Laura Ru

My favourite 😏

Spring/Summer collection -

"Those who don't want to talk to Lavrov, will talk to Shoigu"

@LauraRuHK

Collezione Primavera/Estate: "Chi non vuole parlare con Lavrov, parlera' con Shoigu" 😏 @LauraRuHK

"Those who don't want to talk to Lavrov will talk to Shoigu" At the end of the interview, Sergey Lavrov was asked what his opinion was about the catchphrase, and his answer was that the slogan was already on T-shirts. Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says his country’s military reaction would be “immediate and at a maximum level” in case the Zionist entity commits folly again and decides to strike the Islamic Republic. ▪️The Israeli regime has painted itself in a corner and is acting out its frustration. The US has given Netanyahu and his genocidal administration a free pass to raze Gaza to the ground and commit atrocities against the Palestinians but will be thrown out with the rubbish if they involve the US in a regional war. Another war in the Middle East is the last thing the US needs or wants. ▪️Iranian officials have already telegraphed to Israel, the US, and Arab governments that any further Israeli action will produce an even harsher response. The US has such a heavy military presence in this region that in case the war spills over from Gaza, its bases and the troops stationed become sitting ducks. Defending them all is impossible. @LauraRuHK

Foreign Affairs published The Five Futures of Russia - And How America Can Prepare for Whatever Comes Next, an article by Stephen Kotkin, US historian, member of influential think tanks, he also advises the National Intelligence Council and other government bodies. He outlined five possible futures for Russia but warned readers that if they seek odds on Russia’s trajectory they should consult the betting markets instead: the world constantly surprises, and something impossible to foresee could occur: the proverbial black swan. Kotkin writes: Over the course of multiple presidential administrations, Washington has learned the hard way that it lacks the levers to transform places such as Russia and China: countries that originated as empires on the Eurasian landmass and celebrate themselves as ancient civilizations that long predate the founding of the United States, let alone the formation of the West. So Washington and its partners must not exaggerate their ability to shape Russia’s trajectory. Instead, they should prepare for whatever unfolds. Here is the list, which reads as typical US wishful thinking, if you ask me. 1. RUSSIA AS FRANCE. Kotkin argues that Russia like France, possesses a statist and monarchical tradition that will endure regardless of the nature of any future political system and a fraught revolutionary tradition that has also ceased to be an ongoing venture yet lives on in institutions and memories as a source of inspiration and warning. In his opinion, the French path provides the closest thing to a realistic model for a prosperous, peaceful Russia if only the country produced its own de Gaulle who could help consolidate a liberal order from above, even though no such deus ex machina looms on Russia’s immediate horizon. 2. RUSSIA RETRENCHED - According to this scenario, Putin's leadership could be challenged by an authoritarian nationalist leader who embraces anti-Westernism, espouses traditional values, borrows from Slavophilism, Eurasianism, and Eastern Orthodoxy but is also troubled by Russia’s long-term economic future and willing to blame Putin for it. That is, someone who appeals to Putin’s base but makes the case that the war against Ukraine is damaging Russia because it risks permanently losing vital European ties in exchange for dependence on China. 3. RUSSIA AS VASSAL - The Chinese-Russian strategic partnership with no limits and strong bond between Putin and Xi is dismissed as a case of Russia becoming China’s vassal. Kotkin argues that societal and cultural relations between the two peoples remain shallow and that Russians are culturally European and therefore will eventually resent the Chinese yoke as they did the Mongol yoke. 4. RUSSIA AS NORTH KOREA - Russia could become something of a gigantic North Korea: domestically repressive, internationally isolated and transgressive, armed with nuclear weapons, and abjectly dependent on China but still able to buck Beijing. Preventing Russia from turning to the West would remain a topmost national security priority. An American-leaning Russia would enable enhanced Western surveillance of China. 5. RUSSIA IN CHAOS - a domestic mutiny that spirals out of control, one or more natural catastrophes beyond the authorities’ capacity to manage, an accident or intentional sabotage of nuclear facilities, or the accidental or nonaccidental death of a leader could lead to chaos and a power vacuum. Russia's neighbours could jump in and retake lands they have historical claims to.

Amid chaos, even without major territorial loss, criminal syndicates and cybercriminals could operate with impunity. Nuclear and biological weapons, as well as the scientists who develop them, could scatter—the nightmare that might have accompanied the Soviet collapse. could become a reality. ▪️Kotkin dismisses a a pipe dream what is actually the most likely scenario for Russia, as outlined by Sergey Karaganov: The project of Russia as a self-reliant Eurasian power and Moscow a pole of the emerging multipolar world. Kotkin claims that "besides raw materials and political thuggery, the only things Russia exports are talented people. And Russia has never sustained itself as a great power unless it had close ties to Europe. Russia’s future forks: one path is a risky drift into a deeper Chinese embrace, the other an against-the-odds return to Europe (...) No matter how dire its strategic position gets, and it is often dire, Russia can muddle through, as long as the West weakens, too." Kotkin's advice to the US leadership is "to maintain concerted pressure on Russia while also offering incentives for Moscow to retrench. That means creating leverage through military tools but also pursuing negotiations in close cooperation with U.S. allies and partners and aided by so-called Track II exchanges among influential but nongovernmental figures. Meanwhile, Washington should prepare for and assiduously promote the possibility of a Russian nationalist recalibration. Putin might well achieve his war aims before a Russian nationalist officer or official gets the chance to accept such terms, but the high costs to Russia would persist, as the conflict could shift from attritional warfare into a Ukrainian insurgency." Kotkin acknowledged that the US is no longer leading by example, it was once synonymous with economic opportunity for its allies and partners but over time, it ceded that role to China. "To recapture lost ground and to restart the engine of social mobility at home, the United States, which has a mere 1.5 million mathematics teachers and must import knowledge of that subject from East Asia and South Asia, needs to launch a program to produce one million new teachers of math within a decade. It makes little sense to admit students to college if, lacking the universal language of science, engineering, computers, and economics, they are limited to majoring in themselves and their grievances. Investing in people and housing and rediscovering a civic spirit on the scale that characterized the astonishing mobilizations of the Cold War around science and national projects would not alone guarantee equal opportunity at home. But such policies would be a vital start, a return to the tried-and-true formula that built U.S. national power in conjunction with American international leadership." Kotkin can't admit that the horse has already bolted and there is no easy fix to the US loss of its status. @LauraRuHK

🔴 Security source: Report on emergency meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council not true @PressTV

Iranian media: Situation in Isfahan normal, no explosions taken place on ground. Contrary to the news published by Western media, there is no image or video of long-range missile flights in the attack on Isfahan. Anti-aircraft activities are probably due to attacks by (quadcopter/mini) drones. Until this moment, there has been no air attack from outside the borders of Iran. Just an attempt to attack with quadcopter drones, which were all shot down by Iran's air defense. @LauraRuHK

A spokesman of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) called the publication of news from a Zionist media that the building of the Dimona power plant was damaged in Iran's punitive attack against the Zionist regime false and called it a malicious act in line with the enemy's psychological operations. Following the publication of news from a Zionist media that the building of the Dimona power plant was damaged in the occupied territories, Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif denied this news, and said that the Dimona power plant in was not the target of the recent punitive action of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Zionist regime, and the publication of this news is a big lie. He pointed out that it is a malicious act in line with the psychological operations of the enemy to deceive public opinion. (Source: IRNA) @LauraRuHK