APRIL 25, 2024 BY NEWS WIRE 0 COMMENTS
Arnaud Develay
21st Century Wire
The US Congress just passed the 95 billion Dollars aid package, including $61 billion to Ukraine which president Biden promptly signed into law. This marked the end of a six-month long standoff opposing the Establishment against a handful of MAGA Republicans bent on making the adoption of the supplemental contingent on solving the problem at the southern border.
Speaker Mike Johnson had been expected to hold the line and prevent the continued pilfering of US taxpayers monies by the Kiev Regime, he eventually succumbed to intense pressure while declaring that he “wanted to be on the right side of history.”
This complete reversal came on the heels of the renewal by the House of a very controversial bill aiming at turning the FISA Act’s infamous Section 702 into a tool “which allows the U.S. to capture texts, cellphone calls, emails and other electronic communications of foreigners in foreign countries, though sometimes Americans’ data get scooped up when they converse with foreign targets.”
Without any monies being allocated to the border, MAGA Republicans promptly expressed dismay at Johnson’s betrayal.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green called for Johnson to be vacated deeming the Republican Speaker as nothing more than “a lame duck.”
As a result of her staunch opposition to the continued financing of the Zelensky regime, Taylor-Green was promptly criticized, earning the nickname “Moscow Marjorie.”
Meanwhile the House Impeachment Inquiry tasked with tying Joe Biden to corruption in Ukraine and elsewhere is seemingly going nowhere.
With the Uniparty reinvigorated by the defeat of the rebel wing of the GOP, it appears increasingly likely that the incumbent president won’t even be impeached, let alone convicted at a trial in the US Senate.
It almost seems as if Jim Comer and and colleagues are content with going through the motions even though they could easily gain access to crucial evidence needed to implicate Biden directly in the context of activities carried out through Burisma, the mining and gas company at the center of the conclusions recently made public by the Russian Investigative Comittee following the March 22 terrorist attacks at the Crocus City Center.
Which so much evidence of Biden-Ukraine corruption on the table, how is it that no moves have been made by federal law enforcement and the Department of Justice to pursue a case?
The Good Samaritan Curse
In an interview granted last January to noted attorney and journalist Simona Mangiante, former Ukrainian MP Andrei Derkach revealed that the leaking of the infamous recordings of conversations between then vice president Biden and Ukrainian president Petro Poroschenko had been made public by none other than Volodymir Zelensky’s office.
Weeks before the Crocus City Hall terror attacks followed by the subsequent findings of the Russian investigative committee, Derkach had unequivocally tied the financing of terrorist operations by Ukraine to a slush fund created by Burisma. These allegations could in turn potentially make erstwhile board members Hunter Biden, former Polish president Aleksandr Kwasnieski and veteran CIA counter-terrorism Chief Cofer Black, criminally liable.
Publishing on his Telegram channel, Derkach described how in the wake of last year’s failed counter-offensive the Kiev regime had opted to engage in a policy of state terror: a “strategy” he alleges is to this day being carefully managed by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan who visited Kiev “a few days before Crocus.”
Derkach added that in the context of such visit, the concept of “controlled nuclear insecurity” was also discussed and it should be noted that two weeks later, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant located in Zaporozhye, and under the control of the Russian Federation, was subjected to the “worst attack since November 2022.” By all measures, this is a frightening escalation on the part of Kiev and should give pause to those (particularly in Washington and London) who have blindly supported the expansion of ‘asymmetric warfare’ campaign against numerous Russian targets.
This prompted IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to express his concerns to the IAEA Board of Director that “the most recent attacks … have shifted us into an acutely consequential juncture in this war.”
To complete the picture, it was revealed that while the focus was on the adoption of the aid package, the Biden administration shipped ATACMS to Kiev which promtply led to two of these being used against targets in Crimea and Berdiansk.
In addition, this also raises the specter of a dirty bomb scenario and all of the nuclear blackmail implications that come with it.
Will sober US officials act to avoid the unthinkable?
Mexican Standoff
With the Ukraine Project looking increasingly compromised, tensions are rising. This is particularly true in Kiev where rumors of an impending coup against Zelensky have been circulating for years.
The last twelve months have been particularly rife with rumors of grumbling in the ranks of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. It all came to a head when Commander-in-Chief of the UAF Valerii Zaluzhnyi got axed for expressing differing views on the conduct of the failed counter-offensive (supposedly, he was concerned about the lives of the men under his Command and refused to have them hold on desperately in the face of superior Russian firepower).
Following rumors that he had accepted to relocate to London along with former Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov who had himself been sacked following said counter-offensive, it was revealed that Zaluzhnyi had remained in the country under house arrest pending his appointment as Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK.
Another sign that all is not well in Kiev was a report circulating in the collective West that Zelensky had been the target of a foiled assassination plot at the hand of a Polish man allegedly working with the Russian Federation.
