Russia's Foreign Policy

To his close relatives and friends, he's Vladimir Vladimirovich.  To nazi fellows and all the rest, he's President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who's following up Stalin's unfinished job: the total denazification of the globe!

Statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Finland's membership in NATO
999-12-05-2022

The statement of the President of Finland S. Niinisto and the Prime Minister of Finland S. Marin, who spoke today in favor of Finland's accession to NATO, is a radical change in the country's foreign policy course.

For decades, the policy of military non-alignment has served as the basis for stability in the Northern European region, provided a reliable level of security for the Finnish state, and was a solid foundation for building mutually beneficial cooperation and partnership relations between our countries, in which the role of the military factor was reduced to zero.

Neither Russia's assurances about the absence of any hostile intentions towards Finland, nor the long history of good-neighborly and mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries have convinced Helsinki of the advantages of maintaining a course of military non-alignment.

The goal of NATO, whose member countries aggressively convinced the Finnish side that there was no alternative to membership in the alliance, is clear - to continue expanding to the borders of Russia, to create another flank for a military threat to our country. But why should Finland turn its territory into a frontier of military confrontation with the Russian Federation, while losing independence in making its own decisions, history will judge.

The Russian side has repeatedly noted that the choice of ways to ensure its national security is up to the authorities and the people of Finland. However, Helsinki should be aware of the responsibility and consequences of such a step. Finland's accession to NATO will cause serious damage to bilateral Russian-Finnish relations, maintaining stability and security in the Northern European region. Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to stop the threats to its national security arising in this regard.

Joining NATO will also be a direct violation of Finland's international legal obligations, first of all, the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, which provides for the obligation of the parties not to enter into alliances or participate in coalitions directed against one of them, as well as the 1992 Treaty. between Russia and Finland on the basis of relations, which established that the parties will refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of the other party, will not use or allow the use of their territory for armed aggression against the other party. However, given the current indifference of the collective West to international law, such behavior has become the norm.

We will react according to the situation.

https://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1812971/


May the Lord have mercy on us all.

I found this on MoA and it struck me as rather good and I wanted to save it. Not my words from here on

I've been following this blog for more years than I like to think of and commenting too. What interests me is politics, I know very little about military matters which is one reason I come here, where so many experts contribute.

Still, politics is what this is all about. NATO has been trying to trap Russia and that is what is continues to do- it is no accident that the NATO trolls who amuse us so much are constantly questioning Russia's restraint. They almost demand that Russia commit more forces and advance more quickly.

But the Russians know that the real struggle here is not the one in which the poor bloody infantry die or become maimed for life, in the borderlands of the Black Sea but a wider contest in which the world learns that the Empire, which has left its bloody claw marks everywhere and whose long career of rape, plunder and massacre has been going on, without any let up, for centuries, can no longer get what it wants.

It is this simple but almost incredible fact which has dawned over the past few years, in Syria, most notably and, before that in Georgia.

And the leaders of every former colony or possession, protectorate or client state- for most of whom Rule #1 in politics was always 'Do what the White Man in Washington says. Or prepare for a very bumpy ride'- have been watching with almost childlike awe as Moscow has demonstrated not just that the Empire is weak but that its weakness lies in its supposed strengths.

NATO is the perfect example of a coalition which has developed- what Frederick prayed for- 'one neck'. A neck which Russia is slowly and publicly strangling.

One of the most interesting aspects of the past six months has been the precipitate haste with which every one of Europe's neutrals, from Ireland and Sweden to Finland and Switzerland has rushed to make sure that its necks too are included in the strangling. Sad to say there is nothing mysterious about this: the power of the US Empire has long been directed at homogenising its allies- setting a Tony Blair at the head of every government it could. A Blair in Taiwan. Another Blair in Holland, Spain. And many of them are female, like Sturgeon in Scotland and the giggling Nordic gringophiles.

It is an old story-hubris. The Empire has forgotten that it holds power through threats and bribes and come to believe that it is admired, even loved. And its euroclones, from Stoltenberg to Boris to the new generation, many of whom were actually selected and trained in the the US. The cool and cuddly replacements for the Suhartos and Pinochets of yesteryear.
Hence its touching belief that the world will follow its 'woke' agenda, not to demonstrate its prostration and fealty but because if Boston and Biden are agreed it must be right. And up to date. And necessary for people who want to grow rich. And be like Hunter Biden.
The truth is that Washington has no idea what Russia, or China, or the growing number of states beginning to emulate their independence and sovereignty, applying for membership in Brics or the SCO, or, as in Mali, kicking out the neo-colonials in the knowledge that they are proofed against coups, terrorism and invasions... has no idea what is going to happen next.

