- “Labour MP shares post saying Kemi Badenoch is ‘blackface of white supremacy’” – Labour MP Dawn Butler shared a social media post accusing Kemi Badenoch of representing “white supremacy in blackface”, reports the Telegraph.
- “Rise of Kemi Badenoch – from childhood in Nigeria to leader of the Conservative Party” – Kemi Badenoch is the first black woman to lead a major political party and the first major party leader to identify as a “first generation immigrant”, says the Telegraph.
- “This is a seismic moment. Kemi must reunite the Right – or we are doomed” – The challenge will be winning over voters attracted by an angrier style while still looking like a Prime Minister in waiting, suggests Daniel Hannan in the Telegraph.
- “Kemi Badenoch’s New Toryism” – The newly installed party leader is fighting to save a lost Britain, argues Tom McTague in UnHerd.
- “Finally, a leader who’s willing to fight the culture war” – Kemi Badenoch is the anti-Kamala, just the breath of fresh air the Western world needed, says Spiked‘s Brendan O’Neill.
- “J.K. Rowling praises Badenoch’s ‘brains and bravery’ on women’s rights” – J.K. Rowling has praised Kemi Badenoch’s “brains and bravery” in standing up for women’s rights after Mrs Badenoch was unveiled as the new Conservative leader, reports the Telegraph.
- “Why would I, or anyone else, ever trust the Tories again? Their brand is broken” – The sense of betrayal felt by millions of 2019 voters will not be undone by a new leader, argues Nigel Farage in the Telegraph.
- “James Cleverly says he won’t serve on Tory front bench under new leader… with Jeremy Hunt and ex-deputy PM Oliver Dowden also stepping aside” – Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly has joined other ex-Ministers in ruling out serving in Kemi’s team, reports the Mail.
- “The new Conservatives: who might get the top jobs as new leader Kemi Badenoch begins her project of reviving beaten party” – Kemi has just 120 Conservative MPs from which to form a shadow team to hold Labour to account, and a number of former Ministers have pre-emptively said no, says the Mail.
- “Reform U.K.’s by-election upset threatens Labour and Tories” – The residents of Bilston North, a ward in the West Midlands, have just elected their first Reform U.K. councillor, with the party coming from nowhere to win 35% of the vote after Labour crashed from 63% to 25%, reports Peter Franklin in UnHerd.
- “Revealed: Rachel Reeves’s £74k rental income – after she hammered landlords in her Budget” – The Chancellor receives £6,000 a month in rental income on top of her six-figure salary despite hitting landlords in her Budget, the Telegraph reveals.
- “How Labour lied to Britain’s farmers” – Labour watered down tax relief for farmers despite the party promising not to do so before the election, the Telegraph reports.
- “Rachel Reeves was going after dukes. She may kill farming instead” – In the Times, Jeremy Clarkson says he rarely writes angry, but Rachel Reeves has forced him to make an exception.
- “This inheritance tax outrage exposes the shameless hypocrisy of the Left” – Leftists claim to deplore the “unearned wealth” of inheritance, but the assortment of benefit scroungers, illegal immigrants and loony councillors they love to hand taxpayer money over to haven’t earned it either, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
- “How Reeves’s Budget has sown the seeds for Labour’s destruction” – Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to plunder the private sector to expand the public realm is a huge risk – to him and the country, argue Sam Ashworth-Hayes and Annabel Denham in the Telegraph.
- “Migrants still being housed in hotels despite Labour manifesto promise” – The Government is continuing to house asylum seekers in hotels despite Labour’s manifesto pledge not to, reports the Telegraph.
- “Britain’s staggering productivity crisis explains so many of our woes” – How is it possible that the public sector is no more productive today than it was in 1996, before the internet took off, wonders Matt Ridley in the Telegraph.
- “How wokeness could cost the Democrats the election” – Identitarian activists are the Achilles’ heel of the Democratic machine, says Joel Kotkin in Spiked.
- “The stunning gender gap between Trump and Harris laid bare by poll” – If 2016 was the education election, when voters divided depending on whether or not they had been to college, then 2024 is shaping up to be a battle of the sexes, says the Mail.
