globalizzazione alla formazione di molte piattaforme di civiltà (si possono anche chiamare centri di potere o "poli") e poi all'interazione e all'integrazione tra di loro. Questo è un lungo processo storico, un'intera epoca in cui stiamo entrando.

🔹Le comunità di civiltà non possono e non devono necessariamente essere uguali per potere economico e militare, dimensioni del territorio o popolazione. Sono unite dal fatto di avere la capacità di influenzare i processi globali, di portare la propria visione della risoluzione dei problemi nel dibattito mondiale.

🔹L'osservanza del principio di uguaglianza sovrana, sancito dalla Carta delle Nazioni Unite, è chiamata a garantire la libertà e il benessere di tutti gli Stati del mondo multipolare, indipendentemente dall'appartenenza all'uno o all'altro gruppo di civiltà. Si noti che questo principio di base non riguarda solo l'uguaglianza delle relazioni interstatali. Presuppone anche la vera sovranizzazione dei paesi indipendenti e il loro orientamento verso gli interessi nazionali nella politica interna ed estera. Sostenendo questo principio, difendiamo una costante essenziale nella democratizzazione delle relazioni internazionali, nella difesa della diversità culturale e di civiltà e nella costruzione di un sistema mondiale multipolare in cui nessuno Stato debba essere svantaggiato.  

🔹La decolonizzazione degli anni Sessanta non ha conferito ai nuovi Stati indipendenti la piena sovranità economica e politica. Il neocolonialismo è stato concepito per garantire il trasferimento continuo di risorse dal mondo in via di sviluppo al "miliardo d'oro". Dopo il crollo dell'URSS e della Comunità economica socialista, questo sistema si è diffuso in quasi tutto il mondo sotto la bandiera della globalizzazione. 

🔹All'inizio del XXI secolo, l'ascesa dell'Est globale e del Sud, accelerata dalla cooperazione transfrontaliera, ha infranto questo paradigma economicamente e moralmente insostenibile. Nel 2021, i Paesi BRICS hanno superato la quota del G7 nel volume dell'attività economica mondiale, rappresentando il 32% del PIL globale a parità di potere d'acquisto[16]. Lo sviluppo economico è seguito dalla soggettività politica e cioè dalla sovranità degli Stati nazionali di cui si è parlato in precedenza. In ogni macroregione del mondo è emerso uno o più Stati leader di rilevanza globale.

🔹C'è motivo di credere che l'impulso per una trasformazione qualitativa della situazione sia stato fornito dall’Operazione Militare Speciale della Russia. Lo dimostra la riluttanza della Maggioranza Mondiale ad aderire alle sanzioni antirusse e alla campagna politico-propagandistica dell'Occidente. 

🔹La consapevolezza che le regole del gioco stanno cambiando potrebbe, in linea di principio, essere un incentivo per tutti a trovare un accordo. Ma finora abbiamo visto come gli anglosassoni, o meglio le loro élite al potere, abbiano puntato sul ripristino con la forza del "momento unipolare" dei primi anni Novanta. A tal fine, cercano di smembrare le comunità di civiltà in segmenti facili da assimilare, secondo la formula del "divide et impera". 

🔹Il fattore della civiltà negli affari internazionali è un segno dei tempi. In un momento in cui le pietre miliari della storia si spostano, si intensifica la battaglia delle idee e delle visioni del futuro. Ma questo conflitto non si svolge in astratto o nel vuoto. Si inserisce nel quadro della forma geopolitica e di civiltà e del mondo multipolare che sta oggi emergendo.