Nor do I but I suspect that the final act of this production 'The End of Empire' will be set in lands closer to north America where the audience to the happy ending, in which the tyrant is humbled, will be those who have waited since the meaning of the Monroe Doctrine became evident, patient in the certainty that the bullying, stealing, disrespect could not last forever.
Nothing could be more appropriate for the Empire to be drowned in the Caribbean off the coast of Haiti.

In the meantime Russia knows that its main task is simply to survive the increasingly feeble blows that the Empire directs at it. And the hardest part is going to be doing this while holding its nose as NATO reaches deeper into the sewers for its tricks- saboteurs in Russia, assassins, shelling of power stations, blowing up hydro power dams. All will do damage but none will amount to more than pinpricks, while some will only disgust the world. And all will make clear what no amount of MSM propaganda can obscure that the governments of the Baltic countries, Poland and Ukraine are fascists of the worst kind, because unlike their predecessors of the thirties they cannot even claim to be patriotic or nationalistic, being merely limp tools in the hands of the lunatics running the Empire.

Posted by: bevin | Aug 24 2022 19:51 utc | 51

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/08/ukraine-wrong-assumptions-wrong-conclusions-and-a-lot-of-dead-soldiers.html#comments

Russia should raise high up the banner of world anti-fascist and its twin brother, exceptionalism, jointly with its associate, always opportunistic neoliberalism.

A poster on MoA has put some interesting stuff up that I felt might raise some interest here

The more I observe and study the SMO as it unfolds, the more I understand that Putin really is playing a game of 6D chess (*wince*).

What are the dimensions of this "6D chess"?

Dimension 1: The Economic
Dimension 2: The Geopolitical
Dimension 3: The Military
Dimension 4: The Diplomatic
Dimension 5: Time (Nature)
Dimension 6: Technology

These dimensions are interdependent and reinforce or undermine each other depending on how they are developed.
They either limit or expand the range of options Russia has in it's death match against the 'West'.

Therefore they must be carefully developed in order to ensure overall victory in the game.

- The Military dimension would fail utterly without the economic, technological and geopolitical dimensions and therefore Putin had to ensure these dimensions were properly developed.
- The Economic dimension depends utterly on the diplomatic and technological dimensions and therefore Putin had to ensure a sophisticated diplomatic battle was conducted at all times.
- The Geopolitical dimension itself depends on the military and diplomatic dimensions
- The Technological dimension sustains the military, economic and even geopolitical dimensions and without Putin's direction of the Russian state to ensure technological advancement from the ruins of what Yeltsin left behind, Russia would be a technological backwater today, and consequently a military and geopolitical backwater as well.
- Without careful Diplomatic gamesmanship, the economic and geopolitical support Russia has obtained from non-western nations would not have materialized.
- All these dimensions depend on careful Timing, on allowing certain events to unfold far enough to exploit them at the right time. Without the careful application of Timing the relationships between all these dimensions are destabilized and potentially destroyed.

What is remarkable is how each of these dimensions fit together so logically in retrospect, as if Putin saw all this happening two decades in advance and had begun laying the groundwork while western leaders were still muddling their way through their respective political and personal intrigues.

Taking a very brief "sampling" of how this multi-dimensional game has unfolded in each area thus far:

Dimension 1: The Economic

- Putin has spent years turning Russia into an Autarky, having zero reliance on the West or it's lackeys for *any* critical imports.
- Yet, Putin has ensured Russia is a key supplier of critical resources from oil to neon and titanium to it's enemies, and it's friends
- Putin has spent 20 years or more building out or reinforcing the network of gas and oil pipelines across central asia, ensuring an "economic circulatory system" is in place from Asia to Central Asia.
- Alternatives to SWIFT between Russia and it's major trading partners
- Huge gold and forex reserves
- Strong currency controls
- Ability to trade in native currencies with it's major trading partners
- etc ...

It's clear that without Putin's careful stewardship of the economic dimension none of the others would be sustainable.

