The West should heed Russia’s rejection of its “devastating” hypocrisy while there is still time, Oscar-winning director Nikita Mikhalkov warned on Monday, in an open letter addressed to the members of the European Council.

His message came after the EU placed him on its sanctions list for supporting Russia's ongoing military operation in Ukraine, for backing the 2014 referendum in Crimea and for sharing Moscow’s allegations of US-funded bioweapons labs in Ukraine. The EU blacklist, introduced last month along with its ninth sanctions package, included the names of another 140 people and 49 legal entities.

The EU must drastically ramp up the production of ammunition and heavy weapons if it wants to help Ukraine succeed in the conflict with Russia, Wolfgang Ischinger, the former chair of the Munich Security Conference and a veteran German diplomat, said on Saturday. He stressed that Kiev’s supporters would run out of supplies unless they transform their economies.

“There is much to suggest that this war is far from over. Therefore, it is necessary for us to plan for the long term,” Ischinger stressed in an interview with Germany’s Welt newspaper. “All the military experts I know are saying that stocks of old Soviet weapons and respective ammunition are running out.”

“All warfare is based on deception”. Sun Tzu, The Art of War...

Thus, as I struggle with how to bring the lights of truth to an essay on the current strategic situation, Sun Tzu brings me back to earth.

Then as I try to work out how to talk about hegemony I discover that the word entered modern political science discourse via the writings of Antonio Gramsci, philosopher and founder of the Italian Communist Party whose fascist prosecutor, with proto-get-Assangist fervour, said “We must stop his brain from working for 20 years”.

By Dennis Argall

UAE Selects Fossil Fuel Exec to Lead COP28

The appointment of ADNOC’s CEO, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, to lead this year’s UN climate talks is like asking “arms dealers to lead peace talks,” campaigners say.

Probably the most well-known coup staged by British intelligence since 1945 was the overthrow of Iran’s democratically-elected government in 1953 – an operation planned with the CIA. But the UK has been involved in at least 41 other attempts to overthrow governments since the end of the Second World War. 

These have ranged from intelligence-led to military-led operations, both overt and covert, with some being successful from Whitehall’s standpoint, while many have failed to achieve their objectives. 

MARK CURTIS

12 JANUARY 2023

Many remain little known, while others are shrouded in secrecy, with only a few details having emerged.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has proposed establishing a new international bloc involving Latin American and Caribbean countries that would have close ties to Russia and China.

During his annual speech at Venezuela’s parliament on Friday, Maduro said that he had recently spoken with the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina about forming a new regional organization. According to Maduro, the time has come “to unite efforts and paths in Latin America and the Caribbean to advance in the formation of a powerful bloc of political forces, of economic power that speaks to the world.” 

The Venezuelan president went on to say that the bloc would create “new poles of power,” and would be allied to Russia and China, the leaders of which Maduro referred to as “elder brothers.” 

A naval attack group, which includes frigates, 3 submarines and the landing ship Pyotr Morgunov, left on January 11 from the Novorossiysk base. Washavianca-class submarines have been used to launch Kalibr cruise missile attacks on Ukraine. Subsequently, there was intense GPS jamming in the western Black Sea. NATO has decided to deploy 3 E-3 AWACS aircraft to Otopeni Air Base in Romania. This decision shows that something has started to go wrong in the Ukrainian AA defense early warning system based on information provided by NATO.

by Valentin Vasilescu

14th January 2023

Greta Thunberg joined protesters in the German village of Lützerath to condemn the building of a new coal mine.

Demonstrators have occupied the village for months but police began dragging some people away on Wednesday.

The village is owned by energy firm RWE and all the previous residents there are gone.

There are plans to expand the Garzweiler opencast mine which is on the village's doorstep.

Thunberg joins 'Pinky' and 'Brain' tunnel protest

The slogan of the yellow vests warns us: "If you don't go to the streets to defend your rights, you will go to sleep there".

Henri Krazucki, former secretary general of the CGT, enlightens us: “Nothing hurts workers more than class collaboration. It disarms them in the defense of their interests and provokes division. The class struggle, on the contrary, is the basis of unity, its most powerful motive. It was to carry it out successfully by bringing together all the workers that the CGT was founded. But the class struggle is not an invention, it is a fact. It is not enough to deny it for it to cease: to renounce carrying it out is equivalent for the working class to giving itself up bound hand and foot to exploitation and crushing."

Understood, the toothless and the sweaty, my brothers?

It had been a year since I last took a trip home to Russia. Back then, most people I met thought the prospects of a war with Ukraine were very remote, despite the massive troop build-up on the border. So I was curious to see how attitudes had changed since then.

Equally important was to see for myself how the war has changed life in Russia.

By Alexander Titov

Few Russians or Ukrainians will likely have heard of ‘The Block’. It's an Australian reality show in which couples compete against each other to renovate homes and sell them at auction for the highest possible price. This may have provided the perfect cover for Emese Fajk, a participant who fled the land Down Under after she attempted to buy a renovated property at great expense using fake bank slips, to join Kiev’s International Legion as its official spokesperson. 

Nazi authorities staged a violent pogrom (View This Term in the Glossary) upon Jews in Germany on November 9–10, 1938. This event is known as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). After the pogrom, the British government eased immigration restrictions for certain categories of Jewish refugees.

Mention the term “deep state” in polite company and most likely no one will want to speak to you the rest of the evening. The deep state is what Wikipedia calls “discredited,” something reeking of conspiracies, false accusations, and the substitution of fantasy for the truth.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters Thursday that he intends to release all the security footage from the January 6 Capitol riots.

“I want to be very thoughtful about it, but yes, I’m engaged to do that,” McCarthy told reporters when asked whether he would release footage from that day.

McCarthy continued: