❗️The Georgian Parliament overthrew the president's veto on the law on foreign agents by a majority vote.

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Silent secrets: Inside NATO's nuclear sharing program

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has kept mum about Warsaw's progress on its push to join NATO’s nuclear sharing program only a few weeks after President Andrzej Duda confirmed his country’s readiness to become part of the scheme.

So what is the program all about?

▪️It stipulates “the sharing of the alliance’s nuclear deterrence mission and the related political responsibilities and decision-making,” according to NATO’s website.

▪️The concept, in particular, allows NATO members without nuclear weapons of their own to take part in the planning for the use of nukes by the alliance.

▪️As of November 2009, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkiye have been hosting a total of 100 US tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) - intended for use on the battlefield or for a limited strike - as part of NATO's nuclear sharing policy.

▪️The scheme specifically provides for involvement of the armed forces of the aforementioned countries in delivering nuclear weapons in the event of their use;

▪️A possible nuclear mission with the program’s framework can only be undertaken after explicit political approval is given by NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) and authorization is received from the US president and the UK prime minister;

▪️In line with the program, participating countries conduct consultations and make common decisions on nuclear weapons policy, as well maintain technical equipment, such as nuclear-capable aircraft;

▪️NATO annually practices its nuclear sharing arrangements in a two-week-long exercise known as “Steadfast Noon,” hosted by a different NATO member states each year.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last month that Brussels has no plans to expand the nuclear sharing program by deploying additional US TNWs to any NATO country.

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NATO members divided on Ukraine's plans to hit Russia with Western weapons

Western powers, who initially supplied Kiev with weapons for defense, now suggest using them to strike deep into Russia.

Who favors such attacks:

▪️Last week, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged the bloc’s members who supplied weapons to Ukraine to stop barring Kiev from using these weapons to attack Russia. - Stoltenberg’s sentiment was recently echoed by Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics who announced that he sees no reason to impose such restrictions on Ukraine.

▪️Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala claimed that Ukraine has the right to use Western weapons to attack Russia, arguing that it is “logical.”

▪️Estonia’s Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said he hopes every country who provided Ukraine with weapons would allow Kiev to attack Russia with this gear.

▪️Dutch Defense Minister Kasja Ollongren said that the situation where Ukraine would strike inside Russia should not even be a matter of discussion.

The opposition:

▪️Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo insists that all military gear his country provides to Ukraine should be used on Ukrainian territory.

▪️Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani also argued that Western armaments provided to Kiev should be used within Ukraine’s boundaries.

Ambiguous:

▪️US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Kiev “will have to make its own decisions” about conducting attacks beyond Ukraine’s borders, even as the Biden administration officially prohibits the use of US-supplied weapons such as ATACMS missiles for strikes deep into Russian territory.

▪️Austrian Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner said that her country is "militarily neutral according to our constitution".

Moscow warns that Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory using Western-supplied military hardware could lead to direct conflict with NATO.

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🇹🇭 The Thai government has approved the country's draft letter of intent to become a member of BRICS.

"At the Cabinet meeting, it was decided to approve a draft letter expressing Thailand's intention to join as a member of the BRICS group of countries with the approval of the prime minister or a representative designated by the prime minister."

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US President Joe Biden's failure to acknowledge the USSR's role in defeating fascism is part of a trend for "common ignorance" in the West, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Now, to this deep historical illiteracy there have added attempts to transform the knowledge of history, pervert the knowledge of history and erase from there everything that concerns the role of the Soviet Union and the Soviet people in saving the world from fascism. This is common ignorance and unawareness, and the leaders of countries are actually following this trend, repeating all the same things," Peskov said.

On Monday, Biden said that it was the US armed forces that saved the world from Nazism and freed Europe in World War II, without ever mentioning the role of the Soviet Union and other allies in the victory over Nazi Germany.

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🤡 Supplies to Ukraine of long-range weapons capable of hitting Russian military targets are not an escalation of the conflict, French President Emmanuel Macron has claimed.

