Tag Archives: US and European sanctions against Russia

NATO’s Policy of Self-Destruction as Ukraine is Being Destroyed | Col. Jacques Baud

Note by Fazal Rahman

This interview with Swiss Col. Jacques Baud contains one of the best factual and logical analysis of the Ukrainian Crisis and the roles of Russia, Ukraine, US, and Europe in it. In it, he also reports important information and insights about the nature and causes of various other wars and conflicts, like in Palestine, Gaza, Afghanistan, Libya, etc.

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Apr 23, 2024 Interviews Jacques Baud is a former member of Swiss strategic intelligence, a specialist in Eastern European countries and head of United Nations peace operations doctrine. He was engaged in negotiations with top Russian military and intelligence officials right after the fall of the USSR. Within NATO, he participated in programs in Ukraine and in particular during the Maidan revolution in 2014. Baud’s Books: https://www.amazon.com.br/stores/auth…

German Statesman Slams EU Leaders’ Spinelessness, Demands NATO’s Dismemberment, Closure of US Bases

Ilya Tsukanov

All materials  Write to the author

https://sputniknews.com/20221128/german-statesman-slams-eu-leaders-spinelessness-demands-natos-dismemberment-closure-of-us-bases-1104796406.html

Germany has found itself reaping the consequences of the crisis in Ukraine, facing skyrocketing energy and food costs, recession and the danger of permanent deindustrialization as Washington and Brussels continue to call for more and more sanctions against Russian energy to try to “punish” Moscow for its military operation in Ukraine.

The United States and its allies have spent the entire period since 2014 preparing for a confrontation with Russia in Ukraine, Oskar Lafontaine, a veteran German statesman with over forty years of political experience under his belt, has said.

“Of course, I also mean the conflict in Ukraine, which began with the Maidan putsch in Kiev in 2014. Since then, the US and its Western vassals have been arming Ukraine and systematically preparing it for confrontation with Russia. Ukraine thus became a de facto, if not de jure, member of NATO. This backstory has been studiously ignored by Western politicians and the mainstream media,” Lafontaine told Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten in an interview published Sunday.

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MSM Melts Down as Tucker Carlson Calls to End Russia Sanctions Amid Europe’s ‘Descent Into Poverty’

Note by Fazal Rahman

It is surprising that, as revealed in this article, a Fox TV program host, Tucker Carlson, is stating the real facts and truth about the causes and effects of the Ukraine Crisis and War. Fox is an ultra-conservative establishment, which presents news and analyses from the perspectives of right-wing sections of American and Western imperialism and capitalism, normally distorting and perverting the implications and meanings of facts and their framework. However, in this case, the host of one of its major programs, which normally propagates the same untruths, half-truths, and right-wing distortion of reality, as various other programs, has presented and has been allowed to present such real and unvarnished facts and their accurate analysis.

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Military spending and other causes of inflation

The Simple Solution to Inflation No One is Talking

Ian DeMartino

https://sputniknews.com/20220715/the-simple-solution-to-inflation-no-one-is-talking-about-1097327917.html

Inflation has hit a 41-year high, currently sitting at 9.1%, forcing Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to admit that the rate “remains unacceptably high” and it is the president’s top priority to “bring it down.”

There are many theories about why inflation has spiked out of control. Most economists point to a few factors: increased spending, mainly through economic stimulus, decreased supply due to pandemic-related supply chain issues, and increased production costs, mostly due to increased energy costs.

Those factors undoubtedly played a big role in contributing to inflation, but it could be argued that some of them, like economic stimulus during a pandemic, were necessary, while others, such as supply chain issues, were beyond the control of the US government and that gas prices, while certainly a result of policy, have proven resistant to attempts to address the issue.

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US Ban on Russian Energy Excludes Key Item to Avoid Rolling Blackouts Across American Cities: Report

Note by Fazal Rahman

Following article in Sputnik News reveals that the US is heavily dependent on Russia for import of uranium for the operation of its 56 nuclear power plants. US President Biden’s order on banning energy from Russia does not include uranium, one of the most important sources of energy in the US.

The US and European sanctions against Russia already are fueling inflation globally and increasing deprivations will be inflicted on overwhelming majority of people everywhere, including those in the US and Europe. Working and lower middle classes, as well as those on fixed incomes, will be hit the hardest. On the other hand, the businesses, corporations, and other owners of the means of production – the capitalist class – will reap the sinister benefits from these deprivations and hardships, as they will make additional fabulous profits from the higher prices and inflation. Political representatives of the capitalist class, ruling in the US and Europe, cannot be unaware of these facts. Under the crocodile tears for Ukraine, they are hatching all types of geopolitical, geo-economic, militarist, and profiteering schemes, which will victimize overwhelming majorities of peoples throughout the world, including those in their own countries, which are alienated, brain-washed, and brain-dead to such an extent that they are supporting these policies and actions, against their own interests. They may come to their senses when the reality starts hitting them harder.

Russia is the world’s top exporter of crude and oil products combined, at around 7 million barrels per day (bpd ) or 7% of global supply. Russia and Ukraine combine for nearly a third of the world’s wheat and barley exports. Ukraine also is a major supplier of corn and the global leader in sunflower oil, used in food processing. The war could reduce food supplies just when prices are at their highest levels since 2011. Russia is a major producer of palladium, which is used in automotive production, mobile phones and even dental fillings, according to the report. Russia produces about 6% of the world’s supply of aluminum, which saw its price spike to a record high on Monday in response to the sanctions. . The world’s largest country by land mass is also the world’s second largest producer of potash – a key ingredient for major crops which farmers rely on – after Canada. Some 45 percent of the European Union’s gas came from Russia in 2021, while Russia was also Europe’s largest supplier of oil at 27 percent, more than three times the next largest, Norway.

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