Why Biden's 10-year security pact with Ukraine is nothing but a PR stunt

US President Joe Biden struck a 10-year security deal with the Kiev regime at the recent G7 Summit. Volodymyr Zelensky, whose presidential tenure expired on May 20, inked the agreement on behalf of Ukraine. Despite the White House calling the deal "historic" the US media says its future is in doubt.

▪️ The deal is not a "treaty", but an "executive agreement" since Biden didn't seek a congressional approval to make it. Treaties, which require the consent of two-thirds of US senators, are legally binding agreements between nations; they become part of international law. Executive agreements are concluded on the authority of the incumbent president and don't necessarily bind his successors.

▪️ President Donald Trump tore apart his predecessor Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran (which was not confirmed by Senate) in 2018. This illustrated the fragility of the executive agreement - which was also called "historic" in July 2015.

▪️ Recent YouGov, Yahoo News, Emerson polls show Trump leads Biden in the 2024 presidential race. Trump is also leading Biden in key battleground states which provided for Biden's victory in the 2020 elections, as per RealClearPolitics.

▪️ Even if Biden wins in 2024, his second tenure will end in 2029, meaning the fate of the 10-year accord will depend on his successor.

▪️ Treaties aren't immune to the US president's unilateral action: In 1978, President Jimmy Carter withdrew from 1954 Mutual Defense Treaty with the island of Taiwan. President George W. Bush tore apart the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with Moscow in 2002.

▪️ Last but not least, in the absence of clarification of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Zelensky's legitimacy as a signatory is null and void: under the nation's Constitution, the presidential tenure is limited to five years and is not subject to extension under martial law.

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❗️There will be no further expansion of NATO “in the near future”, according to the Pentagon.

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Scott Ritter: Keeping Ukraine out of NATO serves as key to resolving demilitarization & denazification

Shining the spotlight on Moscow’s commitment to finding a resolution to the Ukraine conflict, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter commented on Vladimir Putin's speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry. The ex-US Marine intel officer suggested that the special military operation's objectives of demilitarization and denazification could be achieved through the negotiation process.

"Demilitarization will occur through the negotiation process," he stated, pointing out that Ukraine's commitment to non-membership in NATO would eliminate the need for NATO equipment and advisors, thus achieving demilitarization.

Concerning denazification, Ritter noted that Putin was clear that figures like Volodymyr Zelensky and right-wing groups such as the Azov Battalion* do not represent Ukraine's future. These groups would be phased out as part of Ukraine's post-conflict reconstruction.

"Vladimir Putin made it clear that Volodymyr Zelensky is not the political future of Ukraine," Ritter stressed. He underscored that genuine neutrality and the political rebuilding of Ukraine would empower suppressed opposition forces, and lead to a change in the internal political landscape.

*banned in Russia

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Ukraine rejects new Russian peace proposal

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, claimed that Putin's new initiative to settle the conflict allegedly does not contain a "real peace proposal".

Vladimir Putin has declared that Russia is making another real peace proposal, but if the West and Kiev reject it, they will be responsible for the bloodshed.

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❗️With such statements they want to deprive the citizens of Ukraine of a real chance for peace, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik, commenting on Zelensky's office's rejection of Putin's peace initiative.

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❗️Russian troops carried out 19 group strikes on Ukrainian military facilities during the week, the Russian Defense Ministry announced

Energy facilities, airfield infrastructure, Storm Shadow missile depots and mercenary bases were hit.

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❗️ This week, Russian troops liberated settlements of Artemovka in Lugansk People's Republic and Timkovka in Kharkov region

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️ The Yug combat group destroyed 22 field ammunition depots of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Ukrainian losses amounted to 3,785 soldiers;

▪️ Units of the Tsentr combat group repelled 34 Ukrainian counterattacks;

▪️ The Sever combat group defeated four brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in one week. The enemy lost up to 1,710 soldiers;

▪️ The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 555 soldiers in one week due to the actions of the Dnepr battlegroup;

▪️ Zapad battle group units destroyed three electronic warfare stations and four field ammunition depots. Ukrainian losses amounted to 3,405 soldiers in one week;

▪️ Russian forces shot down one MiG-29 fighter jet, Su-27 and Su-25 aircraft, and two Mi-8 helicopters of the Ukrainian Air Force in one week. Russian air defense systems shot down 13 ATACMS missiles, two Patriot missiles and two Neptune anti-ship missiles in one week.

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Scott Ritter on Russia's peace move: ‘The ball is now in the West’s court’

“I think Russia is playing a very intelligent move here. By taking, by building on the negotiations that have already occurred in 2022, Russia is showing that it has not changed course. It's giving the West one more chance to accept peace on mutually beneficial terms,” Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, told Sputnik commenting on Putin’s outlined conditions for peace talks with Ukraine.

The former UN weapons inspector emphasized that this move places significant pressure on the West. "The ball is now in the West's court," he said, explaining that NATO faces a dilemma as its current strategy relies on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. "By accepting this peace, this puts NATO... in a bind," Ritter said, highlighting that the US-led Transatlantic bloc's plans for military modernization hinge on the perception of a Russian threat, which he argues is now "demonstrably non-existent."

Furthermore, Ritter suggested that accepting the Russian proposal could mark the downfall of Volodymyr Zelensky. "If this peace proposal goes through, [Zelensky] is finished as the political leader of Ukraine," he said, attributing this to Zelensky's alignment with "unreasonable, unrealistic demands for peace."

