Another one of Russian Josh's "sources" jailed on charges of espionage. 

Voice of America freelancer's arrest on suspicion of being Russian spy causes international ripples

VOA says Pablo González 'had no direct relationship' with the U.S.-funded global news agency

A Spanish freelance journalist for Voice of America, the U.S.-funded global media service, was arrested last month in Poland on suspicion of being a Russian spy, causing international ripples as VOA scrambled to "review" his past contributions and press watchdogs howled for his release.

Pablo González, described by the Spanish online newspaper Público as a "journalist specializing in the post-Soviet world and a doctoral candidate at the University of the Basque Country," was arrested on Feb. 28 by Poland's Internal Security Agency on charges of spying for GRU, Russia's foreign military intelligence service. He faces 10 years in prison and the agency said he would be held for three months.

A VOA spokesperson said González had, according to its records, posted only six stories for the agency, the last one in 2021, but he had also contributed to a recent Ukraine segment as a camera operator. He was active on Twitter until his arrest. 

DJ, 

In the latest propagandawar a video showing soldiers killing two elderly men in Kiev did show up. The claim is made that "Russian soldiers" did the killing and looting. Maybe a better informed person may identify the uniforms...No doubt Russian soldiers may do wrong things, however the Ukraine army is that desperate it now also includes former prisoners...(the video was a few months old).

[url]https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/news-nation/40-billion-in-aid-to-ukraine-blocked-in-u-s-senate[/url] or https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/news-nation/40-billion-in-aid-to-ukraine-blocked-in-u-s-senate ;

Fiscal conservatives are praising Sen. Rand Paul for blocking a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine – a bill that not a single person on Capitol Hill has been able to read.

Paul objected to a deal offered by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would have set up votes on Thursday afternoon on the funding and on an amendment from Paul, who wanted to include language in the bill to expand an Afghanistan inspector general role to include oversight of the Ukraine funds. 

“Our total aid to Ukraine will almost equal the entire military budget of Russia,” Paul said. “The cost of this package we are voting on today is more than the U.S. spent during the first year of the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan. Congress authorized force and the president sent troops into the conflict. The same cannot be said of Ukraine.”

DJ, The amount of money now being "prepared for Ukraine"-often not labelled-so impossible to track-by western countries; US, UK, EU (etc) may by now be over 100 billion+ US$/€...and it is not clear at all how it is being used...

In NL media (based on AP etc) I also did read Russian military no longer willing to go to war because "it is a slaughterhouse"...[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rUwD7jU6OY[/url] or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rUwD7jU6OY Alexander Mercouris (AM) has been giving that description as well.... DJ-Since it is not official war the Russian military no longer willing to go to a basic military mass murder only punishment is losing the army job...(If it was an official war they would face much more severe legal action). 

From AM;

-Growing protests in central/west Ukraine about the massive losses (both in killed/wounded and POW) of men in the (Russian ethnic) Donbas. Families wondering why their sons, fathers (a lot of Ukraine soldiers 40+) have to fight in a part of Ukraine where people do not want to be part of the (present) Kiev-junta run Ukraine...

-Turkey worried about how many Turkish-made drones are lost at the "snake-island" Ukraine military disaster..

-Draghi-Italy on a visit in the US asking for a way out. So far Italy supported sanctions etc. 

-In Germany trade unions-basis for the Social Democratic Party (SDP)-also discussing support for the the German (relative new) government

DJ-The EU supported help for Ukraine...however the idea for regimechange in Moscow was not on their agenda...

AM also discussing the Russian claim Ukraine attack on Snake-island was based on UK advice. The UK/bojo may be even more extreme in being anti-Russian (with bojo thinking he is Winston Churchill - like Macron has "Napoleon-like" ideas of himself). AM wondering what basis Russia has for that claim (DJ-Since it was a disaster Kiev may blame the UK...). 

-In the Donbas Ukraine massive losses go on...DJ, Russian artillery is shelling Ukraine forces 24/7...a.o. MoA has stories on Ukraine military reaching hospitals are often not in such a bad shape...If you are to close to a grenade you are dead or that badly wounded you do not get to a (public) hospital...(DJ-There may be military ones doing amputations etc...). 

