Why gold and Bitcoin prices have surged so high?

The record-high price surge of both gold and Bitcoin may be related to the “perceived value of scarcity” of both, says Paul Goncharoff, chief manager of consulting firm Goncharoff LLC.

While gold is costly and “increasingly difficult” to obtain, the total amount of Bitcoin is forever limited to 21 million tokens, some 19.6 million of which have already been mined, he tells Sputnik.

Whereas gold already has an established reputation as a reliable asset and safe investment proven by thousands of years of human history, the reputation of Bitcoin as a safe haven of sorts stems from two factors, according to Goncharoff.

“One is its finite supply and the other is that ideally it is trustless, and as such protected against the political/economic whims of centralized authorities such as governments, central banks, and the like,” he elaborates. “It is felt by many to be the digital equivalent of gold, and much more efficient to hold and transfer as needed, being always controlled by the individual with the e-wallet, not a bank.”

He notes, however, that it remains to be seen whether Bitcoin is going to become an asset as reliable as gold.

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What does UK court ruling mean for Assange’s fate?

The High Court of Justice in London deciding to not immediately proceed with Julian Assange’s extradition to the US, at least until Washington provides certain assurances regarding his fate, does not just grant him a temporary reprieve, says senior British human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson.

“It was only a provisional ruling in his favor, but it does give him another chance, a strong chance of going forward and possibly succeeding on appeal,” Robertson, who acted for Julian Assange in the past, tells Sputnik.

He also suggested that many believe that Assange’s case “has gone on too long,” with plenty of people believing that the United States should “desist in its pursuit of him,” and that the WikiLeaks founder should be allowed to return home to Australia.

“But for the time being, the case goes on,” Robertson remarks, adding that Assange has nevertheless “succeeded in showing that he does have serious arguments that the Americans are seeking him for political purposes.”

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▪️Russian intelligence services: US and NATO weaponize ISIS to win Ukraine conflict

▪️Who is behind the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall?

▪️Navigating Julian Assange's 14-year legal saga: Key moments

▪️A British court decision to delay Assange's possible extradition reflects shifting attitudes on press freedom and deals a blow to US authority

▪️EXPOSED: Zelensky's "Mujahid": Who is Daniyal Al-Takbir?

▪️Angara space rocket: How many versions does it have and why is it so important to Russia?

▪️Why gold and Bitcoin prices have surged so high?

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Why Zelensky's decision to fire Danilov evokes memory of Moscow concert hall attack

Volodymyr Zelensky reshuffled his cabinet on March 26 by firing Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov and replacing him with Oleksandr Litvinenko, who previously held the position of the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.

"I refer to this as shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic," Larry Johnson, a retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official, tells Sputnik. "It’s chaos. And, I think in recent days the Ukrainians are taking steps to hide a lot of casualties that have been inflicted through a variety of Russian missile strikes on key command centers."

Johnson notes, however, that Danilov's recent brags with regard to Ukraine's apparent ability to hit Russia hard as well as his firing have facilitated suspicions of the Kiev regime's apparent role in the recent Crocus City Hall attack.

Meanwhile, Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov stated on March 26 that initial data received from those arrested in relation to the terror attack confirms links to Ukraine.

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US President Joe Biden claims he commuted over the Francis Scott Key bridge by train "many, many times."

But there is a catch: the bridge doesn’t have any rail lines and no trains run over it.

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A United Nations-appointed expert has found that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, according to a report released on Monday. The expert said there are clear indications that Israel has violated three of the five acts listed under the UN Genocide Convention.

"It is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of and to present my findings," Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Territories, told the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.

"I implore member states to abide by their obligations, which start with imposing an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel and so ensure that the future does not continue to repeat itself," she stressed.

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Russian air defenses destroyed 18 air targets on their approach to the city of Belgorod, Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

One person got injured by shrapnel per preliminary information, according to the governor.

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The US is ‘mocking’ international law, creating ‘world of the jungle’

Journalist Elijah Magnier slammed the US on Sputnik’s Fault Lines program for its disavowal of the UN Security Council’s ceasefire resolution, which Biden administration officials have claimed is “non-binding.”

