Get your priorities straight: Example of the US police

It's been four years since George Floyd's death caused massive protests all over the US. During pro-Palestinian protests, police don't shy away from using their batons, unraveling their wrath on those who dare to criticize Israel. While at the BLM rallies on May 25, protestors seem to enjoy their time...

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‘Expired president’ Zelensky remains legitimate only to the West – expert

”The West believes that they have invented a very savvy formula for keeping Zelensky in power until they decide whether to change or leave him and with whom to replace him,” Alexander Dudchak, leading researcher at the Institute of for CIS Studies, has said.

Zelensky is legitimate only for the West, “but Russia is not obliged to follow the lead of those who do not observe the laws, and who have been destroying international law for decades. Moscow doesn’t consider Zelensky a head of state, albeit a puppet one,” he underscored, recalling that even in Ukraine, Zelensky is nicknamed the “expired president.”

As for who Russia should negotiate with now, the expert said “there is no one to negotiate with in Ukraine, which is also the case with the West.”

“If a regime remains on any Ukrainian territory that the West will see as a successor to the current government – the Zelensky regime or that of similar functionaries whom the collective West could put in power – it would be a constant threat to Russia because the West will pump this territory with weapons,” Dudchak said.

Per him, it’s all the same to Russia who will finally be at the helm of Ukraine because Moscow will pursue the main goal of its special military operation – to rid the world of the neo-Nazi threat posed by the Kiev regime, as such regimes are “contagious” and could spread further across the globe.

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Vladimir Putin arrives in Uzbekistan, where his talks with the country's leadership will take place.

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🇺🇿🇷🇺 The Russian president was met by his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the airport.

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France’s Macron on first visit to Berlin in 24 years to mend cracks in 'Franco-German unity'

Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Germany on an official state visit on Sunday. This trip has become the first official visit by a French president to Germany since 2000, with Reuters reporting that the visit is apparently meant as a show of unity between Berlin and Paris amid unresolved tensions.

Managing Director for Europe at the Eurasia Group think tank Mujtaba Rahman told the media outlet that Macron’s visit is "an attempt at the highest political level to demonstrate that the relationship is working."

Meanwhile, Berlin and Paris keep disagreeing on many issues - such as the defense and security situation in Europe.

Whereas Germany is keen to rely on the US military protection, France favors self-reliance, with Macron consistently advocating for Europe’s greater autonomy in defense matters. Paris’ recent belligerence – extremely obvious in comparison to Berlin’s slow pace – may be well explained by the fact that France has its own, albeit small, nuclear arsenal while Germany has no nukes of its own.

During a cabinet meeting slated to take place on Tuesday, May 28, top French and German officials are expected to discuss important matters related to the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The French president’s visit takes place mere days before the elections for the EU Parliament, scheduled on June 6 through 9, with a report suggesting that France and Germany are now seeking to “find common ground on the EU agenda for the next five years.”

A year earlier, Macron had to scrap plans for his visit to Berlin – originally expected to take place in July 2023 – amid protests that broke out in France over the death of a 17-year-old teenager who was killed by police.

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The Baltic states and Poland are warning Germany that they could send troops to Ukraine if the situation gets noticeably worse for Kiev due to its allies being reluctant to supply it with weapons, according to Spiegel

“If the Russians succeed in a strategic breakthrough in eastern Ukraine because the West is reluctant to help Kiev, the situation could escalate sharply. In this case, the Baltic countries and Poland will not wait for Russian troops to deploy on their borders, Baltic politicians warn, they will send troops themselves to Ukraine,” the magazine writes.

According to them, in this way NATO will become a party to the conflict, and this is exactly what German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden fear.

On Sunday, Scholz said that he opposes revising the rules for the use of German weapons by Ukraine and giving Kiev the opportunity to strike them on Russian territory. Previously, the chancellor has repeatedly emphasized that Berlin does not want the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to escalate into a conflict between Russia and NATO.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with The Economist that the alliance does not intend to send troops to Ukraine.

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Why EU attempts to develop new main battle tank unlikely to succeed

Moves by the European Union to design a new main battle tank for the EU members’ militaries are unlikely to produce any meaningful results in the immediate future, says retired US Army Lt. Colonel and veteran international consultant Earl Rasmussen.

Aside from the actual development and prototyping, the parties involved in this undertaking would also have to ensure that they have sufficient production capabilities. Training in the use of the new tank would also have to be provided to the buyers’ militaries, and “the whole supply chain needs to be coordinated and integrated as well,” Rasmussen notes.

“We're talking 7-10-12 years before we see anything out there. Then we're going to have to find buyers. So I'm assuming that they'll probably be working on buyers during the design and testing, similar to the F-35 [that] had partners in early on and contributions being made,” he speculates.

Commenting on Poland’s apparent involvement in the European tank scheme, despite the fact that until now, Warsaw seemed keen to rely on purchasing US and South Korean military hardware, Rasmussen says that it remains to be seen how it may affect US-Polish relations.

“I'm sure the US does not want to lose anyone unless they're going to be behind the scenes backing this project as well. Poland is perhaps trying to buffer themselves to see where the US is going to go as far as NATO goes as well,” he muses.

Regarding the purpose of this tank development project, Rasmussen postulates that the EU likely came up with this idea after considering all the logistical complications the Ukrainian military faces after being supplied with a mish-mash of US and European weapon systems that often require different ammunition and parts.