Western push to continu this "war" is based on propaganda of a corrupt and fascist puppet regime trying to hold on to power...The basic idea for this war (as so many other western wars; Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen) was unrealistic;

-The west is losing the sanctions war

-Ukraine had NO chance in a military confrontation (and its men are being slaugthered)

-Unclear western goals

DJ-Finland and Sweden now ask for NATO membership. There will be a NATO meeting later this month but the official procedure is not short. Some EU eaders" also pushing for Ukraine in the EU....

My impression is the "momentum" for these steps may be shifting fast. Realism is that Finland, Sweden joining NATO is further escalation. Not only making relations with Russia much worse, also other-non-western-countries are "not happy" with a never ending (global) NATO...From India, Indonesia to Venezuela, Argentina the idea may be growing a "global NATO" is a neo-colonial US army...

Most EU countries are not willing to accept Ukraine as a full EU-member...There are several other countries (former Yugoslavia) waiting for years...Turkey was kept out...now opening the door for Ukraine-a totally destroyed corrupt country in a pointless (civil) war may not be "an act of wisdom". The EU already made promisses on payment of Ukraine bills that are pretty insane...will see lots of protests in member states...

DJ-My impression is the west did get itself involved in another insane unwinnable war...relations with many non-western countries are getting bad...economic damage is getting major. 

If biden, bojo and maybe Poland (Baltic States ?) want to further escalate this war the price the west will have to pay is getting that high no sane person could want to go that way....

In combination with a worsening pandemic (is it wave-5 ???), climate disasters, getting close to hyperinflation and -later on- mass unemployment "public support" for further escalation is eroding fast...Western PR/propaganda may have been "well organized"..but "If Ukraine is winning the war it better win the war fast" 

My impression is that-after a lot of military/intel- now from economists there is growing alarm....The west is destroying itself while not getting any benifits out of it...

DJ-I have the freedom to write/post this. In many countries I would end up in problems for writing this critical....So I am not a fan of Putin/Russia, China, Iran...but you "do not have to like someone to live with someone on the same planet"....

Maybe as an end for this writing; further western escalation may see a need to "go nuclear" rather fast. Any NATO intervention in Ukraine may start conflicts China, Iran play a role in...The west will be overstretched in a war far bigger then any war since 1945...Giving room for "other countries" to reach their goals"...The Israel-Iran conflict could go nuclear...

Since Russia only involved something like 10% in its "military action" in Ukraine further western escalation would result in very heavy western losses...we should NOT go that way !

Since it is a very good article [url]https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/race-break-russia-china-alliance-ukraine-asia-pacific[/url] or https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/race-break-russia-china-alliance-ukraine-asia-pacific ;

Due to this intellectual blindness, even among many intelligent experts within the alternative media community, I will take this opportunity to briefly assess some of the key elements of the parallel features of both operations that have been deployed to destroy both Russia and China. We will begin by looking at the color revolutionary tactics, followed by ‘Gladio stay behinds’, military encirclement, biowarfare and finally the use of ‘fifth columns’.

Color Revolutionary Tactics

Over the past decades, both Russia and China have contended with obsessive efforts to carve up and destabilize their governments utilizing “democracy promoting/anti corruption” organizations tied to western intel have fortunately failed to Balkanize them as seen in the tragic case of Yugoslavia.

The late geopolitical guru Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote passionately of his vision of a carved-up Russia in his 1997 Grand Chessboard saying: “A loosely confederated Russia- composed of a European Russia, a Siberian Republic, and a Far Eastern Republic- would find it easier to cultivate closer economic regulations with Europe, with the new states of Central Asia and with East Asia, which would thereby accelerate Russia’s own development.”

Over the years, western funded movements in China have arisen calling openly for breaking up China into no less than five ethno-nationalist micro-states called ‘East Turkestan, The Free State of Tibet, Canton and Manchuria.’

Purged multibillionaire deep state operative Guo Wengui (aka: Miles Guo), now operating from New York, has gone so far as to establish an international insurrectionary organization called ‘The New Federal State of China’ with a shiny new flag, constitution and cheesy anthem for the post-CCP China which will undoubtedly happen any day within Guo’s wildest imagination.

The leaders of both nations have clearly identified “color revolutionary” tactics as an active form of asymmetrical warfare leading both states to ban a wide spectrum of western-funded NGOs (or if permitted to exist within their territories to be forced to register as ‘foreign agents’). While the color revolution financing king George Soros was banned from China back in 1989, Russia took longer to gain the power and confidence to ban the economic hitman’s Open Society operations which finally occurred in 2015.

