Instruction: Write an article about: CIA and Western special ops commandos are in Ukraine, directing proxy war on Russia. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Britain, Canada, CIA, France, New York Times, Russia, UK, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Output:
The CIA and special operations forces from Britain, France, and Canada are physically in Ukraine, helping direct the proxy war on Russia, overseeing weapons, training, and intelligence. Some Ukrainian fighters have US flag patches.

The CIA and special operations forces from NATO members Britain, France, Canada, and Lithuania are physically in Ukraine, helping direct the proxy war on Russia, according to a report in The New York Times.
These Western forces are on the ground training and advising Ukrainian fighters, overseeing weapons shipments, and managing intelligence.

At least 20 countries are part of a US Army-led coalition, guiding Ukraine in its fight against Russian troops.
Some Ukrainian combatants are even using US flag patches on their equipment.
This is all according to a June 25 report in The New York Times, titled “Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say.”
The Times is a de facto organ of the US government. Although technically private, the paper closely follows the line of the CIA and Pentagon. Its report is based on statements by top US officials.
This is the strongest evidence yet that the conflict in Ukraine is not just a battle between neighbors, but rather a Western proxy war on Russia, with the direct involvement of NATO forces from several nations.
The Times acknowledged that Ukraine “depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies — including a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training.”
A stealthy network of allied commandos and CIA agents is coordinating weapons and information on the ground in Ukraine, hinting at the scale of covert support efforts. https://t.co/24xlFpYQE0
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 26, 2022

The chief of US Army Special Operations Command, Lieutenant General Jonathan P. Braga, boasted of an “international partnership with the special operations forces of a multitude of different countries” that “have absolutely banded together in a much outsized impact” to help wage the proxy war on Russia.
The Times noted that, “even as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces.”
The US Army has a “coalition planning cell in Germany to coordinate military assistance to Ukrainian commandos and other Ukrainian troops,” the newspaper reported.
At least 20 countries are part of this US-led cell providing military assistance to Ukraine, “which was modeled after a structure used in Afghanistan,” the newspaper added.
And the 20-nation coalition “is part of a broader set of operational and intelligence coordination cells run by the Pentagon’s European Command to speed allied assistance to Ukrainian troops.”
In a battle in the eastern Donbas region, “a group of Ukrainian special operations forces had American flag patches on their gear and were equipped with new portable surface-to-air missiles as well as Belgian and American assault rifles,” the Times noted.
This is one of many reports proving CIA support for anti-Russian forces in Ukraine.
Ever since the United States sponsored a violent coup d’etat that overthrew Ukraine’s democratically elected government in 2014, CIA agents have been active in the country, training fighters to kill Russian-speaking independence supporters in the east.
Yahoo News published an investigation in March, titled “Secret CIA training program in Ukraine helped Kyiv prepare for Russian invasion,” which revealed that “CIA paramilitaries” began traveling to Ukraine in 2014, and a “covert CIA training program run from Ukraine’s eastern frontlines” was teaching Ukrainians “irregular warfare” tactics.
CIA paramilitaries have been active in Ukraine training elite special operations forces to kill Russian-speaking Ukrainian separatists since soon after the 2014 US-sponsored coup.
The US spy agency boasted that its influence "cannot be overestimated."https://t.co/45T1mNiLNU
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 18, 2022

Another report released in Yahoo News in January, a month before Russia invaded Ukraine, admitted that the CIA had since 2015 been “overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel.”
A former CIA official stated openly, before Russia sent its troops in, “The United States is training an insurgency,” in order “to kill Russians.”


Instruction: Write an article about: Ukrainian TV host calls for genocide of Russians, quoting Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Adolf Eichmann, Fakhrudin Sharafmal, fascism, Nazis, Russia, Ukraine

Output:
Live on TV, a presenter for Ukraine’s Channel 24 quoted Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Holocaust, calling for “exterminating” Russian children to bring about genocide of the people of Russia.

(Se puede leer este artículo en español aquí.)
A presenter on a major TV channel in Ukraine cited infamous Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann live on air and called for “exterminating” Russian children to bring about genocide of the people of Russia.
Eichmann was a leader of the Third Reich’s SS death squads and a key architect of the Nazi Holocaust.
The Ukrainian government and its Western backers insist the country does not have a problem with Nazism and far-right extremism, but neo-fascists have significant influence in the Ukrainian state, particularly in the security apparatus. And major media outlets have frequently helped to amplify Ukrainian neo-Nazi propaganda.
This shocking call for genocide against Russians was made live on TV on Ukraine’s Channel 24, by host Fakhrudin Sharafmal.
“Since you call me a Nazi, I adhere to the doctrine of Adolf Eichmann, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that you and your children never live on this earth,” Sharafmal said.
“You have to understand that this is not about peace; it is about the victory of the Ukrainian people,” he continued. “We need victory. And if we have to massacre all your families to do it, I’ll be one of the first to do it.”
Channel 24 is owned by a wealthy Ukrainian businesswoman, Kateryna Kit-Sadova, who is the wife of the right-wing mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi.
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine that is a hotbed for ultra-nationalist extremists. Ukrainian Nazi collaborators carried out large pogroms against Jews there during World War II.
On March 15, Channel 24 published a tepid apology on its official website, saying that Sharafmal had been angry because a friend of his was killed by Russian soldiers, after Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24.
The presenter also apologized on air, in a video posted to the official Channel 24 YouTube channel. But behind him on the screen was Ukrainian text reading, “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself!” (This has become a nationalist slogan in the war.)
A subtitled video of Sharafmal’s bloodthirsty rant is embedded below, followed by a full transcript. Multipolarista reviewed this translation with a native Ukrainian speaker to make sure it is accurate.
Since we are called Nazis and fascists in Russia, I might as well quote Adolf Eichmann, who said that in order to destroy a nation, you must first exterminate its children. Because if you kill their parents, the children will grow up and take revenge. But if you kill the children first, they will never grow up, and the nation will disappear.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine cannot exterminate Russian children because it is forbidden by the rules of war, and it is prohibited by various conventions, including the Geneva Conventions.
However, I am not from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And when I get the chance to take out the Russians, I will not hesitate.
Since you call me a Nazi, I adhere to the doctrine of Adolf Eichmann, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that you and your children never live on this earth. So that you can feel what it is like when innocent civilians die, so that you can feel all the pain and suffering.
When you say, ‘We didn’t start the war, it was Putin, we didn’t want this war’ – we didn’t want it either. But you have to understand that this is not about peace; it is about the victory of the Ukrainian people.
We need victory. And if we have to massacre all your families to do it, I’ll be one of the first to do it.
Glory to the Ukrainian nation! Let’s hope that there will never be a nation like Russia and the Russians on this earth again. They are just scum who are destroying this land.
If the Ukrainians have the opportunity, which they are basically doing right now, to destroy, to slaughter, to kill, to strangle the Muscovites – I hope that everyone does their part and kills at least one Moskal (a slur referring to Russians).


Instruction: Write an article about: Spain’s spy agency backed 2017 ‘ISIS’ attacks to ‘scare’ Catalonia before independence referendum. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Catalan independence, Catalonia, CNI, FBI, ISIS, Islamist extremism, José Manuel Villarejo, National Intelligence Center, Spain, terrorism

Output:
Spain’s ex police chief said the National Intelligence Center (CNI) facilitated 2017 “ISIS” attacks to “scare” Catalonia before an independence vote. The leader of the terror cell was a CNI informant.

A blockbuster story is rocking Spanish politics: The former commissioner of Spain’s national police has testified in court that the country’s top spy agency facilitated 2017 terror attacks claimed by ISIS, in order to “scare” the region of Catalonia mere days before an independence referendum.
16 civilians were killed in the attacks, and more than 150 were injured.
The leader of the Salafi-jihadist terror cell that carried out the attacks was a longtime informant for Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI), and his activities were closely monitored by the spy agency.
There is debate about whether or not the CNI directly helped to orchestrate the terror plot, but at the very least the intelligence agency facilitated and allowed the attacks to be carried out, “to give the appearance of risk so that Catalonia would feel the need for the state’s protection,” the ex police commissioner told a Spanish court.
Villarejo dice que los atentados del 17-A fueron un "error" del CNI que quería dar "un pequeño susto en Cataluña" https://t.co/QFvzHekfYX
— 20minutos.es (@20m) January 11, 2022

These close links between Spanish spies and terror attacks claimed by the so-called “Islamic State” in Catalonia are eerily reminiscent of the well-established ties between US police agencies and supposed “ISIS” attacks in the United States, which were often carried out by FBI informants.
An undercover FBI agent encouraged a shooter in Garland, Texas to “tear up Texas,” and was physically present at the site of the 2015 shooting that was declared the first alleged “ISIS attack” on US soil.
Did you know the first alleged "ISIS attack" in the US was instigated by the FBI?
An undercover FBI agent encouraged an extremist in Garland to “tear up Texas,” and was even present at the attack, mere feet away from the shooters.
(From our 2017 archive)https://t.co/P7qphtabqv
— The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) June 28, 2020