- “Why I’m voting for Donald J. Trump” – Alex Berenson swallows his pride, holds his nose, and admits he is going to cast his vote for Trump.
- “J.D. Vance Slams The Surveillance State, Government Backdoors” – During an appearance on the Tim Dillon podcast, J.D. Vance said it was “crazy” that, thanks to America’s addiction to spying on its own citizens, the country is “creating a backdoor in our own technology networks that our enemies are now using”, reports Reclaim the Net.
- “Revealed: What caused that ‘MAGA hat’ fight on BA flight” – Former model Antonia Harman was attacked on a BA flight for being a Trump supporter – yet she was the one removed, reports the Mail.
- “Watch: Pro-Palestine activists steal busts of Israel’s first President from Manchester University” – Pro-Palestinian protesters seized sculptures of Israel’s first President as part of a spate of anti-Israel vandalism attacks on buildings around the U.K. to mark the 107th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the Telegraph reports.
- “Teacher suspended after saying mastermind of October 7th attack was a martyr” – A teacher at a specialist school has been suspended after describing the mastermind of the October 7th attacks as a martyr and posting online that “killing Zionists is an act of worship”, the Telegraph reports.
- “BBC newsroom is ‘out of control’, says former Director of Television in report on antisemitic bias” – The BBC newsroom is “out of control” in its anti-Israel bias, its former Director of Television Danny Cohen has said, the Telegraph reports.
- “Putin is creating the conditions for Russian victory in Ukraine” – Whoever wins the U.S. Presidential election, they will inherit a war in Ukraine that requires their urgent attention to prevent a Russian victory that would transform the geopolitical landscape, writes Mykola Bielieskov for the Atlantic Council.
- “Research shows decline in out-of-home activities since pandemic” – Compared with just before the COVID-19 pandemic, people are spending nearly an hour less a day doing activities outside the home, behaviour that researchers say is a lasting consequence of the pandemic, reports Phys.org.
- “Idaho Health Board First in U.S. to Defy CDC and FDA by Removing Covid Vaccines From Clinics” – Idaho’s Southwest District Health became the first in the U.S. to no longer offer COVID-19 vaccines after its board voted four-three last week to pull the shots from the 30 locations where it provides healthcare services, reports the Defender.
- “National Trust pushes through vegan overhaul of cafes despite membership backlash” – The National Trust has voted through a vegan overhaul of its 300 cafes, committing to make 50% of the produce at them plant-based, despite a backlash among its members over the adoption of “progressive causes”, reports the Telegraph.
- “Year 2024 Global Northern Hemisphere Hurricane Season is Clearly Below ‘Normal’ Despite all the Alarmist Hype focused on the North Atlantic” – For all the hype, the North Atlantic hurricane season was far from being a record high, and the broader Northern Hemisphere hurricane season was well below average, says Larry Hamlin in WUWT.
- “University reported to watchdog after vice-Chancellor ‘pushed out for holding Right-wing views’” – The higher education watchdog has been urged by the Free Speech Union to investigate a “political” campaign to oust Buckingham University’s Vice-Chancellor for being too “Right-wing”, reports the Telegraph.
- “We need to talk about Southport” – The state wants to protect us from reality, says Ben Cobley in UnHerd.
- “Southport: why the public must not be silenced” – The information vacuum allowed wild speculation and conspiracy theories to flourish, says Luke Gittos in Spiked.
- “Cambridge doesn’t need a ‘behaviour code’ – academic life is much too boring” – Why do reasonably intelligent and civilised adults have to be exposed to these kinds of demeaning and infantile admonitions, asks Robert Tombs in the Telegraph.
- “Schools face being marked down for taking in too many middle-class children” – Schools face being marked down for taking on too many middle-class pupils and not taking their “fair share” from disadvantaged backgrounds under plans being considered by Ofsted, the Mail reports.
- “Protesters secretly fit slave trader plaque in church” – Protesters in Falmouth surreptitiously mounted a brass plaque beneath a memorial in a church rebuking a 17th-century parishioner for his role in the slave trade, reports the Telegraph.
