Heading towards World War III?

Switzerland has rejected a new request by Germany to allow it to send Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine, the country’s government announced on Thursday. Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin turned down the request, which had been made in an official letter sent by German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht to Bern last month, the government revealed.

In her letter, Lambrecht had asked for permission to supply some 12,400 rounds of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles, which Berlin sent earlier this year to prop up Kiev in the ongoing conflict with Moscow.

“Under the principle of equal treatment in neutrality law, Switzerland cannot agree to a request for the transfer of war materiel of Swiss origin to Ukraine as long as the latter is involved in an international armed conflict,” the Swiss government explained in a statement, adding that since the “legal situation” remains the same, an “approval of a transfer of Swiss war materiel by Germany to Ukraine is still not possible.”

While Switzerland has partially abandoned its long-standing neutrality policy amid the conflict in Ukraine and joined Western sanctions against Russia, it has repeatedly shot down attempts to supply weapons of Swiss origin to Kiev. Apart from barring Germany from sending ammunition for the Gepards, Bern has also prohibited Denmark from supplying Swiss-made armored vehicles to Ukraine.

www.rt.com/news/565895-switzerland-germany-ukraine-ammo

The energy crisis in the EU may last through 2024, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday in its new report on the future of the energy market.

According to the document, the agency expects gas shortages in winter 2023-2024 because European countries may not be able to refill storage facilities during the summer months.

The IEA explains that replenishing stocks this year “benefitted from key factors that may well not be repeated in 2023,” including Russian pipeline gas deliveries which were close to former levels for much of the first half of the year despite having since dwindled due to sanctions and technical difficulties.

The region also benefitted from China’s lower liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in the first ten months of 2022, which freed up LNG on the world market and allowed the EU to compensate for the drop in Russian gas deliveries with increased LNG purchases.

“In the event of a full cessation of Russian pipeline gas supplies to the EU and a recovery of Chinese LNG imports to 2021 levels, the new IEA analysis shows that Europe could face a challenging supply-demand gap of 30 billion cubic meters during the key period for refilling gas storage in the summer of 2023. This gap could represent almost half the gas required to fill storage sites to 95% capacity by the start of the 2023-24 heating season,” the report says.

IEA head Fatih Birol said next winter may prove to be much harsher than the upcoming one.

“When we look at the latest trends and likely developments in global and European gas markets, we see that Europe is set to face an even sterner challenge next winter,” he warned.

He suggested that in order to keep the crisis from worsening, European governments should step up work to “structurally reduce gas demand” across the region.

www.rt.com/business/565884-eu-gas-crisis-warning

My friend is alive, and has some amazing tales to tell us of his experiences as a volunteer at the front in Ukraine.

Straight Calls with Douglas Macgregor

In this eye-opening episode, we dive into the dark world of the Ukrainian Kiev-backed "kill list" targeting individuals in the Donbass region. This list, maintained by the Interior Ministry and Ukrainian security services, targets those considered enemies of the state, including journalists, children, and even American critics of the war. We speak with Faina Savenkova, a 14-year-old from the Donbass who is one of hundreds of children on the list and Meera Terada from the Foundation to Battle Injustice to discuss this inhumane list and its consequences...From Meera's discovery of 327 minors on the site to Faina's efforts to bring this to the attention of the United Nations, this story will leave you speechless.