Experts believe that Russia's ceasefire proposal is an unsolicited signal of easing tensions. It may be an attempt to find some conciliatory atmosphere. [_link]

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) January 6, 2023

January 2017, at the beginning of RussiaGate, PropOrNot farce and the new British dodgy dossier by MI6 agent Christopher Steele in conjunction with Andrew Wood and John McCaine, 🤥🤥🤥

• The Nixon Years, McCarthyism and the Commies | Mar 7, 2017 |
• EurAsianism and Russian Ultra-Nationalists United In Aleksandr Dugin | Jan 17, 2017 |

From the diaries ...

I'm more astonished by the day. It's mass hysteria based on fear and multiplied by the echo chambers. There is a psychological explanation for events coming together as we witness today. The Red Menace of the sixties and the Vietnam War was quite low level compared to today. Russia is barely providing poverty level sustainability for its citizens with 90% of this great nation living in harsh conditions. As was mentioned elsewhere, it's economy is ranked lower than the state of California. Due to western provocation over the past decade, are we now living in fear of the Russian bear?

What a bs. Internet and social media are proprietary US assets and used in a global war of cheating and espionage. Played a role in the Arab uprising and a major cyberattack on the sovereignty of Iran and its people. Don't underestimate the sophistication and performance of the Russian people in theoretical sciences. Looking back on the resistance to the Nazi German invasion and the siege of Leningrad, Russians know how to persevere and survive.  There is no moral standing on how the west has aggravated Russia after 1989. Ukraine is more Russian than Prussian based on the high level of endemic corruption for all to see.

Wenn Putin Frieden wollte, würde er seine Soldaten nach Hause holen, und der Krieg wäre vorbei. Aber offenbar will er den Krieg fortsetzen, nach kurzer Unterbrechung. 1/2

— Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock (@ABaerbock) January 5, 2023

Josep Borrell Fontelles @JosepBorrellF

A Student asked me about the new world order.

Our multilateral order has been built after WWII, when global power & population distribution was very different from today.

Our partners in Africa, Latin America and Asia are right asking for a reform of the current system.

What an idiot ... a nothing answer with no content.

Borrell visit to Morocco clouded by EU graft scandal

'Sapere aude'

Türkiye cancels visit by Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson planned on January 27 in response to Sweden's permission for Quran burning in front of the Turkish embassy building in Stockholm -- Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar pic.twitter.com/A5Yg7hHHz1

— TRT World (@trtworld) January 21, 2023

Our correspondent Obaida Hitto reports more from Ankara on anti-Islam sentiments in Europe as far-right leader Rasmus Paludan was permitted to burn Quran in Sweden pic.twitter.com/UhpLblzSq9

— TRT World (@trtworld) January 21, 2023

Our Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution will create and support up to 250,000 jobs.

See below or visit: [_link] pic.twitter.com/PIRREZA8HI

— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) November 18, 2020

Can the EU keep up with the US on green subsidies? [_link]

— Sam Fleming (FT) (@Sam1Fleming) February 1, 2023

The Red State Green Boom | May 3, 2022 |

The Biden administration has proposed reviving American manufacturing by focusing the country's industrial efforts on so-called green industries and products. A plan to boost the country's industrial output and bolster America's supply chains ...

'Sapere aude'

The road to net-zero will be the greatest transformation of our times.

Those who invest fast today will secure their place in this new economy. We have a strong starting point.

And today we presented the Green Deal Industrial Plan to continue to lead this transition ↓

— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) February 1, 2023

The Coronation of Mystery Man Vladimir Putin - 2000 | @BooMan - May 4, 2018 |

.
Enigmatic ex-KGB man is promising a strong state

Ian Traynor in Moscow
Saturday January 1, 2000
The Guardian

In his resignation statement yesterday, Boris Yeltsin said it was time for Russia's old guard, born and bred under communist rule, to make way for a new generation of leaders. There is no doubt that he meant the 46-year-old former spy and black belt judo aficianado who is currently breaking political box office records in Russia.

"Putin is the right guy in the right place at the right time," says Andrei Biryukov, a political consultant. "The Putin phenomenon is that he and his team have created and implemented the myth of a strong and responsible leader in Russia. It's very attractive. It's what we Russians have been pining for."

But despite the masterly salesmanship, the prime minister remains an enigma. Former Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, was quoted as saying:

"Putin is not as strong as he seems because his opinions are unknown. Putin is holding on thanks to his mystery - his mysterious appearance, his mysterious glance, his mysterious phrases. But sometimes it happens that a man opens his mouth and he has nothing to say."

That sums up the prime minister's enigmatic qualities, but looks premature as an assessment of his leadership ability. While Mr Putin appears shy, he is growing into his role and also sending signals to his international peers.

For their part, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schröder and others are responding, eager to get to know Mr Putin better.