This incident was promptly ridiculed by former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev who instead suggested that Zelensky be looking over his shoulder in case his Western handlers decide to replace him.
To be sure, Zelensky is mindful of the way America tends to treat its friends and allies.
Despite enjoying dithyrambic media coverage these last two years, Zelensky is slowly reaching his political expiration date. War fatigue is rampant and reports about endemic Ukrainian corruption cannot be slipped under the rug anymore. In short, the country (or what is left of it) is a basket case.
For the time being, it is however considered of the utmost importance in Washington that Ukraine not collapse before next November’s US Presidential election. Maintaining a semblance of stability in Ukraine thus precludes the US moving against the former TV comedian.
But Zelensky knows that he’s running out of time and that the time to make his move is between now and the election. It is all about survival for him. He must thus edge his bets and secure certain guarrantees within the calendar imposed by his imperial masters.
Shokin and Dubinsky: Zelensky’s Deadman Switch
Viktor Shokin came to prominence as the top Ukrainian official in that country’s Ministry of Justice tasked with investigating Burisma’s CEO Mykola Zlocheski.
He likely stumbled on evidence of foul play for this led VP Biden who by then had assumed the Ukraine portfolio to urge then president Petro Poroshenko to replace him with “someone with whom we can work.”
SEE ALSO: INTERVIEW: Arnaud Develay – New Book Exposes Biden Corruption in Ukraine
Likewise, Oleksandr Dubinsky had stood alongside Derkach during a press conference where it was alleged not only that criminal cases against Burisma had been dropped owing to interference by US officials working out of the US embassy in Kiev but also that Ukraine and not Russia had attempted to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
There’s a reason why the House investigative committee never issued subpenoas to these two individuals and it is not a coincidence if Shokin and Dubinsky are essentially barred from leaving Ukraine. Dubinsky is currently detained in solitary confinement following a beating while in detention on charges of treason.
To somewhat underline how much Shokin and Dubinsky (alongside Andrei Derkach and Konstantin Kulik) are considered dangerous to the entire “Democorruption” scheme characterizing American external management of post-Maidan Ukraine, Derkach’s interview to Mangiante is once again revealing of the lengths through which the Biden administration is willing to go to “resolve the issue with Derkach.”
Mindful of the scope of his own complicity in the pillaging and depopulating of Ukraine, Zelensky also senses that with his term as president officially expiring next month, his own legitimacy is rapidly evaporating thus turning him into a liability for Washington. Ironically, he could envision escaping judgment and snatch a victory of sorts out of the jaws of certain defeat – were he to reach out to Moscow and make a deal. Not sure he would survive more than a day following such announcement, but as things currently stand, idleness is not an option.
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Author Arnaud Develay was trained as an attorney specializing in humanitarian and international criminal law. As member of both the Paris and Washington state bar, he started his career under former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark’s mentorship before moving to represent Ilitch Ramirez Sanchez aka ‘Carlos’, senior representatives of the Yellow Vest Movement, and Moldova’s former Vice-Prime Minister, Iurie Rosca. He now works as a political consultant and is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Foreign Entanglements: Biden, Ukraine and the Fracturing of the American Political Consensus.”
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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and NATO chief Stoltenberg urge faster arms supplies
NATO chief says the alliance’s members have failed to live up to their military aid promises to Kyiv.
Published On 29 Apr 202429 Apr 2024
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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that vital US weapons have started to arrive in Ukraine in small amounts, but that deliveries need to be faster as Russian forces continue to advance on the battlefield.
Zelenskyy told a joint press conference in Kyiv alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday that the situation on the battlefield directly depended on the speed of ammunition supplies to Ukraine.
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“Timely support for our army. Today I don’t see anything positive on this point yet. There are supplies, they have slightly begun, this process needs to be sped up,” he said.
Last week, the United States approved a $61bn aid package, ending six months of congressional deadlock and raising Kyiv’s hopes that its critically low stocks of artillery shells will soon be replenished as it fights off Russia’s two-year invasion.
Stoltenberg told Ukrainians that NATO members had failed to live up to their promises of military aid in recent months.
“Serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine, he said.
“The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the front line. Lack of air defence has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces,” Stoltenberg said.
Earlier, he said that the flow of arms and ammunition would increase, pointing to the US aid bill and an announcement last week by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of a “record high” commitment to Kyiv.
He noted that Germany had agreed to provide another Patriot air defence system to Ukraine while the Netherlands had boosted its military aid to Kyiv.
He said he expected other “new commitments to come”.
“This will make a difference – as the lack of support made a difference,” he said.
Russia has said a renewed influx of US weapons will not change the situation on the front lines and that it will target storage sites holding Western weaponry in Ukraine.
