As the world was readying for the Second World War, the insightful humane Austrian author Stefan Zweig made the following glum observation: “Openly and flagrantly, certain countries express their will to expand and make preparations for war. The politics of rearmament is pursued in broad daylight and at breakneck speed; every day you read in the papers arguments in favour of armaments expansion, the idea that it reduces unemployment and provides a boost to the stock exchange.”
This is not so different from the approval by European Union countries on May 27 of a €150 billion loan program known as the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) borrowing scheme.
The clean energy transition that the Biden administration touted as the focus of its industrial policy required large amounts of mineral inputs. Batteries for electric vehicles depend on lithium, solar panels contain gallium and molybdenum, and powerful magnets in wind turbines can’t be built without rare earth elements. Biden’s landmark legislation, such as the 2022 Inflation Adjustment Act…
And we thought the Borscht Belt had died out. We have it in the corridors of power, in the White Man’s House, in every corner of media and the law. To take this to its silliness level: The name comes from borscht, a soup of Ukrainian origin (made with beets as the main ingredient, giving it a deep reddish-purple color) that is popular in many Central and Eastern European countries and brought by Ashkenazi Jewish and Slavic immigrants to the United States. The alliterative name was coined by Abel Green, editor of Variety starting in 1933, and is a play on existing colloquial names for other American regions (such as the Bible Belt and Rust Belt). An alternate name, the Yiddish Alps was used by Larry King and is satirical: a classic example of borscht belt humor.
This country has devolved, man, into disgrace. No real journalists in corporate Press, and the goofy celebrity cults, and the billionaires and their Eichmann Millionaires. It is a dirty dirty country, and so why not more of the Rapist in Chief Trump’s Room Temperature IQ antics? ….Disgraced reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, convicted in a scheme to swindle banks out of tens of millions of dollars, walked free from prison Wednesday after they were pardoned by President Donald Trump, their lawyers said.
The pair, known for the show “Chrisley Knows Best,” were headed home to Nashville following their release, law firm Litson PLLC said.
The “Trumps of the South,” who were convicted in 2022 of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States, received the pardons after intervention by one of their daughters.
Clown show in the trillion$: And this is accepted as reality? What, 250,000 people sacked since that Jan. 20 Trump Coronation?
Elon Musk has said he is leaving the Trump administration after helping lead a tumultuous drive to shrink size of US government that saw thousands of federal jobs axed.
In a post on his social media platform X, the world’s richest man thanked Trump for the opportunity to help run the Department of Government Efficiency, known as Doge.
The White House began “offboarding” Musk as a special government employee on Wednesday night, the BBC understands.
His role was temporary and his exit is not unexpected, but it comes a day after Musk criticised the legislative centrepiece of Trump’s agenda.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on X. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Measured from Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, he would hit that limit towards the end of May. But his exit comes after a day after he said he was “disappointed” with Trump’s budget bill, which proposes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a boost to defence spending.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss said in an interview with BBC’s US partner CBS that the “big, beautiful bill”, as Trump calls it, would increase the federal deficit.
Musk also said he thought it “undermines the work” of Doge.
“I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” Musk said. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”
It is significant that this guy Chesky is Jewish because, drum roll, the company they keep, the family they cherish, the boardrooms they populate, the anti-Palestine thinking they hold ….
….from the Guardian:
Hotel rooms or holiday rentals listed on both sites were counted only once. Duplicates were removed by assigning holiday lets (those in apartments and houses) as Airbnbs and hotel rooms as Booking.com. Looking at listings instead of properties, there were 402 in total across the West Bank including East Jerusalem – 350 on Airbnb and 52 on Booking.com.
The Airbnb listings found by the Guardian analysis include 18 situated in outposts – settlements considered illegal under international law and also not officially authorised by the Israeli government and against Israeli law.
‘War crimes are not a tourist attraction’
By operating in settlements, multinational companies including Booking.com and Airbnb are violating international law, human rights activists warn. Booking.com and Airbnb are among 16 non-Israeli companies identified by the UN as having ties to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“Any company doing business in Israel’s illegal settlements is enabling a war crime and helping to prop up Israel’s system of apartheid,” Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s crisis response manager, said in response to the Guardian’s findings.
“With Israeli military forces and settlers having killed and injured huge numbers of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank including East Jerusalem in the last 15 months, tourist companies are making themselves complicit in a blood-soaked system of Israeli war crimes and systematic repression.
“War crimes are not a tourist attraction – Airbnb, Booking.com and the wider business community should immediately sever all links with Israel’s illegal occupation and ongoing annexation of Palestinian territory.”
Sari Bashi, programme director at Human Rights Watch, said that, in allowing properties in Israeli settlements to be listed on their sites, “Airbnb and Booking.com are contributing to land grabs, crippling movement restrictions and even the forced displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, abuses that Israeli authorities commit in order to maintain oppression and domination over Palestinians as part of the crime against humanity of apartheid”.
“Businesses should not enable, facilitate, or profit from serious violations of international law. The time has come for both companies to stop doing business in the occupied territories on stolen land.”
[Photo Credit: (From left) Michelle Obama, her brother Craig Robinson, and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky during the IMO podcast on May 21, 2025.]
There seems to be no end to the profiteers gouging the world even at the cost of hundreds of thousands dead or dying in that concentration camp now turned into a killing field. It’s as if the scabs America and the west have won through capital-capitalism punishment have turned most in the west into zombies or lobotomies or Stepford Wives and Husbands. Handmaid Tale? Think hard. Read the piece — fiction but oh so real — by Ursula le Guin below this rant. It will run shivers down your spine.
Billionaire Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky went back to school prior to the company going public—but it wasn’t to obtain a degree, it was to seek the guidance of a former president. Chesky reveals that during weekly chats with Barack Obama, he would receive “assignments” that revolutionized his leadership.
To build Airbnb into a billion-dollar business, Brian Chesky sometimes worked gruesome 100-hour weeks. However, on top of that, he would regularly carve out time to pick the brains of one of the most important people in the world: former President Barack Obama.
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I say it a thousand times — “no precautionary principle, so anything goes; or, “no at first and always do NO harm, so a billion harms are the result,” and, finally, “intended and unintended (usually already known) consequences should be prosecuted as crimes against humanity and ecosystems.”
The question is the wrong question, as always with Mainlining Corporate Media, and, well, how about proposing an end to AI — the war on drugs, well, how about the war on AI? No?
And so the most unqualified people in the world, again, his tribal connections count, but I’ll not beat that dead horse, do have a chair at the Star Chamber: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Warns Colleges of ‘a Reckoning’ Because They’re Not ‘Preparing People for the Jobs That They Need’
And so it’s not a Mad Mad Mad Mad World of rotten reality TV in real time? Give me a break. Gates and Fink and Ellison and Mark Cuban and Bezos and hell throw in Kissinger or Sean Penn or Ben Stiller, they all, like Zuckerberg, have the world, our world, in the palm of their collective hand.
In a recent interview with comedian Theo Von on his podcast, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered a blunt critique of the modern college system, questioning its relevance in preparing young people for today’s evolving job market. The remarks add to a growing chorus of skepticism from tech industry leaders about the role and value of higher education in an increasingly skills-driven economy.
“I’m not sure that college is preparing people for the jobs that they need to have,” Zuckerberg said when asked whether he believes college is still necessary in today’s world. “There’s a big issue on that, and all the student debt issues are really big issues. The fact that college is so expensive for so many people.” He did offer the idea that college has its place as a means of living on one’s own, away from one’s parents, while they learn to be an adult. However, the CEO added that the massive debt people often graduate with doesn’t make sense for many.
Oh, insightful nothing burger from that “criminal,” Zuckerberg, with, well, a comic with a podcast? Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III?? So, Chromebooks and Zoom Remote School and an end to humanities and history and all the crap they don’t like so they can get partially employed folk who are on universal chump change incomes while their drones and missiles and 100,000 satellites in the heavens and sky can do their dirty work.
And language and such mean nothing. MAHA? Right, tell that to the people in Gaza, even outside of Gaza, where bombs bursting in air, all the dust, all the depleted uranium atoms, well well, how’s that going to work on cancers and birth-defects and birth-deaths? RFK Jr, though, don’t you know, believes Palestinians are spoiled and all Hamas.
Orwell would be spinning in his urn:
As he has promoted the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, has lamented the toll that processed foods have taken on the health of Americans, in particular Native Americans.
Weeks later, in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, he said processed foods had resulted in a “genocide” among Native Americans, who disproportionately live in places where there are few or no grocery stores.
“One of my big priorities will be getting good food — high-quality food, traditional foods — onto the reservation because processed foods for American Indians is poison,” Kennedy told the committee. Healthy food is key to combating the high rates of chronic disease in tribal communities, he said.
Yet even as the president tasks Kennedy’s agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture with improving healthy eating programs, the USDA has terminated the very program that dozens of tribal food banks say has helped them provide fresh, locally produced food that is important to their traditions and cultures.
That program — the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program — began under President Joe Biden in late 2021 as a response to challenges accessing food that were magnified by the pandemic. Its goal was to boost purchases from local farmers and ranchers, and the funding went to hundreds of food banks across the country, including 90 focused on serving tribes.