👉 Leggere il testo intero

Gia Saralidze: All night long I have been following what is happening in Tbilisi.
The adoption of the law on foreign agents in its first reading predictably led to riots. Why predictably? Because the US ambassador to Georgia openly warned about it, stating that the US would not allow the country to diverge from its Euro-Atlantic path.
In other words, it is a crime for a sovereign country to adopt a law on transparency in funding of NGOs and NGOs.
And it is understandable. As soon as the Georgian government tries to defend the interests of its state and its people to the detriment of the U.S. and its policies, agents of Western influence take to the streets, they do not care about their country and its fate.
The current Georgian government has "sinned" against the Euro-Atlantic course. They did not hold out sanctions against Russia, they did not open a "second front" after the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, as called for by Zelensky. There was talk of the desirability of opening direct flights with Russia. Didn't see Russian tourists as a threat. Trade between our countries has grown to record levels. They paid no attention to the West's insistent advice to isolate themselves from Russia. Albeit to the detriment of Georgia's economy and citizens. That is not the main thing. What matters is the Euro-Atlantic way and values. The right of LGBT people to parade outside Orthodox churches, for example.
Obvious crimes against the US and the West.
So, the same foreign agents who received money from the West to save wild hamsters or shelters for lame grasshoppers came out on Rustaveli Avenue. They came out not just to stand, but with the intention of staging a Maidan. With all the necessary paraphernalia, in the form of Molotov cocktails that were thrown at the police, and slogans about the path to Europe and NATO. And under flags of the USA and the EU. Does this remind you of anything? The guys are not shy. They are following the same script and the same methods.
They will shake up Georgia. This is just the beginning. If the government does not hold firm, it could be fatal for the very existence of Georgia. https://t.me/imerelgia/4681

⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦💀 New Map & the Situation in #Bakhmut on 8 Mar 2023; pub. 12:30⚡️

🔹 The Entire Eastern part of the city, namely the districts, is under the control of Wagner PMC units:

▪️ Dacha;
▪️ Industrial Zone;
▪️ Meat Factory;
▪️ Zabakhmutka.

🔹To the West of the Bakhmutka River, the districts have been liberated:

▪️ Stupki;
▪️ Ilyinovka.

🔹 Fierce Fighting continues in the districts:

▪️ Sobachevka;
▪️ Budenovka.

📜 @brussinf

t.me/sitreports /@brussinf/#smo/
Join SITREP🔺Map Reports - Top Videos - Analyses

🇨🇳🇩🇪 The German government is reportedly planning to forbid telecom operators from using certain components from Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE in its 5G networks. The ban could include components already built into the networks, according to Reuters. If Germany moves to prohibit its telecom operators from using these components, it could face massive economic costs. Germany would have to rebuild its mobile network, which may cost several billion euros and cause an additional financial burden as the German economy is currently facing multiple headwinds. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202303/1286816.shtml

Around 630,000 small and microbusinesses in Britain have raised concerns that they may have to fold this year due to spiraling costs, Sky News reported on Monday, citing a study by website builder GoDaddy. Their collapse could reportedly wipe £12 billion ($14.4 billion) out of the economy.
https://www.rt.com/business/572553-uk-small-business-failure/

How Britain Secretly Warped MH17 News Coverage

https://thegrayzone.com/2023/03/05/british-intelligence-firm-mh17-news/

In November of 2022, a final judgment arrived in the trial of alleged perpetrators of the attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). Russia and the Donbas separatists having long-been convicted in the court of international public opinion, courtesy of a concerted media campaign waged by the Ukrainian Security Service, and notorious Bellingcat, may explain why mainstream interest in the verdict was virtually non-existent.

I can now reveal there was a hitherto undisclosed dimension to that campaign. Much of the initial news coverage of MH17, which did so much to cement the narrative of Moscow's culpability, was heavily influenced by a shadowy entity called Pilgrims Group, which is closely tied to British intelligence.

Staffed and led by British Special Forces veterans, Pilgrims Group is a private security company offering elite security services to London’s embassies, diplomats, spies, and business interests abroad, particularly in high-risk environments. It also trains foreign militaries and paramilitary groups, and provides protection to reporters and their employers.

