Moscow reaches out to new Syrian leadership in move to secure bases
Having labelled Syrian rebels ‘terrorists’, Moscow is now making diplomatic efforts to protect its military assets in the country
Moscow is seeking to secure the future of its key military bases in Syria while making inroads with the country’s new rebel leadership, after the dramatic collapse of the Assad regime threatened to erode Russia’s influence in the Middle East.
Russia has kept a sizeable airbase in north-west Syria and a naval facility at the Mediterranean port of Tartus since Moscow’s military intervention helped President Bashar al-Assad reclaim most of the country after nationwide protests that began in 2011.
After the collapse of Assad, the Kremlin’s staunchest ally in the Middle East who has fled to Moscow, Russia appears to be turning to diplomacy to preserve its influence in Syria, engaging in a flurry of activity with the rebels it had labelled as terrorists only days earlier.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the Russian authorities were taking all “necessary steps to establish contact in Syria with those capable of ensuring the security of military bases”.
Earlier, a source in the Kremlin told Russian state media that the Syrian opposition leaders had agreed to guarantee the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions in Syria.
The two bases hold an outsized importance to Russia: the Tartus facility gives Vladimir Putin access to a warm water port, while Moscow has used the Khmeimim airbase as a staging post to fly its military contractors in and out of Africa.
The key question now, observers said, is whether Russia manages to reach an agreement with Syria’s new leaders to hold on to its bases.
“I assume Russia wants to hold bases if they can through negotiations,” said Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Resources they can offer: money, barter, oil and gas, limited mercenaries. What matters is if the Syrian coalition would entertain anything from them.”
Massicot said that as of Monday, most of Russia’s military assets remained at the two bases. “If evacuation happens, it will be obvious,” she said.
The Kremlin offered little insight into the future of the bases, stating that it was too early to determine what lay ahead for its military presence in Syria.
In the background though, Russian officials appear to have launched an outreach campaign targeting the leaders who toppled Assad.
In the last 24 hours, Moscow and its state-controlled media have notably softened their rhetoric towards the Islamist group HTS, which led the stunning revolt against Assad that caught much of the world by surprise.
RIA Novosti and Tass, the two leading Russian news agencies have transitioned from labeling HTS as “terrorists” to describing them as “armed opposition”.
The contrast is telling: just days earlier, during a press conference in Doha, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, visibly angered, emphasised that HTS was a western-backed terrorist organisation that “shouldn’t be allowed to seize land in Syria”.
In another sign of Russia’s eagerness to engage with the new leadership in Damascus, the Syrian embassy in Moscow raised the three-starred flag of the Syrian rebel groups on Monday morning.
Shifting gears, the Syrian ambassador in Moscow delivered a scathing critique of Assad in an interview with Russian state control RT. They said: “The escape of the head of this system in such a miserable and humiliating manner … confirms the correctness of change and brings hope for a new dawn.”
The Syrian embassy also said it was “awaiting instructions from representatives of the new leadership”, the embassy told Tass.
Russia’s shift in approach appears to have borne some early fruit. In contrast to Iran, whose embassy was ransacked in Damascus, Moscow’s embassy has remained untouched. Tass, citing Syrian sources, also reported that the opposition “had no plans to penetrate” the two Russian military bases.
Observers suggested that Moscow might adopt a strategy in Syria similar to its approach with the Taliban, which had been designated a terrorist organisation since 2003 but was later courted by the Kremlin after seizing power in Afghanistan in 2021.
“Moscow prefers to deal with those who have power and control, [and] discards those who lose them,” said Nikolai Sokov, a former Russian and Soviet diplomat who is a senior fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
This leaves Assad in a position of irrelevance in the Russian capital, having outlived his usefulness to Putin.
While the Kremlin said that evacuating Assad to Moscow was Putin’s personal decision, Peskov stressed the Russian leader had no plans for a public meeting.
By fleeing to Moscow, Assad follows the path of the former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who escaped Ukraine for Russia in 2014 after weeks of street protests that culminated in a bloody crackdown.
Ironically, Assad once tried to reassure the Kremlin that he was not like Yanukovych, asking a Russian official in 2014 to deliver the message: “Tell Putin that I am not Yanukovych, and I will not leave.”
The Kremlin is widely believed to view Yanukovych as a weak leader who failed to suppress unrest swiftly enough. Early reports from Russian-aligned media and pro-war bloggers suggest that Moscow is similarly placing much of the blame for Assad’s downfall squarely on him.
“Bashar al-Assad cowardly fled the country, abandoning everyone and everything … Even Saddam Hussein had the courage, when it was all over, to address the nation,” Rybar, a popular account with links to the Russian defence ministry, wrote on X.
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Russland behält Militärbasen vorerst in Syrien
Russland will nach der Entmachtung von Baschar al-Assad seine Militärbasen in Syrien vorerst behalten und mit der künftigen Führung deren Verbleib besprechen.
"Wir sehen eine Periode der Transformation, der extremen Instabilität, also wird es natürlich Zeit brauchen, und dann wird es ein ernsthaftes Gespräch mit denen brauchen, die an die Macht kommen", sagte Kremlsprecher Dmitri Peskow der russischen Nachrichtenagentur Interfax zufolge. Er äusserte sich zu einer Frage, ob Russland seine Präsenz dort behalten wolle. Russland unterhält in Syrien unter anderem eine Luftwaffen- und eine Marinebasis.
Es sei nun wichtig, die Frage der Sicherheit des russischen Militärs in Syrien zu klären, sagte Peskow. Die russischen Soldaten ergriffen selbst alle Vorsichtsmassnahmen. Details nannte der Kremlsprecher nicht.
Ein Abzug ist demnach derzeit nicht geplant. Russland hatte Assad seit 2015 militärisch unterstützt und massgeblich zu dessen Machterhalt beigetragen, bis die Herrschaft der Familie nach einem halben Jahrhundert am Wochenende zu Ende ging.
Kreml: Putin traf selbst Entscheidung über Asyl für Assad
Peskow räumte ein, dass die Ereignisse auch Russland erstaunt hätten. Syrien galt stets als wichtigster Verbündeter des Landes im Nahen Osten. Russland hat Assad und seiner Familie Asyl gewährt.
Kremlchef Wladimir Putin, der sich immer wieder mit Assad traf, habe die Entscheidung getroffen, die Familie in Russland aufzunehmen, sagte Peskow. Ein offizielles Treffen mit dem entmachteten Politiker sei bisher nicht geplant. Er machte auch keine Angaben dazu, wo genau sich die Assads aufhalten. Russland hat immer wieder gefallenen autoritären Staatsmännern Asyl gewährt.
Natürlich sei es wichtig, den Dialog mit allen Ländern der Region aufrechtzuerhalten, sagte Peskow. "Wir sind fest entschlossen, dies zu tun." Auch mit der Türkei stehe Russland zu Syrien im Dialog.
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Russischer Vormarsch in der Ukraine beschleunigt sich
Der russische Vormarsch in der Ukraine hat sich 2024 beschleunigt. Nach Berechnungen des ukrainischen Telegramkanals UA War Infographics eroberten die russischen Truppen seit Jahresbeginn gut 2.800 Quadratkilometer ukrainischen Territoriums.
HANDOUT - Das Tempo des russischen Vordringens hat sich dabei speziell seit dem Spätsommer erhöht. Foto: Uncredited/Rusian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP/dpa
Quelle: Keystone/Rusian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP/Uncredited
Damit belaufen sich die russischen Geländegewinne bereits jetzt auf fast das 20-fache des Vorjahreswerts.
Das Tempo des russischen Vordringens hat sich dabei speziell seit dem Spätsommer erhöht. Anfang August sind ukrainische Truppen in das russische Grenzgebiet Kursk vorgestossen. Berichten zufolge hatte die ukrainische Militärführung für diese Offensive Truppen aus der Ostukraine abgezogen, was dem russischen Gegner den Vormarsch erleichterte.
