❗️LIVE NOW: UN Security Council discusses the US Strikes in the Middle East

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❗️ The United States is intentionally aggravating tensions in the Middle East with targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia said during a United Nations Security Council meeting.

"It's clear that American airstrikes are specifically, deliberately aimed to stoke the conflict," Nebenzia said on Monday.

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❗️ The US strikes on Iraq and Syria are an attempt by the United States to improve the poor image of the current administration before the presidential election, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said at a UN Security Council meeting.

"The largest US air operation in the region since 2003, presented by Joe Biden as an act of retaliation for a UAV attack of unidentified origin on an illegally located US base in Syria, has no justification," Nebenzia said.

"We see in this attempt to play with muscles, first of all, a desire to influence the domestic political situation in America and a desire to somehow correct the failed image of the current American administration in the international arena in light of the presidential election campaign gaining momentum," he stressed.

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❗️ Russia calls on the international community to condemn the strikes by the United States and its allies on Iraq and Syria, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said at a UN Security Council meeting.

"We call on the international community to unequivocally condemn the reckless actions of Washington and its allies in the Middle East that violate the sovereignty of Iraq and Syria," Nebenzia said.

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The recent strikes by the US and Britain on Syria and Iraq were carried out in violation of international law, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said at a UN Security Council meeting.

"We thank Deputy Secretary General Rosemary DiCarlo for the briefing, we heard a lot of verbal nonsense from her, but we did not hear the most important thing -- unconditional condemnation of violations of international law by the United States and Britain," Nebenzia emphasized.

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What issues currently plague the British Royal Navy?

The recent incident with UK aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, which failed to participate in NATO Steadfast Defender exercise due to propulsion problems, is but “the latest incident in a long line of maintenance problems plaguing” the vessel and its sister ship HMS Prince of Wales, says geopolitical analyst and former US Marine Brian Berletic.

“Both carriers were built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance comprised of several large and notoriously corrupt arms manufacturing corporations who do business through bribery and by maximizing profits at the expense of safety and quality,” he notes.

Meanwhile, Matthew Gordon-Banks, a former British Conservative member of parliament and senior research fellow at the UK Defence Academy, argues that “the only thing wrong with the Royal Navy” today is that “it is too small in size with a secondary issue of insufficient crew to man the existing ships.”

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Some 59% of US voters believe that US President Joe Biden is getting increasingly less mentally sharp as he is set to run for reelection in November, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports out Monday.

One-third of respondents, or 33%, disagreed with the majority about Biden’s mental health, but most suspect the mass media are covering up the president’s cognitive decline, Rasmussen Reports said in a press release accompanying the poll.

The poll was conducted among 943 US adult voters on January 28-30. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

In January, an ABC News/Ipsos poll revealed that only 28% of Americans believe that Biden has the mental sharpness required to serve as president. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre responded that the poll’s findings of President Biden’s low sharpness and physical health are confusing taking into account what he had achieved in the last three years.

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The vengeful attacks of Washington would not deter strikes on US troops in the region provoked by outrage over American backing of Israel, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter told Sputnik’s Fault Lines program Monday.

“Our shock and awe initiation – I think 80, 85 targets, 220 plus munitions, $500 million it cost us to strike these targets – immediately several of the militias in the area have fired drones and rockets against American bases, and it's ongoing,” he noted. “This is just the insanity of the cycle of violence that the United States has engaged in.”

Ritter also noted the attacks angered Syria and Iraq, where US troops are stationed against those governments’ will.

“We are a terrorist organization, and we are sponsoring attacks against the legitimate government of Syria,” Ritter lamented.

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Israel will provide evidence linking the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to "terrorism" to a UN panel looking into the organization, following accusations that its staff were involved in the October 7 attack on Israel, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Monday.

"Congratulations to the [UN] on forming the investigative committee. We will submit all evidence highlighting [UNRWA's] ties to terrorism and its harmful effects on regional stability. It is imperative that this committee brings the truth to light, necessitating the immediate resignation of the UNRWA chairman [Philippe Lazzarini]," Katz wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

In January, Lazzarini vowed to hold accountable anyone involved in "acts of terror."

The US, Finland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK, and some other countries have since suspended funding for UNRWA.

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UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the country was committed to supporting all efforts that would mitigate the humanitarian consequences of the Ukrainian crisis, the United Arab Emirates’ state media WAM reported on Monday.

The two leaders also discussed the development of strategic relations between the two states and a number of regional and international problems of mutual interest, the report read.