Tear down these walls, or get used to a world of fear, separation and division | Simon Tisdall [_link]

— Chris Bertram (@crookedfootball) February 13, 2023

Europe was made whole in 1989. Now concern about migrant `invaders' is turning the continent, and other global regions, into fortresses

How the United States and NATO nations reacted post-9/11 has caused a tectonic shift in civilization. All evil of the GWB administration has come to haunt civil society and the downward turn into full-fledged fascism is gaining pace day by day.

Casting light on the legal black hole: International law and detentions abroad in the "war on terror" | March 2005 |

Guantánamo Bay

Former Bush administration solicitor general Ted Olson, whose wife was killed on 9/11, says military commissions don't work and the government should give up on death penalty and strike plea deals with KSM and the other 9/11 defendants to end the case.[_link]

— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) February 2, 2023

Outstanding coverage by ...

Good morning from Belize, where the former CIA prisoner Majid Khan is settling in following a quick flight to freedom from Guantanamo Bay.
Here, Mr. Khan's lawyers thank Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay in a chance encounter. @jwellsdixon @JennerBlockLLP [_link] pic.twitter.com/lf8PHKlemk

— Carol Rosenberg (@carolrosenberg) February 3, 2023

Statement by Majid Khan - Center for Constitutional Rights

Poland: CIA Rendition and Torture

That is Poland. They will never apologize for any evil they have done but they want others to pay reparations.

— Mamadou (@Madou_boubar) September 27, 2022

C.I.A. Black Sites Are State Secrets, the Supreme Court Rules | NY Times - March 3, 2022 |

Chagos Islands and FOB Diego Garcia

To get meager compensation for the loss of their homes, the UK forced Chagossians to sign documents renouncing their right to return.

The UK also refused to give displaced people British citizenship until 2002. Their descendants only became eligible starting in 2022. pic.twitter.com/rH816pSdB6

— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 15, 2023

UNGA Welcomes International Court of Justice Opinion on Chagos Archipelago, Adopts Text Calling for Mauritius' Complete Decolonization

By a recorded vote of 116 in favour, to 6 against (Australia, Hungary, Israel, Maldives, United Kingdom, United States), with 56 abstentions, the Assembly affirmed that doing so -- in accordance with the advisory opinion -- would enable Mauritius to complete the decolonization of its territory as soon as possible.

Abu Ghraib and investigative journalism Seymour Hersh

Seventeen years later, images of American soldiers torturing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison have not been forgotten pic.twitter.com/CQeafO0swz

— TRT World (@trtworld) May 2, 2021

Fallujah, a city destroyed for revenge

It's also important to mention that the action taken by these aggressors is the reason there was a battle in Fallujah in the first place. People became resistance fighters because they were left with nothing but death and destruction all around them after the illegal invasion.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) February 12, 2021

AQI leader Abu al-Baghdad bred during detention Camp Bucca near Baghdad

Next up in our #PreachersofHate series: #Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who re-emerged in a video last week to reaffirm his campaign of hate and terror [_link] pic.twitter.com/sjQux17jDO

— Arab News (@arabnews) May 4, 2019

Camp Bucca: The US prison that became the birthplace of ISIS AQI which transformed into ISIL and the Islamic State

Nine members of the Islamic State's top command did time at Bucca

US Army torture and detention center at AFB Bagram, Afghanistan

Video: US forces have left Bagram Airfield, the largest military base in #Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/d2X862qNoz

— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) July 6, 2021

Four US Presidents and Lives Lost 2001-2021 | Aug 31st, 2021 |

Led to xenophobia and Islamophobia across the Western world ... the tragedy of a belief America, as an exceptional nation under God, can remake the World Order is fake and false. It is driven by egoism and pure capitalism where wealth is protected, often subsidized like fossil fuel corporations.

The financial crisis, the Corona pandemic and the choice for War in Ukraine has made society more unequal, benefited capital and placed more burden on the workers, laborers vulnerable to vultures of Wall Street. Crisis upon crisis and politicians kicking the can down the road. Lacking wisdom, so-called leaders rely on AI to make decisions and make policy. Empathy and human kind are not well fitted in Big Tech algorithms.

'Sapere aude'

Norway as co-culprit in Nord Stream gas pipelines sabotage ... a bit of inward looking and critical thinking would be welcome. The invitation to Carl Bildt is dreadfully funny 🤣 🥱 of course ...

... in celebration the Holberg Prize Laureate, the Holberg Debate is held annually in December in tribute to Ludvig Holberg's Enlightenment ideals. The debate aims to engage prominent academics as well as non-academics in public debate on pressing issues of our time.

Transcript of the 2022 Holberg Debate: "Will Fear Keep Us Safe?" [02:45:00]

Today I will attempt to listen to the full debate as background to my other chores ...