On August 17, 2017, a group of Salafi-jihadist extremists launched coordinated terror attacks in Catalonia — an autonomous region of Spain which has a unique cultural identity, a distinct language, and a powerful independence movement.
The 2017 terror plot consisted of car-ramming attacks, stabbings, and an explosion, and ultimately killed 16 civilians and wounded more than 150, many of whom were foreign nationals.
The first car-ramming attack took place in the busy city of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, on the bustling street of La Rambla, a popular tourist attraction. It was then followed by a car-ramming attack in the Catalan town of Cambrils.
The terror attacks fueled an authoritarian turn in Spanish domestic politics, and are so infamous they are known in popular culture by the shorthand 17-A (el 17 de agosto, or the 17th of August in Spanish) — much as 9/11 is synonymous with terrorism in the United States.
Just two weeks after the horrific violence, supporters of Catalan independence won a landslide victory in the referendum held on October 1 (1-O, as it is known in Spanish).
According to a former Spanish police chief, the 17-A attacks had been intended to turn the public against Catalan independence. It is not clear if this strategy worked, because Catalans voted 92% to become an independent state — although there was only 43% turnout.
Polls in the years and months leading up to 1-O had showed Catalans to be pretty evenly split between supporters and opponents of independence. In September 2017, the Spanish government decided the Catalan people didn’t have the right to decide their future, and declared the referendum to be unconstitutional, voiding it before it even took place.
Spain’s former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo testifying in court
This January 11, the ex commissioner of Spain’s national police, José Manuel Villarejo, officially testified in court that the 17-A terror plot had been facilitated by the National Intelligence Center (CNI), the nation’s top spy agency.
Villarejo said it was a “grave error” committed by the CNI’s director, Félix Sanz Roldán, who “badly calculated the consequences to give a little scare to Catalonia” in the lead-up to the 1-O independence referendum.
After the attacks, Villarejo recalled that CNI asked the national police to help it “try to fix the mess.”
The leader of the terror cell accused of organizing the Catalonia attacks was Abdelbaki es-Satty, known as “the Imam of Ripoll.”
Villarejo said the CNI had been given solid intelligence warning of an impending terror attack being plotted in Barcelona, but the CNI ignored it, claiming it was “not reliable” because the Morroco-born es-Satty “had worked for them, but in reality was a Moroccan spy.”
Villarejo’s testimony is not the only evidence linking the terror cell leader to the CNI. The influential newspaper Público published an investigation in 2019 that shocked the Spanish public, titled “The mastermind of the Las Ramblas massacre was a CNI informant until the day of the attack.”
The Público report thoroughly documented how the Imam of Ripoll had been a CNI asset, further bolstering the claims by former police commissioner Villarejo that the spy agency was central in the 17-A attacks.
EXCLUSIVA | El cerebro de la masacre de Las Ramblas fue confidente del CNI hasta el día del atentado
Por @tableroglobalhttps://t.co/sSzaNPtSXU
— Público (@publico_es) July 15, 2019

The court testimony by José Manuel Villarejo unleashed a political explosion in Spain. So the next day, he tried to tame the controversy by slightly qualifying his remarks.
The CNI had not necessarily wanted the attacks to be carried out, Villarejo explained, but it did want “to give the appearance of risk so that Catalonia would feel the need for the state’s protection.”
When the leader of the terror cell, es-Satty, was accidentally killed in the explosion in the town of Alcanar the night before 17-A, however, “it was out of the hands” of the CNI, Villarejo said, and the terror plot went forward.
In 2017, Villarejo was arrested and accused of being part of a major corruption ring involving top Spanish politicians, state security forces, and economic elites. To save his own skin, Villarejo has willingly played ball, exposing the dirty operations happening inside the Spanish government.
It is worth mentioning that Villarejo has had a quarrel in particular with Félix Sanz Roldán, the former director of CNI, and it is clear that there is an institutional rivalry between the national police and the spy agency.
Unlike the US government’s CIA, which focuses on foreign operations (although operates domestically as well), and FBI, which is dedicated to domestic operations, Spain’s CNI is both a foreign and domestic intelligence agency.
Catalan independence supporters have expressed outrage over this scandal, and there are widespread calls for an investigation.
Spanish former police chief admits that the Spanish secret services (CNI) were behind the jihadist attacks in Barcelona, August 2017. Their intention was ‘to scare Catalonia just before the independence referendum.’16 people from various nationalities were killed. pic.twitter.com/KfQvjyP6Bn
— Josep Lluís Alay (@josepalay) January 11, 2022

The former police commissioner’s scandalous remarks were widely covered in the Catalan press, and were reported in mainstream media outlets in Spain, including 20 Minutos, ABC, La Vanguardia, and El Periódico.
Some of these outlets have since tried to smear and discredit Villarejo by regurgitating claims leaked to them by officials in Spanish state security services, whose reputation has been hurt by Villarejo’s testimony.
Yet although this story is a national scandal in Spain, it has gotten very little coverage in the English-language press. The Scottish pro-independence newspaper The National published an article summarizing the scandal, and the Irish Times printed a somewhat skeptical piece.
Otherwise there has been very little foreign attention to this important scandal, which says a lot about how Western spy agencies are willing to use dirty tactics to manipulate domestic politics.


Instruction: Write an article about: Ukraine’s Zelensky admits he sabotaged Minsk peace deal with Russia, West blocked negotiations. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Angela Merkel, France, Francois Hollande, Germany, Minsk, Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky

Output:
Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky admitted to the newspaper Der Spiegel that he refused to implement the 2015 Minsk II peace deal with Russia. Germany and France said Kiev used the agreement to “buy time” to prepare for war.

Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky admitted to a major German newspaper that he refused to implement the Minsk peace deal with Russia.
The Minsk accords were two agreements, negotiated in Belarus; signed by Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); and overseen by Germany and France, in the so-called Normandy Format.
The accords aimed to stop the conflict in Ukraine that broke out following a violent US-backed coup in 2014, which set off a civil war between Kiev’s pro-Western, post-coup government and pro-Russian separatists in the east.

The first deal, known as Minsk I, was reached in 2014, but failed. This led to Minsk II in 2015. This agreement was ostensibly more stable, but Ukraine’s previous President Petro Poroshenko never truly implemented it.
When Zelensky ran for president, he had differentiated himself from Poroshenko by pledging to “reboot” peace negotiations with the Russian-speaking separatists in the east and “continue in the direction of the Minsk talks and head towards concluding a ceasefire”.
But soon after coming to power in 2019, Zelensky did a 180.
In an interview with the German daily Der Spiegel, published on February 9, 2023, Zelensky made it clear that he intentionally chose to sabotage Minsk.
The Ukrainian leader complained that the Minsk agreements were an unacceptable “concession”.
Zelensky recalled telling French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that “we cannot implement it”.
“Procrastination is perfectly fine in diplomacy”, Zelensky said, explaining that he only “jumped on the train” and pretended to support Minsk in order to negotiate a prisoner swap with Russia – and give his country more time to prepare for war.
Der ukrainische Präsident Wolodymyr #Selenskyj im SPIEGEL-Gespräch. https://t.co/SFwOIfhBDV pic.twitter.com/XZEFOh1Aqv
— DER SPIEGEL (@derspiegel) February 9, 2023

Merkel herself confirmed this in December 2022, in an interview with the newspaper Die Zeit.
The former German leader stated that the “2014 Minsk agreement was an attempt to buy time for Ukraine. Ukraine used this time to become stronger”.
Former French President François Hollande later commented, “Angela Merkel is right on this point”.
Hollande added: “Since 2014, Ukraine has strengthened its military posture. Indeed, the Ukrainian army was completely different from that of 2014. It was better trained and equipped. It is the merit of the Minsk agreements to have given the Ukrainian army this opportunity”.
Minsk II stipulated that Ukraine had to reform its constitution, decentralize state authority, and provide autonomy for the Russian-speaking eastern provinces, with “special status” and “self-governance” for the regions Donetsk and Lugansk.
Kiev refused to do so, under both Ukrainian governments of President Poroshenko, who signed the Minsk accords, and his successor Zelensky, who took office in 2019.
Points 11 and 12 of Minsk II mandated (emphasis added):
11. Implementation of constitutional reform in Ukraine, with the new constitution to come into effect by the end of 2015, the key element of which is decentralization (taking into account peculiarities of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, agreed with representatives of these districts), and also approval of permanent legislation on special status of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, in accordance with the measures spelt out in the footnotes, by the end of 2015.
12. Based on the Ukrainian law, “on the temporary order of self-governance in the particular districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts,” questions dealing with local elections will be discussed and agreed upon by representatives of the areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts within the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group. Elections will be held in accordance with the relevant OSCE standards and monitored by OSCE/ODIHR.
The Ukrainian government did not implement these measures. Zelensky has dispelled any doubt as to why: It was an intentional choice.
German Chancellor Merkel clarified what Ukraine chose to do instead: Pretend that it was going to implement Minsk II while using the time to stock up on Western weapons and train its military to prepare for war with Russia.
Zelensky’s admission that he sabotaged a peace deal with Russia came just after Israel’s former leader disclosed that the West did the same.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett revealed in an interview that the US and Europe “blocked” his attempt to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine.
In a video he published on his YouTube channel, Bennett said “there was a legitimate decision by the West to keep striking Putin”, to escalate the war, instead of seeking peace.
“So they blocked it?” the interviewer asked, referring to Bennett’s attempt to broker peace. And the former Israeli leader responded, “Basically, yes. They blocked it, and I thought they’re wrong”.
This was not the only time the West blocked peace.
In December 2021, Moscow demanded from the West written security guarantees, including the promise that Ukraine would not join NATO and that the US-led military alliance would not carry out activities in Eastern Europe, on Russia’s borders.
Moscow published two draft treaties for peace. But Washington and Brussels rejected them. The US and NATO insisted that they have the right to continue expanding their aggressive military alliance onto Russia’s borders.
This blatantly violated the agreement that the US, Britain, and France made with Moscow in 1990, in which the former Soviet Union allowed German reunification on the condition that NATO must not expand “one inch east”. Instead, NATO added 14 new members, all in Central and Eastern Europe – some on Russia’s borders.
Having exhausted all attempts at a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Just a few weeks into this new phase of the war, in March, Türkiye held negotiations in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine. Both sides came to an agreement to end the war, according to the anti-Russian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda and a former top US government official.
But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Kiev to kill the peace deal, and the West instead escalated the proxy war, seeking to destabilize and overthrow the Russian government.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a negotiated settlement to end the conflict in April
But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson intervened to stop the peace deal
The US and EU then escalated the proxy war to try to weaken Moscow, flooding Ukraine with weapons https://t.co/cPwlctixyl
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) September 18, 2022


