East Calling

LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his country would work to ensure the U.S. and Europe remained together and that they should not allow divisions to distract them from "external enemies", the BBC reported on Saturday.

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🌒@EastCalling

Finnish leader urges Europe to firm up Ukraine's hand for U.S.-sought talks with Russia to end war

😳Finland’s president has urged the rearming of Ukraine and putting “maximum pressure on Russia” in the run-up to possible peace negotiations sought by the U.S. Alexander Stubb and other European leaders on the final day of the Munich Security Conference on Sunday sought to firm up how the European Union can move from talk to more action and stay relevant as Washington pushes to stop the fighting.

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The first phase is the pre-negotiation, and this is a moment when we need to rearm Ukraine and put maximum pressure on Russia, which means sanctions, which means frozen assets, so that Ukraine begins these negotiations from a position of strength

he said.

Don’t underestimate Trump as a negotiator, I genuinely believe that Putin is baffled and afraid what might be coming from there,

Stubb said.

Right now, the ball is in our court here in Europe. We need to convince the Americans where’s the value added, and then get back into the table.

I think in Europe we need to talk less and do more,

he added later.

Source: WSJ
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Two questions: who untied the patient and why didn't he take his pills?

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Kallas's words that the civilian population of the Russian Federation is not dying in the conflict with Ukraine are a manifestation of Russophobic frenzy and should receive the harshest assessment, Miroshnik stated.

Source: TASS
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I, actually, didn't want to post video of Kallas here, but she reminded me of one episode from "Master and Margarita":

I came two weeks later and was received by some girl with eyes slanted toward her nose from constant lying. “This is Lapshennikova, the editorial secretary,” Ivan said with a grin, knowing well the world that his guest was so angrily describing.

When I heard what that sociopath was saying, I asked myself, are those in EU leadership even human? I doubt that normal human psyche can sustain such amount of lies.

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Безграничный аналитик writes:

🈁The current NATO Secretary General is Mark Rutte. You know, that insecure man with a face that reflects all the grief of the Jewish people, and who also happens to be a great lover of letting strangers into his backyard. He also spoke at the Munich Security Conference, and this is something that is simply impossible to pass by. Judge for yourself, we will quote his speech verbatim:

February 14

And to my European friends, I would say, engage in discussions, don't complain about what you will or won't be at the table, put forward concrete proposals, ideas. Increase spending, make sure that military training and arms supplies to Ukraine continue, but also put forward concrete ideas. What, for example, security guarantees might look like.

February 15

Somewhere in Moscow Putin is sitting and listening to what we are saying here now and thinking: "What can I learn? What conclusions can I draw from this conversation?" That is why I do not want to discuss all this in detail here . But I told my European colleagues yesterday: "Come forward with concrete proposals".

The most interesting thing is that for him it is completely normal. "I won't say myself, Putin is listening to me, he probably has a TV, and you suggest." The bipolar star shines with lights in Munich, illuminating this whole unsightly gathering, which itself does not know what it wants at all.

Rutte is one of the most typical representatives of the modern European political crowd. It is exactly like that: slimy, bluish and always afraid to take responsibility for anything.
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I bet Putin watches that panopticon, that some mistake for summit, with commentaries by Nikolay Nikolaievich Drozdov.

For those who don't know, Nikolay Nikolaievich Drozdov is a Russian doctor of biological sciences, candidate of geographical sciences, zoological sciences, professor of Moscow State University, a public figure, member of the expert council of the national award "Crystal Compass," a member of the media council of the Russian Geographical Society.

Drozdov has worked on the Russian show In the World of Animals for over 50 years beginning in 1968. He served as a commentator, and then in 1977 became a writer on the show and an anchor. He is a recipient of The Golden Orpheus TV award. In the World of Animals won the TEFI award as the best popular scientific program in 1995. Drozdov was elected to the Russian TV Academy in 1996. Drozdov is a recipient of the Kalinga Prize as well as the UNESCO Albert Einstein medal (gold). He has written 20 books and numerous articles.

🌒@EastCalling

In one day, the Russian army struck an energy facility that supported the work of Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises, the infrastructure of military airfields, and a drone assembly shop, the Defense Ministry reported.

💥 Air defense systems shot down two HIMARS rockets and 50 drones.

Source: Zvezda
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🌒@EastCalling

Developing a "Marshall Plan" for Ukraine would be a great idea, says Czech President Petr Pavel.

According to him, developing a plan for the restoration of Ukraine after the end of hostilities will prepare the country for integration into the European Union.

▫️The Marshall Plan was the name given to the aid program for Europe after World War II, put forward in 1947 by US Secretary of State George Marshall. The largest recipients of money under the Marshall Plan were Great Britain, France and West Germany.