- “Russell Brand faces being charged with historic sex offences” – Scotland Yard has asked the Crown Prosecution Service to consider bringing charges against Russell Brand, reports the Mail.
- “Zombie Traffic Light: The German Government teeters once again on the brink of collapse, but in truth it is already dead” – The terminally unpopular “traffic light” coalition Government of Germany needs to be put out of its misery, says Eugyppius. But it won’t be.
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All the right people seem to be ruling themselves out of KB’s shadow ministry. A good sign.
It would have been better for the Tories if they had stayed silent but still not been called. As it is they will be the core of the next campaign to unseat the party leader.
when you consider how many Tory MPs are Rejoiners, globalists and secret LibDems I wonder if she can form a shadow cabinet.
Perhaps it reflects a clash between the MPs and the Party members, looking at the results.
“She claims: ‘Russell [Brand] engaged in the behaviours of a groomer but I didn’t know what that was back then”. It’s OK, neither did the police.
Nor did Sir Kneel while Director of Public Prosecutions !
“This is a seismic moment. Kemi must reunite the Right – or we are doomed”
As her first action as LOTO was to go to a WEF meeting, I suspect that Kemi is the controlled opposition. She is an impressive person, but her actions in Government didn’t impress me. She seemed content with being a minister without actually doing much, and she has a tendency for ‘whataboutery’ in debate. The final thing to say is that there are too many people who will never ever trust the Tories or whatever they rename themselves as, to win another majority. Its wishful thinking, a nostalgic fantasy in the memory of Mrs T’s governments, who love them or hate them, got on and did stuff of merit.
80 Seat Majority !!! They had it all & now they want it back , they have no chance & by squandering what they had we’ve got Starmers bag of SH1T ! F-ck em !!!!!!….
National Trust pushes through vegan overhaul of cafes despite membership backlash”
We went to IKEA the other day, and after the torture of the guided pathway past thousands of products we had no interest in, we reached the restaurant. When the kids were small, it was a bit of a treat, along with the slide in the kids department, that made the rest worth while. However it is now also a haven for dry, tasteless ‘plant-based’ food, more suited to guinea pigs and people with purple hair. Our choices are being eroded to no benefit other than stroking the fur of the insane virtue signalling left.
Killing Coal is Killing Britain – latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, your new MP, your local vicar, online media and friends online. Start a local campaign. We have over 200 leaflet ideas on the link on the leaflet.
This belief that all Labour and Conservative politicians somehow become ‘WEF puppets” at some point in their lives is a kind of religion, just as woke is a kind of religion.
We need politicians like Kemi who are free from both these religions.
Where was she last night..? Ah yes a WEF conference. I’m afraid you discount the WEF as a talking shop at your peril. They are real, and have membership (indoctrination) programmes, and although I doubt they get memo’s from Klaus or sit in staged conference rooms like ‘SPECTRE’, I know this. They went to the same Universities, their kids go to the same schools, their interests align. They all know what’s good for them. Its a big club, and we ‘aint in it…
Unlike Christian religions, both these religions – the woke religion and the “all Labour and Conservative politicians are WEF puppets” religion – share the doctrine that there should be no forgiveness, not only for anyone who disagrees with their beliefs and opinions, but also for anyone who ever disagreed with these beliefs and opinions.
Hence the “all Labour and Conservative politicians are WEF puppets” believers cannot forgive Kemi for at one time, three years ago, being deceived into believing that the Covid vaccines were safe, just like many of their own loved ones were deceived. What Kemi believes now is unimportant to them, because she can never be forgiven for what she believed in the past.
It’s not just a question of “forgiveness” – it’s about trust. “Covid” presented a key test of the mettle of our leadership – they all failed. Also I am not an expert on these matters but doesn’t forgiveness first require repentance? I’ve seen no sign of that from Badenoch or any of the others – De Santis and Bridgen spring to mind as exceptions.
I agree that one should not be dogmatically quick in dismissing people as “WEF puppets” just because they have attended WEF meetings – but I think it’s true to say that most mainstream political leaders in most countries are either committed to some kind of “globalism” or at least pretend to be publicly – it’s in their mindset.
