The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it opposes the use of unilateral sanctions to resolve the crisis in Ukraine after Russia’s decision to launch an attack on the country with the stated goal to “demilitarize” it. Western powers have announced a raft of punitive measures, including on the Russian economy and its banking sector.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular news briefing that sanctions will not solve problems but will create new ones. He claimed that sanctions will interfere with the process of reaching a ceasefire and political agreement to end the conflict.

“China does not support the use of sanctions to solve the problem and is even more opposed to unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law,” Wang stated.

On Friday, China denied that it was somehow “stained by association” for failing to denounce Russia over bringing order to Ukraine.

Ministry spokesman Wang told reporters at a daily briefing in Beijing that it was countries that interfered in the domestic affairs of others that would see their reputations stained, refuting US President Joe Biden’s comments on the issue from a day prior.

by Yang Sheng
and Xu Yelu via Global Times

Ukrainian soldiers stand next to a burnt Ukrainian army vehicle on the west side of the capital Kyiv on February 26, 2022. Ukraine and Russia are set to hold negotiations at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. Photo: AFP

Although the US and some other Western countries are trying to handle the current situation in Ukraine with waves of sanctions against Russia and questioning Beijing’s neutral stance, China has once again clarified its neutrality and the reason to the EU, France, Germany and the UK as to why it opposes sanctions ahead of the UN Emergency Special Session on Sunday.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had phone conversations with UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, French Diplomatic Advisor to the President Emmanuel Bonne and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock from Friday to Saturday, according to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.

They had in-depth exchanges of views with a focus on the situation in Ukraine, while Wang expounded China’s basic position on the Ukraine issue. Wang stressed that “China supports and encourages all diplomatic efforts conducive to a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis. China welcomes the earliest possible direct dialogue and negotiation between Russia and Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s delegation is now heading to Gomel in Belarus for negotiations with Russia, Russian media Sputnik reported on Sunday. This announcement comes just minutes after the deadline previously set by the Russian delegation for the negotiations with Ukraine expired. According to a member of the Russian delegation, Leonid Slutsky, Russia will demonstrate quite a “hardline” approach at the upcoming talks with Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had a phone call on Sunday in which Putin gave assurances that Moscow remains open to talks with Kiev, but informed Bennett that Ukraine’s leaders have shown “inconsistency” on the matter.

Chinese military experts said Russia has been restrained in using force to attack the Ukrainian army because most Russian forces are being deployed to prevent NATO intervention, but Russia does not want the conflict to last long, so it might change strategy depending on how the situation develops.

Putin ordered the military to put the nation’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert Sunday following “aggressive statements” from NATO, Sputnik reported.

The US doesn’t want to see the conflict end quickly as it wants Russia to be mired in trouble as long as possible, so the talks won’t be easy, and what happens in the battlefield will decide the result of the negotiations, experts said.

When the conflict broke out, most Western countries were shocked, and only showed support by “praying for Ukraine” and announced sanctions, but did not dare to provide weapons to Ukraine or send reinforcements.

The situation has somehow changed over the weekend, as Ukrainian forces were not as weak as the West previously thought, and the conflict is likely to continue. Some Western countries have started supplying arms to Ukraine, because they have seen the possibility of further escalating and extending the conflict to leave Russia mired in the mud of Ukraine, said analysts.

This is actually bad for negotiations, as the longer the conflict continues, the more casualties there will be, and the West wants to maximize the losses for both Russia and Ukraine rather than minimize the damage, said Chinese experts. China’s stance of neutrality is important because if there is one country that can one day effectively mediate the conflict, that country should be one with real neutrality and which respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and also did not follow the West in sanctioning Russia and harming the livelihood of Russian people.

What’s real neutrality?

Western voices should not be allowed to dominate the voice of the international community over the Ukraine situation, as Western powers, especially the US and NATO, have actually been the key forces in instigating the crisis and contradiction between Russia and Ukraine. In other words, the West is now deliberately taking sides, said analysts.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang said, “China maintains that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected and protected and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be earnestly observed. This position of China is consistent and clear-cut, and applies equally to the Ukraine issue.”

But he also said, “The legitimate security concerns of all countries should be respected. Given NATO’s five consecutive rounds of eastward expansion, Russia’s legitimate security demands ought to be taken seriously and properly addressed.”

Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday that the US and NATO are actually part of the cause of this conflict in Ukraine, so if the world lets them dominate public opinion across the international community, it would be unfair and the problem will not be solved.

Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Russia won’t be intimidated by sanctions, and if sanctions were effective, then the conflict would have been prevented long ago.

The reason why China believes Russia does have “legitimate security concerns” is that “we have seen how NATO acted to pressure Russia and destroyed the former Yugoslavia in the past. If there hadn’t been these concrete security pressures and NATO military deployments around Russian territory, Moscow would not have needed to carry out such risky military operations to respond to NATO’s threat,” Yang said.

Wang said to senior European diplomats that “Actions taken by the UN Security Council should help ease the situation and facilitate a diplomatic resolution rather than fuelling tensions and causing further escalation. In view of this, China has always disapproved of willfully invoking UN Charter Chapter VII, which authorizes the use of force and sanctions in UNSC resolutions.”

Sanctioning or condemning Russia, just as the West has done, is actually much easier than staying neutral and responsible in order to contribute to conflict mediation while being questioned and pressured by the West, said a Beijing-based expert on international relations. He added that “China is a responsible major power with independent diplomacy and clear stance based on objective and fair judgment of the situation, rather than a country with no independent thought that just blindly follows the West on every issue.”

The 2022 Winter Paralympics will be held in Beijing from March 4 to 13, and China could use it as a chance to play a bigger role for peace mediation and make the Olympics a platform to realize peace, said some Chinese experts.

Sustainable security mechanism

“The Ukraine issue has evolved in a complex historical context. Ukraine should function as a bridge between the East and the West, not as a frontier in big power confrontation. China also supports the EU and Russia in entering into an equal-footed dialogue on European security issues and implementing the philosophy of indivisible security, so as to eventually form a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism,” the Chinese foreign minister said.

Cui said that for Europe to establish a balanced, effective and sustainable security mechanism, the security concerns of all parties should be resolved in an equal way. “This is the precondition.”

Europe needs to stop engaging in a collective security mechanism that excludes Russia, and even targets Russia. “If NATO cannot accept Russia, then obviously one of NATO’s purposes is to target Russia, and then the problem of European security will never be solved,” Cui said.

Europe should also try to avoid interference from external powers, especially the US, said the experts. Key EU members such as France and Germany always have divergences with the US not only on issues related to Russia, but also on the Iran nuclear deal, ties with China and Middle East affairs. Unfortunately, however, the US and US-led NATO dominate security issues in Europe, making it hard for the continent to reach mutual trust and respect with Russia in the past, which has caused today’s tragedy, they noted.

“If the Ukraine crisis is mainly handled by Europe, rather than by the US and NATO, maybe peaceful negotiation would already have been realized long before Russia lost patience and launched military operations. At least, it wouldn’t be as bad as it is now,” Cui said.

But unfortunately, the US and the US-led NATO are unlikely to let this happen, as they need Russia to play the enemy to keep trans-Atlantic ties solid, and unfortunately, the current conflict in Ukraine has boosted this trend, so it will be hard for Europe to completely act independently to build a new security mechanism with Russia in the future, Yang said.

by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian

We’re only three days into Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, and yet the propaganda cogs are whirring fast as lightning, churning out “news”, opinion and content grist for the media mill.

In just the last 48 hours dozens of stories, images, narratives and videos have circulated as being taken from the fighting in Ukraine, a huge percentage of which are fake.

Now, some of it could be attributed to misunderstandings, mistaken identity, misattribution…but many and most are likely deliberate deceptions designed to provoke a response. Let’s dive right in.

1. “THE GHOST OF KIEV”

Early Friday morning it was reported that a single Ukrainian plane, a MiG-29, was patrolling the skies above Kiev. The English speaking press called the unnamed pilot “The Ghost of Kiev”, and claimed he had downed 6 Russian jets in air-to-air combat in less than 2 days, making him an official Fighter Ace, and probably one of the fastest to ever earn that title.

The trouble is there is almost no evidence this happened at all. To quote Newsweek:

There is zero evidence the “Ghost of Kyiv” exists”.

Neither side can confirm Russia has lost six planes in total, let alone to one man inside a single day. And a video alleged to be “the Ghost” in combat – shared by the Ukrainian Armed Forces – is confirmed to actually be footage taken from a video game.

Nevertheless, he already has his own Wikipedia page. A testament to how fast a lie can move while the truth is putting its boots on.

