Important Takeaways:
- The BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will add six nations to its ranks next year, as Beijing and Moscow push for the loose collection of emerging economies to evolve into a robust counterweight to Western global dominance.
- Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will join as members in January
- For Beijing and Moscow, adding members is part of a long-running — and often frustrated — effort to turn a largely symbolic grouping into a vehicle for remolding international trade and finance structures to protect their interests against future sanctions from the United States and its allies.
- Sanctions targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine have added urgency to China’s effort to create alternative global financial structures and supply chains resilient to Western disruption.
- China and Russia have found some developing nations more receptive to their concerns about American dominance, which is part of the motivation for more members
- The war and China-U.S. trade tensions mean that Washington has shifted its focus to the Group of Seven and is less interested in the Group of 20, creating an opportunity for BRICS to become a better platform for large developing countries to speak up
- The “China-U.S. contest may still be locked in a stalemate, but the end result is inevitable”
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine Drone Blitz Strikes at Financial Heart of Russia
- Russia has blamed Kyiv for a second drone attack on Moscow within just three days, as further damage was reported in the capital’s financial district on Tuesday.
- A drone targeting Moscow flew at a tower in the city’s financial district on Sunday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a Telegram post on Tuesday morning. The exterior of the 21st floor of the building was reportedly damaged, with 150 square meters’ worth of glass broken. The high-rise building is home to Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development, its Digital Ministry and the Ministry for Industry and Trade.
- The drone attacks are the latest in a series of unmanned vehicle strikes hitting Moscow.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia and Ukraine just turned much of the Black Sea into a dangerous no man’s land
- On Thursday, Moscow’s defense ministry declared that “all vessels sailing in the waters of the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports will be regarded as potential carriers of military cargo,” a warning that has sent wheat prices rising.
- “Accordingly, the countries of such vessels will be considered to be involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side Kyiv, the defense ministry said in a Wednesday statement. It added that several pockets of international water are “declared temporarily dangerous for navigation,” and vessels have been warned that there are no longer safety guarantees.
- The move from both sides comes shortly after Russia killed the crucial Black Sea grain deal, a United Nations-brokered agreement that allowed Ukraine to export food and fertilizer from several key ports to avoid a global food crisis. The Kremlin then went much further, warning it may attack any vessels it believes are bound for Ukraine, effectively turning the Black Sea into a no man’s land.
- [On the other side] Ukraine, however, went on to issue its own measures in response to Moscow’s initial escalation. Kyiv’s defense ministry said that beginning on Friday, any vessels heading to ports in mainland Russia and in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine — like in Crimea or along the Sea of Azov — may likewise be viewed as transporters of military cargo.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Kremlin blames Britain for orchestrating attack on Crimean bridge – and propagandist calls for retaliatory strike on Tower Bridge: Footage ‘shows the moment Ukrainian drone attack hits crossing
- The Kremlin today blamed Britain for orchestrating the deadly kamikaze drone strike that hit Vladimir Putin’s £3billion bridge linking Russia to Crimea and sparked a fireball explosion.
- Dramatic footage appears to show the moment huge explosions ripped through the 12-mile crossing, with large flashes and thunderous blasts seen and heard from neighboring towns.
- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack with the involvement of Britain and the US – without providing any evidence to support her outlandish claims.
- Putin’s furious propagandists predictably parroted the Kremlin’s line and called for Moscow to conduct a retaliatory strike on the Tower Bridge in London, describing the landmark as a ‘legitimate target’.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Wagner Chief Says He Ordered His Russian Mercenaries to Halt March on Moscow and Return to Ukraine
- A rebellious mercenary commander said Saturday he ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to field camps in Ukraine, appearing to defuse a dramatically escalating crisis that represented the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.
- Moscow had braced for the arrival of forces from the Wagner Group, a private army led by Yevgeny Prigozhin that has been fighting alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine, by erecting checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops on the city’s southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to stay off some roads.
- But Prigozhin announced that while his men were just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid “shedding Russian blood.”
- He did not say whether the Kremlin had responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. There was no immediate comment from Putin’s government.
