GEOPOLITICS IS A COMBATIVE CONSERVATIVE WELTANSCHAUUNG

[VIK LEWA]

France alarmed over Wagner's role in Sudan
as Russia expands in Africa

Following instances of instability in Mali and Burkina Faso that saw Russia's influence rise in Africa, France is closely working with Egypt to reach a cease-fire and avoid similar scenario in Sudan.

What is Russia’s Wagner Group doing in Sudan? Why is Vladimir Putin’s shadow army pushing its way into Africa?
Amid the war in Ukraine, Russia’s Wagner Group eyes up Sudan’s gold
Sudan has right to turn to services of Wagner group: Russian foreign minister
US voices 'deep concern' over Wagner Group activities in Sudan

Kremlin-backed Wagner Group has been operating in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and several African countries

Sudan has the right to use Wagner Group:
Russia's Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Sudan, which is currently embroiled in a conflict between rival factions, had the right to use the services of Russian private military company Wagner Group. Lavrov made his comments during a news conference at the United Nations.

Kremlin-backed Wagner Group has been operating in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and several African countries

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Sudan's legitimate authorities have the right to use the services of the Wagner group, a Moscow-backed private military company. The fighting between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has entered its second week with more than 400 people killed and over 4,000 others injured since April 15. "The Central African Republic and Mali as well as Sudan and a number of other countries whose governments, legitimate authorities turn to such services, they have the right to do so, let's not forget," Lavrov told a press conference at the UN headquarters. Wagner Group has been operating in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and some African countries including Mali and the Central African Republic. On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced "deep concern" over the military company's activities in the war-torn country. "It's in so many different countries, and in Africa, an element that, when it's engaged, simply brings more death and destruction with it," Blinken said during a joint press conference with Kenyan counterpart Alfred Mutua.

Grain deal

Asked about the extension of the Black Sea grain deal, which will expire on May 18, Lavrov pointed out the obstacles to the shipment of Russian grain and fertilizer, saying that it was brought to a "dead-end" by Western countries. "There's a need to simply bring our bank back into the fold of the SWIFT system," Lavrov said. Several Russian banks including the Russian Agricultural Bank were removed from Swift, an international payment system used by thousands of financial institutions, after its aggression against its neighbor Ukraine. Russia wants obstacles to the exports of its fertilizer to be removed in order to agree to another extension of the grain deal which was signed in Istanbul last July between Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine. When asked by Anadolu if President Vladimir Putin plans to visit Türkiye for the inauguration of the country's first nuclear power reactor built by a Russian nuclear energy company on April 27, Lavrov said that "this will be announced as soon as possible. I believe that the presidents have an understanding about the importance of such a meeting."

[Hexachordia]

Anyway, to protetc oneself from colonialism, it is important to form a pragmatical as well as spiritual bonds with all neighboring countries, even through war with hostile countries, just to make peace and realize such bonds in permanent terms. This is the only geopolitical benefit to be won and protected, it is always secondary to make friends or enemies beyond the direct neighborhood, neighbors form the national history, and a part of this historical justification of a country`s cultural and national identity against the colonial and capitalist encroachments. But not all countries are able to pursue or understand the importance of maintaining a regional common order, some seem to be doing but they have become colonial proxies and overstretching their ambitions so that they always stir up unnecessary commotions and disrupt the regional bonds in favor of the interventional interests, one prime example is India, a country in permanent delusion and cherishing in it. To undermine foreign regional orders is the real exhibition of the western power not their military might, which they only use to intimidate and consolidate their interventional interests, say the local proxy.

China now has the power, and justifiable motivation to lead East Asia order, we must maintain this order no matter what, use all means possible but always right to the purpose and well fit for each target, to realize the permanent intergrity of the East Asia regional identity. This is the true sign of a superpower and a conscious, conscientious, civilized global superpower.

This is not imperialism to maintain ones own regional order and bonds, because it is crucial for ones own sustainble national peace and development, all lands that were colonied and conquered, for NOT UNDERSTANDING this, no sense of neighborhood, of how they were and are and will be connected in the past and now and future, however culturally and racially different they might be. Never ask why we have such neighbors, just get along, make peace, against all the odds, in this way, we can salvage ourselves and continually civilize ourself and prove to the world that our lands are not Terra Nulla.

[Hexachordia]

My theory of Vital Neighborhood, as I would call it, explains why Off Shore countries are the most powerful empires: UK, Japan, The USA.