Dimension 2: The Geopolitical

- Began with the annexation of Crimea in anticipation of what was to come ...
- The construction of arctic military and research capabilities (including icebreakers and floating nuclear power stations) to control Russia's arctic resources
- The intervention in Syria to ensure a Russian "lever" in the middle east.
- The somewhat clandestine initial support of the LPR, DPR, Abhkazia and Ossetia, pacification of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan (the Caucasus)
- Foundation of the CSTO

Without Putin's stewardship of these geopolitical aspects the Russian Federation would have been far more vulnerable to western destabilization efforts in central asia, limiting his options in the SMO.

Dimension 3: The Military

- Development of an anti-terrorism and anti-insurgency capability during the North Caucasus troubles and the terrorism at Beslan and Moscow.
- Reform of the Russian military based on the lessons of the Georgian and Syrian wars

Without the lessons of the Georgian and Syrian war, it's likely the Russian invasion of Ukraine would have founded at the 2014/2015 contact line.

Dimension 4: The Diplomatic


- OPEC+ : Development of good relations with the Gulf Oil Producers including Saudi Arabia
- Foundation and development of the CSTO
- Foundation and development of the SCO
- Development of close relations with China, India, Iran and African, South American, Central Asian states ... e.g via regular and consistent conduct of Military exercises with China and India
- Rapprochement with groups like the Taliban and Hamas and other groups considered "pariah" by the West

Without the development of diplomatic relations in all these areas, Russia would have found itself without any markets either in the West or the East, unable to easily switch from western markets to those in the east (India, China etc.) under sanctions conditions. Russia would also have found itself with no influence over the oil price via OPEC+ and perhaps, OPEC would otherwise have been more amenable to the "oil price cap" madness proposed by the West ...

Throughout the last 20 years we can clearly see Putin constantly accumulating diplomatic capital in order to spend it when absolutely necessary. This explains the constant "niceness" or "politeness" from which Lavrov and Putin. never seem to depart when dealing with the Global South and East.

(While critics were lambasting Putin for attending the military games in 2022 while Karkov was falling to the AFU, Putin was fighting a geopolitical and diplomatic battle to ensure victory in these key dimensions of the SMO)

Dimension 5: Time (Nature)

- We can clearly see Putin leveraging the onset of Winter, together with control of resources to support the aims of the SMO. We are about to see how Putin uses time, in combination with the seasons to deliver very impactful economic strikes against Western interests and the AFU in Ukraine.
- The timing of the annexation of Crimea. If Putin had hesitated it is very likely Crimea would be NATO (American) base by now. Putin chose to spend his diplomatic capital with the global south and East to prevent this.
- The timing of the Syrian intervention

Here we see how Putin uses time: Deliberately moving very quickly in some cases, and biding his time in others.

Dimension 6: Technology

- "Game Changing" Hypersonics and other weaponry
- Acceleration of the I.T industry to enhance cyberwarfare capabilities
- Development of local electronics industry to reduce dependence of western semiconductors

Without Putin's stewardship of the technological dimension the military, geopolitical and even economic dimensions of the overall SMO would have been impossible to develop.

I'll try and expand on this in posts to come.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Sep 25 2022 5:28 utc | 259

A survey of the military, diplomatic, economic, technological and geopolitical options available to Russia in escalating the SMO over the next 6 to 24 months:

Russian military options for escalation:

1. Destruction of all railway power substations in *western* ukraine.
2. Destruction of all power and water supplies to Kiev, Lvov and other key cities in western Ukraine.
3. Closure (by missile strike) of the Transcarpathian railway tunnel
4. Destruction (by missile strike) of key dams in *western* Ukraine
5. Complete closure of the the port of Odessa
6. Destruction of main wired telecomms infrastructure and cellular towers.
7. Destruction of all major bridges in *western* Ukraine
8. Heavy carpet bombing runs of major AFU troop concentrations around the line of contact
9. Land bridge to Transdnistria, and basing of expanded Russian forces in Transdnistria

Russian geopolitical options:

10. Supply of S300 - S400 systems to Syria, Iran and North Korea.
11. Recognition of the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan
12. Removal of any/all sanctions against NK and Iran observed in conjunction with UN 'law'
13. Enhancement of ICBM forces in the Arctic, Kaliningrad, Crimea
14. Launch of additional military satellites
15. Supply of S300 - s400 air defense systems to Venezuela
16. Supply of strategic submarine systems to Iran and North Korea
17. Incorporation of Transdnistria into the Russian Federation
18. Incorporation of Odessa into the Russian Federation

