Daily Chronicles

The Daily Chronicles are snippets of the most important news across the world (and a joke or two) for this and each day as it rolls in – as such, this thread is non-structured with the latest news on top.

(Featured Image:  A moment of beauty:  Flowers in a Vase c. 1669 Simon Verelst (Dutch, 1644–1721) Netherlands, 17th century Oil on wood )

June 3

A day off for me.  Tomorrow we will pick up the crazed speeches at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.  The ‘boss’ is again telling everyone that he is the ‘boss’ and shall be obeyed by all the little people.  Lloyd Austin unironically says that “the US is doubling down” on encircling China military because there is “no room for intimidation, bullying or coercion”.

Tomorrow the Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu will make his speech and probably mock Austin.  I’m not inherently violent and do not look forward to hangings from lamp poles and such, but I could enjoy a good public mocking!

Talking about mocking, Max Blumenthal did a fair amount of quality mocking of his own.

At TrumanCon panel on diversity, equity, inclusion featuring Pentagon officials, I asked how many equitable bombs produced by conference sponsor Lockheed Martin were dropped on kids of color in Palestine & Syria

I also asked if any non-binary US Navy divers blew up Nord Stream pic.twitter.com/ZOttHuUjIP

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 2, 2023

June 2

This is a piece by Andrei Martyanov that is very important and he is correct.  The US wants to negotiate on the New Start Treaty, without pre-conditions, they say.  I really wonder how Moscow is going to react to this.  As we see, the previous time that Russia negotiated, was the Grain Deal, and everyone simply did not care, once Ukraine could move their grain.  And now it has been announced that this deal is off the table (Russia warned!) and yet the UN wants to please oh so please talk some more.

Take a look at Smoothie’s piece.  And if anyone can let me know how one can even hope to negotiate with a bunch of crooks even coming in under false pretenses, I would be happy to hear.

http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2023/06/of-course-they-do.html

The Russian Embassy in the US responded almost immediately:

Comment by the Russian Embassy in the United States

We have noted the fact sheets on New START published by the State Department on June 1st which reiterate accusations of Russian violation of the Treaty.

☝We once again emphasize that U.S. statements have nothing to do with the real causes of the crisis around the agreement.

We have repeatedly explained in public fora and through diplomatic channels the reasons for Russia’s suspension of its participation in the Treaty. We have provided exhaustive legal justification for our decision which is fully consistent with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Administration’s stubborn refusal to recognize the supremacy of international law is quite telling. Legal voluntarism has always been characteristic of Washington.

❗️We have also taken note of the countermeasures announced by the US in the context of New START. They will have no effect on the Russian position concerning the Treaty. There is only one path to the resumption of the agreement and it is well known to our American colleagues. Washington needs to abandon its hostile policy and its intention to inflict “strategic defeat” on Russia.

Our country takes a responsible approach to its arms control commitments. It continues to adhere to the central limits of New START which allows maintaining a sufficient level of predictability and stability in the nuclear weapons area.

June 2

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answers (https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1873729/) to media questions following the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting (Cape Town, June 1, 2023)

❓Question: Many countries have been declaring their desire to be invited into the BRICS group. For instance, today, you met with the delegation from Saudi Arabia, who also expressed their desire to do that. Could you please tell us about the progress that is being made in this direction and why do you think BRICS attracts so many countries?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Indeed, we discussed this issue, and I did discuss it with the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud this morning.

As regards the approach of #BRICS, it is still being shaped, it is evolving. The sherpas reported to us about the results they reached at this stage. The Chair authorised them to continue after they listened to the comments made by each of us at the meeting.

BRICS is a different kind of structure. It is a new organisation based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, consensus, non-interference and strict adherence to the United Nations Charter, to all its principles in their interlinkages. It is not for BRICS to pick and choose something you like in this Charter for this particular situation and then to do the opposite for another situation. I think BRICS symbolises the evolution of the multipolar world, which is talked about very often, and more and more so. And the fact that more than 12 countries have expressed their desire to be part of BRICS is a testimony to that.

❓ Question: May I ask you to comment on the reports alleging that the BRICS Summit may be moved to China from South Africa? What do you think about these plans?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: As far as I know, this news story appeared in a single British tabloid of some sort.  And I do not read English papers.

June 2

Nine Asian central banks to adopt SWIFT alternative: https://thecradle.co/article-view/25499/nine-asian-central-banks-to-adopt-swift-alternative

June 2

Some news on Gonzalo Lira from the GrayZone.

June 1

The joint coordination center in Istanbul, Turkey announces the official stoppage of the grain deal (https://t.me/IntelRepublic/20310).