Instruction: Write an article about: UN expert: ‘Outrageous’ Western sanctions are ‘suffocating’ Syria, may be crimes against humanity. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Alena Douhan, sanctions, Syria, UN, United Nations

Output:
The United Nations special rapporteur said “outrageous” Western sanctions on Syria are “suffocating” millions of civilians and “may amount to crimes against humanity.” Proxy war caused the country’s economy to shrink by 90%. Nine in 10 Syrians live in poverty.

(Se puede leer esta nota en español aquí.)
The United Nations’ top expert on sanctions said the unilateral coercive measures that the United States and Europe have illegally imposed on Syria are “outrageous,” and she warned that they are “suffocating” millions of innocent civilians.
“The whole [Syrian] population stays in life-threatening conditions with severe shortages of drinking water,” electricity, fuel, and food, reported the UN special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights, Alena Douhan.

She wrote of the “huge negative effect of unilateral sanctions,” which have “a devastating effect on the whole population” and “a devastating effect on nearly all categories of human rights.”
“Maintaining unilateral sanctions amid the current catastrophic and still-deteriorating situation in Syria may amount to crimes against humanity against all Syrian people,” the UN expert said.
Douhan, a widely respected professor of international law, visited Syria for 12 days in October and November in order to investigate the impact of sanctions on the country. On November 10, she published a preliminary report that “calls for lifting of long-lasting unilateral sanctions ‘suffocating’ Syrian people.”
The UN special rapporteur described a medieval-style blockade, in which sanctions have “eroded to the level of total extinction the purchasing power of households, which find themselves in a prolonged state of survival mode.”
“The imposed sanctions have shattered the State’s capability to respond to the needs of the population, particularly the most vulnerable, and 90% of the people now live below the poverty line,” Douhan wrote.
Prices have increased more than 800% since 2019, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost, and the sanctions block the import of “food, medicine, spare parts, raw materials, and items necessary for the country’s needs and economic recovery,” she said.
I have just finished my country visit to Syria. Impact of sanctions there is outrageous https://t.co/uIkF746nE1
— Alena Douhan (@AlenaDouhan) November 10, 2022

While Western governments claim to have humanitarian exceptions in their sanctions regimes, the UN expert emphasized that “secondary sanctions and over-compliance” by international financial institutions prevent Syria from importing necessary goods, and have even made it very difficult for UN institutions and international humanitarian organizations to operate in the country.
Today, more than half of Syrians are suffering from food insecurity. Moreover, 24% of Syrians are disabled, and 14.6% suffer from diseases.
The sanctions have also prevented the government from rebuilding damaged infrastructure and caused “shortages of electricity and drinking water,” leading to daily energy blackouts, including in hospitals, as well as contaminated water, and even a cholera outbreak.
Because of the occupation of Syria’s oil-rich regions by the US military and its Kurdish proxies, the government’s oil production is at only 10% of its pre-2010 levels, and with Western sanctions making the import of crude nearly impossible, the Syrian people face a chronic shortage of gasoline and fuel.
Douhan called for the unilateral sanctions that the United States and Europe have imposed on Syria to be lifted immediately, stressing that they are illegal under international law.
The UN expert also previously took a trip to Venezuela, and she reported that illegal Western sanctions had similarly devastating effects on the civilian population there, while starving the government of 99% of its revenue.
??#Syria: UN expert @AlenaDouhan calls for the immediate lifting of unilateral sanctions that are perpetuating & exacerbating the trauma suffered by the Syrian people since 2011.
?https://t.co/sgutKnEEeU pic.twitter.com/leyOY0kL9p
— UN Special Procedures (@UN_SPExperts) November 10, 2022

Most of the sanctions imposed on Syria came after the West launched a proxy war against the country in 2011. But the UN expert noted that Washington has had sanctions on Damascus going back to 2004.
The aggressive US sanctions levelled against Syria and 2011 and 2012 expanded into a de facto blockade in 2019, with the approval of the Caesar Act, which Douhan noted “authorized secondary sanctions against non-U.S. persons anywhere in the world who provide financial, material or technological support to the Syrian Government or engage in transactions with it.”
The European Union, Britain, Switzerland, Canada, and Australia have all imposed similar sanctions, along with the Persian Gulf monarchy-dominated Arab League.
As part of her trip, Douhan met with representatives not only from the Syrian government but also from civil society organizations, health clinics, financial institutions, humanitarian groups, businesses, universities, and religious bodies, as well as with other UN entities operating in the country.
Syria had very healthy growth rates before 2011, but the Western proxy war led the country’s economy to shrink by more than 90%. The UN expert reported:
From 2000 to 2010, Syria’s economic growth averaged more than 5% per year. The subsequent conflict had catastrophic effects on the economy, with significant damage and destruction of its productive capacity, assets and infrastructure, as well as massive displacements and refugee flows. This damage was exacerbated by the imposed comprehensive unilateral sanctions, leading to a protracted slowdown in economic activity with the GDP contracting by more than 90%.
By 2018, the Syrian government and its allies had largely won the military aspect of the war, so the West intensified its economic attacks on the country, pushing it into deep crisis. Douhan wrote:
After 2018, the Syrian economy showed some improvement with positive growth rates and rising macroeconomic indicators, but the intensification of unilateral sanctions and trade restrictions, over-compliance and de-risking by foreign companies and financial institutions, as well as the state’s inability to exploit many of its strategic national assets, natural and other economic resources, have eliminated all remaining avenues for economic recovery.
According to data and reports I received during my visit, the economy is hostage to a protracted economic crisis with growing inflation and frequent devaluations of the national currency, all of which have eroded to the level of total extinction the purchasing power of households, which find themselves in a prolonged state of survival mode.
She continued:
The imposed sanctions have shattered the State’s capability to respond to the needs of the population, particularly the most vulnerable, and 90% of the people now live below the poverty line.
Since 2019, prices increased more than 800%, hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost due to destruction of industries, loss of the external trade and also to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The crisis is exacerbated by the country’s financial isolation, with the sanctions’ designation of the Central Bank and all public financial institutions, thus completely blocking transactions for imports and exports, including of food, medicine, spare parts, raw materials, and items necessary for the country’s needs and economic recovery, and restraining foreign currency inflows.
The UN special rapporteur went on:
Unilateral sanctions have also prevented the Government from having resources to maintain and improve key infrastructure and for rebuilding and developing projects vital to the population’s needs, especially in remote and rural areas.
Almost all interlocutors highlighted shortages of electricity and drinking water due to the destruction of plants and distribution infrastructure and also due to the unavailability of diesel fuel and gas needed for thermic power plants and water pumps.
Power outages are frequent, including in Damascus. Some Governorates distribute electricity for only 2–4 hours daily, while the Government tries to supply hospitals with 10–11 hours daily. The impact of unilateral sanctions prevents the procurement of spare parts for power plants and distribution networks, with foreign companies reluctant to engage with Syrian entities and international payments impossible to make.
Syria’s water system has likewise been devastated by Western sanctions, Douhan reported:
Similar challenges occur with the distribution of water for drinking and irrigation, which has seriously declined due to the number of damaged facilities, the direct effects of unilateral sanctions and the development of hydroelectric projects in neighbouring Turkey that restrict the water flow of the Euphrates River to Syrian agricultural lands.
Sanctions-induced trade restrictions and foreign businesses’ over-compliance prevent the procurement of equipment and spare parts needed to repair, maintain and develop water supply networks, sometimes resulting in contaminated water; this led to a recent cholera outbreak with more than 20,000 suspected cases.
Drinking water reaches many households during only 1 or 2 hours every few days as per capita drinking water supplies have plunged. Currently only 20% of Syria’s agricultural land can be irrigated. I was also informed
The US military occupation of Syria’s oil fields, along with Western sanctions, has caused chronic shortages of fuel in the country, the Un expert said:
Syria’s crude oil and oil derivatives production is less than 10% of pre-2010 levels, with the main oil fields located outside Government-controlled areas. As oil products are under sanctions, Syria cannot import them, resulting in shortages for heating, transport and industry.
Western sanctions have also devastated Syria’s public transportation sector, because the government is unable to import parts needed to maintain and repair its vehicles.
Even if Damascus were not blocked from importing technology, it would be unable to pay for it because the Syrian central bank’s foreign exchange reserves were frozen – and thus effectively stolen – by Western governments.
The Western sanctions have also devastated Syria’s health sector. Douhan wrote:
I also received accounts showing how unilateral sanctions impact the capabilities of Syria’s healthcare system. Although the Government prioritises electricity supplies for hospitals and health centers, they still receive insufficient power and the rest is provided by diesel stations and generators. Disruptions are frequent, impacting medical operations and the functioning of medical equipment, with serious consequences for patients.
In some cases, the irregularity of electric power has led to overloads with destructive effects on sensitive and expensive medical equipment, for which spare parts cannot be procured due to trade and financial restrictions, as well as the reported reluctance of European and US companies to deliver them.
With 14.6% of the Syrian population suffering from chronic and rare diseases, and estimated 24% being disabled, I note with concern the challenges and obstacles in the procurement and delivery of life-saving medicines, such as for cancer treatment, kidney dialysis, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, as well as anaesthetics, diagnosis for all types of cancer and others, due to the withdrawal from Syria of foreign pharmaceutical producers and the inability to import raw materials and laboratory reagents for local pharmaceutical production due to companies’ over-compliance and/or banks’ de-risking policies.
Although medicines and medical devices are technically not subject to sanctions, the vagueness and complexity of the licensing processes, the persistent fear among producers and suppliers, the restrictions in the processing of payments, and the obstacles to shipping these goods have made them inaccessible to the Syrian public.
Western sanctions have also seriously damaged Syria’s education system. An estimated 22% of children are not in school.
Due to the fuel shortage caused by sanctions, just 4% to 7% of Syrian schools have electricity and heating in winter, and less than 40% have water.
Douhan concluded:
Primary unilateral sanctions, secondary sanctions, threats of sanctions, de-risking policies and over-compliance with sanctions have been exacerbating Syria’s humanitarian crisis, which is already affected by 12 years of conflict and terrorist activity, destruction of infrastructure, COVID-19, a growing economic crisis in the region, and millions of IDPs and refugees.
The UN special rapporteur added:
They [unilateral sanctions] have a devastating effect on nearly all categories of human rights including economic, social and cultural rights, the rights to health, to food, to adequate housing, to an adequate standard of living, to clean water and sanitation, to a favorable environment, to access the Internet and to life.
The whole population stays in life-threatening conditions with severe shortages of drinking water, water for irrigation, sewage facilities, electricity, fuel for cooking, heating, transportation and agriculture, food (including baby formula), health facilities, medical equipment and medicine, work and education facilities, making the country extremely vulnerable and dependent on humanitarian assistance.
Douhan is due to file the final version of her report with the UN Human Rights Council in September 2023.