Russian Diplomatic options

19. Full disclosure online of documents captured from the American biolabs in Ukraine
20. Full disclosure online of Ukrainian PoW confessions
21. Creation of a direct UN rival organisation for the Global South, Central Asia, Eastasia, Southeast Asia, Africa
22. Creation of a humanitarian supply organisation for direct supply of humanitarian grain, gas, oil supplies to countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon
23. Proposal and implementation of a second meeting location for the UN GA in neutral territory to prevent visa sanctioning of officials
24. Recognition of the Native American genocide committed under American colonialism.
25. Recognition of the Mau Mau genocide committed under British Colonialism
26. Formal condemnation of any UN claims of Chinese Uighur genocides
27. Full restoration of economic and diplomatic relations with North Korea with full military and infrastructure development assistance to NK.

Economic options

28. Ban of neon direct sale to western countries (via China only!)
29. Ban of titanium direct sale to western countries (via Iran only)
30. Ban of gas supplies to Europe *except via* Iran, Armenia, Belarus and other friendly nations
31. Further development competitor systems to SWIFT
32. Development of offshore banking solutions to compete with those offered by Switzerland, Cayman, Isle of Man, Guernsey etc.
33. Massive expansion of Aluminium production and sale to reduce the competitiveness of Western aluminium producers
34. Implementation of an International Development Bank along the lines of the Asian Development Bank for Central Asia/Southeast Asia
35. Completion of Power of Siberia 2 (2022 - 2024)
36. Completion of the Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan pipeline to China

Technological options

37. Collaboration with China and Iran on development of semiconductor fabs including EUV systems to rival ASML.
38. Ramp up of civilian nuclear reactor projects in the global south, middle east
39. Subsidy of a Russian private sector rival satellite network to Starlink
40. Massive expansion of the Russian drone development program
41. Complete replacement of Microsoft products with a rival software ecosystem developed by a russian, chinese, indian and iranian conglomerate.
42. Nullification of all US technology copyrights and royalties
43. Creation and subsidised development of a rival to Google capable of serving Central Asia, South/East Asia, Africa and South America

(I've excluded world ending options, of course)

I might only have covered a few of the available options and left out their caveats, however I think this list might explain Putin's generally calm and cheerful demeanor ...

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Sep 25 2022 7:30 utc | 276

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/09/rekindling-its-iraq-wmd-fiasco-the-new-york-times-is-back-at-printing-officials-said/comments/page/3/#comments

Perhaps the most important speech by Lavrov (translated from the German by yandex)

Lavrov in UNGA 22.09.2022

"Dear Madam President!
Excellence,
Colleagues,
as far as I know, today's meeting was motivated by the desire of some delegations to discuss the issue of "impunity" in Ukraine. I think this comes at just the right time. This term reflects exactly what has been happening in this country since 2014. National radical forces, outspoken Russophobes and neo-Nazis, came to power at that time through an armed coup with the direct support of Western countries. Immediately after that, they embarked on a path of lawlessness and total disregard for fundamental human rights and freedoms – the right to life, the right to freedom of expression, the right to access information, the right to freedom of conscience and the right to use one's native language.

The crimes on the Maidan in February 2014 are still unpunished. The perpetrators of the monstrous tragedy of May 2, 2014 in Odessa, in which about 50 people were burned alive and killed in the trade union house there, have neither been found nor punished. The political murders of Oles Busina, Pavel Sheremet and other public figures and journalists are also in this series of unpunished crimes. Nevertheless, today they are trying to impose on us a completely different narrative about Russian aggression as the main cause of all problems.

This ignores the fact that for more than eight years, the Ukrainian army and the militias of the nationalist formations have been killing and murdering the residents of the Donbass with impunity only because they (the residents of the Donbass) refused to recognize the results of the criminal, bloody and unconstitutional coup in Kiev. Because they decided to stand up for their rights guaranteed by the Ukrainian Constitution, including the right to the free use of their native Russian language.
Do you remember how the then Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said in 2015 that there were "subhumans" living in the Donbass? The current president V. A. Zelensky is also not far behind him. In an interview in September 2021, when asked what he thought of the people in the Donbass, he said that there are people and there are "creatures", "specimens". This is a consistent feature of the Ukrainian regime, both under Poroshenko and Zelensky.
They have declared all those who disagree with the results of the coup to be terrorists. For eight years, the Kiev regime has been conducting a "military operation" against the civilian population. In Ukraine, for many years, a total mobilization of the entire adult population, including women, has been taking place in order to recruit them into the ranks of the nationalist battalions and the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

While the Kiev authorities hypocritically claimed to be committed to the Minsk agreements, they openly and with impunity sabotaged their implementation. A financial, transport and energy blockade was imposed on the Donbass. Residents of the region are cut off from social benefits, pensions, salaries, banking services, communications, education and health care. They were deprived of basic civil rights, including those guaranteed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), as well as in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966.