Die Ukraine wehrt sich mit westlicher Hilfe seit mehr als zweieinhalb Jahren gegen eine russische Invasion. Mit der bereits 2014 von Russland annektierten Halbinsel Krim steht etwa ein Fünftel des ukrainischen Staatsgebiets unter Kontrolle Moskaus.
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Zelenskiy seeks diplomatic end to Russia's war, floats role for foreign troops
KYIV, Dec 9 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made the case on Monday for a diplomatic settlement to Russia's war in Ukraine and
raised the idea of foreign troops being deployed in his country until it could join the NATO military alliance
.
...
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Moskau und Kiew streiten um Identität von Soldatenleichen
Russland hat nach eigenen Angaben die beim Abschuss eines Transportflugzeugs umgekommenen ukrainischen Kriegsgefangenen an Kiew übergeben.
HANDOUT - Auf diesem Videostandbild geht ein Mitarbeiter des Russischen Ermittlungskomitees in der Nähe von Jablonowo in der Region Belgorod durch ein Gebiet, in dem Wrackteile der russischen Militärmaschine Il-76 abgestürzt sind. Foto: Uncredited/AP/dpa Quelle: Keystone/AP/Uncredited
"Es ist geschehen, und ich war dabei", sagte die russische Menschenrechtsbeauftragte Tatjana Moskalkowa der russischen staatlichen Nachrichtenagentur Ria Nowosti. Wann die Übergabe erfolgt sein soll, sagte sie nicht. Der für Kriegsgefangenenbelange zuständige Koordinationsstab in der Ukraine bestätigte die Identität der Leichen zunächst nicht. Dafür seien Expertisen zur Identifikation der Überreste abzuwarten.
Ende Januar war ein russisches Transportflugzeug des Typs Iljuschin Il-76 im Grenzgebiet Belgorod mutmasslich von ukrainischer Seite abgeschossen worden. Moskau behauptete, dass an Bord 65 ukrainische Kriegsgefangene für einen Austausch an der nahen Grenze waren. Kiew bestätigte zwar den für diesen Tag geplanten Austausch, das Flugzeug sei jedoch für den Transport von Flugabwehrraketen und nicht von Kriegsgefangenen verwendet worden, hiess es.
Die Ukraine wehrt sich seit über zweieinhalb Jahren gegen eine russische Invasion. Seit Kriegsbeginn hat die ukrainische Seite über 3700 Gefangene zurückerhalten.
Zuletzt hatte Russland der Ukraine Ende November über 500 Soldatenleichen übergeben. Die grosse Anzahl der ukrainischen Leichen auf russischer Seite hängt mit dem Vormarsch der Moskauer Truppen zusammen. Das führt dazu, dass die Ukraine eigene Gefallene teilweise nicht bergen kann.
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Ukraine's drone-hunting judges fight on two fronts
…
When Ukrainian judge Vladyslav Tsukurov learned he could serve his country with both gavel and gun, he jumped at the chance.
By day, he helps keep the wartime judicial system going, ruling over civil and criminal cases outside Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
By night, he joins a volunteer force mostly made up of fellow judges, law enforcement officials and other public servants shining searchlights into the sky, trying to spot Russian drones and shoot them down with machine guns.
...
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Ukraine Asks if Telegram, Its Favorite App, Is a Sleeper Agent
The messaging app’s popularity has soared during the war with Russia, leading Ukrainian officials to increasingly weigh Telegram’s upsides against its security risks.
In the nearly three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the messaging app Telegram has been a lifeline for millions of Ukrainians. It provides information about coming attacks and helps communities organize food, medical aid and other support.
But what has been a salvation has increasingly turned into a major source of concern. In recent months, Ukrainian officials have become more alarmed by the country’s dependence on Telegram, as worries that the app was used as a vector of disinformation and a spying tool for Russia have mushroomed.
Ukraine is now trying to disentangle itself from Telegram. In September, authorities ordered the military, government officials and those working on critical infrastructure to limit their use of the app on work phones. More sensitive communications have been moved to encrypted apps like Signal. Some senior officials have proposed new restrictions for Telegram, including rules to disclose who is behind anonymously run channels with large followings.
“We understand we are dependent,” said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a member of Ukraine’s Parliament who has drafted a law to tighten regulation of Telegram. “It’s a problem for us.”
Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a member of Ukraine’s Parliament who has drafted a law to tighten regulation of Telegram, said the country’s dependence on the app was “a problem.”Credit...Sasha Maslov for The New York Times
Ukraine’s experience with Telegram illustrates the benefits and drawbacks of being beholden to a single app. Rarely has a country been so reliant on a platform it has no control over for communication, information and other critical services, particularly during a war.
That dependence is emulated perhaps only in Russia, where Telegram is used by roughly half the population, including many in the military and government. That has made the app a central information battlefield in the war. In some cases, Ukrainian and Russian drone pilots use Telegram groups to taunt each other and share videos of attacks.
Ukraine’s concerns about Telegram parallel rising global scrutiny of the platform, which is approaching one billion users. Once seen as a haven for activists and those living under authoritarian governments, the app has angered governments as it has become a hub of illicit and extremist material. Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, was arrested in France in August on charges related to the company’s failure to address criminal activity on the platform.
For Ukraine, distancing itself from Telegram will not be easy. Roughly 70 percent of Ukrainians use Telegram as a main source of news, according to a recent survey commissioned in part by the U.S. government. When air raid sirens wail and missiles descend on Ukrainian cities, people flock to Telegram groups for real-time updates. The government broadcasts official announcements and gathers intelligence inside Russian-occupied territories through the app.
Rarely has a country been so reliant on a platform it has no control over for communication, information and other key services, particularly during a war.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Kyiv residents sheltering during a missile strike last year. When air raid sirens wail and missiles descend on Ukrainian cities, people flock to Telegram groups for real-time updates.Credit...Sasha Maslov for The New York Times
Yet in secret cybersecurity meetings this year, Ukrainian officials discussed putting new limits on Telegram, two people with knowledge of the discussions said. The country’s intelligence service concluded the app posed national security risks and was used by Russia for disinformation, cyberattacks, hacking, spreading malware, location tracking and adjusting missile strikes.
As a security measure, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who regularly posts war updates to his more than 700,000 followers on Telegram, does not use the app on his personal phone, a Ukrainian cybersecurity official said. In March, officials took the unusual step of asking Apple to rein in the platform because the Silicon Valley giant can leverage its app store — which Telegram needs for global distribution — to get the company to act.
In a statement, Telegram defended the security of its platform, saying Russia “has not — and cannot — access user information.” The company added, “Telegram is and always has been safe for Ukrainians and users around the world.”
But what makes Telegram so powerful also makes it a threat, Ukrainian officials said. Unlike other social media, Telegram has few guardrails. There is no algorithm determining what people see and little content moderation, enabling the rapid spread of lifesaving warnings but also exposing the app to exploitation. Broadcasting features allow users to quickly share text, videos and files with large groups.
“I have some relatives in the occupied territories and the only way to get in touch with them is Telegram,” said Maksym Yali, an analyst for Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, a government agency that monitors Telegram and other apps for disinformation. “But under the conditions of war, do the risks outweigh the benefits?”
He said Ukrainians visiting friends or family in Russia must hand over their phones at the airport to security officers who use specialized software to check their Telegram app, including deleted material, for pro-Ukraine content.
Telegram denied that deleted messages could be accessed and said any examples of intercepted communications by Russia that it had investigated were the result of a device being physically confiscated or infected with malware, not security weaknesses on the app.
Ukrainians’ affection for Telegram began in 2017. That was when the country banned the Russian-controlled social media platform VKontakte, which was used to amplify Russian disinformation and propaganda.
Telegram’s prominence grew during Mr. Zelensky’s presidential run in 2019. His campaign deftly used the service to connect with voters, thanks partly to Mykhailo Fedorov, a young digital strategist who now leads the Ministry of Digital Transformation. In a 2020 interview, Mr. Fedorov said he had regular contact with Mr. Durov and his management team.
