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helping the anglo/saxon weapons and murder industries…….The UK remains one of the leading donors of military aid to Kiev, committing 2.3 billion ($2.6 billion) since Russia launched its special operation to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" Ukraine on February 24th. Moscow has repeatedly warned the West that delivering arms to Kiev will further exacerbate the Ukraine crisis. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has confirmed that in 2023, Britain will meet or exceed the amount of military aid that it spent on Ukraine this year.
“My message to the people of Ukraine is this: the UK will continue to be right behind you every step of the way. Your security is our security”, Truss told reporters on Monday ahead of her visit to New York City (NYC) to take part in an annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session.
In her upcoming UNGA speech, the British PM is expected to pledge “military aid worth billions [of pounds],” according to the BBC. Sky News, in turn, reported that Truss may use her trip to NYC “to underscore the UK's long-term commitment to Ukraine” as Russia continues its special military operation in the country. The UK remains Ukraine’s second largest military donor after the US, committing £2.3 billion ($2.6 billion) and providing Kiev with hundreds of rockets, air defense systems, and non-lethal military equipment. Russia has repeatedly slammed the West over its arms supplies to Ukraine, pointing out that it emboldens Kiev to ignore the diplomatic paths to resolving the Ukraine crisis. Since the Western countries intensified their weapons supplies to Ukraine after the start of the Russian special operation on February 24, Kiev halted negotiations with Russia and its officials have started to claim that they would only end hostilities when Russian forces are expelled from parts of Ukraine, Donbass and Crimea.
UK Hit by Cost-of-Living Crisis As for Truss’s promise to send more military aid to Ukraine, it comes as the UK remains in the grip of the cost-of-living crisis amid soaring inflation and fuel prices. Earlier this month, the British PM announced that in line with her plan to tackle the crisis, which is purportedly worth £150 billion ($171 billion), energy bills would be capped at £2,500 ($2,857) per year from October 1st. She added that the phased-in measure would last for two years to save a typical household around £1,000 ($1,143) a year and help cope with soaring living costs.
Opposition parties were quick to warn that the government's plan to ease the cost-of-living crisis without taxing energy companies would burden Britons with debt. Labour leader Keir Starmer, for his part, argued that the freeze would force taxpayers to “foot the bill.” Lib Dem leader Ed Davey in turn insisted that “this phony freeze will still leave struggling families and pensioners facing impossible choices this winter as energy bills almost double.”
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the aim of the game…...
Time to drop our illusions, the West is waging a war to destroy Russia
Moscow’s enemies want to land a fatal blow on the country, some even want to dismember it
By Vladimir Kornilov, RIA Novosti
And here comes Bucha 2.0: Another provocation where Ukraine has allegedly discovered “mass graves of victims” shortly after Russian troops have withdrawn.
This time in Izium. What it amounts to is clear evidence that along with the development of the military conflict in Ukraine, the informational “special” operation against Russia is intensifying.
It’s not even about Kiev’s reaction – officials there concoct primitive fakes against our state and the army non-stop, around the clock.
The indicator here is the way in which this provocation was immediately picked up by Western politicians, who are already urgently calling for an “international tribunal” to punish Russia. Meanwhile, the West’s media, in a united push, is putting unfounded statements about “mass executions and torture in Izium” on its front pages.
This fakery is crass and easily refuted. But it is clear from this unanimous reaction of the West that no one there cares at all how and when the people buried in the cemetery died. The culprit has been appointed in advance – and it has to be Russia. Because only this verdict fits into the overall strategy of the current campaign in Ukraine.
Which, as we can see, has nothing to do with Ukraine. The West is completely indifferent to whatever happened to the Ukrainians, whoever killed them (even if it was Kiev’s own army or foreign mercenaries) and no matter how many of them died. Because it is not fighting a war on this territory for the Ukrainians,and especially not for Ukraine.
We must speak frankly and openly: the West is waging a fierce war against the Russian state, using local forces as proxies. And this is covered by the fig leaf of “defending democracy.” However, what they really want is for Russia to be destroyed. Forever! Irrevocably!
Janusz Bugajski, a leading expert, recently published his book “Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture.” It is worth highlighting that the work is not a reaction to the Ukrainian conflict, instead it is a logical continuation of all that this ‘Kremlinologist’ has been publicly talking and writing about for years.