Instruction: Write an article about: BRICS expanding into economic powerhouse: Petrodollar under threat. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Argentina, Bandung Conference, Brazil, BRICS, China, Cuba, Cyril Ramaphosa, Javier Milei, Lula da Silva, Patricia Bullrich, South Africa, Xi Jinping

Output:
In its South Africa summit, BRICS invited six new members: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The bloc now represents 37% of global GDP (PPP), 40% of global oil production, and roughly 1/3rd of global gas production, challenging the US petrodollar system.

In its summit in Johannesburg, South Africa this August, BRICS invited six new members: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The bloc now represents 37% of global GDP (measured at purchasing power parity, or PPP), as well as 40% of global oil production and roughly 1/3rd of global gas production.
The inclusion of top oil producers like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have long priced their crude in dollars, is a direct challenge to the US petrodollar system.

All of the invited nations have indicated that they will officially join the extended BRICS+ bloc on 1 January 2024.
Four of Earth’s top 10 gas producers are now de facto BRICS+ members, making up 32% of global production.
Seven of the world’s 10 largest oil producers are now de facto BRICS+ members. According to 2022 data from the US Energy Information Administration, these include the:

In this video I discuss the importance of the expansion of BRICS
The BRICS+ bloc now represents:-37% of global GDP (PPP)-40% of global oil production-1/3rd of global gas production
It can challenge the petrodollar system that undergirds US economic hegemony
Full video below pic.twitter.com/SDQm1ymacV
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) August 25, 2023

A key topic at the Johannesburg BRICS summit from 22 to 24 August was de-dollarization – the international movement of countries seeking alternatives to the hegemonic US currency.
The Russian government has confirmed that some BRICS members are slowly making plans for a new global currency for international trade, to settle balance of payments, and to hold in central bank foreign-exchange reserves.
Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, an original co-founder of the BRICS, used the meeting in South Africa as a platform to call for creating a new international reserve currency, to challenge the dollar.
BRICS has a working group dedicated to developing concrete proposals for this new reserve currency.
Lula emphasized that it would be “a unit of account for trade, which will not replace our national currencies”.
These comments made it clear that BRICS model is not the euro; it is rather something like the bancor, the international unit of account proposed by economist John Maynard Keynes at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference (which ended up adopting the dollar as the global reserve currency, under US pressure).
Discussions of a new international unit of account are still in the early stages, however, and the currency is only on the horizon in the medium-to-long term.
In the short term, BRICS members voted to increase their use of national currencies in bilateral trade.
The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), now under the leadership of Brazil’s former President Dilma Rousseff, has promised to gradually de-dollarize the bank’s lending, instead providing financing for projects in the national currencies of members.
In an August article published before the BRICS bloc announced its expansion, economic geographer Mick Dunford explained:
In 2022, the combined economic output of the five BRICS members, measured in purchasing power parity, exceeded for the first time that of the US-led G7.
At market exchange rates in 2021, the BRICS accounted for 26.1 percent of global GDP and 53.1 percent of world population, compared with 43.5 percent and 9.8 percent for the G7. However, GDP is misleading.
If one examines the production of manufactures, energy and raw materials and food, the BRICS countries account for 36.6 percent, 28.3 percent and 53.1 percent of world output, respectively (compared with 35.5 percent, 28.1 percent and 14.1 percent in the case of the G7).
This contribution to the production of real goods vital for human survival significantly exceeds the BRICS’ share of GDP (without correcting for purchasing power differences which significantly raise its shares) while those of the G7 are much smaller than its GDP share.
The bloc has become a massive economic powerhouse – and is only growing in influence.
President Xi Jinping stressed in his speech at the BRICS summit that China does not want a “new cold war”.
Xi called for “win-win cooperation”, guided by the goal of “common prosperity” for all.
At the same time, the Chinese leader warned of the “hegemonic and bullying acts” of “some country” – obviously a reference to the United States.
Xi stated:
We need to promote development and prosperity for all. Many emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs) have come to what they are today after shaking off the yoke of colonialism. With perseverance, hard work and huge sacrifices, we succeeded in gaining independence and have been exploring development paths suited to our national conditions.
Everything we do is to deliver better lives to our people. But some country, obsessed with maintaining its hegemony, has gone out of its way to cripple the EMDCs. Whoever is developing fast becomes its target of containment; whoever is catching up becomes its target of obstruction.
But this is futile, as I have said more than once that blowing out others’ lamp will not bring light to oneself.
China's President Xi at the BRICS summit:
"some country [hint: the USA], obsessed with maintaining its hegemony, has gone out of its way to cripple the EMDCs (emerging markets and developing countries). Whoever is developing fast becomes its target of containment; whoever is… https://t.co/mjXvydA5yz pic.twitter.com/XNHc0aYsPT
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) August 23, 2023

On the sidelines of the summit, Xi also met with Cuba’s President Díaz-Canel. State media reported that Xi pledged that “China will continue to firmly support Cuba in defending national sovereignty and opposing external interference and blockade”.
In a similar vein, Brazil’s President Lula condemned the unjust, Western-dominated international financial system and insisted that countries need “a fairer, more predictable, and equitable global trade”.
“We cannot accept a green neocolonialism that imposes trade barriers and discriminatory measures under the pretext of protecting the environment”, he added.
In his speech at the BRICS summit, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa compared the bloc to the 1955 Bandung Conference, which was organized to oppose colonialism.
“When reflecting on the purpose and role of BRICS in the world today, we recall the Bandung Conference of 1955, where Asian and African nations demanded a greater voice for developing countries in world affairs”, he said.
“We still share that common vision”, Ramaphosa added. “Through the 15th BRICS Summit and this Dialogue we should strive to advance the Bandung spirit of unity, friendship and cooperation”.
Among the six countries invited to join BRICS+, a question mark is hanging over the head of one.
Argentina’s current, centrist government, led by President Alberto Fernández, has vowed to join BRICS+. However, whether or not the South American country actually does depends on the results of the elections approaching in October.
Two of the three main presidential candidates have publicly stated that they will not join BRICS+: the right-wing candidate Patricia Bullrich and the far-right extremist candidate Javier Milei.
Milei wants to abolish Argentina’s central bank, abandon monetary sovereignty, and adopt the US dollar as the official national currency (while also implementing mass privatizations of state institutions, building private for-profit prisons, and heavily militarizing the country).
When asked if he would consider joining BRICS+ if he won the election, the far-right extremist Milei declared: “Our geopolitical alignment is with the U.S. and Israel. We are not going to align with communists”.