Mykhailo Fedorov, chief of Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, said in a 2020 interview that he had regular contact with Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder.Credit...Sasha Maslov for The New York Times
In 2022, just before Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian intelligence cautioned Mr. Zelensky about Telegram, two people with knowledge of the matter said. In a memo, military intelligence warned about the risks of Russian influence but said the threat did not merit an outright ban of the app.
Mr. Zelensky’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The war revealed that many Telegram channels were run from Russia. Accounts that appeared to be Ukrainian peddled disinformation, including unfounded claims that Mr. Zelensky had fled the country.
Still, the app’s popularity soared as traditional media struggled to keep pace.
“Telegram is the main source of information, more than television, radio and all the other media,” said Maksym Dvorovyi, head of digital rights with Digital Security Lab Ukraine, a civil society group. He said that was a “sad reality” because of the security risks and volume of unverified information and propaganda.
For many popular Telegram channels, the money flowed. With millions of followers, they charged thousands of dollars per ad, with promotions from cake shops and crypto boosters sitting alongside warnings of drone attacks and announcements of blackouts.
Few know the operators of some of the most-visited channels, which have names like “Legitimate” and “Cartel.” A September study by Detector Media, a European Union-backed watchdog group, found that 76 of the 100 most popular Telegram channels in Ukraine were operated anonymously.
Ukrainian officials have worried about the allegiances of Mr. Durov, who was born in Russia. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said in 2021 that the government had “reached an agreement” with Telegram after the authorities tried to block the app during a dispute over access to user data. Ukrainian officials fear Russia can get access to private data and communications on the app, pointing to examples when Russian authorities presented copies of private Telegram conversations to people under.
Mr. Durov, the founder of Telegram, was arrested in France in August and charged with a wide range of crimes for failing to prevent illicit activity on the app.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Ukraine has not shown conclusive evidence linking Mr. Durov or the company to the Russian government, and Telegram said it had no ties to the Kremlin.
“Telegram has never been legally or physically connected to Russia,” the company said. “Telegram was founded specifically in the context of protecting user data from Russian surveillance.”
Early this year, disinformation on Telegram about the war was so rampant that Ukraine asked Apple to intervene. The government requested that the tech giant use its leverage to push Telegram to remove certain fake accounts run from Russia. By April, Telegram had taken down the accounts.
But the resolution came with a twist. Telegram also briefly blocked several Ukrainian government-run accounts that let citizens share information about Russian troop movements. Ukrainian officials viewed the move as a thinly veiled warning: Pressuring the company too hard could come at a cost.
“It was unspoken, but it was a threat,” Mr. Yurchyshyn said.
Telegram confirmed it took down the fake accounts after receiving a request from Apple, but said the Ukrainian channels were erroneously removed and were reinstated within hours. The company said it was developing tools to combat disinformation, including new fact-checking features.
Mr. Fedorov, the digital minister, said in a statement that he had requested assistance from Apple in communicating with Telegram as “part of our ongoing work with all platforms that have such extensive reach and cover the war in Ukraine.”
Apple declined to comment.
After a September meeting of Ukraine’s National Coordination Center for Cybersecurity, use of the app was limited in the government and military. Some universities have also banned the app.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s top intelligence official, publicly warned about Telegram’s threats, but said he did not believe it should be blocked altogether. He has called for the abolishment of anonymity for administrators of large channels. Telegram has long argued that anonymity is key to protecting users.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, has publicly warned about Telegram’s risks and has called for a prohibition on anonymity for administrators of large channels. Credit...Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times
Russia has its own concerns about Telegram. After Mr. Durov’s arrest in France in August, Russian commentators and military analysts publicly raised alarms about the country’s own reliance on the app, saying he could give Western intelligence services access to private data.
In Ukraine, Mr. Durov’s arrest emboldened efforts to curtail Telegram. Mr. Yurchyshyn said he was working on legislation to add warnings, akin to those on cigarette packets, that remind users that the information on the platform may be unreliable and that the operators of channels are anonymous.
But he acknowledged that any new rules were unlikely to diminish Telegram’s sway.
“Who wants to be the politician or leader to take responsibility for banning such a popular network?” Mr. Yurchyshyn said.
Clusters of unidentified drones spotted in New York and New Jersey
FBI investigation under way as residents across US north-east report mysterious aircraft sightings for weeks
A spate of mysterious drone sightings have been reported in New York and Philadelphia as the FBI continues investigating similar sightings across New Jersey over the past month.
Since mid-November, local residents in several counties in New Jersey have reported seeing clusters of drones – and in recent days, additional drone sightings have been reported in parts of Pennsylvania and New York’s Staten Island.
Local residents in the regions have been capturing and sharing footage online that appears to show drones in the sky.
Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Newark office announced it was actively investigating these sightings and was seeking information from the public.
“Witnesses have spotted the cluster of what look to be drones and a possible fixed wing aircraft,” the FBI said. “We have reports from the public and law enforcement dating back several weeks.”
While authorities investigate the reports, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has implemented temporary flight restrictions in the areas over Picatinny Arsenal military base and Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.
The origin of the drones remains unknown. However, state leaders and elected officials have said that they are monitoring the sightings and have assured residents that the drones do not pose any immediate threat to the public.
In a post on social media last week, Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s governor, said that he convened with officials from the Department of Homeland Security as well as local authorities and officials in New Jersey to discuss the reported drone activity.
“We are actively monitoring the situation and in close coordination with our federal and law enforcement partners on this matter,” the governor said. He added: “There is no known threat to the public at this time.”
Last week, an FBI spokesperson told local New Jersey outlet, NJ.com: “Unfortunately, we don’t have many answers, and we don’t want to guess or hypothesize about what’s going on.”
“We are doing all we can to figure it out,” they added.
On Monday, a group of 20 mayors in Morris county, New Jersey, reportedly wrote a letter to the state’s governor requesting a full investigation into the origin and purpose of the drones, according to CBS News, which obtained a copy of the letter.
They also called for improved communication with residents and law enforcement, among other things.
In the letter, the mayors said that they have “deep concern regarding the ongoing nighttime drone flights” and that the drones have “raised significant alarm among the more than 500,000 county residents and local officials alike”.
In response to reports of drones over Staten Island’s airspace, the congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis said she asked the FAA to impose temporary drone flight restrictions in the area and had requested immediate briefings from the homeland security department and FBI.
Two weeks ago, drones flying in New Jersey reportedly prevented a medical helicopter from picking up an injured individual after a car crash, according to USA Today.
The police chief of Florham Park, New Jersey, Joseph Orlando, said in a statement on social media last week that several drone sightings had been reported above “critical infrastructure such as water reservoirs, electric transmission lines, rail stations, police departments and military installations.
“Members of the local law enforcement community have been pressuring our partners for answers regarding this activity as their presence around our critical infrastructure is concerning,” the statement reads. “While we currently have no evidence or information to indicate these drones pose an imminent threat at this time, their presence appears nefarious in nature.”
In the statement, authorities urged all residents to remain vigilant and report any drone sightings directly to the FBI.
Two Major Ad Agencies to Merge, Creating Global Giant
If successful, Omnicom and Interpublic would become the largest advertising company in the world, with more than $25 billion in combined revenue.
The Omnicom Group is already one of the largest ad agencies in the world.Credit...Scott Eells/Bloomberg
Omnicom Group, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, said on Monday that it had agreed to acquire Interpublic Group, a large rival.
If successful, the all-stock takeover would create the biggest ad agency in the world, with more than 100,000 employees and some $25 billion in annual revenue.
The deal comes after years of transformation and disruption for the advertising industry, as digital ads overtook analog advertising channels and tech giants including Meta and Alphabet, the respective parent companies of Facebook and Google, moved further into the territory once dominated by traditional agencies. The tech and consulting giant Accenture has also made a big push onto the agencies’ turf, acquiring dozens of creative studios and related companies.
The “Big Four” ad companies — Omnicom, Interpublic, WPP and Publicis — adapted by remaking themselves into digital technology companies, often through acquisitions.
John Wren, the chief executive of Omnicom, said in a statement that the acquisition of Interpublic would “harness the significant opportunities created by new technologies in this era of exponential change.”