“If you look at Article 25 of the UN charter, all members of the United Nations agreed to… accept and carry out the decision,” said the journalist, noting that Security Council resolutions are intended to be binding and enforced by members. “Every single US official came out to say, 'oh, this is a non-binding resolution,' undermining international laws.”

“If these laws are not implemented we live in the world of the jungle, we don't live in an institution and we don't live in international law.”

The reporter said the erosion in international cooperation seriously threatens the world’s ability to peacefully resolve global conflicts.

“At this point I think the whole world needs something to happen because the Second World War brought the United Nations,” Magnier said. “Do we need a third World War to change the world constitution and start putting a mechanism in place where all countries should abide by international laws? Because it seems the Americans are cherry picking who can implement international laws and who cannot.”

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Veteran war correspondent Elijah Magnier strongly criticized the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza during an interview on Sputnik’s Fault Lines program.

“In my field experience, with 35 years of war, I have never seen an army taking pictures, taking videos, posting videos on social media and showing all the war crimes that [they] are doing, laughing and [not] giving a damn about world opinion or about international laws,” Magnier claimed. “They are committing war crimes, they know they are doing it. They're committing crimes against humanity... and they say, 'we don't care what you think. One day you will forget.'”

The journalist, who has reported from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia, claimed the open brutality of the IDF is unprecedented during his time as a journalist.

Video has circulated of Israeli soldiers stripping men down to their underwear and rifling through women’s panty drawers after forcing their way into Palestinian homes. Recent footage of the IDF firing on and killing three unarmed Gazan civilians drew widespread condemnation online.

“People [in Gaza] spend all their time in the middle of the month of Ramadan just begging for a bowl of soup or a bowl of meat once a day at the end of the day, and they have no strength to continue,” he added. “And this is happening in the south. In the north it's ten times worse.”

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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre flustered, scared away by the question of whether Joe Biden has dementia.

“Oh, let me – no no no no you, Mark – you you you you're taking us down this rabbit hole,” Jean-Pierre stuttered, doing her best impression of an outraged Karen.

“And so I'm not even going to truly, truly, really, you know, take... the premise of your question, I think, it is incredibly insulting and, and so, we can, you know, we can move on to the next question,” she said.

Shortly after, the official hung up on the North Carolina radio host, failing to convince the audience of Biden’s mental capacity.

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Cancer incidence, mortality after NATO bombing of Yugoslavia still on the rise, Serbian health minister said.

Cancer incidence and mortality rates after the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia are increasing even now, Serbian Health Minister Danica Grujicic said in an interview with Sputnik.

Grujicic is a renowned neurosurgeon who served as director of the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia before being appointed health minister in 2022. Approximately 40,000 people in Serbia are diagnosed with cancer every year, and the Serbian Ministry of Health is currently working on software to more quickly and automatically register new patients, according to medics.

"We and our neighbors — the Croats and the Hungarians — have been rotating for years at the top of mortality rates of oncological diseases in Europe. Thus, according to ECIS [European Cancer Information System] data for 2020, Serbia was in first place with an index of 150.6 per 100,000, while the European average was 108.7 points. We have tumors of respiratory systems (lungs), mammary glands, central nervous systems, thyroids, circulatory and digestive systems leading in terms of mortality," the health minister has said.

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US military space programs have suffered for well over a decade from management and oversight problems with continuing difficulties in supervising contractors, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report.

"For more than 10 years, we have identified management and oversight problems that hinder DOD [Department of Defense]’s space system acquisition programs," the report said. "Collectively, these challenges and risks have resulted in billions of dollars in cost overruns and years of schedule delays."

Defense Department space system acquisition programs have historically faced challenges relating to management, oversight, culture, and leadership, the GAO acknowledged.

"These problems include making overly optimistic cost and schedule estimates; pushing programs forward without sufficient knowledge about technology and design; and challenges in overseeing and managing contractors," the report said.

The Defense Department's culture has generally been resistant to changes in space acquisition approaches and the Pentagon needs to streamline its review processes and delegate more decision-making authority to lower levels, the GAO advised.