2. “RUSSIAN PLANES FLYING OVER KIEV”

A lot of people have been sharing a short video of Russian planes allegedly flying low over the city of Kiev. The Times used it a still from it in their story “Will sanctions stop a Russian shell?”:

The problem with that is it’s not Kiev, it’s Moscow. And it’s not today, it’s two years ago. It’s footage of what is likely a rehearsal for the 2020 Victory Day Parade flyover.

3. “ZELENSKIY VISITING THE TROOPS”

Possibly no politician in history has had a PR makeover quite as fast as Vlodomyr Zelenskiy. Last week he was just some guy, this week he’s a war hero, there’s talk of building statues of the man. A (not at all staged) “leaked” phone call had him turning down the US offer of an airlift to safety.

Twitter is dotted with people sharing photos of him in combat fatigues, comparing him favourably to Trump and Trudeau and asking “what other leaders would fight alongside their troops?”

But the problem with that is the photos are all almost a year old, taken when he visited the troops last April:

4. “LUHANSK POWER STATION EXPLOSION”

Early on in the confrontation, this video started doing the rounds on social media:

The video went viral, receiving 100,000s of views. Hundreds of accounts shared it, even major news networks used it, all claiming it shows a power station in Luhansk exploding after being hit with Russian missiles.

It does not, it’s a chemical plant exploding in Tianjin, China in 2015.

5. VIDEO GAMES. AGAIN.

This footage, claiming to show Ukrainian ground forces downing Russian aircraft, also went viral recently, even appearing on Spanish television news:

…It’s from the video game ARMA 3.

6. “RUSSIAN WARSHIP GO FUCK YOURSELF”

This was the first major propaganda narrative following Russia’s advance onto Ukrainian territory. Allegedly leaked audio showed Ukrainian border guards on tiny Snake Island in the black sea communicating with a Russian warship. Upon being told to surrender, the guards say “Russian warship go fuck yourself”.

The Western press reported that all 13 of the men were killed, and the Ukrainian government released a statement saying they would all be awarded posthumous honors.

However, while the supposedly fallen heroes were being canonised all over the western world, Russia was reporting that they had not been killed at all, but taken alive and unharmed back to the mainland.

A story both the press and the Ukrainian government have since reluctantly admitted is likely true.

7. SYRIAN DRONE STRIKES FOOTAGE

Another video doing the rounds, and again shared by official Ukrainian accounts, was drone footage supposedly showing the destruction of a column of Russian vehicles.

It’s actually footage of a Turkish drone strike in Syria from 2020.

Meanwhile, other accounts were sharing footage of combat from Libya or Israeli bombardments of Gaza under the hashtag #StandWithUkraine. Middle East Eye has compiled a list.

It’s somewhat beautiful irony that so many of the clips prompting outrage in Western liberals actually come from wars their governments started.

*

There we have it, seven stories about the war in Ukraine that are demonstrably fake, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

There’s tons of other fakes out there, not to mention fakes of fakes designed to discredit doubters or just spread chaos.

Ultimately, it’s all a timely reminder that propaganda is at its most potent at times where the news is moving fast and people are feeling emotional.

That is WHY the media whips up fear, anxiety and hatred, because people in that emotional state are less likely to think critically.

It should go without saying that this is equally true for both sides. We shouldn’t blindly accept claims from the Russian side, simply because we know NATO lies. Both sides propagandize, and one-eyed scepticism is only a different kind of bias.

In short, if you see something designed to provoke an emotional reaction, don’t let it. Never get swept along in the narrative, always hold yourself back, keep calm and ask rational questions.

Withhold belief, demand facts. It’s the only way to keep your mind free.

Or, to quote HL Mencken:

Never believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see.”}]

For the latest on the Russian forces mopping up of the ukrozionist regime of Ukraine, we recommend very few reliable sources. Here are some of them: Spriter or this one Russians With Attitude.

* * *

On a different note, we are also reposting the response by the Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov:

I would like to say that the whole set of restrictions against Russia is so absurd that we can only laugh at these fruitless attempts. They have frozen the void there. A complete embarrassment! And yet, in spite of all this comedy, it is time to retaliate harshly, and the measures should be mirrored. They should look like this, by comparison:
     British Prime Minister Boris Johnson,

     British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss,

     Head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen,

     Head of the European Diplomatic Corps Josep Borrell

should retract their statements, otherwise the Chechen Republic, considering the impertinent and pretentious nature of the statements by the above mentioned persons, reserves the right to introduce the following sanctions:

   – Close the Chechen skies to flights of their jets;
   – Freeze all of Johnson’s ruble assets in Chechen banks;
   – Impose an embargo on all the assets of the British oligarchs in Achkhoi-Martan, and in case things get worse, in Samashki as well;
   – To recognize the left-hand traffic as a vile relic of the Middle Ages;
   – And to admit, finally, that there is no such thing as English tea!