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🇷🇺🇹🇩 Russian forces rescue Chadian soldiers from militant captivity in joint operation

The Russian military - jointly with colleagues from Chad - freed 21 Chadian soldiers held captive for nine months by Islamic militants. Captured in Tibesti region during a mine-clearing operation, the soldiers were tortured and held in inhumane condition.

After receiving medical care and surgery by Russian medics at a temporary base, they were escorted home by Russian soldiers.

Chad's defense minister praised Russia's reliability as an African partner, contrasting it with France, the UK, and the US. In January 2024, official meetings in Moscow aimed at strengthening interdepartmental cooperation between Russia and Chad.

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Ukraine should be allowed to hit only those targets on Russian territory from which shelling is being conducted, Macron said.

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Why time is ripe to delist Taliban as terrorist entity

Moscow has signaled it is considering delisting the Taliban* as a banned organization, thus paving the way for the recognition of the new Afghan government and deepening economic, political and security ties with the country.

"This solution is absolutely adequate. We see that Russia maintains relations with the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan," Kirill Semenov, political analyst and expert of the Russian Council for International Affairs who specializes on the Middle East, tells Sputnik.

"[Russia] has an embassy in Afghanistan. There are also representatives of the Taliban at the Afghan Embassy in Moscow."

Having returned to power in August 2021 after the US botched a hasty withdrawal, the Taliban established an interim government and a cabinet of ministers to rule the country. The Taliban's emir, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, reasserted his status as the supreme leader of Afghanistan, while Mohammad Hasan Akhund was tapped as the acting prime minister.

"They are trying to pursue socially oriented policies. They are not taking any steps to worsen relations with their neighbors, but are only trying to normalize them and, conversely, take them to a new level," notes Semenov, adding that the Taliban is also trying to develop industry and the economy, despite having very limited resources.

Russia's neighbor, Kazakhstan, removed the Taliban from its list of prohibited organizations at the end of 2023. The expert believes that other countries of Central Asia, as well as China, are likely to do the same.

"This process is underway," Semenov says. "I believe it is irreversible."

*under UN sanctions for terrorism.

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Former Mossad head ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes investigation - report

Yossi Cohen, who headed the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in 2016-2021, put pressure on the International Criminal Court’s then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to abandon her inquiry into war crimes conducted by the country in Palestine, the Guardian reported, citing sources.

Several years ago, Cohen first “tried to build a relationship” with Bensouda and “charm” her, so that she would cooperate with Israel, the publication says.

Later, however, the tone of the communication changed, with Cohen allegedly starting to threaten the prosecutor during private meetings, telling her "not to interfere in matters that could jeopardize" her safety or that of her family. This led Bensouda to brief a select few senior ICC officials on Cohen’s conduct.

When asked by the Guardian to comment on the report, Israeli authorities have denied the allegations as “unfounded”.

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Macron calls to double EU budget to save bloc's waning relevance

French President Emmanuel Macron has called to double the EU's budget in order to revitalize the bloc's economy during his speech at a youth festival in the eastern German city of Dresden.

"Emmanuel Macron commits to an idea which he knows cannot be accepted, but where he hopes that in the event of rejection he will be able to say: 'If they had listened to me…'," Jacques Sapir, director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, tells Sputnik.

The economic expert explains that the only possible instrument to implement Macron's plan is through a loan with the guarantee of the European Central Bank (ECB). However, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia – let alone fiscally conservative Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden – won't follow France's lead.

"Germany, which will already be politically opposed to such an idea, will object even more to the method and will say that Macron wants the EU to go into debt like France does," Sapir says.

According to the expert, the Dresden speech is a continuation of the federalist positions that Macron has always defended.

"[Macron's] great fear is that the EU, both under the effect of external pressures and internal pressures, will fall apart in the next ten years," Sapir concludes.

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Macron vs Putin: Who's a better German-speaker?