Instruction: Write an article about: Biden’s Saudi ‘reset’ is about China & Russia, and CIA fallout with MBS. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: China, Jamal Khashoggi, Joe Biden, MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, podcast, Russia, Saudi Arabia

Output:
US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia to pressure Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to cut ties with China and Russia, after he killed CIA ally Jamal Khashoggi and purged rivals in the royal family most loyal to Washington.

US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia not only to discuss oil but also to pressure Riyadh to cut ties with China and Russia. This comes after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) killed key CIA ally Jamal Khashoggi and purged rivals in the royal family who were most loyal to Washington.

Below are links to all the sources cited in this report, in chronological order:
The loyal "spooner" in the Saudi court is the perfect metaphor for Jamal Khashoggi.
He was not so much a "dissident" as he was a propagandist for another faction of the royal family — a faction that lost power with MBS' rise.https://t.co/j06L2ThBbs
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) October 24, 2018

Khashoggi joined the US/Saudi-backed Mujahideen fascists in Afghanistan, and published an article with a photo of him holding a rocket launcher with them.
Khashoggi was also a longtime close friend of Osama bin Laden.
The CIA loves reactionaries like himhttps://t.co/KShkmDqwCX pic.twitter.com/Bk0g6CQilC
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) October 24, 2018

While Saudi monarchy-supporting non-dissident Khashoggi—who barely spoke English—was publishing English-language columns in Bezos' Washington Post, the Qatar Foundation's director was overseeing his pieces
WashPost editors didn't know about this or his request for Saudi funding pic.twitter.com/AH0hcjuiyg
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) December 23, 2018

Interesting detail in this interview with Robert Fisk, who wrote the infamous 1993 whitewash of Osama bin Laden: Fisk was originally hooked up with OBL by none other than Jamal Khashoggi. https://t.co/fLnv8wGvI9 pic.twitter.com/5mQ4EMZAEB
— ????? (@gumby4christ) October 1, 2020

In 1995, Jamal Khashoggi was tasked by Saudi prince Abdullah with a PR op: to whitewash the image of Khashoggi's friend Osama bin Laden and thereby secure safe harbor for OBL in Saudi Arabia. (Lawrence Wright, "The Looming Tower") pic.twitter.com/mTfh0gFeAn
— ????? (@gumby4christ) October 19, 2018


Instruction: Write an article about: Beijing Winter Olympics: Front line in new cold war on China – with Carl Zha. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: China, Cold War Two, Eileen Gu, new cold war, Olympics, Russia, Zhu Yi

Output:
With a diplomatic boycott by Western governments, corporate media propaganda has demonized the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. China expert Carl Zha discusses the new cold war.

With a diplomatic boycott by Western governments, corporate media propaganda has demonized China over the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Britain’s major newspaper the Financial Times openly declared, “Beijing Winter Olympics: the new front line in the US-China cold war.”
China expert Carl Zha joins Multipolarista to pick apart the propaganda and explain what’s really happening.
Zha discusses the accusations that China is supposedly committing “genocide” against the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang – an allegation that even the US State Department’s own lawyers admit is not true.
And he addresses the controversy around US-born Chinese Olympic team athletes Eileen Gu and Zhu Yi, who were accused of betraying the United States by xenophobic North American nationalists.
You can watch or listen to the interview below:


Instruction: Write an article about: UN experts: US sanctions violate Iranians’ human rights. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Alena Douhan, Iran, sanctions, United Nations

Output:
Top United Nations experts wrote a letter to the United States government, emphasizing that its illegal unilateral sanctions on Iran violate the human rights of the Iranian people, calling for them to “be eased or lifted completely.”

Top United Nations experts have criticized US government sanctions for violating the human rights of Iranians.
They made it clear that the unilateral coercive measures that the United States has imposed on Iran violate international law.

A group of UN special rapporteurs stressed that these sanctions have a “negative impact” on “the enjoyment of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the Islamic Republic of Iran and on the right to health and the right to life.”
Violating Iranians’ right to life is a roundabout diplomatic way of saying that US sanctions are killing them.
The UN experts sent a formal letter to the United States condemning its sanctions and requesting that it investigate and remove them.
The special rapporteurs expressed their “serious concerns about the U.S. sanctions as a significant contributing factor in Iran’s environmental degradation, which negatively affects Iranian people’s rights to a healthy and sustainable environment, to health, to life, and to an adequate standard of living.”
They added that “U.S. sanctions impede the enjoyment of the right to education” in Iran.

Washington constantly accuses Tehran of violating its people’s rights. The US government also publicly claims to support the struggle against climate change and pollution, and on paper it recognizes that people have the right to a clean environment.
But Washington’s “sanctions against Iran contradict what seems to be a clear US position on this matter,” the UN experts said.
“It is time for sanctions that impede Iran’s ability to improve the environment and reduce the ill effects on health and life, to be eased or lifted completely so that Iranians can access their right to a clean environment, the right to health and to life, and other rights associated with favourable environmental conditions,” they insisted.
#US sanctions contribute to environmental harm and prevent all people in #Iran, including migrants and Afghan refugees, from fully enjoying their rights to health and life and a clean environment – UN experts ? https://t.co/OtChnuqRWW pic.twitter.com/WPSsSAdgGv
— UN Special Procedures (@UN_SPExperts) December 20, 2022

The UN special rapporteurs noted:
Since 1979, the United States of America has imposed a broad and complex network of stringent financial, economic, and trade sanctions against Iran, including a comprehensive trade ban, significant measures to isolate Iran from the international financial and commercial system, as well as secondary sanctions against non-U.S. parties that engage in dealings with Iran.
Some (but not all) of these sanctions were removed or eased in 2015, when US President Barack Obama signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement with Iran that was also joined by the other permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, France, China, and Russia), Germany, and the European Union.
In 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA, in violation of a UN Security Council resolution, and subsequently imposed more sanctions on Iran, in clear contravention of international law.
The UN experts noted that the Trump administration not only re-imposed “sanctions that had been lifted or eased under the JCPOA”; it also “introduced additional measures. These sanctions targeted Iran’s energy, shipbuilding, shipping and financial sectors, and included the listing of more than 700 individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels.”
Unilateral sanctions violate a broad scope of human rights including the right to favorable environment negatively affecting right to health and right to life of all people in the country https://t.co/WJK4toNXZy
— Alena Douhan (@AlenaDouhan) December 20, 2022

US threats of secondary sanctions on foreign countries and firms that do business with Iran, as well as overcompliance, make the unilateral coercive measures even more punishing, the UN special rapporteurs wrote:
The full impact of the U.S. sanctions in Iran is magnified by considerable overcompliance on a global scale resulting from complex, time-consuming and/or costly compliance procedures; extraterritorial enforcement and fears of penalties for inadvertent breaches; and sanctions-related obstacles to financial transactions for goods and services that the sanctions do not prohibit.
The primary author of this letter, the top UN expert on sanctions, Alena Douhan, has previously released reports detailing the catastrophic impact that illegal US sanctions have had on civilians in Venezuela and Syria.
She said these “outrageous” US sanctions are “suffocating” millions of civilians and “may amount to crimes against humanity.”
The UN's top expert said “outrageous” Western sanctions on Syria are “suffocating” millions of civilians, and “may amount to crimes against humanity.”
The US-EU-Israel-Gulf proxy war on Syria made its economy shrink by 90%.
90% of Syrians live in poverty https://t.co/XtHCuCHhYP
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) November 12, 2022

The letter concerning US sanctions on Iran was signed by the following UN human rights experts:


Instruction: Write an article about: PBS gives Ukrainian Nazi platform to dehumanize Russians as ‘cockroaches’. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Artem Semenikhin, Azov, Getty Images, Konotop, media, Nick Schifrin, PBS, Stepan Bandera, Ukraine

Output:
US government-sponsored outlet PBS heroized neo-Nazi extremist Artem Semenikhin, the mayor of Ukraine’s city Konotop, in a softball interview in which he called Russians “cockroaches.” It didn’t mention the “heil Hitler” symbol on his car or his portrait of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.

US government-sponsored media outlet PBS gave a massive platform to a notorious Ukrainian neo-Nazi, portraying him as a freedom fighter as he dehumanized Russians as “cockroaches” and praised Washington for sending weapons to him and fellow far-right extremist fighters.
This neo-Nazi Ukrainian politician was also eagerly promoted by the New York Times, The Guardian, CIA-linked Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, and other prominent Western media outlets.
This March, PBS NewsHour sat down for a softball interview with Artem Semenikhin, the mayor of Ukraine’s northern city of Konotop.
The US state-backed broadcaster did not mention that Semenikhin is part of a neo-fascist political party and drives a car with the neo-Nazi symbol 14/88, which combines the white-supremacist “14 words” slogan with code for “Heil Hitler.”
In fact, on the wall behind him in the PBS interview, Semenikhin had a portrait of Ukraine’s infamous fascist leader Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with Nazi Germany and led the extreme-right Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which helped Adolf Hitler carry out the Holocaust by massacring Jews, Poles, and communists.
Yet the portrait of Bandera was curiously blurred out in the PBS video.
When Russian troops came into the office of the mayor of Konotop, Ukraine, he escorted them out and made sure they drove away.
"We are ready to fight till the end — till the victorious end — to defeat these Russian cockroaches," he tells @nickschifrin. https://t.co/KS5DIvofpZ pic.twitter.com/BqoU7NLL0c
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) March 3, 2022