(Hint hint: Meals on Wheels is on the chopping block, and so are programs to lower prices of groceries for that program and for food banks thoughout the land . . . healthy diets include 800 calories a day for grandma?)
Nah, AI in their hands will not be a criminal facilitation of destroying human agency and human connections and just plain ol’ book smarts and on the job intelligence. The gift that keeps on corroding, AI, VR, MR, AR, AGI.
And no, this isn’t another ‘the internet is a series of tubes‘ moment. Think about this for more than half a second and it seems obvious: The high-level interactions that we have in any software is always a veil over the low-level machinations rolling forward underneath. But it’s interesting to be reminded of this fact in the context of a supposedly new phase, paradigm, or stage of computing and the internet.
Then this? From the Associated Press? Headlines? AP? I used to respect the outfit, five decades ago. “Get ready for several years of killer heat, top weather forecasters warn.” And so is it AI getting us ready for wet bulb temperatures out the roof? AirB&B? Michelle Obama? DOGE?
And it all comes down to shit. Sewage and all the other shit. No way forward with this Jerry Springer Show.
UCSD study: Tijuana sewage isn’t the only pollutant detectible in the air
Researchers found illicit drugs and chemicals from tires in the Tijuana River becoming airborne.
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Jewish Springer, Seinfeld, Chuck Barris (Gong Show), Maury Povitch, and Stern, what a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and now this?
Comedy Central for Jews in Israel? [Israeli police officers assist a Palestinian after he was pushed by right-wing Israelis as they mark Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem’s Old City, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)]
The United Arab Emirates lays into Israel over this week’s Jerusalem Flag March, characterizing it as an “annual spectacle of unchecked violence and extremist provocation” and issuing a rare warning against Israel if Jerusalem doesn’t take “decisive steps” against the phenomenon.
“It is utterly unfathomable that, amid the ongoing carnage in Gaza, the Israeli government — underscored by the presence of one of its ministers — continues to permit” the flag march an Emirati official tells The Times of Israel in a statement issued shortly after Abu Dhabi summoned Israel’s ambassador to the Gulf country for a rare reprimand.
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Let’s go out with Gerald Horne, a true winner: Oh Canada! and more!! Gerald Horne Around The Horne: G7 Unite Against China, But Is the Era of US World Dominance Over?
Mad Mad Mad Mad World Indeed.
“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”
by Ursula K LeGuin – from The Wind’s Twelve Quarters
With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea. The ringing of the boats in harbor sparkled with flags. In the streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees, past great parks and public buildings, processions moved.
Some were decorous: old people in long stiff robes of mauve and gray, grave master workmen, quiet, merry women carrying their babies and chatting as they walked. In other streets the music beat faster, a shimmering of gong and tambourine, and the people went dancing, the procession was a dance. Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows’ crossing flights over the music and the singing. All the processions wound towards the north side of the city, where on the great water-meadow called the Green Fields boys and girls, naked in the bright air, with mud-stained feet and ankles and long, lithe arms,exercised their restive horses before the race. The horses wore no gear at all but a halter without bit. Their manes were braided with streamers of silver, gold, and green. They flared their nostrils and pranced and boasted to one another; they were vastly excited, the horse being the only animal who has adopted our ceremonies as his own. Far off to the north and west the mountains stood up half encircling Omelas on her bay. The air of morning was so clear that the snow still crowning the Eighteen Peaks burned with white-gold fire across the miles of sunlit air, under the dark blue of the sky. There was just enough wind to make the banners that marked the racecourse snap and flutter now and then. In the silence of the broad green meadows one could hear the music winding throughout the city streets, farther and nearer and ever approaching, a cheerful faint sweetness of the air from time to time trembled and gathered together and broke out into the great joyous clanging of the bells.
Joyous! How is one to tell about joy? How describe the citizens of Omelas?
They were not simple folk, you see, though they were happy. But we do not say the words of cheer much any more. All smiles have become archaic. Given a description such as this one tends to make certain assumptions. Given a description such as this one tends to look next for the King, mounted on a splendid stallion and surrounded by his noble knights, or perhaps in a golden litter borne by great-muscled slaves. But there was no king. They did not use swords, or keep slaves. They were not barbarians, I do not know the rules and laws of their society, but I suspect that they were singularly few. As they did without monarchy and slavery, so they also got on without the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police, and the bomb. Yet I repeat that these were not simple folk, not dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland utopians. There were not less complex than us.
The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain. If you can’t lick ’em, join ’em. If it hurts, repeat it. But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe happy man, nor make any celebration of joy. How can I tell you about the people of Omelas? They were not naive and happy children–though their children were, in fact, happy. They were mature, intelligent, passionate adults whose lives were not wretched. O miracle! But I wish I could describe it better. I wish I could convince you. Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy tale, long ago and far away, once upon a time. Perhaps it would be best if you imagined it as your own fancy bids, assuming it will rise to the occasion, for certainly I cannot suit you all. For instance, how about technology? I think that there would be no cars or helicopters in and above the streets; this follows from the fact that the people of Omelas are happy people. Happiness is based on a just discrimination of what is necessary, what is neither necessary nor destructive, and what is destructive. In the middle category, however–that of the unnecessary but undestructive, that of comfort, luxury, exuberance, etc.– they could perfectly well have central heating, subway trains, washing machines, and all kinds of marvelous devices not yet invented here, floating light-sources, fuelless power, a cure for the common cold. Or they could have none of that: it doesn’t matter. As you like it. I incline to think that people from towns up and down the coast have been coming to to Omelas during the last days before the Festival on very fast little trains and double-decked trams, and that the trains station of Omelas is actually the handsomest building in town, though plainer than the magnificent Farmers’ Market. But even granted trains, I fear that Omelas so far strikes some of you as goody-goody. Smiles, bells, parades, horses, bleh. If so, please add an orgy. If an orgy would help, don’t hesitate. Let us not, however, have temples from which issue beautiful nude priests and priestesses already half in ecstasy and ready to copulate with any man or woman, lover or stranger, who desires union with the deep godhead of the blood, although that was my first idea. But really it would be better not to have any temples in Omelas–at least, not manned temples. Religion yes, clergy no. Surely the beautiful nudes can just wander about, offering themselves like divine souffles to the hunger of the needy and the rapture of the flesh. Let them join the processions. Let tambourines be struck above the copulations, and the gory of desire be proclaimed upon the gongs, and (a not unimportant point) let the offspring of these delightful rituals be beloved and looked after by all. One thing I know there is none of in Omelas is guilt. But what else should there be? I thought at first there were no drugs, but that is puritanical. For those who like it, the faint insistent sweetness of drooz may perfume the ways of the city, drooz which first brings a great lightness and brilliance to the mind and limbs, and then after some hours a dreamy languor, and wonderful visions at last of the very arcane and inmost secrets of the Universe, as well as exciting the pleasure of sex beyond all belief; and it is not habit-forming. For more modest tastes I think there ought to be beer. What else, what else belongs in the joyous city? The sense of victory, surely, the celebration of courage. But as we did without clergy, let us do without soldiers. The joy built upon successful slaughter is not the right kind of joy; it will not do; it is fearful and it is trivial. A boundless and generous contentment, a magnanimous triumph felt not against some outer enemy but in communion with the finest and fairest in the souls of all men everywhere and the splendor of the world’s summer: This is what swells the hearts of the people of Omelas, and the victory they celebrate is that of life. I don’t think many of them need to take drooz.
Most of the processions have reached the Green Fields by now. A marvelous smell of cooking goes forth from the red and blue tents of the provisioners. The faces of small children are amiably sticky; in the benign gray beard of a man a couple of crumbs of rich pastry are entangled. The youths and girls have mounted their horses and are beginning to group around the starting line of the course. An old woman, small, fat, and laughing, is passing out flowers from a basket, and tall young men wear her flowers in their shining hair. A child of nine or ten sits at the edge of the crowd alone, playing on a wooden flute.
People pause to listen, and they smile, but they do not speak to him, for he never ceases playing and never sees them, his dark eyes wholly rapt in the sweet, thing magic of the tune.
He finishes, and slowly lowers his hands holding the wooden flute.
As if that little private silence were the signal, all at once a trumpet sounds from the pavilion near the starting line: imperious, melancholy, piercing. The horses rear on their slender legs, and some of them neigh in answer. Sober-faced, the young riders stroke the horses’ necks and soothe them, whispering. “Quiet, quiet, there my beauty, my hope…” They begin to form in rank along the starting line. The crowds along the racecourse are like a field of grass and flowers in the wind. The Festival of Summer has begun.
Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No? Then let me describe one more thing.
In a basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, or perhaps in the cellar of one of its spacious private homes, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window. A little light seeps in dustily between cracks in the boards, secondhand from a cobwebbed window somewhere across the cellar. In one corner of the little room a couple of mops, with stiff, clotted, foul-smelling heads, stand near a rusty bucket. The floor is dirt, a little damp to the touch, as cellar dirt usually is.