- Putin had vowed harsh consequences for organizers of the armed uprising led by his onetime protege, who brought his forces out of Ukraine, seized a key military facility in southern Russia and advanced toward Moscow.
- In a televised speech to the nation, Putin called the rebellion a “betrayal” and “treason.”
- “All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin said. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia Claims US Behind Drone Attack on Kremlin
- Russia accused the United States on Thursday of being behind what it says was a drone attack on the Kremlin intended to kill President Vladimir Putin.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the allegation in a briefing to reporters, saying Washington should be aware that Russia knew it was selecting the targets and Ukraine was merely implementing U.S. plans. He did not provide any evidence to support the claim of U.S. involvement.
- Ukraine has denied involvement in the incident in the early hours of Wednesday, when video footage showed two flying objects approaching the Kremlin and one exploding with a bright flash.
- The Kremlin has said it reserves the right to retaliate, but has not said what form this might take.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia flies two supersonic nuclear bombers over Norwegian Sea north of Scotland as NATO meets for second day of talks over Ukraine
- Russia has flown two supersonic nuclear bombers over the Norwegian Sea, to the north of Shetland, in a stark warning to the West.
- It comes hours after Vladimir Putin deployed his strategic aircraft over the Bering Sea, the body of water separating the US state of Alaska and Russia’s far-east.
- The moves are seen as a display of military strength to the West as Russia prepares to mark the first anniversary of the disastrous war in Ukraine on February 24.
- The giant Tu-160 White Swan flights follow ominous warnings from the Putin regime and its propagandists over the use of nuclear weapons if he loses the conventional war.
- It comes as NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels this week to discuss Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, and their commitment to defense spending.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine Predicts Attacks on Major Russian Cities
- Ukrainian authorities say Russia’s biggest cities are bound to suffer attacks as a result of the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine. “Internal escalation of the war in Russia is inevitable,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president. “Cities that are pampered, lazy, that thought they lived in a different reality, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg, will be subject to strikes,” he said, stressing that Ukraine itself has no plans to carry out such attacks. But the “logic of war” means that all of Russia will be dragged into what the Kremlin started, he said.
- His comments came as authorities in Moscow were spotted installing air defense systems on the rooftops of some buildings, a move interpreted by some as paranoia over possible drone strikes, and by others as nothing more than a domestic propaganda ploy.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- 4 Submarines, 12 Warships, Hypersonic Missiles & Nuke Bombers: Russian Military Set For Massive Boost In 2023
- As more military assistance is pledged to Ukraine by its allies in the West, the Russian military’s top brass has announced plans to significantly bolster its military in 2023 by inducting top-of-the-line military hardware.
- Putin made a high-voltage pitch to his country’s defense industry on his visit to Tula, a center for arms manufacturing.
- He said, “The most important task of our military-industrial complex is to provide our units and frontline forces with everything they need: weapons, equipment, ammunition, and gear in the necessary quantities and of the right quality in the shortest possible timeframes.”
- In late December, the Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolay Yevmenov laid down the plans and announced: “In 2023, the Navy will face large-scale and important tasks that include the priority goals of accepting the strategic cruiser Emperor Alexander III with ballistic missiles, four submarines, and twelve surface ships and support vessels into the Navy.”
- The Defense Ministry announced that the Russian army would receive about 22 launchers containing Yars, Avangard, and Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, three Tu-160 strategic missile carriers, and Emperor Alexander III nuclear submarine of the Borei-A project in 2023.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Kremlin warns more US arms shipments to Ukraine would mark ‘aggravation of the conflict’
- The Kremlin on Wednesday warned that additional U.S. arms shipments to Kyiv would mark an “aggravation of the conflict.”
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is slated to visit Washington on Wednesday, when President Biden will meet with him and announce an additional roughly $2 billion in assistance for the country.
- The package will include Patriot Missile Batteries, which can generally operate with a maximum range of 100 miles and help target ballistic and cruise missiles.
- Ukraine for weeks has asked for more advanced air defense systems as the country faces a barrage of strikes from Russia that in particular has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
- Congress on Tuesday also proposed a $45 billion emergency aid package for Ukraine
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