Zelensky cuts down his ‘peace formula’: what does Soros have to do with it?

Ahead of the summit on the Ukraine conflict to held in Switzerland on June 15 and 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave interviews to Reuters and the NYT where he focused on just three items from his original 10-point “peace formula”.

Zelensky called for an eventual peace settlement that would begin with plans to secure Ukrainian food exports to developing nations, prisoner exchanges and nuclear security. He underlined that if Ukraine thoroughly develops these three points, the plan could then be handed over to Russia.

Interestingly, the interviews took place just a week after Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky's office, held a meeting with Alexander Soros, the son of American billionaire George Soros.

On May 13, the two discussed preparations for the Switzerland summit and the reduced “peace formula” covering the same three issues.

This development comes as the Swiss conference has begun to look like a failure weeks ahead its actual start. According to media reports, leaders of the Global South and BRICS nations have chosen to avoid the conference altogether.

So far, heads of state from China, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Indonesia, India, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia, Malaysia and Venezuela have turned down invitations to the event.

“Any event that ignores Russia's position and is based on the 'Zelensky's formula' ultimatum is hopeless and detached from reality,” the Russian foreign ministry commented.

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Scott Ritter reveals US already covertly backs Ukraine strikes on Russia

Former Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter told Sputnik that Tony Blinken's proposal to authorize Ukraine to take actions against Russia is merely formalizing what's already happening covertly. "The United States has already green-lighted Ukraine to do this. The CIA has been working with Ukrainian intelligence and Russian opposition forces to take the fight into ‘Old Russia’," Ritter said.

He emphasized that this covert war is a response to Russian successes in Ukraine but warned that Blinken's move could escalate the conflict dangerously. Ritter believes it's a political ploy by the Biden administration, aimed at domestic optics rather than resolving military issues. He cautioned that such escalation could lead to direct confrontation between Russia, the US, and NATO, potentially resulting in nuclear conflict.

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West’s support for Srebrenica ‘genocide’ vote designed to distract from Gaza, divide rising global majority

💬 “This outcome was expected because of the immense pressure of the Western countries,” Professor Stevan Gajic, a political analyst and research associate at the Belgrade-based Institute of European Studies, told Sputnik, commenting on Thursday’s vote in the UN General Assembly to establish an international remembrance day commemorating the July 1995 violence in Srebrenica, Bosnia as a “genocide.”

“The proposal comes at a very interesting moment. It comes at the moment when Western countries are supporting extermination of Gaza. And therefore they want to divert the anger of the Muslim countries and also to give an alibi to the Muslim countries who voted for the resolution…to somehow come clean in front of their people because they are not doing anything when it comes to Palestine. This is the main motive,” the academic said.

💬 “The motive is also to stir differences among the countries of the emerging world majority, which is struggling and which is fighting and defeating Western hegemony and Western global dominance all over the world,” Gajic added, pointing to the divisions triggered by Thursday’s vote between emerging powers in the Global South and some countries in the Muslim World.

Gajic fears the resolution may be designed to trigger a new war in the Balkans, and that this may have been the West’s goal all along.

“Another war is possible. And this precisely can be the spark. I think that when we think about the motives, we should remember what [then-US Secretary of State] John Kerry said in 2015 - that Serbia, Bosnia, Georgia, Moldova, Macedonia, Montenegro, and a number of other countries are ‘in the line of fire’ of the West versus Russia and connected to the war in Ukraine, which was already raging for a year and a half [in the Donbass, ed.] when he said it,” Gajic recalled.

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◻️ Scott Ritter: US threats to greenlight Ukrainian attacks on Russia could spill out into world-ending conflict

◻️ What the EU mission in Rafah reportedly proposed by the US is about

◻️ West’s support for Srebrenica ‘genocide’ vote designed to distract from Gaza, divide rising global majority

◻️ ‘Kiss of Death’ security pact threatens to turn Kenya into US vassal 

◻️ Crises-riddled legacy of UK’s Tories as snap election looms

◻️ Scott Ritter reveals US already covertly backs Ukraine strikes on Russia

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"Death to America!" chant thousands of Iranians, who have gathered outside the Imam Reza Mausoleum in Mashhad, where President Raisi's body lies.

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Breaking bad: Oregon conservatives seeking to secede from the woke state

Fourteen conservative Oregon counties voted for steps to start negotiations on seceding from the liberal state and join neighboring conservative Idaho.

The draft aims to move the Oregon border 200 miles to the west, so that several counties would lie within Idaho state lines. Those behind the effort claim that the move would allow residents to benefit from lower tax rates and to have their interests better represented at the legislative level.

They also argue that the move westward would be a boon to conservative voters ostracized by left-wing authorities that push harmful ‘progressive’ policies.

Oregon residents have seen a spike in crime, especially drug-related. Notably, locals blame liberal legislators for decriminalizing drug possession. State policymakers adopted a law in 2021 under which police would simply give out $100 fine tickets to addicts in place of criminal prosecutions.

On top of that, the ticket would be cancelled if the detained underwent treatment and agreed to a health assessment. The move ultimately proved pointless, as drug users ignored over 95 percent of the tickets.

Though not legislatively binding, the vote signals to state and federal representatives that residents support talks on being annexed by Idaho. Similar breakaway sentiments have been voiced in Texas, Illinois and Colorado.

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The key points of Iranian Army General Staff's first report on the President Raisi helicopter's crash:

🔶 The helicopter was following the planned route and did not deviate from it

🔶 About a minute and a half before the crash, the pilot communicated with two other helicopters in the flight team.

🔶 No bullet marks were found on the wreckage of the crashed helicopter.

🔶 Helicopter caught fire after hitting high ground

🔶 Due to difficult terrain, fog and low temperatures, the search operation lasted all night; Iranian drones were able to locate the helicopter by Monday morning.

🔶 Nothing suspicious was observed in the conversations between air traffic controllers and the flight crew.

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"It's Just part of my ongoing business relationship with Vladimir Putin... No, of course I never even contemplated it... I have nothing to do with Russian media. I couldn't even identify three Russian media outlets. Of course I don't speak Russian," Tucker Carlson said in response to the remark about him becoming a host on Russian television.

Carlson further stated that this claim is a pretext for a FISA warrant, which will allow Biden administration to spy on him.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Belarus on an official two-day visit. The Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, at whose invitation the visit took place, met Putin at the airport.

Putin said he would discuss security issues and Belarus' participation in non-strategic nuclear weapons exercises with Lukashenko during his visit to Minsk

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Houthis expand attacks on Israeli-linked ships onto Mediterranean sea

Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, has started operations against Israeli-linked vessels in the Mediterranean Sea by attacking a ship earlier this week, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said.

"The number of vessels and ships attacked since last October, including those linked with the Israeli enemy, the US and the UK, has reached 119," al-Houthi said on Yemeni television.

This week, the Houthi forces conducted eight operations using 15 missiles and drones in the Red and Arabian Seas, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, including one attack in the Mediterranean Sea, the rebel leader said.

Houthis vowed in November 2023 to attack any ships associated with Israel until it halts military actions in the Gaza Strip. The attacks prompted the US to form a multinational coalition, which includes the United Kingdom among others, to protect shipping in the area of the Red Sea, as well as to strike Houthi targets on the ground.

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US launches comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation with Georgia

The US is implementing a visa restriction policy on Georgian officials, and their families, who are responsible for facilitating passage of a foreign agents law, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release.

"In response to these actions, the Department of State is implementing a new visa restriction policy for Georgia that will apply to individuals who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, as well as their family members," Blinken said. "This includes individuals responsible for suppressing civil society and freedom of peaceful assembly in Georgia through a campaign of violence or intimidation."

The US is also launching a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation with Georgia over the passing of a "foreign influence" law in the country, Blinken added in a statement.

"I am also launching today a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation between the US and Georgia. It remains our hope that Georgia’s leaders will reconsider the draft law and take steps to move forward with their nation’s democratic and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. As we review the relationship between our two countries, we will take into account Georgia’s actions in deciding our own," Blinken said.

On Saturday, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the foreign agents bill that had been adopted by the country's parliament. The parliament needs a simple majority to override the veto.

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Nearly 3Mln people attend Raisi's farewell ceremony in his hometown of Mashhad

About 3 million people have attended the farewell ceremony in Iran's Mashhad for late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash over the weekend along with a delegation involving Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials, Mashhad mayor Mohammad Reza Ghalandar said.

Raisi's body was buried earlier in the day in Mashhad, his hometown in northwestern Iran. He was laid to rest in the Imam Reza shrine containing the remains of Ali al-Rida, the eighth Imam of Shia Islam.

Some of the 3 million people who attended the ceremony came to Mashhad from other cities and even other countries, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey, Ghalandar was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency.

On Sunday, the helicopter carrying Raisi and his delegation back from a visit to neighboring Azerbaijan crashed in Iran's northwest.