Under the deal, which Omnicom said it expected to close in the second half of 2025, Omnicom shareholders would own about 60 percent of the combined company, with Interpublic shareholders holding the rest. Omnicom executives said they had “clearly identified opportunities” for $750 million in annual cost savings. The combined company would keep the Omnicom name.
In recent years, Interpublic has lagged its rivals and has lost critical clients including Verizon and BMW. Its revenue was flat in 2023 compared with 2022, and it forecast growth of just 1 percent for 2024.
The company has moved to sell off agencies that have underperformed, including Huge and R/GA, two of its digital agencies known for their work with the tech industry. Last week, Interpublic sold Huge to a private equity firm. It has not provided an update on the sale of R/GA. The firm took an impairment charge of $232 million on the assets in its most recent quarterly earnings report.
The deal could raise regulatory scrutiny. President-elect Donald J. Trump has signaled that he could be more accepting of deal-making than the current administration, which has moved to block large mergers among airlines, grocery chains and companies in a range of other industries. But with Gail Slater, Mr. Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division, he signaled that he planned to continue the Biden administration’s crackdown on tech industry deal-making.
Mr. Wren acknowledged that the new administration’s approach to antitrust enforcement remained uncertain, casting some doubt over the deal. But “there’s reason to believe,” he said on a call with analysts on Monday, that policy under the incoming administration will be “more friendly to business.”
Omnicom and Publicis tried to merge in 2013, citing the threat of technological disruption as the reason. But the complicated deal between two large, unwieldy companies made up of many smaller subsidiaries eventually fell apart. This time around, executives at the merging companies took steps to ensure “the lessons learned a decade ago are not going to be repeated,” Mr. Wren told analysts.
Omnicom’s deal with Interpublic, also a complex undertaking, could create opportunities for the companies’ rivals in the short term, Bernstein analysts said in a research note on Monday.
“Common sense suggests a merger that large would raise significant execution challenges from a client and talent retention standpoints,” the analysts said.
Interpublic was founded in 1930 with the merger of the ad agencies McCann and Erickson, making it the largest agency in the world at the time. It owns well-known ad companies including McCann Worldwide and the ad-buying giant IPG Mediabrands.
Omnicom was created in 1986 as part of a three-way merger of ad agencies including BBDO Worldwide. It owns the agencies TBWA, OMD and the digital commerce company Flywheel.
Speaking to analysts on an October earnings call, Interpublic’s chief executive, Philippe Krakowsky, expressed optimism for the company’s prospects. “In the prior quarters, we were saying to you, things don’t feel as if they’re heading, not dramatically, but not in the right direction,” he said. “But at this point,” he added, “things are improving.”
Mr. Krakowsky has been shopping the company to potential buyers this year, including private equity firms, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the deal talks between the two companies.
Omnicom’s shares fell more than 10 percent on Monday, while Interpublic’s stock gained about 4 percent.
A correction was made on
Dec. 9, 2024
:
An earlier version of this article misstated the role that Donald J. Trump nominated Gail Slater to in his new administration. She is his choice to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division, not the Federal Trade Commission.
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Labour's own voters think Starmer is a worse PM than Thatcher was... as poll shows Brits rate him below Major and on a par with Theresa May
Even Labour's own voters think Keir Starmer is proving to be a worse PM than Margaret Thatcher, according to a poll.
Research by More in Common offered more evidence that Brits are deeply unimpressed with the start Sir Keir has made in No10.
Asked who has been the best premier in the past 40 years, just 4 per cent said the Labour leader.
That was the same proportion who backed Theresa May, one point ahead of Rishi Sunak and two points below the support for John Major.
Baroness Thatcher came top with 33 per cent, with Tony Blair ranking second on 20 per cent and Boris Johnson tied for third with Gordon Brown on 10 per cent.
Research by More in Common offered more evidence that Brits are deeply unimpressed with the start Keir Starmer has made in No10
Asked who has been the best premier in the past 40 years, just 4 per cent said the Labour leader
Baroness Thatcher came top of the 'favourite PM' poll, with 33 per cent of Brits backing her
The picture was not much better among voters who endorsed Labour at the election just five months ago.
They put three-time election winner Sir Tony at the head of the list on 37 per cent, with Gordon Brown next best on 15 per cent.
Lady Thatcher was third most popular choice on 14 per cent.
But that was well ahead of Sir Keir, who was supported by a mere 9 per cent and barely edged out Lord Cameron on 8 per cent.
Sir Keir has endured a torrid first five months since he secured a huge election landslide - but on one of the lowest winning vote shares ever.
Anger has been mounting over the extraordinary £40billion tax raid in Rachel Reeves' first Budget at the end of October, with farmers protesting at inheritance duties and pensioners furious about losing winter fuel allowance.
He announced new 'milestones' in a 'reset' speech last week trying to get his stumbling premiership back on track.
His first months in No10 have also seen Sue Gray sacked as No10 chief of staff amid Downing Street infighting.
Sir Keir suffered a further blow recent days with the resignation of Louise Haigh as transport secretary when it emerged she had a criminal conviction.
Fears were raised today that the UK economy is slipping into the red as a survey showed business confidence crashing after the Budget.
A report from consultancy firm BDO showed that optimism has plummeted to its lowest level in two years.
Tony Blair ranking second on 20 per cent and Boris Johnson tied for third with Gordon Brown on 10 per cent
A tracker of activity also dipped by 3.2 points to 94.7 last month - the weakest in more than a year, with anything below 95 suggesting contraction.
The darkening picture comes after GDP barely scraped into positive territory in the third quarter, recording 0.1 per cent growth.
The single month of September saw a 0.1 per cent fall in output, with revision of the data still possible.
Recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of shrinkage.
Цитата:
Römische Brutus-Münze für 1,84 Millionen versteigert
Eine äusserst seltene römische Münze mit dem Bildnis von Brutus, dem berühmten Mörder von Julius Cäsar, ist am Montag in Genf für 1,84 Millionen Franken versteigert worden. Das teilte der Münzhändler Numismatica Genevensis mit, der für die Auktion verantwortlich war.
Diese römische Goldmünze mit einem Gewicht von 8 Gramm ist am Montag für 1,84 Millionen Franken versteigert worden.
Quelle: NGSA
Die Goldmünze wurde für mehr als 1,84 Millionen Franken inklusive Verkaufsprovision "an einen europäischen Sammler" verkauft, wie das Unternehmen in einer Mitteilung bekannt gab. Der Verkauf sei ein "intensiver Kampf zwischen acht Online-Bietern" gewesen. Der Preis lag ursprünglich bei über 742.000 Euro.
Dieser Aureus (die römische Goldmünze) sei "ein Stück Geschichte", das mit den letzten Kapiteln der römischen Republik verbunden sei, hatte Frank Baldacci, der Direktor von Numismatica Genevensis, vor einigen Tagen gegenüber der Nachrichtenagentur AFP erklärt.
Die Münze habe ein Gewicht von 8 Gramm und eine ähnliche Grösse wie ein Euro. Sie stamme aus dem Jahr 42 vor Christus und sei vom Caesarenmörder Brutus geprägt worden. Auf der Vorderseite zeige sie das Profil von Brutus' Kopf, umgeben von Lorbeerblättern - auf der Rückseite feiere sie Brutus' jüngste militärischen Siege mit kriegerischen Symbolen. Brutus habe nach der Ermordung von Julius Caesar versucht, die Macht an sich zu reissen. Die Münze habe daher auch einen "Propagandawert" gehabt.
Von Hand zu Hand durch Jahrhunderte
Der Aureus reiste durch die Jahrhunderte und wurde von Hand zu Hand weitergereicht, wo er vor den Augen der Öffentlichkeit geschützt war. Er kam erst in den 1950er Jahren zum Vorschein, als er im Katalog eines privaten Sammlers veröffentlicht wurde. Später tauchte die Münze bei einer Auktion 2006 in Zürich auf, wo sie für 360.000 Franken an einen anderen privaten Sammler verkauft wurde.