At some point, Zelensky was tired of pretending and declared that the Minsk "package of measures" was only necessary to maintain the sanctions imposed on Russia. His predecessor and co-author of the Minsk Agreements, Petro Poroshenko, was even more frank. A few months ago, he publicly and proudly stated that neither he nor anyone else in Ukraine ever planned to implement these agreements signed by him. They were needed only in order to gain time to receive weapons from Western countries for the war with the Russian Federation. The Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, A.M. Danilov, expressed himself in this sense.

The Kiev regime owes its impunity to its Western curators, primarily Germany and France, and, of course, the United States. Instead of demanding that the leadership in Kiev implement the Minsk agreements, Berlin and Paris cynically turned a blind eye to Kiev's overt threats to solve the "Donbass problem" by force - the so–called "Plan B".

In recent years, the Kiev regime has conducted a full-scale frontal attack on the Russian language. It violated the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population of Ukraine with impunity. Scandalous "language" laws were adopted: "On Education" (2017), "On Ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language" (2019), "On General Secondary Education" (2020) and "On the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine" (2021). All of them are aimed at displacing the Russian language, and even banning it altogether.

At the same time, laws were adopted that promote the theory and practice of Nazism. Kiev ignored the timid recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities to correct the language law. These multilateral structures, for their part, did not find the courage (perhaps they simply were not allowed) to persuade the Ukrainian authorities to fulfill their international human rights obligations.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Education has removed the Russian language and Russian literature from the curriculum. As in Nazi Germany, books in the Russian language are banned and destroyed, and monuments to Russian writers are destroyed.

With state support, an ideology of national intolerance towards ethnic Russians is being enforced. Today, the country's officials are no longer ashamed of their Nazi identity and openly and with impunity call for the murder of Russian people.

Here are some examples. The Ukrainian Ambassador to Kazakhstan, P. Y. Vrublevsky, who is currently in Kiev, said in an interview on August 22 this year as follows: "We are trying to kill as many of them (the Russians) as possible. The more Russians we kill now, the less our children will have to kill. That is all." Did anyone pay attention to this? The mayor of Dnepropetrovsk, B. A. Filatov, expressed himself in this vein last spring: "The time of cold anger has come. Now we have the full moral right to kill these non-humans anywhere in the world in peace and with an absolutely unclouded mind, for an unlimited period of time and in the largest possible quantity." On September 13 of this year, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, A.M. Danilov, stated: "In the settlements where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are invading, residents are being Ukrainized without taking into account their opinion. This will affect not only Russians, but also representatives of other nationalities. If you have a desire to additionally study other languages, Romanian, Polish, Hebrew, then please do this, but not at the expense of our state. You can expand your education at your own expense."

Needless to say, all these Russophobic escapades went completely unpunished. It's not just about Russophobia. He spoke about representatives of other nationalities living in Ukraine.
The highlight was Zelensky's interview on August 5, 2021, in which he advised all those who consider themselves Russians to go to Russia for the benefit of their children and grandchildren. "Move to Russia," he said.

I have the impression that the decisions that people in a number of regions of Ukraine are now making to hold referendums are a response to his wishes.

Under the guise of combating "Russian aggression" and "separatism" in Ukraine, the persecution of dissidents is being intensified. In March of this year, eleven political parties were banned under the pretext of their "ties with Russia". The leading opposition TV channels have been shut down for a long time. The government's unwanted websites have been blocked. Journalists are persecuted if they try to express an opinion other than the official one. The prominent Ukrainian social activist E. Berezhnaya, who has repeatedly spoken before the UN and the OSCE about the emergence of neo-Nazism in Ukraine, is being held in the prisons of the SBU.

We have no doubt that Ukraine has finally turned into a totalitarian Nazi state in which the norms of international humanitarian law are violated with impunity. No wonder the Ukrainian Armed Forces and nationalist battalions use terrorist tactics, using civilians as human shields.