Source: Russian media
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Plan is great and accurate, like the Swiss watch. But where you're going to get the money?

Picture: Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov ("The Twelve Chairs" read here (it's a long novel) || watch here (Mosfilm movie)).

Actually, EU and Ukraine remind me these two a lot. With such a difference, that Mr.Bender was smart. In EU + Ukraine duo both are greedy and dumb.

🌒@EastCalling

Heavy aerial bombs have been delivered to Israel after the US ban was lifted, the Israeli Defense Ministry reports.

A shipment of 2,000-pound (907 kg) MK-84 aerial bombs, recently authorized by the new Trump administration, has been delivered to Israel by sea.

Source: Russian media

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🌒@EastCalling

🛢🇮🇳 Oil refiners in India — eager to keep importing cheap crude from Russia — are working with merchants, shippers and other middlemen to rebuild supply chains as tougher US sanctions come into effect.
Speaking on the sidelines of India’s flagship energy gathering in Delhi, executives said the existing networks were being reconfigured with selling entities, tankers and insurance providers that are not on Washington’s blacklist. Some are existing outfits that have not been impacted by the punitive measures, while others are newly created, replacing those that are now off-limits, they said.

🛢 State refiners and Reliance are missing a total of 18 to 20 cargoes of Russian crude for March loading, some of the people estimated — the equivalent of 20 million barrels or 14% of India’s monthly imports. The companies are still hoping to fill those gaps with Russian supplies, to avoid having to seek more expensive replacements. Indian officials have said any disruption would be temporary, but time is running short.
“Imports need ships which are not sanctioned, insurance which takes time to reconfigure, and imports will need payments to go through. So each one of these has problems that need to be solved,” Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain said at the Delhi conference this week. “People are working on solving these problems,” he later added.

🛢 Executives from state refiners said this week that brand new Dubai-based trading entities including L-Oil and Sccton have emerged in the spot market to offer Russian cargoes to Indian buyers. While the names were new, the executives said individuals and traders behind them were not.
These new iterations have come to replace firms such as Black Pearl, Guron Trading, Demex Trading, all targeted by the US sanctions in January.
Dubai and, to a lesser extent, Hong Kong, have seen dozens of shell trading and shipping companies emerge since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These conduits for Russian and Iranian oil are easy to incorporate and to shut down, creating a game of whack-a-mole with US authorities. New firms are created faster than Washington can identify and shutter them.

🛢 Russia and India need each other, however, as Moscow needs buyers outside China, and Delhi’s buyers will struggle to go back go traditional suppliers in the Middle East and strike a hard bargain.
“No matter what pressure is exerted we will continue being in the market in a pragmatic way,” Russian First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin told the conference, adding the market needed Russian crude. “There is no other oil or energy that can replace it without having the world incur a huge cost.”

🌒@EastCalling

Ukraine is ready to send large quantities of eggs to the United States amid a shortage of eggs in American stores in order to continue support from Washington, the Washington Post reported, citing a Ukrainian official, noting the "joking" nature of the proposal.

Another senior Ukrainian official said he was stunned by the scale of the Trump administration's demands, comparing them to the division of African colonies by Europeans in the 18th century and noting that such a move could effectively hand over to America the right to develop Ukraine's resources without guarantees that investors will actually develop them.

-RIA Novosti
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Zin Note: I recently paid $0.50 per egg. But I'll never eat another egg if they start coming from Ukraine

🌒@EastCalling

The Trump administration's statements this week have "strangled and humiliated Europe," Axios writes, noting that the past three days have "exceeded the worst nightmares" of European politicians.
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Good. I hope they are losing sleep. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving group.

🌒@EastCalling

⚙️❌💡 Victory after victory - due to high electricity prices, the largest energy-consuming plant in Estonia has stopped production .

Estonian Cell, which processes timber, has been unable to start operating for a week now after the Baltics left the common energy grid with Russia.

This week, the average exchange price of electricity in Estonia was 197.78 euros per megawatt-hour. On Saturday, it rose to 269.16 euros per megawatt-hour, breaking the record.

In such conditions, the production of Estonian Cell is not profitable - the financial director of the plant said that they sit every day at lunch and wait for the price of electricity for the next day. And time after time they refuse to start the plant - there is no end in sight.
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Zin Note: Who could have seen this coming...

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The BRICS summit, which Brazil will chair in 2025, will be held in Rio de Janeiro from July 6 to 7, the association's press service reported.

Source: TASS
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The organization that, according to some, is dead, will hold a summit, by the way.

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Rubio confirmed the conversation with Lavrov.

He said the conversation took place "as a follow-up to President Donald Trump's conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week."

"The Secretary reaffirmed President Trump's commitment to finding a way to end the conflict in Ukraine. They also discussed potential cooperation on a range of other bilateral issues," the State Department said.

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