Sie wird in einem luftdichten Behälter aufbewahrt, um Veränderungen zu verhindern und um "ihre Echtheit zu garantieren", sagte Baldacci und erklärte, dass die Zertifizierung durch spezialisierte Unternehmen unter anderem durch den Vergleich mit anderen antiken Münzen und die Untersuchung des verwendeten Goldes erfolgt.
Sie ist eines von 17 bekannten Exemplaren.
Цитата:
The animated Lord of the Rings is a rushed money-grab
Every possible franchise callback seems jammed into this anime film, which was fast-tracked into production to prevent studio New Line Cinema from losing the rights to JRR Tolkien’s work
I am (also) no man: Gaia Wise’s Héra in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ (Warner Bros)
The days of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy feel as innocent now as those little hobbits frolicking, unburdened, in the Shire – three films adapted with sincerity, before the disastrous Hobbit prequels, and before the modern resuscitation of the franchise. Andy Serkis is directing The Hunt for Gollum, which is scheduled for 2026, and this week we have Kenji Kamiyama’s The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an anime film that takes place 183 years before Frodo Baggins. But despite offering us a different medium and a different era, the world of JRR Tolkien has never felt smaller.
The War of the Rohirrim draws from the appendices to Tolkien’s novels, a compendium of Middle Earth history, which mentions an old and ferocious ruler of the equestrian peoples of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand (voiced by a suitably grandiloquent Brian Cox). It imagines what pivotal role his unnamed daughter, here called Héra (Gaia Wise, daughter of Emma Thompson), may have played. The film’s villain is Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), leader of the Dunlendings, who takes vengeance after he’s denied Héra’s hand in marriage and watches his father die from a single punch by the notably beefy Helm.
Yet as the strings of Howard Shore’s old theme, embellished by Stephen Gallagher, rise up, so does an unshakeable sense of familiarity. Helm is a stern patriarch, who bars Héra from the fight, only for her to disobey his orders – the same strife shared between Éowyn (Miranda Otto) and her uncle Théoden (Bernard Hill). Otto’s back to provide narration, while the film’s screenwriters seem happy to borrow her mic-drop of a line from Return of the King (“I am no man!”), toss in a couple extra words, and hand it straight over to Héra.
Every possible callback seems jammed into The War of the Rohirrim’s crevices: a piece of archival audio of Christopher Lee (who died in 2015) as Saruman; a beast of the same tentacled, squid-like species as The Fellowship of the Ring’s Watcher in the Water; orcs hunting for rings; the Great Eagles, who famously do not like to impose on the narrative; the Haradrim, the walking Orientalist tropes, and their elephant steeds, the Mûmakil. Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd return to voice roles unrelated to Merry and Pippin.
In short, it too visibly bears the wounds of its circumstances – it was fast-tracked by Warner Bros so that the studio could hold onto the film rights to Tolkien’s books and, presumably, fight back against Amazon’s competing Rings of Power series. While still primarily hand-drawn, CG animation was more heavily deployed in the planning of shots, and the creation of backgrounds, and the result feels more inconsistent than it does ambitious. Kamiyama does have a similar eye to Peter Jackson when it comes to finding the beautiful in the grotesque, so it’s not so hard to imagine how striking a Lord of the Rings anime could look if it weren’t so invested in the business of replication.
And, while it’s certainly nice to see a new Lord of the Rings film with a heroine at its centre, its steely, grunting parade of warriors have lost the tenderness and emotional sincerity that screenwriters Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens originally teased out of Tolkien’s text, and granted to men and women alike. The War of the Rohirrim is invested entirely into convincing you it’s just like the films you know and love. Yet, again and again, along comes that sinking suspicion this is just another corporate wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Dir: Kenji Kamiyama. Starring: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto. Cert 12A, 134 mins.
‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ is in cinemas from 13 December
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Официально заявление Центробанка: "ЦБ отказался от использования религиозных сооружений на денежных купюрах, так как Россия является многонациональной и многоконфессиональной страной".
Прямое продолжение истории с "крестопадом". Не получилось с одного бока — зашли с другого. Кому-то наверху очень сильно мешают кресты. Так мешают, что прямо дрожь от них берет. Любым путем, но лишь бы их было поменьше.
Ну что ж, на банкнотах крестов больше не будет. С плакатов и символики регионов их тоже убирают. Что дальше? Снимем с церквей, чтобы никто не ущемился?
Цитата:
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Чиновник Центробанка с лёгкостью заявляет, что: «Когда мы изменили концепцию оформления… то одновременно решили отказаться от изображения объектов религиозного назначения… Все-таки Россия — многонациональная, многоконфессиональная страна. В ней живут люди с разными уникальными традициями, люди, которые исповедуют разные религии» (
).
Отметим, что к сфере компетенции Центробанка и его чиновников относятся денежная эмиссия, регулирование деятельности банков и разработка денежно-кредитной политики, но, конечно же, отнюдь не принятие решений в сфере внутренней политики, тем более в области национального строительства. Тем более в столь важном вопрос как повседневно используемые общенациональные символы.
К сожалению, приведённое выше высказывание являться ярким симптомом утраты единого национального строительства, основанного на истории России и её устремлении к будущему. Вот кому мешал один из основателей Руси и создатель её письменного законодательства — Ярослав Мудрый? Объединяющий нас, между прочим, с Киевом, что важно и символично в нынешние дни. Кому помешал столь много сделавший для величия всего нашего Отечества, подчёркивающий единство России от Запада до Дальнего Востока граф Н.Н. Муравьёв-Амурский?
За последние годы заявления о «многонациональном характере России», которые, возможно, кем-то мыслились в качестве объединяющих («мы разные, но вместе»), всё более становятся разделяющими, способствующими центробежности. Да, и, кстати, каким образом фигура Салавата Юлаева, продвигаемая для изображения на новой 1000-рублёвой купюре, будет носить объединяющий характер для нашего «многоэтнического государства»?
Отказ же от изображения «объектов религиозного назначения», то есть попросту храмов: часовня Параскевы Пятницы Красноярска (10-рублёвая купюра), Соловецкий монастырь (500-рублёвая), Иоанно-Предтеченский храм Ярославля (1000-рублёвая), — это следствие курса на выхолащивание религиозного пространства России. Это выхолащивание, приведение к стерильности ведёт не к миру, а к тому, что будут процветать бактерии религиозного экстремизма, расколов и ересей. Свято место пусто не бывает.
Цитата:
ЦБ отказался от русских героев и православных храмов на денежных купюрах, потому что Россия многонациональная и многоконфессиональная страна
«Этот принцип мы сохраним и для других банкнот, которые нам предстоит модернизировать. Все-таки Россия — многонациональная, многоконфессиональная страна. В ней живут люди с разными уникальными традициями, люди, которые исповедуют разные религии», — заявил зампред ЦБ Сергей Белов.
Православные святыни и русских героев ЦБ хочет заменить на русореза и поджигателя русских городов, ударившего в тыл воюющему государству Салавату Юлаеву. ЦБ считает, что русские и православные потерпят, перетопчутся, и вообще их место в России 167-е. Мы не Русская Православная цивилизация, хочет нам сказать зампред ЦБ, мы – Орда. Появятся ли на денежных купюрах Чингисхан, Батый и Тохтамыш, зампред ЦБ пока не уточнил.
Цитата:
Экономика
9 декабря 2024, 00:01
«Банк России не видит оснований для начала дискуссии об отмене наличных» источник реплики в полном интервью «Известиям»
…
— В этот раз ЦБ также решил отказаться от использования культовых сооружений. Будет ли этот принцип распространяться на другие банкноты, которые будут модернизироваться, — номиналом в 500, 50 и 10 рублей?
— Действительно, на банкнотах образца 1997 года мы можем увидеть культовые объекты. Но когда мы изменили концепцию оформления банкнот и перешли от городской серии к региональной — теперь каждая банкнота посвящена одному из федеральных округов, — то одновременно решили отказаться от изображения объектов религиозного назначения.
