Viet Nam PM stressed commitment to independent, integrated economy in Harvard speech

Update: May, 15/2022 - 

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính spoke at the Harvard Kennedy School in Boston, Massachussets on May 14. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has delivered a presentation on building an independent economy associated with extensive, effective, and substantial international integration in Việt Nam during his visit to the Harvard Kennedy School in Boston on May 14 (US time) as part of his working trip to the US.

PM Chính stressed the importance of independence laid out in the US’ Declaration of Independence “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” and the spirit of which had been echoed in Việt Nam’s own Declaration of Independence penned by the late President Hồ Chí Minh.

The Vietnamese founding father since the very beginning of the modern Việt Nam expressed the desire to set up equal, comprehensive relations with the US in the latter to US President Harry Truman in 1946.

The Việt Nam-US relations have gone through so many vicissitudes and breakthroughs to achieve so much since the two officially normalised ties in 1995. In the 27 years since then, four successive US presidents have visited Việt Nam, PM Chính said.

Trade plays a critical role in bilateral ties. In 2021, ASEAN-US trade hit US$362 billion in value, of which, Việt Nam-US trade alone accounts for one third of the total at $112 billion.

Việt Nam and the US have overcome their differences and arrived at fundamental principles for their relations, as affirmed in the Việt Nam-US Joint Vision Statement issued when General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Nguyễn Phú Trọng had an official visit to the US in 2015, which emphasised respect for "each other’s political institutions, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” PM Chính noted, adding that Việt Nam highly appreciates the US’ support for a strong, independent, and prosperous Việt Nam over the years.

The Vietnamese Government leader affirmed the consistent policy of ‘open doors’, reforms, active and extensive and effective and practical international integration; facilitating and protecting the rightful interests of long-term, effective, sustainable businesses and trade partners in the spirit of ‘harmonised benefits, shared risks’ and observance of the laws.

Việt Nam hopes to be a good friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible member in addressing regional and international issues for the sake of global prosperity.

Thanks to these policies, Việt Nam’s economy has witnessed astounding achievements from its low starting point. In 2021, Việt Nam’s GDP reached $362 billion, compared to the mere $4.2 billion in 1986 when the đổi mới (renewal) process began. The country has become the fourth biggest economy in ASEAN, one in 20 countries with the largest trade volume in the world, the biggest exporter of rice and many other agricultural products, and has 15 active free trade agreements with other countries and regions in the world.

Speaking on the reasons why there is a need for an independent but deeply integrated economy, PM Chính said that recently there had been a lot of complicated unpredictable developments in the world – intensifying strategic competition, financial and monetary risks and disruptions to the supply chains, the negative reactions to globalisation, and other traditional and non-traditional security issues such as climate change, pandemic, ageing population, depletion of natural resources, energy and food security, cybersecurity, human security, etc.

These issues put countries in a place where they need to focus on boosting the self-reliance and independence of their economies to lessen the impacts of external shocks, but this should not mean a total close-off from the world, but go in tandem with an open-door policy and international integration, PM Chính said.

Việt Nam, like other developing countries, wants to advance their economy to overcome the middle-income trap to become a developed nation, according to the Prime Minister.

To succeed, each country will have different suitable methods, roadmaps, and steps with consideration of their own characteristics and conditions, but special attention should be paid to some universal requirements. Accordingly, economic independence and self-reliance are associated with independence and autonomy in terms of politics, foreign policy, and international integration.

The respect for differences in conditions and characteristics of politics, economy, history, culture, and society will contribute to the diversity and richness of the global economy and national advantages, but along with that, there must be respect for the legitimate rights and interests of countries based on the UN Charter and international law.

The PM stated that Việt Nam had both engaged in extensive international integration and made great efforts to improve its internal capacity, flexibly and effectively respond to external shocks such as the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, the global financial crisis in 2007-08, and the global COVID-19 pandemic.

