🌐❓Biden’s nod for Ukraine’s strikes deep into Russia: How world reacts

Politicians, journalists and entrepreneurs have reacted to outgoing US President Joe Biden’s reported nod for Ukraine to use American long-range missiles to strike Russia.
 
Who condemned the decision?
 
❌ Donald Trump Jr.: “Imbeciles” from the military industrial complex seeking to unleash the Third World War “before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives."

❌ GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene: "On his way out of office, Joe Biden is dangerously trying to start WWIII by authorizing Ukraine the use of US long-range missiles into Russia.”

❌ Elon Musk: “The problem is that Russia will respond reciprocally.”

❌ Venture capitalist David Sacks: Trump wins a “clear mandate to end the war in Ukraine” as Biden is “massively escalating” the situation and trying to “hand” the President-elect “the worst situation possible.”

❌ US journalist Jackson Hinkle: Volodymyr Zelensky is a “dead man walking", who “has just sealed his fate” and whose world “will soon implode, just like every other US puppet eventually does.”

❌ Spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US Liu Pengyu: Beijing condemns possible ATACMS missile strikes on Russian territory and actions that could lead to an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.

❌ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro: The purported move means that America “has entered a phase of madness of North American imperialism.”
 
Who applauded the escalation?
 
☑️ EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he supported the idea of allowing Kiev to strike deep into Russian territory with Western long-range weapons, and this issue will be discussed at the EU Foreign Ministers Council.

☑️ German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock: Berlin supports Biden’s decision; the use of long-range weapons is within the right of self-defense.

☑️ Alex Soros, son of billionaire George Soros: “This is great news.”

☑️ US Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss: Biden's decision on Kiev’s ATACMS use is a “long-awaited progress.”

☑️ Member of the European Parliament Thijs Reuten: “Finally! Now Ukraine needs more ATACMS to attack the positions from where it is being attacked.”

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Biden’s APEC Summit visit results in ‘one more backhanded slap in face to Western empire’

Outgoing US President Joe Biden was unable to score a diplomatic breakthrough of any kind last week during his appearance at the annual APEC Summit in Peru. The meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was pure formality, argues Jeff J. Brown, author of “The China Trilogy” and founder of Seek Truth From Facts Foundation.

“The Chinese know that Biden is the quintessential lame duck. Being very Confucist and wanting to respect protocol, position and tradition, they met. But that is about all,” Brown says.

According to him, what Xi told Biden during the meeting basically amounted to reiterating what the former previously told Donald Trump by phone earlier this month: “cooperation is mutually beneficial for both sides; as two leading world powers, humanity depends on us to do the right thing, and trying to limit China’s progress and development is bound to fail.”

“Uncle Sam has never honored a treaty unless the terms benefit it. Trump is more “in your face” than Biden, thus more transparent, but the results will be the same: Beijing will know what is being done to attack them,” Brown remarks.

Brown also suggests that the way Biden was treated by the hosts of the summit, i.e. not getting a red carpet reception upon arrival and being sidelined in the summit’s annual family photo, was “just one more backhanded slap in face to Western empire.”

“The rest of the human race is holding out great hopes that APEC, BRICS, African Union, CELAC and other multipolar groupings can usher in a fair, peaceful and win-win world order,” he says.

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🇷🇺🇧🇷Russian FM Sergey Lavrov's delegation arrived in Rio de Janeiro for the G20 summit, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced, posting a video on her Telegram page

"There are beaches from the window of the motorcade, an accompanying helicopter in the sky, and work ahead," she added.

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🤖🌘Spider-Bot: Mission the Moon
 
Chinese engineers from Shanghai University are designing a hexapod robot with six legs for future exploration of the moon's surface.
 
When the hexapod walks, it lifts three legs at once, while the remaining three form a stable triangular base to support the body. This allows the robot to maintain stability even if one leg is damaged.
 
One of the remarkable capabilities of the robot is its function as a guide for a visually impaired person.
 
But the question remains: why teach the machine to play curling?🤔🥌

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Gaza markets going empty: Basic goods dry up as inflation rockets to 700%

The escalating costs and scarcity of goods have taken their toll, dissolving markets and shops in the Gaza Strip. What remains are only small-scale traders operating at impromptu markets. A Sputnik correspondent recently visited one of these markets in Khan Yunis, and spoke with vendors and local residents to find out the current situation.