Because they were in a convenient position to interfere into the mainland matters, stirring up regional conflicts in their favor. Now the USA are most manifestly doing in this Modus Operandi in their own and british favor. Neighbors, are our phallus, though appendage but vital. Time to wake up to the Off Shore inventional interests, and protect our own regional identities!!

[Hexachordia]

Common Prosperity not subjugation.

Even regional peace can not be immediately realized, regional prosperity should become a priority, never to destroy and weaken the neighbor to make such peace like how mongols did. It seems mongols left a single regional power that was China surviving in their wake of conquest in Central Asia, but such conquest also worked adversely against chinese civilization in later centuries. For example Ming dynasty followed the mongol dynasty in China but Ming`s cultural legacies were almost wipt out by the manchurian invasion, and manchus were none other than the cultural and ideological heir to the mongols. Manchus had been dwelling in Mongolian steppes since the early 1500s, when Ming dynasty came into power, but there they faced no rivals except for mainland chinese, so they had the convenience of rallying their power against China for 200 years. That was why they conquered China in 1660 and then they destroyed all previous cultural monuments.

Forceful conquest is not an option-not even the last, to educate a neighbor, even if it is too unruly, therefore, in this case we should develop global influences to circumventively educate them, like to influence the UK in order to influence India, or to influence the USA to influence Japan, this is not farfetched if you understand the importance of the regional order, they are a part of our history and it is our way of justified colonization. None of the western countries worthy of us sacrificing our regional order, it is like to win a princess conditioned you would emasculate yourself, meaningless. If you do not have your own regional identity, you are but a eunach clown in the international theatre.

Photonius

[Hexachordia]

邻国就是命根子，哪怕我们之间的关系再怎么见不得人，也是我们的命根子，与邻国的关系才是最重 要的外交关系

我们经常看到什么中美关系，中欧关系是世界上最重要的双边关系类似的言辞，其实，这些都是西方在误导我们。 邻国是我们的历史根源，民族之根源，并非戏言。无论他们多么落后，多么不堪，依旧是我们的命根子，我们最重 要的国际关系与利益。包括了所有的中亚各国，比如巴基斯坦，阿富汗，哈萨克斯坦，塔吉克斯坦，蒙古，南亚的 印度，东南亚的越南泰国缅甸老挝，北方的俄罗斯，日本和朝鲜，千万不能简单地把他们看成的独立的国家，他们 应该是中国的属国，是中国面向世界的真正窗口，是我们的眼睛，嘴巴，阳具，手臂；没有这些国家的繁荣与友好 关系，去发展什么中美，中欧关系就是如同阉人和妇女独立与流氓打交道，只能永远吃亏和成为笑柄。中美中欧关 系根本不是什么世界上最重要的双边关系，而是最大的骗局，是要把世界上所有国家从最重要的地缘政治的意识中 带偏的计谋，比如西方间离中东，非洲，一样，是一个致命的外交殖民手段。中国必须意识到邻国的真正意义所在 ，以其在中国的历史，当下与未来的绝不可或缺的意义所在一样，区域殖民是民族可持续繁荣的必要手段，就如性 行为是血脉传承的手段一样，殖民的真正意义就是思想与血脉的延续，是正当的。只是西方对殖民手段不仅仅为了 自己的血脉和思想的延续，他们也为了血脉压制，破坏其他民族的血脉，以此来拓展他们的血脉的生存空间。所有 的邻国就是我们的手足之亲，我们对他们殖民，就像赢取他们的女儿一般，延续自身的文明血脉，所以他们的持久 性繁荣也是我们的可持续的生存空间，哪怕是不得已征服世界也要惠及邻国，一定要牢记这一点。

--光子

[VIK LEWA]

THE GRAB FOR POWER AND GOLD

Russian mercenaries appear to be working closely with the military junta in Sudan. Billions of dollars have allegedly been circumvented in exchange for political and military support from the Kremlin. "The Russians buy almost everything," Omar Sheriff, a miner in the northeastern Sudanese town of Al-Ibaidiya, told DW shortly before the current conflict between Sudan's armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group began.

FROM MOTHER RUSSIA WITH LOVE

The Telegraph: Wagner mercenary group 'played role in destabilising Sudan' as MPs call for terrorist classification

Russian company accused of training paramilitary soldiers, supplying weapons to warring factions and promoting misinformation.