In the current context, Việt Nam needed to continue to promote the building of an independent and self-sufficient economy associated with proactive and active international integration due to three main reasons – the first is to resolve Việt Nam’s major challenges; the second is to ensure independence, sovereignty, and national interests; the third is to improve the country’s  capacity and potential for and effective integration into the global economic system, and effective implementation of international commitments.

Measures to realise development goals

According to PM Chính, the concept of building an independent and self-reliant economy, associated with proactive and active international integration, has been clearly defined and a consistent goal in Việt Nam’s 2013 Constitution and the Party’s resolutions and national development platforms.

PM Chính laid out Việt Nam’s strategic national development goals – to become a developing country with modern industry and high middle income by 2030, and to become a developed, high income country by 2045.

To realise these objectives, the main goals of building an independent and self-reliant economy associated with proactive and active international integration are: building an effective, sustainable economy with reasonable structures; improving resilience and competitiveness; adapting flexibly and effectively to changes in international, regional, and domestic situations; taking full advantage of opportunities from international integration to create a driving force for rapid recovery in the short term and sustainable development in the medium and long term.

At the same time, special attention should be paid to social progress and justice, ensuring social security, and people’s lives, as General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng pointed out: “We must not sacrifice social progress and social equality in the pursuit of economic growth,” the PM remarked.

Regarding the core tenets, the Prime Minister stressed that building an independent and self-reliant economy associated with extensive, substantive and effective international integration, would be based on three pillars: Building a Socialist-oriented market economy, building a Socialist rule-of-law State, and building a Socialist democracy.

To realise the objectives, PM Chính mentioned a number of missions and measures that need to be done.

First of all, the maintenance of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, socio-political stability, in order to have an environment conducive to the development of the economy as desired.

The second is to perfect the Socialist-oriented market economy institutions in a synchronous, modern and integrated manner, in line with international commitments.

The third is to maintain macroeconomic stability, deepening substantive international integration.

The fourth is to focus on restructuring the economy in association with profound renewal of growth model that will shift the economy towards the direction of science and technology, innovation, resource efficiency, and green growth.

The fifth is to mobilise all social resources, to promote the important role of domestic and foreign enterprises.

The sixth is human resource development and modern national governance. PM Chính mentioned a number of specific annual goals to strive for by 2025 such as ranking in the top 50 countries in terms of Industry 4.0 Competitiveness (WEF); top 40 countries with sustainable development (UN); top 60 countries with e-Government (UN), etc.

Concluding his speech, PM Chính said he highly appreciated the positive results of Fulbright University and the Việt Nam’s Executive Leadership Programme (VELP) that is jointly implemented by Harvard University and Vietnamese Government agencies, expressing the wish to replicate this model with other famous universities of the US and the world.

Doug Elmendorf, Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, said he looked forward to the PM’s speech on Việt Nam’s development policies and vision as well as the challenges the country faced in the new development era.

After the PM’s presentation, ministers and members of the delegation spoke and participated in a discussion with Harvard University professors on Việt Nam’s development orientations. — VNS

RACE WAR USA

'Blatantly racist' element of society is a domestic terrorism threat: Buffalo's congressman

Bob Brigham
May 14, 2022


The congressman who represents Buffalo, New York in Congress warned of racist domestic terrorism after an 18-year-old white man allegedly murdered ten people at a mass shooting being investigated as a hate crime.

The suspect reportedly wrote a 106-page manifesto pushing the racist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory espoused by Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.

Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) discussed the racist dynamics of the attack in an interview with CNN's Pamela Brown.

Higgins noticed the investigation was in its early stages, but said it appears "cohesive in terms of the motivation."

"This was an individual that was from outside our area, he was not from Buffalo. He came to Buffalo heavily armed with at least an AK-47 that was modified, killed ten people, three people are in the hospital, expected to recover. but this is a sad day for Buffalo, a sad day for the nation," he explained.

"There's premeditation. when you make a charge against somebody, you have to put all those pieces together. but even in the preliminary information that we have, clearly this is an individual that selected Buffalo, selected an area of Buffalo that is predominantly African-American, from outside the area. That is not coincidental," he argued. "And we believe, and law enforcement officials believe, that this is part of an organized effort to attack the minority community generally and the community of Buffalo as its target."

"When you say part of an organized effort, what do you mean by that?" Brown asked.

"That there is an element in our society that is blatantly racist, and they're violent and this is clearly an indication of domestic violence. There was -- you know, he live-streamed the horrific detail in real time of this murder of innocent people," he explained.

He warned racism is a threat to the country.

"And so all indications are, this points to an effort to exact domestic terrorism that is racially motivated on a community. But that threat to our community in Buffalo and western New York is a threat to the nation," he said.

Watch:
 

Supermarket Shooting Suspect Linked to Online Hatred

CHILLING

The username on a livestream of the massacre ties him to racist conspiracy theories.

Kelly Weill
William Bredderman
Allison Quinn

THE DAILY BEAST
Published May. 14, 2022


The New York teenager accused of killing 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday afternoon in a “straight-up racially motivated hate crime” appears to have spent months before the attack spewing racist conspiracy theories on social media sites.

Law enforcement officials have named the alleged gunman as 18-year-old Payton Gendron, of Conklin, New York. They also confirmed that Gendron livestreamed some of the attack.

Footage from the livestream, posted on the video platform Twitch, shows a man decked out in military garb filming from a helmet-mounted camera before exiting the car with a rifle, on which he appears to have painted racist slurs.

A spokesperson for Twitch confirmed to The Daily Beast that the shooting was broadcast live on the platform by a person with the username “jimboboiii.” They said they were “vigorously monitoring” to shut down any re-streams of the horrifying footage.

A person using the same social media handle as Gendron’s Twitch account shared racist and antisemitic comments on Reddit and Discord in the months before the attack. In addition, a hate-filled document that surfaced online soon after the assault was written under the name Payton Gendron and contained a vow to target Buffalo because of its large Black population. He wrote that he would specifically target Black people, both inside and outside the Tops store, which was mentioned by name and location.



That document also described plans to murder an armed security guard on duty and included a crude sketch of the store and where the author expected the guard to stand inside. It anticipated a gun fight, and described how the author planned to absorb shots with body armor.

The document also included some biological details, noting that the author lived with his two brothers and parents. A neighbor of the Gendron family told The Daily Beast the 18-year-old has two brothers.

Law enforcement sources have told The Daily Beast that they are investigating a possible manifesto, but the document could not be authenticated in the hours after the massacre. It’s not clear if the version that was circulating online could have been altered by someone.

A person using the username “Jimbo Boiii” also posted a review online for a pawn shop near Gendron’s hometown, which is a three-hour drive from Buffalo. The shop advertises its purchase and sale of coins, a theme in both the Reddit account and the purported manifesto. The writer of the latter described accruing gold and silver pieces as a way to spite national governments that print paper money, and the Jewish he imagined control them.

The manifesto also pays tribute to the gunman in the Christchurch, New Zealand shootings, who killed 51 people at two mosques—referring to the 2019 mass shooter as “the person that radicalized [me] the most.” The writer specifically lauds the earlier gunman’s obsession with the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, a racist fantasy about a supposed plot to eliminate white people.

The shooter thus appears to have followed in the footsteps of notorious white supremacist gunmen like those in the 2019 massacres in El Paso, Texas; Poway, California; and the 2018 attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue.

In the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called out social media for enabling the gunman to spread his views.

“The social media platforms that profit from their existence need to be responsible for monitoring ... They can in a sense become an accomplice if not legally, but morally,” she told reporters.

At an evening press conference, Buffalo officials said there was no known contact between law enforcement and Gendron and that they had no warning of the attack.