In the introduction by moderator Dr. Cecilie Hellestveit setting the stage of the debate ...

Thank you so much for that kind introduction, Kjersti. Dear audience, I'm honored and delighted to have the privilege to moderate the Holberg Debate of 2022, organized by the Holberg Prize in the loveliest of cities in Norway, Bergen. But while the city is bright and cheerful, the subject of tonight's debate is far from it. It is dark and gloomy, because we live in dangerous times.

This year war on land between nations returned to continental Europe. Russia's aggressive military assault on Ukraine is a watershed, a monumental event in the history of modern Europe. And we are still struggling to gauge all the effects that this war of aggression will have for the future of Europe and the world at large.

Simultaneously other dark clouds are on the horizon. The rivalry in technological, political, economic and military terms between the giants of the world, the US and China, is gaining traction. But even when war and geopolitical rivalry is upon us and it is very clear to us who is a friend and who is a foe, public debate must take place. And the Holberg Debate this year ventures into this complex and sensitive landscape, asking whether fear will keep us safe and what do the current geopolitical crisis mean for the power of deterrence and the prospects of a new global security order.

As the journalist and grand strategist Walter Lippmann once observed, "where all think alike, no one thinks very much". On behalf of the Holberg Prize I'm therefore delighted to present to the public two distinguished speakers who do not think alike. One is a scholar of politics and one is a craftsman of politics. One is American and one is European. One is a proponent of the school of realism, the other a firm believer in liberal traditions. Our two speakers have expressed views in stark contrast to each other, notably on Russia and her war on Ukraine.

(1) In the years of preparation to and during war, the first casualty is truth. Due to years of propaganda and degenerating your "enemy" the world risks a future genocide.

The 'Evil' Mind: Part 1: Genocide and Mass Killings

After 9/11 the world has been on a steep slope of decline naming opposition groups "terrorists" and especially branding Islam as religion by the United Stères and Israel. Europe has gone along with devastating consequences we experience today. See my many writings about Islamophobia, xenophobia and McCarthyism.

• Holocaust education and the prevention of genocide | UNESCO |
• The study of genocide and mass atrocity abounds with references to emotions: fear, anger, horror, shame and hatred

Talking to John Mearsheimer this Friday about Ukraine, realism, morality in international relations, and maybe the Israel lobby. [_link]

— Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart) April 12, 2022

London Review of Books Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer

US Power Intertwined with US Middle East Policy

'Sapere aude'

The devastating defeat of America, and its NATO Allie's sealed the fate for US control in Central Asia. Iran too is out of US sphere of influence and Iraq, Syria have been branded enemy states. Turkey was never accepted by France and most EU states, thus losing Turkey would be a mortal blow to US National Interests in the Black Sea region. The attempted coup d'état in Türkiye put the trust in NATO on hold.

Control of Central Asia, Caspian fossil fuel resources and U.S. Navy patrolling the Black Sea.

Issues for the U.S. Navy in the Black Sea Region: Country Profiles and Recommendations Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia | CNA - June 2000 |

The Russian armed forces are currently in an extremely difficult situation.... It is hard to visualizea more depressing picture. The difficult situation in the armed forces is the direct result of the general situation in Russia.

- General (ret) Boris Gromov, Member of Russian Duma, last commander of Russian forces in Afghanistan, in 1999

In 2000, our sea power in the Baltic will be one-half that of Sweden and one-third to one-fourth that of Germany. In the Black Sea, our sea power will be one-half of that of Turkey....

- Rear Admiral Valery Aleksin, Head Navigator of the Russian Navy, in 1997

The dissolution of Russia's economy, military establishment, and sense of purpose after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and its loss of international status, have made Moscow hypersensitive to slight. Russia feels particularly vulnerable in the Black Sea, where it views regional U.S. initiatives--including Navy engagement--as part of a pattern of activities undertaken at Russia's expense. This pattern includes NATO's expansion, past and anticipated; U.S. and Western interest in Caspian energy resources (including the recently agreed Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, which will bypass Russia to transport Caspian oil/a>); and American military reach into Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia through military exercises. Possible NATO membership for former Soviet republics like the Baltics or Georgia is a particular concern and, Moscow advertises, would be unacceptable. The bitterest pill remains NATO's 1999 Kosovo campaign, which Russians see as a humiliation and perhaps a precedent for Western intervention in Russia or one of the former Soviet republics.

Related reading ...

Blinken Sounding Out EU Appetite for War | Jan. 24, 2022 |

'Sapere aude'

'I am your retribution': Trump rules supreme at CPAC as he relaunches bid for White House [_link]

— The Guardian (@guardian) March 5, 2023

The State of the American Republic ... the nation gets the leader it deserves  🇺🇸 🤡 ... too bad the world has to suffer the consequences of a shoddy democracy.

'Sapere aude'