"Previously, an instant coffee packet like this cost half a shekel. Now it skyrocketed to 4 shekels. Why? [Because of] the staggering 700 % inflation hike! The markets are empty. There are no basic goods, and prices are extraordinarily high. People can't buy anything," Samir Latif, a local small trader, revealed.

The local vendor also pointed out that UNRWA schools can’t seem to provide the Gazans with any help, even with basic goods.

Ahmad Qadih, a displaced person looking for temporary shelter in Khan Yunis, asserted that the main reason for the current humanitarian disaster was Israel’s ban on delivering goods there, noting:

"People roam the streets day and night searching for a can of beans, or something very simple like this, to feed the children in the morning."

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Russia could employ previously-unseen weapons against Ukraine in response to US authorization for deep missile strikes

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin didn't rule out that Russia could use new weapons systems previously unused on Ukrainian territory if Kiev strikes deep into Russia with US missiles.

"If this happens, Russia will have to respond. How — it's a question for the Defense Ministry. But it is clear that there will be an answer!" Volodin said.

This is called escalation, the chairman stressed.

"The outgoing President Biden, due to his age, like any other person — we are all mortal — will pass away at some point. But it seems that thinking about it, he dreams of the eternal and wants to take the whole of America with him," Volodin added.

The use of these weapons will not change the situation on the battlefield, but will only worsen the fate of Ukraine and completely destroy Russian-American relations, he concluded.

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❗️Slovak PM Robert Fico expressed his disagreement with the US decision to allow Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia with Western weapons, saying this "will disrupt peace talks and lead to escalation".

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❗️The only submarine cable connecting Finland and Germany has allegedly been deliberately cut and its communications broken

Finnish state-owned company Cinia announced a fall offshore cable cut Monday afternoon. So far, the cause has not been determined.

The C-Lion1 cable was activated in 2016. The cable is 1 to 200 kilometres long and buried at a depth of about a meter below the ocean's surface. The cable runs near the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

According to Cinia CEO Ari-Jussi Knaapila, the cable cut took place in Sweden's special economic zone about the halfway point of the cable's length.

There is currently no specific information on whether the C-Lion1 submarine cable was subject to deliberate sabotage, according to Henri Kronlund, Cinian communications director.

Knaapila said the broken submarine cable was located in a more remote area for maritime traffic. He estimates that the cable breakdown was not due to seismic activity, such as land avalanche.

“Yes, some other external force has contributed to the cable breaking,” Knaapila said.

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Russian TV channels slam UNESCO for ignoring attacks on their journalists

Media outlets from Russia such as RT and TV Channel One have slammed UNESCO for apparent discrimination against Russian journalists. A draft report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, complied by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, ignores instances of murders, attacks and threats where the victims were Russian journalists.

“This is not the first time that UNESCO has essentially denied Russian journalists the right to defend their rights, even though by definition UNESCO should be neutral and treat all countries with equal attention,” RT pointed out in a statement.

The list of cases involving RT journalists that should have been mentioned in Azoulay’s report included an assassination attempts against RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and five other prominent Russian journalists, organized by a neo-Nazi group and likely orchestrated by Ukrainian spy agency SBU.

The UNESCO report also ignored the murders Russian journalists Daria Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky, both of whom were assassinated at Ukriane’s behest; and the killings of Oleg Klokov, Boris Maksudov and Rostislav Zhuravlev, who were murdered in the Ukrainian conflict zone by militants loyal to Kiev, Channel One pointed out.

“Behind all these tragedies are the lives of people who honestly fulfilled their professional duty, and it is the duty of UNESCO’s leadership to take all necessary measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen again in the future,” RT declared.

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President-elect Donald Trump confirmed plans for mass deportations of illegal immigrants using the military in the United States.

"TRUE!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social, confirming a report by the head of the conservative organization Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton.

Earlier, Fitton wrote that the Trump administration was preparing to declare a state of emergency and use military assets to carry out the deportations.

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📹 G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro kicks off

Leaders and representatives of the world's major economies are arriving at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro for the summit, where they will discuss issues including the role of global institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and UN Security Council, as well as plans to establish a Global Alliance Against Hunger.

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