Gladio-type “stay-behinds” on their borders.

The asymmetrical warfare tool basket doesn’t stop at color revolutionary tactics, but relies upon networks of provocateurs and extremists who often find their roots in the non-punishment of virulent war criminals in the wake of WW2.

Those second and third generation fascist stay-behinds who were incorporated into western intelligence under the helm of NATO after WW2 remains one of the most uncomfortable and dangerous secrets of the modern age.

Weaponized ideological groups carefully groomed by Anglo-American intelligence since WWII and who continued to glorify Nazi-collaborators as “great heroes” played a major role both during the Cold War, and also today’s Banderite-filled age with neo-Nazi battalions driven obsessively to carry out jihad against Russia as their spiritual forefathers had done during WW2.

This problem is not isolated to Eastern Europe, but persists in China’s own back yard where the American military colony of Japan still maintains a strong tradition of treating WWII fascist war criminals as heroes (much to China’s chagrin).

One of the largest parties occupying 30% of the Japanese parliamentary seats (and headed by former PM Shinzo Abe) is the Nippon Kaigi party which claims openly that “Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia” during WW2.

Despite many anti-fascist impulses in Japan seeking to maintain peaceful coexistence with their Eurasian neighbors, the Nippon Kaigi goes so far as to deny that Japan committed any atrocities to the Chinese during WW2 while trying to maintain the thesis that Japan was on the side of justice by working with Hitler. Keep in mind that this is also the same colony (now hosting over 50,000 US troops) which saw former PM Shinzo Abe call publicly for acquiring US-owned nuclear weapons to defend against China one week after Zelensky made that same call on behalf of Ukraine in Munich on February 19th.

Full Spectrum Dominance: Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific

Like Russia, who has watched “full spectrum dominance” wrap around her perimeter over the course of 20+ years, China has also been looking at ongoing efforts to create a “NATO of the Pacific” termed “the Quad” in her backyard.

This toxic idea has been championed by NATO-connected think tanks like the Atlantic Council and CFR for years and grows directly out of Obama’s 2012 ‘Asia Pivot’ strategy which saw a broad extension of missile systems, trident-bearing submarines, provocative “freedom of navigation” exercises, military bases and efforts to impose US-controlled governments hostile to China in the Pacific region.

The ABM-aspect of this program (which experts agree can be easily converted from “defensive” into “offensive”) is reflected in the THAAD missile system already stationed in South Korea which currently hosts over 28,000 US troops. Nominally justifying its existence to stop the “North Korean threat”, the reality is that this system has always been aimed at China.

Describing the $762 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 which received nearly total bipartisan support, analyst Michael Klare observed:

“The gigantic 2022 defense bill — passed with overwhelming support from both parties — provides a detailed blueprint for surrounding China with a potentially suffocating network of U.S. bases, military forces, and increasingly militarized partner states. The goal is to enable Washington to barricade that country’s military inside its own territory and potentially cripple its economy in any future crisis. For China’s leaders, who surely can’t tolerate being encircled in such a fashion, it’s an open invitation to… well, there’s no point in not being blunt… fight their way out of confinement.”

Taiwan as Ukraine of the Pacific

Obviously within this entire mess, Taiwan (which has been an Anglo-American plaything since 1949) is currently acting like the “Ukraine of the Pacific” with many leading agents operating throughout the government calling openly for US military defense of China’s autonomous province from the “evil commie” mainlanders.

Biden himself has pledged that Taiwan can “count on America’s support” were an invasion to break out at any time. These supportive words were backed up with a $750 million deal to provide a Howitzer military system to Taiwan in August 2021, a $100 million deal to supply and upgrade Taiwan’s patriot missile systems on February 8, 2022 and another $95 million missile deal on April 6, 2022. After the second of these three deals, the Taiwanese foreign ministry sounded like it was trying to out-Zelensky Zelensky saying:

“In the face of China’s continued military expansion and provocative actions, our country will maintain its national security with a solid defence, and continue to deepen the close security partnership between Taiwan and the United States.”

China’s concerns over the vast expansion of US efforts to turn Taiwan into a Pacific Ukraine (including a doubling of military officials in the US embassy compound in the past year) are very real.

