Heading towards World War III?

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh handed over 12 guard boats to Vietnam. Both countries will finalise a $500 million line of credit. Hanoi has expressed interest in the Brahmos missile. Can Indian weapons shift the balance of power in South China Sea?

Western sanctions have crippled the Russian economy but failed to stop the war in Ukraine. Instead, sanctions have globalised inflation and shortages. Palki Sharma tells you why sanctions have historically failed.

Leftist Brazilian presidential favourite Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy bears equal responsibility with Vladimir Putin for the outbreak of war.

The statement, which places the ex-president known as Lula “at odds with western powers”, was made in an interview with Time and “will probably raise eyebrows in the US and Europe”, The Guardian reported.

“I see the president of Ukraine, speaking on television, being applauded, getting a standing ovation by all the [European] parliamentarians,” he said. “This guy [Zelenskyy] is as responsible as Putin for the war.”

Zelenskyy should have pledged not to join Nato and should seek a negotiated settlement with Putin, he suggested. “We should be having a serious conversation. OK, you were a nice comedian. But let us not make war for you to show up on TV.”

www.theweek.co.uk/92733/why-is-brazil-s-lula-still-so-popular

Malbrunot stated that he had followed two French volunteer combatants who already had earlier battled against ISIS.

“I had the surprise, and so did they, to discover that to be able to enter the Ukrainian army, well it’s the Americans who are in charge,” said Malbrunot.

The journalist went on to say that both he and the volunteer groups “almost got arrested” by the Americans, who claimed to be in control, and that they had been compelled to sign an agreement “until the end of the war.”

“And who is in charge? It’s the Americans, I saw it with my own eyes,” said Malbrunot, adding, “I thought I was with the international brigades, and I found myself facing the Pentagon.”

Malbrunot also discussed the United States supplying Ukraine with switchblade suicide drones, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasised in a tweet revealing Ukrainian troops were being provided with training to utilize the equipment in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Malbrunot further wrote on twitter, quoting a French intelligence source, that British SAS units “have been present in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, as did the American Deltas.”

greatgameindia.com/americans-in-charge-ukraine-war

The US government has supported 46 biological research facilities in Ukraine over the past 20 years, but as part of a peaceful public health project rather than to develop weapons, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The US military accused Russia and China of “spreading disinformation and sowing mistrust” about its efforts to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

This is the first time the US Department of Defense disclosed the exact number of such facilities its government has supported in Ukraine, in a document titled ‘Fact Sheet on WMD Threat Reduction Efforts.’

According to the Pentagon, the US has “worked collaboratively to improve Ukraine’s biological safety, security, and disease surveillance for both human and animal health,” by providing support to “46 peaceful Ukrainian laboratories, health facilities, and disease diagnostic sites over the last two decades.” These programs have focused on “improving public health and agricultural safety measures at the nexus of nonproliferation.”

The work of these biolabs was “often” conducted in partnership with bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and was “consistent with international best practices and norms in publishing research results, partnering with international colleagues and multilateral organizations, and widely distributing their research and public health findings,” the Pentagon insisted.

Last month, the Russian military said only three laboratories in Ukraine had the required safety levels to conduct the kind of research they were engaged in. Head of the Radioactive, Chemical, and Biological Protection Forces Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov cited Ukrainian government reports to point to a series of problems at one of those facilities in Odessa, by way of example.

In a series of briefings starting in March, the Russian military has presented evidence of the Pentagon’s involvement in funding laboratories in Ukraine. In early May, Kirillov accused Kiev of launching a biological attack against the breakaway region of Lugansk and of conducting “inhumane experiments” on Ukrainian patients. Other evidence suggested attempts to weaponize drones to disperse pathogens, and attempts to destroy compromising materials after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February.

According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, the US has poured more than $224 million into biological research in Ukraine between 2005 and early 2022. Western pharmaceutical giants, nonprofits and even the US Democratic Party were involved in the scheme, Moscow has said.

To hear the Pentagon explain it, the US had “full approval” of the Russian government to engage “thousands of former Russian biological weapons scientists to conduct peaceful biological research projects for public health purposes.” Earlier in the document, the US military points out it was trying to create “sustainable civilian employment” for scientists with “weapons-related knowledge” in order to “remove incentives to seek or accept of terrorist or other state actor employment and financing.”

US involvement with biological laboratories in Ukraine “remain peaceful efforts to improve nuclear and radiological safety and security, disease surveillance, chemical safety and security, and readiness to respond to epidemics and pandemics such as COVID-19,” the Pentagon said.

Meanwhile, it accused Russia – with the help of China – of seeking “to undermine that work by spreading disinformation and sowing mistrust in the people and institutions all over the world that contribute to WMD threat reduction.”

China has responded to Russian briefings by calling for the US to provide a “fair, objective and professional” explanation of its activities.

The Pentagon insists that Ukraine “has no nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons programs” and that the small amount of highly enriched uranium (HEU) that remains at research institutes in Kiev and Kharkov “is well below the amount needed to produce a nuclear device.”

www.rt.com/news/556902-pentagon-ukraine-biolabs-wmd

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has listed billionaire financier George Soros among the “instigators of war” in Ukraine.

In an interview with Kossuth radio on Friday, Orban said that only peace would curb inflation and save the economy from further shocks, but admitted that Ukraine had “the right to defend itself.”

He also said that Hungary was now virtually the only country that wanted peace. Indeed, Budapest, unlike most other European capitals, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine.

“We need to fund peace, not war,” Orban explained.

However, he did emphasize that there were people who were interested in prolonging the conflict.

“It is now quite obvious that there are business circles that are interested in this war. George Soros symbolizes them. He speaks openly about the need to prolong the war. These are instigators of war who want to cash in on the war,” the prime minister said, adding that such “instigators” should be held responsible.

www.rt.com/news/556944-orban-soros-war-instigator