The recent hysteria in the US over an alleged Chinese “spy” balloon seems to be for the purpose of promoting hostility towards China, according to Netfa Freeman, Coordinating Committee member of the Black Alliance for Peace, organizer with Pan-African Community Action, and host of Voices with Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM

🎧Listen to more of Freeman’s views on the Chinese balloon as well as Sy Hersh's bombshell report on the Nord Stream attacks in our podcast By Any Means Necessary

💉🌍 Big pharma prioritizes profits over saving African lives, UNAIDS head says

▪️Winnie Byanyima has drawn attention to allegedly racist principles that prevent black and brown people from accessing the same level of AIDS treatment as whites and slammed pharmaceutical companies for prioritizing profits over saving people's lives.

🗣"The World Trade Organization rules allow lifesaving medications to be traded in the same way we could trade luxury goods. They allow pharmaceutical companies to set the price wherever they want, hoard their technologies and reap billions at the cost of lives," she said, as cited by the media.

▪️She stressed that Africa’s debt problems, HIV/AIDS stigma in many countries on the continent, and limited access to technology prevents Africa from achieving success in its struggle against the disease.

▪️Byanyima also called on African governments to develop south-south partnerships on medical research and development, noting that the lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic for Africa was: "you must have the capacity to produce yourself"

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 The US is developing a new strategy vis-a-vis Taiwan, taking into account the "lessons" of the Ukraine crisis, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks has said in an interview with US media.

Hicks said that Ukraine “was more of a cold-start approach than the planned approach we have been working on for Taiwan, and we will apply those lessons.” She added that an amphibious landing would be the hardest part of a military operation to undertake, and re-supply would be difficult “if China chokes off ocean access.”

Against the backdrop of increasing tensions between China and the US, Washington officials casually continue their rhetoric about a Chinese "invasion" of Taiwan, while at same time formally reaffirming that the US remains committed to the One China policy.

In October, President Xi Jinping stressed that Beijing would do its utmost to achieve peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but would not rule out the use of force to prevent “interference by outside forces and the few separatists” from deciding Taiwan’s fate.

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❗️The three unidentified objects shot down by American forces over North America were not used in “intelligence collection against the US,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. He added that nothing points to the objects being a part of China’s “spy balloon program.”

❗️YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down, US media reports

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NATO's Unsustainable Bluff

💬 "Two decades of singular focus on low-intensity combat in Iraq and Afghanistan has atrophied both US and European production lines for artillery ammunition. It would take years to start up new production lines, and even then, the private defense industries involved would be loath to do so without long-term contracts which, given the moment-by-moment aspect of NATO aid to Ukraine, is not forthcoming," Scott Ritter, a military analyst and former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, writes.

❗️“ Meanwhile, Russia’s defense industry is chugging along on all cylinders, not only producing ammunition in sufficient quantities to meet its prodigious expenditure rates in Ukraine, but also build stocks sufficient to supply an expanding Russian military, expected to grow to over 1.5 million in the next several years.”

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Why is the US Militarizing the Philippines?

The US is actively wooing the Philippines to join its anti-China coalition, ramping up its military activities in the island nation and greedily eyeing its military bases - including for the possible deployment of intermediate-range ballistic missiles. What are the Pentagon's ultimate objectives? And what is the 'First and Second Island Chain' concept that's motivating US military planners' calculations?

Read this article to find out

🇲🇿 Mozambican pastor reportedly dies of malnutrition in attempt to emulate Jesus' 40-day fast

▪️According to reports, the clergyman, Francisco Barajah, died after fasting for 40 days, trying to complete what Jesus Christ is said to have done on the biblical Mount of Olives.

▪️After 25 days of fasting, the pastor had seriously lost weight, to the extent that he couldn’t stand up or walk.

▪️The death of the pastor and founder of the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church in the central province of Manica, western part of Mozambique, was confirmed on Wednesday at the hospital in Beira where he was taken in critical condition

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❗️A train carrying hazardous materials derailed outside Detroit in Van Buren Township, Michigan, US media reported

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Biden: Nothing Presently Suggests Three Downed 'Objects' Were Tied to China or Spy Ops

Over the weekend, the US Military downed three unidentified objects flying over United States and Canadian airspace. The operations were preceded by the US military shooting down what officials claim was a Chinese spy balloon.