Biowarfare in the 21st Century

Then there is the serious issue of the Pentagon’s bioweapons infrastructure that has demonstrated an ethnic-targeting feature as outlined in the September 2000 PNAC manifesto “Rebuilding Americas Defenses”. In this bone-chilling neocon manifesto, its authors stated that in the 21st century “combat will likely take place in new dimensions: In space, cyber-space and perhaps the world of microbes… advanced forms of biological warfare that can “target” specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool”.

Today over 320 Pentagon-run biolabs are scattered strategically around the world with a very active program titled “Jupitr” and “Centaur” located in in South Korea. This later program has caused grave concern to both the Chinese and many Koreans since Obama launched inaugurated the program in 2010 with an executive order that stated “a robust and productive scientific enterprise that utilizes biological select agents and toxins is essential to national security.”

This was the same team that brought us the Obama-Lugar partnership that established a vast bio-laboratory infrastructure in Georgia while Obama was still just another Soros-controlled Senator with Presidential ambitions.

Work on some of the deadliest toxins in the world has been conducted within the US run biolabs which include work on botulinum, ricin, staphylococcal, anthrax, plague and more. In 2015 the US military was caught illegally shipping samples of live anthrax via FedEx to the US laboratory at the Oran Air base 70 km south of Seoul resulting in civilian protests across the nation although no evidence of any change in policy by the Americans.

Japan’s sordid past is again brought back into the story, as Finian Cunningham’s recent Strategic Culture Foundation study on the origins of US bioweapons complex zeroed in on the Military Industrial Complex’s absorption of the genocidal “Unit 731” under the control of Shiro Ishii. Cunningham wrote:

“Ishii’s Unit 731 is estimated to have caused up to 500,000 deaths during the war from the use of biological warfare by dropping pathogens from airplanes on Chinese cities in Hunan and Zhejiang provinces. The unit also carried out diabolic forced experiments on Chinese and Russian prisoners of war to study the epidemiology of diseases and vaccines. Inmates were infected with pathogens and subjected to horrible agonizing deaths… Shiro Ishii and his criminal network were never brought to trial following the war despite earnest Soviet requests. Instead, the Americans who occupied mainland Japan granted him and his team of doctors immunity from prosecution in exchange for exclusive access to the biological and chemical warfare experiments. The Pentagon assigned its experts from Fort Detrick, Maryland, to tap the Japanese trove of data.”

This list would not be complete without the last consideration…

DJ, Again the alternative for confrontation is diplomacy...Looking back at western foreign policy since 1990-end of Soviet Union, "the wall" etc. diplomacy would have resulted in a much more harmonic western led globe...Instead confrontation-breaking up Yugoslavia, involvement in all kinds of "protests", "revolution/coups" and sabotage now is resulting in that same west getting isolated and marginalized...wrong choices bring wrong results...

DJ Good there has been contacts between the US and Russia on this level. The west may be moving into an economic crisis worse then that of 1929....Since both the US$ and Euro/€ are (most) "fiat-currencies" the economic war can result in both the $ and € ending up at 10% or even less of their present "buying power"; hyperinflation. 

Before starting a conflict it is wise to know the positions of all participants. The west failed to get a realistic view and now may face the costs...The value of both dollar and Euro may be in Asian hands...

DJ,

Among others; [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQcodEBsPGo[/url] or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQcodEBsPGo  Alex Christoforou-from Cyprus : EU gas price caps. Lavrov says west started "hybrid war." Weapons hit blackmarket. Update 2 Topic 542 If Ukraine Is Winning Why Is The U.S. Requesting A Ceasefire? https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05...

DJ; Russia will not give up a major part of Ukraine. De-dollarization main part of strategy. DJ-I think "the west" loves to ignore that point-it is basiccally NATO, Japan against Russia....Australia in name does join but they compete with Russia-very limited trade. 

The economic war is already much wider then NATO against Russia. It is fiat-currencies against gold/energy backed currencies...

DJ-Lots of discussion on western weapons. If they are that bad how can it be that the black market has so much interest ? Scott Ritter seems to claim western weapons DO matter...Ukraine seems to be able to increase defenses...

