Aussie Cossack: The Russian economy is extremely strong

Russia’s economy grew stronger thanks to NATO and the sanctions imposed by the US, independent Australian journalist Aussie Cossack @AussieCossack tells Sputnik.

“These hundreds of billions of dollars that used to be leaving Russia every day, every year, it’s now staying in the country,” he explains.

If Russia had not be exploited in the 1990s and the 2000s, Russia would have been the richest country in the world, as it should be, he also notes.

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Holding a gun to Armenia's head: EU's visa-free regime is nothing but tool of manipulation - expert

"The [EU's] geopolitical game with the Armenians is a struggle to deprive Russia of its influence [in the Caucasus]," political scientist Stanislav Tarasov tells Sputnik.

At the same time, the new visa-free regime is a kind of weapon for the EU to influence a certain part of Armenian society, as per Tarasov. "It's like holding a gun to their head," he said.

Armenia and the EU have announced negotiations on visa liberalization. Brussels clarified that Yerevan would have to implement "substantial reforms", adding that the visa liberalization dialogue would be "a multi-year process" under the EU's close watch.

The EU-Armenian visa liberalization program is similar to Brussels' efforts to bring Ukraine and Georgia into its fold, according to Tarasov.

"Georgians were also granted a liberalized visa regime," he says. "But when the Georgian government adopted the law on foreign agents… [the EU] immediately threatened them with the cancelation of the visa-free regime. You see, this is a leverage of influence."

Ukraine

▪️Visa liberalization dialogue between Ukraine and the EU was launched on October 29, 2008.

▪️Ukrainians were granted visa-free travel to the EU for a period of stay of 90 days in any 180-day period in 2017, almost 10 years after the start of the dialogue and following a 2014 coup d'etat in Kiev.

Georgia

▪️EU-Georgia visa liberalization dialogue was launched on June 4, 2012, under then-President Mikheil Saakashvili who came to power in the wake of the EU-backed "color revolution" of 2003.

▪️Georgia was granted a visa-free access to the EU in 2017. In 2024, the EU meddled in Georgia's domestic policies by criticizing the nation's sovereign laws, threatening to halt bilateral programs, and endorsing the public unrest.

The EU's attempt to 'Westernize' Armenia is doomed, as the bloc is not ready to seriously invest in the nation's economy, Tarasov emphasizes.

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US ‘election interference’ order: What is it all about?

President Joe Biden has extended the executive order that allows the White House to impose sanctions on foreign companies and individuals for purportedly meddling in the US elections for another year.

What’s behind the effort?

🔸Executive Order 13848 noscriptd “Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election” was signed by former US President Donald Trump on September 12, 2018;

🔸The document opens by pointing out that foreign persons’ ability “to interfere in [any US] elections […] constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy” of the country;

🔸The term “foreign interference” pertaining to an election includes “any covert, fraudulent, deceptive, or unlawful actions or attempted actions of a foreign government, undertaken with the purpose or effect of influencing, undermining confidence in, or altering the result or reported result of, the election, or undermining public confidence in election processes or institutions.”

Trump actually starts the document underscoring that “there has been no evidence of a foreign power altering the outcome or vote tabulation in any United States election.”

Despite this, the disputed idea of mysterious Russian interference in the US election process has driven Biden to follow through with the document, accusing the Russian state and media in meddling with Washington’s domestic politics.

Earlier this month, the US introduced sanctions against Russia’s Rossiya Segodnya international media group (Sputnik’s parent company) and the RT broadcaster over their alleged attempts to influence the 2024 US election, something that was dismissed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as complete nonsense.

The sanctions, however, were followed by representatives of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) stating that US authorities have not detected any attempts by foreign actors to directly interfere in the country’s upcoming presidential election.

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Ocean 2024: All you need to know about Russia’s biggest naval exercises in 30 years

On September 10, multiple elements of the Russian Navy engaged in a strategic military exercise dubbed “Ocean 2024” that takes place in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.

Over 400 warships, submarines and support vessels of the Russian Navy, along with more than 120 aircraft and helicopters of the Russian Naval Aviation and over 90,000 personnel took part in this exercise.

According to a statement issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the goal of the Ocean 2024 exercises is to “test the readiness of the command staff of the Russian Navy formations and units to manage heterogeneous force groups in their areas of responsibility, solve non-standard operational tasks, comprehensively use high-precision weapons, advanced and modern weapons and military equipment during the practical part of the exercise, as well as expand interaction with the naval forces of partner countries in solving joint tasks at sea.”