The room is about three paces long and two wide: a mere broom closet or disused tool room. In the room, a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six, but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble-minded. Perhaps it was born defective, or perhaps it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect. It picks its nose and occasionally fumbles vaguely with its toes or genitals, as it sits hunched in the corner farthest from the bucket and the two mops. It is afraid of the mops. It finds them horrible. It shuts its eyes, but it knows the mops are still standing there; and the door is locked; and nobody will come. The door is always locked; and nobody ever comes, except that sometimes–the child has no understanding of time or interval–sometimes the door rattles terribly and opens, and a person, or several people, are there. One of them may come in and kick the child to make it stand up. The others never come close, but peer in at it with frightened, disgusted eyes. The food bowl and the water jug are hastily filled, the door is locked; the eyes disappear. The people at the door never say anything, but the child, who has not always lived in the tool room, and can remember sunlight and its mother’s voice, sometimes speaks. “I will be good, ” it says. “Please let me out. I will be good!” They never answer. The child used to scream for help at night, and cry a good deal, but now it only makes a kind of whining, “eh-haa, eh-haa,” and it speaks less and less often. It is so thin there are no calves to its legs; its belly protrudes; it lives on a half-bowl of corn meal and grease a day. It is naked. Its buttocks and thighs are a mass of festered sores, as it sits in its own excrement continually.
They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Some of them have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there. They all know that it has to be there. Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery.
This is usually explained to children when they are between eight and twelve, whenever they seem capable of understanding; and most of those who come to see the child are young people, though often enough an adult comes, or comes back, to see the child. No matter how well the matter has been explained to them, these young spectators are always shocked and sickened at the sight. They feel disgust, which they had thought themselves superior to. They feel anger, outrage, impotence, despite all the explanations. They would like to do something for the child. But there is nothing they can do. If the child were brought up into the sunlight out of that vile place, if it were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a good thing, indeed; but if it were done, in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed. Those are the terms. To exchange all the goodness and grace of every life in Omelas for that single, small improvement: to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of happiness of one: that would be to let guilt within the walls indeed.
The terms are strict and absolute; there may not even be a kind word spoken to the child.
Often the young people go home in tears, or in a tearless rage, when they have seen the child and faced this terrible paradox. They may brood over it for weeks or years. But as time goes on they begin to realize that even if the child could be released, it would not get much good of its freedom: a little vague pleasure of warmth and food, no real doubt, but little more. It is too degraded and imbecile to know any real joy. It has been afraid too long ever to be free of fear. Its habits are too uncouth for it to respond to humane treatment. Indeed, after so long it would probably be wretched without walls about it to protect it, and darkness for its eyes, and its own excrement to sit in. Their tears at the bitter injustice dry when they begin to perceive the terrible justice of reality, and to accept it. Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free. They know compassion. It is the existence of the child, and their knowledge of its existence, that makes possible the nobility of their architecture, the poignancy of their music, the profundity of their science. It is because of the child that they are so gentle with children. They know that if the wretched one were not there sniveling in the dark, the other one, the flute-player, could make no joyful music as the young riders line up in their beauty for the race in the sunlight of the first morning of summer.
Now do you believe them? Are they not more credible? But there is one more thing to tell, and this is quite incredible.
At times one of the adolescent girls or boys who go see the child does not go home to weep or rage, does not, in fact, go home at all. Sometimes also a man or a woman much older falls silent for a day or two, then leaves home. These people go out into the street, and walk down the street alone. They keep walking, and walk straight out of the city of Omelas, through the beautiful gates. They keep walking across the farmlands of Omelas. Each one goes alone, youth or girl, man or woman.
Night falls; the traveler must pass down village streets, between the houses with yellow- lit windows, and on out into the darkness of the fields. Each alone, they go west or north, towards the mountains. They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
As the world was readying for the Second World War, the insightful humane Austrian author Stefan Zweig made the following glum observation: “Openly and flagrantly, certain countries express their will to expand and make preparations for war. The politics of rearmament is pursued in broad daylight and at breakneck speed; every day you read in the papers arguments in favour of armaments expansion, the idea that it reduces unemployment and provides a boost to the stock exchange.”
This is not so different from the approval by European Union countries on May 27 of a €150 billion loan program known as the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) borrowing scheme. A press release from the European Council stated that the scheme “will finance urgent and large-scale investments in the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB)” with the intention of boosting “production capacity, making sure defence equipment is available when needed, and to address existing capability gaps – ultimately strengthening the EU’s overall defence readiness.”
The statement also makes a central rationale clear: that SAFE will enable continued European support for Ukraine, linking its defence industry to the program. Despite not being an EU member, Kyiv will be able to participate in the scheme. Interestingly enough, the United Kingdom, despite leaving the EU, will also be able to participate via a separate agreement.
Disbursements to interested member states upon demand, considered along national plans “will take the form of competitively priced long-maturity loans, to be repaid by the beneficiary member states.”
The scheme further anticipates the types of weaponry, euphemistically titled “defence products”, that will feature. As outlined by the European Council on March 6, these will comprise two categories: the first covering, amongst others, such products as ammunition and missiles, artillery systems, ground combat capabilities with support systems; the second, air and missile defence systems, maritime surface and underwater capabilities, drones and anti-drone systems and “strategic enablers” including air-to-air refuelling, artificial intelligence and electronic warfare.
The broader militarisation agenda is confirmed by linking SAFE with broader transatlantic engagement and “complementarity with NATO.” It will “strive to enhance interoperability, continue industrial cooperation, and ensure reciprocal access to state-of-the-art technologies with trusted partners.” Significantly, the emphasis is on collaboration: a minimum of three countries must combine when requesting funding for SAFE defence projects.
There seems to be something for everyone: the militarist, the war monger and the merchants of death. Global Finance, a publication dedicated to informing “corporate financial professionals”, was already praising the SAFE proposal in April. “The initiative has the potential to transform the business models of many top European defense groups – like Saab, which has traditionally relied on contracts from the Swedish state to grow its sales.” What a delight it will be for such defence companies to move beyond the constraints on sales imposed by their limiting governments. A veritable European market of death machinery is in the offing.
The fund is intended for one, unambiguous purpose: war. The weasel word “defence” is merely the code, the cipher. Break it, and it spells out aggression and conflict, a hankering for the next great military confrontation. The reason is traditional, historic and irrational: the Oriental despotic eminence arising from the Asian steppes, people supposedly untutored in the niceties of European good manners and democracy. Not that European manners and democracy is in splendid health. A mere glance at some of the candidates suggests decline in institutional credibility and scepticism. But we can always blame the Russians for that, deviously sowing doubt with their disinformation schemes.
The initiative, and its tightening of ties with arming Ukraine, has made such critics as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sound modestly sensible. “We need to invest in our own armies, but they expect us to fund Ukraine’s – with billions, for years to come,” he declared in a post on X. “We’ve made it clear: Hungary will not pay. Our duty is to protect our own people.”
The approval of the fund by the European Commission has also angered some members of the European Parliament, an institution which has been treated with near contempt by the European Commission. European Parliament Presidente Roberta Metsola warned Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier in May to reconsider the use of Article 122 of the EU Treaty, which should be used sparingly in emergencies in speeding up approvals with minimal parliamentary scrutiny. Bypassing Europe’s invigilating lawmakers risked “undermining democratic legitimacy by weakening Parliament’s legislative and scrutiny functions”. The Council’s resort to Article 122 potentially enlivened a process that could see a legal case taken to the European Court of Justice.
The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) has also supported a legal opinion repudiating the Commission’s cavalier approach in approving the fund. According to that tartly reasoned view, Article 122 was an inappropriate justification, as the threshold for evoking emergency powers had simply not been met.
Ironically, the rearmament surge is taking place on both sides of the Atlantic, at both the behest of the Trump administration, ever aggrieved by Europe not pulling its military weight, and Moscow, characterised and caricatured as a potential invader, the catalyst for decorating a continent with bristling weaponry. The former continues to play hide and seek with Brussels while still being very much in Europe, be it in terms of permanent garrisons and military assets; the latter remains a convenient excuse to cross the palms of the military industrial establishment with silver. How Zweig would have hated it.
‘In 2024, we have witnessed extraordinary levels of hostility towards democracy, from rampant disinformation and information manipulation by foreign actors, to the silencing of media and human rights defenders, and a strong pushback against gender equality and diversity, undoing years of progress in many countries across the globe. Today, only 29% of the world’s population live in liberal democracies. At the heart of these challenges lies peace. Peace is not simply the absence of war. It is the active cultivation of justice, the protection of the most vulnerable, the realisation of all human rights and the commitment to dialogue and reconciliation.’ – High Representative, Kaja Kallas
The publication of the EU’s Annual Human Rights Report takes place in the context of multiple and cascading crises, including war on the European continent and the resurgence of conflict in many other areas of the world. These developments underscore the strong links between peace, human rights and democracy. Climate change, digital transformation, and rising inequalities add to the growing human rights challenges worldwide.
The report follows the structure of the EU’s Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, particularly the EU’s work on protecting and empowering individuals, building resilient, inclusive and democratic societies, promoting a global system for human rights and democracy, harnessing opportunities and addressing challenges, and ensuring that the EU delivers by working with our partners.