In December 2023, Vladimir Putin visited the UAE, held talks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, discussed bilateral, regional, and international affairs. According to the Kremlin, the meeting's agenda included the Palestine-Israel conflict, as well as situations in Syria, Yemen, and Sudan. The progress of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine was also discussed.

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US President Joe Biden fondly recalls his recent meeting with French President François Mitterrand… who died in 1996 ☠️

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New Russian weapons and military equipment, including drones, are expected to receive export permits in 2024, Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheev told Sputnik.

Mikheev is attending the World Defense Show 2024 trade fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"We expect that Russian manufacturing enterprises will intensify in 2024 the processing of authorization documentation for new models, including those from the unmanned segment. In addition, the market shows a high demand for our products that have undergone modernization based on the results of use in combat," he said.

Mikheev added that a number of foreign customers showed interest in the Klavesin-1RE autonomous underwater vehicle complex after its demonstration at the International Naval Show in Russia's Kronstadt and that negotiations were underway. The complex is being presented abroad for the first time, and it should attract the attention of countries that have access to the sea, Mikheev said.

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US forces on Monday struck "in self-defense" two Houthi explosive uncrewed surface vehicles (USV) in Yemen's territory controlled by the Houthis, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

"On Feb. 5, at approximately 3:30 p.m. (Sanaa time) [12:30 GMT], U.S. Central Command forces conducted a strike in self-defense against two Houthi explosive uncrewed surface vehicles (USV)," CENTCOM said on X (formerly Twitter).

The USVs "presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region," the command said.

The Houthis vowed in November 2023 to attack any ships associated with Israel until it halts military actions in the Gaza Strip. This led US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to announce the creation of a multinational operation to secure navigation in the Red Sea. The US and the UK later started launching strikes against Houthi positions in a bid to degrade the rebels' ability to target commercial vessels.

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Ukraine's budget deficit at the end of 2023 continued to increase, reaching a record 20.5% of GDP, or 1.33 trillion hryvnias ($35.1 billion), Sputnik calculations based on the data from the Ukrainian National Bank and the country's Open Budget system show.

Last year, defense spending grew the most strongly — by 10 percentage points, to 52.3%. The only other item that showed growth was the housing and utilities sector, with expenditures growing by 0.2%. The rest of the expenditures decreased in 2023 compared to 2022, and the most serious decrease was in the social sphere — by 4.1 percentage points to 11.7%.

As per the Ukrainian National Bank's estimations, the country's GDP amounted to 6.5 trillion hryvnias in 2023.

Ukraine has been experiencing budget deficits for the past 30 years, with only two surplus years - 1992 and 2000. Previously, the biggest deficit was recorded in 2022 at 16.3 % of GDP.

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‘Long knives are out’: Zelensky and Ukrainian political establishment battle for supremacy.

“Coming into the weekend, the Washington Post tells us that… Zelensky let the United States know that he was going to fire [military leader Valery] Zaluzhny, but they weren't happy about it,” security analyst Mark Sleboda told Sputnik’s Fault Lines program Monday, noting the controversial Ukrainian leader has met resistance from within Ukraine and from his handlers in Washington.

The president then appeared on Ukrainian television and announced he was planning a purge of the entirety of the country’s leadership.

“This seems to be, I would think, anger and frustration over his inability to exercise his presidential authority to get rid of Zaluzhny,” Sleboda stressed, noting that the Ukrainian president has been met with opposition from military and intelligence leaders.

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“The fact that this targeting [of Tucker Carlson] is happening in the way it is happening now signifies a fear from the United States,” said journalist Fiorella Isabel, who noted the anxieties of US regime propagandists over the prospect the maverick commentator might practice journalism with an interview of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Host Garland Nixon noted that demonization of foreign leaders is a traditional tactic of US propaganda as Americans are conditioned to revile figures like President Bashar al-Assad in Syria or President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. The “danger” of Carlson’s interview, he noted, is that Putin would be humanized before an American audience.

Isabel noted that Putin has made highly subversive arguments for American audiences, questioning the fairness of US elections and noting that US foreign policy generally remains unchanged as new presidents enter the White House.

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Anna Paulina Luna, a member of the US House of Representatives, said she would introduce a bill that would require any politician who supports sending American troops to Ukraine to serve on the front lines with the military.

The congresswoman also made her position on aid to Ukraine clear by posting a photo with the hashtag "KillTheBill".

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