The cross-party All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Sudan accused the Russian company of training troops in Sudan, supplying weapons to the warring factions, and promoting misinformation during the recent pro-democracy protests. “The UK should investigate the impact of the Wagner Group and Russian influence in Darfur, Sudan and across the Sahel,” said the APPG’s report. “It should proscribe the Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation, and impose targeted sanctions.” The Wagner Group is a Russian mercenary organisation headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, once dubbed “Putin’s chief”. It stands accused of committing war crimes in many countries including Ukraine, Libya and the Central African Republic. The APPG said that the rival Sudanese generals currently vying for power – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – are among the beneficiaries of Wagner’s support.

Russia's Wagner Group Could Fuel Conflict in Sudan, Experts Say

Since the fighting began in April, there have been unconfirmed reports and diplomatic sources who spoke to news outlets saying that Wagner fighters are supporting the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces and supplying them with weapons. In a rare admission to the group’s involvement in Sudan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that the decision to involve the Wagner Group is up to African leadership. “Central African Republic and Mali and Sudan, a number of other countries, whose governments, whose legitimate authorities turn for this kind of services [to Wagner Group], have the right to do so,” Lavrov told a news conference at the United Nations. High-level U.S. officials continue to express concern over the involvement of the Wagner Group in Sudan, where it is involved in mineral extraction.

[VIK LEWA]

This TRT World article was later removed for unknown reasons.

There's something really creepy and uncomfortable and eerie about this, and a lot of this may have to do with the fact that the Istanbul-based English-language TRT World is, indeed, a party broadcaster. As Elswah and Howard (2022) argue in the article titled "Where news could not inspire change" (Journalism, 23(10), 2079–2095), the channel has shifted its style from being Turkey's public diplomacy tool into becoming the AKP's voice to the world. The channel is now a by-product of the Turkish President Erdoğan's enduring repression of the media. However, it should be remembered that although its media market is one of the fastest-growing in the world, Turkey is generally also considered one of the world's worst jailers of journalists, and TRT World's model of journalism was obviously impacted, and continues to be impacted, by the censored and controlled media ecosystem in Turkey.

The main point made in this article is that the English-language TRT World is currently run by formulaic, sentimental, nationalistic, ethnocentric and patriotic Turks who have political and social agendas and is now just another reflection of how local Turkish media operates, although in all fairness the launch of this channel represented a fresh and ambitious change that presented an opportunity to alter the way Turkish media is perceived by global audiences. This could not be sustained or controlled or accelerated, although the initial idea and plan was to use TRT World as an impartial and professional public diplomacy tool. Needless to say, nothing ever goes according to plan. Humans, HuffPost rightly points out, do dumb things and act in strange ways. Sigismondi (2019) notes that the launch of TRT World, Turkey's 24-hour English language news channel, came about at a time during which critical discussions regarding Turkey were taking place across the globe. These discussions followed the government crackdown on the opposition and on the failed coup attempt. TRT World's style guide, which is oriented towards Turkey's position on events and activities and setbacks (such as describing DHKP (Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front) and PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) as terrorist organisations or the Turkish Islamic Gülen Movement (GM), which was blamed for leading the failed 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, as a terrorist group), has been described as 'plagiarised' from Al Jazeera's international guide, and TRT, as Turkey's public broadcaster, provides an exclusively Turkish perspective on global issues. Let's be blunt and call this the Turkification of TRT World. The authors Mona Elswah and Philip N. Howard, in fact, present three major reasons that could explain why TRT World has wandered off the track. First, its organisational model sought to recognise the Turkification of the channel since its inception in 2015. Second, the embedded censorship in the structure of the decision-making process in relation to stories concerning the Middle East. Third, the ambiguity of the regional and international role of the channel.

With the AKP in power in 2002, the media structure in Turkey has transformed and reorganised drastically and completely. TRT was restructured and controlled by people close to the AKP leaders, and TRT henceforth became strongly in line with the AKP's messages and gave the party's members more time on-air compared to their opponents during election times. It should also be noted that the Turkish opposition has always criticised the TRT Corporation, in general, for not giving them equal access to coverage and airtime. And if that wasn't enough, the corporation in 2018 became overseen by the Directorate of Communications, meaning that TRT came under the direct control of the President from that point. It might be worth noting in the discussion that the US Department of Justice in 2019 ordered TRT Cooperation's office in the US – that mainly produces content for TRT World – to register as a foreign agent for being a 'publicity agent and information-service employee in the US for the Government of Turkey'.

