Remarkable honesty from the inimitable BoJo

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that when Russia succeeds in achieving its goals in its special military operation the “hegemony of the West” will end.

"If Ukraine falls it will be a disaster for the West. This will put an end to the hegemony of the West. And we will have no one to blame but ourselves," Johnson bluntly stated.

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Russian air defenses shot down 14 missiles fired by Ukraine from a Vampire multiple launch rocket system over the Belgorod Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"On April 17, at about 23:00 Moscow time [08:00 pm GMT], the Kiev regime's attempt to carry out a terrorist attack using an RM-70 Vampire multiple launch rocket system against targets on Russian territory was foiled. Fourteen missiles were destroyed over the Belgorod Region by the air defense forces on duty," the ministry said in a statement.

No injuries were reported per preliminary information, according to Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

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Israel stuck in Catch-22: Damned if it retaliates against Iran and damned if it doesn't

On April 17, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would make its own decision on how to respond to Iran's retaliatory attack. Despite this, Washington and its allies are urging Tel Aviv to exercise restraint and are vowing to impose sanctions on Tehran.

Grigory Lukyanov, a researcher at the Center for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), emphasized the significant role of the United States in this situation. He stated, "The United States is not interested in escalating the conflict. Israel's ability to continue the war depends on the US, because it provides ammunition and weapons to Israel."

However, Israeli military and political leaders do not seem to view sanctions as a proportional response to Iran's strike, which tarnished Tel Aviv's image, Lukyanov maintains.

The expert outlined four potential scenarios for Israel's response to the current situation:

▪️ Hybrid warfare and cyber-attacks targeting Iran's infrastructure, energy, water supply systems, state management, and control technologies.

▪️ Limited strikes on Iran's military bases, military enterprises producing missiles and drones, or facilities and research centers connected to nuclear and missile projects.

▪️ Possible use of rogue non-state actors to carry out sabotage attacks inside Iran.

▪️ Potential assassination plots targeting high-profile Iranian officials and leaders.

With the threat of a significant military escalation looming and Israel's economy shrinking by around 20% since the start of the Gaza war, Tel Aviv is still uncertain about how to proceed. Lukyanov emphasized that the longer Israel delays its response, the more it stands to lose, particularly the current war cabinet led by Netanyahu.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk took notice of online outlet Politico's dueling narratives on Ukraine, published less than a year apart.

"Easy to predict," the tech magnate responded. "In fact, I did predict it."

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Russian air defenses destroyed three Ukrainian drones over the Rostov Region. Consequences on the ground are being clarified, Governor Vasily Golubev wrote on his Telegram channel.

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Former US President Donald Trump welcomed Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower in New York.

Meanwhile Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced his support for Biden over Trump in the upcoming US presidential election because of the latter's insufficiently pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia stance.

Video from social media.

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Middle East at the crossroads: Seek peace or risk ‘escalation & possibly World War III’

Holding a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of Iran’s counterattack against Israel was a logical move for President Ebrahim Raisi, considering the friendly nature of the ties between Moscow and Tehran, said Dr. Vladimir Morozov, Associate Professor and Vice-Rector at the MGIMO University.

“I believe Iran regards our country not just as a formal sponsor of the Middle Eastern conflict resolution, but as a country that can influence all sides of the conflict and has a vote in the UN Security Council,” he said.

He argued that it was crucial for the Iranian leadership to demonstrate to their people that Iran has powerful allies abroad with whom Tehran can engage in discussions about the current situation.

Morozov also mentioned the upcoming visit to Moscow by the Iranian deputy foreign minister, who will be attending a non-proliferation conference this week. He noted that the West has not provided any evidence to support its allegations against Iran.

“We all remember the situation with Iraq and how Colin Powell was waving a vial at a UNSC session, accusing Saddam Hussein’s regime of possessing weapons of mass destruction which, as expected, no one found after Iraq was invaded that the regime was toppled,” he recalled. “The same thing has been going over the past few decades with Iran, who is being accused of being poised to build a nuclear bomb in the next two months,” he pointed out.

Instead of trying to portray Iran as a threat to global security, efforts should be made to involve Iran in discussions on regional security, Morozov suggested.

He also warned that other countries in the Middle East should be aware that they are currently at a critical crossroads. They must either attempt to negotiate and pursue peace, even if it is fragile, or the situation in the region may quickly spiral into “a very serious escalation, up to World War III.”

