The Arab League has readmitted Syria as a member. It should have never been expelled, members states were deceived by the US. https://t.me/presstv/65301

Negli ultimi mesi i leader dei maggiori paesi europei Scholz, Macron, Sanchez si sono recati a Pechino con una folta schiera di rappresentanti dei principali comparti industriali tedeschi, francesi e spagnoli per firmare accordi economici e commerciali. Spicca l'assenza dell'Italia. Perche' Giorgia Meloni non e' ancora andata in Cina? Che cosa pensa il padronato italiano di un presidente del consiglio che con i suoi continui atti di fede atlantista danneggia gli interessi dell'Italia in Cina favorendo di fatto la concorrenza degli altri paesi europei? La cosa ancora piu' paradossale e' che nel 2019 quando l'Italia firmo' il Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) per la Belt and Road Initiative (la nuova Via della Seta), l'Italia si trovava in mano una carta importante che avrebbe potuto giocarsi con intelligenza per strappare fette di mercato ai concorrenti. La carta venne messa da parte dal governo Draghi, che opero' per mandare a monte vari progetti sino-italiani, e gli investimenti cinesi vennero dirottati su altri paesi europei. Ora il Draghi Bis di Giorgia Meloni la straccera' definitivamente rifiutandosi di rinnovare l'accordo. Il MOU con la Cina non serviva solo a facilitare gli investimenti cinesi in Italia, ma favoriva anche l'accesso delle imprese italiane al mercato cinese (il piu' grande del mondo!) e ad altri finanziamenti della Belt and Road in aree come l'Africa e il Medio Oriente.
Ritirarsi dalla Belt and Road Initiative significa confermare agli occhi della Cina che l'Italia non e' un paese affidabile in cui investire, poiche' non possiede una politica estera consistente con i propri interessi economici, interessi che possono essere calpestati dal governo coloniale di turno.
Porre fine al MOU consolida certamente il posizionamento atlantista dell'Italia, ma ciò avrà un costo per le relazioni sino-italiane. Il governo di Lady Aspen preferisce rafforzare le relazioni con Taiwan, che sta per aprire un ufficio di rappresentanza a Milano. Dubito che gli industriali italiani stiano facendo i salti gioia dopo che gli e' stata rifilata questa patacca. @LauraRuHK

The EU Commission has proposed sanctions on Chinese companies it accuses, without any evidence, of "supporting Russia’s war machine". This development is likely to increase tensions with Beijing.

Seven Chinese businesses accused of selling equipment that could be used in weapons have been listed in a new package of sanctions to be discussed by EU member states this week. The sanctions list needs unanimous approval from the 27 member states before it can be enforced.
Two mainland Chinese companies on the list, 3HC Semiconductors and King-Pai Technology, have already been placed under sanctions by the US. Two companies in Hong Kong that are on the EU list are already on the US Treasury list: Sinno Electronics and Sigma Technology.

Brussels is also proposing sanctions on some Iranian companies accused of being involved in the manufacture and supply of drones to Russia.
The EU proposal includes measures that would allow the EU to restrict sales of certain products to third countries if diplomatic pressure did not change their behaviour.

There are also powers to ban oil tankers that conceal their location without good cause from EU ports, as the EU commission suspect they might be have been circumventing an embargo on Russian seaborne oil imports by pretending their loads are from elsewhere.

The commission has also proposed widening the range of banned exports to Russia.

It is also loosening restrictions on asset transfers to sanctions-hit entities to allow western companies in joint ventures with them to sell up. (Source: FT) @LauraRuHK

What can China do against NATO’s foray into Asia?
The Western military bloc is reportedly opening its first office in Japan as the US pushes ‘bloc confrontation’ politics into the region
By Timur Fomenko, a political analyst
Japan is reportedly planning to open a NATO liaison office in Tokyo. The office will be the first of its kind in Asia, and is designated to “coordinate” with the alliance on security matters, and on the issue of China.

It is no secret that the US seeks to expand and institutionalize the military alliance into Asia and place its footprint on a global scale, a notion that has been encouraged by the conflict in Ukraine, and called for by many senior Western figures. This shows that the organization has long discarded its original purpose, and has become a tool of hegemony and domination, far from the so-called ‘defensive’ alliance that it once claimed to be, over one specific geographic area of the globe.

The administration of US President Joe Biden is arguably the most militarily aggressive US presidency in decades, even more so than the George W. Bush presidency given the circumstances. Biden has ramped up tensions with larger powers, as opposed to merely conducting smaller regime change operations after the horrors of 9/11. In doing so, Biden has aggressively sought to expand alliances such as NATO, creating new mechanisms such as AUKUS, brought Europe to the brink of war with Russia, and is going to place new nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula. While the previous president, Donald Trump, sought to downsize NATO and make it more financially self-reliant, the Biden administration is unapologetically attempting to ‘globalize’ it.