Here is an example of the tasks to be accomplished by the exercise’s participants (in this case, by an Arctic expeditionary group of the Russian Northern Fleet):

🔺Ensuring the safety of Russia’s coastal infrastructure in the Arctic region

🔺Investigating potential areas for military operations within the Arctic Sea zone

🔺Conducting joint training counterterrorist operations

Warships and aircraft of the China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy also took part in the Ocean 2024. Representatives from 15 other foreign states were invited to act as observers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself presided over the launch of the exercises via a video link, stating that Ocean 2024 became the first naval exercise of such magnitude to be held by Russia in the last 30 years.

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How to replace Taliban with Taliban: Brief recap of the US invasion of Afghanistan

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee released its report on the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan last week, calling out the White House over this disastrous conclusion of the country's campaign that ended in a humiliating defeat.

The report reveals that the Biden administration had all the means to “take necessary steps to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government” and to safely evacuate the US personnel and local collaborators, but instead “picked optics over security," as Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul put it.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of the so-called Global War on Terrorism under the pretext of punishing notorious terrorist leader Osama bin Laden (the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks) who was supposedly being harbored by the Taliban at the time.

Having quickly subdued major Afghan population centers, the US then initiated a de facto military occupation of the country under the auspices of Operation Enduring Freedom, which was succeeded by Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in 2015.

In the years that followed, the US military and a motley collection of military contingents sent by the United States’ allies (also known as the International Security Assistance Force or ISAF for short) tried in vain to eradicate the Taliban guerrillas.

Meanwhile, Washington poured vast quantities of money and military equipment into the puppet government in Kabul and its armed forces.

This house of cards came crumbling down twenty years later in August 2021 when, even before the US finished pulling out its troops, the Taliban quickly re-seized control of Afghanistan, prompting the pro-US troops to flee the country.

In a nutshell, the results of the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan can be summed up with this joke: “If you ever feel useless, just remember that it took the US four presidents, thousands of lives, trillions of dollars and 20 years to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.”

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❗️A strike was carried out on a group of almost 100 Ukrainian soldiers who arrived for reinforcements under their control in Zaporozhye, the pro-Russian underground told Sputnik.

They also reported a strike on equipment and a group of 30 Ukrainian military personnel in a Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporozhye region.

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NATO starts drills near Russian borders

The North Atlantic Treaty Alliance has launched a series of drills near Russian borders that will last until late fall.

The Steadfast Foxtrot ’24 exercises in Germany are overseen by NATO’s SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) command structure which is controlled by US four-star General Christopher Cavoli. The Ramstein Flag 24 drills in Greece are overseen by NATO’s AIRCOM (Allied Air Command). The Cyber Coalition exercises will be conducted in Estonia on November.

Apart from alliance-level exercises, there will be a series of national drills backed by NATO – like Poseidon 24 in Bulgaria and Hammer 24 in Finland.

Check out Sputnik’s infographic to learn more about NATO’s drills.

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Russia’s and Iraq’s mutual history of partnership

Eighty years ago, on September 9, 1944, USSR and Iraq formally established diplomatic relations with one another.

The economic cooperation between the two countries grew over the years, with Iraq eventually emerging as one of Russia’s most prominent partners in the Middle East.

This harmonious development was disrupted in 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq on false pretenses, but Moscow and Baghdad have been working tirelessly since to mitigate this setback and to further deepen the ties between the two nations.

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📹 Zelensky's begging for money results in new military equipment food shortages in the army and Zelensky's pocket fattening

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The UK has started terminating "all direct air services between the UK and Iran" as part of new sanctions on Tehran for allegedly supplying Russia with missiles to use in Ukraine.

London reportedly said it was acting alongside international partners to "cancel its bilateral air services arrangements with Iran," which would "restrict Iran Air's ability to fly in to the UK".

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia has seen the reports of the alleged arms supply, however, he added, "not every time such information corresponds to reality."

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Typhon missile deployment is part of US plans to maintain ‘primacy over the planet’

Having previously deployed the medium-range Typhon missile systems – a weapon banned under the now-obsolete INF Treaty – in the Philippines, the United States now moves to station them in Japan in relatively close proximity to China and North Korea.

Washington’s plans to deploy these weapons in Asia are “part of a much wider long-running US strategy to encircle and contain China,” with this move itself being “part of a global post-Cold War strategy to eliminate any peer or near-peer competitor and maintain US primacy over the planet,” geopolitical analyst and former US Marine Brian Berletic tells Sputnik.