Gendron was previously enrolled at SUNY Broome Community College but it was not immediately clear how long he studied there. A spokeswoman for the school, in comments to The Buffalo News, described him as a “former student.”

-- Eileen Grench contributed reporting

Ukraine retaking Kharkiv would be 'incredibly significant', analyst tells CGTN

Patrick Rhys Atack


If Ukraine has retaken Kharkiv from Russian forces, as reports suggest, it would be "incredibly significant," Chris Bellamy, military analyst and historian of Russia told CGTN Europe.

Kharkiv is Ukraine's second-largest city, and is located only 50 kilometers from the border with Russia – so it is not only a strategically important city, but victory here for the Ukrainian defenders would be a huge boost to morale.

"The outlying villages from which the Russians are reported to be withdrawing are as little as 31 kilometers" from the border, said Bellamy. "So if the Russians can't supply their military offensive over 30, 50 kilometers, then it doesn't say much for the Russians."

Bellamy explained the military significance of Kharkiv for Russia's goals in Ukraine.

"The Russian attack on Kharkiv, which is in the north of Ukraine, was one part of a pincer movement. The other one was on the area of Mariupol in the south," he told CGTN.

"The Russian aim was to cut off the very competent Ukrainian troops who are engaged on that line of contact against the Russians in the east of Ukraine, in Donetsk and Luhansk."

Ukrainian fighters ride a motorbike and sidecar through a recently retaken village near Kharkiv./Ricardo Morales/Reuters

But as well as Russian weaknesses, the pushing back of Russian forces shows the unexpected strength of Ukraine's armed forces, according to Bellamy.

"The Ukrainian resistance, the courage and military skill of the Ukrainians has taken everybody by surprise, including not least the Russians.

"Besides securing Ukraine's second largest city, which is incredibly important in itself, [it’s] also knocked out one of the prongs of that pincer movement designed to cut off the best and most forward of the Ukrainian army. So in military terms, it is incredibly significant."

Battle of Kharkiv (2022) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kharkiv_(2022)

The battle of Kharkiv was a military engagement taking place in and around the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine as part of the Northeastern Ukraine offensive and Eastern Ukraine offensive during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kharkiv, located just 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the Russia–Ukraine border and a predominately Russian-speaking city, is the second-largest city in …

• Location: Kharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast
• Status: Ongoing

At NATO meet, Turkey criticises Swedish and Finnish support for PKK

BERLIN, May 14 (Reuters) - Turkey's foreign minister criticised on Saturday the "unacceptable and outrageous" support that prospective new NATO members Sweden and Finland give to the PKK Kurdish militant group, potentially complicating the alliance's enlargement.

"The problem is that these two countries are openly supporting and engaging with PKK and YPG. These are terrorist organisations that have been attacking our troops every day," Mevlut Cavusoglu said as he arrived in Berlin for a meeting with his NATO counterparts.

"Therefore it is unacceptable and outrageous that our friends and allies are supporting this terrorist organisation," he said. "These are the issues that we need to talk about with our NATO allies as well as these countries" Sweden and Finland, he added.

Obama says he is 'proud' of abortion-rights protesters, encourages Americans to 'join a march near you'

Katie Balevic

Former U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at an event to tout the Affordable Care Act in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 5, 2022.

  Leah Millis/Reuters

Former President Barack Obama applauded abortion-rights protesters and called for more people to join in.
His comments come on the heels of nationwide protests following the leaked Supreme Court draft.
Obama's call for voter participation comes after the Senate failed to advance a bill that would enshrine abortion rights in federal law.

Former President Barack Obama applauded abortion rights protesters on Saturday and called for more people to engage in activism.

"Across the country, Americans are standing up for abortion rights—and I'm proud of everyone making their voices heard. Join a march near you," Obama tweeted on Saturday along with an organizing link.