Specifically, tof, in what way do you think Kemi should have “repented”? What should she have said or done that would have been sufficient “repentance” for to forgive her for being deceived in the way most people were deceived?
Have you forgiven the people close to you who were deceived, friends, loved ones, family, and did they “repent” before you forgave them?
There is a key difference between the people close to me who chose to get “vaccinated” and Badenoch – they were not in government, she was. They did not push the “vaccines” onto other people, or vote for vaxx passports, or spend billions of public money on them, or an advertising campaign for them. There’s a difference between falling for something and pushing it on other people.
Repentance would look like De Santis or Bridgen – admit you were wrong and put energy into righting your wrongs as best you can.
As far as Badenoch in general goes, and the Tory party for that matter, they always talk a good fight but their record in office is not to my liking. I actually don’t think it ever can be because there simply isn’t enough support among their voter base for the policies I believe we need. But I’m a horrible racist, fascist, far-right conspiracy theorist anti-vaxxer, so very few people care what I think.
Seconded
Is that you Mr Elwood
Out on the street I was talkin’ to a man
He said “there’s so much of this life of mine that I don’t understand”
You shouldn’t worry I said that ain’t no crime
Cause if you get it wrong you’ll get it right next time, next time.
You need direction, yeah you need a name
When you’re standing in the crossroads every highway looks the same
After a while you can recognize the signs
So if you get it wrong you’ll get it right next time, next time.
Life is a liar yeah life is a cheat
It’ll lead you on and pull the ground from underneath your feet
No use complainin’, don’t you worry, don’t you whine
Cause if you get it wrong you’ll get it right next time, next time.
You gotta grow, you gotta learn by your mistakes
You gotta die a little everyday just to try to stay awake
When you believe there’s no mountain you can climb
And if you get it wrong you’ll get it right next time, next time.
https://youtu.be/nMOfBvuSNPs?si=GnBNEQaQEDdLRogF
I enjoyed that!
Politicians not actively campaigning against globalism and talking down the likes of the WEF must not be trusted. And you are right tof, where is the repentance?
100%
Heritage Party, Freedom Alliance and Alliance for Democracy & Freedom all have clear policies on this.
I don’t understand why you are calling these beliefs ‘religions’. Religion requires you to surrender your free will to a ‘higher power or being’ whether that is a bearded man in a long robe, or the Sun or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The WEF have rejected God and made themselves the most important thing. They are PLAYING God. They have assumed the mantle of the Almighty to judge and punish others.
The key element of Christianity is forgiveness. Where is forgiveness and tolerance in ‘Woke’.? I am happy to forgive Kemi for what she believed in the past unless she still believes it. She is free to believe what she will, but I will have to see admission and restitution in order to forgive those sins. Even St Peter had to be regretful of denying Christ three times. See the difference.?
“Religion requires you to surrender your free will to a ‘higher power or being’ whether that is a bearded man in a long robe, or the Sun or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.“
You have a very narrow understanding of religion.
“The key element of Christianity is forgiveness. Where is forgiveness and tolerance in ‘Woke’.?“
Why are you asking me that question after I’ve already said:
‘Unlike Christian religions, both these religions – the woke religion and the “all Labour and Conservative politicians are WEF puppets” religion – share the doctrine that there should be no forgiveness…’
So because Kemi went to the same university as some people in an organisation you don’t trust, you think that means Kemi has been indoctrinated by that organisation?
Because she goes to a conference, you think she believes everything she hears at that conference?
NeilParkin is painting a picture of what groupthink looks like- seems pretty normal and plausible to me. Of course it doesn’t necessarily follow- we’re not daft.
Attending conferences of CPGB used to ring bells at MI5 and for good reason.
If KB had active political antennae she would have stayed away. She could have said she was too busy assembling a shadow cabinet, sorting out CCHQ, whatever.
She could have said it was inappropriate for a newly elected leader to attend whose main campaign issue was changing the Tory Party. Going to rub shoulders (or whatever dodgy recognition sign they have) was a mistake; it is a group widy vilified by those who like freedom, nation and hate globalism.