The US plans to deploy Typhon missile systems in Europe are also “part of a wider strategy to encircle and contain Russia,” Berletic adds.

According to him, the deployment of these weapons “reveals several important factors regarding US foreign, policy including continuity of agenda.”

For one, Berletic notes, the US pulled out from the INF Treaty during Donald Trump’s presidency, but the deployment of the Typhon missiles in various corners of the globe takes place with Joe Biden at the helm.

“The process of withdrawing from a treaty, developing, and then deploying such systems took place over the course of two presidential administrations, serving one single agenda, regardless of who sat in the White House,” he says.

“The Typhon’s deployment also reveals the true nature of US foreign policy and its disruptive nature for supposed US ‘allies’,” Berletic remarks.

Though both the Philippines and Japan “count China as their largest trade partner,” they both end up hosting US missiles aimed squarely at Beijing, which does little to improve their relations.

“This is just the latest in a long line of provocations complicating what would otherwise be increasingly constructive relations with China,” Berletic explains, arguing that the Philippines and Japan’s willingness to enable such US provocations “reveals the absence of agency in terms of either nations’ foreign policy.”

“It is very clear that this policy of hosting US forces seeking to encircle and contain China is a policy determined in Washington, not Manila or Tokyo, and is a policy serving US interests at the expense of the Philippines and Japan,” he states.

Berletic also deemed ironic the fact that the United States claims that its deployment of weapon systems around the world “is necessary to ensure global peace and stability,” even as the US “consistently demonstrates that it itself is the greatest threat to both.”

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How the Rothschilds cashed in on Ukraine since neo-Nazi coup in 2014

Multinational asset firm Rothschild & Co was instrumental in the restructuring of Ukraine's $20+ billion debt in July 2024, according to Western press.

It had reportedly been involved in arranging face-to-face meetings between Ukrainians and asset management firms, including Black Rock and Amundi, less than two months before the two-year payment moratorium expired on August 1.

The Rothschilds reportedly engaged IMF's experts in the talks while the plan of grabbing Russia's frozen sovereign assets was also on the table.

The famous Jewish banking family has been deeply involved in Ukraine's affairs since the 2014 coup d'etat, despite Ukraine embracing neo-Nazi collaborators as its national heroes.

The clan is believed to be cashing in on the Eastern European state through various schemes, including the future "restoration of Ukraine."

▪️Then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tapped a Rothschild & Cie to sell his assets in 2014. It turned out later that the companies weren't sold but handed over to Rothschild Trust.

▪️Rothschild first offered to mediate Ukraine's talks with creditors on the restructuring of the country's debt in 2015.

▪️In 2017, Rothschild S.p.A. won the bidding for investment and banking services to Ukraine's oil and gas company Naftogaz.

▪️The same year, the supervisory board of Ukraine's state-owned lender PrivatBank asked a consortium of Rothschild, EY and FinPoint companies to restructure its funds. Ukrainian tycoon Igor Kolomoisky also reached out to the Rothschilds when seeking to regain a 25% stake in PrivatBank, his former asset, in 2019.

▪️In July 2017, then Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman reportedly held a private meeting with Nathaniel Jacob Rothschild in London. Former Ukrainian People's Deputy Oleg Tsarev suggested at the time that Groysman wanted Rothschild to make him the next president.

▪️In July 2023, Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) and Alexey Stolyarov (Lexus) tricked Alexandre de Rothschild, the executive chairman of Rothschild & Co, who told them that the banking clan has cooperated with the Kiev regime since 2017.

▪️"We had excellent relationships with people in your government. We were mainly involved in attracting of lending funds," de Rothschild told Vovan and Lexus thinking that he was talking to Volodymyr Zelensky.

▪️De Rothschild told the pranksters that the family company intends to take part in "the restoration of Ukraine", including in energy, housing construction, and logistics. "You expressed the need for reconstruction financing in the total amount of more than $750 billion, starting in 2023 for a period of about ten years, and this is quite adequate," the banker said.

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🔸All you need to know about Russia’s largest ever strategic naval drills.

🔸Final countdown: understanding the Trump-Harris debate.

🔸What is behind US plans to deploy Typhon missile systems in Japan?

🔸‘Nothing but a tool of manipulation’: EU’s game with Armenia is struggle to diminish Russia’s role in the region

🔸What makes Russia’s economy ‘extremely strong’?

🔸What schemes the Rothschilds have been using to cash in on Ukraine?

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Why should the EU ditch the US and equip their armies on their own?

