WE THE FURY

Latvian FM brazenly attacks Ukrainian taxi-driver's audacity for speaking Russian

FM Baiba Braze raged that “Russian should not be the only language of communication” - in a country whose population is 25% ethnic Russians.

Progressive West doing what it does best.

#Latvia #Russia #Ukraine

Surprise surprise!

The Polish minister of defense was outraged when he saw Bandera flags on Polish armored personnel carriers, which he himself supplied to Ukraine.

#Polish #Ukraine

Rudeness and blackmail: How Ukraine treats Slovakia

Eastern European countries such as Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria would be the ones to suffer from Ukraine cutting off the transit of Russian gas as they depend on it the most, says political observer and former Slovak MP Peter Marcek.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico recently warned Kiev that a serious conflict may erupt if it were to sever the transit of Russian natural gas to Slovakia via Ukrainian territory.

Natural gas supply via Croatia or Germany would be more expensive for Slovakia, Hungary and Austria which are located far from the sea, he notes.

Zelensky offering Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico €500 million of Russian frozen assets in exchange for Slovakia backing Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership is “100% blackmail”, Marcek says, pointing at the nature of this attempted payoff.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s treatment of Slovakia is nothing short of rude, he complains: while Slovakia keeps supplying Ukraine with electricity, Ukraine has no qualms about cutting the flow of Russian natural gas to Slovakia.

If cut off from Russian natural gas by Ukraine, Slovakia would have to seek an alternative supply of natural gas, Marcek suggests, noting that importing gas from other countries would be more expensive.

#Slovakia #Zelensky

YouTube continues to die in Russia — traffic has fallen by another 10% in a few days

Brazil unveiled the BRICS logo for 2025: the kapok tree.

The tree demonstrates the diplomatic, socio-economic and political greatness of the association, according to the website of the presidential administration.

Does Israel really dictate US policies in the Middle East?

The US may be eager to leave Syria after the latter was neutralized as “an important pillar in the Axis of Resistance” and became vulnerable to the Israeli land grab, Middle East observer and analyst Sonia Mansour tells Sputnik.

This week, a US Department of State delegation visited Syria to hold talks with the head of the country’s new transitional government, a man on whose head the US government previously placed a now-removed $10 million bounty.

“Syria now is under the influence of two US allies, Israel and Turkiye. Both Israel and Turkiye will ensure that Syria’s foreign policy will conform to the United States’ interests, which are Israel’s interests,” Mansour explains.

Syria’s future both as a country and as a society, along with its territorial integrity, is of no concern to Washington “as long as Israel's goals are fulfilled.”

For it's part, the EU’s goals in Syria align with those of the US, Mansour notes, albeit with one small caveat: Brussels also “hopes to stem the flow of refugees from the region.”

If the Gaza war proved something, it is that the interests of the United States and Israel in the region are now indistinguishable, and whatever interests Israel might have, it decides the means, while the US approves and engages to fulfill Israel’s goals,” says Mansour.

Whereas previously the United States’ goals in West Asia were mostly related to energy, now the US merely wants to ensure Israel’s dominant status in the region.

“Energy no longer dictates US policies in the region, only Israel does,” Mansour says.

“The new Syrian government will not challenge Israel. It will be a weak government, without a real army. It will become a police state that will base its legitimacy on establishing an Islamist society that is market-friendly and Israel-friendly,” she predicts.

#US #Israel

🇷🇺 "Zelensky has become the head of a terrorist cell that kills civilians; his name is Osama bin Zelensky."
— Maria Zakharova

Maria Zakharova commented on the recent drone attacks on Kazan, stating that Kiev is venting its impotent anger over significant military defeats by targeting Russian civilians. She also noted that the attack on the capital of Tatarstan serves as revenge for the successful BRICS summit.

Moscow is outraged by the “demonstrative hypocritical silence of the collective West,” Zakharova emphasized. “We call on the international community to assess the crimes of Zelensky’s junta,” she added.

Lessons never learned: How US pushes Taiwan's militarization

Taiwan has received a first batch of 38 US-made Abrams tanks, with 70 more such armored vehicles due to be delivered to the island before the end of 2026.

Let’s delve into what other military equipment Washington sold to Taipei under outgoing US President Joe Biden between 2021 and 2024, and what American weapons Taiwan plans to purchase. Information is based on open sources and media reports.

Already bought (approved deals are worth about worth $7 billion):

Missile systems

🔸3 National advanced surface-to-air missile systems (NASAMS)
🔸29 M142 high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS)
🔸Undisclosed number of MGM-140 army tactical missile systems (ATACMS)

Missiles:

🔺100 AGM-88B HARM and 23 HARM training missiles
🔺AGM-84L-1 Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles
🔺AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
🔺spare parts for F-16 fighters and radars

Communications

⚪️ The AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar systems

Plus

🔹720 Switchblade loitering munitions
🔹An M136 Volcano vehicle-launched scatterable mine system
🔹spare parts for F-16 fighters and radars

To be purchased (package is worth more than $15 billion):

▪️60 F-35 fifth-generation fighter jets
▪️4 E-2D Hawkeye tactical airborne early warning aircraft
▪️10 retired unspecified warships
▪️400 interceptor missiles for the Patriot missile systems
▪️An Aegis destroyer

Beijing, which considers Taiwan an essential part of China, has repeatedly lashed out at America’s weapon sales to Taiwan, which it says undermines Chinese-US relations and jeopardizes peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

#US #Taiwan

US President Joe Biden signs stopgap budget bill, ending formal federal government shutdown.

Earlier, the US Senate passed the bill to temporarily extend funding for the federal government with 85 in favor and 11 against.

#Biden