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Sy Hersh: US diplomacy needed to avoid Ukraine’s ‘overwhelming’ defeat

US diplomatic efforts, which are withheld due to President Joe Biden's irrational views on Russia, could have resolved the Ukrainian conflict that Americans and their allies are now unable to win, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said.

"America, in the years Biden has been in office, has spent $175 billion to fight a war that cannot and will not be won. It will only be resolved by diplomacy—if rationality prevails in Kiev and Washington," Hersh wrote in a Substack article.

Otherwise, the "undertrained, understaffed, and poorly-equipped Ukrainian army faces an overwhelming defeat," he predicted.

In addition, Hersh, citing a longtime senior US official said that the US intelligence community has been concerned about Biden’s views on Putin and Russia, which date back to his time serving in the Senate. However, some within the American intelligence community believe that the US bears its own share of responsibility for the conflict in Ukraine, Hersh added.

"Putin and his predecessors in Moscow watched for three decades—since the reunification of Germany in 1990—as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) added member states that brought NATO to Russia’s doorstep," Hersh said.

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Trump: Biden 'doesn't know he's alive'

Former President Donald Trump says US President Joe Biden doesn't know he's alive while asserting during a rally in South Bronx that he can make the people of New York happy.

"It's really about the people and in this case, the people of New York City, New York State, we're going to make you very happy and Biden can't do it. He [Biden] doesn't know he's alive," Trump said.

Trump and Biden recently agreed to debates on June 27 and September 10, but Biden rejected additional debates proposed by NBC News and Fox News in the coming months.

The Trump campaign has been calling on Biden to agree to have a debate each month leading to the November 5 vote in the US presidential election.

Furthermore, Trump said he would demand a drug test before a debate with Biden and that he declined the Biden team's offer to hold a "sit-down" debate.

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❗️ During the night, Russian air defenses destroyed three ATACMS missiles over Crimea and two Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region, the Ministry of Defense said. In addition, Russian naval aviation destroyed three Ukrainian Navy unmanned boats in the Black Sea that were heading in the direction of Crimea.

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❗️ Latest statements by Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Russian Federal Security Service, at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of National Security Enforcement Agencies and Special Services in Bishkek:

◾️ The situation in the CIS and in the world as a whole remains tense, the US, UK, and their NATO allies are using the full arsenal of “hybrid” warfare.

◾️ With the assistance of NATO countries, terrorists from other regions of the world continue to be massively transferred to Ukraine, some of them used for further terrorist expansion in the CIS.

◾️ Ukraine, having no real opportunities to achieve its goals on the battlefield, has turned to total terror. Sabotage raids are being carried out in the Russian border area.

◾️ The circle of states that are not willing to go against the interests of their peoples at the command of the outside world is widening. Russia is closely cooperating with these countries. Contacts in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America are being used.

◾️ Ukraine's special services are actively recruiting young people to serve as terrorists through the propaganda of pro-Ukrainian nationalist formations on social networks.

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❗️ The West is forming “governments in exile” to seize power in CIS countries, Russian Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov says

The West is trying to create conditions for “color revolutions” in CIS countries using agents of influence, controlled opposition parties and movements, non-profit organizations, and pseudo-independent media. It is also forming “governments in exile” from political immigrants abroad to seize power in the commonwealth states in the event of the situation deteriorating and mass unrest, Bortnikov said.

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🗣 The Anglo-Saxons want to gain a foothold in Central Asia and influence the region by any means, including pressure on the leadership of CIS countries, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov says.

“We see persistent attempts by the Anglo-Saxons to influence the situation in Afghanistan. This explains their intentions to gain a foothold in Central Asia at all costs and use this platform to influence the entire region,” Bortnikov said.

“Of course, with such stakes, any means are at play. Hence the constant rotation of militants in the Syrian-Iraqi and Afghan-Pakistani zones, and the emergence of new militant training camps near the southern borders of the commonwealth. This can also include the imposition of various formats of cooperation in the sphere of defense and security, as well as political and economic pressure on the leadership of CIS states,” the FSB director added.

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❗️ Statements by Western politicians and media about the “Russian threat” show that Europe is preparing to start a war with Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says

“Before the two world wars, there were preparations for entering a war using the media for quite a long time. I think what is happening today in Brussels and Washington, but more in Brussels than in Washington, is a kind of preparation of the attitudes for a possible direct conflict. We can safely say that there are preparations for Europe's entry into war, and this is happening in the media and statements of politicians,” Orban said.

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