Этот принцип мы сохраним и для других банкнот, которые нам предстоит модернизировать. Все-таки Россия — многонациональная, многоконфессиональная страна. В ней живут люди с разными уникальными традициями, люди, которые исповедуют разные религии.
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Ukraina będzie mogła wpływać na kampanię w Polsce. "Piorunująca siła rażenia"
Rząd tworzy dokładny spis wszystkich grobów Ukraińców z UPA i ich pomników, które są na polskim terytorium – ustalił "Newsweek". Tak gabinet premiera Donalda Tuska szykuje się na żądania Kijowa w negocjacjach ws. ekshumacji ofiar rzezi wołyńskiej.
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Sprawa wznowienia ekshumacji na Wołyniu może z pełną siłą wybuchnąć na wiosnę – w szczycie kampanii prezydenckiej. Da to prezydentowi Ukrainy Wołodymyrowi Zełenskiemu wpływ na tę kampanię. Swoimi decyzjami albo zaniechaniami będzie mógł pomagać lub szkodzić poszczególnym kandydatom. Podobnież władze Lwowa, gdzie może powstać nowy pomnik Romana Szuchewycza, bezpośrednio odpowiedzialnego za masowe mordy polskiej ludności w latach 1943-45.
Nowe badania, z którymi zapoznał się "Newsweek" potwierdzają, że dla Polaków w stosunkach z Ukrainą historia ma pierwszorzędne znaczenie. Biorąc to pod uwagę, temat rzezi Wołyńskiej może mieć w kampanii piorunującą siłę rażenia. Pierwsze oznaki już widać.
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Цитата:
Poland protests over damage to monuments in Russia
WARSAW, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Poland will send a note to Russian authorities to demand an inquiry into the devastation of monuments commemorating Polish Home Army soldiers in the town of Yogla in eastern Russia, the Polish foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Relations between Poland and Russia are tense, especially since Moscow invaded neighbouring Ukraine in 2022.
"This is a place where former prisons, gulags were located, to which people from different parts of the world were sent, including Polish soldiers," Polish foreign ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski said.
"And there were monuments commemorating prisoners, but they were not just monuments, they stand on the graves of people who died there from hunger, exhaustion, repression and diseases."
Wronski added that Poland is asking Russia whether an inquiry will be launched and if perpetrators would be punished.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw said it had no information on the matter.
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Trump verhöhnt Trudeau und nennt ihn Gouverneur
Im Zollstreit mit Kanada verspottet der künftige US-Präsident Donald Trump den Premierminister des nördlichen Nachbarlands der USA, Justin Trudeau.
RCHIV - Im Zollstreit mit Kanada verspottet der künftige US-Präsident Donald Trump den Premierminister des nördlichen Nachbarlands der USA, Justin Trudeau. Foto: Evan Vucci/AP/dpa
Quelle: Keystone/AP/Evan Vucci
"Es war mir ein Vergnügen, neulich Abend mit Gouverneur Justin Trudeau aus dem grossartigen Staat Kanada zu Abend zu essen", schrieb Trump auf seinem Online-Sprachrohr Truth Social.
Gouverneure sind in den USA die Regierungschefs der Bundesstaaten. Trudeau hatte zuvor mit Vergeltungsmassnahmen Kanadas gedroht, sollten die USA Zölle verhängen.
Trump greift mit seinem Post einen Witz auf, den er bei einem gemeinsamen Abendessen mit Trudeau Ende November gemacht haben soll. Medienberichten zufolge soll der Republikaner Trudeau vorgeschlagen haben, dass Kanada der 51. Bundesstaat der USA werden könne. "Der Präsident hat Witze erzählt, der Präsident hat uns auf den Arm genommen", sagte der kanadische Minister Dominic LeBlanc laut "Toronto Star" im Anschluss. Er war bei dem Essen dabei.
Trump droht Kanada mit hohen Einfuhrzöllen
Trudeau war nach Drohungen des Republikaners, er werde hohe Einfuhrzölle für Waren aus Kanada verhängen, in Trumps Wahlheimat Florida gereist, um die Wogen zu glätten. Trump schrieb auf Truth Social nun weiter: "Ich freue mich darauf, den Gouverneur bald wiederzusehen, damit wir unsere eingehenden Gespräche über Zölle und Handel fortsetzen können, deren Ergebnisse für alle wirklich spektakulär sein werden." Trump zieht im 20. Januar wieder ins Weisse Haus ein.
Während seiner ersten Amtszeit buhlte Trump tatsächlich schon einmal ernsthaft um das Staatsgebiet eines anderen Landes. Im Sommer 2019 schlug er vor, Grönland zu kaufen und den USA einzuverleiben. Die Antwort aus Dänemark, zu dem die grösste Insel der Welt politisch gehört, war deutlich: Nein, danke.
Netanyahu Finally Takes the Stand in His Corruption Trial
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a trial that began four years ago. He has denied the charges.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to testify in his trial on corruption charges at the district court in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Credit...Pool photo by Menahem Kahana
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“I have waited eight years for this moment — to tell the truth, the truth as I remember it,” replied Mr. Netanyahu, gripping the sides of a wooden lectern as he stood to the left of the judges.
It was a humbling moment — a sitting prime minister, forced to answer accusations of graft before a courtroom filled with his peers. It was also a moment Mr. Netanyahu seemed determined to transcend.
“I am shocked by the magnitude of this absurdity,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
“I am the prime minister, I am running a country, I am running a war,”
(выделено а.п.) he continued.
“I am not occupying myself with my future, but rather with that of the state of Israel.”
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Цитата:
Syria: Szef Dowództwa Centralnego USA odwiedził amerykańskich i kurdyjskich żołnierzy w Syrii
Szef Dowództwa Centralnego USA (CENTCOM) gen. Erik Kurilla złożył we wtorek wizytę w Syrii i Iraku, spotykając się m.in. z Syryjskimi Siłami Demokratycznymi, kurdyjskimi sojusznikami USA w walce przeciwko Państwu Islamskiemu.
Gen. Kurilla odwiedził amerykańskich dowódców wojskowych i żołnierzy oraz partnerów koalicji przeciwko ISIS - Syryjskie Siły Demokratyczne - w kilku bazach w Syrii. Otrzymał bezpośrednią ocenę dotyczącą działań ochronnych, dynamicznie zmieniającej się sytuacji oraz trwających wysiłków mających na celu uniemożliwienie ISIS wykorzystania obecnej sytuacji - napisano w oświadczeniu Dowództwa.
Do wizyty doszło po jednym z największych ataków przeciwko Państwu Islamskiemu w środkowej Syrii oraz atakom wspieranych przez Turcję sił rebelianckich, Syryjskiej Armii Narodowej (SNA) przeciwko Kurdom w północnej części kraju.
Waszyngton wzywał w ostatnich dniach "wszystkie strony", by nie wykorzystywały obecnego chaosu w Syrii, jednak siły wspierane przez Ankarę prowadzą ofensywę zmierzającą do wypchnięcia Kurdów m.in. z Manbidżu. Walki między Turcją, sojusznikiem USA w NATO, oraz SDF - sojusznikiem USA w walce przeciwko IS - są od dawna powodem napięć na linii Waszyngton-Ankara.
W Syrii pozostaje ok. 900 amerykańskich żołnierzy i według zapowiedzi Białego Domu pozostaną oni we wschodniej Syrii, by zwalczać Państwo Islamskie.
Obok wizyty w Syrii Kurilla odwiedził także Irak, gdzie spotkał się m.in. z premierem kraju Muhamadem Sziją as-Sudanim, również rozmawiając o walce z IS.
W komunikacie CENTCOM podkreślono, że "USA pozostają oddane trwałemu pokonaniu Państwa Islamskiego i zaangażowane na rzecz bezpieczeństwa partnerów sąsiadujących z Syrią - w tym Iraku, Jordanii, Libanu i Izraela", lecz w gronie tych państw nie wymieniono Turcji.