The former president continued: "If you can't join a march in person today, you can still get involved. Donate to a local abortion fund. Volunteer with activists who've been organizing on this issue for years. And vote on or before November 8 and in every election."

His comments come on the heels of nationwide protests after a leaked Supreme Court draft showed the court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, reversing abortion rights.

Obama blasted the court opinion after it was leaked, warning that the consequences of such a reversal would affect every American.

"That's a result none of us should want. But it should serve as a powerful reminder of the central role the courts play in protecting our rights — and of the fact that elections have consequences," Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama said in a joint statement.

On Wednesday, the Senate failed to advance a bill that would enshrine abortion rights in federal law and protect abortion access across the country.

President Joe Biden, formerly Obama's Vice President, criticized Senate Republicans.

"Republicans in Congress – not one of whom voted for this bill – have chosen to stand in the way of Americans' rights to make the most personal decisions about their own bodies, families, and lives," Biden said in a statement on Wednesday.

Statement By UN High Commissioner For Human Rights Michelle Bachelet On Events In The Occupied West Bank

Sunday, 15 May 2022,

Press Release: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

GENEVA (14 May 2022) - I am following with deep distress events in the occupied West Bank, including in East Jerusalem. Footage of Israeli police attacking mourners at the funeral procession of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in East Jerusalem on Friday 13 May was shocking. Reports indicate that at least 33 people were injured.

The Israeli use of force, which was being filmed and broadcast live, appeared to be unnecessary and must be promptly and transparently investigated.

There must be accountability for the terrible killing not just of Shireen Abu Akleh but for all the killings and serious injuries in the occupied Palestinian territory.

International law requires prompt, thorough, transparent, independent and impartial investigation of all use of force resulting in death or injury.

So far this year, 48 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces. Today a young man, Walid al-Sharif, succumbed to the serious injuries he sustained at Al Aqsa Mosque Compound on 22 April.

As I have called for many times before, there must be appropriate investigations into the actions of Israeli security forces. Anyone found responsible should be held to account with penal and disciplinary sanctions commensurate to the gravity of the violation.

This culture of impunity must end now.

Japanese PM Kishida asked German Chancellor Scholz to remove comfort women statue in Berlin




Rebecca Moon
Thu, May 12, 2022

Over a year after the installation of a comfort women statue in Mitte of central Berlin, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to remove the statue.

“Comfort women” is a euphemism for the women from mostly Asian nations who were enslaved into brothels by the Japanese military during World War II.

A pro-Korean civic group erected the statue in September 2020 with the approval of local authorities. The installation was allowed to stay for one year and was extended for an extra year.

In October 2020, the Mitte district initially requested for a local Korean group to remove the statue before deciding to leave it. Berlin’s mayor, Michael Müller, also advocated for a future memorial that addresses sexual violence in broader terms.

Japan has repeatedly made requests to the Mitte district that the statue’s permit be removed. The Mitte district has denied the requests and expressed hope that Japan and South Korea would reach an agreement on the statue’s presence.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno shared that during a meeting in late April between Kashida and Scholz in Tokyo, Kashida expressed continued disappointment to the German at the statue’s continued installation.

“The prime minister said it was extremely regrettable to see the comfort women statue remain and sought cooperation again from the German side,” Matsuno said per Kyodo News. “We will approach various parties concerned, tenaciously explain our government’s stance and call for swift removal of the statue.”

As tensions over the issue of recognizing comfort women persist between South Korea and Japan, activists and remaining survivors are continuing to fight for justice “until the very end."

Women to be offered three-day menstrual leave from work in European first — but critics fear hiring ‘stigmatization’


David Ramos—Getty Images

Sophie Mellor
Thu, May 12, 2022

Spain’s government is preparing a law that would overhaul its current regulation around women’s rights—covering everything from menstruation leave to abortion reform.

The draft legislation, which is being discussed by Spain’s socialist-led coalition government next week, plans to allow women over the age of 16 to have an abortion without being granted permission from their parents or guardians.