Back in early 2019, three years before the current crisis started, he published a feature article in the influential Washington newspaper The Hill, entitled ‘Managing Russia's Dissolution.’
This was not just a forecast or theoretical speculation by some dreamer, it was a direct call to action by an outspoken Russophobe. Suffice it to recall that Bugajski then openly urged the White House to promote regional and ethnic self-determination within the Russian Federation. At the same time, he was speculating which regions of the state destroyed by the West should receive independence and which should be given to Ukraine, Finland, Japan and even China.
It cannot be said that Bugajski’s article was the only theoretical work on the disintegration of our state. But other reports (at least in the public domain) still sought to veil direct calls for the forced break-up of Russia with arguments about the need to weaken our state. This was the case, for example, with a sensational study by the US intelligence corporation RAND commissioned by the US Department of Defense in 2019.
Now the masks are being thrown off and the cadre of Russophobes can openly articulate their long-held dreams. The Daily Telegraph recently featured the former NATO commander in Europe, General Ben Hodges, in a high-profile article about preparing for Russia’s disintegration. Hodges, who is employed by CEPA – a lobby group bankrolled by US arms contractors and NATO – is arguably one of the most active ‘talking heads’ about the Ukrainian crisis on Western television right now.
The general hopes the collapse of our state will be fueled by our ethnic diversity and he hopes that Western economic sanctions will create a situation in which it will be impossible to feed 144 million people. The American has clearly not thought how these arguments could also be applied to his home country, which has been torn apart by racial divisions in recent years.
Below Hodges, the idea has been cheerfully picked up by less well-known figures operating on the ideological field of Russophobia. The Polish magazine New Eastern Europe published an article about deconstructing Russia and reconstructing the “post-Russian space,” calling it a risky but inevitable scenario. The authors called on the West to lead the process of our state’s disintegration right away.
This is echoed by the Canadian-British professor Taras Kuzio on the pages of the Atlantic Council, a NATO-aligned pressure group and the main mouthpiece of Western Russophobes. He, too, cheerfully declares that the process of “the collapse of Putin’s Russian empire” has begun.
Hodges’ theses are repeated almost word for word by Estonia’s top Kremlinologist Vladimir Yushkin on the pages of the website of the International Centre for Defence and Security. However, he adds nonsense about the allegedly developing “colonization of Siberia by the Chinese” –which tells us he doesn’t know how to use statistics.
All these “prophecies” have been brought into the political realm by Estonian President Alar Karis. Opening the NATO Military Committee conference in Tallinn last Friday, he openly admonished the Chiefs of Staff of the US-led bloc to give up their “fear of destabilizing the situation in Russia.”
This is not some retired general, nor a private person with a professorial rank - it’s the official head of a NATO member country. And he is not shying away from calling on the high command of the alliance to pursue a deliberate policy of creating a situation of instability in Russia.
So, what more proof does anyone need of what the collective West is hoping to achieve?
The ideological touchstone of European liberals, The Economist magazine, has devoted its latest issue to how the West should ensure Ukraine’s victory over Russia. Apart from the traditional advice on further arming the Kiev regime, the magazine explicitly demands that the West must try to drive a wedge between the Russian government and the Russian people. To do this, leaders are urged to bet on Russian liberals who have moved abroad, who in these circumstances can be safely called traitors back home.
They are now in a situation where Russia’s enemies are now openly talking about using them to carry out an unrealistic plan to dismember our common motherland!
Thus, we can safely say that the collective West has already moved from talk to action and is openly challenging the very existence of the Russian Federation.
It’s ideologues and a number of top politicians make no secret of the fact that by exploiting the conflict in Ukraine, they are deliberately helping to create an existential threat to our state. The sooner we ourselves officially acknowledge this, the more effectively we will be able to move to a different stage in both relations with our neighbors and the military operation in Ukraine itself.
We still adhere to certain gentlemen’s rules of the game, which were adopted after the end of the Cold War. But now the stakes have been raised too high.
To be clear, I am not calling for us to copy the criminal actions of Ukraine. We, unlike them, do not deliberately kill children, torture prisoners of war, or exterminate civilians.
