Israel’s actions in Rafah will “complicate the situation for Israel enormously” while even its staunchest ally, the United States, has expressed concerns publicly about the operation, Dr. Hasan Unal, a professor of political science and international relations at Baskent University in Turkiye, told Sputnik’s Fault Lines.

“In Bosnia [...] when the Western channels [started] broadcasting all the ugly pictures coming, streaming out of Bosnia, which in the end was recognized [...] by the international court as genocide. [...] the public began to clamor for action by their governments.

“There's a growing risk [that Biden could pay] quite a big price for [his] unconditional support to Israel,” he added.

Unal said the situation requires a cease-fire and a two state solution, but said that will be difficult under Netanyahu’s government and with the illegal settlements in the West Bank.

“[Israel] would have to take out many of the settler groups that have been, basically, sprawled around the West Bank and so forth. How are they going to create [a] viable corridor between Gaza and the West Bank territories in another question.”

While the prospects for peace are “quite bleak,” Unal noted that the October 7 attack put the conflict “onto the world radar quite firmly” and that the situation is “not sustainable” for Israel.

Read more in the full article

The US Senate moved closer to the final passage of a $95 billion supplemental funding bill with aid for Ukraine and Israel after officially attaching the foreign aid to a legislative vehicle and ending debate on the bill.

Senators on Monday night adopted the foreign aid package as an amendment to an unrelated bill in a vote of 66-33. The legislation includes approximately $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel.

The Senate then invoked cloture on the bill, which limits debate, in another vote of 66-33, setting up the legislation for a possible final vote as early as Wednesday.
Earlier on Monday, US Senator J.D. Vance sent a memo to fellow Senate Republicans, contending that the legislation could allow Democrats to attempt to impeach Donald Trump if he is reelected in 2024 and attempts to end the conflict in Ukraine.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he will not bring the Senate's $95 billion foreign aid bill to the House floor for consideration if it reaches the lower chamber.

"In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters," Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson said the Senate's foreign aid bill fails to address the United States' most pressing issue: border security. The House Speaker added that the Senate should have pushed to include meaningful border security measures in the $95 billion foreign aid bill, which includes approximately $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel and additional funding to address US national security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Senate could pass the foreign aid bill as early as Wednesday.

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Lidia Trofimova, a resident of Mariupol, born in 1978, died after being treated for arthritis with untested foreign drugs at Mariupol Hospital No. 7, her son Mikhail Trofimov told Sputnik

In this hospital those drugs were tested on patients for research in the interests of Western pharmaceutical companies, revealed documents seen by Sputnik.

The “Biden administration is in real trouble,” and that “the ground is shifting beneath Biden’s feet,” following the release of special counsel Robert Hur’s report and Biden’s subsequent disastrous press conference, independent journalist and author Dan Lazare told Sputnik’s The Final Countdown.

Recently, cracks have begun to show in Biden’s support structures, hinting that some may be pushing for a change.

The New York Times editorial board released its opinion that Biden “needs to do more to show the public that he is capable of holding office until age 86” when his potential second term would end. It called on him to “hold regular news conferences” and said it looks like he is hiding “or worse, being hidden.”

Lazare argued that is impossible for the Biden campaign. “Biden cannot go on that kind of tour,” he said. “He can't sit down with Hannity or go on Fox News or do anything like that because he'll only make things worse.[...] It’ll become completely clear that he doesn’t know what’s going on around him.”

Read more in the full article, including how Lazare believes Republicans should handle Biden’s condition.

Scott Ritter: Tucker-Putin interview shows Americans are ‘hungry for information’ from Russia

Despite condemnation from the mainstream media, the interview quickly gained hundreds of millions of views across multiple platforms.

“They are worried about the consequences of condemning Russia out of hand and rushing to a war based upon words Russia is not allowed to say for us to consider,” Ritter, former US Marines Corps intelligence officer and author, told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour.

“[Putin’s] words are resonating because [Americans are] going, ‘Wait a minute. I was told that this guy is the personification of evil. I was told he doesn't want a negotiated settlement. I was told that he deliberately invaded, that he wants to invade NATO,’” Ritter explained. “And [Putin is] saying that he is more than happy to sit down at the table and talk if anybody will talk, that the problem here isn't Putin, the problem is the United States [...] and the light bulb is going off around America.”

Ritter said he hopes a future US President will recognize the service Carlson did for the world and “[bring] him to the White House and put the Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck.”

