Roger Waters under Criminal Investigation

Berlin police said on Friday they were probing Waters after images of the Pink Floyd co-founder circulated on social media, showing him on stage last week at the Mercedes-Benz arena wearing a long, black coat with red armbands and firing an imitation World War II sub-machine gun.

Police are investigating the “suspicion of incitement to public hatred because the clothing worn on stage could be used to glorify or justify Nazi rule”, a police spokesman told the French news agency AFP.

When the police investigation is concluded, the case will be handed to Berlin prosecutors, police said.

Source: Al Jazeera

Roger Waters’ response on Twitter: A Statement by Roger Waters

Background image via Sea of Reeds Media, modified by me. The quote was a message to the audience shortly before the start of the concert.

Watch the full concert in Berlin 2023: This is Not a Drill

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The History of Crimea

How Crimea became part of Russia and why it was gifted to Ukraine

The Crimean Peninsula became part of the Russian Empire after a series of Russian-Turkish wars. In 1771, Crimean Khan Sahib II Giray gained independence from the Ottoman Empire thanks to Prince Vasily Dolgoruky, who had defeated the Turkish troops on the peninsula. The Khan signed an agreement on alliance and mutual assistance with St. Petersburg. And in 1774, the Ottomans completely abrogated their claims to Crimea, conceding them to Russia, by signing the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca.

Nine years later, Giray’s reforms had angered the Crimean Tatars to the extent that he was forced to abdicate. In order to prevent a bloody power struggle, Russia was forced to send troops to the peninsula. The local nobility swore an oath to Empress Catherine II and received equal rights with the Russian nobility. They also took part in managing the newly created Taurida Region, which existed until the collapse of the Russian Empire. And in 1791, as the result of another defeat, the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Jassy, according to which Crimea belonged solely to Russia. Both the Jassy and Küçük Kaynarca agreements are internationally recognized and considered valid.

The revolutionary events of 1917 led to the collapse of the Russian Empire and the emergence of a number of pseudo-independent states on the territory of Ukraine: The Ukrainian People’s Republic centered in Kiev, the Ukrainian People’s Republic of Soviets centered in Kharkov, the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic centered first in Kharkov and then in Lugansk, the Odessa Soviet Republic, and the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic in Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region. But after the Central Council of Ukraine signed a separate agreement with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kaiser of Germany, the entire territory of Ukraine and Crimea, which had never belonged to either Germanic country, was occupied by Austro-German troops.

Ukrainian nationalists compiled a number of maps related to this period of occupation, in which they claim the Crimean Peninsula, inhabited at that time mainly by Crimean Tatars, in addition to Russian lands up to Voronezh and the Caspian Sea, not to mention a huge swathe of Poland and a significant part of Moldova. In some of these maps, only the northern part of Crimea is depicted as ‘Ukrainian’, and on others, the entire peninsula.

After the Russian Civil War, the Crimean Peninsula became part of the RSFSR and was declared an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Crimean Tatars and Karaites were declared to be indigenous peoples of the region, and Crimean Tatar and Russian became its official languages. At the same time, the ethnic composition of the peninsula’s population (including Sevastopol) in 1897 and 1926 was as follows: Russians, respectively, 33.11% and 42.65%; Ukrainians, 11.84% and 10.95%; Crimean Tatars, 35.55% and 25.34%.

Full story at: RT International. Install a VPN program if you’re blocked from reading this.

Background image via ScanTrip, cropped and resized by me.

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NATO History and Expansion

Infographic courtesy of Al Jazeera.

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The Pawn, the Jester, the Puppet

Related articles:
The Zelensky Myth
Bloody Jester: Volodymyr Zelensky’s Rise to Power
Ukraine’s Former PM Reveals How Zelensky Transformed From Stage Actor to American Puppet

Background images via Wallpaper Flare and Adobe Stock, modified by me.

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The New ‘Ministry of Truth’

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has set up a body to counter foreign ‘disinformation’

The US has established a Foreign Malign Influence Center to address foreign threats to elections as well as the “public opinion” within the country, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines revealed in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday.

Operating under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FMIC has access to “all intelligence possessed or created pertaining to foreign malign information, including election security.” Its director, Jeffrey Wichman, was formerly chief of analysis for the CIA’s Counterintelligence Mission Center.

For the agency’s purposes, ‘foreign’ means originating in Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, or “any other foreign country that the Director of the Center” deems appropriate, while ‘foreign malign influence’ is defined as “any hostile effort undertaken by, or at the direction of, or on behalf of or with the substantial support of,” one of the named countries in order to influence, covertly or overtly, US government or state policy or the “public opinion within the United States.”

Source: RT International

Original image is courtesy of Adobe Stock, slightly enhanced by me.

