Majorityrights News > Category: World Affairs

Another old and wise hand who understands the global contest in which the war in Ukraine is a key element.  As he says, “The question is: will the world in the 21st century be based upon force and tyranny, or not?

Andrei Illarionov, who worked as a senior policy adviser to Vladimir Putin at the start of his term, supplies his insights into the Russian dictator and the global strategy he is advancing.
Interviewer Dr Jason Jay Smart of Kyiv Post.

The American diplomat and academic Mitchell Reiss airs his views of Donald Trump’s forthcoming conversational intervention in Ukraine, indicating that Trump has a degree of realism that will disappoint the bravado-filled pro-Putin right.  Interview by Times Radio.

ATP Geopolitics explains:

So far, four large-scale ammunition storage sites have been hit in under two weeks. The first attack was on the morning of September 7.  The depot is in Soldatsky, Voronezh region, only about seventy-five miles from the Ukrainian border.  It is where North Korean-made KN-23 missiles were held.

Next, on the night of September 18 the SBU security service, GUR defence intelligence, and Special Operations Forces hit Military Unit 11777, the headquarters of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Defence Ministry in Toropets, Tver region.  As many as 100 drones may have been used.  The depot is vast, and said to have held missiles for Iskander operational-tactical missile systems, Tochka-U tactical missile systems, as well as KAB aerial guided bombs, and artillery rounds.

On the night of September 21, the Defence Forces of Ukraine struck the Russian arsenal of Tikhoretsk, in the Krasnodar region.  This facility is one of the three largest ammunition storage hubs in Russia and one of the key ones in the logistics system of the Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.  According to reports the arsenal had received at least 2,000 tons of ammunition, including from North Korea. The Podliot radar station, which detected air targets in the direction of the arsenal, was also attacked.

The same night the 23rd Arsenal of the Main Artillery Department of the Ministry of Defence, again in the Tver region.  This was another warehouse where the Iskander and Tochka-U ballistic missiles were located. It is about 15 km from Toropets.

All four were major hits.  There are claims from the front in Donetsk that Russian Army logistics have already been affected, and the rate of artillery fire is reducing.  Can the pressure be sustained by the Ukrainians (for example, if the Russians now have to move to a multiplicity of smaller but less secure storage sites)?  What would be the potential effect on the Russians ability to continue their current offensive war?

Alexey, a 47-year-old Russian and a teacher by profession, shares his perspective on Putin’s war in Ukraine.  Among other things, he explains why he believes Ukraine should not cede territory, and questions whether the West is really the great enemy to Russia:

“We have China right next door and it’s many times scarier.

... China’s policy is that the whole world, that is, the globe, is China.  And all those who think otherwise simply do not understand the magnitude of the imperial scheme of the Chinese and their emperor”

Video from HEADSHOT, who specialise in bringing the vox populi of that vast country to the internet.

This last week the Oklahoma legislature has joined Louisiana in passing a law prohibiting the enforcement of dictates from supranational bodies within state boundaries.  Most particularly, it nullifies the monopoly power over global health sought by the World Health Authority.

SECTION 1. NEW LAW

A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 6301 of Title 74, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:

A. The World Health Organization, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum shall have no jurisdiction in the State of Oklahoma. The state and its political subdivisions, including, but not limited to, counties, cities, towns, precincts, water districts, school districts, school administrative units, or quasi-public entities, shall not engage in the enforcement of, or any collaboration with the enforcement of, any requirements, instructions, mandates, recommendations, or guidance provided by the World Health Organization, the United Nations or the World Economic Forum.

B. Any mandates, recommendations, instructions, communications or guidance issued by the World Health Organization, the United Nations or the World Economic Forum shall not be used in this state as a basis for action, nor to direct, order or otherwise impose, contrary to the constitution and laws of the State of Oklahoma any requirements whatsoever, including those for masks, vaccines or
medical testing, or gather any public or private information about the state’s citizens or residents, and shall have no force or effect in the State of Oklahoma.

