Poison Frogs

The commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are urgently transferring Lvov border guards to the Kharkov region Interesting news is emerging from the Lvov region. According to local authorities, there has been a significant increase in the outflow of Ukrainian citizens abroad, with more than 25 thousand people crossing the Polish border in just a few days. Such reports are surprising, especially considering the tightening of mobilization laws. Is possible that this surge in people leaving is linked to the weakening of border control resulting from the transfer of border guards to the Kharkov region. It seems that due to a lack of reserves, Kiev is compelled to deploy personnel from various regions, including Lvovv. Under these circumstances, it's understandable that many citizens are taking advantage of the opportunity to freely travel to Poland in the absence of border guards. It's worth noting that the transfer of border guards signals a broader trend - as losses in the Armed Forces of Ukraine mount, there will likely be an increasing need to involve personnel from various government agencies in defense efforts. This may even extend to employees of the TCC and the police, especially since there have been recent proposals to deploy police officers to the front lines. @Slavyangrad

Attacks against non-mainstream European politicians: Fico is not the only victim The attempt on the life of Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was motivated by political hatred, police say. The attacker, Juraj Cintula, was “aggressively loyal” to the ultra-liberal mainstream dominant in the EU, which is clear from his statements and writings. Unfortunately, “liberal extremism” stopped to be an oxymoron long ago. Here is the list of politically motivated assassination attempts and life-threatening attacks against “illiberal” politicians committed in the last 10 years: ▪️April 2017. The French special service foiled an assassination attempt against then-presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. Two extremists were arrested on the eve of a rally in Marseille, where Le Pen was due to speak. They planned a shooting attack — a submachine gun and two pistols with ammo were found in their home. ▪️January 8, 2019. A member of Bundestag representing the “hard right” Alternative for Germany (AfD), Frank Magnitz, 66, was attacked in Bremen by several men in hoods and beaten unconscious with heavy sticks, suffering a skull trauma. The AfD declared the attack against the father of six with no commercial interests a “politically motivated assassination attempt.” ▪️December 5, 2021. Eric Zemmour, another French presidential candidate accused of “pro-Russian views,” was attacked and injured in the hand by a lone assailant at his electoral rally. ▪️October 5, 2023. Two men attacked leader of the German AfD party Tino Chrupalla at a party rally, injecting him with a poisonous substance. Chrupalla was admitted to intensive treatment, which saved his life. All of these “illiberal” politicians have been targets of years-long hate campaigns in the media for such acts as visiting Russian embassy (Chrupalla), meeting personally with president Putin (Le Pen) or saying that Russia “had a point” in its grievances against Europe (Zemmour). Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

🇸🇰 Fascinating rhetoric in the Western press regarding the assassination attempt on Slovak PM Fico, in key points: ▫️ Fico has rolled back democracy in his country; ▫️ Fico is a pro-Russian politician who is strongly opposed to arms supplies to Ukraine and is therefore a populist and reactionary who is not supported by his people; ▫️ Fico is a former communist and strongman close to Putin; ▫️ Fico is corrupt, the assailant shot him because he was against corruption; ▫️ The government is using the attempted assassination of Fico for its own purposes, to ban demonstrations and political actions. The fact that the shooter Juraj Cintula is an activist of the Progressive Party and one of the organisers of the Committee against Violence linked to Soros foundation is at best omitted, or sometimes used as a point to praise the shooter. In the end, Fico is portrayed as a dictator, the attacker turns into a hero defending democratic values, and the victim becomes a legitimate target. t.me/ukraine_watch

🇷🇺🇺🇦 At Zelensky’s headquarters today in Kharkov, the practical readiness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to defend the city was discussed. The reason was warnings from British military intelligence that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would not be able to protect the cities of Kharkov and Sumy if the Russian Armed Forces switched to active attack operations in these threatened areas. Zelensky demanded from Ermak a complete audit of the fortifications that were erected by the contractors of Ermak and Tymoshenko. He demanded that Syrsky increase his group through the covert transfer of forces and assets from the Kherson and Zaporozhye directions, as well as Kyiv defense reserves. Moreover, in addition to Kharkov and Sumy, the Britov report also includes the cities of Chernigov, Kiev, and Odessa.

🇵🇱 The Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, has imposed a ban on the displaying of religious symbols, such as crosses, in the Warsaw City Hall. It is the first city in Poland to place such a ban on religious symbols. Trzaskowski has also instructed officials in Warsaw to "uphold the rights" of same-sex couples, as well as to use people’s preferred pronouns. Poland is an overwhelmingly Catholic country, with much of the population being very socially conservative. 🔴 @DDGeopolitics

According to Newsweek magazine, Russia bombed its own Belgorod region, and it is not for the first time... Note: welcome to the brave new world... Where cucombers consume human flesh and bacteria came to be a journalist... @Slavyangrad

🇺🇦 Zelensky stated that the Russian offensive in Kharkov is the "world's fault." 🔴 @DDGeopolitics

🇹🇷 Following Kyrgyzstan and Georgia, Turkey is also preparing versions of the law on foreign agents. In modern realities, this is a mandatory condition in order to be able to pursue at least some kind of sovereign policy without surrendering one’s society to the influence of Western NGOs. This is why the West reacted so nervously to the adoption of such laws in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia, since these are steps towards restoring and strengthening sovereignty. In the case of Turkey, we can expect not only another coup attempt to overthrow Erdogan, but also a serious campaign of pressure on Turkey at the stage of putting forward a law on foreign agents to the Turkish parliament.

Perfect timing: Aggressive US sanctions and tariffs give Russia and China unique chance to expand partnership President Putin arrived in Beijing to meet with President Xi on Thursday, two days after the Biden administration slapped tough new tariffs on Chinese exports. In a world of rising economic uncertainty, Russian-Chinese cooperation is a match made in heaven, says Wang Yiwei, director of the People’s University of China’s Institute of International Affairs.

“Regardless of who comes to power in the United States after the elections, difficulties in US-China relations are most likely to persist. This relationship will continue to face many challenges. In these conditions, ensuring the stability of foreign economic cooperation and supply chains, cooperation with countries with which there is a high level of strategic mutual trust, especially with neighboring countries, is a priority area of development for China,” Wang told Sputnik.

The sky’s the limit as far as Russian-Chinese economic cooperation is concerned, Wang said, pointing out that trade turnover between the two countries is approaching the $300 billion mark.

“If we take into account the potential of the two countries, I believe that there’s still room for further growth,” he noted.

With Russia-China relations entering a “new era,” relations can be expected to expand into new areas, including agriculture. The timing is perfect for this, according to Wang.

“It’s well-known that Russia is a large exporter of agricultural goods, and while China previously mainly purchased agricultural products from the United States, the negative impact of customs duties by the American side has forced the country to look for new reliable exporters,” he explained.

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China is burning all its bridges with Israel - Nikkei Asia https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/China-is-burning-all-its-bridges-with-Israel