WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States scrapped the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty five years ago with the aim of expanding NATO further eastward, pressing Russia economically and militarily, and cementing America's global hegemony, veteran Pentagon analyst and retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.
August 2 marks the fifth anniversary of the US's formal withdrawal from the INF Treaty.
"This [the pullout from the treaty] was due to the US desire (led by neoconservatives in the State Department and elsewhere in the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations) to expand NATO eastward, as well to engage militarily on Russia's European border with both conventional and nuclear arms, specifically via Ukraine," Kwiatkowski said.
The military and economic rise of China, a neoconservative theme for the past 30 years, required in the eyes of hawkish US military planners a nuclear offensive line in Eastern Europe to hold Russia "captive," Kwiatkowski explained.....more below
Niger has threatened legal action against Orano after allegedly finding 400 barrels of harmful radioactive core materials near a uranium site
Niger’s military government has accused French state nuclear group Orano of “radioactive pollution” and “predatory behavior” after officials said they found hundreds of barrels of radioactive waste abandoned near a former uranium site in the north of the country.
The Mining Ministry said inspectors discovered about 400 barrels of dangerously high levels of radioactive core materials at Madaouela, close to the uranium hub of Arlit, where Orano used to operate. Local measurements reportedly peaked at 10 microsieverts per hour, compared with a normal level of 0.5. Authorities also said tests found harmful substances capable of causing respiratory disorders.
Niger’s justice minister, Alio Daouda, told reporters on Tuesday that the company will face legal proceedings for “mass crimes,” including harm to the environment, public health,...
Sofia Lyskun cited political pressure to cut ties with Russia as among the reasons for her decision
European diving champion Sofia Lyskun has renounced her Ukrainian citizenship and obtained a Russian passport, citing political pressure in Ukraine to cut ties with Russia. The head of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee, Vadim Guttsait, called her decision a “betrayal.”
A four-time European champion and two-time Olympian, Lyskun claimed she was repeatedly reprimanded for staying in touch with her first coach, who had relocated to Moscow after the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. She said staff at training camps told her that “no one else was in contact with Russians,” and she could not understand why such remarks were directed at her.
The 23-year-old Lugansk native argued that Ukrainian sport portrayed itself as “outside politics,” yet athletes “were the first to feel the pressure.”....more below
https://www.rt.com/russia/628964-ukrainian-diver-russian-passport/
Brussels and Kiev are covering up for each other instead of “confronting the truth,” the Hungarian leader says
The EU is still claiming “the moral high ground” despite “drowning” in corruption, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said, accusing Brussels and Kiev of “shielding” each other from graft scandals.
Orban ripped into the EU leadership on Friday in an interview with Kossuth Radio, invoking the latest corruption scandal that hit the bloc earlier this week. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has formally accused three high-profile suspects, including the bloc’s former foreign policy chief and EU Commission vice president, Federica Mogherini, of fraud, corruption, conflict of interest, and breaches of professional secrecy.
The Hungarian PM drew parallels between the affair and the string of graft scandals that has hit Ukraine, including the $100 million kickback scheme linked to Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle. Despite the scandal, ...
