Geopolitical situation
The NATO summit in Vilnius will decide on Ukraine's future by abandoning Soviet doctrines, standards and techniques, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. Ukraine must move to NATO-compatible systems, the alliance chief said.
Stoltenberg noted that consultations are currently underway on how to meet Ukraine's aspirations to become a member of the Alliance. "No one can say for sure what the final decision on this issue will be at the Vilnius summit", Stoltenberg said. At the same time, the NATO chief noted that the possibility of Ukraine becoming a NATO member during the war with Russia is not currently on the agenda. The issue will be discussed when the war is over.
We will add that it is not a question of "when the war will end", but of how the war will end. Because the war may end without all the Kremlin's maroders being pulled off Ukrainian soil. Moscow is undoubtedly preparing a version of the good Putin and will try to maintain its position in the seized territories by reducing tensions through copycat arm-twisting.
The fact that a coup is being prepared in the Kremlin is 'evidenced' by the prophecies of Putin's cook, a recidivist, that in Russia 'everything will end in a revolution like in 17'. Soldiers and hundreds of thousands of relatives of the dead will revolt". In prophesying revolution, Prigozhin appeals to social inequality and criticises Russia's rich, even though he himself is one of the Kremlin's fattest pricks.
These predictions of revolution are aimed not only at the Russian people, but also at the West, blowing the fog over the popular uprising of the masses, which is in fact planned by the Kremlin itself through the FSB. If this 'pays off', there will soon be a bloody coup in Moscow, followed by Putin's replacement coming to power. There may be a lot of blood and beheadings during the "revolution", but Russia's most important heads will remain in place. The FSB is now likely to be weighing up which way to turn the Russian ship: a "pro-Western" leader would be acceptable to the world community but dangerous for the Kremlin; a more ruthless dictator would mean isolation from the West but prolonging the agony of the Russian empire.
In our view, FSB strategists will choose the latter option for their own security, adapting the "good" traditions of China, Shekora and Belarus, so that the final option will be a new iron curtain against the West. Moscow will, of course, negotiate with Ukraine and the West, and will seek to lift sanctions, but democracy in Russia is likely to be buried for decades to come.
For the first time since the Cold War, NATO is embarking on major defence plans: thousands of pages of secret military plans have been drawn up detailing the Alliance's response to a Russian attack. "Reuters reports that the move marks a major change since the Second World War. For decades, the Alliance saw no need for large-scale defence plans because it believed that post-Soviet Russia no longer posed an existential threat. But now, with Ukraine in the midst of the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945, NATO is warning that it must have all the necessary plans in place long before a conflict with an adversary like Moscow could break out.
In other words, NATO is preparing for war with Russia. More specifically, to crush Russia. And that is very, very good.
Significant developments
With the Ukrainians pressing on the flanks of Bakhmut, Russia is regrouping its forces and reducing the number of attacks in the city. Despite the Drisky activity, the Ukrainian troops are slowly making progress. The Ukrainians are reported to be in control of some neighbourhoods in the south-western part of the city.
However, the NATO leader's statement that the timing of the handover of F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv will depend on the course of hostilities sounds strange. "It remains to be decided when and how this will happen. Depending on the hostilities and the situation on the battlefield, a final decision on the handover will be taken," said Jens Stoltenberg.
Hm... So how does that work out? Will the F-16s be handed over when Ukraine starts to crush the Russians and the aircraft are given to finish off the marauders, or will the warplanes be handed over urgently when Ukraine loses on the battlefield and suffers many more casualties? We are left wondering. Our conviction is that the F-16s should be handed over immediately, without any preconditions, avoiding further casualties and in order to achieve victory as quickly as possible. Adding a large number of long-range HIMARS charges, reaching targets 300 km away.
Briefly
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on African countries to abandon their neutral stance towards Ukraine's war with Russia. In the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Kuleba said Ukraine was "deeply upset that some African countries have decided to abstain" and urged them to provide Ukraine with diplomatic support "in the face of Russia's aggression".
Kyiv's activity in Africa is timely. The Kremlin is planning an Africa-Russia summit in July. It should be recalled that the Kremlin-controlled Wagner group is active in several African countries.
The People's Bank of China has instructed the main state-owned banks to prepare to divest their dollar reserves and to buy offshore yuan, which, despite previous interventions, is continuing to fall in value, and the country's currency is in its worst situation since 1994. The yuan has fallen by 0.9% against the dollar - to 7.1340 - and is heading for its biggest annual decline since 1994, having already lost more than 11% this year.
According to the latest migration data, 6,003 people will emigrate from Russia to Finland in 2022, the highest number in more than 30 years, according to the Finnish National Institute of Statistics.
Russian business leaders have asked the Kremlin to consider introducing a six-day working week to help the economy avoid Western sanctions. The group of initiators includes Russian business leaders as well as several members of the Russian Parliament. According to the authors, a longer working week would help the workforce to meet the targets set by President Putin for 2023, as well as better prepare the country for a technological and industrial breakthrough.
Mjo. "Overworked" EU trade union leaders are proposing a 4-day working week, and Maskolya's plans could include working without rest. Why should that slave rest? When a man works seven days a week, he thinks of nothing. Only about relaxing after work in the driskiest way: vodka, balalaika and Marysia.
Lithuania
In Lithuania, there are landslides, sinkholes and burnt bridges. Figuratively speaking. One Lithuania is the Lithuania of the "high society", the "elite", which is boiling in the intrigues of the capital's opinion makers and politicians, and the other Lithuania is the "province" of Lithuania, which enjoys good weather, clear water, sunshine, travelling, warm evenings, planting gardens and fields and positive communication.
One Lithuania is boiling in the bubble of premature elections and the benefit of the bargain, reacting to every uncontrollable roar and finger-pointing of the opponents, while the other, having disconnected the internet, has disconnected itself from the so-called affairs of the state and is no longer even interested in the unwashed socks of Gražulis.
In other words, the "upper" Lithuania no longer wants to, and the "lower" one no longer can.
But it should. Political autism is a very dangerous disease. It can only be cured by intensive communication with the electorate. All of them. Especially those who do not like them. Because, not wanting to get over their ambitions and the peasant grandeur of the "upper" smoky pyre, the voters of the "lower Lithuania" get over such politicians during elections. And they wipe their feet well.
Nothing is eternal. From dust to dust. And before that, a good dusting.
The photo shows Ukrainian soldiers.
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