Just because you want to attend a conference doesn’t mean you agree with or believe everything you hear at that conference.
They are though ! Bent as a nine Bob note ! Practically all of them !
Putin is creating the conditions for Russian victory in Ukraine
What does ‘Russian victory’ mean?
What, exactly, is the point of a totalitarian fascist country invading a neighbouring country?
The answer is clear: imperialist expansionism.
Why?
‘Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, the survivors of the devastation of their hometowns. These Ukrainians — predominantly Slavic, primarily Christian, Russian speaking, and ground through filtration camps — can guarantee Putin the increase in population that he failed to achieve during his rule, with minimal state investment.’
‘The amendments to the citizenship law also allow Putin to expand the categories of people eligible for simplified acquisition of citizenship, including “citizens of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Ukraine.” The inclusion of these many other countries marks out the horizons of the Kremlin’s imperialist ambitions.’
Russian political subversion activity in Moldova and Georgia reinforces the point.
And it is a sinister point; a warning to (Eastern and Central, mainly (!)) Europe.
‘This war has thus become a testing ground for the Kremlin in creating new tools of population management. It is developing a new type of bio-political imperialism to manage the crisis in social reproduction. In granting and depriving citizenship, it is possible to expand Russia’s borders and its political influence, while also cleansing the internal population in the interest of creating an obedient and silent army of workers, soldiers, and future mothers.’
But it is not working:
‘Although 303,786 Ukrainians acquired Russian citizenship in 2022, this number is lower than the previous year (375,989). The change may point to Ukrainians’ resistance to taking up Russian citizenship but may also be related to the slow pace of bureaucracy or exclusion of people from the occupied territories from the database. We cannot know. But we do know that this low number (is) opposite to what was expected, given claims that there are some five million forcefully displaced Ukrainians.’
Cunning plans hatched in ivory towers (like, say, UK budgets) rarely do and Russia is holed below the waterline:
Last week, Russian interest rates were lifted by two percentage points to 21%, a record high.
‘There is no 20 percent profitability anywhere. Maybe in the drug trade, but even the sale of weapons does not bring such a profit.
‘It is simply not profitable for enterprises to use borrowed funds, as I have already said many times. It is just that if we continue to work like this, then practically the majority of enterprises will go bankrupt.’
Sergey Chemezov, CEO, state-owned Rostec, the biggest producer of Russian arms
Apologists for Chamberlain say that his appeasement bought Britain time to re-arm.
Apologists for the European leaders of 2022 will no doubt say the same thing.
Meanwhile the U.S. (Chinese) strategy of weakening Russia so that it can no longer invade its neighbours is a great success:
‘Adopting an approach that aims to ensure Ukraine’s resistance through 2025 not only undermines the Kremlin’s theory of victory but also provides sufficient time to establish a rational mobilisation and training process for the AFU such that it can begin to qualitatively outmatch Russian forces, even if the latter continue to increase in overall size. This is critical to building opportunities to continue to threaten Russia’s position and thereby force Russia not just to seek negotiations, but to actually negotiate an end to the war on terms favourable to Ukraine. Now is not the time to comply with the Kremlin’s understanding of the war’s trajectory.’
Ergo: Russia cannot win, in any meaningful sense. Totalitarian fascist dictators never do in the long run. You would have thought that they might have got the hang of that by now.
Just who is responsible for displacing millions of Ukrainians? Russia or USA?
Who is even now shovelling millions of dollars and endless military equipment to a country’s ex-President, just to keep a hopeless war going at the cost of thousands of Ukrainian lives?
All Russia has ever wanted was that Ukraine not join NATO. Why should that be a problem? What has Ukraine got to do with the North Atlantic? Why could the West not keep its word by NATO not expanding “One inch eastward”? Why must NATO continually expand? Is it perhaps simply to keep the money rolling into the MIC, as well as rewarding globalists for their past services (Rutte being an excellent example)?
Since the unprovoked attacks of the Banderite Ukrainian troops on their fellow citizens in eastern Ukraine before and after 2014, Russia has also demanded de-nazification of their military. Why should that be a problem?