It also introduces several measures to make menstruation and women’s sexual health a matter of public health.

The legislation plans three days of menstrual leave a month, extendable to five, for women who suffer from severe period pain.

It also makes pads and tampons available for free at schools, educational centers, and to marginalized women, while also removing the VAT from their sale in supermarkets.

It is unclear how many of the reforms will be kept in the text by the time it reaches the Council of Ministers next Tuesday and what its final wording will be, according to El Pais.
Hiring fears

However, some critics fear the menstruation reform may lead to more prejudice against hiring a woman in the workplace.

Cristina Antoñanzas, deputy secretary of the Unión General de Trabajadores—a major Spanish trade union—told Spanish radio network Cadena Ser the move might "stigmatize women," adding “I don't know if it does us women a disservice."

Nadia Calviño, the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, assured the public in an interview on RTVE saying the government "is not going to take any action that stigmatizes women,” with regards to menstruation.

Abortion reform

The new legislation, if signed into law, will break down many of the barriers to women getting an abortion.

Not only will people under the age of 16 be allowed to get an abortion without their parent’s consent, but the law will also eliminate the three-day period of reflection required for women before getting an abortion.

While voluntary abortion was previously legal in Spain for women in the first 14 weeks of gestation, there was difficulty in finding a hospital or a doctor that would be willing to perform the procedure, according to the Guardian.

In the new legislation, there will be a register containing the names of all the doctors willing to do the procedure, and any medical staff who does not want to do the procedure will be given the ability to opt out of their involvement.

As part of the new reforms, the government also plans to provide free hormonal contraceptives, including the morning-after pill, which will be financed into the public health system and distributed within a framework of sex education campaigns, the draft legislation says.

Extended paid leave for childbirth

There are also new proposed reforms for women who do want a child.

Paid leave for childbirth is to be extended in the draft legislation to begin from week 36 to the moment of birth — giving mothers 4 extra weeks' pay.

The legislation also includes more laws around surrogacy, which in Spain is currently illegal as it is considered a form of "violence against women."

The new law would allow the courts to prosecute couples who go abroad to use a surrogate.

“It is this government’s duty and its intention to safeguard the right to abortion in the public health system and do away with the obstacles that prevent women from deciding when it comes to their bodies and their lives,” Spain's Equality Minister Irene Montero said in February.

Menstruation action

While most women celebrate the more relaxed rules on abortion, others believe menstruation leave may negatively impact women.

Around a third of women who menstruate suffer from severe period pain known as dysmenorrhea, according to the Spanish Gynecology and Obstetrics Society.

"When the problem cannot be solved medically, we think it is very sensible that there should be temporary incapacity associated with this issue," Ángela Rodríguez, Spain’s Secretary of State for Equality and against Gender Violence, said to El Periodico in a recent interview.

"It is important to clarify what a painful period is, we are not talking about a slight discomfort, but about serious symptoms such as diarrhea, severe headaches, fever," Rodríguez said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/05/it-will-benefit-women-spain-debates-if.html

Russia could strike back at the West by calling on its network of white-supremacist groups to commit terror attacks there, analysts warn

Tom Porter
Sat, May 14, 2022

Russian ultra-nationalists wave Russian Empire's black-yellow-white flags in Moscow in 2012

.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images


A former US intelligence official warned of a likely bid by Russia to stir "political violence."

Two Russian groups currently fighting in Ukraine have ties to far-right groups in the US and Western Europe.

A steady supply of Western weapons has enabled Ukraine's outnumbered military to hold back Russian forces and inflict thousands of casualties during the ongoing war.

But experts are increasingly concerned that as Russia's invasion stalls, the Kremlin could choose to retaliate against the West not just through economic and diplomatic means, but also by inciting violent attacks at the heart of the NATO alliance.

The tool it could seek to exploit is a network of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in Russia, Western Europe, and the US with which it has cultivated ties for decades.