Цитата:
US official backs Israeli operations in Syrian territory
A US administration official expressed support for Israel's advance into Syrian territory telling Kan News: 'No nation can tolerate terror groups being right on their doorstep'
A Biden administration official backed the IDF's advance into Syrian territory following the fall of the Assad regime in a conversation with Kan News on Tuesday saying that Israel made it clear that it is a "temporary and tactical operation to defend its borders."
"No nation can tolerate terror groups being right on their doorstep," the official told the Israeli broadcaster. "Since the Syrian army abandoned its posts in the Israeli-Syrian buffer zone and the area, Israel declared that Syria's enforcement of the 1974 armistice agreement had collapsed. Israel took temporary actions to stabilize the buffer zone and prevent an invasion of Israeli territory. We hope that in the future we will again see stability in the region."
According to the report, Israel updated the US about its operations in Syrian territory and the US administration did not oppose them.
Earlier on Tuesday the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen network that Israeli tanks are now positioned approximately 20 kilometers from the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Reports also indicated the IDF has taken control of nine villages in the southern outskirts of Damascus, near the border with Lebanon. At the same time, there were reports of extensive strikes in the Damascus area.
Цитата:
Netanyahu's warning to Syria: We want good relations but will respond strongly to threats
PM issues statement to the new regime that will assume power after the fall of the Assad regime, says it must not allow Iran to reestablish itself in Syria or to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah through Syria.
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"We have no intention of interfering in Syria's internal affairs; however, we do intend to do what is necessary for our security.," the Prime Minister began his remarks from the Kirya in Tel Aviv.
He referred to Opeation 'Bashan Arrow' and said, "As such, I approved the Air Force bombing of strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian military so that they will not fall into the hands of the jihadists."
"This is similar to what the British Air Force did when it bombed the fleet of the Vichy regime, which was cooperating with the Nazis, so that it would not fall into the Nazis' hands," Netanyahu said.
He addressed the new regime in Syria and said, "We want to have relations with the new regime in Syria but if this regime allows Iran to re-establish itself in Syria, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons, or weapons of any kind, to Hezbollah, or attacks us – we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price."
"What happened to the previous regime will also happen to this regime," Netanyahu concluded.
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Цитата:
Reports: Israeli tanks are about 20 km from Damascus
In the wake of the toppling of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Israel has struck more than 250 targets across Syria. Reports say the IDF has taken control of nine villages in the southern suburbs of Damascus.
The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen network, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, reported early Tuesday morning that Israeli tanks are now positioned approximately 20 kilometers from the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Reports also indicated the IDF has taken control of nine villages in the southern outskirts of Damascus, near the border with Lebanon. At the same time, there were reports of extensive strikes in the Damascus area.
Earlier, Syrian media outlets reported Israeli strikes on the Al-Shuairat military airport, east of Homs, and on Syrian army targets in the provinces of Raqqa and Al-Hasakah.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition organization based in Britain, stated earlier that Israel had struck more than 250 targets across Syria in less than 48 hours, following the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's regime.
Sources told Fox News on Monday evening that Israel and the US are taking advantage of the fact that Russian fighter jets that had been deployed to Syria are grounded.
On Sunday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted dozens of precision air strikes targeting known Islamic State (ISIS) camps and terrorists in central Syria.
“The strikes against the ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps were conducted as part of the ongoing mission to disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS, in order to prevent the terrorist group from conducting external operations and to ensure that ISIS does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria,” CENTCOM said.
It added that the operation struck over 75 targets using multiple US Air Force assets, including B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s.
The IDF took control of the Syrian Golan Heights to protect Israel from the fallout of the fighting after the Syrian rebels brought down the Assad regime.
On Monday, Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to act to take control of additional sites in the buffer zone in Syria and to maximize its achievements.
Katz also instructed that the IDF work to create a security area which is clear of heavy strategic weapons and terror infrastructure in the southern area, near the buffer area, which could threaten the State of Israel, while reaching out to the local Druze population and other populations in the area.
Цитата:
Israel strikes hundreds of military targets in Syria
Turkey accuses Israel of displaying occupier mentality and UN envoy says airstrikes must cease
Israeli warplanes have intensified an air offensive in Syria, striking hundreds of military targets and destroying entire squadrons of fighters, radar and missile systems, missile stores and much of the small Syrian navy.
The strikes came as Israeli troops consolidated their hold on a demilitarised zone in Syria east of the occupied Golan Heights and seized a strip of mountainous territory extending northwards.
Images from the Mediterranean port of Latakia posted on social media and broadcast by local TV networks showed the charred wreckage of at least six warships sunk or badly damaged.
The Israeli airstrikes began in the hours after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last weekend and have also targeted what Israel says are suspected chemical weapons and long-range rockets.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said during a visit to a naval base in Haifa: “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] has been operating in Syria in recent days to strike and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the state of Israel. The navy operated … to destroy the Syrian fleet with great success.”
He said Israeli troops had been deployed to Syria to create a “sterile defence zone free of weapons and terrorist threats”.
On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces were moving to control a roughly 155 sq mile (400 sq km) buffer zone in Syrian territory. Hours later, Israeli media reported that Israeli troops had established positions along the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, to the north of the Golan Heights.
An Israeli military official admitted on Tuesday that Israel had advanced beyond the buffer zone, saying its troops had seized “some other points”, but he denied reports of Israeli troops heading deeper into Syria.
“IDF forces are not advancing towards Damascus. This is not something we are doing or pursuing in any way,” Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesperson, said at a briefing. The Syrian capital is 25 miles from Israeli troops’ positions.
“We are not involved in what’s happening in Syria internally, we are not a side in this conflict and we do not have any interest other than protecting our borders and the security of our citizens,” Shoshani said.
Israeli troops also now control a long stretch on the Syrian side facing Lebanon’s Rashaya region, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which has reporters in Syria. The new Israeli positions on the Syrian side of the 2,814-metre (9,000ft) Mount Hermon offer a prized vantage point.
Israel occupied much of the Golan Heights during the 1967 war. The buffer zone was established in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur war, which started when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel.
The Times of Israel reported that Israeli officials now considered void the agreement establishing the buffer zone, and that Israeli soldiers may end up holding their new positions inside Syria “for a long time, depending on the developments in the country”.
Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have condemned Israel’s incursion, accusing it of exploiting the disarray in Syria and violating international law.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “We strongly condemn Israel’s violation of the 1974 separation of forces agreement, its entry into the separation zone between Israel and Syria and its advance into Syrian territory.”
The ministry accused Israel of “displaying a mentality of an occupier” at a time when the possibility of peace and stability had emerged in Syria. The statement also reiterated Turkey’s support for Syria’s “sovereignty, political unity and territorial integrity”.
The UN’s special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, told Israel that its airstrikes and ground invasion into Syrian territory had to stop and said its actions were in violation of the 1974 agreement.
A spokesperson for the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said: “We’re against these types of attacks. I think this is a turning point for Syria. It should not be used by its neighbours to encroach on the territory of Syria.”
The fall of the Assad regime has prompted a scramble for power, influence or other strategic advantages among regional powers hoping to exploit the chaos or seeking to head off potential dangers.
The White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday that US officials were in close contact with Israeli officials and Syrian opposition groups. He said Joe Biden was staying fully briefed by his national security team and that his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was travelling to Israel on Wednesday.
Kirby said the US was not involved in any Israeli operations in Syria, and Israel had made clear these were “temporary measures to ensure their own security”. He said the US wanted to ensure that the Syrian people were able to determine their future and that there was a Syrian-led evolution toward “better and more representative governance”.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 six-day war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community, except for the US.
The rest of the world views the strategically important plateau as occupied Syrian territory.
Israel had an uneasy but stable relationship with the Assad regime, with security officials broadly convinced that the authoritarian Syrian ruler had been deterred from any attacks on Israel.
A key objective of Israel is to deny Iran the opportunity to rebuild its influence in Syria after the fall of its key ally and to prevent any supplies sent by Tehran from reaching Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Islamist militant movement in Lebanon.