Against this background, the attitude of those states that pump Ukraine full of weapons and military equipment and train the Ukrainian Armed Forces is especially cynical. The goal is obvious (they do not hide it, but announce it): to delay hostilities as long as possible, despite the losses and destruction, in order to weaken and exhaust Russia. This line means that the Western countries are directly involved in the Ukraine conflict and thus become one party. The deliberate fuelling of this conflict by the "collective West" also remains unpunished. In fact, they will not punish themselves.

We are under no illusions that today the Russian Armed Forces and the DPR and LVR militias are confronted not only with the neo-Nazi formations of the Kiev regime, but also with the military apparatus of the "collective" West. With the help of modern systems, aircraft, ships, satellites and strategic drones, NATO provides the armed Forces with intelligence in real time, and they are incited to the fact that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield (as EU officials explicitly state) and deprived of any sovereignty as a punishment. This is no longer a latent racism, but an open one.
Against the background of the massive shelling of settlements in the Donbass, Zelensky is pleased with the effectiveness of Western weapons. Here is his quote: "At last you get the feeling that the Western artillery, the weapons that we received from our partners, are very effective. The accuracy is really as it should be, " the head of this state institution cynically explained. At the same time, no military or strategic targets were hit in the shelled settlements. Only the civilian population of the Donbass suffers.

Since the end of July this year, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been remotely mining the center of Donetsk and its suburbs with banned Lepestok anti-personnel mines. Their use grossly violates the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, which Ukraine has ratified, as well as the Second Protocol to the Geneva Convention on Conventional Weapons (prohibition of mines without self-destructors).
Such atrocities were possible and remain unpunished, because the United States and its allies, with the toleration of international human rights institutions, have been systematically covering up the crimes of the Kiev regime for eight years, building their policy towards Mr. Zelensky on the well-known American principle: "Of course, he is a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch."

The inconvenient truth, which tarnishes the beautiful image of Ukraine as a victim of Russian aggression, is diligently glossed over and sometimes quite blatantly hidden. Even the Western human rights organization Amnesty International, which can hardly be suspected of sympathizing with Russia, was sharply criticized and branded as a Kremlin agent. Just because in her report she confirmed the well-known facts that Kiev is stationing combat positions and heavy weapons in civilian areas.

The criminal shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant by fighters of the Kiev regime, which raises the threat of a nuclear catastrophe, remains unpunished. And this is despite the fact that employees of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been constantly present at the facility since September 1 of this year, and it is not difficult to determine the side responsible for the shelling.

I would like to remind you that the IAEA visit to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant was artificially delayed, although all the details had already been coordinated on June 3 of this year, and the mission could have traveled there undisturbed. Then an inappropriate situation arose when the security department of the UN Secretariat refused to approve the route agreed by Russia and the agency. Then she began to assert that the IAEA would determine all the parameters of the mission itself. This not particularly honorable behavior delayed the visit of the agency's mission to the Zaporozhye NPP for three months.

There is great concern about the fate of the Russian soldiers who fell into the hands of Ukrainian nationalists. There is ample evidence that they have been mistreated in violation of international humanitarian law, including summary executions. I am sure that those who are interested in the real events in Ukraine have seen video footage of the massacre of Russian prisoners of war by the Ukrainian Nazis, who were thrown to the ground with their hands tied behind their backs and shot in the head. Has any of the countries represented here commented on this crime?

We have numerous evidences of these and other criminal acts of the Kiev regime, which have been committed regularly since 2014. Russian law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with their colleagues from the DPR and the LVR, carefully record and investigate the facts of crimes. The participation of more than 220 people was noted, including representatives of the High Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and commanders of military units shelling civilians. Citizens of the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and the Netherlands are being investigated for mercenary activities and criminal acts in Ukraine. I assure you that all those responsible, regardless of their nationality, will be held accountable.

I would like to draw your attention once again to the following. When the Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul at the end of March this year practically agreed on the parameters proposed by Kiev for an agreement, a tragedy occurred in Butcha a few days later. There is no doubt that this is a staging. Immediately after this staged incident, our Western colleagues fueled hysteria and launched a new package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, accusing us of killing civilians. Since then, when this propaganda effect occurred, no one remembers this butcha. Except us. In the presence of the Secretary-General and Honored Ministers, I once again appeal: please make the Ukrainian authorities take the elementary step of publishing the names of the people whose bodies were shown in Butcha. I have been calling for this for months. No one is listening and no one wants to react.