Odesa strike
Russia continues to launch missiles, drones and bombs at cities across Ukraine.
At least four people were killed and 27 injured in a Russian missile strike on residential buildings and “civil infrastructure” in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Monday, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging site.
Drawn-out Ukrainian efforts to mobilise more troops, and the belated building of battlefield fortifications, are other factors undermining Ukraine’s war effort, military analysts say.
Nick Reynolds, a research fellow for land warfare at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said the war “is still largely an artillery duel”.
He said he did not expect to see major movement of the front lines in the near term, but that “the conditions are being set for which side has military advantage at the front line … [and] the Russian military is in a better position at the moment.
“When we see one side or the other being in a position to move the front line, at some stage, manoeuvre will be restored to the battlefield,” Reynolds told the Associated Press news agency.
“Not in the next few weeks, maybe not even in the next few months. But it will happen.”
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
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News / Russia / Editor’s Choice
Russia’s Navalny did not die on Putin’s order: US intelligence
Monday, 29 April 2024 2:43 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 29 April 2024 3:13 PM ]
This picture taken on February 2, 2021 shows Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny during a case hearing at a courtroom in Moscow, Russia. (File photo by AFP)
Russia’s opposition figure Alexei Navalny did not die upon an order by President Vladimir Putin, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing US intelligence officials familiar with the matter.
President Joe Biden of the United States had claimed shortly after Navalny’s death in February that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Biden had said Putin was ultimately responsible for the opposition figure’s death in prison. However, Biden did not directly accuse the Russian president of ordering Navalny’s elimination.
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies in prison: State media
A jailed western-backed opposition leader dies in prison in northern Russia.
Media outlets on Saturday reported that US intelligence agencies did not dispute Putin’s culpability in Navalny’s death, but had concluded that the Russian president probably did not order his death at the time.
The finding was “broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department’s intelligence unit”, the Wall Street Journal cited an anonymous source as saying.
Putin, himself, had described the death of Navalny in prison as an “unfortunate incident”.
He said before Navalny’s untimely death he had agreed to release him in exchange for Russian prisoners held by the West.
Navalny, who had recently organized some of the biggest anti-government protests in Russia, was sentenced to 19 years in prison after a Russian court found him guilty in 2021 of creating an “extremist” community, financing “terrorist” activities, and various other crimes, including fraud.
The 47-year-old had been a long-time critic of Putin, campaigning against the ruling United Russia Party, making repeated allegations of corruption in high ranks.
Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:
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Interfax says Russian forces capture village in Donetsk
Sunday, 28 April 2024 3:24 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 28 April 2024 3:24 PM ]
A woman gestures before a damaged apartment hit by recent shelling of Ukrainian forces in Russian-controlled Donetsk, on April 26, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Russian forces have gained control of another village in Donetsk as the Ukrainian leader pleads once more to his Western partners to provide Kiev with more arms and munitions to stop Moscow’s continuous victories.
The Interfax news agency on Sunday cited Russia’s defense ministry as saying Novobakhmutivka, a village in eastern Ukraine close to Ocheretyne, has come under the control of Russian troops. The village had been a focal point of fierce fighting in recent days.
Ukraine says ‘fierce’ fighting underway with Russian troops in Avdiivkahttps://t.co/AFo1lSOwvw— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) February 16, 2024
It added that Russian troops also repelled a series of Ukrainian counter-attacks near Chasiv Yar, another key point in the region where the sides have clashed repeatedly.
Russian troops have made notable gains in the eastern Donetsk region over the last week, demonstrating Russia’s advantage in manpower and ammunition on the battlefield.
On Saturday, Russian troops managed to drive “deep” into Ukrainian defensive lines in Donetsk.
“As the result of active operations, the ‘Center’ troop unit liberated the village of Novobakhmutivka in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” Russia’s defense ministry said in its daily battlefield briefing.
Novobakhmutivka is about 10 kilometers north of Avdiivka, which Russia captured in February.
Earlier this week, a source close to Ukraine’s armed forces, blamed the leaders of Ukrainian units in the area for the “collapse of defenses throughout the region, causing considerable losses.”
Russia noted that the Ukrainian military commanders had conceded that the Kiev forces had deteriorated while Russian troops were achieving “tactical successes” in the area.
Earlier this month, Ukraine’s head of intelligence at the ministry of defense, Kyrylo Budanov, said the battlefield situation was likely to worsen for Ukraine around mid-May to early June.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated his pleas to his Western allies to further support him by providing more arms and munitions for Kiev’s forces to fight against Russian troops.
US announces $6 billion military aid for Ukraine amid massive strikes
Kiev is awaiting the arrival of billions of dollars in US weapons, which it hopes will help boost its forces fighting against the Russian troops.
Last week, Washington approved a new aid package as it continues to provide US military support to Ukraine.
Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:
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