Month: November 2022

Macron rejects ‘confrontation’ as he relaunches Asia strategy

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Macron rejects ‘confrontation’ as he relaunches Asia strategy

“We don’t believe in hegemony, we don’t believe in confrontation, we believe in stability,” Macron said.

…

Macron said a coordinated response was needed to tackle the overlapping crises facing the international community — from climate change to economic turmoil triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Our Indo-Pacific strategy is how to provide dynamic balance in this environment,” he said.

“How to provide precisely a sort of stability and equilibrium which could not be the hegemony of one of those, could not be the confrontation of the two major powers.”

The Indo-Pacific Strategy doesn’t sound as innocent as Macron makes it out to be:

The new US Indo-Pacific Strategy document released in February has two interesting components, one overt and one covert. The document overtly declares the US is an “Indo-Pacific power.” Covertly, its aim is to “tighten the noose around China.” Arguably, minus the military might, China’s nearly a decade-long “Belt and Road Initiative” cannot be perceived as a grand national strategy aimed at controlling Eurasia or the Asia Pacific or any region for that matter. Yet the BRI is mythologized into such a geostrategic game-changer that it has rattled the US and its allies in the Asia Pacific. The BRI, at best, is nothing more than a mere geopolitical overland and maritime “chessboard” based on trade and investment.

BRI and the ‘Indo-Pacific’ Strategy: Geopolitical vs. Geostrategic

Russia Continues Grinding Away Ukrainian Military & Electrical Power

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for November 21, 2022

– Russian makes incremental gains in the Donbass region;

– Ukraine’s power grid continues to degrade under Russian missile and drone strikes;

– Ukraine continues denying responsibility for missile strike in Poland;

– US claims NASAMS air defense systems performed at 100% effectiveness, provide no numbers or proof of this claim;

– There are not enough NASAMS arriving in Ukraine over the next several years to protect Ukraine from further Russian missile and drone salvos;

– Ukraine has more or less abandoned Kherson city;

– US DoD admits Ukraine cannot achieve its main objective of expelling Russia;

– Failure to achieve Ukraine’s objective while continuing to fight and lose men and equipment equates to demilitarization;

References:

Russia Continues Grinding Away Ukrainian Military & Electrical Power (Odysee)

Using American HIMARs, Ukraine Shelled an Historic Cultural Building in Gorlovka

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Nov 19, 2022

Eva K Bartlett: Please consider following me on other platforms. My time here on Youtube is limited & will end. I’m on: Odysee, Rumble, Telegram.

On November 12, using American HIMARs (according to DPR military experts), Ukraine fired two shells directly at a cultural building in the DPR’s northern city of Gorlovka, destroying parts of the roof and the theatre hall within.

Built in 1951, the Shakhtar Palace of Culture was formerly a movie theatre and in recent years, a venue for concerts and various cultural events. Alexey, a Gorlovka resident & friend of mine to said that he saw the Donetsk philharmonic play there, and as a youth went there to see movies. He said that children take dancing or singing classes there, though due to Ukraine’s intensified shelling, those classes have been paused.

According to the centre’s director, it was one of the best movie theatres in the Donetsk region, one of the oldest, most beautiful and most beloved buildings in the city.

He noted that HIMARs system is a very precise weapon, the attack was not accidental.

Colonel Douglas Macgregor:

“Your more complex systems like HIMARs, the high mobility rocket system that we provided, are operated exclusively by American and British contractors. Ukrainians aren’t operating them.”

Given that there was no military target there, it is yet another example of Ukraine’s (& Western) terrorism against the people of the Donbass.

Using American HIMARs, Ukraine Shelled an Historic Cultural Building in Gorlovka (Rumble)

Lukashenko mocks outgoing McDonald’s: Can’t we cut open a bun and shove meat and veggie inside?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Nov 20, 2022

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko ridiculed McDonald’s on Friday, after the company announced it would be replaced by a Russian franchise following its departure over the Ukraine conflict.

“Why, can’t we cut a bun in half and shove a piece of meat, potatoes and salad in between? God, who even consumes this? I don’t know.” He said.

Starting Tuesday, McDonald’s in Belarus will operate under the brand ‘Vkusno i tochka’, or ‘Tasty and That’s It’, the Russian chain that took over the U.S. burger group in Russia in June.

Lukashenko mocks outgoing McDonald’s: Can’t we cut open a bun and shove meat and veggie inside?

Related:

Lukashenko on McDonald’s leaving Belarus: ‘Good riddance,’ ‘we know how to cut a bun in half’

Zelensky cracks down on popular news outlet as repressions against media intensify in Ukraine

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky says he has granted a petition demanding that the government take action against popular opposition news website Strana.ua.

Zelensky cracks down on popular news outlet as repressions against media intensify in Ukraine

Related:

Zelensky instructed Danilov to deal with the blocking of the website Strana (Ukrainska Pravda)

Also, on 30 December 2021, the National Security and Defence Council made a decision to block access by internet providers to web resources/services located on the strana.ua, strana.news, strana.one, strana.digital, strana.today, and other domains and subdomains web resources/services that provide access to the Strana.ua portal, a web resource/service that is similar (identical) in terms of content, as well as restriction by electronic service providers (social network services) of access from the territory of Ukraine to content posted on web pages/ in the channels Facebook.com/gazetastranaua, @strana.ua, vk.com/stranaua, ok.ru/stranaua.