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China is ‘Ghosting’ the U.S. Because Normal Diplomacy has Proven Useless

China has demonstrated immense diplomatic patience towards the US over the past few years, even as Washington has been venting relentless hostility towards Beijing, including, but not limited to:

    • accusations of genocide;
    • blacklisting numerous technology companies;
    • attempting to crush China’s technological development;
    • backtracking on its commitment to the One-China policy;
    • spreading conspiracy theories over the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins;
    • building new military alliances such as AUKUS, with the intention of containing China;
    • coercing third-party countries into blocking and rejecting key Chinese investments;
    • forcing other countries to take sides in an attempt to create a Cold-War-like climate;
    • whipping up anti-Chinese paranoia and vilification of China in US domestic politics.

The list is not exhaustive, yet once upon a time, China genuinely believed that these hostile policies were a ‘glitch’ of the Trump administration, and sought to engage Biden positively to try and establish a course correction. It was wrong, it was very wrong. The Biden administration has not only embraced the foreign policy consensus which former President Donald Trump created, but has doubled down on it uncritically and made things even worse. This has empowered hawks in Beijing, including President Xi Jinping himself, who has now directly called out the US, to arrive at the conclusion that the relationship with the US is beyond saving.

Source: RT International

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Noam Chomsky on the Never Ending Conflict

Al Jazeera: You have long advocated for a binational solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the two-state solution based on international consensus as the only plausible stepping stone. You still believe that this is the most desirable solution?

Chomsky: Well, there’s a big substantial debate now between the two-state international consensus and a one-state alternative that is increasingly supported by many commentators, including quite knowledgeable ones like in the United States, like Ian Lustick for example.

But there’s something wrong with that debate. It’s omitting a third alternative, namely the one that is being systematically implemented by Israel, ever since 1969 or so, is the creation of a ‘Greater Israel’, which will take over. Everything that’s of value to Israel will leave out the Palestinian population concentrations.

So, Israel doesn’t want to incorporate Nablus within what will be the ‘Greater Israel’. Has to maintain a large Jewish majority in a racist, Jewish-dominated state. So that means take over the Jordan Valley, kick out the population. One or another pretext is used … and then it turns into Jewish settlements. They take over towns deep in the West Bank like Maale Adumim, built mostly in the 1990s, state-subsidised pleasant housing … You can go from your subsidised villa in Maaleh Adumim to your job in Tel Aviv and not even know there are any Palestinians. By now, the Palestinians who are left in the regions that Israel’s integrating and planning to take over are divided into … about 160 or so small enclaves surrounded by Israeli forces, which may or may not allow Palestinians to tend their crops, tend their livestock and pick their olives and so on, basically imprisoned.

And the idea is to try to see if we can just get rid of them somehow, get them to leave intolerable conditions. Meanwhile, recently, just a couple of days ago, the far-right nationalist religious government, extended the right of Israeli settlement to the northwestern West Bank, what Israel calls Western Samaria … [seeking to] integrate into Israel whatever is valued of Israel within the occupied territories. Jerusalem’s now maybe five times whatever it was historically, taking in surrounding villages to ensure a Jewish majority. There’s mechanisms, not formally just, slowly, step by step … just below the radar. By now, young Israelis don’t even know that there is a green line.

If you want to talk about long-term outcomes, you can’t just talk about one state and two state. You have to talk about what’s happening, ‘Greater Israel’. I understand the reasoning of the one-state advocates, but I think … it’s almost inconceivable that Israel will ever agree to destroy itself and become a Jewish minority population in a Palestinian-dominated state, which is what the demography indicates. And there’s no international support for it. Nothing. So my own personal feeling is the real options are ‘Greater Israel’, or move towards some kind of two-state arrangement. It’s often claimed that that’s now impossible because of the enormous settlement project. Maybe, maybe not. I think if the United States insists, decides to join the rest of the world in supporting some kind of two-state settlement, not just rhetorically, but in practice, Israel will be faced with a very serious decision.

Read the full interview at Al Jazeera

Background image courtesy of Financial Times, modified by me.

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NUCLEAR NOW by Oliver Stone (official trailer)


NUCLEAR NOW takes viewers on a mind-opening journey with legendary director Oliver Stone as he reveals the true history of nuclear energy and its potential to solve climate change. The looming climate crisis remains unresolved, and the volume of carbon-free electricity needed over the next 30 years is almost unimaginable. This film aims to remove the fears associated with nuclear energy and highlight the sustainability and affordability it can bring in the pursuit of restoring the world’s ecosystems and economies.

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I Take a Stance

A famous landmark in Copenhagen, The Little Mermaid, has been decorated, or vandalised, if you like, in colours resembling those in the Russian flag this morning.

Background image is courtesy of Politiken, modified by me.

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The Destroyer

“This man is a destroyer!” “He’s an instrument of total destruction!” Tucker Carlson about Volodymyr Zelensky on Fox News yesterday: This could lead to the destruction of the West

U.S. President Joe Biden dared to make a ‘brave’ visit to Kiev only after obtaining guarantees of security from Russia, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing on Wednesday. (Source: Tass News Agency)

Background image is courtesy of Politiken, modified by me.

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