Daily Chronicles

The Daily Chronicles are snippets of the most important news across the world for this and each day as it rolls in – as such, this thread is non-structured with the latest news on top. The rough theme :  picking up many world pieces

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April 2

The killing of Maksim Fomin (pen name Vladlen Tatarsky) has so far not been linked to the arrest of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich.  Nobody that I’ve seen considers this killing as a direct response to the arrest.  I may be wrong, but coincidences like this do not happen frequently.

While Russians are angry, Maksim had a storied background.  Yet, he was a war journalist with a major following.  And it is as a war journalist that he was killed.

Statement of Yevgeny Prigozhin (Wagner):

April 2, 2023, 23:00: We hoisted the Russian flag with the inscription “Good memory to Vladlen Tatarsky” and the flag of PMC “Wagner” on the city administration building in Bakhmut.

Legally, Bakhmut has been taken.

The enemy is concentrated in the western regions.”

Maria Zakharova:  “On April 2 , military commander Maxim Yuryevich Fomin , known as Vladlen Tatarsky , was killed in an explosion in St. Petersburg. Law enforcement agencies will still give a legal qualification to what happened. We will give moral.”  and  “The professional activities of Vladlen Tatarsky, his service to the Fatherland caused hatred in the Kyiv regime. He was dangerous for them, but boldly went to the end, doing his duty.  We express our sincere condolences to his family and friends.”It is thanks to the Russian military envoys that the world sees truthful and operational footage and learns information about what is happening in Ukraine. These are people who stand guard over the truth, which the world mainstream has already abused. The professional activities of Vladlen Tatarsky, his service to the Fatherland caused hatred in the Kyiv regime. He was dangerous for them, but boldly went to the end, doing his duty.”  https://t.me/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/5126

The social media and commentating media seems to be up in arms and sometimes crazed with anger.  I’ll go with Maria’s statement.

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April 2

Fatal St Petersburg Blast Suspected Terror Attack

The explosion at a café in the city has killed Russian military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky and injured more than 20 people.

The Investigative Committee have opened a murder case. (TASS)

From all the chats, it is clear that Russian media personalities are under attack.
Russians are angry and are asking why their military and Mr Putin are soft-peddling the Ukraine war.

Just yesterday I received an email from someone in St Petersburg.   A person that could very well have been right here.

A little more:  https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/52112

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April 2

Syria was attacked by Israeli strikes 3 nights out of the past 4.  One can only watch in horror.

However, if the following talks progress, the situation will by definition change:

A Syrian delegation will arrive shortly in Moscow to participate in 4 way talks between Syria, Russia, Turkey and Iran, on April 3rd and 4th, seeking to normalize relations between Ankara and Damascus.

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April 2

“An official meeting of all ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors kicked off on Tuesday (March 28) in Indonesia. Top of the agenda are discussions to reduce dependence on the US Dollar, Euro, Yen, and British Pound from financial transactions and move to settlements in local currencies.

The meeting discussed efforts to reduce dependence on major currencies through the Local Currency Transaction (LCT) scheme. This is an extension of the previous Local Currency Settlement (LCS) scheme that has already begun to be implemented between ASEAN members.”

This is quite huge.  https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/asean-finance-ministers-and-central-banks-consider-dropping-us-dollar-euro-and-yen-indonesia-calls-for-phasing-out-visa-and-mastercard/

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April 2

Journalist Assis Moreira reports that Foreign Affairs Advisor Celo Amorim made a “discrete visit” to Russia last week in preparation for Sergey Lavrov’s April 17 visit to Brazil. Moreira thinks they may have discussed dedollarization of bilateral trade. pic.twitter.com/DKqwLD5rUn

— BrianMier (@BrianMteleSUR) April 2, 2023

The Russian media did not report this visit.

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April 1

Momentarily most of the world will be past the April first sometimes fun, sometimes risk time period.  I wish for this!  That we calm down good enough so that we can follow the silk road of dumplings:

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April 1

Today is 150th anniversary of the great Russian composer Sergey #Rahmaninov. I am a big admirer of his talent. For all his fans here is one of his pieces performed by another great Russian musician Denis Matsuev: https://t.co/nP4RVyHYzJ

— Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un) April 1, 2023

Those that want to cancel this, are fools all year round!