Dear Mr. Secretary General, at least use your authority, please. I think it will be useful for everyone to deal with this episode.

We drew attention to the increased activity of the international judiciary in relation to Ukraine. Some "efforts" to investigate crimes in Ukraine attributed to the Russian military are announced. All this is commissioned work, we can see that very well.

Neither the bloody coup in Kiev in 2014, nor the tragedy in Odessa on May 2, 2014, nor the shelling of peaceful cities in the Donbass, nor the bombing of Lugansk by aircraft on June 2, 2014, nor many other facts have led to a coherent response from the International Criminal Court (ICC). More than 3,000 accusations of crimes against residents of the Donbass were submitted to the ICC. There has been no reaction. Obviously, the leadership of this "judicial body" has now received an order from "above" to develop an energetic activity. We no longer have confidence in this body. For eight long years we have waited in vain for the fight against impunity to begin in Ukraine. We no longer expect justice from this and a number of other international institutions. The time of waiting is over.

Everything I said once again confirms that the decision to carry out the special military operation was inevitable. We have talked about this more than once. We have presented numerous evidence showing how Ukraine was preparing to play the role of "anti-Russia", to be a springboard for the creation and implementation of threats to Russian security. I can assure you that we will not allow this to happen."

kvs wrote:Term limits are an American gimmick.   It works for the USA because the Democraps and Repugs are marionettes for the real people

Yep it shows how obscene the US/NATO Establishment is.

All around the World but esp in the FSU they are laughably trying to portray "term limits" as a "moral issue".

But the US Establishment and especially the European ones have remained the same for many many decades or even many hundreds of years.

Gimmicky Western style elections of some new goons allow the US to sneak in.
Look how FSU leaders have investments in the West. This allows the West to control them.
Similarly if the West can take over the media of states it wishes to swallow, this is ideal for them to run their circuses of "Western standard democracy".

Tony Blair for example has been given 100s of millions of USD via a sham business with one of his sons. Why? Because he sold his soul to the Devil called Uncle Sham and committed mass war crimes in Iraq. Countless examples like this all round the World.

"Western standard democracy" is a joke. Who wins is the one with the most money. Nothing to do with "democracy". Imagine how they would run Russia or any FSU state. A plastic bitch every 5 years. One year the puppet would be a homosexual, another year a "hot young female". Soon Russia would be "globalised" with ever cheaper labour and it would be a black president. But whoever was the puppet, the policies would be those of parasitic US-centric globalism.

America hates Putin because Putin actually cares about Russia and can't be bribed, blackmailed or threatened. Thats why they installed the media "friendly" maggot stooge in the Pukraine. He is 100% America's bitchboy.

Rodion_Romanovic wrote:

JohninMK wrote:Perhaps the most important speech by Lavrov (translated from the German by yandex)

Lavrov in UNGA 22.09.2022

"Dear Madam President!
Excellence,
Colleagues,
(...)

Hi JohninMK, could you please share the original link with the transcription (even the German one)?

Thank you.

Sorry it wasn't quoted. If I find one I will put it up. It should be on the Russian Foreign Ministry site by now.

Rodion_Romanovic wrote:

Found it !

https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1830851/

Good. It was a truly awesome speech. It might have landed on dozens of deaf ears but to many more it would have been reassurance.

Russia is pulling the Global South to its side, by Gevorg Mirzayan for VZGLYAD. 09.27.2022.

“To a large extent, the outcome of this war depends on the position of the East and the South. The wars of the West to restore its dominance and the wars of Russia for its survival and status as a great power. With these words, political scientists explain the meaning of one of the most important events of the past week - the speech of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, delivered from the UN rostrum. What did Sergei Lavrov say and to whom did he address?

"Ladies and Gentlemen. We are meeting at a difficult, dramatic moment." With these words, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began his speech at the session of the General Assembly.

However, if you listen to the minister's speech, you can understand that he did not address all the "ladies and gentlemen" who were in the hall. So, for example, the countries of the West were by no means its addressees.

“It is useless to negotiate with the West now, it is useless to convince it of something. Except perhaps in the dangers of continuing the current policy of escalation, which lead to the Third World War, ”Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Security at the Higher School of Economics, assures the VZGLYAD newspaper. The West is now not ready to listen to Russia, much less seek compromises with it. He was not ready for this in February 2022 and not ready in September 2022 (which, according to some experts, was one of the reasons for holding referendums in the liberated territories).