And the West had its chance of peace in April 2022 in Istanbul when our glorious Boris passed on the message from USA that a peace was not desired, and that idiot actor, Zelensky, thought he could play the hero.
And 300,000 Ukrainians seeking Russian citizenship every year? What does that tell you?
And on the subject of subversion, what happened to the recounted votes in Georgia? Strange there have been no reports contradicting the Georgian Dream party’s win. But we had Ursula von der Leyen demanding that Georgians be masters of their own destiny:
“The people of Georgia have been striving and fighting for democracy. They have a right to know what happened this weekend and they have a right to see that electoral irregularities are investigated swiftly, transparently and independently. Georgians, like all Europeans, must be the masters of their own destiny.”
We also had the typical threats from USA, from Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US Dept. of State:
“We do not rule out further consequences if the Georgian government’s direction does not change,” he said, urging Tbilisi to start “withdrawing and repealing anti-democratic legislation”.
Both these demands were placed before any recounts, i.e. assuming the Georgian electoral commission had counted incorrectly. On what basis were these assumptions made and by whom? Certainly not by Russia!
Putin has clearly stated he regards Ukrainians as fellow Slavs and so have his soldiers who see their fight as an existential war against the West. One hypersonic missile aimed at Kiev could have solved the problem ages ago but Putin has no desire to destroy a beautiful city. His fight is with us, not with the Ukrainians.
Look at the areas now under Russian control in eastern Ukraine after two and a half years of fighting. If Russia had any interest whatsoever in conquering western Europe, as you declare on an almost daily basis, we would have noticed it a long time ago.
‘We can understand this imperialism in its connection with social reproduction — the replenishment of the Russian population itself.’
‘The Kremlin uses forcefully displaced Ukrainians to refill the population pool with educated, predominantly Slavic, Russian-speaking new citizens.
‘In this sense, the kidnapping of Ukrainian children is only the tip of the iceberg of the demographic politics of this war. It is crucial that any conversation about postwar justice makes visible and heard these millions of Ukrainians who have been displaced to Russia and forced into Russian citizenship.’
Troublingly, the new manipulations of Russian citizenship reach far beyond Ukrainians alone. The amendments to the citizenship law also allow Putin to expand the categories of people eligible for simplified acquisition of citizenship, including “citizens of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Ukraine.”
The inclusion of these many other countries marks out the horizons of the Kremlin’s imperialist ambitions.’
For the time being.
‘Imperial power, as understood by the Fascist doctrine, is not only territorial, or military, or commercial; it is also spiritual and ethical. An imperial nation, that is to say a nation which directly or indirectly is a leader of others, can exist without the need of conquering a single square mile of territory. Fascism sees in the imperialistic spirit — i.e., in the tendency of nations to expand — a manifestation of their vitality.’
Mussolini 1932
‘Conventional superiority in Europe, could lead to temptations that even the traditionally conservative Soviet regime might find hard to resist.
Of equal concern to the West is the political leverage and freedom of action this condition would provide (Russia) in other areas of the world.
An Atlantic community paralyzed by its military inferiority in Europe could only wring its hands as (Russian) power and influence moved unimpeded into the so-called Third World, portions of which provide the materials upon which the industrial, economic, and social health of the industrial West depend.
In essence, we would have a situation in which the West, in tactical terms, is “pinned down” in Europe, while growing Russian…..surrogates slowly but not imperceptibly isolate its Atlantic adversaries.
So, even if one believes that an attack on Western Europe is not a very likely scenario, the growing strength of the (Russian) Army in Eastern Europe cannot be viewed without a certain uneasiness. For that Army not only serves the Russians…..security interests, but it also exercises an influence on the Atlantic Community that could be in the long run as fatal as naked aggression.’
DeWitt Smith
Putin well understands this.
Poland, Finland, Sweden, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and the Baltic States now understand it as well.
As for the rest…..not so much………
What would we do without our daily quotes from Mussolini and DeWitt?
Again, name one Ukrainian child that has been kidnapped by Russia. There are none. If there were, that would be a criminal offence which the Russian police would also pursue.