It was in the latter context that Pilgrims Group shaped media coverage – and by extension, official investigations – of MH17. The company had maintained a presence in Kiev since the early days of the US-orchestrated Maidan “revolution” in late 2013, shepherding journalists to and from the scenes of major events in Ukraine. In the process, it maintained control over what the reporters under its watch saw and how they understood the situations they encountered.

As such, Pilgrims Group played a pivotal role in convicting Russia and the Donbas separatists for MH17’s downing. The operation began while the plane’s wreckage remained smoldering on the ground of rebel-controlled territory, and ultimately prevented the initiation of any genuinely independent investigations.

Americas Hyper-Financialized Economic System Is No Match for China's Government-Directed Investment Model. Regrettably, China's Explosive Growth Is Pushing a Desperate Washington Closer to War.

Ukraine is the first flashpoint in a great power struggle between the United States and China. After years of shifting its industries to low-wage locations around the world, the US finds itself steadily losing market-share to a faster-growing and more resourceful China. By most estimates, China's economy will overtake the United States by 2035 at which point, Beijing will be in a much better position to shape international trade relations in a way that promotes its own interests. With growth, comes power, and that rule will certainly apply to China as well. China has emerged as an industrial powerhouse that sits at the very epicenter of the most populous and fastest growing region in the world. It is for that reason that the United States has initiated a series of provocations on the island of Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

The US has abandoned all hope of prevailing over China through conventional free market competition. Instead, the US plans to engage China militarily in a desperate attempt to drain its resources, garner broader support for economic sanctions and isolate China from its regional trading partners. https://www.sott.net/article/477970-Chinas-Turn

▶️ Macron’s reform plan sparks fresh protests

@PressTV - #France #EmmanuelMacron

From The Telegraph 🤡

🌘 The degeneracy in western intelligence did not start with the recent collective ‘excitement’ at the possibilities of ‘nudge-psychology’.

The first steps in this direction began with a shift in ethos reaching back to the Clinton/Thatcher era in which the intelligence services were ‘neo-liberalised’.

No longer was the role of ‘devil’s advocate’ – of bringing ‘bad news’ (i.e. hard-edged Realism) to the relevant political leadership valued; instead what was inserted was a radical shift towards ‘Business School’ practice of services being tasked with ‘adding value’ to existing government policies, and (even) of creating ‘a market’ system in Intelligence!

The politician-managers demanded ‘good news’. And to make ‘it stick’, funding was tied to the ‘value added’ – with administrators skilled at managing bureaucracy moved into leadership jobs. It marked the end to classical Intelligence – which always was an art, rather than science.

In short, it was the outset to fixing the intelligence around policies (to add value), rather than the traditional function of shaping policies to sound analysis.

The West now faces the task of de-fusing the landmine of their own electorate’s conviction of a Ukraine ‘win’, and of Russian humiliation 🥴

💬 Read more by Alastair Crooke

#West #war #UkraineCrisis

@strategic_culture

Mi ha scritto una persona lamentandosi che i miei post sono in inglese, lingua dell'oppressore, e affermando che la liberazione inizia dal riappropriarsi della propria. Tutto giustissimo...per chi vive in patria. Io infatti la mia lingua non l'ho dimenticata, anzi per anni ne ho fatto oggetto di studio. Quando vado in Italia o parlo con degli italiani, la uso anche se non in modo fluente perche' il mio cervello e' sovraccaricato dalle altre lingue. A volte mi viene piu' naturale un'espressione dialettale che emerge dal substrato piu' antico, quello dell'infanzia. Succede a tutti gli emigrati, anzi alcuni all'estero parlano il dialetto meglio dell'italiano. A volte per strada sento parlare siciliano o vicentino. Ma non succede spesso che io incontri degli italiani. Vivo all'estero da decenni, e non ho neppure una tastiera italiana con gli accenti. Perche' mai dovrei scrivere nella lingua del mio paese se esso dista 10mila chilometri da dove abito? In Italia quando mi escono espressioni come "gamba di pollo" invece che "coscia di pollo", o "uccidere il tempo" invece che "ammazzare il tempo" mi chiedono da dove vengo, mi prendono per un'immigrata. Tutti i miei articoli sono in inglese e quando ho tempo li traduco in italiano, gratis. Chi segue questo canale parla lingue diverse, non necessariamente la mia, e l'inglese, piaccia o no, e' una lingua franca, come lo era un tempo il latino. Nella mia famiglia si parlavano dialetti diversi, e i miei genitori parlavano italiano fra di loro per capirsi. In quel caso l'italiano era la lingua franca della famiglia. Ma fuori dai confini nazionali non la capiva quasi nessuno e io dovevo fare da interprete.
PS. Telegram ha la funzione di traduttore automatico. Io la uso per le lingue che non conosco.