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March 31

Scott Ritter:  2 minutes on Belarus goes nuclear.  Worth taking note.

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March 31

It truly is pick-up sticks.

Russia has released a new Concept of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, which they describe as a “strategic planning document which provides a systemic vision of the national interests of Russia in the domain of foreign policy, basic principles, strategic goals, major objectives & priority areas of the Russian foreign policy.”  Pepe notes:  “The US has been directly named as the main instigator of the anti-Russian line, and in general, the policy of the West, aimed at weakening Russia in every possible way, is characterized as a hybrid war of a new type.”

I have not read the Concept yet, but first thought that flashed through my mind on Pepe’s quote, was:  Oh boy, Nato and the US do not want to declare their de facto stance as co-belligerents in the Ukraine, so, Russia is going to re-define war!  The western desperation is at a high pitch.  China does not talk to them, Russia does not talk to them, and they feel oh so alone.

Then in the wings waits a US “Concept for Competing (JCC)”, which “advances an intellectual paradigm shift”.  It has been out for a while but only now is it public enough to see the plan.  That needs to be read and cogitated about.

And I have not followed up on The European Parliament condemns London’s decision to send banned ammunition to Kiev

Each time I start a new game of global pick-up sticks, somebody dumps another bunch of sticks in the arena.  Yesterday it was the change in Chinese rhetoric.

Carry on!  I’ll take some hours for brain orientation.  (And don’t get triggered in the commenting community – there are no cops here to keep you on the straight and narrow and you have to do that for yourself as you will only embarrass yourself.  Keep it together folks!)

So many pieces on the board are moving that I have a hard time choosing a good summary of the war in Ukraine.  The headers of the various videos out there that are competing, are getting more and more alarming.  The western desperation is also getting more and more alarming.  Let me complete listening to two of them and then post an update.  And there is a new Michael Hudson, wonderful like fine deep-red wine.

Let me dive in.  Stay frosty.

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March 30

China cuts US Treasury holdings to lowest level since global financial crisis. And the sales are accelerating.

At the same time China is increasing its gold reserves. #gold pic.twitter.com/5JwJSkfRJg

— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) March 25, 2023

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March 30

Brazil’s President Lula has fully recovered from his bronchial pneumonia. Today he announced that his visit to China to meet with Xi Jinping – postponed due to his illness – has been rescheduled for April 11. On the table are at least 20 bilateral trade agreements.

Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has completed her first day at her new job in Xangai as President of the BRICS Bank. They will wait for Lula’s arrival to hold the official inauguration ceremony.

Brazil will export to China without going through the dollar. An agreement between the two central banks was announced by the Ministry of Finance during a seminar in Beijing on Wednesday. Brazilian banks may also start using China’s payment system.  Trade will be bilateral in the Chinese yuan and are planning to expand the cooperation in food and mineral extractions sectors, the Chinese vice minister of commerce, Guo Tingting, said on Thursday.

Even without Lula, the business of the business continued: Brazil-China Economic Seminar: Brazil signs more than 20 cooperation agreements at a business mission in Beijing, which gathered authorities from Brazil and China, as well as businessmen from both countries.

Bolsonaro is back in Brazil – landed just a few hours ago.

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March 30

There are hellish and fierce urban battles continuing in and around Artemovsk/Bakhmut

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March 30

France becomes first European country to buy Chinese LNG with yuan – India Times

China bought this liquified natural gas from a French company, TotalEnergies, in the first yuan-settled LNG trade in the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange. So the LNG was exported by the UAE, but traded by a French company, in yuan.

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March 30

Russian exports of diesel this month reached a record level, despite restrictive EU measures that were supposed to deprive the country of its largest sales market.

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March 30

Russia arrested a journalist from WSJ for espionage.

What Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich was doing in Ekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

“This is not the first time that the status of a “foreign correspondent”, a journalistic visa and accreditation is used by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that are not journalism.”

According to the FSB, Gershkovich was collecting information about a Russian military-industrial complex enterprise, while Kremlin spox Dmitry Peskov insisted “this is not about suspicion, he was caught red-handed”.

The American outlet “vehemently denies” the allegations.

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March 30 – from TASS