The EU continues to support the strengthening of inclusive, representative and accountable institutions, and promoted a collaborative approach to democracy through the Team Europe Democracy initiative. The fight against information manipulation and interference also continues to be a priority through initiatives such as EUvsDisinfo. Over the past year, the European Endowment for Democracy has kept up its work on fostering democracy and working with free media and civil society in challenging circumstances in Belarus, and Ukraine among others. The EU has carried on supporting and empowering people on the frontlines of human rights advocacy.
While the global outlook is challenging, the EU is steadfastly pursuing deeper international cooperation and stronger early warning and prevention mechanisms. Efforts to ensure accountability for violations and abuses of human rights continue to be a key priority. Together with its partners, the EU is determined to protect the multilateral human rights system and uphold the central role of human rights and democracy in fostering peace, security and sustainable development.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Two captured North Korean soldiers fighting with Russia in its war against Ukraine were not among the 1,000 prisoners of war recently repatriated by Ukraine to Russia due to a request from Seoul, said a South Korean lawmaker.
The soldiers, identified as Ri and Baek, were part of the more than 12,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia’s Kursk region to fight Ukraine who occupied parts of the region in an August counteroffensive. The two were captured in January and have been in custody in Kyiv since then.
“I have confirmed through a Ukrainian source that Ri and Baek, former North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces, were excluded from the recent prisoner exchange list,” said Yu Yong-weon, a member of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a prisoner swap of 1,000 detainees each during negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey on May 16. From May 23, they exchanged around 300 prisoners daily for three days.
“Another source said that their exclusion from the exchange was in response to a request from the South Korean government, which the Ukrainian government honored,” Yu said.
“Please make every diplomatic effort to ensure they can set foot on the free soil of South Korea.”
Radio Free Asia has not independently verified the status of Ri and Baek.
Yu visited Ukraine in February and met with the two prisoners when Ri expressed a desire to defect to South Korea.
Legally, South Korea recognizes all North Koreans as citizens under its constitution. This means that any North Korean, including a prisoner of war, or POW, is entitled to South Korean nationality upon arrival.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said it had expressed a fundamental principle that it would accept any North Korean soldiers requesting to come to South Korea and had conveyed this position to the Ukrainian side.
Russia and North Korea have aligned closely since Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea for talks with Kim Jong Un and signed a mutual defense treaty during the Russian leader’s visit to Pyongyang last year. It elevated military cooperation and resulted in the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia.
Reports of the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia first surfaced in October. Even as evidence of their presence grew – including when North Korean soldiers were taken captive by Ukrainian forces in Kursk and interviewed – neither North Korea nor Russia acknowledged their presence until April.
South Korea’s main spy agency National Intelligence Service, or NIS, reported in April that among the North Korean troops deployed to Russia, there have been a total of 4,700 casualties, including 600 deaths.
The NIS estimated the North has deployed a total of 15,000 troops to Russia in two separate deployments.
Combat has decreased since March as Russian forces have retaken most of the territory in the western Kursk, where Ukrainian forces had advanced, the agency said.
While there is currently no visible movement for a third deployment, the possibility remains open, it added.
The NIS also noted that North Korean forces have shown significant improvement in combat capability, as their initial inexperience has diminished and they have become more familiar with new equipment such as drones.
However, the prolonged deployment has reportedly led to “behavioral issues” among the troops, including excessive drinking and theft.
In exchange for troop deployments and arms exports, North Korea is believed to have received from Russia reconnaissance satellite and launch vehicle technology assistance, drones, electronic warfare equipment and SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.
Additionally, North Korea is reportedly in discussions with Russia to modernize 14 industries, including metals, aviation, energy, and tourism. Around 15,000 North Korean workers are estimated to have been sent to Russia, the NIS said.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
Over the last seven days the Ukrainian military has launched over one thousand drones against targets in Russia. Most of these were shot down by Russian air defenses. There are no reports of any serious damage.
The biggest effect the week long drone attacks achieved was to shut down air traffic in Moscow for several hours.
After waiting a few days the Russian military responded in kind.
Over the last three days a record number of drones and missiles were launched against military installations and production facilities in Ukraine (archived):
Russia stepped up missile-and-drone assaults on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other regions, killing at least 12 people overnight into Sunday after President Trump last week declined to impose further sanctions on Moscow over its refusal to halt its invasion.
A Ukrainian man living with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) has been forced into a psychiatric hospital in Ukraine, amidst daily drone strikes and bombings.
His story highlights the lack of knowledge around ME and the additional challenges of Russian attacks on chronically ill and disabled people.
Debilitating symptoms of ME/CFS
Marc is 21 and lives in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Until 2020, he was an ambitious student and aspiring doctor. That was, until he caught Covid. He developed long Covid, and now he lives with ME/CFS – a chronic systemic neuroimmune disease which affects nearly every system in the body. ME causes a series of debilitating symptoms. These typically include influenza-like symptoms, cognitive impairment, multiple forms of pain, and heart, lung, blood pressure, and digestive dysfunctions.
Marc. Image via Marc
In particular, post-exertional malaise (PEM) is the hallmark feature of ME. This involves a disproportionate worsening of other symptoms after even minimal physical, social, mental, or emotional exertion. Often, the worsening can be permanent for the individual.
After contracting Covid-19 in 2020, Marc continued studying, first at Karazin, Ukraine, then at an Irish university where he received a scholarship. However, his health kept getting worse. Eventually, the university expelled him as he could no longer work or study. He presumed he was depressed because he couldn’t get out of bed for weeks.
He went back to Kharkiv, but the constant stress and disruption from the Russian shelling worsened his condition. At first, he still worked from his bed as an online English tutor for a couple of hours a day. He tried to volunteer, play guitar, and draw with charcoal and pastels, but it was taking a lot out of him.
Marc’s artwork. Image via Marc
A continued decline
His condition continued to decline. Doctors repeatedly told Marc it was psychosomatic.
Eventually, Marc couldn’t even leave his apartment and was starving until friends stepped in to help. He told the Canary:
I have very severe ME, I can’t tolerate sound, light, touch. I can’t talk, walk to the toilet and can very rarely use the phone. Most of the time have to lay with earplugs and mask.
At least 25% of people live with severe ME/CFS. People living with it are mostly, if not entirely, permanently bed-bound or hospitalised. On top of this, they are often unable to digest food, communicate, or process information.
He was hospitalised several times, but each time his baseline took a hit. Medical staff forced him to walk, shouted at him, and berated him for his “laziness”. Eventually, he was able to find answers online and realised he had ME. At this point though, he was already bedbound, had severe sensory intolerance, and struggled to walk or communicate.
Due to not having a source of income, his mother ended up caring for him. But she doesn’t have the funds to keep supporting him financially. Eventually, it meant she decided to seek psychiatric help for Marc.
His Mom took him to a psychiatric hospital where they pressured him to sign a waiver to be admitted. The hospital then took away his eye and ear protection, and are regularly forcing him to walk.
Marc in hospital. Image via Marc
‘I’m terrified’
Marc now has daily PEM and is still getting worse. The hospital staff do not understand his condition, and neither do his family. Before his hospital admission, he told the Canary:
My mom doesn’t believe me when I tell her I have MECFS and is taking me to the psychiatric ward today because she thinks it’s a dissociative disorder, I’ve tried so hard, reached out to brother [and] sister but they believe mom, reached out to a social worker she doesn’t believe me either, my mom opens blindfolds [and] door all the time even though I tell her it’s painful for me, she continues forcing me to speak even though I can’t without an intense burning head sensation.
So I get PEM and crash constantly at home because my caretaker doesn’t understand/believe my condition, I’m also autistic.
I’ve already been hospitalised in the ward for three weeks but at that time I could still talk [and] advocate for myself and go to the restroom, it made my situation worse and this time I’m incredibly scared about my health deteriorating.
I’ve seen 7 neurologists there not a single one believed me or even knew about ME. I asked my social worker to print out a few pamphlets in Ukrainian about ME and a plea to transfer me to neurology department so that’s my only hope, my mom will be pushing for me to be treated for psychiatric issues and I can’t protect myself. I have barely energy to write this. I’m terrified to be honest.
16 days later, Marc has only deteriorated further. Whilst he now has his ear and eye protection back, according to his friends, he is eating very little and has been unable to reply to messages for days at a time.
Although the hospital has acknowledged he has dysautonomia symptoms, they are trying to claim he has a dissociative disorder and is refusing to cooperate with them. Marc told the Canary:
ChatGPT says my ME is most likely neuroinflammation and dysautonomia-driven. They want to put me in the reanimating extreme ward because I can’t walk, take a shower, or speak normally.
Mom says I need to try harder and convince myself to get rid of the symptoms. Mom said being home is not an option because she’s scared, and here the doctors will help. Says they’re not helping because I’m not trying. A few neurologists who saw me saw myalgic encephalomyelitis and dismissed it because my CFS was clear.
