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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🎬 Remembrance - an RT Doc. Film

Synopsis: When the Red Army approached Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, the survivors met their liberators with shouts of “the Russians have come.” The first words of Major Anatoly Shapiro, who was in command of the unit that entered the death camp, were: “The Red Army came to set you free.”

Surprisingly, nowadays, while on a tour of the notorious extermination camp, you would never hear Polish guides mention that exactly the Soviet Union liberated Auschwitz. Instead, you would be told a big fat and deliberate lie: that World War II was started by Stalin, jointly with Hitler.

Today, Western countries are trying to rewrite history in order to point out that it is them who saved Europe from the Nazies. The truth about real contribution to the liberation of Europe by the Red Army is being wiped from Western history books. At the same time Soviet soldiers increasingly being portrayed as oppressors and occupiers rather than saviours.

However, back then the people caught amid the conflict were perfectly aware of the sacrifices the Soviet people and the Red Army made to beat the Nazis. Both Roosevelt and Churchill told Stalin “The US/UK understand that the Soviet Union is bearing the brunt of the war.”

Very few Westerners are aware what the Soviet Union had to endure and the might of the Nazi war machine it had to face and then crush. The Red Army faced over 75% of all Nazi Germany forces, its most experienced and brutal units, at the height of their power, dealing the decisive blow to break the Axis backbone. It took the never-seen-before devotion, ingenuity, strategy and tactics as well as united efforts of the entire Soviet nation. Although remembered with reverence, the Allies efforts on the ground pale in comparison: US military death toll in Europe amounted to some 300'000, while most of the Nazi forces were concentrated on the Eastern front.

👉 Watch the full film by RT Documentary

#UnabridgedTruth #WWII
#TheyForgotButWeRemember #LeastWeForget

Global Times interviewed Mahathir bin Mohamad, former prime minister of Malaysia. As far as i can tell, his opinions are a pretty good reflection of the public sentiment in Asia. That's what most people think about the conflict in Ukraine and US provocations in the Asia-Pacific region. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202305/1290284.shtml

Canada on Monday expelled Toronto-based Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after accusing him of "trying to target Michael Chong, a Canadian lawmaker critical of China’s treatment of its Uygur Muslim minority."

The expulsion escalates already tense Sino-Canadian relations.
China’s embassy in Ottawa said it condemns the expulsion, and that it has formally protested the move to the government.

“China will resolutely take countermeasures,” said a spokesperson for the embassy. UPDATE: China has responded by expelling Canadian consul in Shanghai, Jennifer Lynn Lalonde. @LauraRuHK

🇩🇪🇷🇺 Cologne, Germany - WWII Victory day procession interrupted by people with Ukrainian flags, whose grandfathers would have fought on the same side. Go figure.

Foreign Affairs: Ukraine better forget about "bringing Russia to justice".

The publication of the US Council on Foreign Relations gives such advice https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/russia-ukraine-justice-thwarting-peace because the 'tribunals' sought by Ukraine are of the same zero value as the 'ICC arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin'.

That said, references to the Nuremberg Military Tribunal "are highly resonant but also misleading". If only because Nuremberg targeted the defeated, it imposed conditions on them and could put them on trial.

▪️ It is unclear how the Ukrainian conflict will end, but Russia's capitulation is not on the horizon, stresses FA. The real options lie between a frozen conflict and a negotiated deal - which means Moscow will retain its position on the international stage, at the UN and beyond.

Of course, it is possible to go along with Ukraine's demands and set up a court against Russia. But its uselessness will be another blow to international criminal justice. It would be useless because the key international actors, including the US, are not interested in prosecuting "aggression".

▪️ In general, the US and its partners should make it clear to Kiev, writes FA, that it is completely pointless to start trials or tribunals before the end of hostilities. And in general, we should "refrain from taking bolder steps until the day when the goals of peace and justice are more compatible".

Elena Panina, a Russian analyst, added "that is why we must not lose in the conflict with the West. After all, contrary to the mantras about democracy and international rules, the main rule now is the right of the strongest. If we are weak, there will be tribunals and courts, confiscations and reparations against us. And many other things that our enemies can think of." https://t.me/EvPanina/9426

📹🇵🇰 Footage allegedly showing the detention of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan

🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech at the Victory Parade

🔻Key points:

▪️ Russia has rebuffed international terrorism, and we will protect the inhabitants of Donbass. For our state there are no unfriendly hostile peoples either in the West or in the East.

▪️ The West provokes conflicts and upheavals, destroys traditional values in order to continue to dictate its own rules, and in fact - a system of robbery and violence.

▪️ The goal of Russia's opponents is to achieve the disintegration and destruction of our country.

▪️ Any ideology of superiority is disgusting, criminal and deadly, but Western elites still talk about their exclusivity.

▪️ Memorials are being destroyed in the West, a cult of Nazism is being created, this desecration is also a crime, the revanchism of those who were preparing a new campaign against Russia.

▪️ The Ukrainian people became a hostage of the coup d'état and a bargaining chip in the hands of the West.

▪️ Today, civilization is again at a decisive turning point, a real war is unleashed against us.

▪️ Decisive battles for the fate of our Motherland have always become sacred, we are proud of those who participate in the special operation, now there is nothing more important.

▪️ It is important that the leaders of the CIS have gathered in Moscow today, I see in this a grateful attitude towards the feat of our ancestors. They fought together and won together
#digest #Russia

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The New York Times won a Pulitzer prize for its coverage of the "Bucha massacre", and Ukrainian photographers working for Associated Press won one for their coverage of the "Mariupol hospital bombing". To put it into context, i recommend this book by A.B. Abrams. https://www.claritypress.com/product/atrocity-fabrication-and-its-consequences-how-fake-news-shapes-world-order/