But in the face of increasing threats to Russian citizens, we are left with no choice but to act much more forcefully against military infrastructure, even if it’s also used by civilians, in the direction of decision-making centres, and towards those individuals directly responsible for terror and murders wherever they are located, as well as tackling states that pursue hostile policies.
After all, we should not forget that when an existential threat to Russia arises, we need to present a tough response.
Those who threaten our homeland should be constantly reminded of this.
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https://www.rt.com/russia/563196-vladimir-kornilov-it-is-time/
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the republican liz truss….
By Grenville Cross
After the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept 8, there was a huge outpouring of grief. The remarkable woman reigned for 70 years, longer than any other British monarch, and over 80 percent of Britons are said to have been born on her watch. Many of those paying tribute to her life and achievements said they would not see the like of her again, and her former prime ministers all held her in the highest regard.
Liz Truss, the new British prime minister, was fulsome in her praise of the monarch she served for only two days, calling her "the rock on which modern Britain was built" and "one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known". Her words were well received by a nation in need of comfort.
High praise from ardent monarchists
There was also high praise from Truss's predecessors as prime ministers and leaders of the Conservative Party, ardent monarchists all. Whereas Boris Johnson (prime minister from 2019 to 2022) described the late queen as "Elizabeth the Great", Theresa May (2016-19) called her "the most remarkable person I have ever met". And while David Cameron (2010-16) paid tribute to her "remarkable reign", John Major (1990-97) said she was "pragmatic and wise, with an unmistakable commitment to duty".
Quite clearly, everyone was singing from the same hymn sheet, although it has now emerged that one of them is only a recent convert. Whereas the majority have supported the constitutional order throughout their political lives, Truss, as a recently located video shows, is the exception. When she chaired the Oxford University Liberal Democrats, she publicly advocated the abolition of the monarchy, denouncing the hereditary principle upon which it is based.
She has, however, abandoned republicanism, realizing it would have prevented her political advancement. In fact, she noted last week that "the Crown endures". Moreover, in 2014, she said she had also renounced her earlier support of nuclear disarmament, and her recent bellicosity on the world stage is ample testament to that.
Indeed, for somebody who now seeks to portray herself as a reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher, it comes as a shock to discover that she once attended public protests to chant: "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, out, out, out."
For Truss, U-turn is second nature
Youthful indiscretions, of course, should never be held against a rising politician, and may even assist their development. With Truss, however, the U-turn has become second nature, and is now one of her most notable features.
Indeed, on Sept 3, 2022, Time magazine reported that she was seen by many as "a political opportunist — someone who can tack rapidly and completely to whatever position suits her at the time". In other words, this is no "Iron Lady", but just another careerist on the make.
A classic example of this was her volte face over the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union, of which she was once an ardent supporter. In 2016, when she was the environment and food minister in David Cameron's government, she described Brexit as a "triple tragedy", advocated by "those living in cloud cuckoo land", which delighted her boss.
Once, however, Cameron lost the EU referendum and resigned, Truss immediately re-invented herself as a rabid Brexiteer, eager to confront Brussels. She even became a hero of the Conservative Party's Europhobic right wing, which subsequently threw its weight behind her bid to succeed Boris Johnson.
'Golden era' policy of forging better ties
In Cameron's time, moreover, his "golden era" China policy involved forging better ties with Beijing, and nobody was more supportive of this than Truss. So much so that, on the eve of her four-day visit to China in 2015, she said that she was "delighted to visit China, a key global economic partner for the UK".
She even enthused over how keen she was "to build real collaboration in areas that are complementary to our two economies — areas in which we can exchange knowledge and expertise, such as agri-technology, skills and innovation".
But once Cameron departed and Theresa May, who was closely aligned to him, was ousted, Truss's views, once again, underwent a sea change. She threw in her lot with the increasingly rabid anti-China wing of the Conservative Party, which had been energized by the likes of former party leader, Iain Duncan Smith. And once the UK left the EU in 2020, and Johnson allowed the US to determine British foreign policy, Truss realized that her future advancement was linked to denouncing China's resurgence, and she was quite correct.