From [url]https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/if-ukraine-is-winning-why-is-the-us-requesting-a-ceasefire.html[/url] or https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/if-ukraine-is-winning-why-is-the-us-requesting-a-ceasefire.html ;

There are recently a number of other issues that also go in favor of Russia:

• The economic outlook for Russia is good. It will have a record wheat harvest. Its internal measures to compensate for the results of sanctions are working. Counter sanctions Russia has now initiated against its enemies are starting to become effective.
• Hungary has blocked European sanctions against Russian oil.
• Turkey is slowing down if not prohibiting the entry of Kurd friendly Sweden and Norway into NATO.
• The U.S. weapon deliveries to Ukraine will stop on May 19 unless Congress passes authority for new ones.
• Senator Rand Paul has held up the required bill with the quite reasonable demand to have a inspector general scrutinize where the $40 billion 'for Ukraine' will be going. The Democrats will certainly dislike that.
• U.S. gasoline prices have hit a record high.
• European natural gas prices have also jumped after the Ukraine blocked the flow from Russia through one of the pipelines and while the flow through the Yamal pipeline in Poland has been stopped due to Russian counter sanctions.
• Le Monde has verified and published a video that shows a Ukrainian 'volunteer battalion', led by a known criminal, torturing Russian prisoners of war.
• Russia has published new material about the U.S. military biological 'research' in Ukraine. Other countries will also have questions about these activities.

DJ A major other development ; 

and [url]https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/world/reports-u-s-admiral-surrenders-to-russia-in-mariupol-ukraine[/url] or https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/world/reports-u-s-admiral-surrenders-to-russia-in-mariupol-ukraine ;

Along with U.S. Admiral Olson (Ret'd), British Lieutenant Colonel John Bailey and 4 NATO military instructors also allegedly surrendered to Russia.

There is also news of Canadian, French, and Turkish military officers still hiding inside tunnels beneath the Azovstal Steel Mill in Mariupol.

What these men were allegedly doing there and who sent them there, is not yet known.

If confirmed by the Pentagon, the massive question this raises is why are U.S. military officers, and the military officers from other NATO countries, inside Ukraine at all, and who authorized them to participate in waging undeclared war upon Russia?

(Hal Turner Remark: I have reached out to the Pentagon Public Affairs Duty Officer via the off-hours/Weekend media contact telephone number, seeking Pentagon comment.   The Duty Officer I spoke with requested I send them details via email, which has been done.

If a reply comment is received from the Pentagon Press Office, it will be added to this story.)

UPDATE 7:02 PM EDT --

There is a dispute as to WHERE this photo was taken.   There is a claim it was taken in Luhansk, and not in Mariupol.  There is also a dispute as to WHEN the photo was taken, with claims that it was taken on April 14.

The "where" and "when" arguments do not take issue with WHO is allegedly shown in the photo.

RELATED: Reports Seven (7) Other Americans KILLED in Ukraine

Seven (7) Americans were killed in Rubizhnoye, who participated in the battles on the side of Kyiv, according to Alaudinov, an assistant to the head of Chechnya,.

He showed a document of one of them with the name Joseph Ward Clark from Washington state.

DJ, Earlier there was a claim of a high rank Canadian military (retired) taken POW and to Moscow. May have been running a bio-lab. 

DJ, The west was open about some parts of Ukraine forces were "not very acceptable" untill a few months ago...

[url]https://www.dw.com/en/germany-scholzs-party-defeated-in-bellwether-north-rhine-westphalia-election/a-61803497[/url] or https://www.dw.com/en/germany-scholzs-party-defeated-in-bellwether-north-rhine-westphalia-election/a-61803497 ; In a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD party, voters backed the conservatives, CDU, in an election Germany's most populous state. The Greens meanwhile more than doubled the number of votes they received.

DJ, also trade unions may drop the SDP so Scholz government is facing a crisis. A lot of German economy is based on family-bussiness-they usuallly support the Christian Democrats. Larger companies have a link with the "liberals" FDP-but so far that party has been limited. In this election the "workers" shifted from the SDP to the Green Party. 

Germany is the main factor in Europe/EU. France is #2. Both countries in my view will not keep backing the US/UK hard line for that much longer....The economic price is getting to high. 

Finland plans to join NATO could see electricity, gas from Russia being cut of. (However it is companies not countries deciding on that. A lot of the bigger companies are international and may be willing to pay for Russian energy in Rubles. Russia however is shifting away from the west-enough "friendly buyers"...