The West will be ready to listen and speak only after new Russian victories, as well as the deterioration of the domestic economic situation in the United States and Europe due to the global economic crisis that the world will come to because of Western policy. Therefore, for the time being, Lavrov has not turned to him, but to the countries of the East and South. Asia, Africa and Latin America, sometimes referred to as the Global South.

“The unipolar model of world development, which served the interests of the “golden billion”, whose overconsumption was provided for centuries at the expense of the resources of Asia, Africa and Latin America, is becoming a thing of the past. Today, the formation of sovereign states, ready to defend national interests, leads to the formation of an equal, socially oriented and sustainable multipolar architecture. However, objective geopolitical processes are perceived by Washington and the ruling elites of Western countries who have completely submitted to it as a threat to their dominant position,” says Lavrov.

“The Russian minister tried to convey to them the idea that there is not a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but a struggle with the West against Russia for its global dominance. That the collective West, led by the United States, is trying to restore unipolar dominance and a neo-colonial world economic system that works in the interests of the West and is based on the exploitation of everyone else. That the conflict in Ukraine is only one (main, central, but one) of the tools that the West uses in this fight,” Dmitry Suslov explains.

And Moscow would very much like the Global South to not only tacitly support Russia in this war, but help it achieve a common victory. One for all.

At the same time, however, we are not talking about some kind of public support - a common front, joint statements and anti-Western declarations. For example, it is obvious that China will not support and officially disagree with the results of referendums in the liberated regions of Ukraine. Perhaps even condemned.

However, this by no means means that the People's Republic of China is on the side of the collective West in this struggle. The fact is that China has Taiwan. And if China recognizes the official referendum in the liberated regions of Ukraine, then it undermines its position on non-recognition of any referendum in Taiwan and preventing the very fact of its holding.

In this struggle, not words, but deeds will be important. For example, the Indian leadership has not officially announced on any platform that it will totally ignore US sanctions against the Russian Federation. However, at the same time, New Delhi firmly defends existing contracts with Moscow. In addition, the Indian leadership has agreed with the Russian authorities on a number of projects allowing Russia to receive high-tech equipment and a whole range of goods through India.

“To a large extent, the outcome of this war depends on the position of the East and the South. The wars of the West to restore its dominance and the wars of Russia for its survival and the status of a great power,” says Dmitry Suslov. And so far, Russia is winning the battle for the Global South, which Western publications write about regularly and with great regret.

“The West has never managed to create a broad anti-Russian coalition that would go beyond the collective West. And in many ways, this explains the fact that the damage that Western policy has inflicted on Russia is much less than what the West initially expected. This also applies to sanctions and attempts to isolate Russia on the world stage,” says Dmitry Suslov. - In addition, African, Latin American and Asian countries are increasing their desire to act as subjects in world politics, and not objects of rivalry from others. They pursue their own national interests and understand that these interests are different from American ones. They understand what the American world order, based on American rules, leads to. So the words of Lavrov, it seems to me, fall on fertile ground,” says Dmitry Suslov.

But, in fairness, Asia, Africa and Latin America understood all this before - in the tenth and even zero years. Understood - and still went. What changed?

First, example is always encouraging. No country in the Global South (not even China, with all its resource power) wanted to be the first country to challenge the American world order in this way. Not a country that will become easily fronted (Venezuela) or exclude itself from the American world order (North Korea), but a state that will oppose the system as such. And now this state in the person of Russia has finally appeared. And if in 2014 the call was conditional, then in 2022 - after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine - it became absolute.

Secondly, the Global South sees the weakening of the leader of the collective West. Yes, the United States remains the most powerful power in the world - however, due to the domestic political crisis, economic turmoil, "squeezing" the same Europe in matters of anti-Russian sanctions, their potential has been undermined.

Moreover, the US attempts to demonstrate the muscles in the form of demonstrative flogging of the violator - that is, Russia - did not lead to anything. Seven months after the start of the special military operation, the Russian economy is far from being torn to shreds, and riots are already starting in the United States due to higher prices.

And here one of the key laws of international relations comes into force: only those who are strong are respected. And strength is determined not by potentials, but by perception from others. As one famous TV series said, “Power is where the universal faith places it. It's a trick, a shadow on the wall. And sometimes a very small person casts a very large shadow.”

https://vz.ru/world/2022/9/27/1179579.html