🇬🇪 DISINFORMATION AND SCAREMONGERING ARE FUELLING THE PROTESTS IN GEORGIA - More people are joining the protests after being told that psychologists, sociologists, start-up directors, young lawyers, political researchers, media workers, even nurses and doctors could lose their jobs if the organization they work for receives funding from abroad. That's a lie.
Some were told that if this bill becomes law, it will apply to individuals who receive bank remittances from a parent/spouse working abroad. Those who received a scholarship to study abroad may be considered "foreign agents". Yet another lie.

To spread panic they even told women who get free breast cancer screening thanks to a foreign NGO that this service will be suspended if the bill is approved. Guess who is spreading these lies? @LauraRuHK

Georgia 2023 = Armenia 2018

Oggi la Georgia è a un passo dal ripetere il tragico errore commesso dall'Armenia nel 2018. Cinque anni fa, in Armenia è salita al potere una banda guidata principalmente dal culto occidentale e dalla russofobia, piuttosto che dagli interessi nazionali.

I risultati di questo errore sono i più devastanti possibili. Una guerra di 44 giorni, seguita dalla capitolazione e dalla perdita del 75% del Nagorno Karabakh, dalla perdita di terre armene sovrane e da una perdita di sovranità non ancora legale, ma già di fatto.

Le autorità georgiane di oggi sono un perfetto esempio di quelle forze che agiscono proprio nell'interesse nazionale. Nonostante la colossale russofobia della società georgiana, le autorità non seguono l'esempio della folla. Si rifiutano di aprire un secondo fronte, anche nonostante l'imposizione di sanzioni personali. Non tagliano l'ossigeno agli affari russi e non si lamentano della ripresa dei collegamenti aerei. Inoltre, a differenza delle autorità armene, spesso si limitano a rifiutare l'ingresso a vari personaggi distruttivi provenienti dalla Russia e dall'Ucraina che cercano di influenzare la situazione interna del Paese ospitante.

Anche la Georgia è di grande importanza dal punto di vista dei corridoi di trasporto, in particolare il corridoio Nord-Sud. È la Georgia che collega l'Armenia alla Russia e la chiusura di questa strada causerà una dipendenza ancora maggiore e un rafforzamento dell'Azerbaigian.

I corridoi di trasporto e il loro blocco sono una storia molto importante, una leva di pressione molto forte; in generale, la situazione in Georgia è legata al rifiuto delle autorità di condurre una politica anti-russa, al rifiuto di diventare una nuova Ucraina, al fatto che l'Occidente può combattere con la Russia fino all'ultimo georgiano. Tuttavia, cosa molto più importante, le autorità georgiane stanno perseguendo questa politica non perché sono protette o ispirate da Mosca ma perché agiscono davvero nell'interesse nazionale del Paese. E l'Occidente se ne preoccupa.

P.S. Non importa quante persone siano scese in piazza in Georgia, guardate il filmato dell'Armenia 2018 e ricordate a cosa ha portato.

- Mika Badalyan (diffuso da Soloviev)

🇬🇪Thousands of demonstrators, some wearing gas masks and helmets, surrounded the parliament building in Tbilisi on Wednesday evening, protesting a law that would curb foreign-funded NGOs. Police used tear gas, water cannons and flash-bangs in an attempt to disperse them.