DJ-In my opinion the west made two major errors;

-1 Russia does NOT accept NATO moving east-and is willing to fight for that. 

-2 Russia is not isolated at all-sanctionswar is not working but doing much more harm to the west.

DJ; There seems to be more contacts between Russia and the US, France, Germany...I think all are interested in a "way out" without losing face. If both Russia and the "west" are not able to make some kind of agreement-and Russia does no longer trust the west-further escalation may be around the corner. 

The "weak spot" for the west is in their "global economy/fiat currency". To build more weapons they need materials from around the globe...want to pay for that in $ or €....But after Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria-wars the west was unable to win-a lot of countries may think twice...

A "global NATO" is seen as neo-colonialism...The "petro-dollar" was not the choice of most countries but enforced by the west...

For that matter the risks for nuclear war are still major. North Korea now in a corona-crisis with nuclear weapons, Israel facing Iran restoring relations in the Middle East also increase risks. 

Good discussion/info at [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_SyY0tGiUg[/url] or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_SyY0tGiUg ; 

SCOTT RITTER ON TURKEY, NATO, AZOVSTAL, THE ARCTIC COUNCIL, POLAND, UKRAINE AND, FUTURE OF THE USA!

DJ, The nordic/arctic route is getting more and more important. Some of the northern oil/gas exploration in Russia only has sea/airlinks. Main export shifting towards China/Asia.

(Chances for a BOE-Blue Ocean Event-not much ice left in the Arctic is increasing. Making the Arctic Ocean a link between the Atlantic and Pacific. Of course climate wise it will be very bad...).

Alexander Mercouris more or less hinting at increase of contacts between "the west" and Russia. 

[url]https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/how-europe-was-pushed-towards-economic-suicide.html[/url] or https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/how-europe-was-pushed-towards-economic-suicide.html ; 

In the words of one serious observer:

Today, we see that for purely political reasons, driven by their own ambitions, and under pressure from their US overlord, the European countries are imposing more sanctions on the oil and gas markets which will lead to more inflation. Instead of admitting their mistakes, they are looking for a guilty party elsewhere.
...
One gets the impression that Western politicians and economists simply forget basic economic laws or just choose to ignore them.

DJ-Some nuances; [url]https://www.dw.com/en/4-eu-countries-pledge-tenfold-rise-in-north-sea-wind-power/a-61840526[/url] or https://www.dw.com/en/4-eu-countries-pledge-tenfold-rise-in-north-sea-wind-power/a-61840526 ;Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark plan to build 150 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in the North Sea to help achieve the EU's climate goals and, eventually, break away from Russian energy.

-

This capacity would be enough to power 230 million European homes. The ambition is also to use the green power to make hydrogen and green fuels for heavy industries and transportation that cannot easily be directly electrified, Danish Business Minister Simon Kollerup said.

According to Denmark's Climate and Energy Minister Dan Jorgensen, the cost of installing 150 gigawatts of offshore wind power would amount to hundreds of billions of dollars and would be financed mainly by private investors with small state subsidies.

The European Commission targets 300 gigawatts of wind at sea by 2050, up from the roughly 16 gigawatts currently installed.

and [url]https://www.dw.com/en/eu-unveils-300-billion-plan-to-reduce-its-energy-dependency-on-russia/a-61838801[/url] or https://www.dw.com/en/eu-unveils-300-billion-plan-to-reduce-its-energy-dependency-on-russia/a-61838801 ; To reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels, Brussels is offering a three-pronged plan including a shift to importing more non-Russian gas, faster adoption of renewable energy, and greater energy-saving efforts.

DJ Renewable energy is the future, fossil fuels are "old"...[url]https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1265960.shtml[/url] or https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1265960.shtml ;

Pollution caused some 9 million people to die prematurely in 2019, according to a new global report published Wednesday, with experts raising alarm over increasing deaths from breathing outside air and the "horrifying" toll of lead poisoning.

Human-created waste in the air, water and soil rarely kills people immediately, but causes instead heart disease, cancer, respiratory problems, diarrhea and other serious illnesses.  

The Lancet Commission on pollution and health said the impact from pollution on global health remains "much greater than that of war, terrorism, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, drugs and alcohol."

Pollution is an "existential threat to human health and planetary health, and jeopardizes the sustainability of modern societies," it added.