I’m also trans on HRT for a year, my results are good and stable, they’re saying [the] dysautonomia is because of hormones and making me de-transition even though it will completely destabilise my body, endocrinologist said to do it slowly, even though before he said my results are good. I don’t know what to do.
His online friends have started a fundraiser to try to get Marc better medical care. They have also reached out to Ukrainian specialists who treat ME/CFS patients. They are hoping for more competent medical care in a safer, more stable environment.
Psychologisation rife around the world
All over the world, ill-equipped families and medical staff are forcing patients with ME/CFS into psychiatric hospitals, in blatant attempts to psychologise the illness.
Only last year, the abusive parents of a young woman in Greece forced her into a psychiatric ward against her will. It resulted in Katiana having no contact with the outside world. They trapped her in an environment which posed a serious threat to her life.
Additionally, Katiana highlighted the “widespread disbelief in the existence of ME across the Greek healthcare system. Clearly, this widespread disbelief is not confined to Greece.
A hospital in New Zealand discharged another young woman – 34 year-old Rhiannon – to a care home for pensioners. Similarly, the staff there were hugely ill-equipped for her care and the environment was utterly inappropriate for her condition.
The Canary also reported on a similar case for a young man named Karol in Poland. Clinicians and a disbelieving mother previously committed him to a psychiatric ward, and have threatened this multiple times since.
A care home in the UK is continuing to refuse to give a man with ME and long Covid the vital supplements he needs, to the point he is suffering life-threatening dehydration. And also in the UK, just last year, young women Millie and Carla were both sectioned against their will because doctors believed their ME was ‘all in their heads’.
Now Marc’s story adds to this growing list of ME patients healthcare systems globally are atrociously failing.
ME/CFS under military siege
Marc’s story is a window into the reality of life with ME/CFS under military siege. Not only is he battling the constant disbelief, gaslighting, and abuse which are rife within the medical establishment towards ME patients, but he must contend with doing so in an unstable, dangerous environment.
Given the impacts of loud noises, light, and other external stimuli on ME, the Russian bombardment not only threatens his life in the usual way but also risks worsening his condition from the environmental impacts on the city around him, too.
What’s more, as an autistic transgender man, Marc faces multiple layers of marginalisation. Clinicians appear to have weaponised his gender transition against him. Now, not only is the hospital attempting to coerce him into ‘treatments’ that will harm his ME, but it’s also forcing him to de-transition against his will.
Considering the hospital is so set on claiming Marc’s ME is psychosomatic, it beggars belief that it’s now denying him his HRT. This will undoubtedly put his mental health at risk.
Ultimately, there’s nowhere in the world that’s safe for people living with ME right now. Least of all, however, a country under military invasion.
On Monday President Donald Trump telephoned President Vladimir Putin and they talked for two hours before Trump put lunch in his mouth and Putin his dinner.
On the White House schedule, there was no advance notice of the call and no record afterwards. The White House log is blank for Trump’s entire morning while the press were told he was at lunch between 11:30 and 12:30.
Putin went public first, making a statement to the press which the Kremlin posted at 19:55 Moscow time; it was then 12:55 in Washington. Click to read.
Trump and his staff read the transcript and then composed Trump’s statement in a tweet posted at 13:33 Washington time, 20:33 Moscow time. Click to read.
If Secretary of State Marco Rubio and General Keith Kellogg, the president’s negotiator with the Ukraine and FUGUP (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Poland), were consulted during Trump’s prepping, sat in on the call with the President, or were informed immediately after the call, they have remained silent.
The day before, May 18, Rubio announced that the Istanbul-II meeting had produced agreement “to exchange paper on ideas to get to a ceasefire. If those papers have ideas on them that are realistic and rational, then I think we know we’ve made progress. If those papers, on the other hand, have requirements in them that we know are unrealistic, then we’ll have a different assessment.” Rubio was hinting that the Russian formula in Istanbul, negotiations-then-ceasefire, has been accepted by the US. What the US would do after its “assessment”, Rubio didn’t say – neither walk-away nor threat of new sanctions.
Vice President JD Vance wasn’t present at the call because he was flying home from Rome where he attended Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass. “We’re more than open to walking away,” Vance told reporters in his aeroplane. “The United States is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes.” Vance prompted Trump to mention the Pope as a mediator for a new round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, first to Putin and then in public.
Kellogg is refusing to go along. He tweeted on Sunday: “In Istanbul @SecRubio made it clear that we have presented ‘a strong peace plan’. Coming out of the London meetings we (US) came up with a comprehensive 22 point plan that is a framework for peace. The first point is a comprehensive cease fire that stops the killing now.”
FUGUP issued their own statement after Trump’s call. “The US President and the European partners have agreed on the next steps. They agreed to closely coordinate the negotiation process and to seek another technical meeting. All sides reaffirmed their willingness to closely accompany Ukraine on the path to a ceasefire. The European participants announced that they would increase pressure on the Russian side through sanctions.”
This signalled acceptance with Trump of the Russian formula, negotiations-then-ceasefire, and time to continue negotiating at the “technical” level. The sanction threat was added. But this statement was no longer FUGUP. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was omitted; so too Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The Italian, the Finn and the European Commission President were substituted. They make FUGIFEC.
Late in the Paris evening of Sunday French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to keep Starmer in Trump’s good books and preserve the ceasefire-first formula. “I spoke tonight,” Macron tweeted, “with @POTUS @Keir_Starmer @Bundeskanzler and @GiorgiaMeloni after our talks in Kyiv and Tirana. Tomorrow, President Putin must show he wants peace by accepting the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and backed by Ukraine and Europe.” By the time on Monday that Macron realized he had been trumped, the Elysée had nothing to say.
By contrast, Italian Prime Minister Meloni signalled she was happy to line up with Trump and accept Putin’s negotiations-then-ceasefire. “Efforts are being made,” Meloni’s office announced, “for an immediate start to negotiations between the parties that can lead as soon as possible to a ceasefire and create the conditions for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” Meloni claimed she would assure that Pope Leo XIV would fall into line. “In this regard, the willingness of the Holy Father to host the talks in the Vatican was welcomed. Italy is ready to do its part to facilitate contacts and work for peace.”
For the time being, Putin’s and Trump’s statements have put Rubio, Kellogg and the Europeans offside. Decoding the two president’s statements shows how and why.
Our colleagues asked me to briefly comment on the outcome of my telephone conversation with the President of the United States.This conversation has effectively taken place and lasted more than two hours. I would like to emphasise that it was both substantive and quite candid. Overall, [1] I believe it was a very productive exchange.
First and foremost [2], I expressed my gratitude to the President of the United States for the support provided by the United States in facilitating the resumption of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine aimed at potentially reaching a peace agreement and resuming the talks which, as we know, were thwarted by the Ukrainian side in 2022 [3].
The President of the United States shared his position [4] on the cessation of hostilities and the prospects for a ceasefire. For my part, I noted that Russia also supports a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis as well. What we need now is to identify the most effective [5] ways towards achieving peace.
We agreed with the President of the United States that Russia would propose and is ready to engage with the Ukrainian side on drafting a memorandum [6] regarding a potential future peace agreement. This would include outlining a range of provisions, such as the principles for settlement, the timeframe for a possible peace deal, and other matters, including a potential temporary ceasefire, should the necessary agreements [7] be reached.
Contacts among participants of the Istanbul meeting and talks have resumed, which gives reason to believe that we are on the right track overall [8].
I would like to reiterate that the conversation was highly constructive, and I assess it positively. The key issue, of course, is now for the Russian side and the Ukrainian side to show their firm commitment to peace and to forge a compromise that would be acceptable to all parties.
Notably, Russia’s position is clear. Eliminating the root causes [9] of this crisis is what matters most to us.
Should any clarifications be necessary, Press Secretary [Dmitry] Peskov and my aide, Mr Ushakov [10], will provide further details on today’s telephone talks with President Trump.
Keys to Decode
1. This is a qualifier, meaning there are serious differences on the details — Putin asked Trump to pause, halt or cease all arms deliveries to the Ukraine, including US arms shipped through Israel, Germany, and Poland. This is a bullet Trump hasn’t bitten, yet.
2. Putin has made a firm decision to give Trump the “peace deal” he has asked for and wishes to announce at a summit meeting. In their call Putin was mollifying Trump’s disappointment at the failure of their plan to meet when Trump was in the Middle East. A Russian source comments: “Whatever concessions have to be made will be made only by Putin and only to Trump. The Europeans are trying to hog the headlines and turn their defeat into some sort of victory – Trump won’t let them have it and Putin won’t either.”
3. Putin does not publicly admit the mistakes he made with Roman Abramovich and Vladimir Medinsky in March 2022 at Istanbul-I. They have now been corrected at the consensus decision-making session with the military and intelligence chiefs (May 14 Kremlin session) and then on May 16 in Istanbul with Admiral Igor Kostyukov of the GRU seated on Medinsky’s right with General Alexander Fomin, Deputy Minister of Defence. For more details, click to listen.
4. Soft qualifier. This means Putin did not agree with several of Trump’s points relating to intelligence sharing, arms deliveries, Ukrainian elections.