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was once designed as a mechanism for collective regional self-defence amongst a fragile post-World War II Western Europe, which was equal in power to the Warsaw Pact. Following the end of the Cold War, after the US became the undisputed hegemon, NATO was transformed from a mere balance-of-power-focused military alliance into a tool for enforcing American interests and security objectives. In doing so, the US sought to transition the alliance into a ‘permanent order of things’ and betrayed promises to post-Soviet Russia that it would not expand it eastwards.

But now, as the US increasingly sees China as its largest adversary, it wants to ‘globalize’ NATO into Asia and interlock it with existing US alliances in the region, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia. Traditionally, the US has only ever pursued these alliances on a ‘bilateral scale’, this has typically been more manageable to US interests as Asian nations do not operate on the same universality as Western European countries, and are more fraught with nationalist conflict. For example, South Korea has little political space to cooperate with Japan. Although President Yoon Suk-yeol is attempting to do so, his ratings are sliding thanks to his perceived capitulation to Tokyo.

Despite this, the US wants to make these alliances multilateral. Even if it cannot officially expand NATO, it believes that its clout can still be increased if intelligence, armaments, and other forms of cooperation are strengthened. Hence, while not all of NATO can come running to Taiwan’s help if a conflict with mainland China breaks out, the US likely aims to create a ‘coalition’ which will cooperate in the same way as the one supporting Ukraine, i.e., providing a never-ending supply of arms, intelligence, logistics, operational support, and so on. In other words, NATO would wage war against China by proxy in the same way it has against Russia in Ukraine, whether the US is directly involved or not. This of course severely raises the military stakes of the region. (1/2)

(2/2) So what can China do to respond to this attempt at ‘alliance encirclement’ against it? First, it can strengthen its ties with Russia and aim to create a deeper balance of power in the Asia-Pacific. Secondly, it can revitalize old alliances and strengthen its ties with North Korea as a military partner. After all, the DPRK is still obligated by the 1961 treaty of mutual assistance to come to China’s aid in a war and can be used to contain Japan and South Korea. Thirdly, it can look to build new military partnerships with regional countries who feel similarly threatened by US expansionism; for example, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. While the rest of ASEAN are likely to stay neutral, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (excluding the US-aligned Philippines), China should work to improve its relationships with these countries in order to prevent the US from trying to ‘force’ them to choose.

The expansion of NATO influence into Asia ultimately poses a threat to the stability, security, and certainty of an entire region. Driven by the US, it strives to import ‘bloc confrontation’ politics into the region and upend its integration so that it might be able to secure US hegemony over it. China faces the challenge of balancing its security interests amidst this turmoil, while also ensuring that a conflict does not break out. Either way, the entire region is locked in an increasingly tense arms race amidst the foreign policy of the Biden administration, which can only be described as hegemonic, expansionist, and aggressive. (Source: RT) @LauraRuHK

❗️La Turchia non si unirà alle sanzioni unilaterali USA e UE contro la Russia. Lo ha detto il ministro degli Esteri della Repubblica Mevlut Cavusoglu.

"Non ci uniremo alle sanzioni unilaterali che gli Stati Uniti e l'UE hanno imposto alla Russia. Procediamo a nostro vantaggio e per la nostra stessa prosperità. Allo stesso tempo, stiamo monitorando da vicino l'attuazione delle disposizioni della Convenzione di Montreux", ha sottolineato in un'intervista al canale televisivo Lider Haber.

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🟥 SPEGNI I FAKE MEDIA. PASSA A L'ANTIDIPLOMATICO:
https://t.me/lantidiplomatico

In 2012 while i was browsing books with a friend at a flea market in Moscow, an elderly man approached us asking if we were from Spain. He had noticed that David, my companion, had just picked up a book in Spanish. They exchanged a few words in Spanish and soon became engrossed in a conversation. As i was tired and couldn't really take part in their exchange, i suggested we move to a nearby cafe where at least i could have something to drink while they chatted. It turned out they were from the same region, Asturias, actually the elderly man was born just a few miles from my friend's native town. When the man ordered his drink i noticed that he spoke Russian flawlessly, without any accent, so i asked him where he had learned it. His answer left me speechless. He had arrived in Moscow in 1937 as a toddler, with a sister who was just a few years older. Both his parents had died in Spain, killed by fascists during the revolution, and the kids had been evacuated to Russia. Initially, due to our ignorance, his story didn't make much sense but we kept listening because he didn't fit the profile of a fantasist: he was a dignified, mentally sound man in his 80s who had absolutely no reason to lie to a couple of strangers. And he knew both Russia and Spain really well. He added a lot of details about his early years, he remembered being taken to another orphanage east of the capital when German troops were approaching Moscow. He was a widower, his daughter was living in Spain, but he had no desire to join her because his wife was buried in Moscow and he couldn't imagine living anywhere else in the world. Well, why did i bring this up? Possibly because whenever i tell the story to friends outside Russia I am met with disbelief. Yes, the Soviet Union rescued thousands of Spanish kids, gave them food, shelter, and a good bilingual education while it was fighting for its own survival and resources were scarce. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqzzmDDl5V0

❗ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has commented on the words of the head of intelligence of Ukraine Budanov, who recently called for the killing of Russians: this is a monstrous statement

Russia strongly condemns the words of the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence Budanov; our special services will do everything to protect Russians, said Peskov.