In general, the review found, air pollution - accounting for a total of 6.7 million deaths globally in 2019 - was "entwined" with climate change because the main source of both problems is burning fossil fuels and biofuels.  

DJ; Agriculture/farming has to change -high speed- as well to a.o. decrease pandemic risks. 

I only can welcome Europe getting less dependent on "foreign energysources". Dependency was the basis for conflicts. [url]https://www.ipkw.nl/nieuws/make-hydrogen-not-war/[/url] or https://www.ipkw.nl/nieuws/make-hydrogen-not-war/ ! Export of that kind of new technologies may start further a "green economy". 

[url]http://thesaker.is/death-by-a-thousand-cuts-where-is-the-wests-ukraine-strategy/[/url] or http://thesaker.is/death-by-a-thousand-cuts-where-is-the-wests-ukraine-strategy/ 

DJ-Further enlargement of NATO-at the present price-in my opinion is "unwise". It is limiting NATO members-because of the resulting conflicts. Military spending has to decrease...we need to decrease risks for conflict. Access to water, energy etc for all, fair global trade, may result in a better future. 

Diplomacy, cutting a major conflict into many smaller-but solvable-"points" may be the way out....Europe -in my opinion- has to stress the importance of diplomacy, even if that would result in "more distance" from the US. 

Maybe on Finland, Sweden possibly joining NATO; It would be conditional; both countries would NOT allow nuclear weapons or foreign military bases on their soil. End of june at a NATO meeting further steps will be made...a lot will happen before that. 

Turkey is the most clear opponent of Sweden, Finland-both sanctioning Turkey for its interventions against Kurds in Syria and Iraq. No doubt several countries are offering "deals" to Erdogan. Russia may offer lower prices for energy and grain, maybe even more weapons, nuclear energy, if Turkey is able to keep Sweden and Finland out of NATO. The US may offer F35-fighters...

The EU may offer "another look" at Turkey joining the EU....Carrot and stick; IF Turkey blocks Sweden and Finland; could Turkey be excluded ? (From some NATO/EU deals). 

DJ-The EU does need an end to the war in Ukraine...The sooner the better ! For that matter US/UK (UK would love to believe the US still is somewhat under UK control...) are in a different position. Sweden has a major military industry...with Sweden in NATO the outcome of increased military spending may see more European weapons...

The US goal may have been to stop EurAsian integration. One result could be the EU going for highspeed innovations...buying LESS US energy and weapons then the US was hoping/planning...(US products-because of US corruption- are expensive...That expensive other alternatives often have better value...).

Maybe even worse for some US neo-cons; The EU may distance itself from Russia (does not need its export that much any longer) but increase trade with the rest of Asia...

The US next step is creating a crisis with China...From the MoA;

As Michael Hudson, a research professor of Economics at University of Missouri, Kansas City, wrote in early February, before Russia's intervention in Ukraine:

America no longer has the monetary power and seemingly chronic trade and balance-of-payments surplus that enabled it to draw up the world’s trade and investment rules in 1944-45. The threat to U.S. dominance is that China, Russia and Mackinder’s Eurasian World Island heartland are offering better trade and investment opportunities than are available from the United States with its increasingly desperate demand for sacrifices from its NATO and other allies.

The most glaring example is the U.S. drive to block Germany from authorizing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to obtain Russian gas for the coming cold weather. Angela Merkel agreed with Donald Trump to spend $1 billion building a new LNG port to become more dependent on highly priced U.S. LNG. (The plan was cancelled after the U.S. and German elections changed both leaders.) But Germany has no other way of heating many of its houses and office buildings (or supplying its fertilizer companies) than with Russian gas.

The only way left for U.S. diplomats to block European purchases is to goad Russia into a military response and then claim that avenging this response outweighs any purely national economic interest. As hawkish Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, explained in a State Department press briefing on January 27: “If Russia invades Ukraine one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” The problem is to create a suitably offensive incident and depict Russia as the aggressor.

In mid February OSCE observer noted that the artillery bombardment of Donbas by the Ukrainians increased from a handful to over 2,000 explosions per day. Russia reacted to these attack preparations by recognizing the Donbas republics, signing defense agreements with them and by finally coming to their help.

DJ, Europe joined the US on Iran, Ukraine/Russia...but it would become selfdestructive if the EU followed the US on the rest of Asia...