In a report published on March 3, PBS’ foreign affairs and defense correspondent, Nick Schifrin, interviewed Semenikhin.
Schifrin depicted the Ukrainian neo-Nazi mayor as a hero for resisting Russian soldiers and kicking them out of his city.
“Do you fear they will come back and either occupy or try and destroy the city?” Schifrin asked in the softball interview.
Semenikhin replied, “We are not afraid. We are ready to fight until the end, until the victorious end, to defeat these Russian cockroaches.”
Instead of commenting on his dehumanizing, Nazi-esque rhetoric toward Russians, the PBS correspondent applauded Semenikhin for “rall[ying] his troops, civilians, ready to resist.”
The Ukrainian neo-Nazi mayor concluded the segment holding up an assault rifle and stating, “Thanks to the United States of America for supporting Ukraine with weapons. My weapon is American. And I think the occupiers will be pleased that we’re killing them with American weapons.”
Neo-Nazi extremist Artem Semenikhin, mayor of Ukraine’s city of Konotop, thanks the US for sending him and his fascist fighters weapons, in a PBS interview
The PBS NewsHour report did not provide any information about Artem Semenikhin and his political background.
Semenikhin is a member of the neo-fascist Svoboda party, which played a key role in the violent US-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014, which overthrew the country’s democratically elected government for not being sufficiently anti-Russian.
The fact that Semenikhin is a Nazi is well known, and has been acknowledged by mainstream media outlets.
The Jerusalem Post published an article back in December 2015 titled “Local Jews in shock after Ukrainian city of Konotop elects neo-Nazi mayor.”
The newspaper noted that Konotop residents were “expressing shock and dismay over the behavior of newly chosen Mayor Artem Semenikhin of the neo-Nazi Svoboda party.”

The Jerusalem Post reported:
Semenikhin drives around in a car bearing the number 14/88, a numerological reference to the phrases “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children” and “Heil Hitler”; replaced the picture of President Petro Poroshenko in his office with a portrait of Ukrainian national leader and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera; and refused to fly the city’s official flag at the opening meeting of the city council because he objected to the star of David emblazoned on it. The flag also features a Muslim crescent and a cross.
Svoboda, known as the Social-National Party of Ukraine until 2004, has been accused of being a neo-Nazi party by Ukrainian Jews and while party leaders have a history of making anti-Semitic remarks, their rhetoric has toned down considerably over the past years as they attempted to go mainstream.
In a follow-up article in 2019, the Times of Israel noted that Semenikhin is “known for his neo-Nazi views.”
In 2019, Semenikhin posted a photo on his personal Instagram account of himself in a military uniform, doing the three-finger salute of the fascist Svoboda party.
He was photographed next to Ukrainian neo-Nazi Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of Svoboda, who is infamous for doing Hitler salutes and declaring that the country is run by a so-called “Moscow-Jewish mafia” that must be purged.

In 2018, Semenikhin published another photo on Instagram of himself holding a rifle and fighting on the frontlines against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in 2014. Again he can be seen doing the three-finger salute of Svoboda.

There are many similar photos of Semenikhin on his Instagram account. He makes no secret of his close ties with neo-fascist parties in Ukraine.
Yet many Western media outlets joined PBS in promoting Semenikhin and amplifying the neo-Nazi’s call for Ukrainian civilians to take up arms against Russia.
US government-funded propaganda outlet Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which was founded by the CIA to disseminate disinformation against the former Soviet Union, portrayed Semenikhin as a hero.
"If you are for it, we'll fight." The mayor of Konotop, Ukraine asks residents if they want to defend their town after being given an ultimatum by Russian forces to surrender or face being wiped out by artillery. ? https://t.co/jdiNVf3g7S
— RFE/RL Pressroom (@RFERLPress) March 3, 2022

Top US newspaper the New York Times glorified Semenikhin as well. Like PBS, it did not mention his blatant Nazi views.
In response, the mayor, Artem Semenikhin, asked the crowd whether they wanted to surrender or fight. The response was overwhelmingly in favor of fighting. “I am too,” the mayor said. “But the decision has to be unanimous because their artillery is already trained on us.”
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) March 3, 2022

The Ukrainian Nazi was also promoted by The Guardian, Sky News, the Daily Mail, and more.
Artem Semenikhin, the mayor of Konotop in the northeastern Sumy region of Ukraine, has urged civilians to fight as Russian troops surround the city.
Live updates: https://t.co/cz5NTchyMw pic.twitter.com/MhypAxPXWP
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 2, 2022

This was far from the only time that Western media outlets actively promoted neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
Numerous major news publications helped spread propaganda staged by Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov militia.
On March 6, the news service of the photo licensing website Getty Images also boosted fascist Ukrainian propaganda.
On Twitter, Getty Images News shared a photo of a Ukrainian far-right militant evacuating civilians.
Getty Images News referred to the man simply as a “Ukrainian servicemember.” It did not mention that he had a neo-Nazi patch on his uniform: a black sun, known in German as the Sonnenrad, a symbol used by Nazis and white supremacists, including Azov itself.
This is literal Nazi propaganda. The Ukrainian soldier in this photo is a fascist with a neo-Nazi black sun patch.
The Western-backed Ukrainian military and national guard are full of these neo-Nazis https://t.co/p01jqHfSoC pic.twitter.com/VAMEnja512
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 7, 2022


Instruction: Write an article about: Bombardeos de EEUU en Irak y Siria son una agresión ilegal: los ocupantes no tienen derecho a la ‘autodefensa’. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Asia Occidental, Donald Trump, Irak, Israel, Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden, Oriente Medio, Palestina, Siria, Yemen

Output:
Ocupar militarmente Iraq y Siria es una política totalmente bipartidista en Estados Unidos. Y bombardear Asia Occidental se ha convertido en un pasatiempo favorito que une a presidentes demócratas y republicanos.

