🔎 US-sponsored White Helmets: Al Qaeda* offshoot loses USAID funding after years of destabilizing Middle East — Part 1 👉 Part 2

The Trump administration has halted the flow of millions of US tax dollars to the White Helmets, a controversial Syrian group.

What did they do and who benefitted?

▪️The group staged false flag chemical attacks to provoke the West's retaliation against then Syrian government. At least 40 White Helmets members admitted to staging attacks in the country, according to Russia's Foundation for the Study of Democracy.

▪️In 2016, the White Helmets used five-year-old Omran as a propaganda tool during the Syrian Army's siege of Aleppo. A viral photo of him covered in dust and blood aimed to smear Damascus and its Russian allies. In 2017, his father revealed it was staged.

▪️White Helmets filmed a false flag attack in rebel-controlled Douma in April 2018. Russian media verified testimony from multiple eyewitnesses saying the attack was staged. However, the Western coalition used it as a pretext for strikes on Syria.

▪️Witness testimonies claim White Helmet members were not humanitarian volunteers but armed militants who recruited others and threatened them with death if they disobeyed.

▪️As the Syrian Army advanced in July 2018, around 429 White Helmets were hastily evacuated through Israel to Western countries, according to Syria's then-Permanent Representative to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari.

*terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries
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📹🇲🇲 WATCH: One of the cracks on the ground in Myanmar after today's earthquake

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🗣 Ukraine attacked the Sudzha gas measuring station in Russia's Kursk region on orders from London, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said.

Target designation was provided by French satellite systems, and the input of coordinates and launch carried out by British specialists, she added.

"The terror unleashed by the Kiev regime against Russian energy infrastructure is yet another proof of its inability to negotiate. As is well known, [Volodymyr] Zelensky publicly supported the moratorium on strikes against energy facilities proposed by the presidents of Russia and the US, but did nothing to ensure its compliance."

What happened confirms that Ukraine has no political will for peace, Zakharova noted. "They continue to think in terms of war, are focused on escalating the conflict, and are ready for any provocations to hinder efforts toward a final resolution of the Ukrainian crisis."

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🔎 US-sponsored White Helmets: Al Qaeda* offshoot loses USAID funding after years of destabilizing Middle East — Part 2 👉 Part 1

📌Who founded the controversial Syrian group, and how was it linked to Al-Qaeda?

▪️The White Helmets (Syrian Civil Defense) were founded in 2013 amid the Syrian civil war. James Le Mesurier, a former British Army officer and intelligence operative with ties to terrorist organizations, established the group and funded it through Mayday Rescue.

▪️Posing as a rescue organization in jihadist-controlled areas, the White Helmets were soon exposed as a front for al-Qaeda by independent researchers Vanessa Beeley (UK) and Eva Bartlett (Canada), as well as eyewitnesses and verified photo and video evidence.

▪️Speaking to the Russian press in 2019, then-President Bashar al-Assad stressed there is enough evidence to identify former and current al-Qaeda members in the White Helmets ranks.

💰How much funding did they receive and from whom?

▪️In 2019, Le Mesurier died under suspicious circumstances in Istanbul after being exposed for fraud. By then, around $129 million in taxpayer money from Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and other nations had been funneled to the White Helmets via Mayday Rescue alone.

▪️As of 2018, the US had contributed about one-third of the group's total funding, according to the Atlantic Council, providing around $33 million between 2013 and 2018.

▪️The UK reportedly funneled $50 million to the White Helmets during the same period, while the Netherlands contributed $13.4 million. Funding dropped to $12 million in 2018 amid Mayday fraud allegations.

▪️Despite this, CNN calls USAID the White Helmets’ largest donor for nearly a decade. The Trump administration recently terminated a $30 million USAID contract for the group.

*terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries
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📹 The head of the Gagauzian autonomy of Moldova, Evghenia Gutsul, has been placed under arrest for 20 days at the request of prosecutors.

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🔎 Three ways how ‘expired’ Zelensky can be ousted as chief obstacle to peace in Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky, with his addiction to Western backing and reliance on homegrown neo-Nazi groups, has emerged as probably the biggest obstacle on the road to peace in Ukraine.

However, there are three ways to diminish his influence, Dr. Marco Marsili, a researcher at Cà Foscari University of Venice and former election observer for the OSCE/ODIHR, tells Sputnik.

▪️While Ukraine’s constitution prohibits holding elections during martial law – which Zelensky imposed to remain in the office – Western powers could “push for a conditional ceasefire linked to lifting martial law.” This would result in Zelensky facing “domestic and international demands to hold elections.”

▪️As the US and Russia improve their bilateral relations, Washington “could pressure Zelensky to cede authority to a transitional body.”

▪️Last but not least, there’s the matter of “internal fractures,” as “Ukraine’s military setbacks and resource shortages have eroded public confidence.” Thus, a negotiated ceasefire, “might empower opposition figures or civil society groups to demand leadership changes, particularly if Western guarantees (e.g., postwar security) are conditional on governance reforms.”

There are several reasons why Ukraine should be put under international administration:

▪️With Zelensky’s presidential term having expired in May 2024 and elections in Ukraine postponed indefinitely under martial law, he and his cronies are simply devoid of legitimacy.

▪️The failed Minsk Agreements and the Gomel Talks of 2022 showcase the inability or unwillingness of the current Ukrainian leadership to “adhere to peace frameworks without external oversight.”

▪️Thus, it seems increasingly likely that only a “capable government” elected in Ukraine under international supervision “could sign ‘legitimate’ peace treaties recognized globally.”

“In conclusion, Zelensky’s removal is less about coercion and more about creating conditions where his continued rule becomes untenable — whether through constitutional deadlines, Western realpolitik, or war fatigue,” Dr. Marcili explains.

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