Read more in the full article

Tucker Carlson tried on a Buryat* "Dagel" costume at the "Russia" exhibition, said the Republic of Buryatia head Alexey Tsydenov. According to him, the journalist visited the republic's stand on February 5.

*The Buryats are an indigenous people of Eastern Siberia in Russia.

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US Senator Josh Hawley unleashes on the pro-Ukrainian political establishment:

"Tonight, the Senate gives the middle finger to Middle America: endless money for Ukraine - but nothing for Americans poisoned by their own government."

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Further support from the West for the Ukrainian military only means more dead Ukrainians, Tucker Carlson, ex-Fox News anchor, commented on the West's financial support for Ukraine and its consequences for both sides.

"Ukraine cannot win its war against Russia… Ukraine doesn’t have the industrial capacity, neither does NATO or the United States, and it doesn’t have the people," Carlson said.

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Zelensky plans to visit Germany, France to ask for more military aid. Again

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may visit Berlin, Munich and Paris later this week to lobby for additional military aid for Kiev amid the Ukraine funding fracas in the US Senate, sources told Bloomberg.

This will be the Ukrainian leader's second Western European tour since the start of Russia's special military operation, a trip aimed at begging for money from EU members currently going through economic malaise.

The sources added that with ammunition supplies dwindling, Zelensky must "needs to make the case for [the West’s] faster military aid to push back" against the advancing Russian forces.

One of the sources suggested that the Ukrainian leader is likely to push for talks on security guarantees during possible meetings with EU leaders.

Earlier this month, EU members agreed to send 50 billion more euros ($53 billion) to Ukraine, a deal that came against the backdrop of attempts by a group of Republicans in the US Senate to thwart Washington's efforts to approve an additional $60 billion in aid to Kiev.

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▪️Scott Ritter: Tucker-Putin interview shows Americans are ‘hungry for information’ from Russia

▪️A woman from Mariupol died due to tests by Western pharmaceutical companies, her son told Sputnik.

▪️The US Senate moved closer to the final passage of a $95 billion supplemental funding bill for Ukraine and Israel aid, but US House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he will not bring it to the House floor

▪️Zelensky plans to visit Germany, France to ask for more military aid. Again

▪️Democratic congressmen want to fight Russia to 'the last Ukrainian drop of blood,' US Senator J.D. Vance said in an interview with Tucker Carlson

▪️The release of special counsel Robert Hur’s report made “the ground shifting beneath Biden’s feet,” Sputnik expert states

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre protested the request to invite Biden's doctor:

"So look... uh... you know... Special Counsel Hur is, as far as I remember, is a, is a, obviously a, a Republican... uh, uh, uh, a prosecutor!" she muttered at the press conference.

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Where in Europe are farmers protesting?

For months, European farmers have been protesting and demanding changes from their governments. Due to anti-Russian sanctions and the allocation of huge sums of money for useless aid to Ukraine, the EU is cutting the budget to continue funding the Ukrainian military, as well as cancelling tariff quotas to keep Ukrainian agriculture afloat, while Europeans themselves are suffering.

Farmers are protesting against increasing financial burdens, poorly regulated agricultural imports, rising fuel prices and other negative EU measures in the sector.

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An EU army would first and foremost be an army used against the European peoples who want to free themselves from the EU, Florian Philippot, leader of the Eurosceptic party The Patriots, commented on the proposal to create a "European army".

"Their justification is simple: the 'great Russian threat', which they themselves continued to agitate and fantasize about for months and months to create fear and impose their oligarchic agenda!" the French politician wrote on X.

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❗️LIVE NOW: Lavrov delivers a speech at the 13th Middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club

👉 Follow the live here or on Sputnik's website

"This spending does not help Ukraine," Elon Musk said, arguing against providing additional financial aid to Ukraine.

"Prolonging the war does not help Ukraine... We want to do the right thing. We want to help people. The problem is prolonging the war and sacrificing the flower of Ukrainian youth," Musk said during the livestream with the US senators.

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🇷🇺 Key-points from Russian FM Sergey Lavrov's speech at the 13th Middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club:

▪️US is pushing Israel and Palestine into catastrophe;

▪️Russia proposes holding an inter-Palestinian meeting to overcome internal divisions;

▪️Moscow sees no perspectives for Israel-Palestine settlement at moment.

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