You perceive an increasingly sized Russian army as a threat but the world’s dominant US Army is not a threat? Ask any Iraqi, Afghani, Libyan, Syrian, Vietnamese, and so on, what they think of that.
If you wish to secure access to “materials upon which the industrial, economic, and social health of the industrial West depend” then nobody is stopping you. Ask politely and pay properly and adequately, and you will be happily served the world over. Ask at the point of a weapon and you may receive what you want, but at the cost of never-ending conflict.
Since February last year, Russia has accepted about 4.8 million residents of Ukraine and the Donbass republics, including more than 700,000 children, the vast majority of whom arrived with their parents or other relatives, according to a report by Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
Sasha Radchuck, then 11, pleaded with Russian soldiers not to separate him from his mother at what was called a “filtration camp” in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine, where they had both been forcibly resettled after being forced from their home in besieged Mariupol.
Sasha is not alone. Ilya Matvienko, 11, and 14-year-old Kira Obedinska faced similar horrors in Ukraine. The trio told leaders at the United Nations in New York last week that Russian soldiers took them captive after the siege of Mairupol, and had planned to send them to live with Russian families.
When 15-year-old Sasha Kraynyuk studied the photograph handed to him by Ukrainian investigators, he recognised the boy dressed in Russian military uniform immediately.
The teenager sitting at a school desk has the Z-mark of Russia’s war emblazoned on his right sleeve, coloured in the red, white and blue of the Russian flag.
But the boy’s name is Artem, and he’s Ukrainian.
Sasha and Artem were among 13 children taken from their own school in Kupyansk, north-eastern Ukraine last September by armed Russian soldiers in balaclavas. Ushered onto a bus with shouts of “Quickly!”, they then disappeared for weeks without trace.
When the children, who all have special educational needs, were finally allowed to call home, it was from much deeper inside Russian-occupied territory.
To get them back, their relatives were forced to make gruelling journeys across thousands of miles into the country that has declared war on them. Only eight of the children have been returned from Perevalsk so far and Artem was one of the last, collected by his mother just this spring.
“Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova…….allegedly responsible for a war crime, which consists of the illegal deportation of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/17/vladimir-putin-war-crimes-icc-arrest-warrant-ukraine-children
Reports from https://tass.com/:
19th February: Russia has handed 11 children over to Ukraine through Qatar’s mediation. The family reunion took place at the Qatari Embassy in Moscow … “Today we handed over 11 children, this is the largest group, each has its own story,” Lvova-Belova said. “There are two children with disabilities. I want to express my great gratitude to the Qatari Embassy, to you personally for organizing the process.”
21st March: Russia, through the mediation of Qatar, handed over six children to the Ukrainian side. The reunion with the families took place at the Qatari Embassy in Moscow … The work is being carried out on behalf of the Russian President, Lvova-Belova noted. According to her, one of the children is returning to relatives in Russia. “In total, 64 children have already returned to Ukraine, 6 have reunited with relatives in Russia,” she said.
17th April: Kiev claims over 160 children believed to ‘have been taken to Russia’ found in Germany. “Thanks to our cooperation with Germany’s law enforcement agencies, the whereabouts of 161 Ukrainian children have been located in Germany,” … The Kiev authorities claim that Russia allegedly “illegally relocates” Ukrainian children from the conflict area. President Vladimir Putin pointed out that the Russian authorities were lawfully getting children out of the conflict zone, saving their lives and health, and never opposed their reunification with families.
23rd April: 37 Russian, Ukrainian children receive treatment in Qatar. As part of the program, the families affected by the conflict will receive all necessary medical assistance, including psychological.
24th April: Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova has held first face-to-face talks with Ukrainian counterparts concerning the return of children, which is mediated by Qatar, she told journalists. “During today’s meeting, we discussed the up-to-date lists on which we are working. They include 29 children living in Russia, and we are working so that they can reunite with their relatives in Ukraine. In addition, I asked to help return to Russia 19 children who are in Ukraine or ended up in the EU for various reasons,” said Lvova-Belova, as quoted by her press service.