In a repeat of Tuesday’s clashes, protesters used petrol bombs and fireworks against the police, drawing a forceful response.
Live-streams of the protest showed demonstrators attempting to breach the gates and enter the parliament building. Several windows on the building were broken. At one point, gunshots could be heard. Barricades were erected in Rustaveli avenue and a police car was set on fire. The US embassy issued a statement supporting a protest that is clearly not peaceful, as rioters use urban guerrilla tactics. https://t.me/SputnikGeorgia/25074

Wealthy Chinese and other Asian clients have stopped keeping their money in Swiss banks after Switzerland abandoned its neutrality and imposed sanctions on Russia. Wealthy clients seek security, and of course no longer have much faith in a country that has so easily given up its neutral status - businessmen simply fear for the safety of their assets. As the publication admits, this could have an impact on business development.

"We were not just surprised, but shocked that Switzerland had given up its neutral status," a Swiss director who oversees Asian operations at his bank told the FT.

The price of a ruined reputation. @LauraRuHK

With Mario Draghi in power and plans to succeed Stoltenberg as the next Secretary General of NATO when he steps down this year in the autumn, Italy joined the EU's efforts to flood Ukraine with weapons in the first ranks. Draghi has been rushing so much that the Italian government began sending the arms even before this very step was even discussed and approved by the parliament. To drag Italy into the very mess of the ongoing crisis and to present himself and Italy as one of the motors of NATO unity and militarism was the most appropriate thing to do for Mario Draghi to meet his goals. After the governmental crisis, the new government, surprising (not so much, to be honest), continued on the same track, being unable to do anything but continue the track shaped by Mario Draghi, which plunged the country into the epicentre of the cataclysm.

But economically, the country is not ready for such a role, having been acutely damaged by the COVID crisis, and according to the data, it is short on military resources.

Though Italy has never been in the focus of my research interests, I came across a quite interesting Italian report published by the Italian Defense Research and Analysis Institute. Despite having a very boring title, it has quite fascinating revelations. According to the document, the military budget was critically small and insufficient before the conflict, and it became critically insufficient taking into account the current developments and Italian approaches. Since 2008, the Italian budget in relation to GDP has grown just on 0,02% from 1,35 to 1,38, (from 21.132,4 M€ in 2008 to 25.956,1 M€), despite the obvious rise of geopolitical threats that were expanding throughout the past years.

The country that has been positioning itself as a NATO motor, encouraging the countries to support Ukraine by all means, has little chance of enlarging its budget, but at the same time has had to cut certain expenditures and shorten its military personnel to balance the distribution of resources in the military sector and at the same time to cover the debts. The inner imbalance of the defense structure, caused by imbalanced resource distribution multiplied by resource insufficiency, influences the functionality of the Italian defense sector and harms Italy's capacity to fulfill its commitments to NATO.

In the meantime, five military aid packages from Italy to Ukraine amount to 1 billion dollars. With the sixth one, which contains Italian air-defense systems, the military assistance provided by Italy to Ukraine totals nearly $2 billion. Being short on money, the generous supplies of arms to Ukraine raise the question of how Italy is going to restock its depleted military depots. The Meloni's bravado that Italy will not stop providing Ukraine till the victory sounds something extremely close to nonsense, taking into account the obvious financial problems of the Italian defense sector and taking into consideration that Italy reduces its own military operational expenses by 10%. And all of that against the background of the numerous security problems faced by Italy that are not limited only to the ongoing crisis.

It's not entirely apparent for whom these displays of military might are intended, given that the actual situation is completely at odds with what is being demonstrated. It is looking like the security and defense of Italy are being sacrificed to the empty ambitions of certain political circles, both domestically and on the NATO level. And it seems that the Italian leadership serves Brussels more than their own people. Not the first time, though. And likely not the last.