Ukrainian forces appear to have used rockets to scatter stacks of internationally banned, hand-size antipersonnel land mines over Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine, according to evidence collected by Human Rights Watch.
Evidence mounts for use of banned mines by Ukrainian forces, rights group says
Related:
Fact Check: Is Russia using butterfly mines in Ukraine?
The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned ‘Petal’ mines
As US-Chinese tensions grow and as it becomes increasingly clear the US is unable to compete with China head-to-head in terms of development, trade, and investment, especially in regions along China’s periphery, the US is resorting increasingly to asymmetrical measures including political coercion, subversion, and even violence.
Why the West is Whitewashing Terrorism in Vietnam and Myanmar
Video (Odysee) via The New Atlas
Putin Shows African Leaders Draft Treaty on Ukrainian Neutrality from March 2022
Putin’s claim reflects an article published in Foreign Affairs last year that cited multiple former senior US officials who said Russia and Ukraine tentatively agreed on a peace deal in April 2022. They said the agreement would have involved a Ukrainian promise not to join NATO in exchange for a Russian withdrawal to the pre-invasion lines, and Ukraine would have received security guarantees from several countries.
Russian and Ukrainian officials met face-to-face in Istanbul on March 29, 2022, which was followed up with virtual consultations. After the meeting, Russia’s lead negotiator described the talks as “constructive,” and the Russian Defense Ministry announced it would “drastically” reduce military activity near the northern cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv, which led to a full Russian withdrawal from the north.
Putin said after the Russian withdrawal, Ukraine abandoned the treaty. “After we pulled our troops away from Kiev — as we had promised to do — the Kiev authorities … tossed [their commitments] into the dustbin of history,” he said. “They abandoned everything.”
Ukraine accused Russian troops of intentionally killing civilians in the northern areas it withdrew from, most notably in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. But if Putin’s account is true, Western pressure could have also led to Ukraine scuttling the treaty.
Then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv on April 9, 2022, a few days after Russia completed its withdrawal from the north. According to a report from Ukrainska Pravda, Johnson urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not to negotiate with Russia and that even if Ukraine was ready to sign a deal with Putin, Kyiv’s Western backers were not.
The Ukrainska Pravda report said at the time, Russia was ready for a Putin-Zelensky meeting, but two factors stopped it from happening: the discovery of dead Ukrainian civilians* and Johnson’s visit.
Then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet was trying to mediate between Putin and Zelensky in March 2022 and gave a similar account of the West’s position. He said the US and its allies “blocked” his mediation effort and that he thought there was a “legitimate decision by the West to keep striking Putin” and not negotiate.
After peace talks were scuttled in April 2022, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he expected the conflict to end after the Istanbul talks but then realized some countries in NATO wanted to prolong the war to “weaken” Russia. A few days after Cavusoglu’s comments, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin admitted that one of the US’s goals in supporting Ukraine is to see Russia “weakened.”
As the war has dragged on, the Biden administration has come out explicitly against a ceasefire. Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined the position earlier this month and said the US would continue building up Ukraine’s military rather than push for peace.
Related:
President Putin reveals details of draft treaty on Ukraine’s neutrality
*Bucha, Kramatorsk & Kremenchuk
Bucha was staged to sabotage the peace talks!
The Russian president has shown the documents from the failed peace negotiations with Kiev.
President Putin reveals details of draft treaty on Ukraine’s neutrality
Following recent general elections in Thailand, influenced heavily by years of US interference, a pro-US proxy regime is poised to take power.
Even before officially taking office, the leadership of the victorious Move Forward Party has vowed to help pursue US foreign policy objectives both in regards to “rebalancing” Thailand away from China and back toward the West, as well as regarding US interference elsewhere in Southeast Asia, and more specifically, Myanmar.
New Thai Government’s Vows Obedience to US Foreign Policy: Myanmar is First Victim
Previously:
Anti-junta parties dominate Thai elections but may struggle to form government
by Brian Berletic
With so many countries around the globe still subjected to US influence, either literally occupied by US military forces, or ruled by a government helped into power by significant US assistance (or a combination of the two), and with so many countries the target of possible US-sponsored regime change and interference in contravention of the UN Charter, it is important to take a look at the history of US occupation and the indelible scars it leaves on the countries and their inhabitants even decades after the US finally withdraws.
US intervention leaves rifts that take years to heal
The first shock is the title of the combined completed G7 statement. Take a look:
G7: Coercive with a side of dishonest false charm, they start the war against the Global South
US troops have illegally occupied Syria’s oil-rich territory for years, but a top United Nations official, Farhan Haq, falsely claimed “there’s no US armed forces inside of Syria”. Chinese reporter Edward Xu called out the UN’s hypocrisy on Ukraine.
UN lies about US military occupation of Syria, reporter calls out Ukraine hypocrisy
Related:
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with the journalist who exposed UN Spokesperson’s embarrassing mistake via Syriana Analysis
The edifice of American imperial power has never been challenged at its foundation. It is now.
High Stakes as Uncle Sam’s Days of Impunity Are Finally Over
Related:
No One Seems to Want to Investigate the Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage Except Russia
Despite the UN’s apparent disinterest in pursuing a broader inquiry, Russia claimed this week that it would continue to pursue an international effort. “We will do everything in our power to continue to insist and to initiate such an international investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a conference call.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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