India has supported an initiative by China to conduct a “joint border operation” in 2023 of all member countries of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) that includes Russia, Pakistan and Central Asian countries. The border operation called “Solidarity-2023” will be organised by China, a statement by the Border Security Force (BSF) said. https://www.thehindu.com/news/....national/india-backs

Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, the new Army commander, started in his new role last Monday — and in his fourth day in the job, wrote: “There is now a burning imperative to forge an Army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle.” https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/....18931719/uk-army-pre

On Saturday, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the first educational project between Iraq and China. Last December, under the patronage and presence of the Prime Minister, the Iraqi government announced that it had signed 15 contracts with China to build 1,000 schools in Iraq. It is worth noting that the China–Iraq relations have advanced in recent years.

Last year, Iraq became a top recipient of Chinese investment and a critical link in Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative. Almost 20 years after the war in Iraq began, billions of Chinese yuan are being invested in assorted projects, from green energy capabilities and heavy oil plants to building roads and schools. Fudan University’s Center for Green Finance and Development in Shanghai reported that in 2021, Iraq received $10.5 billion in investment under the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. Iraq has become the third-biggest Belt and Road partner in energy engagement, after Russia and Pakistan. https://shafaq.com/en/Economy/....China-launches-its-1

For the first time, Colombia will have a leftist president.

Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and a longtime senator who has pledged to transform the country’s economic system, has won Sunday’s election, according to preliminary results, setting the third largest nation in Latin America on a radically new path.

Mr. Petro, 62, received more than 50 percent of the vote, with more than 99 percent counted Sunday evening. His opponent, Rodolfo Hernández, a construction magnate who had energized the country with a scorched-earth anti-corruption platform, just over 47 percent. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2....022/06/19/world/colo

Quite possibly the biggest Russia-West provocation of the entire four-month long war in Ukraine has occurred this weekend, but few in the media establishment seem to be taking notice of the singular event which has the potential to quickly spiral toward a WW3 scenario. Baltic EU/NATO member Lithuania has implemented a ban on all rail transit goods going to Russia's far-western exclave of Kaliningrad, after transport authorities initially announced the provocative measure on Friday. In Moscow's eyes, this is tantamount to laying economic siege to part of Russia's sovereign territory and one million of its citizens. https://www.zerohedge.com/geop....olitical/eu-just-imp

[Forwarded from Josh]


Check out this video. The entire Ukraine conflict has to do with the West doing a test-run on Russia, prior to sanctioning China.

'The US government is actively modeling and designing China sanctions', based on what they're currently observing in their sanctions on Russia. They have already decided 'to decouple completely from China, in order to impose sanctions on them'. This is a foregone reality, not hyperbole.

Russia is merely an experiment for the Western establishment. The US (and Europe) pushed Russia and Ukraine into a war, merely for the excuse of imposing sanctions on Russia. They wanted to give their analysts the opportunity to observe a real-life test-run of decoupling, prior to doing the real thing (decoupling from China).

So if you think these gas prices and food shortages are a big deal, you ain't seen nothing yet. Within Western/US establishment circles, it's already been decided, that China will be sanctioned. And China's economy is gigantic compared to Russia's. (Russia's economy is only 7% the size of China's. Yup, 7%)

https://world-signals.com/news..../2022/06/17/strange-

well, this is distantly related to my latest piece about Zelensky the Puppet for RT…guess they wanted a commentary on his latest ban of opposition parties but didn’t want an entire piece on it, so they took my story about how all ruling class puppets seem to end up shilling for war with China to try to save their own asses & grafted on a bit about opposition parties. *sigh* still worth a read, of course. i’ll put up an extended, un-mangled version on substack when i have a chance.
https://www.rt.com/russia/5572....28-zelensky-clueless