Musk on Friday said that in asking the Pentagon to pick up the bill for Starlink in Ukraine, he was following the advice of a Ukrainian diplomat who responded to Musk’s Ukraine peace plan earlier this month, before the letter was sent to the Pentagon, with: “F*** off.”
Related:
Ukrainian forces report Starlink outages during push against Russia (archived, as original is behind paywall)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Thursday that the U.S. had urged it to postpone a decision by OPEC and its allies — including Russia — to cut oil production by a month. Such a delay could have helped reduce the risk of a spike in gas prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.
Saudis say US sought 1 month delay of OPEC+ production cuts
Related:
Saudi Arabia Defied U.S. Warnings Ahead of OPEC+ Production Cut
The one-month delay requested by Washington would have meant a production cut made in the days before the election, too late to have much effect on consumers’ wallets ahead of the vote.
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To entice the Saudis to delay their decision, U.S. officials told the kingdom they would buy oil on the market to replenish Washington’s strategic stockpiles if the price of Brent, the main international benchmark, fell to $75 a barrel, according to U.S. officials and people inside the Saudi government.
Quid pro quo, huh?! 🧐💭
Machine-translated by Google Translate. H/T: Alfred de Zayas’ Human Rights Corner.
“There is nothing more democratic than referendums” (original in German)
Read More »“NATO does not want to allow self-determination of the Russians”
Interview with Prof. Dr. iur. et phil. Alfred de Zayas, international law expert and former UN mandate holder
Current affairs in focus: Were the elections in the Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaparozhye and Kherson oblasts in accordance with international law?
Prof. Dr. Alfred de Zaya: Referenda are fundamentally a human rights-compliant method of “taking the temperature” and determining the will of a population. Art. 1 of the UN pact on civil and political rights stipulates the right of self-determination for all peoples – including the people of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaparozhye and Kherson – and of course the people of Crimea.
Article 19 of the Covenant stipulates the right of all people to freedom of expression. There is nothing more democratic than referendums. However, the UN has failed here. The UN has held self-determination referendums in Sudan, Timor-Leste and Ethiopia/Eritrea. But only after tens of thousands of people had been killed. The UN should have intervened earlier and held preventive referenda.¹
Are referendums irrelevant if they are not conducted by the UN?
Of course, popular referendums are important, even if international bodies ignore them. Of course, there are referendums all over the world, which unfortunately are not organized and carried out by the UN, but solely by the affected population themselves, for example the 1962 referendum in Algeria, which led to independence.²
‘Give peace a chance’ apparently doesn’t apply if it involves Elon Musk or Russia (archived)
War is hell. Most people agree with that sentiment, whether the fighting involves our country or nations on the other side of the world. We would prefer current wars end quickly and no new wars were started.
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Diplomacy ain’t what it used to be.
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Pro-war messages from Ukrainians fighting for their lives is one thing. But the jingoism from Americans is inexplicable. Most American blue-and-yellow flag-wavers couldn’t have found Ukraine on a map a year ago. Today, they’re such geopolitical experts, they can’t be questioned.
We’re repeatedly told that nationalism [or neo-nazism] is a threat to democracy. Apparently, that only applies to the American variety. Ukrainian nationalism isn’t only tolerated, it’s becoming mandatory among our politicians and media figures.
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It’s not enough to root for a free and peaceful Ukraine; you need to cheer on the slaughter of Russian conscripts, most of whom would rather be at home with their loved ones. And don’t you dare question the untold billions U.S. taxpayers are pouring into Kyiv. Only Putin fans are concerned about the $31 trillion national debt.
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Our political class might be giddy at that outcome, but the rest of us see it as tragedy.
War is not the goal, in Ukraine or anywhere else; peace is. It would be nice if our leaders understood that.
Just searching for ‘peace’, in the last 24 hours, and this was all that came up for Ukraine-Russia, despite it being originally published on 10-08 in Arizona Republic.
Declan Hayes
Thanks to the greed, crassness and stupidity of NATO’s satrapies we are where we deserve to be, on the eve of destruction.
Welcome to World War Three: Enjoy It While You Can
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Elon Musk received a lot of flak for proposing a peace plan for Russia and Ukraine earlier this week.
Elon Musk, Lindsey Graham Tussle Over Putin’s Ukraine Invasion: Senator Threatens EV Tax Credit Withdrawal, Tesla CEO Says ‘War Is Ultimate Supreme Court’
Video via Beshel News Service
Lindsey Graham has “capitulated” to the military industrial complex!
Donetsk, Oct 3 — DAN. The integration of the DPR into Russia will unfold through a transitional period of three-plus years, according to the Ruling of the Constitutional Court of Russia, which approves the international agreement on the DPR accession to Russia.
Transitional period of DPR accession to Russia to last until Jan 1, 2026
Samizdat | October 3, 2022
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has proposed a plan to end the conflict in Ukraine. The billionaire suggested that new elections be held in the four regions that recently voted to join Russia, while Ukraine would commit to neutrality and relinquish its claim to Crimea.
Elon Musk suggests Ukraine peace plan
A Ceasefire Can Ensure Ukrainian Independence
There is only one way the West can prevent Ukraine from being defeated on the battlefield over the next several months and avoid a nuclear conflict with Russia: a return to diplomacy. President Joe Biden needs to call for an immediate cease-fire and armistice agreement to save Ukraine, ensure its security, and preserve its political and economic independence with control of at least 81 percent of its territory. It is in the U.S. national security interest to have Russia and Ukraine negotiate a permanent cease-fire as soon as possible and avoid potential nuclear escalation. The Biden administration should offer to not implement new economic sanctions against Russia, stop sending more U.S. troops to Eastern Europe, and suspend lethal military assistance to Ukraine in exchange for an immediate and sustained Russian ceasefire. A relaxation of sanctions following a peace deal would provide economic relief to millions of Americans suffering from a recession triggered by Western sanctions against Russia.
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While writing this proposal, one of the provisions of the proposed armistice agreement I included was that Russia would resume natural gas shipments to the European Union via the Nord Stream 1 or Nord Stream 2 pipelines. But on September 27, both of them were severely damaged by acts of sabotage that appear to be retaliation against Russia. It is unclear which country is responsible for damaging the pipelines but reopening them might have saved thousands of Europeans from freezing to death this winter. The day after the pipeline attacks, former President Donald Trump offered to mediate peace talks to end the war in Ukraine out of concern that sabotaging the pipelines might spark “World War III,” particularly if Moscow believed that the United States or another NATO member was responsible.
Hypocrisy(and irony): The man, that the media cried about having his finger on the nuclear button (not to mention his tearing up of nuclear treaties and expanding America’s nuclear arsenal), is the one willing to mediate to prevent WWIII! Meanwhile, Brandon refuses to negotiate and the media cheers on nuclear war?!
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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