22nd May: Russia has reunited six Ukrainian children with their families in coordination with Qatar …
31st May: Children from Ukraine ended up on the Russian territory because they were rescued from shelling and evacuated from the war zone, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. In this context, the president asked whether Russian children were being returned to the country. “Are our children coming back from abroad?” he asked. “Yes, six children [were returned],” Lvova-Belova confirmed. At the same time, she pointed out that “Ukraine is not talking about it.” “Because then it will be immediately clear that this has nothing to do with our aggression and seizure of children, but simply with military actions and family situations,” the human right commissioner explained. Putin also agreed with Lvova-Belova that the children, whose childhood was spent under shelling, have suffered severe psychological trauma. “If they have been sitting in basements since 2014, as you said, then of course this trauma is serious,” the president said.
31st May: Putin describes accusations of ‘abducting’ Ukrainian children as political games … The commissioner told Putin about Ukrainian children who ended up in Russia, saying that 70 of them were ultimately reunited with their relatives in Ukraine. She also said six Russian children returned from Ukraine, but this was not given much spotlight in Kiev because otherwise it would have become clear that the situation is not about “capturing” children, but military operations and certain family circumstances.
And so on …
State control over media in Russia is not new. It can be traced all the way back to 1866 and the creation of the Russian Telegraph Agency (precursor to modern-day TASS). Today, it is just one of many state-run media organizations leveraged by the Kremlin to advance its propaganda.
March 23 2022 (Reuters) – Reuters has removed TASS from its business-to-business marketplace for customers, according to a Reuters message to staff on Wednesday.
The Reuters Trust Principles, created in 1941 amid World War Two, commits Reuters to act with integrity, independence and freedom from bias.
U.S. law enforcement officials believed Tass worked with Russia’s foreign intelligence service to attempt to gather sensitive information on markets and finance from New York City.
According to two Reuters journalists who spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss internal matters, some staff have sought answers from higher-ups about why Reuters continues to distribute Tass via its business-to-business service Reuters Connect, which allows news organizations that pay for the wire service to access and share Tass’ content.
Reuters staff have specifically expressed concern about Tass’ uncritical reporting of information from the Russian government, which critics and media experts say is propaganda.
Oh, sure. All non-Russian newspaper outlets and news organizations are unbiased and free from state interference: Reuters, AFP, DPA, Daily Telegraph, Times? All completely unbiased, of course.
Welcome to the free world!
“As Russia Advances, U.S. Fears Ukraine Has Entered a Grim Phase
Weapons supplies are no longer Ukraine’s main disadvantage, American military officials say.https://www.nytimes.com/by/julian-e-barnes, https://www.nytimes.com/by/eric-schmitt, https://www.nytimes.com/by/helene-cooper, https://www.nytimes.com/by/kim-barker • November 1 at 16:13
American military and intelligence officials have concluded that the war in Ukraine is no longer a stalemate as Russia makes steady gains, and the sense of pessimism in Kyiv and Washington is deepening.”
‘Beijing is very dissatisfied with Pyongyang’s actions, which, in addition to supplying weapons, is now sending military personnel to support Russia in its war with Ukraine.
Beijing does not want to see the war expand further. Russia’s war against Ukraine has clearly demonstrated that China does not want the conflict to escalate to a nuclear level and supports the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity,”
‘If Kamala Harris wins, I think it is not far off, as she has clearly stated the need for lethal weapons from the United States and the importance of Ukraine’s victory over Putin. But this is just my guess. In the end, I am convinced that the permission for Ukraine to use Western missiles to launch deeper strikes on Russian territory will be the result of negotiations.’
Former U.S. Secretary of State Matthew Bryza
“But this is just my guess”. Needn’t say any more.
‘The shrewd guess: the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion – these are the most valuable coins of the thinker at work.’
Jerome Bruner
Who?
For those who struggle with the written word, Jerome Bruner was a pioneer of cognitive psychology and one of the most cited psychologists of the last century.
His insights into this comments section would be extremely interesting.
China indeed wants peace. What is wrong with that? And US extremists want nuclear war. Typical!