5. Future tense. Putin suggested to Trump that he stop Kellogg and FUGUP encouraging Zelensky. Putin made an especially negative remark about the role played by Prime Minister Starmer.
6. This is a Russian lesson in escalation control. By putting the memorandum of understanding in Russian hands to initiate, Putin returns to the key parts of the December 17, 2021, draft treaty which President Joseph Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken summarily dismissed. Placing agreement on these terms first, before a temporary ceasefire, and making that ceasefire conditional on ceaseforce (halt to battlefield intelligence sharing and arms re-supply), Putin has invited Trump to choose between the US and FUGUP; between Zelensky and an elected successor; and between his personal negotiator advisors, Steven Witkoff and General Kellogg.
7. Reiteration of the formula, negotiations first, then ceasefire.
8. Qualifier repeated – see Key 1.
9. This phrase refers to the European security architecture and mutual security pact of December 2021, as well as to the two declared objectives of the Special Military Operation — demilitarization and denazification.
10. Following Putin’s statement, Ushakov added: “other details of the telephone conversation. Among other things, Putin and Trump touched upon the exchange of prisoners of citizens of the two countries: the format of ‘nine nine’ is being worked out. The leaders also discussed their possible meeting and agreed that it should be productive, so the teams of the presidents will work out the content of the summit between Russia and the United States.”
Trump followed in a stumbling speech in the Rose Garden in which, referring to the morning telephone call, he said “they [Putin] like Melania better.”
Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire [1] and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of. [2] The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent. If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later. Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic “bloodbath” is over, and I agree [3]. There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED. Likewise, Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on Trade, in the process of rebuilding its Country.
Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately. I have so informed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, President Emmanuel Macron, of France, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of Germany, and President Alexander Stubb, of Finland, during a call with me,[4] immediately after the call with President Putin. The Vatican, as represented by the Pope [5] has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin! [6]
Keys to Decode
1. Trump accepts that negotiations should come before ceasefire.
2. This amounts to rejection of Kellogg’s 22-point term paper first decided with Zelensky and FUGUP in London on April 23 and repeated by Macron the night before Trump’s telephone call; as well as rejection of Witkoff’s term paper discussed at the Kremlin on April 25.
3. Agreement with the business deal-making which Witkoff has been discussing with Kirill Dmitriev. For the deal beneficiaries on both sides, read this.
4. This list includes two Germans, both Russia haters — Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ursula von der Leyen, former German defense minister and supporter of the German rearmament plan to continue the war with Russia into the future. The British Prime Minister has been dropped by Trump, and also Polish Prime Minister Tusk. Included for the first time in this context are the Italian and Finnish representatives with whom Trump has demonstrated personal rapport. Research by Manos Tzafalias indicates that there is a substantial money interest in Finland for Trump’s associate, Elon Musk.
5. Prompt from the Catholic convert, Vice President Vance.
Vance and Rubio meeting with Pope Leo XIV on May 18. They invited the Pope to make an official visit to Washington. The last papal visit to the White House was in September 2015 on the invitation of President Obama and Vice President Biden.
6. Trump has covered his disappointment at failing to hold a summit meeting with Putin in Istanbul on the afternoon of May 16 by dismissing the negotiations which occurred without him. For details of Trump’s abortive summit plan, read this.
Viktoriia Roshchyna was investigating Russia’s torture sites, then found herself inside one. Manisha Ganguly and Juliette Garside report
Viktoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist known as Vika, was determined to report on Russia’s “black sites”.
“These ‘black sites’, they’re not prisons; there’s no control on behaviour there,” Juliette Garside, an editor at the Guardian, tells Michael Safi. “So it’s where we know that some of the worst war crimes, the worst human rights abuses, take place.
After a two-hour telephone call between the presidents of Russia and the United States on Monday, President Vladimir Putin said:
I would like to emphasize once again that the conversation was very constructive, and I rate it highly. The question, of course, is for the Russian and Ukrainian sides to show maximum desire for peace and find compromises that would suit all parties. At the same time,I would like to note that Russia’s position is generally clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis.
It should be no mystery to Western leaders, media and the public what those root causes are, as Moscow has been repeating them ad nauseam beginning 30 years ago and especially in the run up to Russia’s 2022 intervention in Ukraine’s then eight-year old civil war.
As was universally expected, little came out of Istanbul this week, where Ukrainian and Russian delegations met with the ostensible purpose of exploring a negotiated settlement of the proxy war the U.S. provoked three years ago.
It is an odd state of affairs when even the people doing the talking did not anticipate anything useful to emerge from their talking.
After less than two hours of negotiation, the two sides agreed only to future talks on subsidiary questions: a prisoner exchange and a 30–day ceasefire — a ceasefire Kiev and its Western backers refused for years but are now desperate to implement.
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, Ukraine’s left-wing community is continuing its work fighting both neoliberalism and Russian aggression. Sotsialnyi Rukh or “Social Movement” is Ukraine’s largest and oldest democratic socialist organization. Founded in the aftermath of the Euromaidan protests of 2013-14, Sotsialnyi Rukh has held steadfast to its principled leftist…
In the past weeks and months, Russian and Ukrainian human rights activists have been focusing on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Back in January, human rights activists and the People First campaign raised several issues to parties involved in ongoing negotiations in the hopes that the negotiations would prioritise those affected by the conflict, particularly prisoners of war, detained Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainian children which have been taken to Russia, and Russian political prisoners.
The invasion of Ukraine was only possible thanks to a system of political repression Russia has inflicted on its own people for decades.
In February, on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a group of UN special rapporteurs and experts called for parties involved in negotiations to put legal and humanitarian issues at the forefront of discussions. They stressed that the Russian government must be held accountable for its aggression and war crimes in Ukraine committed, and its repressive policies towards its own citizens.
The invasion of Ukraine was only possible thanks to a system of political repression Russia has inflicted on its own people for decades. According to experts, over 3,000 individuals have been persecuted by Russian authorities for political reasons. Despite recent efforts by human rights activists to advocate for person-centred negotiations, it seems more and more doubtful that the focus will be on human rights
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Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has challenged the established system of international relations, which has now proven to be woefully fragile. Most countries see Putin’s decision to unleash outright war on Ukraine as unacceptable. While many democratic countries have continued to provide Ukraine with assistance, this has at times proven insufficient in the face of Russian violence.
Since January, the rejection by the US of legal norms in place since the two world wars has unleashed a new crisis in international politics.
US tactics to repeal basic human rights seem eerily familiar for Russian activists, who have been fighting similar state tactics for the past 25 years.
The new American administration’s policy is increasingly similar to Putin’s own tactics. Both favour the “right of the strong”, whereby great powers can decide the fate of others and dictate conditions. The US has shown itself to be less interested in international law, making it increasingly easy for norms to be overlooked.
US tactics to repeal basic human rights seem eerily familiar for Russian activists, who have been fighting similar state tactics for the past 25 years. Russians knew a world without regard for international human rights or legal norms long before 2025, or the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
For 25 years, Putin’s government has created a country which prioritises the interests of the state and denies basic human rights.
What is happening in the US is recognisable to many Russians.
By wanting to end the war in Ukraine and find a quick solution, the US president is effectively equating the aggressor with the victim of aggression.
Negotiations thus far suggest Trump is more likely to ensure Russian interests that are detrimental both to the safety of the Ukrainian people, who have been subjected to aggression and occupation, and to justice and a sustainable peace.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was the result of years of human rights violations within Russia and the lack of a response from the international community to these violations.
An unfair peace — a “deal” that contradicts the norms of international law — sets a dangerous precedent. It normalises the war against Ukraine, thereby giving Russia the green light to repeat its aggression and to enact even harsher repressive policies inside Russia.
Such a “deal” is a signal to the whole world, a move towards dangerous instability, reminiscent of the brink of the outbreak of the world wars. Departing from the principles of human rights and international law in peacekeeping practices encourages impunity and will inevitably lead to new wars of aggression. Democracy in many countries will also be at risk, as the new rules of the game will open up opportunities for autocrats and dictators to violate human rights in their countries without regard for international institutions and their international obligations.
No peace without rights
We call on the leaders of all democratic countries, all politicians for whom human rights are not merely empty words, and civil society to take a stand and bring human rights back into international politics.
This is the only way to create reliable conditions for long-term peace in Europe and prevent the emergence of new-large scale military conflicts globally. Otherwise, the world will find itself in a situation where the fate of countries and the people living in them will be decided through wars unleashed by imperialist predators.
We call on all parties taking part in peace negotiations in Ukraine to prioritise the human aspect: the fate of prisoners of war and the protection needed for civilians, including in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
We insist that negotiations be based on the fundamental norms of international legal agreements, including the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, as they define aggression, protect the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty, and link military and political security with human rights. Without this, it will be impossible to achieve a just and sustainable peace.
The appeal was drafted and signed by members of the the Council of Russian Human Rights Defenders: Galina Arapova, Sergey Davidis, Yury Dzhibladze, Leonid Drabkin, Sergey Krivenko, Sergey Lukashevsky, Karinna Moskalenko, Oleg Orlov, Lev Ponomarev, Alexander Cherkasov, and Yelena Shakhova.
