The United States and its allies have sent tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Ukraine over the past nine months, ignoring Moscow’s warnings that the arms flow escalates the conflict, and results in the uncontrolled spread of Western weaponry to terrorists and criminal groups across the planet.
As chief sponsor to Kiev in the ongoing Ukrainian security crisis, Washington has the right to tell Kiev when enough is enough as far as US arms deliveries are concerned, and that time is right now, says staunch anti-interventionist and veteran paleo-conservative commentator Pat Buchanan.
Pointing to the $38 billion in new assistance requested by the Biden White House last month ahead of the convening of a new Congress where Republicans will control the House of Representatives, Buchanan, a former advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, asked what interest Americans have in granting the request, besides possibly igniting a war with Russia.
“The US ought not dictate to Kiev when it should move to the negotiating track to end this war. But we Americans do have, given our indispensable contributions to the Ukrainian war effort, the right to tell Kiev when we believe that the risks of further fighting exceed any potential gain for us; and, if Kiev is determined to fight on, to give notice that Ukraine will be doing so without any more US munitions,” Buchanan wrote in a recent op-ed.
“Great powers should never cede to lesser powers, unconnected to their vital interests, the capacity to drag them into unwanted wars,” Buchanan emphasized, pointing to the risks posed by Washington continuing to finance the Ukraine conflict with $38 billion in new aid, which would “virtually guarantee” that fighting continues into the spring, as the suffering of ordinary Ukrainians grows.
The commentator stressed that given the US’s decisive financial contribution to propping up the Kiev government, Americans “also need to have a voice” in saying when the conflict ends, and that for the US, the “greatest” interest lies not in who controls the Donbass, Kherson, or Central and Eastern Europe as a whole for that matter, but in avoiding being drawn directly into situation “that would put us on the escalator to a war with Russia, a world war and perhaps a nuclear war.”....more below
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China has begun operating the world's first intelligent ultra-large oil tanker powered by methanol, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.
The tanker, designed to transport crude oil, was successfully put into operation in the city of Dalian in China's northeastern coastal province of Liaoning, the report said. State-owned company Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd independently designed and built the vessel, it added.
The tanker is approximately 333 meters (1,092 feet) long and can carry around 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, the CCTV reported. Designed to produce low emissions and having intelligent control capabilities, the tanker will serve the route to the Middle East, among others, according to the report.
The vessel is powered by a dual-fuel methanol engine, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 92% compared to conventional fuel, the CCTV reported. It is equipped with an intelligent ship platform, an intelligent liquid cargo ...
A car bomb has killed a senior General Staff member, officials have confirmed
Source: The Investigative Committee
A Russian general has been killed in a car bomb blast in Moscow, the Investigative Committee has reported.
Officials identified the victim as Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at the General Staff. According to the statement, an explosive device had been planted beneath the vehicle he was traveling in, and detonated on Monday morning in the southern part of the Russian capital.
The blast also damaged several other vehicles and seriously injured Sarvarov’s driver, media reports stated.
Russian officials said one line of investigation is an assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services, noting that Kiev has previously used explosive devices in targeted killings of officials and public figures.
Last December, a bomb hidden in an e-scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense ...
The Israeli regime appears to be laying the groundwork for a permanent military presence in large parts of the Gaza Strip, according to a new satellite imagery analysis that documents extensive construction, infrastructure expansion, and continued destruction of Palestinian property since a ceasefire took effect in October.
Research released by Forensic Architecture, a multidisciplinary research group, and published by the Drop Site News outlet on Saturday showed that the regime had built at least 13 new military outposts inside Gaza since the ceasefire came into force on October 10, while accelerating the expansion and consolidation of 48 existing outposts.
The findings suggested that Israeli forces were not merely holding temporary positions, but physically reshaping the territory in ways consistent with long-term control.
The analysis, based on satellite images from October 10 to December 2, indicated that the regime now maintained a dense network of military infrastructure east of...