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'These aren't real Muslims’: Moscow terrorists were mercenaries engaged in a ‘political act’

“These aren't hardcore ISIS followers,” said former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter of the suspects apprehended after last week’s horrific terrorist attack in a Moscow suburb.

Ritter made the claim on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program where he explained that various aspects of the attackers’ conduct were incongruent with that of typical ISIS terrorists. The former UN weapons inspector noted the terrorists were observed in a photo using their left hand rather than their right to pronounce allegiance to the creed of Islam, while also blurring their faces in images posted online.

Ritter added that the attackers attempted to return to their “true north” of Ukraine after the attack rather than going out as professed “martyrs.”

“These aren't jihadists, these are mercenaries,” Ritter concluded. “These are people who took money to commit an act of irregular warfare.”

Recently released video from the scene of the attack appeared to show one of the terrorists scoping out the Crocus City Hall venue earlier this month. The evidence has led to speculation the attack was originally intended to be carried out before Russia’s presidential contest in order to disrupt the election and undermine trust in President Vladimir Putin.

“This was a political act linked to an American policy objective being implemented by Ukrainian intelligence services,” Ritter concluded.

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Russia considers the position of the United States on the investigation into the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow as "biased," Washington is trying to "put Ukraine out of harm's way," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

"They exposed themselves. They also started screaming, not calling for an investigation, but began to put Ukraine out of harm's way. Their bias and involvement in this story are obvious. If it had not been there, the first statements would have been what they should have been, namely about the need for investigation, probe, presentation of facts," Zakharova stressed.

On Tuesday, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov said the first information received from suspects in the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack proved a Ukrainian trace. He added that, while radical Islamists had prepared the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall, the Ukrainian special forces were involved. The Western intelligence and Ukraine needed the attack to create panic in Russian society, Bortnikov also said, adding that the mastermind behind the terrorist attack has not been identified yet.

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Hungary will extend the ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products at the national level if Brussels does not exclude grain and oilseed products from the list of products subject to duty-free imports to the European Union, Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy said.

"In the coming days, a decree on the extension of the autonomous trade liberalization measure will pass ... If the issue of grains and oilseeds is not resolved in the decree, the Hungarian government will still leave the border closed at the national level and will not let Ukrainian agricultural products into Hungary because we owe so much to the Hungarian farming community," the minister said in a video message on Tuesday aired by Hungarian broadcaster M1.

He added that Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi attended a meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council and said that 17 million tonnes of grain had been exported from Ukraine through the Black Sea ports.

Nagy called in such a case for a return to Ukraine's traditional agricultural products markets in the Middle East in Asia and Africa and for banning duty-free import of Ukrainian goods to the EU.

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Is the Biden administration ‘slow rolling’ Assange case to keep the journalist in limbo?

Julian Assange’s long-running legal saga took another unexpected turn on Tuesday when the UK’s High Court of Justice ruled the Wikileaks founder would be granted a temporary reprieve from his expected extradition to the United States. Wilmer Leon, host of Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program, explained the court was seeking assurances from the US that Assange would be granted First Amendment rights and would not be given the death penalty.

Leon spoke to a series of guests to assess the latest development in the case:

▪️ “It's a limited appeal,” noted analyst Steve Poikonen. “They're not allowed to introduce some evidence that shows that the CIA was plotting to kidnap and possibly murder Assange while he was under protective custody of the Ecuadorian embassy.” Assange’s lawyers are also barred from arguing the extradition amounts to political persecution.

▪️ “It's very complicated and it's really just, I think, slow-rolling to try and keep him in jail as much as possible,” said journalist Jim Kavanagh. “They hope he'll die in jail… I don't think it's going to be a good thing for the Biden administration, especially in the current circumstances, to bring him into the United States and have them put him on trial here.”

▪️ “I look at how they're just kind of prolonging the legal proceedings and it seems like there's a lot of people in the British legal system that really don't want to have their fingerprints on whatever happens to Julian Assange,” Analyst Caleb Maupin concluded. “They're trying to do everything they can to not be the one responsible for what ultimately occurs.”

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