The names of the other Council members who signed the appeal are not given for security reasons.
On May 9 Russia welcomed twenty-seven heads of state from around the world to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the conclusion of the Great Patriotic War, which ended in victory over the Nazis, one of the greatest achievements in Russian history, and one that would make any nation justly proud.
The United States likes to portray the defeat of Nazism as a glorious U.S. achievement, with a nod to British, Canadian, Australian, French and a few others for their supporting roles. This ignores the central fact that the Wehrmacht had been ground nearly to pulp by the time the U.S. invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944, an event that 80 years of Hollywood fantasies have attempted to transform into the key battle of the war. In reality, however, this much-delayed opening of a second front in the European war occurred when Hitler’s troops had been reduced to mostly children and old men, the military-aged soldiers having perished in gargantuan numbers on the Eastern front. Tens of millions of Soviet soldiers and civilians were also killed there, a large majority deliberately starved by Hitler, who looked to eliminate Slavic peoples and re-populate their territories with a civilized master race of “Aryans.”
U.S. mind-managers have dispatched this immense Russian agony to Orwell’s memory hole, along with the suffering of the Chinese, who lost about half as much as the USSR on the battlefield (which was still an enormous total) in horrendous camps, and in “scientific” laboratories that treated them like experimental rats. British, French, and American losses, especially civilian deaths, were but a tiny fraction of these.
The ferocity of the battles fought in Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk defies description and is well beyond the West’s impoverished moral capacity to even begin to apprehend. Three million Nazi soldiers invaded the USSR with the launching of Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941. This represented eighty percent of the German Army, almost all of whom were either killed, captured, or wounded over the subsequent three years. Meanwhile, the USSR not only fought the invading Germans, but also ardent Nazi-supporters in Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, along with other European countries that facilitated German military operations and replaced fallen German soldiers in battle.
Both Churchill and FDR accepted that it was the USSR that defeated the Nazis. Western supplies helped, but it was the heart and determination of the Red Army that brought the Nazi beast down.
After the war, the Western powers obscured this story with a fanciful tale of being the most heroic human rights champions in history. But it was actually the Red Army that shot anti-Semites while Western myth-makers re-invented the Jew-haters as anti-Communist freedom fighters worthy of admiration.
Renewing the Cold War it had initiated in 1917 in reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution, Washington imposed a “cordon-sanitaire” in order to eradicate Communism in Western Europe, a broadly-defined demon class that included major elements of the wartime anti-fascist resistance and trade union movements while those who had accommodated Nazism or gone into hiding faced no such exclusion.
Today’s inheritors of collaborationist Europe have redoubled their attacks on Russia with economic sanctions and anti-Russian “human rights” tribunals, all in the name of a “never again” anti-genocide crusade that lacks even the slightest pretense of concern for Israel’s ongoing extermination of the Palestinian people.
Our problems go far beyond Donald Trump.
Source:
“Victory Day: Rescuing the Truth,” La Jornada, May 10, 2025 (Spanish)
Across the scorched fields and ruined factories of Donbass, a new kind of soldier moves among Russian units—not born under the tricolor, but under the flags of the very nations arming Ukraine.
They come from America, Britain, France, and beyond. Men once proud of their military service now walk away from NATO’s wars and into the ranks of Russia’s armed forces—or into the humanitarian trenches of liberated towns. Why? Because they’ve seen through the lie.
Some fight on the front lines, side by side with Russians defending cities like Chasov Yar. Others deliver aid, rebuild homes, and film what the West will never show its citizens: that this war isn’t about democracy or borders, but about global power, corruption, and forgotten people.
Moscow and Kiev have been vying with each other to curry favour with the new U.S. administration. Just as Russian diplomacy appeared to be outstripping Kiev, things changed dramatically on April 30 with the signing of the so-called minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine in Washington.
Weeks of tense bargaining preceded the conclusion of the agreement, which at one point disrupted U.S. aid for Ukraine. But the latter showed extraordinary grit, tenacity and tact to hang on and, eventually, extracted out of the Trump administration what President Vladimir Zelensky called a “truly equal” deal. This must be the finest hour of Ukrainian nationalism and underscores that the country is far from a write-off on the geopolitical chessboard.
On May 2, 2014, Neo-Nazi gangs massacred 48 people who had rejected the U.S.-backed overthrow of a democratically-elected government in Kiev earlier that year. The deliberately-set fire in the Trade Unions Building in Odessa has never been satisfactorily investigated by Ukrainian authorities.
Eight days later two ethnic Russian majority oblasts in the east declared independence from Ukraine, leading to the U.S.-backed war against them by the unconstitutional government. Eight years later Russia intervened in the civil war.
This is how Robert Parry, founder of Consortium News, reported the story on May 10, 2014. He emphasized the effort by the U.S. government and media to bury the U.S. role in the 2014 unconstitutional change of government and the part played by Neo-Nazis in Ukraine, which the U.S. government, corporate media and their “anti-disinformation” allies are still trying to hide.
On April 23rd, Politico published an extraordinary article, “The US cavalry isn’t coming”, documenting in forensic detail the extent to which European defence planning and infrastructure has for decades been exclusively “built on the assumption of American support,” and “speeding American reinforcements to the frontlines.” Now, “the prospect of that not happening is throwing military mobility plans into disarray,” and the continent “stands alone” – defenceless, directionless, and bereft of solutions to the disastrous results of their prostration to US hegemony over many decades.
The agreement between Washington and Kyiv to create an investment fund to search for rare earth minerals has been seen as something of a turn by the Trump administration. From hectoring and mocking the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the cameras on his visit to the US capital two months ago, President Donald Trump had apparently softened. It was easy to forget that the minerals deal was already on the negotiating table and would have been reached but for Zelensky’s fateful and ill-tempered ambush. Dreams of accessing Ukrainian reserves of such elements as graphite, titanium and lithium were never going to dissipate.
Details remain somewhat sketchy, but the agreement supposedly sets out a sharing of revenues in a manner satisfactory to the parties while floating, if only tentatively, the prospect of renewed military assistance. That assistance, however, would count as US investment in the fund. According to the White House, the US Treasury Department and US International Development Finance Corporation will work with Kyiv “to finalize governance and advance this important partnership”, one that ensures the US “an economic stake in securing a free, peaceful, and sovereign future for Ukraine.”
In its current form, the agreement supposedly leaves it to Ukraine to determine what to extract in terms of the minerals and where this extraction is to take place. A statement from the US Treasury Department also declared that, “No state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, stated that the subsoil remained within the domain of Kyiv’s ownership, while the fund would be “structured” on an equal basis “jointly managed by Ukraine and the United States” and financed by “new licenses in the field of critical materials, oil and gas – generated after the Fund is created”. Neither party would “hold a dominant vote – a reflection of equal partnership between our two nations.”
The minister also revealed that privatisation processes and managing state-owned companies would not be altered by the arrangements. “Companies such as Ukrnafta and Energoatom will stay in state ownership.” There would also be no question of debt obligations owed by Kyiv to Washington.
That this remains a “joint” venture is always bound to raise some suspicions, and nothing can conceal the predatory nature of an arrangement that permits US corporations and firms access to the critical resources of another country. For his part, Trump fantasised in a phone call to a town hall on the NewsNation network that the latest venture would yield “much more in theory than the $350 billion” worth of aid he insists the Biden administration furnished Kyiv with.
Svyrydenko chose to see the Reconstruction Investment Fund as one that would “attract global investment into our country” while still maintaining Ukrainian autonomy. Representative Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House of Foreign Affairs Committee, thought otherwise, calling it “Donald Trump’s extortion of Ukraine deal”. Instead of focusing on the large, rather belligerent fly in the ointment – Russian President Vladimir Putin – the US president had “demonstrated nothing but weakness” towards Moscow.
The war mongering wing of the Democrats were also in full throated voice. To make such arrangements in the absence of assured military support to Kyiv made the measure vacuous. “Right now,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on MSNBC television, “all indications are that Donald Trump’s policy is to hand Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, and in that case, this agreement isn’t worth the paper that it’s written on.”
On a certain level, Murphy has a point. Trump’s firmness in holding to the bargain is often capricious. In September 2017, he reached an agreement with the then Afghan president Ashraf Ghani to permit US companies to develop Afghanistan’s rare earth minerals. Having spent 16 years in Afghanistan up to that point, ways of recouping some of the costs of Washington’s involvement were being considered. It was agreed, went a White House statement sounding all too familiar, “that such initiatives would help American companies develop minerals critical to national security while growing Afghanistan’s economy and creating new jobs in both countries, therefore defraying some of the costs of United States assistance as Afghans become more reliant.”
Ghani’s precarious puppet regime was ultimately sidelined in favour of direct negotiations with the Taliban that eventually culminated in their return to power, leaving the way open for US withdrawal and a termination of any grand plans for mineral extraction.
A coterie of foreign policy analysts abounded with glowing statements at this supposedly impressive feat of Ukrainian diplomacy. Shelby Magid, deputy director of the Atlantic Council think tank’s Eurasia Centre, thought it put Kyiv “in their strongest position yet with Washington since Trump took office”. Ukraine had withstood “tremendous pressure” to accept poorer proposals, showing “that it is not just a junior partner that has to roll over and accept a bad deal”.