Ritter concluded by pointing to the upcoming NATO summit, which he believes will shift its focus from expansion to addressing Russia’s peace initiative. This, he said, is a "brilliant move" by Putin, positioning the West to reconsider its stance on the conflict.

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US launches investigation over Boeing's 'Dutch roll'

US authorities are investigating a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft en route from Phoenix to Oakland that fell into a "Dutch roll" before the crew regained control of the plane on May 25.

"Dutch roll" is a complex oscillation of the airplane in course and roll. It is considered a serious accident that has been the cause of fatal airplane crashes. In 1985, a Japan Air flight crashed with a Boeing 747 because of the effect; 520 people died, and four passengers survived.

Following the recent incident, an inspection after landing revealed damage to the backup power control unit and the plane was handed over for inspection and repairs, the US Federal Aviation Administration has reported.

Boeing accidents have been happening more and more lately, here are just some of them.

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Georgian Legion* mercenary leader in Ukraine allegedly poisoned

Mamuka Mamulashvili, a leader within the Georgian Legion* mercenaries in Ukraine, was allegedly poisoned. The mercenary group, operating under the State Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, confirmed via their official social media account that Mamulashvili was found to have elevated levels of arsenic, mercury, and tin in his system.

According to a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mamulashvili's life is not in danger following the incident.

*The Georgian National Legion is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia.

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‘International insolence’ Lithuanian-style? MPs approve relocating Soviet soldiers’ remains

Lithuania’s parliament has approved amendments to the country’s laws that stipulate relocating the Soviet soldiers' burial places by including them in a list of public venues that promote banned ideology.

Under the amendments, the ban on the liquidation of graves and cemeteries included in the Register of Cultural Values can be lifted if the burial places are recognized as something that promotes “totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and their ideologies."

The amendments were initiated by residents of the Lithuanian city of Siauliai, who earlier called for relocating the remains of 52 Soviet soldiers buried at the entrance to the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said that the demolition of six steles to Soviet soldiers in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in December 2022 is nothing but an attempt by the Baltic states’ authorities to settle historical scores with Russia and erase the memory of the Soviet Union’s victory in the 1941—1945 Great Patriotic War.

Cases of vandalism against Soviet monuments in the Baltic states, including Latvia and Lithuania, ramped up after the beginning of the Russian special military operation. Commenting on the matter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed the incidents as “international insolence."

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📹 Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov inspected the command post of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Ministry of Defense reported. Belousov was informed that the duty shift of the command post controlled aviation, air defense and missile defense troops, as well as space forces.

The minister was also shown the work of the unmanned aerial vehicle control group of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which uses artificial intelligence to detect and recognize enemy objects.

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Europeans must prioritize establishing new Eurasian security architecture – analyst

It is evident that Eurasia serves as the ideal environment for Russia to thrive, and it is in Moscow’s interests “to have a pacified, harmonious and collaborative set of relations” on the continent, Paolo Raffone, strategic analyst and director of the Brussels-based CIPI Foundation, told Sputnik when commenting on today’s initiative by Russian President Vladimir Putin to develop a new security system in Eurasia.

Hammering out a new security architecture should become the main priority for Europeans, Raffone stressed, expressing regret that European leaders are so mean-spirited and insignificant intellectually and in terms of power, that “they are paralyzed by their self-fulfilling narratives.”

“Putin’s words and peace proposals are undoubtedly a kind gesture that Europeans should grasp to abandon the zealous standing and try to regain a ‘space’ in world affairs,” the analyst stressed.

He recalled that Putin’s security vision for Eurasia was outlined in the Russian president’s speech at the Munich conference in 2007.

“Today, 17 years later, those thoughts resound not as a prophecy but as an urgent need to deal with reality,” according to Raffone. “On the table remain a broken military alliance (NATO), the clear political defeat of European bellicose governments and political parties, and, more importantly, the absence of vision and a new security architecture for Europe and Eurasia,” the CIPI Foundation director said.

Russia believes that this “dangerous situation” should be urgently resolved, given “the reality of an irreversible multi-nodal and multi-centric world that requires harmonization in bilateral and collective actions,” Raffone concluded.

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Murderous mercs’ trail of misery in Ukraine: Georgian Legion’s* dark deeds unveiled

Part 1

A Russian military court has officially recognized the Georgian National Legion* as a terrorist organization. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has stated that the legion’s members have been involved in organizing acts of sabotage and terrorism on Russian soil, as well as torturing Russian military personnel and murdering civilians. President Putin, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, also noted that mercenaries from Georgia rank third in terms of numbers among those who have joined the Kiev regime’s ranks.

What other details are available regarding this mercenary unit's sinister activities in Ukraine?

🔸 The FSB disclosed that the organization had been established in 2014 with the backing of the State Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine. According to sources in Georgia, in 2014, the pro-Western Georgian NGO "Free Zone" and the opposition party "United National Movement" facilitated the funding and recruitment of mercenaries from Georgia to join the conflict in Donbass. This occurred when the party was in power under the presidency of Mikhail Saakashvili, who had already relocated to Ukraine at the time.

🔸 The Georgian Legion was founded and led by Mamuka Mamulashvili. In a 2015 interview with Ukrainian media, he said the legion was “resurrected” as “an analogue of Bandera's men” within Hitler’s Wehrmacht.

🔸 In another interview, Mamulashvili confirmed that the Georgian Legion* carried out hostilities against the people of Donbass as part of Ukraine’s 54th mechanized brigade, that later ended up in the now-infamous cauldron near Debaltsevo in 2016. The next year, its military personnel shelled the suburbs of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People's Republic.

* Georgian National Legion is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia

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