On March 7, 2022, two weeks after Moscow entered the civil war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News from Moldova that the U.S. would give NATO-member Poland a “green light” to send Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine to enforce a no-fly zone against Russian aircraft. 

By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News

Sergei Kirienko, a former prime minister of Russia and currently the Number-2 man in charge of President Vladimir Putin’s staff, believes Russia can win the information war against the US and its allies.

In his meetings behind closed doors at the Kremlin, Kirienko has revealed that he thinks Americans are so trusting in their press like the Washington Post, CNN, and Fox News,  that if fake Post, CNN, Fox,  and other dummies of the US media can be created to report positive propaganda about Russia, instead of the negative propaganda these media usually run, Americans will be convinced to switch sides in the war to destroy the Russian army on the Ukrainian battlefield, and the war of US sanctions to destroy the Russian economy.

The weapons stockpile shortages will likely force Washington to delay the shipments of promised military aid to Ukraine, CNN reported on Friday, citing two US officials familiar with the matter.

The report comes as Kiev has been asking foreign backers to speed up the delivery of arms and to lift the remaining restrictions on the use of longer-range missiles for strikes deep into Russia territory.

According to the Pentagon, the US has $5.9 billion left in the special congressionally approved mechanism (PDA) aimed at fast-tracking aid for Kiev. However, the aid packages have been getting smaller in recent times as the weapons stocks are dwindling, CNN said.

A US intelligence source has said that the suspected Mossad “supply chain interdiction” operation behind this week’s explosive pager attacks in Lebanon took 15 years or longer to plan. Sputnik asked FSB counterterrorism vet Andrei Popov how the attack was pulled off, and what Hezbollah could do to prevent it from recurring.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has urged citizens not to be alarmed if they see German soldiers arriving in their towns as the country continues to deal with devastating floods. The deluge this week has wrought havoc across central Europe, reportedly killing at least 22 people and leaving a trail of destruction.  

Speaking on Thursday at a crisis meeting in the western city of Wroclaw, which has faced rising floodwaters, Tusk stated that US troops were already providing support to communities in southern Poland and that Türkiye and Germany had offered similar assistance.  

“If you see German soldiers, please do not panic. They are here to help,” Tusk said, apparently suggesting that the arrival of German troops could trigger associations with World War II.  

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under fire after media revelations that he failed to disclose pricey gifts of clothing to his wife from longtime Labour megadonor Waheed Alli. Who is the mysterious businessman, and what’s behind his ‘generosity’ to the Starmers?

Born in Croydon, England to Indo-Trinidadian and Indo-Guyanese parents in 1964, 59-year-old Baron and Lord Waheed Alli was described in a gushing 2000 BBC profile as a member of a “new generation” of Blairite “New Labour working peers appointed to revolutionize the House of Lords,” the UK’s upper chamber of parliament – “young, Asian and from the world of media and entertainment.”

Hundreds of Russian researchers working at the particle physics laboratory CERN in Switzerland will have to leave the Alpine country later this year, the journal Nature reported on Wednesday.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) plans to end its cooperation agreement with Russia on December 1, banning all scientists affiliated with the nation from its premises, the journal said. The scientists will also be stripped of any French or Swiss residency permits they currently hold, according to the report.

Washington’s new plan to control the Global South...
Not satisfied with banning RT in most Western countries nearly three years ago, the US and its allies have unveiled a new plan to bully the rest of the world into following suit...

When US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced a new “joint diplomatic campaign” to be implemented in concert with Canada and the UK last week, he clearly set out the initiative’s goal – “to rally allies and partners around the world to join us in addressing the threat posed by RT and other machinery of Russian disinformation and covert influence.”

The head of the University of Sydney has apologised to Jewish students and staff, admitting he "failed them" in his handling of a pro-Palestinian student encampment on campus.

Vice-chancellor Professor Mark Scott is fronting a Senate inquiry into anti-Semitism on campus, set up following the establishment of protester tent cities on several university campuses earlier this year.

The inquiry has received submissions from Jewish students at the University of Sydney who reported feeling unsafe and unwelcome on campus during the eight week Students for Palestine protest.

Mr Scott has defended his decision not to forcibly remove the encampment earlier, and apologised to students who were upset.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NATO has transformed its eastern flank from having no combat-ready troops in place in 2014 to tens of thousands now, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

"We have, over these ten years [since 2014 that he took over], undergone the biggest transformation in a generation. We have strengthened our defenses, from having zero to tens of thousands combat-ready NATO soldiers on our eastern flank, from thousands to half a million troops on high readiness and from 3 to 23 allies spending at least 2% of GDP on defense," Stoltenberg said during a session named "Reflections on a Challenging Decade," hosted by the German Marshal fund in Brussels.

Something absolutely stupefying is happening in Germany: its iconic auto company, VW, the darling of every Chancellor from Adolf Hitler to Olaf Scholz, appears to be in a death spiral. At the end of this story I’ll draw a link to the salutary lesson countries like Australia and New Zealand need to draw from the German experience if we are to survive and thrive in the coming world. 

Cameron Stewart recently attempted to vaunt the virtues, so to speak, of the AUKUS nuclear submarines via an article in The Australian newspaper. In part, it’s threaded together with tufts of intellectual fluff from Kim Beazley, his one-time offsider, Paul Dibb, Peter Dean from the United States Study Centre in Sydney, Mike Pezzullo formerly of the Department of Home Affairs and John Blaxland from the ANU.

Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the world’s one billion Catholics, arrived in Indonesia on 3 September. He then travelled to Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore, before returning to Rome on the evening of 13 September.

In each place, the Pope met government dignitaries, religious and clerical persons, and celebrated masses attended by tens of thousands of people. He also visited a place of care for a particular group in each nation. International news outlets reported the Pontiff’s messages of peace, encouragement and challenge and the numerous photos show the joy and positive engagement of countless people.

Zelensky had furious row with Polish FM – ex-diplomat
Now a newspaper columnist, Witold Jurasz has described a quarrel at top-level talks with Ukraine...

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky had a serious disagreement during a trilateral meeting in Kiev last week, a former Polish diplomat has claimed.

In a newspaper column, Witold Jurasz said that the meeting last Friday also involved Gabrielius Landsbergis, the foreign minister of Lithuania. Jurasz, who is a former diplomat, claimed on Monday that the negotiations were marred by antagonism, based on accounts from his sources.

The term “mindful communication” sparked the most heated discussion. If I understood the forum’s organizers correctly, they define “mindful communication” as an ethical approach to media reporting that prioritizes compassion, love, and respect for individuals as the key elements of journalism. In other words, it’s about applying Buddhist principles to traditional journalism and blogging.