Time and logistics remain significant obstacles to the realisation of the agreement. As Ukraine’s former minister of economic development and current head of Kyiv school of economics Tymofiy Mylovanov told the BBC, “These resources aren’t in a port or warehouse; they must be developed.” Svyrydenko had to also ruefully concede that vast resources of mineral deposits existed in territory occupied by Russian forces. There are also issues with unexploded mines. Any challenge to the global rare earth elements (REEs) market, currently dominated by China (60% share of production of raw materials; 85% share of global processing output; and 90% manufacturing share of rare earth magnets), will be long in coming.
Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties says tortured inmates bypassed amid focus on territory and security guarantees
Ukrainian and Russian civil society leaders have called for the unconditional release of thousands of Ukrainian civilians being held in Russian captivity, pushing for world leaders to make it a central part of any peace deal.
Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties, which won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, said most of the discussion on ending the conflict, led by Donald Trump’s administration, focused solely on territories and potential security guarantees.
Despite U.S. pressure for a fast deal Russia does not expect any quick resolution of the conflict. It just announced a new unilateral ceasefire from May 8 to May 10, i.e. around the 80th anniversary of its victory in World War II on May 9.
It is another public sign that Russia is willing to adhere to a ceasefire agreement IF the conditions are right.
Trump still tries to behave like a neutral mediator in a conflict between Kiev and Moscow. He wants to impose a peace deal that projects his personal ‘greatness’.
But the U.S. has been and continues to be the main party of the war with Russia while Ukraine is the mere proxy force that does the bleeding.
How odd to look back now — now, as Washington’s proxy war in Ukraine ends in ignominious defeat—and think of that cornucopia of propaganda spilling out of what I called during the early months Washington’s “bubble of pretend.” Take a few minutes to remember with me.
There was the “Ghost of Kyiv,” an heroic MiG–29 pilot credited with downing six, count ’em, six Russian fighters in a single night, Feb. 24, 2022, two days after the Russian intervention began. The Ghost turned out to be a fantasy confected out of a popular video game.
So crude, the early Ukrainian propaganda, so rank.
It appears that what many of us predicted about Ukraine may be coming to pass. Last Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appeared on the CBS program Face the Nation. In response to a question about Ukraine from Margaret Brennan, Lavrov said,“Trump is probably the only leader on earth to address the root causes that got us into this war and wants to rectify it.” Further, he said, “The President of the United States, and rightly so, believes that we are moving in the right direction.” He added that some matters need to be “fine tuned.”
On Friday, Trump’s trusted envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow for talks with Putin. Does this mean that the endgame is in sight, that Trump will finally extricate the US from Ukraine? We know that in a single day, Trump can voice indisputable truths, including that if Zelensky continues on his present path “he could lose his entire country.” And when asked what concessions Russia has made, Trump replied that “Russia isn’t taking the entire country.” However, we also know that only hours later Trump might prattle on and prevaricate about negotiations while evading the truth that the US and the collective West have already lost the war. It’s axiomatic that losers in a war do not dictate the peace terms so it’s telling that here we have a case where the delusional losers, with the exception of Trump, are still trying to prolong the war. In the US, opponents of a peace settlement include the MIC, neocons, Democrats, Lindsey Graham Republicans and members of his own team like Kellogg and Rubio.
In any event, a reality-based analysis suggests that there is no deal to be had for Trump, no final settlement is within reach. Geopolitical analyst Larry Johnson is correct in asserting that, “Trump is playing a game of strip poker but he’s butt ass naked with no more cards to play.” The longer he dithers in exiting, the more likely he’ll be seen as a bluffing buffoon, all hat and no cowboy. Given this reality, sooner rather than later, Trump will walk away and simply say, “We made our best offer so now we’re getting out.” I suspect that Putin will understand this is about Trump saving face.
What will happen when Trump pulls the plug on the Ukraine Project? The vaunted “Coalition of Willing,” which once numbered 27, is now down to 3: Britain, France and Germany. I once thought that Macron was semi-serious about putting French “peacekeeper” boots on the ground in Ukraine but the absence of a US security guarantee renders that avenue inoperable. Further, this would be a bridge too far for the public to tolerate and the massive protests it would ignite would be political suicide for Macron.
The outcome for Ukraine is obvious: It will be decided on the battlefield where the Russian army is much stronger than it was in 2021. By all accounts, Russia is breaking through Ukrainian defenses across the board. On Saturday, Russian commander, Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov said that Russian forces had taken the last village that Ukrainian troops had held in Kursk. Gerasimov also said that 76,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the Kursk region. When the mud season ends in a few weeks, we can expect a major Russian assault and the absorption of more territory.
For Ukraine, the war is unsustainable. How long the Kiev regime lasts is impossible to predict but six to eight months is a plausible guess. The fanatical ultra-nationalist elements (Neo-Nazis/Azov/Bandera Battalion elements) will fight a rear guard action with support from Europe but eventual collapse is inevitable. Subsequently, I would expect Russia to control events in Ukraine, commencing with denazification. The country will never be allowed to pose a military threat to Russia.
The hubris of those provoking and continuing to cheer on this proxy war is diabolical and they did and do so in full knowledge that Russia would see it as an existential threat. In addition to all the horrific consequences that have preceded it, they are now responsible for the wholly preventable deaths to follow, the majority of which will be ever younger Ukrainian soldiers.
European leaders who warned that the Russians would advance to the English Channel will continue shouting “Russia, Russia, Russia!” British political analyst Alexander Mercouris is certainly correct in suggesting that “European unity is now built entirely around hostility toward Putin, toward Russia,” even if that means sacrificing Ukraine. Thus we can expect Europe to press forward with rearmament at the expense of a working class that’s already experiencing increasing immiseration.
Here in the United States, all the usual suspects, including some on the putative left, will vilify Trump for “cutting and running” on Ukraine. Sadly, I believe that we’re a long way from the point that our heavily propagandized fellow citizens grasp how they’ve been had, lied to about Ukraine by the ruling class and their servile mass media outlets. The next deception on the horizon is the “China threat” and the need to challenge and confront this dangerous duplicity could not be more urgent.
The episode of 25 April, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the liberation from Nazi fascism, begins with the memory of Livia Gereschi. She was a foreign language teacher who, during a round-up by an SS unit in La Romagna in the Pisan Mountains on the night of 6 to 7 August 1944, rescued women and children. She managed to convince the SS commander to release women and children (including the writer and his mother), but was instead taken away with the men and shot on 11 August. The massacre of 69 civilians was carried out by the German 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division with the support of Italian fascists. The same division later committed the massacres of Sant’Anna di Stazzema (Lucca), Marzabotto (Bologna), and others.
The writer Manlio Cancogni recounts the massacre of 560 civilians on 12 August 1944 in the village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema through the testimony of survivors:
Germans led more than 140 people forcibly taken from their homes to the square in front of the church. They took them almost from their beds, half-clothed, their limbs still numb from sleep. They piled them first against the front of the church, and when they aimed their machine-gun barrels at these bodies, they had them so close that they could read in the stunned eyes of the victims, who fell under the blows without even having time to cry out. They piled the benches of the devastated church, the mattresses taken from the houses on top of the pile of still warm and perhaps still living bodies and set them on fire. And as they watched, unsatisfied, as the corpses were consumed, they pushed other men and women into the brazier, who were then led to the site, lifeless with fear. And then there were the children, the tender bodies of the children who served to excite this mad lust for destruction. They smashed their heads with the butt of their machine-gun, stuck a stick in their abdomens and nailed them to the walls of the houses. Seven of them were taken and put in the oven prepared that morning for bread and left there to roast.
The history of Nazism and its atrocities did not end with the defeat of Nazi Germany eighty years ago. Hitler’s Nazism – history shows us – was an instrument of Western domination. It is therefore not surprising that Nazism re-emerged in Europe when the West again attacked Russia by organising the coup in Ukraine. Through the CIA and other intelligence services, neo-Nazi militants are being recruited, financed, trained and armed to go into action on Kiev’s Maidan Square in February 2014. The neo-Nazi formations are then incorporated into the National Guard trained by US instructors from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, transferred from Vicenza (in the North of Italy) to Ukraine, and joined by others from NATO.
The Ukraine of Kiev becomes the nursery of resurgent Nazism in the heart of Europe. Neo-Nazis arrive in Kiev from all over Europe (including Italy) and the USA, recruited mainly by Pravy Sektor and the Azov Battalion, whose Nazi imprint is represented by the SS Das Reich emblem. After being trained and tested in military actions against Ukrainian Russians in the Donbass, they are sent back to their country with a Ukrainian passport. At the same time, Nazi ideology is being disseminated among the younger generation in Ukraine. The Azov battalion is particularly involved in this regard, organising military training camps and ideological education for children and young people, who are taught first and foremost to hate Russians.
This article was originally published in Italian on Grandangolo, Byoblu TV and republished at Global Research.