SECTION 2.

This act shall become effective June 1, 2024.

SECTION 3.

It being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval.”

Passed the House of Representatives the 24th day of April, 2024.

In a number of countries there has been opposition to the WHO’s pandemic treaty, some governmental, some not.  All see in it a naked bid for technocratic totalitarianism in health:

■ New Zealand’s new coalition government will reserve against proposed amendments to IHR.
■ Slovakia’s prime minister announced the government will not support strengthening the WHO.
■ A comprehensive bill by a congressman is gaining traction and public support in the Philippines.
■ Two South African parliamentarians champion the WHO Withdrawal Bill and mobilise on it.
■ A Parliamentarian in the Netherlands filed a letter making a reservation due to lack of due process.
■ Eleven European Union parliamentarians are formally challenging procedural failures in IHR amendments.
■ Bill HR 79 (to defund and exit WHO) was introduced by United States Congressman Andy Biggs.
■ Parliamentarians continue advocating to reject IHR amendments and question the WHO in Japan.
■ A letter from the Australian people communicates rejection of the WHO’s proposed amendments to the IHR.

Inevitably, the British government describes itself as a leading force in the formation of the pandemic treaty.  It was a signatory to the original joint-letter proposing the treaty.  The other signatory governments were a motley group of twenty-two, namely Fiji, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Kenya, France, Germany, Greece, Korea, Chile, Costa Rica, Albania, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Netherlands, Tunisia, Senegal, Spain, Norway, Serbia, Indonesia, and Ukraine.  The Chinese and US governments did not sign but indicated strong support.

The date for agreeing the text of the new instrument is at the World Health Assembly at the UN in New York in May 2024.

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Moscow’s concert terror, as seen by one of those in the hall.

Just before the start of a performance by the popular band Piknik at the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow, as many as five armed men, said to be heavily bearded and in camouflage, entered the building and opened fire on the crowd. An expanding fire has led to the collapse of the building’s roof.  The Moscow Region Health Ministry published a list of 145 casualties of the attack.  At least forty are dead.  Nine of those hospitalized are reported to be in a critical condition.  An unknown number are still in the building.

Dmitry Medvedev has jumped in as usual, which is only to be expected:

“Terrorists understand only reciprocal terror. No trials or investigations will help if force is not answered with force, and deaths with total punishment of terrorists and repression of their families. That’s our worldly experience. If it can be established that these terrorists were from the Kyiv regime, it’s impossible to deal with them and those who have been inspired by their ideology any other way. They must all be located and ruthlessly destroyed as terrorists. Including official representatives of the state that committed such an atrocity.”

Office of the President of Ukraine immediately stated: “Let’s get it on the record. Ukraine had absolutely nothing to do with these events.”  Likewise the Russian Volunteer Corps, which is fighting for Ukraine in the Belgorod region, stated that “It definitely wasn’t us, of course.”

An Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.

Earlier this month, the US embassy in Moscow issued an alert warning of a potential terror attack.  The alert advised US citizens to avoid large gatherings, including concerts.  The Kremlin duly dismissed the warning as a “provocation” designed to destabilise Russian society.

This video explains the short- to medium-term geopolitical objectives of Moscow and Beijing in their struggle against American global hegemony and the western international order.  It is produced by the Warsaw-based institute, the Centre for Eastern Studies.  Its website explains:

The Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) was established in 1990 in Warsaw as a public institution. It was created to meet democratic Poland’s demand for analytical research on the processes that had occurred in the Soviet Union, and later in the states that emerged following its collapse. At present, the OSW’s portfolio includes Russia, Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Balkans, Germany, the Baltic and Nordic states, China, Turkey and Israel. In addition, we carry out research focused on specific sectors, for example the EU’s energy policy, transport, trade and digital connectivity in Central Europe, as well as on European security.