French President Macron reportedly studied German with a tutor for a year in order to overcome differences with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his visit to Germany.

🤔 Does he have a chance?

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▪️Putin’s full answer to the question about Zelensky’s legitimacy

▪️Numerous cases of use of the irritant substance chloropicrin by the Ukrainian military have been recorded

▪️NATO members divided on Ukraine's plans to hit Russia with Western weapons

▪️Where are US tactical nukes deployed in Europe?

▪️Why time is ripe to delist Taliban as terrorist entity

▪️Macron calls to double EU budget to save bloc's waning relevance

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Poland’s ‘East Shield’: Costly and dangerous plan of a dividing wall against Russia

Poland’s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has unveiled Warsaw’s plan to create a so-called ‘East Shield' in 2024-2028 - a sinister system of minefields, barbed wire and anti-tank hedgehogs on the borders with Russia and Belarus. It will cost no less than €2.4 bln (about $2.5 bln) and include space satellites, thermal imaging cameras and even man-made “impenetrable” woods and swamps.

As the announcement raised many questions, the minister and Poland’s General Staff will have to address public concerns with clarifications:

▪️The spending bill, totaling €2.4 billion, will be presented to the Sejm next week. This amount is considerable for Poland, given its current defense expenditure of around 4% of GDP.

▪️Planned as a part of a European effort aimed at “deterring” Russia, Polish authorities expect “East Shield” to be partially financed by the EU.

▪️The project was hatched together with the plan of a “drone wall,” which is supposed to protect not only Poland, but also Finland, Norway, and the Baltic states.

However, the project may exceed its planned budget. Here’s why:

▪️The planned system along Poland's 700 km eastern border with a 50 km deep "protected zone" would necessitate the relocation of residents to avoid living among anti-tank mines and obstacles.

▪️Poland will have to create its own satellite system to provide “monitoring of every centimeter of its border zone,” promised in the project. Space programs are costly.

▪️Promised massive bunker construction aims to provide the local population with a "new sense of security". This is also a costly affair.

▪️The “biggest strengthening of Poland’s border since 1945” presupposes building new airfields, so that an eventual “Russian attack” would not destroy Polish aircraft before they get off the ground.

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Why Justin Trudeau has ceased to be the voters’ darling in Canada

Things are not looking particularly good for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the moment, seeing how the Conservative Party is currently enjoying a double-digit lead in the polls over Trudeau’s Liberal Party less than a year and a half away from the next federal election.

Aside from the general fatigue with the Liberal Party, as some media outlets describe it, the following events and factors also did not help Trudeau’s standing in the eyes of Canadian voters:

▪️Canada’s relations with China, as well as with countries such as India and Saudi Arabia, soured after Trudeau’s election in 2015, as the Canadian government seems keen to follow the US’ lead when it comes to foreign policy;

▪️In 2017, Trudeau became embroiled in a political scandal caused by revelations that he accepted gifts and private island vacations from Aga Khan, leader of the Shia Ismaili religion, whose foundation ended up receiving millions of dollars of Canadian federal funding in 2016;

▪️A veritable political scandal erupted in 2019 amid allegations that Trudeau’s office pressured Canada’s minister of justice to intervene in an ongoing criminal case against SNC-Lavalin construction company;

▪️Trudeau’s handling of the so-called Freedom Convoy – a protest by Canadian truckers against the anti-COVID measures and lockdowns imposed by Ottawa – which included mass arrests and freezing of the protesters’ bank accounts, also did not endear the prime minister to his constituents;

▪️In September 2023, the Canadian government committed a faux pas of colossal proportions by toasting Ukrainian ex-Waffen SS member Yaroslav Hunka in Canada’s parliament, who was initially presented as a WWII veteran who “fought against Russia”;

▪️Last month’s revelations, such as those coming from Fitch Ratings, suggest that Canada's budget deficit continues to grow, and it remains unclear whether Trudeau has a recipe to deal with this problem.

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