June 1

I’ve written a few pieces on my own concern that South Africa is not unified enough to host the next BRICS meeting.  Personally I am concerned about the critical issues in the country, being crime and power outages.  Mr Lavrov and the other BRICS Foreign Ministers will meet today.  It is clear that hegemonic forces are fighting hard to fully destabilize the BRICS meeting and South Africa is a soft target.  Now, from Reuters, we get that South Africa is considering moving the BRICS summit (starting August 22) to China.  But, as we know from the type of coverage of Reuters and MSM ilk, they may be lying and spreading misinformation and falsehood.  We get the usual citations from “an anonymous government official”.  Be that as it may, what is happening is that this report is a warning to South Africa and a pressure tactic.

https://www.rt.com/news/577246-south-africa-brics-venue/

UPDATE:  Suggestions that the event could be moved due to Vladimir Putin’s ICC warrant are a hoax, says Russian Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov 

June 1

Xi Jinping chaired a meeting with his National Security Commission yesterday.  The general commenting has taken on a worried tone and some said that they had never seen XJP so pessimistic.  He warned his Commission that the national security issues facing China are “considerably more complex and much more difficult” to deal with and urged officials to be ready to deal with “worst-case and most extreme scenarios”. 

He stressed the need to fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, deeply understand the complex and challenging circumstances facing national security, properly grasp major national security issues, and accelerate the efforts to modernize the country’s national security system and capacity, so as to safeguard the new development pattern with a new security architecture and break new ground for national security work.

(Seems to me that China is now on track with Russia.  They know that moving the hegemon off its chair will take a further fight and they are further preparing for it.)

June 1

India put the SCO summit in virtual mode.

Shocking! India prioritised PM’s visit to US. SCO spirit demands that no member country is more equal than others. We’re violating core principle. Honest thing is to quit SCO instead of insulting a regional organisation. Killing SAARC wasn’t good enough?https://t.co/yzLaJocRUM

— M. K. Bhadrakumar (@BhadraPunchline) June 1, 2023

May 31

Yes, there was a G20 meeting.  Wondering why we never heard anything about it?  It is because it was boycotted.  India tried to get Kashmir on the map.

Crazy that this story got almost zero coverage in the West: India controversially decided to hold a G20 meeting in the disputed Kashmir region, which it effectively annexed in 2019 (it unilaterally stripped it of its autonomous status). China and pretty much all Muslim states that were meant to attend the event (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia) officially boycotted it. This really shines a light on the fact there are effectively no rules in the international system, your actions are only limited by the current international power dynamics. Since the West is on a charm offensive vis à vis India, it can get away with immensely provocative moves like annexing disputed territory and holding international summits in the place to get its sovereignty over it recognized de facto. If China, Russia, Iran, etc. had done the exact same thing we all know it’d have gone very differently… If the rules depend on whether whoever acts is friendly with the current most powerful states, it effectively means there are in fact no rules.

It happened when Pakistan is economically and politically struggling to survive.

This time India lost and it needs to learn to avoid sitting on two chairs.  The wider world spoke.

Moving to multipolarity is a crucible.  You either do it with honor and do things right, or the process itself will teach you how to go!

May 31

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that on May, 29th the last warship of the Naval Forces of Ukraine “Yury Olefirenko” was destroyed as a result of a strike by a high-precision weapon of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the parking lot of warships in the port of Odessa

May 31

Does Russia have any Western consulates left?

Berlin announced the closure of four out of five Russian consulates in the country “in response to Moscow’s measures.”  Also, Germany, in the course of reducing the German presence in Russia, will close its consulates in Kaliningrad, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.

May 31

Dmitry Peskov’s statement:

— No decisions have been made on the introduction of martial law in the Russian Federation, such discussions are not underway

— The situation with the shelling of the Belgorod region is quite alarming – measures are being taken

— Putin meant the improvement of the air defense system when he said that there is something to work on after the UAV attack on Moscow

— The Kremlin would like to see at least some condemnation of the UAV attack on Moscow in the West, but it didn’t happen.

— The media cannot be the primary source of information about the number of drones that attacked Moscow, you need to focus on the data of the Ministry of Defense

— Various options for Putin’s participation in the SCO summit are being worked out, but in any case, Russia will be represented at the proper level

— The Kremlin is concerned about the aggravation of the situation in Kosovo, and is closely watching the development of events. Russia supports Serbia, believes that the rights and interests of the Kosovo Serbs must be respected

— Putin and Erdogan in a telephone conversation confirmed their intention to hold a personal meeting in the foreseeable future. Date and place of the meeting to be agreed.

Medvedev:

The UK’s Foreign Secretary Cleverly has stated that Ukraine “has the legitimate right to … project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself.” According to him, legitimate military targets beyond Ukraine’s border are part of its self-defence. The goofy officials of the UK, our eternal enemy, should remember that within the framework of the universally accepted international law which regulates modern warfare, including the Hague and Geneva Conventions with their additional protocols, their state can also be qualified as being at war. Today, the UK acts as Ukraine’s ally providing it with military aid in the form of equipment and specialists, i.e., de facto is leading an undeclared war against Russia. That being the case, any of its public officials (either military, or civil, who facilitate the war) can be considered as a legitimate military target.

Some will remember the Russian Trained Spy Whale which can be considered the forerunner of the Chinese Spy Balloons.

Former, so what’s it doing now?

Turned and operating as a double agent?https://t.co/oUYpxzLxxk

— The Sirius Report (@thesiriusreport) May 31, 2023