The failed coup attempt in 2016 in Turkey reflects how repressing media freedoms in a country eventually and disastrously impacts its international broadcaster. But you also don't want to let a perfectly good crisis go to waste. As the Huffington Post observed, in the throes of the 2008 financial crisis, Rahm Emanuel, about to become President Obama's chief of staff, said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste... it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before". Erdoğan never let a crisis go to waste, and if a good politician is somebody who, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, never lets a serious crisis go to waste, then Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, is an "excellent and successful" politician. The article, aptly titled "Where news could not inspire change: TRT World as a party broadcaster," went on to point out that once the coup failed, Erdoğan tightened his grip over media in the country to curb the circulation of information that might threaten his regime. Erdoğan used this abortive coup to justify a sweeping purge of political opponents from media institutions. Since the coup, more than 170 outlets have been shut down in addition to the arrests of dozens of journalists. In international broadcasting, credibility matters. And without it, to be honest, public diplomacy cannot function to transmit soft power resources effectively. But does credibility matter to modern politicians? As the authors subsequently point out, one of the factors that contribute to the success of international broadcasters is their ability to tune in to the expectations and information needs of foreign audiences. An impression of direct government interference in the editorial process of an international broadcaster undermines its public diplomacy role. At the same time, we need to keep in mind that the term 'public diplomacy' sometimes is (or can be) indistinguishable from 'propaganda', and one person's public diplomacy is – or may be – another person's propaganda. It's all subjective and interpretive and fuzzy. As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. The Economist also notes that "public diplomacy" is what Americans call propaganda, but it might be worth noting in this context that mistakes, as Energy, Sustainability and Society has noted, can also occur when two very different concepts are designated by the same term. These two are indeed highly correlated and thus interchangeable, and it is indeed challenging sometimes to find massive or radical differences between the two terms and concepts. A well-crafted and sustainably produced lie can easily be identical to or indistinguishable or inseparable from, and interchangeable with, the truth.

By studying the TRT World case, the authors of the SAGE Journal article also rightly argue that the local media ecosystem and laws in a country determine the style of its international broadcasting. Under authoritarian and dictatorial regimes, this could mean turning the well-funded and ambitious international broadcaster into another government mouthpiece and voice that fails to establish credibility abroad. Although repressive, and generally paranoid, regimes aspire to build strong public diplomacy tools to represent them as democratic and fair and progressive states, they continue to impose further restrictions and regulations and obligations and censorship on their local media to protect their power and privilege. The domestic media ecosystem and the censorship or intimidation or mass surveillance in these totalitarian regimes eventually impact their international broadcasting style. In order to build a successful public diplomacy tool, these authoritarian and corrupt regimes need to be ready to accept political challenges and criticism and derision. If a government does not articulate the values of democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights in their own countries, efforts of public diplomacy, such as international broadcasting, will be devastatingly ineffective and profoundly unjust.

Sudan's legitimate rulers have right to seek Wagner's services: Russia

https://archive.is/h5xMI

TRT World
Sudan's legitimate rulers have right to seek Wagner's services: Russia
Russian FM Sergey Lavrov says Sudan and other countries have right to turn to Wagner mercenary group's services as fighting has raged...
.15 hours ago

And Just Like That...



https://imgflip.com/i/7jmkus

Russian FM Sergey Lavrov says Sudan and other countries have right to turn to Wagner mercenary group's services as fighting rages between forces loyal to country's two top generals since April 15.

Fighting has killed at least 459 people and wounded more than 4,000 across Africa's third-biggest country, according to UN agencies. ( AP )

Sudan's legitimate authorities have the right to use the services of the Wagner group, a Moscow-backed private paramilitary company, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

"The Central African Republic and Mali as well as Sudan and a number of other countries whose governments, legitimate authorities turn to such services, they have the right to do so, let's not forget," Lavrov told a press conference at the UN headquarters on Tuesday.

Wagner Group has been operating in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and some African countries including Mali and the Central African Republic.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced "deep concern" over the military company's activities in the war-torn country.

"It's in so many different countries, and in Africa, an element that, when it's engaged, simply brings more death and destruction with it," Blinken said during a joint press conference with Kenyan counterpart Alfred Mutua.

Fighting has killed at least 459 people and wounded more than 4,000 across Africa's third-biggest country, according to UN agencies.
Thousands of Sudanese have tried to flee to Egypt, and the UN warned it was bracing for an exodus of up to 270,000 refugees to Sudan's even poorer neighbours Chad and South Sudan.