"They've done that before in much of Europe and I would not be surprised if they are doing that today — trying to get their intelligence services at the right moment to get these groups agitated," Chris Chivvis, who served as the National Security Council's intelligence officer for Europe from 2018 to 2021, told Insider.

He warned of a likely effort to stir "political unrest, political violence" and "get these groups agitated to achieve political effects in countries in Europe, and possibly the United States."

Russia's embassies in London and Washington, DC, did not reply to Insider's request for comment. Insider was unable to contact the groups mentioned in this story due to the secretive nature of their operations.
Neo-Nazi militants fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine

The Kremlin has sought to portray its Ukraine invasion as a bid to "denazify" the country. But analysts say its forces are fighting alongside groups who openly espouse neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology — exposing the hollowness of Russian President Vladimir Putin's propaganda.

The groups have extensive ties to far-right extremists across the West, as well as deep connections with Russia's military and intelligence services, experts told Insider.

They could offer the Kremlin a potential route for inflicting violence and chaos in the Western nations providing key diplomatic and military support to Ukraine, while maintaining plausible deniability, experts say.

Colin Clarke

One such threat is the Wagner Group, a mercenary force that has previously been deployed as a Kremlin proxy in conflicts in Syria, Libya, and Mali.

Its fighters have been linked to a string of atrocities in Ukraine, with German intelligence saying they were involved in the massacre of civilians in Bucha during the Russian occupation of the Kyiv suburb in March.

A mural praises the Russian Wagner group and its mercenaries fighting in Ukraine on March 30, 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Pierre Crom/Getty Images

The group makes no secret of its espousal of Nazi ideology, with its leader, Dmitry Utkin, having been photographed with Nazi insignia tattoos, and its fighters decorating their vehicles with neo-Nazi runic symbols, according to a report by the Italian think tank ResPublica.

The Rusich, a Wagner affiliate deployed in Ukraine, also openly flaunts its ties with neo-Nazism, using a Slavic version of the Nazi Swastika, the Kolovrat, as its symbol.

Colin Clarke, the director of research at the Soufan Group, told Insider that the Kremlin could deploy fighters from Wagner to commit terror attacks in the West or commission fighters to encourage contacts in the West to commit violence on its behalf.

"The Russians send their own guys into Europe to whack people," he said, referencing assassinations and attempted assassinations in countries including the UK and Germany that Western officials have linked to Russian security services.

"I don't think anything's beyond the pale for Putin. It's just a matter of: Does this make sense tactically? And if you think about how much terrorism resonates, the psychological impact if that stuff starts happening, I think it's a whole other dimension to this conflict," he said of the possible effects of a Russia-instigated terror attack in the West.

But Jason Blatzakis, an expert of terrorism at the Middlesbury Institute, was skeptical that Russia would deploy fighters to commit direct attacks, saying it would mark a serious escalation in Russia's confrontation with NATO allies.

A picture taken on February 28, 2015 shows a member of the Russian Imperial Movement, a nationalist group in Russia, walking close to a banner reading "God.Tsar.Nation.We are Russians, God with us" at a training base in Saint Petersburg.

OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images

Instead, he said, it was likely Russia would seek to stir chaos through "direct relations" between extremists in Russia and their counterparts in the West.

Many Western far-right and white supremacists revere Putin's Russia, regarding it as a bastion of white identity. They see the Ukraine conflict as a civilizational battle between liberalism and Russia's traditional, hierarchical system.

"I think what people need to be mindful of is that actually Russia is providing support that meets the legal definition of support to terrorism," Blatkazis said of the ties between Russia and white supremacist groups.

Links to the West, including the US

The Wagner Group and its affiliates do not pose the only threat, with a rival organization having brokered alliances with violent right-wing extremists across the West.

Aleksei Milchakov and Yan Petrovsky — the founders of the Wagner-affiliated Rusich group — reportedly met at a training camp for the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white supremacist group dedicated to restoring the Russian empire.