EU members should focus on equipping their armies with domestically-manufactured weapons instead of procuring hardware abroad, former Italian Prime Minister and ex-European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has said in a recently released report for the European Commission.

Over half of the money spent by EU countries on weaponry between June 2022 and June 2023 went to the US, Draghi complained, even though in many instances the buyers could have opted to purchase European analogs.

The report also pushes for the improvement of joint military spending and procurement by EU members.

In order to encourage European countries to buy from local defense contractors, Draghi proposed “substantive incentive mechanisms of a financial nature,” which could be “supported by EU funding under existing or new instruments.”

“Targeted eligibility criteria could give access to funding only for solutions provided by EU-based companies, similar to the mechanisms used by the European Defense Fund (EDF) and the proposals under the European Defense Industry Programme (EDIP),” the report says.

Additionally, Draghi pointed out that:

🔹For the first time since the Cold War, the EU “must genuinely fear for its self-preservation.”

🔹The era of rapid world trade growth looks to have passed, with EU companies facing both greater competition from abroad and lower access to overseas markets.

🔹“Europe has abruptly lost its most important supplier of energy, Russia. All the while, geopolitical stability is waning, and our dependencies have turned out to be vulnerabilities.”

🔹The EU’s economic growth is “persistently slower” than in the US, and the bloc needs to invest an "enormous amount of money” quickly enough to finance economic de-carbonization and digital innovation.

🔹The EU needs up to €800 billion ($884 billion) in additional investment per year to meet its key competitiveness and climate targets.

🔹Other areas of concern include supply chain security and defense spending.

🔹The EU must also adapt to a world where “dependencies are becoming vulnerabilities and it can no longer rely on others for its security.”

🔹The bloc will need to develop a genuine “foreign economic policy” that coordinates preferential trade agreements and direct investment with resource-rich nations.

🔹“If Europe cannot become more productive,” it will be forced to choose.

🔹It means the EU “will not be able to become a leader in new technologies, a beacon of climate responsibility and an independent player on the world stage. We [the bloc] will not be able to finance our social model. We will have to scale back some, if not all, of our ambitions. This is an existential challenge.”

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🥴🔮 Kamala Harris thinks she can foresee the future (she actually can’t)

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🇮🇶🇷🇺 Iraqi grain trade firm plans to import up to 200,000 tonnes of Russian grain monthly

Iraq's General Company for Grain Trading plans to import 150,000-200,000 tonnes of grain from Russia per month, the company's director general, Haider Al-Karaawi, told Sputnik.

"We have good contacts with Russian vendors on this, and we also plan to discuss this with the Russian government in the coming period. We have meetings scheduled on the 17th of this month in Baghdad with exporters and government officials from Russia," Al-Karaawi said.

The businessman added that after the start of production of confectionery flour from Russian grain in Iraq, the company expected that "the volume of its imports will become much larger, and it is quite possible that it will reach 150,000 or 200,000 tonnes per month."

The General Company for Grain Trading is owned by the Iraqi Trade Ministry.

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🇿🇦 South Africa will file additional papers to ICJ over Israel's actions in Gaza

South Africa intends to file to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) next month a document containing evidence reportedly exposing Israel's crimes of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the presidential office said

"South Africa will be filing its memorial to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) next month (October 2024). South Africa intends to provide facts and evidence to prove that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Palestine," the statement read.

So far, no country has made a request to dismiss the case brought by the South African government in the ICJ, presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said, adding that a number of states, including Nicaragua, Palestine, Turkiye, Spain, Mexico, Libya, and Colombia, have joined it. South Africa hopes that Israel will comply with the court's rulings issued so far, the spokesman highlighted.

On Monday, Axios reported, citing an Israeli Foreign Ministry cable it had seen, that Israel had asked US Congress to put pressure on South Africa, including by threatening to severe trade relations with the country, to make it revoke its lawsuit against Israel.

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Biden's administration is "working out" whether the United States will approve Ukraine using long-range weapons deep inside Russia, the president told American media.

"We're working that out right now," Biden said in response to a question about whether he will lift restrictions imposed on Ukraine on the use of long-range weapons deep inside Russia.

Earlier on Tuesday, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby reiterated the United States’ position on not enabling or encouraging attacks inside Russia, especially not with US-made weapons.

Kirby made the statement after Ukraine conducted a large-scale drone attack on Russia that killed a woman in a Moscow suburb.

Western countries ramped up their military support to the Kiev regime shortly after the beginning of the Russian special military operation. Moscow has repeatedly warned that such assistance would add to exacerbating the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russian forces.

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