Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the Kremlin on Tuesday for talks revolving around the Ukrainian crisis. The two discussed the situation on the ground, with Putin explaining to the UN chief Russia’s reasons for launching its military operation against the neighboring country in late February.

Moscow’s move to recognize the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk was based on the Kosovo precedent, set up by  a UN-backed court, Putin told Guterres. The republics emerged after people living in Ukraine’s east rejected the Western-backed 2014 Maidan, he explained.

Putin added that the post-coup Kiev government opted for a military solution that led to the eight-year standoff in the Donbass.

When things go wrong, Scott Morrison refuses to take responsibility, blames others, and can’t admit his mistakes.

Bushfires. The bungled vaccine rollout. Not securing enough rapid tests.

Scott Morrison’s mistakes have held Australians back.

Australia can’t risk three more years of Morrison’s mistakes.

Find out below just why you can’t vote for Scott Morrison, the Liberals or Nationals on 21 May.

https://nomoremorrison.com/

Bill Clinton Makes a Pathetic Attempt to Retroactively Justify His Decision to Expand NATO

By Jeremy Kuzmarov

[Bill Clinton] Writes a Deceitful Article in The Atlantic Magazine That Distorts History to Defend His Fateful Presidential Blunder

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is the personification, as well as a harbinger of press freedom in its death throes, with democracy inexorably following – as night the day.

Our founders were justly proud of the First Amendment provision that "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press". Their successors today seem equally proud of flushing that down the toilet, lest truly free journalism expose and document U.S. war crimes. For that is what Julian Assange did, before the U.S. and the UK, with help from vassal Sweden succeeded in corralling him and eventually putting him behind bars.

“War is a racket, wrote US Maj. General Smedley Butler in 1935. He explained: “A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

Gen. Butler’s observation describes the US/NATO response to the Ukraine war perfectly.

The propaganda continues to portray the war in Ukraine as that of an unprovoked Goliath out to decimate an innocent David unless we in the US and NATO contribute massive amounts of military equipment to Ukraine to defeat Russia. As is always the case with propaganda, this version of events is manipulated to bring an emotional response to the benefit of special interests.

The recently sealed Sino-Solomon Islands security pact has taken centre stage in the ongoing campaign for the federal election in Australia. The opposition Labor Party has stepped up its attack on the Morrison government, terming the security pact as a "policy failure" on part of Canberra. The federal vote is scheduled to be held on 21 May.

Two former Australian prime ministers have hit out at the country’s Defence Minister Peter Dutton, a day after the latter asked Australians to “prepare for war” with China.

US will move ‘heaven and earth’ to back Ukraine – Pentagon

The defense Secretary pledges to do whatever is necessary to give Kiev what it wants

The US will move “heaven and earth” to supply Ukraine with what it says it needs to fight Russia, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. The announcement came on Tuesday at a 40-country meeting aimed at getting Washington’s allies on board the mission to prop up Kiev’s defenses.

Ukraine-Russia war live: Vladimir Putin getting exact opposite of his aims in Ukraine, former NATO commander Philip Breedlove says…..

The retired US general who led NATO in Europe from 2013 to 2016 says Vladimir Putin's aims in Ukraine are "weapons out, NATO back, and no America" — but the Russian President is getting exactly the opposite. Why?

In some way this is true, but far from settled…. Eventually, it is likely Ukraine will fail in stopping Russia getting what it wants: SECURITY. So what is the game of NATO and the USA? They both are prepared to sacrifice more Ukrainian lives for their little game of Empire. They are both ugly fascist hypocrites.

Emmanuel Macron has done something no other French president has achieved before: winning re-election while still being in charge of his own government.

In God We Trust is a phrase that we regularly see on our change and bills, while also gracing several of our car license plates, our government buildings, and even as tattoos on people’s bodies. Despite efforts to remove In God We Trust from several places, the faith-based motto has stayed in our lives for centuries. This is because it has a background that goes far beyond being a novelty logo or recognized as part of our currency. It came into existence thanks to some strong Christians who felt a nation going through a painful, costly war needed a constant reminder about God and His provision, and this should be something we take note of every day. It even went into law, becoming an intricate part of our nation’s history for life.

Scott Morrison wants the election to be about competence, but an examination of his record suggests that he is not capable of delivering good government.

Scott Morrison has never had a policy agenda. Rather he sees his role as reacting to and resolving problems as they arise, and not setting a policy reform agenda.

Consequently, Morrison is seeking to make the forthcoming election purely a choice based on who is the more competent to manage the government of the country. As Morrison put it: “This election is a choice between a government that you know and has been delivering and a Labor opposition that you don’t.”

But how competent is the Morrison Government really? How well has it in fact been delivering?

“I tried to talk to Emmanuel Macron last night,” Biden told reporters on Monday. “I spoke to his staff, and he was at the Eiffel Tower having a good time. And I’m going to be talking to him today.”

Other well-wishers had better luck, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was reportedly among the European leaders who got through to Macron on Sunday. Biden and other NATO heads of state were quick to congratulate the French leader on Twitter, as many feared the implications of nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen defeating Macron. As it turned out, the incumbent beat his Eurosceptic rival handily, by a margin of 58.5% to 41.5%.

Sputnik's Chief Was on Neo-Nazi Kill List, Suspects Took Orders From Ukraine’s Security Service: FSB

Commenting on the assassination plot earlier Monday, President Putin said it showed that Ukrainian and Western attempts to sow division in Russian society and break the country up from the inside had failed, and that they had shifted to a "policy of terror" against Russian journalists.

It’s what Australian military historians tend to call ‘Anzac season’ – the weeks preceding ‘the one day of the year’ when they get asked to speak on talk-back radio about current anniversaries (there are always a couple), or to discuss how Anzac seems to be both changing and un-changing. But this year, Anzac season seems somehow different.

United States nuclear weapons in Europe

Approximately 150 American B-61 nuclear gravity bombs are stationed in five countries in Europe: Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey. While the governments of these countries have never officially declared the presence of these weapons, individuals such as the former Italian President and former Dutch prime minister have confirmed this to be the case.