🇮🇪 Chay Bowes, The Irishman in Russia 🇷🇺

Who needs The Onion when we live in a surreal timeline that is often stranger than fiction:

🇬🇪 The current President of Georgia (who was born in Paris and served as the French ambassador to Georgia) calls for protests and social unrest in Georgia, and for Western countries to back such protests.

This paradoxical situation raises the question whether the French-born President of Georgia has read her job description in Georgia's Constitution, which defines the presidential office as "the guarantor of the country's unity and national independence".

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/world/2024/10/28/georgias-president-urges-west-back-protests-against-governing-party-after-claims-election-win/75890102007/

Cont'd:
"Even though the world’s economic and demographic centre of gravity has shifted eastwards, voting power in these financial institutions remains disproportionately in the West’s favour, much to the BRICS’s irritation."

"Although the Russian economy has slowed, the efforts to smash it have failed, not least because so many countries continue to buy its oil and gas. It still faces difficulties because so many payments are linked to the dollar. Putin aims to break US Treasury dominance by creating an alternative cross-border settlement system that does not involve any of the G7 currencies. That will render sanctions, already lacking in bite, worthless," Johnston concludes. He is right about the outcome, but incorrectly ascribes malevolent intentions to BRICS. BRICS members at the summit explained that they did not set out to belligerently fight the USD and Western settlement systems, but that being unilaterally cut off from such Western services, or facing such risk, leaves them no choice but to create alternative systems between themselves.

"The one saving grace is that the BRICS contain some odd bedfellows, never likely to agree on anything, notably China and India," Johnston declares triumphantly. "Egypt and Ethiopia are unlikely to see eye to eye either, nor Saudi Arabia and Iran. Unlike the G7 of industrialised nations, enmities ancient and modern will probably scupper Putin’s aggrandising ambitions," Johnston muses, unironically hailing the famously age-old, unshakeable friendship between Western G7 countries like Britain, Germany, France, Japan and the U.S. For as we all know, these G7 (de)industrialising nations are not "odd bedfellows" at all, with no "enmities, ancient and modern" whatsoever. As Brexit clearly showed.

"[...] Russia [is] emerging largely unscathed by two and half years of Western sanctions and despite a vast outlay of financial help. True, Russia has lost tens of thousands of men in Ukraine," the British stenographer states, confusingly out of step with the latest memo from his U.S. overlord officials claiming "more than 600k casualties" for Russia. "But [Russia] has a limitless capacity for suffering, as its bloody history shows," Johnston declares in apparent frustration at not being able to keel over Russia, while omitting the inconvenient detail about how much of that "suffering" and "bloody history" was inflicted on Russia by multiple waves of Western, including British, invasions.

"Most brazenly, the Russian leader has set himself up as a representative of post-colonialism even as he hosts a summit in an ancient Khanate annexed by Russia," Johnston bizarrely pearlclutches with a sudden case of bleeding heart for Kazan, which has been part of Russia since the Middle Ages, longer than Wales has been an "annexed" part of Britain.

Ironically, he seems to support annexing the "ancient Khanate" of Crimea in favour of Ukraine.

"Moreover, what else is the attempt to occupy Ukraine other than an imperialist venture?", Johnston asks in a passage that would best describe the U.S. coup in Kiev and the expansion of U.S. overseas bases across the entire European continent.

"But such niceties are lost on countries eager to cock-a-snook at the West and show that its writ no longer runs as far as it once did," Johnston ends his Magnum Opus with an astonishingly undisguised sneer at the Global South participants of the BRICS summit, who he seems to imply are motivated only by revenge against the West and don't have the intellectual skills or centuries of first-hand experience to correctly identify who is the real imperialist in NATO's proxy war in the Donbas and in the world.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/weak-willed-un-handed-putin-161558123.html

The hacks journalists at the Torygraph are throwing hissy fits over the international BRICS summit. And it's quite entertaining to read.

Philip Johnston, a British stenographer who apparently contributed to the Irish Independent as well, penned quite a comically angry opinion piece about the "grotesque" summit of the "so-called" BRICS.

Johnston has trouble striking an even tone in his article, seemingly grappling and shadow-boxing with himself and his own arrogant preconceptions. He haughtily dismisses the BRICS summit as a "shindig" in one paragraph, but then notes the "rapidly changing face of geopolitics that the BRICS summit represents" in the following passage, and eventually knocks himself out and acknowledges that it's "a summit of great importance to the balance of global power".

"What happened to the “isolation” of Russia over its illegal invasion of Ukraine?", fumes an indignant Johnston. "Britain, along with our Western allies, has spent billions supplying Kyiv with weapons to halt the attack, taken in thousands of refugees and imposed sanctions on Russia intended to damage its economy, not least a ban on importing its oil and gas."