(You can read this article in English here.)
Estados Unidos cree que tiene derecho a bombardear, ocupar militarmente y estrangular económicamente a cualquier país, en cualquier lugar, sin consecuencias. Pero los pueblos del mundo se enfrentan cada vez más a la dictadura global de la hegemonía estadounidense.
El 27 de junio, Washington lanzó ataques aéreos contra las fuerzas de Iraq y Siria, dos países soberanos ocupados ilegalmente por el ejército estadounidense, que han pedido repetidamente la salida de las tropas estadounidenses.
El ataque de Estados Unidos resultó ser un regalo para los extremistas genocidas del Daesh: ayudó a proporcionar cobertura cuando los remanentes de Daesh lanzaron un ataque terrorista contra una red eléctrica en el norte de Iraq. Del mismo modo, el bombardeo estadounidense mató a varios miembros de las unidades respaldadas por el gobierno iraquí que habían estado protegiendo a su nación de Daesh y Al-Qaeda.
No es ni mucho menos la primera vez que Washington se pone claramente del mismo lado que los fanáticos takfiríes de extrema derecha. Por ejemplo, el actual asesor de seguridad nacional de Estados Unidos, Jake Sullivan, admitió en un correo electrónico a la entonces secretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton en 2012 que “AQ está de nuestro lado en Siria.” Y el gobierno estadounidense apoyó a los extremistas de Al Qaeda en sus guerras contra Yemen y Libia.
Además de ayudar a grupos terroristas notorios, estos ataques estadounidenses en Iraq y Siria fueron manifiestamente ilegales según el derecho internacional. Además, constituyen un claro acto de agresión contra los pueblos de Medio Oriente, que durante décadas han luchado por la autodeterminación y el control de sus propios y abundantes recursos naturales, recursos que el gobierno estadounidense y sus todopoderosas corporaciones pretenden controlar y explotar.
El Pentágono intentó justificar su ataque alegando que era un acto de “autodefensa“. Absurdamente, el Departamento de Defensa de Estados Unidos -el campeón mundial en la violación del derecho internacional- incluso citó el derecho internacional para tratar de legitimar los ataques aéreos.
En realidad, la presencia del ejército estadounidense en Iraq y Siria es ilegal. Y según el derecho internacional, una potencia militar que está ocupando ilegalmente un territorio no tiene derecho a la autodefensa. Esto es tan cierto para el régimen de apartheid de Israel en su agresión colonial de colonos contra Palestina como para Estados Unidos en sus guerras imperiales contra los pueblos de Iraq y Siria.
El primer ministro iraquí, Mustafa al-Kazemi, lo dejó claro. Condenó los ataques estadounidenses como una “violación flagrante e inaceptable de la soberanía iraquí y de la seguridad nacional iraquí.”
En enero de 2020, en respuesta al asesinato por parte de Washington del alto general iraní Qasem Suleimani y del comandante iraquí Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis -un acto de guerra criminal tanto contra Iraq como contra Irán-, el parlamento democráticamente elegido en Bagdad votó 170 a 0 para expulsar a los miles de tropas estadounidenses que ocupaban Iraq.
Washington se limitó a ignorar la votación, silenciando las voces del pueblo iraquí, mientras amenazaba con más sanciones económicas a su gobierno. Además, el Pentágono subrayó que la votación no era vinculante. Aun así, incluso la Corporación RAND, respaldada por el gobierno estadounidense, reconoció que “no existe ningún tratado ni acuerdo sobre el estatus de las fuerzas (SOFA) que autorice la presencia de las tropas estadounidenses en Iraq”.
Del mismo modo, Estados Unidos está ocupando ilegalmente un tercio del territorio soberano de Siria. El gobierno de Damasco, reconocido internacionalmente, ha pedido en repetidas ocasiones a los ocupantes militares estadounidenses que se vayan, pero estos se han negado, en una flagrante violación de la soberanía siria.
“La presencia de los estadounidenses en Siria es un signo de ocupación, y creemos que todas las naciones y gobiernos deben enfrentarse a su presencia ilegal en la región”, declaró el primer ministro sirio, Imad Khamis, en 2020, tras los asesinatos por parte de Estados Unidos de los máximos responsables militares iraquíes e iraníes.
Mientras que el expresidente republicano Donald Trump irradiaba una especie de arrogancia neocolonial, jactándose de que las tropas estadounidenses permanecerían ilegalmente en Siria porque “queremos quedarnos con el petróleo”, la administración demócrata de Joe Biden no ha actuado de manera muy diferente.
El presidente Biden nombró a la operativa neoconservadora de línea dura Dana Stroul como máxima responsable del Pentágono para la política de Medio Oriente. En 2019, Stroul se jactó de que Washington “era dueño” de un tercio del territorio sirio, incluyendo su “centro económico”, que incluye la gran mayoría de sus reservas de petróleo y trigo.
La promoción de Stroul fue una señal inequívoca de que los demócratas están respaldando la misma estrategia sádica de Trump, para ocupar militarmente Siria, robar sus recursos naturales, privar a su gobierno de ingresos, negar a su pueblo el pan y la gasolina, e impedir la reconstrucción de lo que Stroul llamó sarcásticamente los “escombros” generalizados.
La realidad es que ocupar militarmente Iraq y Siria es una política totalmente bipartidista en Estados Unidos. Y bombardear Medio Oriente se ha convertido en un pasatiempo favorito que une a presidentes demócratas y republicanos.
Trump lanzó ataques aéreos contra Siria en abril de 2018 con acusaciones totalmente infundadas de que Damasco había llevado a cabo “ataques con gas”, afirmaciones que desde entonces han sido demostradas como falsas por múltiples denunciantes de la Organización para la Prohibición de las Armas Químicas (OPAQ).
Luego, en diciembre de 2019, la administración Trump bombardeó a las milicias anti-ISIS tanto en Siria como en Iraq.
Biden llevó a cabo un ataque similar e ilegal contra estos mismos combatientes en el este de Siria en febrero de 2021. Otro ejemplo de que Washington sirve como fuerza aérea de facto para los remanentes de Daesh”.
Los ataques aéreos estadounidenses de diciembre de 2019, febrero de 2021 y junio de 2021 tuvieron como objetivo las Fuerzas de Movilización Popular (FMP) respaldadas por el gobierno iraquí, conocidas en árabe como al-Hashd al-Sha’abi. En su declaración oficial sobre el bombardeo de junio, el Pentágono afirmó inequívocamente que estaba atacando a Kata’ib Hezbollah y Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, dos destacados grupos armados iraquíes del Hashd.
El Departamento de Defensa se refirió engañosamente a estas unidades como “grupos de milicianos respaldados por Irán”. El gobierno estadounidense y los medios de comunicación corporativos que actúan como su portavoz obediente siempre describen a las Hashd como “respaldadas por Irán” para tratar de restar importancia a su papel como protectoras autóctonas de la soberanía iraquí y presentarlas engañosamente como apoderadas extranjeras del coco favorito de Washington.
En realidad, las PMF son unidades iraquíes apoyadas por el gobierno elegido y reconocido internacionalmente en Bagdad. Las Hashd desempeñaron un papel destacado en la lucha contra Daesh, Al Qaeda y otros grupos extremistas takfiríes tanto en Iraq como en Siria, mientras que Estados Unidos, el régimen de apartheid de Israel y los aliados de la OTAN gastaron miles de millones de dólares en respaldar a los escuadrones de la muerte salafi-jihadistas en su guerra genocida contra el pueblo de Siria.
Los Hashd reciben efectivamente ayuda de Teherán, y tienen todo el derecho a hacerlo. Al fin y al cabo, Irán es vecino de Iraq, mientras que Estados Unidos está al otro lado del planeta. Pero Washington, la OTAN y sus taquígrafos de facto en la prensa corporativa tratan de desacreditar toda la resistencia a la criminal agresión estadounidense en Medio Oriente borrando sus raíces orgánicas y autóctonas y describiéndola perezosamente como una vasta conspiración controlada por un omnipresente controlador iraní.
Las FMP dejaron claro que no tolerarán el asalto de Washington a la soberanía de su nación. “Nos reservamos el derecho legal de responder a estos ataques y hacer que los autores rindan cuentas en suelo iraquí”, declaró el Hashd.
A diferencia de los ocupantes militares estadounidenses, el pueblo de Iraq y Siria sí tiene derecho a ejercer la autodefensa en respuesta a los ataques de agresores extranjeros. Pueden resistirse legalmente a la ocupación militar y al neocolonialismo estadounidense, al igual que el pueblo de Palestina tiene derecho a resistirse a la ocupación militar israelí y al colono-colonialismo sionista. Es un derecho consagrado en el derecho internacional, y un derecho inalienable que cualquier nación defendería.
Si Washington quiere poner fin a los ataques contra sus tropas, hay una manera fácil de hacerlo: retirarlas de la región donde no se las quiere. Los soldados estadounidenses estarán mucho más seguros en casa.
(Este artículo fue publicado por primera vez en Al Mayadeen Español.)


Instruction: Write an article about: British government admits to arming Ukrainian Nazis from Azov militia. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Azov, Britain, fascism, Nazis, UK, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Output:
The UK government admitted to sending anti-aircraft weapons weapons to Ukrainian neo-Nazis from the white-supremacist Azov regiment of the National Guard.

The British government has admitted to sending weapons to Ukrainian neo-Nazis from the extremist Azov regiment.
Azov is a neo-Nazi militia that preaches a white-supremacist ideology, and was officially incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard after a violent US-sponsored coup in 2014.
A member of parliament, Kenny MacAskill, from the Alba Party, a Scottish pro-independence party, formally asked the British Ministry of Defence on March 21 “whether any members of Ukraine’s Azov movement have access to UK-supplied anti-aircraft weapons.”
The British parliamentary under-secretary of defence, James Heappey, a member of parliament from the Conservative Party, replied on March 24 confirming that the Ukrainian extremists have indeed received these weapons.
“The UK is taking a lead role in coordinating the humanitarian and military support to Ukraine,” he boasted. “This includes lethal aid in the form of defensive weapons, and non-lethal aid such as body armour.”
Heappey said that Britain is specifically sending Starstreak anti-aircraft weapons to the Ukrainian military.
“Under the current circumstances, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence is likely to have operational command of the National Guard, which also includes the Azov battalion,” Heappey acknowledged.
The British official’s response was indirect, but its meaning was clear: as part of the Ukrainian National Guard, yes, the neo-Nazi Azov regiment has indeed received anti-aircraft weapons from the UK.

Azov uses Nazi Germany-era symbols, such as the wolfsangel and black sun. It also preaches a white-supremacist ideology that portrays the war in Ukraine as a race war between “asiatic” Russians and “white” Ukrainians.
The Nazi symbols used by Ukraine’s Azov Battalion
Azov fascists hold torchlit ceremonies with Nazi symbols, and post videos on their official YouTube channel:

US and Canadian military officials have been photographed meeting with and advising Azov neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
In the back of this photo, you can also see a Canadian officer, alongside US military officers, meeting with Ukraine's neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, which uses Nazi-era symbols.https://t.co/8tOZ9A7YGK pic.twitter.com/dAZBeFaHdU
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) January 16, 2018

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, NATO member states have provided more weapons and military training to Azov neo-Nazis.
NATO is sending weapons and trainers to help neo-Nazis in Ukraine’s white-supremacist Azov movement fight Russia, as the US floods the country with weapons.
This follows numerous reports of Western government support for Ukrainian far-right extremists.https://t.co/5gYgmU8PFo
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 10, 2022

Despite its fascist ideology, Azov extremists have been repeatedly promoted by Western media outlets.
CNN promoted a commander from Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov regiment, failing to mention his militia’s explicit white-supremacist ideology
Azov then proudly shared the CNN video on its official Twitter account
Azov uses Nazi symbols. NATO has armed/trained ithttps://t.co/VcgTBkrl2u
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 21, 2022

The official Twitter account of Ukraine’s National Guard even posted a video of a neo-Nazi Azov fighter dipping bullets in pig fat to kill Russian Chechen Muslims, whom the Ukrainian state institution dehumanized as monstrous “orcs.”
This is the official, verified Twitter account of Ukraine's National Guard publicly portraying Russian Chechen Muslims as monstrous "orcs," and praising its Nazi soldiers for threatening to kill them with lard-greased bullets: https://t.co/gs0yYu4qXohttps://t.co/PMKeTajw9e
— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 27, 2022


Instruction: Write an article about: Behind the original neoliberal ‘color revolution’: How Serbians provoked violence to push regime change. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Ivan Zlatić, Otpor, Serbia

Output:
Left-wing Serbian activist Ivan Zlatić explains how his country was ground zero for US-backed neoliberal “color revolutions,” and how operatives intentionally provoke violence from the government to push regime change.