Meanwhile, a US and Saudi Arabia-brokered ceasefire between Sudan's warring generals, Abdel Fattah al Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo who heads paramilitary Rapid Support Forces [RSF], brought some calm to the capital, but witnesses reported fresh air strikes and paramilitaries claimed to have seized a major oil refinery and power plant.

Foreign nations stepped up efforts to evacuate their nationals from the chaos-torn nation, but security fears were compounded when the World Health Organization [WHO] warned of a "huge biological risk" after fighters occupied a Khartoum laboratory holding samples of cholera, measles, polio and other infectious diseases.

More than 6,400 people have fled Sudan in the evacuations including by sea to Saudi Arabia and by aircraft to Jordan and Djibouti.

[VIK LEWA]

Foreign Policy: Zelensky calls for Nuremberg 2.0

"True Justice"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a speech in The Hague.

In a rare foreign trip on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to face “true justice.” In a 15-minute speech delivered in The Hague, the Netherlands city that hosts the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Ukrainian president renewed his demand to establish a special tribunal like the Nuremberg trials to try Putin for the crime of aggression, which is when a state’s leader uses armed force “against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State,” as defined by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant in March for Putin and another top Russian official for their role in Russia’s abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children. Part of the official definition of genocide includes “forcibly transferring children of [one] group to another group.” However, the ICC cannot prosecute the crime of aggression itself. “If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law but make bold decisions that will correct the shortcomings of those norms,” Zelensky said. He alleged that Russia committed 6,139 war crimes in April alone—killing 207 Ukrainian civilians, including 11 children. Just the day before Zelensky’s speech, Russian shelling killed 23 Ukrainians in Kherson.

Zelensky’s call for Putin to face justice in a court of law for his crimes was particularly notable at this time, as it comes amid accusations from Moscow that Ukraine tried to assassinate the Russian president in a foiled drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian president also discussed his country’s prospects for joining NATO, admitting that Kyiv will likely not join the 31-member bloc while the war with Russia continues. In an address to the Dutch parliament, he asked the international community to continue isolating Russia with aggressive Western sanctions, advocated for NATO to begin planning for a Ukrainian membership bid, and urged NATO allies to send more powerful and longer-range weapons to Kyiv. “I’m grateful to you for the fact that we’ve achieved the greatest unity in Europe, which people only dreamed of for decades,” Zelensky said.

Meanwhile, Moscow continues to hammer Ukrainian cities. Russia fired two dozen combat drones on Thursday, hitting a university campus in Odesa and targeting Kyiv for the third time in four days. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also accused Ukraine of acting on U.S. orders to launch Wednesday’s attempted drone strike on the Kremlin. Peskov did not provide evidence of U.S. involvement, and U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby denied the allegations, saying Peskov was “just lying.”

[VIK LEWA]

Wedding visit by Lavrov's daughter riles Georgians

News of Yekaterina Vinokurova's arrival broke as the country was already experiencing turmoil over the re-establishment of direct flights with Russia.

Reports that the Russian top diplomat's daughter was attending a wedding in Georgia caused uproar in the country this past weekend, leading to the disruption of the event at one of the country's most prominent resorts. On May 19, Georgian media reported that Yekaterina Vinokurova, the daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, was visiting the country to attend the wedding of her brother-in-law at Kvareli Lake, a popular vacation place in the wine-rich Kakheti region. The reports triggered outrage given Georgians' overwhelming public solidarity for Ukraine's defensive fight against the ongoing Russian invasion and their own troubled relationship with their former imperial overlord.

It was figurehead President Salome Zourabichvili who tried to defuse tensions by holding a briefing at 5 pm local time and delivering the news that she received assurances from the interior minister that the "second half of the wedding" would not be taking place that day and "the family" had "left" (though unclear whether she meant just the wedding venue or the country). "This is a victory of sorts for the public," the president said, comparing it to the 2019 events when Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov was forced out of the country. It was the protests against Gavrilov's controversial appearance in the Georgian parliament that Moscow used as a pretext to ban direct flights with Georgia four years ago. The president went on to slam the Georgian government for "playing with" and "irritating" their people amid the already tense environment brought on by Russia's war against Ukraine. And while delivering her criticism, Zourabichvili voiced what looked like the first confirmation that Vinokurova was indeed among the wedding guests.