"Yet in the city of Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan on the banks of the Volga River, leaders of some 20 countries [and representatives of 30+ states overall] have gathered for a summit that is nothing less than a diplomatic coup for Vladimir Putin," Johnston concedes. "Far from being shunned as an international pariah, he is chairing a meeting of the so-called BRICS, nations representing around half the world’s population and around 30% of its economy."

[NB: BRICS countries' share of global GDP in terms of PPP is likely to amount to 36.7% by the end of 2024, while the share of G7 economies is projected to account for slightly over 30%, according to forecasts cited at the summit.]

"[The BRICS] group is a deliberate counterweight to Western hegemony and dominance of world currency and trading markets," Johnston notes in a rare moment of clarity.

"Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a NATO member, is also there. The BRICS have been expanding their influence and number for 15 years or so. The presence of Xi Jinping, president of China, and Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, is indicative of its importance, rivalling the G7."

"But the fact that it is taking place in Russia, which is supposed to be in the international dog house, is deeply worrying to Ukraine," writes a British journalist unperturbed by the litany of recent British wars, while trying in vain to squeeze a giant bear that NATO poked into a "dog house".

"Most extraordinary of all is the invitation to António Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations to attend [...]. What on earth would possess him to do so?", Johnston asks, flabbergasted, and then, in true Torygraph fashion, seems to pin the blame on Guterres being a "Portuguese socialist".

"Mr Guterres has handed Putin a propaganda coup even by indicating he may turn up at the shindig in the shadow of a citadel, built by Ivan the Terrible, known as the Kazan Kremlin," Johnston writes, perhaps from his allocated basement cubicle in the shadow of the Tower of London founded by Wilhelm I the Conqueror, which conveniently doubled as a prison.

"Moreover, several of the countries attending are signatories to the Rome Statute setting up the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest alleging war crimes", Johnston adds, flabbergasted again. "Among those nations voting in favour [of the UNGA resolution disapproving of Russia's February 2022 military operation] were Brazil and Egypt, whose leaders are now happy to hobnob with Putin in Kazan."

"[The BRICS summit] coincides with the annual autumn meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, at a time when the authority of Western financial systems is weakening around the globe," the op-ed author notes correctly.

How it started, 2 June 2022: "Sanctions Will Break Russia’s Economy in the End, Germany Says" (Bloomberg)

How it's going, 9 Oct 2024: "Germany Sees Economy Contracting for Second Consecutive Year" (Bloomberg)

14 Oct 2024: "Germany in Recession and 2024 to Show No Growth, Survey Says" (Bloomberg)

17 Oct 2024: "German Economic Woes Deter Investment, Siemens Official Says" (Bloomberg)

...

Germany’s economic malaise is a deterrent for investment, according to a Siemens AG official.

“There’s actually nothing that speaks in favor of investing in Germany,” Christian Kaeser, global head of tax at Siemens told lawmakers in Berlin [...].

“But there’s no growth in Germany — there is growth in other countries — and the tax situation isn’t particularly good either,” he said. “That’s why our most recent investments primarily were made abroad.”

Germany’s Economy Ministry [Habeck] warned [...] that a recession probably occurred in the second and third quarters, having already said that output for the year is set to contract. A retrenchment by some of the country’s top industrial firms is adding to the gloom.

A decline in output in 2024 — following a drop of 0.3% last year — would mark only the second instance of consecutive years of shrinking GDP since West and East Germany were reunified in 1990.

...

Concerns have been mounting in recent months about Germany’s economic decline, with the key auto sector especially hard hit.

A string of negative news — from Volkswagen AG’s threat to close domestic factories to Intel Corp.’s decision to postpone a new €30 billion ($33 billion) semiconductor facility in the former communist East — has highlighted the numerous challenges Germany faces.

The economy may already be in a technical recession [...] The weakness of its largest member is weighing on the wider Euro area, with a recovery earlier in the year in the 20-nation currency bloc losing steam.

"We are currently experiencing relocations abroad, less industrial production at home, business closures and increasing numbers of insolvencies," Peter Adrian, the president of Germany’s DIHK [Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce] industry lobby, said Wednesday on the group’s website.

"In the midst of the crises, Germany and Europe are squeezed between China and the US and have to learn to assert themselves," Germany's Economy Minister Habeck said.

....

"There’s no clear catalyst for a turnaround. A bottoming out is the best case scenario for now", said Erik-Jan van Harn, an analyst at Rabobank [a Dutch multinational bank, among the 50 largest financial institutions in the world].

The weakness is largely down to the cutoff of Russian energy supplies, disappointing export demand from China, problems among carmakers and a dearth of skilled workers, Bloomberg reports.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-17/german-economic-woes-deter-investment-siemens-official-says

Politico, Brussels office: "There’s a new threatening acronym challenging the global order: CRINK 🇨🇳🇷🇺🇮🇷🇰🇵. It's the new 'Axis of Evil'."

Politico's stooges in Brussels made up a new "acronym" and are now fearmongering how "threatening" it is. Classic.

And, as always, Politico spelled 'Axis of Resistance' wrong.