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Russian air defenses shot down 21 air targets over the city of Belgorod and the Belgorod Region, one person was injured, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

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Government surveillance panopticon grows more powerful with attempted TikTok ban, backdoors

The revelation the FBI attempted to pressure Telegram’s founder into creating a “backdoor” portal to the app for police and intelligence agencies has drawn attention to online government surveillance. Commentator James Carey joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program to discuss the latest developments in US government agencies’ quest to control the flow of information.

“First of all as a Telegram user I'm glad I stuck with Telegram,” said Carey. “I think that it's pretty plausible… we've seen in cases like the San Bernardino shooting where Apple didn't have a backdoor ready for the US government and they were essentially ready to threaten even Apple, which is a giant American company, over getting a backdoor to encrypted software.”

“Doesn't shock me at all,” added host Garland Nixon. “Kind of what I expect from the FBI, all kinds of criminal activity and miscreant activity for the FBI – that's just any given Tuesday for them.” For more than a decade the FBI engaged in an illegal program of disruption, surveillance, and subversion of activist groups known as COINTELPRO.

Cohost Wilmer Leon also noted efforts to discourage the use of 5G routers by Chinese tech company Huawei in the US and Europe. Officials alleged the hardware may contain backdoors for the Chinese government. But revelations about the FBI’s interest in Telegram suggest the problem was perhaps that the Chinese equipment did not contain backdoors.

Former UK cabinet minister Vince Cable once admitted Washington’s allegations of security threats from Chinese technology are unproven, confessing the UK government banned Huawei equipment as a diplomatic favor for the United States.

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🇨🇴🇧🇷 Colombia is interested in joining the BRICS bloc as a full member as soon as possible, and the government of Brazil will assist in promoting its candidacy, Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a joint statement.

"President Petro has expressed the interest of Colombia to join BRICS as a full member as soon as possible, and President Lula welcomed this initiative and vowed to promote Colombia's candidacy," the joint statement published by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry read.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates joined the BRICS bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa as full members on January 1, 2024.

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Israel is unlikely to launch a retaliatory strike on Iran until after the end of the Jewish holiday of Passover, also known as Pesach, which is celebrated on April 22 - 30, a senior US official has told the ABC News broadcaster.

The report said on Wednesday that the official did not rule out that the plans "could always change."

He added that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other leadership are still on a "high state of alert," with some of them still being in safe houses and underground facilities, the report said.

🔻 On Saturday night, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israel in its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The attack came in response to Israel's airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital in early April. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel had intercepted 99% of the aerial targets fired by Iran, including all drones. Tehran claimed that its retaliatory attack “hit designated targets.”

🔻 On Tuesday, media reported that Israel had decided how to respond to Iran's recent retaliatory strike but has yet to decide on its timing.

🔻 Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Wednesday that Israel would face a powerful and fierce retaliation if it carried out even the slightest attack on Iran.

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Private military companies from the US and Canada can be contracted to pilot F-16s in Ukraine, French aviation expert Cyrille de Lattre told Sputnik.

"There is a possibility to attract trained pilots. In fact, there are two private companies in the world: the Canadian Top Aces and the American Draken International - military companies that already have 100 percent trained pilots for F-16s... In the worst-case scenario, these two private military companies can be contracted to operate these aircraft in Ukraine."

According to the analyst, there are many problems with the training of Ukrainian pilots who, among other issues, have a poor command of English. The only thing they have been able to do is to fly F-16s from base to base in Europe while military operations are not carried out by Ukrainian pilots, de Lattre stressed.

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❗️Attempts by Ukraine to carry out terrorist attacks on Russia with Tochka-U missiles, Vampire MLRS, drones and balloons were suppressed overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

Two missiles, 19 rockets, 16 drones and two small balloons were destroyed over the territory of the Belgorod region, three drones were destroyed over the Rostov region, one drone was intercepted and three balloons were destroyed over the Voronezh region.

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📹✈️ Frontline Su-34 bombers with guided bombs struck the Ukrainian stronghold in the south of the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

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France has become the leader among EU countries in gas purchases from Russia

In February, the country imported liquefied natural gas for 322 million euros ($343 mln), and Hungary, which had maintained its primacy two months earlier, imported pipeline "blue fuel" for only 210 million euros ($226 mln), according to Eurostat data.

In total, the EU purchased 1.1 billion euros worth of gas from Russia at the end of winter, of which 619.4 million ($661 mln) for liquefied natural gas supplies and 493.3 million ($526 mln) for pipeline gas.

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