She knew it would be fatal to her leadership ambitions to adhere to Cameron's China-friendly policy, and realized that confrontation would greatly help her prospects. She not only joined hands with her party's McCarthyite wing, but even emerged as its standard bearer. During the leadership campaign, she unscrupulously played the China card at every opportunity, whipping up hostility toward Beijing.
China hawks in Truss ministry
Besides, she announced her intention to designate China as an "acute threat" to the UK, alongside Russia, and this was rapturously received by enough of her party's hawks to propel her into No 10 Downing Street. Once there, Truss immediately sought to reward party ideologues for their backing.
Although five members of parliament had been sanctioned by Beijing in 2021 for what were called their "lies and disinformation" about China, she sought to recruit them into her government. Although Iain Duncan Smith declined her offer, reportedly because it was not sufficiently grand, three others eagerly accepted.
Whereas Tom Tugendhat, a leading "Sinophobe" and founder of the China Research Group, an anti-China propaganda outfit, was appointed the minister of state security, and Nus Ghani, whose forte is peddling myths about China's Uygur population, was appointed the minister of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, Neil O'Brien, a Tugendhat crony from the CRG, became a junior health minister.
Quite clearly, therefore, this sinister triumvirate will be working like a cancer within the government, doing as much harm as possible. They may try to poison Sino-British relations, to undermine trade with China, and to prevent future investment. Quite clearly, in its current predicament, and with a recession only weeks away, Britain needs people like this like a hole in the head, and Truss will hopefully perform another of her U-turns before lasting damage is done, which should not be difficult.
Incumbent PM is no Thatcher
True, Truss loves to ape Thatcher, but one obvious difference was always the latter's utter consistency: adherence to her core beliefs through thick and thin. Addressing the Conservative Party conference on Oct 10, 1980, Thatcher famously declared "you turn if you want to, the lady's not for turning", something that could never be said of Truss. Her U-turns are the stuff of legend, and she must come up with another one now.
It is, of course, one thing for Truss to titillate her base by playing ideological games, but quite another for her to play fast and loose with the future of the British people. They have not elected her, as she is only the choice of paid-up party members, and even the majority of her own members of parliament backed her rival, Rishi Sunak, but it may still be possible for her to turn things round.
If, for example, she can re-discover her belief in what she once called "real collaboration" with China, it may yet be possible for the economy to grow, for the recession to be short-lived, and for new horizons to emerge. Although this will require Truss to do another of her U-turns, this has never been a problem, and to do so now would be in the national interest.
The author is a senior counsel and law professor, and was previously the director of Public Prosecutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
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https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202209/20/WS632938b3a310fd2b29e78aaa.html
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ONE NEVER KNOWS. LIZ TRUSS COULD TURN INTO A PEACE DOVE INSTEAD OF TURNING HER HAWKISH SPIRIT INTO A FLOCK OF NASTY VAMPIRES... BUT I DON'T HOLD MY BREATH.... THERE IS POLITICAL MILEAGE TO BE MADE FOR HER BY BLAMING PUTIN FOR ALL THE ILLS OF THE WORLD WHILE THE CORE OF ALL THE WORLD'S PROBLEM COME FROM THE USA, THE UK, NATO AND EUROPE. PUTIN IS NOW PUTING HIS BOXING GLOVES ON AND PEOPLE IN THE WEST ARE FRIGHTENED BY WHAT "THIS MAD GUY" COULD DO. THE MAD GUY RESIDES IN WASHINGTON AND HIS NAME IS JOE BIDEN. HE'S THE SENILE FELLOW WHOSE CLEVER TELEPROMPTER DISTORTS THE WHAT, WHY AND THEREFORE OF WHAT'S HAPPENING IN UKRAINE, IN CHINA AND ANYWHERE THE USA HAS DUG LATRINES.
APART FROM A VERY FEW INTELLIGENT PERSONS, THE ENTIRE CLASS OF POLITICIANS IN THE WEST ARE LIARS (OR DUMB) AND SUPPORT A MASSIVE DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN — FAR MORE COMPLEX AND BIGGER IN SCOPE TO THAT TO GO TO WAR AGAINST SADDAM, IN ITS SUPPORT OF A DICK-PIANO PLAYING JEWISH/NAZI LYING MANIAC.
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