Though they are correct that it is "challenging" the U.S. global (dis)order.

Translation of the article from NATO-speak into normal English: 'Why are all these pesky Eastern sovereign "dictatorships" which the U.S.-led 'Axis of Good' "democratically" waged military and economic war on finally "colluding" together to resist? No fair!'

'NATO is now "forced" to expand and tighten its grip on "tighten its links with" its Indo-Pacific occupied vassals "democracies" (especially those that, by pure coincidence, happen to have U.S. military bases).

https://www.politico.eu/article/crink-new-axis-of-evil-nato-china-russia-iran-north-korea/

The Telegraph has changed its tune and is now apparently 'spreading Russian propaganda and repeating Kremlin talking points', while preparing its readership for the wrap-up of the first phase of Project Ukrainian Laundromat:

"Exhausted and full of regrets - even Ukraine's fiercest soldiers are facing up to the prospect of defeat."

"I know that I am tired. I’m really tired. I know that my people are also tired. A lot of them I took from assault units, so they are, like, extremely tired. And we are also sort of ready for negotiations, but we just ask the West to insist on our interests," said Lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yulia Mikitenko, commander of a drone reconnaissance platoon in Ukraine’s 54th mechanised brigade, during an interview in London, "where a new book is due out this week describing her decade-long war".

"Now we are being given a small amount of those weapons, and we are expected to use them the same as in 2022 but unfortunately, we won’t, because a lot of warriors are dead, missing and injured," she conceded.

"Our motivation, let's be honest, is much lower than it was even a year ago. So yes, we had a great chance to finish this by 2023 if we got everything we asked for, and now it's almost impossible. We will not restore the forces that we had in 2022, at least for 10 years," Mykytenko said.

General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain and a former commander-in-chief of its armed forces, this week hinted that Ukraine could accept a peace deal that saw it give up some of its land to Russia, the Telegraph reports.

Asked in London on Thursday if he could imagine a victory without getting all the lost territory back, he said: “I didn’t mention territories. I mentioned safety, security, and the feeling of being in one’s own home."

The Telegraph also suddenly remembered about the decade-long civil war in Ukraine:

"And Ukraine has already been at war for a decade. Lt Mykytenko is a veteran of the 8-year Donbas war that preceded the full-scale invasion in 2022."

However, the Telegraph also inadvertently revealed the fanatical nature of AFU soldiers like Lt. Mykytenko and their open admission that they will attempt to exploit peace negotiations to re-arm for the "next war in 10 years".

She claims her father, also a soldier in the AFU, committed suicide "in protest at the perceived betrayal [...] by Mr Zelensky’s early attempts to find a compromise with Russia to end the conflict."

"Maybe, he’s the lucky one. I don’t know," she told the Telegraph "with a soft laugh".

"If the West does not also use the time to re-arm, the next war will be lost, she warned."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/20/ukraine-fatigue-war-donbas-russia-loss-of-hope-defeat

"At the end of the war in Ukraine, whatever it looks like, the Russian army will be stronger than it is today," said U.S. General Christopher Cavoli, serving as U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander [over] Europe, in an interview with Der Spiegel.

"The Russian armed forces are learning, they are improving, they are applying the experience gained at war," he noted.

"That is why we must be prepared and need armed forces that can withstand it," Cavoli concluded by fearmongering. "When I say fast, I mean we have to be faster than the Russians."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-army-war-may-stronger-125812699.html

🇧🇪🤡 This week "representatives of the neo-Nazi Azov Brigade in the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) “held numerous meetings at the NATO headquarters” in Brussels.

Among other NATO officials, the Azov delegation met with Marie-Doha Besancenot, the Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy. They also participated in an event at the European Policy Centre, a think tank partially funded by the EU. [...] they met with the “Group of Friends of Ukraine in the European Parliament,” and Marta Wytrykowska, deputy head of the Ukraine division at the Diplomatic Service of the European Union.

“Jedi,” whose real name is Serhii Rotchuk, or Serhii Grushin, led the delegation. He was one of the Azovites invited to play golf at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington earlier this year. “Jedi” is one of the leaders of the NGU Azov brigade’s ‘medical service’. He emphasized that Azov trains according to NATO standards. [...]

“Russian propaganda was successful,” [Nestor Barchuk, Azov Brigade's “coordinator of international relations” / “legal advisor”] told the European Policy Centre, referring to “those narratives of Russian propaganda that we are Nazi, and we are far-right.” Sitting next to him, “Jedi” reached for a glass of water, and looked like he might burst out laughing. “We don’t have any political views,” Barchuk even said, but backtracked as his co-panelist shot him a funny look. “I mean, you understand. We don’t have any… mmm… any kind any kind of… uhh… groups … any kind of politically oriented groups in the brigade”."

P.S.: As always, 'there are no Nazis in the Azov Brigade and UAF, only ‘medics’.' /s

https://banderalobby.substack.com/p/azov-lobby-goes-to-brussels