The deadline is February 31st!

This will be an example to other nations. Henceforth, think before you impose any sanctions.

* * *

Note: some of the text might contain traces of humor.

© AP Photo / Olivier Matthys

by Ilya Tsukanov

The US and its allies in Europe and Asia condemned the Russian military operation in Ukraine as an unprovoked “act of aggression” and “invasion,” slapping Moscow with new sanctions and promising to send additional military aid to Kiev. The current crisis in Ukraine is the culmination of a situation which has festered for over eight years.

NATO has no grounds to call the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine “aggression,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

“In the context of NATO countries’ inability to negotiate and their lack of desire to truly strengthen security in Europe on the basis of the principle of equal and indivisible security, we consider their attempts to accuse us of aggression to be groundless,” Zakharova said Saturday in a commentary on Friday’s extraordinary virtual summit of NATO heads of state to discuss the Ukraine crisis.

“Before calling Russia to account for its operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, the nations of the North Atlantic bloc should answer for their military adventurism, as well as their inaction on the matter of encouraging the regime in Kiev to peacefully resolve the Donbass problem,” the spokeswoman said.

According to Zakharova, NATO leaders at the summit expressed all possible support for Ukraine, “a country which, with the the connivance of the West, has become a hotbed of Nazi ideology.”

The spokeswoman went on to accuse the Western bloc of “hypocrisy” related to the alleged destruction of the foundation for peace in Europe caused by Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

“By whose hands was this done? Wasn’t it the NATO countries that looked on silently as the US destroyed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty? They stood by when Washington unilaterally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. They allowed the Americans to quit the Open Skies Treaty, which made that agreement worthless as an effective mechanism for controlling military activities,” Zakharova said.

“Was it not the NATO countries that took part in the bombing of Yugoslavia, the attack on Libya, the invasion of Iraq? For 20 years, they led the situation in Afghanistan to total degradation, and when they ran away, they left behind weapons worth billions of dollars,” the spokeswoman said.

“For eight years, Western nations have watched passively the killing and abuse of thousands of civilians in southeastern Ukraine. Effectively, they became accomplices to the long-term genocide of the inhabitants of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics,” Zakharova alleged.

“NATO’s intention to continue pumping weapons into Ukraine, including air defence systems, speaks of one thing: the United States and its allies are not interested in resolving the crisis in this country,” she said.

The Western bloc continues to build up its military forces and infrastructure near Russia, and engaging in the military buildup of alliance members near Russia, “using their resources to develop plans to ‘contain’ Russia. We cannot ignore such a confrontational course toward our country. Especially when our key security concerns remain unanswered,” Zakharova said.

NATO Vows to ‘Hold Russia Accountable’

At Friday’s extraordinary summit, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia to “stop this senseless war, immediately cease its assault, withdraw all its forces from Ukraine, and turn back to the path of dialogue and turn away from aggression.”

In a joint communique published following the meeting, the alliance accused Moscow of carrying out a “long-planned,” “brutal and wholly unprovoked and unjustified” attack against the “independent, peaceful and democratic” nation of Ukraine, and alleged that Russia had “fundamentally shattered” peace on the European continent.

“The world will hold Russia, as well as Belarus, accountable for their actions. We call on all states to condemn this unconscionable attack unreservedly. No one should be fooled by the Russian government’s barrage of lies,” the communique said.

The bloc went on to accuse Russia of rejecting “the path of diplomacy and dialogue,” and warning that Moscow would be made to pay “a severe price” for its actions, “both economically and politically,” for years to come.

Russia and its Donbass allies began a large scale military operation in Ukraine on Thursday to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country after continued Ukrainian shelling attacks on the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics even after Moscow’s recognition of the former Ukrainian breakaways as sovereign nations and the signing of a security treaty with them last Monday.

The current emergency is the culmination of a security crisis which enveloped Ukraine following a violent, US and EU-backed coup in Kiev in February 2014, and has festered in the form of a long-running civil war in the country’s eastern regions.