He added that these statements by Budanov confirmed the correctness of Putin's decision to launch the special military operation.

This is direct confirmation that the Kiev regime is not just a sponsor, but also an organizer of terrorist activity, Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman added that Moscow would closely monitor the reaction of the countries of the world to these statements by the Kiev regime, including the United States.

Zelensky issued a decree according to which May 9 is declared "Europe Day" rather than "Victory Day".

A friendly reminder comes courtesy of the Kremlin Laundress: "After the completion of the special military operation and the necessary denazification processes in the remains of Ukraine, they will remember how it was in reality. They will remember that on the night of May 8-9 the Act of Germany's unconditional surrender was signed in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst. They will remember that surrender was accepted by Marshal George Konstantinovich Zhukov. Will recall that by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR May 9 was declared a national holiday - Victory Day.
Therefore, one should not pay attention to the above mentioned pathetic decree, which the inadequate Kiev junkie passes off as his "supreme command". It is just rubbish. The winds of history will soon sweep it away." Happy ✌️Victory Day, everyone! @LauraRuHK

How the EU’s ‘new’ Eastern members have taken control of the bloc.
Badly thought-out expansion has cost Germany its previous leadership of the organization and left the tail wagging the dog
By Andrey Sushentsov, Valdai Club program director

The Ukrainian crisis is giving rise to new strategic shifts. Alongside the shift away from a US-dominated world order, the conflict shows the emergence of a new balance of power in Europe that eludes the comprehension of Western analysts.

At the heart of the new strategic situation in Europe is an “inflation of the influence” of Eastern European states that was unimaginable thirty years ago.

In its current form, the European Union, whose development – both economic and political – has been driven for almost eighty years by the countries of Western Europe, has essentially lost its sovereignty. At the beginning of the 1990s, at the height of post-Cold War integration plans, there was a real possibility of forming a full European confederation: Western European countries were thinking about their own defense policy, separate from the US, and were planning to go down the road of creating some form of United States of Europe. This would have greatly strengthened Western European autonomy, not only vis-à-vis the Americans but also in regards to Russia and China. This unique opportunity was never seized.

On the contrary, Western Europe was tempted to expand virtually to the borders of Russia. And when this expansion took place, it suddenly became clear that the old European core had been eroded.

In this context, the situation of Germany, one of the strategic drivers of Europe in the outgoing era, is revealing. Berlin has lost the initiative in foreign policy. German industry and German citizens have been condemned to spend three times more on energy than before. And this is combined with the fact that the Germans have long delayed real-wage growth in their economy.

In reality, it was cheap Russian energy that made the German economy the main beneficiary of EU integration. Now these foundations are under threat, because it’s no longer available. And so, soon it will no longer be possible to keep wages down. They will have to be raised to avoid a massive rise in social discontent. And this calls into question the viability of the German economic model.

The Ukrainian crisis has led to a situation where the voice of Eastern European countries, and Poland in particular, is beginning to define Western European foreign-policy priorities. This situation is unique in modern history. Many historians have defined Eastern Europe as ‘Europe’s crossroads,’ making it a permanent battleground for competing empires. Today, the countries of Eastern Europe are not only gaining strategic influence but are moving to the forefront of European politics.

Warsaw’s current priority is to transform itself into the EU’s largest military and to create a major counterweight to Russia on Polish territory in the event of Ukraine’s defeat. Poland is creating points of tension for Russia all along its borders: military exercises on the border with the Kaliningrad region and maneuvers near the border with Belarus. All this shows that Warsaw wants to take the strategic initiative in the EU and could potentially become its main actor if the conflict goes beyond the territory of Ukraine.

The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus is a joint move by Moscow and Minsk that has a deterrent character and is intended to dispel illusions in Warsaw that Russia is not determined to maintain a balance of threats. It is possible that in the future the current crisis with the West will begin to resemble the mature years of the Cold War, with its system of mutual military deterrence. (Source: RT) @LauraRuHk

WHO WILL COME TO THE VICTORY PARADE:
President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov.

The only leader of a post-Soviet state friendly to Russia who did not come to Moscow for the Victory Parade was Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev - because of the celebration of his father's 100th birthday in the republic: "The President of Azerbaijan will take part in events dedicated to the centenary of the national leader of the republic Heydar Aliyev on May 9 and 10."

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