Biden Nominates Elliott Abrams to Public Diplomacy Commission

Abrams led the Trump administration’s failed regime change effort in Venezuela and covered up atrocities in Latin American in the 1980s

Biden Nominates Elliott Abrams to Public Diplomacy Commission

Waiting to see if Abrams’ nomination is resisted as much as it was back when Trump nominated him! ☠️

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Like a bad Pennywise, Elliott Abrams could bring a taste of Iran-Contra to Venezuela

Dick Cheney: What I Got Right About The Iraq War

On the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it’s important for us as a nation to reflect on that conflict and its consequences. As the vice president of the United States in 2003, I was one of the architects of the project to go after Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction. Today, I believe it’s important to offer an honest assessment of my role in the Iraq War. Looking back on it now, I have to say that, wow, I mostly got it right.

Dick Cheney: What I Got Right About The Iraq War

Not funny but true.

Belarus leader says he has been asked to seal a non-aggression pact with Ukraine

Belarus leader says he has been asked to seal a non-aggression pact with Ukraine

Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, disclosed the alleged offer to a meeting of government and law enforcement officials at which he also accused Ukraine – without evidence – of allowing its territory to be used by the West to train and arm militants who could destabilise the situation in Belarus.

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Lukashenko urges Belarusians to rally together to avoid war in the future

The head of state noted that the West has not abandoned its plans for Belarus; Ukraine continues to train militants and extremists. “I don’t know why Ukraine needs this. On the one hand, they ask us not to send troops to Ukraine. They suggest a non-aggression pact. On the other hand, they are preparing this explosive mixture and arming them. Poland and Lithuania have taken leave of their wits whatsoever. Why are they acting like that? I don’t get it. Therefore, we are forced to react harshly. We have enough problems along the perimeter – both in the airspace and on the ground, the green border. We have enough problems there. Let’s hope we cope with all of them. We do not need internal problems. Therefore, the reaction to this internal opposition, which are more like extremists, like cockroaches crawling out of the woodwork, will be tough. They should consider themselves warned,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

Lukashenko demands individual approach to those who want to return to Belarus

In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned the Kastus Kalinovsky Regiment fighters in Ukraine and the units being formed in Lithuania and Poland. “The official authorities are trying to distance themselves from them. We are well aware of that. We see the whole picture. They send these fighters to the frontline telling them to practice their skills and after that to go to Belarus to overthrow the government, to create havoc there, to unleash a war. Recently, these fighters have come under fire at the front. Many died and many were permanently disabled. Who needs them today? No one does. President Zelensky will not ride them on the ice (the guy lost his leg fighting for his homeland. He would have lost the second leg if not for our doctors). But this is their choice. They must know that we will deal with them according to the laws of war,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Notes to self:

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What About the Unprovoked U.S. Aggression Against Iraq?

Referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an editorial in Saturday’s Washington Post exclaims that Ukraine’s “struggle is also a crucible for Europe and an assault against the most basic precept on which the Western system rests: the impermissibility of unprovoked wars of aggression.”

In a follow-up editorial today, the Post calls for an international tribunal to try Vladimir Putin and his “henchmen” for waging a “war of aggression” against Ukraine. The Post quotes the Nuremberg tribunal: “To initiate a war of aggression … is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

What About the Unprovoked U.S. Aggression Against Iraq?

CIA director holds secret meeting with Zelensky on Russia’s next steps

CIA Director William J. Burns traveled in secret to Ukraine’s capital at the end of last week to brief President Volodymyr Zelensky on his expectations for what Russia is planning militarily in the coming weeks and months, said a U.S. official and other people familiar with the visit.

CIA director holds secret meeting with Zelensky on Russia’s next steps

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Nyet means Nyet

Ukraine and Georgia’s NATO aspirations not only touch a raw nerve in Russia, they engender serious concerns about the consequences for stability in the region. Not only does Russia perceive encirclement, and efforts to undermine Russia’s influence in the region, but it also fears unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences which would seriously affect Russian security interests. Experts tell us that Russia is particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a
major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a decision Russia does not want to have to face.

Archived Links Inside WaPo Article:

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Diplomatic Cables Show Russia Saw NATO Expansion as a Red Line

Nearly a year in, the war in Ukraine has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and brought the world to the brink of, in President Joe Biden’s own words, “Armageddon.” Alongside the literal battlefield has been a similarly bitter intellectual battle over the war’s causes.

Diplomatic Cables Show Russia Saw NATO Expansion as a Red Line

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Euromaidan 2014 – Orange Revolution – War in Donbass