When Serbia’s government was overthrown in 2000, it was the first example of a successful US-backed neoliberal color revolution.
The tactics used in this regime-change operation were subsequently repeated in countries around the world.
Journalist Brian Mier spoke with Serbian activist Ivan Zlatić, a member of the presidency of the Party of the Radical Left, about this foundational experience.
Zlatić explained how regime-change operatives intentionally “provoke violence” and then capitalize on the response of the government to discredit it and demand that it be toppled.
Serbia was the original US-backed neoliberal color revolution
Ivan Zlatić of Serbia's Party of the Radical Left explains how groups in his country pioneered the tactic of intentionally provoking violence from the government in order to push regime change
Video by @BrianMteleSUR pic.twitter.com/CGT6H7A9B3
— Multipolarista (@Multipolarista) June 15, 2022

“Serbia was the color revolution zero,” Zlatić said.
“It was the first time that this format was utilized to provoke the reaction from the regime, or from the governing party, to go violently on young people. And then it provoked the reaction of a larger public, that, ‘We don’t want our kids to be beaten down by the police.'”
“It was very successful. I mean, this campaign was very successful to support the opposition parties, because all the people were enraged by how police is dealing with students and with these fine, nice young people who only want democracy and human rights, and la la la la la.”
“That actually enraged even those people who were supporting the regime politically, but were enraged with this police violence against students.”
Ivan Zlatić, a leader of Serbia’s Party of the Radical Left
Zlatić noted that Serbian regime-change operatives cashed in and “made a corporation, actually, out of that expertise, on how to provoke a violent reaction.”
“It was called, within the opposition circles, it was called, ‘Let’s make the regime show its real face.'”
“It’s not the real face. You are provoking them to violence. It’s not the real face,” Zlatić added.
“But all this expertise in provocation, to make the regime look like you want it to look like, to make the regime look like you want it to look like, was from that period.”
“But also before that, what is also important, because the movement that, the Otpor organization, the movement was actually hijacked. Otpor was originally a left-wing organization.”


Instruction: Write an article about: Europe angry that US profits from Ukraine proxy war while destroying EU economy. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: EU, Europe, European Union, gas, Joe Biden, LNG, Ukraine

Output:
EU leaders are furious that the US is making lots of money from the proxy war in Ukraine by selling weapons and exporting expensive natural gas. Meanwhile European industries are being destroyed as high energy prices and US subsidies push its companies to go overseas.

(Se puede leer esta nota en español aquí.)
Cracks are emerging in the NATO alliance. Numerous Western corporate media outlets have published reports showing growing political divisions between the United States and European Union.
EU leaders are angry that the US is making lots of money from the proxy war in Ukraine, both by selling vast quantities of weapons and by making Europe reliant on its expensive liquified natural gas (LNG), instead of Russia’s significantly cheaper pipeline gas.
Meanwhile, European economies suffer from high inflation rates and an energy crisis that make manufacturing so expensive and uncompetitive it could bankrupt entire industries.

Politico published an article in November detailing precisely this, titled “Europe accuses US of profiting from war.”
An unnamed “senior official” in Europe told the publication, “The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons.”
Politico wrote:
French President Emmanuel Macron said high U.S. gas prices were not “friendly” and Germany’s economy minister has called on Washington to show more “solidarity” and help reduce energy costs.
Ministers and diplomats based elsewhere in the bloc voiced frustration at the way Biden’s government simply ignores the impact of its domestic economic policies on European allies.
When EU leaders tackled Biden over high U.S. gas prices at the G20 meeting in Bali last week, the American president simply seemed unaware of the issue.
The escalating US-EU conflict recalls the notorious maxim of former Secretary of State and imperial planner Henry Kissinger: “America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.”
The Biden administration’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act this August has sent the EU “into full-blown panic mode,” and even threatens to bring about a “transatlantic trade war,” according to Politico.
The law pledges up to $369 billion in subsidies to support companies that claim to be environmentally friendly, as part of a “green” transition.
These huge US subsidies “threaten to destroy European industries,” the outlet reported, and have led Brussels to “draw up plans for an emergency war chest of subsidies to save European industries from collapse.”
An unnamed EU diplomat told Politico, “The Inflation Reduction Act has changed everything,” asking, “Is Washington still our ally or not?”

A similar article by a staunchly pro-NATO columnist, also published by Politico, insisted “Biden keeps ignoring Europe. It’s time EU leaders got the message.”
The column emphasized that the US government’s top priority its its new cold war on China.
“The U.S. remains steadfastly focused on what most perceive to be its main existential challenge: China,” Politico wrote. “In that equation, Europe is often an afterthought.”
The media outlet concluded:
But what the Europeans are discovering is that the Ukraine war is just one facet of the U.S.’s larger strategic duel with China, which will always take precedence over EU interests.
That was true under Trump, and it remains true under his successor. It’s just that the message is delivered in a different style.
In the long run, Biden’s polite indifference may prove more deadly.
As recently as the beginning of 2022, Russia was the largest exporter of both gas and oil to Europe. But in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the US and EU imposed harsh sanctions on Moscow and vowed to boycott its energy.
This has blown back on Europe, and hard.
In August, Bloomberg published an article titled “European Power Prices Reach Records as Industry Starts to Buckle.”
It noted that electricity prices in Germany have risen as much as 500% in the past year.
The report warned the “magnitude of the crisis isn’t comparable to anything in the past few decades.”
“Countries across Europe are planning for possible power shortages this winter, with some considering rationing supplies to certain industries to ensure essential demand can be met,” Bloomberg said.
These historically high energy prices were already painful enough. But Washington’s proposed subsidies have only further incentivized European companies to move to the United States.
In a November report titled “European industry pivots to US as Biden subsidy sends ‘dangerous signal,’” the Financial Times reported the same: the Inflation Reduction Act “is moving momentum a lot from Europe to the US.”
The FT wrote:
The combination of the Biden Administration’s $369bn package and high energy costs in Europe, where even after recent declines gas prices remain five times more expensive than in North America, is sounding alarm bells in EU capitals.
“I think we need a European wake-up on this point,” French president Emmanuel Macron told executives from domestic industrial companies such as glassmaker Saint-Gobain and cement maker Lafarge in a speech last week.
Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, described the US support as “excessive” and “hoovering up investments from Europe”.
The EU has accused Washington of breaching World Trade Organization rules and set up a task force with the Biden administration to resolve their differences.
The Wall Street Journal published a similar article in September, titled “High Natural-Gas Prices Push European Manufacturers to Shift to the U.S.”
“The Ukraine war is driving up energy costs in Europe, while relatively stable prices and green-energy incentives are luring companies to the U.S.”, the newspaper wrote.
“Battered by skyrocketing gas prices, companies in Europe that make steel, fertilizer and other feedstocks of economic activity are shifting operations to the U.S., attracted by more stable energy prices and muscular government support,” the Wall Street Journal added.
The report predicted that Europe “could face high prices, at least for gas, well into 2024, threatening to make the scarring on Europe’s manufacturing sector permanent.”


Instruction: Write an article about: Inside Russia: Economists describe impact of Western sanctions and Ukraine war. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Alan Freeman, economics, neoliberalism, Radhika Desai, Russia, sanctions, Ukraine

Output:
From inside Russia, economists Radhika Desai and Alan Freeman report on the impact of Western sanctions and the Ukraine war. They discuss Moscow’s integration with Asia and move away from neoliberal economics.

Economists Radhika Desai and Alan Freeman of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group traveled to Russia to participate in several conferences and investigate the impact of Western sanctions and the Ukraine war.
They spoke with Geopolitical Economy Report about the economic situation in the ground, the country’s deepening integration with Asia, and Russian economists’ gradual move away from neoliberalism.
Russian “economists have always been looking to the East; what is interesting is what’s going on in the leadership now”, Freeman said.
He noted that Moscow is trying to implement a program of import substitution industrialization, to replace Western products.

Desai said there has been a lot of capital flight in Russia, and “some [Western] businesses have left, but not all”.
“What’s remarkable about Russia is how relatively low the economic pain has been, and that Russia’s economy has in fact been quite resilient”, she said.
“So you know in Spring last year, the IMF had predicted that Russia’s economic growth would be lowered, that there would be -12% degrowth essentially in Russia, and in fact, Russia has escaped with a relatively minor lower adjustment of %2 degrowth”, she added.
“It definitely doesn’t look like there’s a war economy”, Desai continued. “[There’s] maybe a certain amount of hardships. Certainly we saw some boarded up shops, you know, shops which had fading signs of the old brand names, Western brand names that have left. But you know, a lot of these brand names are still here. I have taken some pictures. Subway is here. Burger King is here. Citibank is here. Benetton is here. I mean there are so many Western Brands which are still operating their shops here”.
In Russia, Freeman explained, “the atmosphere amongst economists … is very different to that that you find in the West”.
“Here the economists themselves are radicalizing”, he said. “And every time I come here, they get more and more shirty about the things that they think should be done in the Russian economy”, and “the internal domestic structural challenges that Russia faces”.
Desai recalled her experience in the conferences in Russia: “Your regular neoliberals were there, but they were only a handful, whereas the overwhelming majority of the economists who were there were taking a distinctly anti-neoliberal position, recalling that actually state controls, state direction, and state-organized redistribution are the keys to Russia’s economic survival in the face of sanctions”.
“So the overwhelming majority of economists were distinctly to the left, far to the left, of what you hear of course in Western countries”, Desai added.