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Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik's parent media group Rossiya Segodnya, has explained that disputes arose in the newsroom about how to call Zelensky now: "former" president of Ukraine, "illegitimate" president, "self-proclaimed", or something else.

"I suggest - 'expired'," she wrote on Telegram.

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▪️‘Expired president’ Zelensky remains legitimate only to the West – expert

▪️Why is Zelensky illegitimate as Ukrainian president?

▪️Russia makes artillery shells three times faster and four times cheaper than West

▪️Russian soldier survives after being shot in the head and later in the leg during tortures in Ukrainian captivity

▪️Russia hammers Ukrainian military airport adapted for Western F-16 fighter jets

▪️French President Macron on first visit to Berlin in 24 years to mend cracks in 'Franco-German unity'

▪️Major non-NATO ally: What does the designation mean?

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The idea of returning universal military connoscription to the EU is insane, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said.

“Europe is so involved in a war that it does not even have an estimate of the magnitude of the costs and means necessary to achieve its military objective. I have never seen anything more irresponsible in my life,” Orban emphasized in an interview with YouTube channel Patrióta.

According to the prime minister, NATO wants to become a party to the conflict in Ukraine and “the chances that the alliance can be kept from doing so are limited because they don't want to be persuaded.”

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Budapest is against having decisions on the service of Hungarian citizens made "in Brussels or Germany," Hungarian PM Viktor Orban emphasized.

"We don't want anyone else to be able to make decisions about connoscription and sending our young men of draft age anywhere. We have to forget about a European army with compulsory connoscription, this is a crazy idea," Orban said in an interview with the Patriota YouTube channel.

Earlier in May, Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People's Party, the largest one in the European Parliament, suggested reinstating compulsory military service across the entire European Union.

If Weber's idea was implemented, "Hungarian families would be told from Brussels or Germany that their children would be compulsorily connoscripted into the European army and told where they would go," the Hungarian prime minister added.

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted that Ukraine may not become a NATO member within the next 30 years.

“It is not expected in the near future, maybe for the next 30 years,” Scholz said at a forum.

Ukraine applied for accelerated NATO membership in September 2022, following the start of Russia's special military operation. In March, NATO Military Committee chair Rob Bauer said that the matter concerning Ukraine’s membership in NATO was settled, however, the discussion on the timeline was ongoing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that NATO's expansion to include Ukraine would create a direct national security threat to Russia and that Moscow considers the non-aligned status of Ukraine to be extremely important to put an end to the years-long conflict.

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Russian air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Bryansk region, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said.

No injuries or damage were reported per preliminary information, according to the governor.

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In the years to come, current events may be seen as a prelude to World War III or even its first episode if Brussels' militarism is not countered, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

“Perhaps in 10 years the current processes will be called a prelude to World War III. It cannot be ruled out that if things go badly and we fail to control the military psychosis developed in Brussels, the history of these years will also be an episode of the first years of the big world war,” Orban said in an interview with the YouTube channel Patrióta.

Although European politicians see nuclear weapons as a deterrent, unforeseen worst-case scenarios could come to life, the Hungarian prime minister emphasized.

“In my opinion, European politicians think of the nuclear bomb as a tactical deterrence tool and not as something that should really be used, but what they don't consider at the beginning of a war can still happen at the end, thus worst-case scenarios can come to life,” Orban explained.

Previously, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper that the United States threatened Moscow with the “destruction” of Russian forces in the special military operation zone if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitriy Medvedev said Poland should understand that an American strike on Russian troops would mean the beginning of a world war.

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Georgia's leaders to take the steps necessary to secure its “Euro-Atlantic future” and warned that the coming months would be crucial.

The US and EU are demanding Georgia scrap its foreign agents law, threatening sanctions and scaling back integration prospects. The bill aims to increase transparency around foreign-backed NGOs in the country in legislation similar to the United States' Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“This has been an important 12 months for the people of Georgia, including the historic achievement of EU candidate status. The next months will be critical to making this opportunity a reality,” Blinken threatened in a statement.

“The US will continue to strongly support the Georgian people's aspirations for a Euro-Atlantic future. We urge Georgia's leaders to take the steps necessary to move the country forward in the right direction,” he added.

Previously, Blinken said the US was launching a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation with Georgia and introducing a new restrictive visa policy against “individuals who are responsible for undermining democracy” in the country.

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Georgia's parliament will begin the process of overriding President Salome Zurabishvili's veto of its bill on foreign agents Monday, the parliament’s website reported.

The body's legal affairs committee will meet Monday morning at 09:00 am (05:00 am GMT) to consider the veto. After the committee approves the override, MPs will vote to affirm the process at Tuesday's plenary session.

Georgia's parliament passed the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” on May 14 in the bill's third and final reading, despite street protests. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili vetoed the foreign agents law on May 18, calling it “Russian” and “unconstitutional.” Parliament needs a simple majority to override the presidential veto.

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Europe is living through an existential period and it had never had as many internal and external enemies as it does now, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"We have never had so many enemies inside and outside. We are living an existential point where our Europe may die — I spoke about this a few weeks ago," Macron said at an event marking the 75th anniversary of the German constitution in Berlin.

The dire situation is mostly caused by the conflict in Ukraine and economic challenges related to the decarbonization of the economy, the French president said.

"We are living through the crisis of our democracies," he added, referring to the growing popularity of nationalist parties in Europe.

Russian officials repeatedly warned against military supplies to the Kiev regime stressing that this move only fuels the conflict with no chance to anyhow affect the ultimate course of special operation.

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