Four days after shooting down the last of three unidentified flying objects located over United States and Canadian airspace, President Biden briefed the public on the operation, saying there was no indication that the objects were spy balloons from China or any other country.

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Famed US actor Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, his family has confirmed.

The Thursday revelation comes nearly a year after it was announced in March 2022 that he was retiring from acting after initially being diagnosed with aphasia.

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🔺Support shortage? US is training Ukrainians to use less ammunition while Germany says there will be fewer tanks going to Ukraine than promised
🔺Nord Stream files: Journalist Seymour Hersh has promised to unveil more info on the US' involvement in the attack
🔺Rage Against the War Machine: Diane Sare joins us to discuss the upcoming anti-war rally in Washington

We discuss all the important stories ignored by the mainstream media! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|12am CET via the website or app

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🇺🇸 US’ true colors shine through: Vicky Nuland pitches arms sales to countries “who are dependent on Russian weapons”

The US is working to become an alternative arms sales partner for countries dependent on Russian weapons amid Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said.

💬 "So we have an opportunity not only to ensure our own stocks are replenished, but countries like Ukraine that have a long term defense requirement, as we talked about before, can be replenished, but the countries that have made a bad bet on Russian weapons have other options, and we're also working on that,"

Nuland said during a press briefing. Countries like India that are fully dependent on Russian weapons should understand they will not be able to resupply their stocks, Nuland said.

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Mick Wallace, a member of the EU Parliament, condemns Western leaders for escalating the Ukraine crisis

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No Lock, No Stock & No Barrel: Why Blinken Re-Evaluated 'Red Lines' and Backed Down on Crimea

“It is possible that Blinken is becoming aware of the serious weakness and rapid decline of Ukraine's situation, on military, humanitarian, and political leadership fronts,” Retired Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a former analyst for the US Department of Defense, told Sputnik.

"Ukraine does not have the military capability required to even take back the Donbass, and to refocus its remaining capability on the battlefield to Crimea would further fracture the Ukrainian territory – and be unsuccessful on both fronts," the former Pentagon analyst said. "No general would advise a strategy of dividing already limited forces, even to try and take such a strategically valuable piece of real estate."

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Dependence of European countries on the US: journalist Nebojsa Malic says that without the permission of their master, Europe can’t follow its own interests, damaging itself.

💬”They haven't thought this through because they're either idiots, which they might well be, or they simply don't understand how the world works anymore,” Malic adds.

🎧Listen to more of Malic’s analysis in our podcast Fault Lines: Is NATO Inching Closer to Supplying Ukraine With Fighter Jets?

📹 Russian Khosta self-propelled gun in action in the special military operation area

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“The absolute NPC, who just recites lies that are put before him”: Nebojsa Malic speaks about NATO’s secretary general and his controversial statements, as well as the actions of the alliance’s member states

🎧Listen to more of Malic’s views in our podcast Fault Lines: Is NATO Inching Closer to Supplying Ukraine With Fighter Jets?

📹 Russian Su-25 ground attack aircraft in action in the special military operation zone

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US Treasury Says No Evidence Russia Evaded Oil Cap, Received Payments Above It

The US Department the Treasury has found no hard data or evidence that Russia is evading the oil-related sanctions by using the coalition service providers and receiving above-the-cap payments, according to prepared remarks by Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy for the upcoming Americas Crude Summit in Houston, Texas.

"To my knowledge, there is no hard data or conclusive evidence that supports speculation about Russia evading the sanctions by using Coalition service providers and receiving above-the-cap payments," the remarks said on Thursday.

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🇰🇵🇰🇷 The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is failing to act despite the United States' attempts to turn the Korean Peninsula into a theater of war and a military base, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

🗣 "The reality goes to clearly prove that the U.S. and South Korea are the arch criminals deliberately disrupting the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region. This being a hard fact, the UNSC is groundlessly pulling up the DPRK [the Democratic People's Republic of Korea], which has maintained patience and self-control to defuse the tension in the Korean peninsula, and is showing no expression of concern, far from deterring the U.S. seeking to turn the Korean peninsula into a theatre of war exercises and a military base," the spokesperson said, as quoted by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

▪️ The diplomat recalled that the US and South Korea are planning to hold over 20 joint military exercises in 2023, adding that the countries "put their scale and scope on the level of the largest-ever field mobile tactical exercises."

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