The RIM has drawn dedicated extremists from across Europe and the US to its paramilitary training camp near Saint Petersburg as it aggressively cultivated international connections, security analysts say.

Like the Wagner Group, it is believed to have deployed fighters to Ukraine, with the group's banner displayed by fighters in east Ukraine in a picture posted in the group's Telegram channel reviewed by Insider.

Members of neo-nazi organization Nordic Resistance Movement hold their banners during a demonstration on October 27, 2018 in Fredrikstad, some 90 km south of Oslo.

ORN E. BORGEN/NTB scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Swedish officials said in a 2017 lawsuit that the group trained extremists from the far-right Nordic Resistance, who committed attacks on refugee centers in 2016, and has been linked to violent far-right plots in Germany and Spain. Also in 2016, RIM leaders traveled to the US, where they met US white nationalist figure Matthew Heimbach, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism said in a 2020 report.

The State Department in 2017 designated the RIM a terrorist group, the first time it had given the designation to a white-supremacist organization.

Despite the sanctions, Stanislav Vorobyev, the group's leader, said in a recent interview on the "Verified" podcast that he remains in contact with far-right extremists in the US but gave no specific details.

Clarke said that a key concern was the potential Russian contact with groups such as Atomwaffen, a neo-Nazi terror group with cells in the UK and US, linked to a string of violent plots, and neo-Nazi groups in Nordic nations.

"The ultimate end game is they maintain these relationships because one day they might have to cash in their chips," he said, describing the potential of a pro-Russian terror attack committed by an American as "our worst case scenario realized."

He raised the prospect of the psychological impact that could be caused by "a neo-Nazi guy in Virginia launching an attack at the behest of the Russians and was maybe paid to do it or trained by them."

"That's a big deal," he said. "That's a really big deal."

Read the original article on Business Insider

WAIT, WHAT ?

US insists it does not support Taiwan independence after fact sheet change angers Beijing

WHY ARE YOU SELLING THEM WEAPONS THEN

Carl Samson
Fri, May 13, 2022

After a State Department fact sheet was changed to observe Taiwan’s “best interests,” U.S. officials have maintained that Washington upholds the "one China" policy and therefore does not support the island’s independence.

The fact sheet change, which apparently angered Beijing, removed an acknowledgment of “the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China,” as well as a statement saying the U.S. “does not support Taiwan independence.”

In a press briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the fact sheet had not been updated for years. “I think we care most about ensuring that our relationships around the world are reflected accurately in our fact sheets,” he said.

China, in response, slammed the change as “political manipulation of the Taiwan question.” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian stressed that the island is an “inalienable” part of China and that “the attempt to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait will hurt the United States itself.”

On Wednesday, Price affirmed that the U.S. does not support Taiwan’s independence, pursuant to its official commitment to Beijing’s "one China" policy made in 1979. Under the policy, Washington recognizes Beijing as the “sole legal government of China,” though it allows for unofficial ties with Taiwan, including assistance with self-defense.

“We do not support Taiwan independence, and we have repeatedly made this clear both in public and in private,” Price said in a press briefing.

“Though the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and does not support Taiwan independence, we do have, as you know, a robust unofficial relationship with Taiwan as well as an abiding interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

Washington, however, maintains ambiguity on the extent of its military assistance to Taiwan. This policy supposedly deters Beijing from launching an assault and Taipei from seeking independence at the same time.

Still, the U.S. reiterates its “rock-solid” commitment to Taiwan’s defense. The fact sheet update also says it “continues to encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait differences consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people on Taiwan.”

“We will continue to stand with our partner Taiwan. Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid, including in the face of acts of potential intimidation,” Price said.

On Tuesday, the guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal made a “routine” Taiwan Strait transit “in accordance with international law.” This was the second U.S. mission in two weeks, drawing an angry response from Beijing.