Цитата:
US bombing of Syria after Assad shows a real fear of what’s next
The US bombing of Syria so soon after the rebels toppled Assad suggests a nervousness from the West about what happens in the country next
Washington seemed stunned by the sudden collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s murderous regime in Syria over the weekend. Albeit not as “stunned” as whoever found themselves on the ground when the US Air Force unleashed dozens of air raids on 785 sites in Syria – while Assad was still on his way to exile in Moscow.
The Americans weren’t suddenly swinging in behind the rebellion that swept away more than 50 years of rule by the Assads. The Pentagon unleashed B-52 bombers, F-15 fighters and A-10 Warthogs because the coalition that roared into Damascus, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has its roots in violent global Islamist extremism.
The US, aided by small units of British Special Forces and MI6, has a significant presence in eastern Syria, where it uses bases protected by Syrian Kurds, and some desert hideouts, to campaign against what remains of the so-called Islamic State.
The sudden victory of rebels over the Syrian government meant that, no matter how newly moderate HTS and its allies may say they are, Isis will want to reclaim some of the territory it once ruled. And it’s got a lot more in common with Syria’s rebels now than it ever did with the ousted, secular, Assad regime.
In Damascus, the HTS leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, called for the establishment of a transitional government. His people have issued orders banning random shooting and insisting that women should not be forced into conservative Islamic dress. His message is “we’re not Isis”.
But he was. And he was also in al-Qaeda. And plenty of the militia who make up the coalition that has won this phase of Syria’s civil war are fellow travellers with the ideology of al-Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden and Isis’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Just as some areas liberated from Assad after 2012 became a magnet for jihadi fanatics from around the world, so, inevitably, a Syria entirely freed from the dictator will draw extremists to a landscape that has been freed from the hypocrisy, murder and corruption that characterised Assad’s secular rule.
They will have overpowering resentments to draw on, too. Whatever the HTS-led coalition and transitional team may claim to want, many will flock to Syria to create a state they hope will be a beacon in the darkness that’s been cast across the Middle East.
Al-Sharaar’s nom-de-guerre is Abu Mohammed al-Golani – meaning father of Mohammed from Golan.
The Golan heights are Syrian territory taken by Israel in 1967. On Sunday, Israel took a bit more to establish a “buffer zone”. He’ll want to liberate Golan from Israel every bit as much as he wanted to save Damascus from Assad.
And as an Islamist who believes in the brotherhood of Muslims through the Umma (the worldwide Muslim community), he’s now presiding over a Syria that has vanquished Arab nationalism (in the form of Assad’s Ba’ath Party) and may now serve as a base to recover territory, and avenge lives, lost to Muslims.
The appeal to potential recruits is obvious.
Some 80 per cent of the 43,000 people killed by Israel in Gaza over the last 13 months have been women and children. The international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime Minister, and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, for war crimes. The UK seems vague about whether these Israelis risk arrest here. The US has rejected the ICC’s ruling outright.
Israel continues to get military aid from America, and to be able to buy weapons from the UK.
There’s no suggestion in the West that Israel, which continues to grab Palestinian land illegally in the West Bank and appears to have a plan to drive all 2.5 million Palestinians out of Gaza, will risk economic sanctions if it does so.
Compare that to the crippling sanctions that have been rightly imposed on Moscow, the ICC ruling that would mean president Vladimir Putin would risk being collared at Heathrow, and the aggressive weapons embargo facing the Russian Federation. Putin’s regime has killed, the UN estimates, about 12,000 civilians in just under three years.
To many non-extremists this looks like racism and hypocrisy on the part of the West. It’s just the latest example of how brown lives don’t matter to Western leaders. The US-led invasion of Iraq showed how little Washington knew, or cared, for the consequences of its violence.
Barack Obama’s refusal to make good on his promise to punish Assad for his chemical weapons attacks on his own people drove that point home, as did his earlier refusal to back the democratic forces that rose against the Assad regime in the first place.
Now Syrians, mostly Sunni Muslim, have solved their own problem by ridding their landscape of Assad.
As they did so the US smashed as much of Isis as it could to prevent extremists flooding west to Damascus, and Israel bombed all the sophisticated weapons it thought were in Syria to prevent anyone using them to, say, liberate the Golan.
Syria’s new leadership may want to create a safe sensible new nation to create a country that the millions of refugees want to return to and make good on their promise of safety for religious and ethnic minorities.
But the very success of the rebellion may be its undoing as it will attract many who have much more dangerous plans. America’s recent bombings show how close some of those dangers now are.
58 Jazz Luminaries Assembled for This Photo. Only One Remains.
Art Kane’s “Harlem 1958” gathered giants of the music. Sonny Rollins, 94, looks back at the historic picture.
On Aug. 12, 1958, Art Kane gathered 58 jazz notables in front of an East 126th St. brownstone for a group portrait…
_________________
С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Президент Франции Эммануэль Макрон завтра приедет в Польшу, чтобы обсудить план европейской миротворческой миссии, которая должна сохранить
суверенитет
т.н. Украины в рамках возможного соглашения между США и РФ.
Детали плана не раскрываются, но известно, что он основан на корейском сценарии. Согласно ему к линии разграничения вводится иностранный контингент миротворческих сил. Идея Макрона в ноябре получила негласное одобрение
Великобритании.
Участие Польши в этой стратегии преподносится как «решающее» из-за её военного потенциала и географического положения. И понятно, почему от поляков президент Франции ждёт особой поддержки: ведь таким образом они бы смогли законно приблизиться к Всходни Кресы.
Интересно, что на план Макрона уже была реакция в Варшаве: главы Минобороны Польши
Владислав Косиняк-Камыш
заявил, что об отправке польских солдат на т.н. Украину «не может быть и речи», поскольку «ключевую роль здесь должен играть НАТО, а не отдельные страны».
Одновременно с этим спустя долгое время поляки вновь заговорили о том, чтобы легализовать своих наёмников, которые воюют за ВСУ незаконно — официально это должно караться тюремным сроком до пяти лет.
Подробности инициативы неизвестны, но говорят, что законопроект предусматривает «прощение и забвение преступлений и проступков» с 24 февраля 2022 года по
31 декабря 2026 года
за вступление в ВСУ без согласия компетентного органа Польши.
То есть помимо того, что полякам позволят
беспрепятственно воевать
на т.н. Украине, так ещё и разрешат, по сути, делать это
как вздумается
— никакого уголовного преследования не предусматривается. При таком раскладе и в плен поляков можно будет не брать.
📌Правда, стоит понимать, что на деле речь идёт
не о миротворческой миссии как таковой
— то есть дислокации «голубых касок», которые по сути будут выполнять полицейские функции на ничьей земле: для этого не хватит ни людей, ни специальной техники.
🔻Разговор как раз касается введения ограниченного контингента войск НАТО, которые могли бы таким образом просто забрать себе украинскую территорию. А это, в свою очередь, означает действительно серьёзную военную эскалацию с РФ.
По итогу же, вероятно, никакого решения стороны не достигнут: ни одно из европейских правительств не готово брать на себя подобную ответственность и тем самым вставать под угрозу ядерного удара. Зато пока что можно отвлечься от внутриполитических кризисов, экономического краха и социальной напряжённости, да и поизображать из себя гегемонов, сделав вид, будто именно от участия Франции или Польши зависит судьба всего западного мира.
Цитата:
Baerbock empfängt mehrere EU-Außenminister und ukrainischen Kollegen in Berlin
Bundesaußenministerin Annalena Baerbock (Grüne) empfängt am Donnerstag mehrere europäische Kollegen zu Beratungen über den Ukraine-Krieg in Berlin. Zu der Konferenz in der Villa Borsig, dem Gästehaus des Auswärtigen Amts, werden neben den Chefdiplomaten aus Frankreich, Polen, Großbritannien, Spanien und Italien auch der ukrainische Außenminister Andrij Sybiha und die EU-Außenbeauftragte Kaja Kallas erwartet.
Цитата:
Macron berät in Polen über weitere Unterstützung der Ukraine
…
Hintergrund ist das Szenario, dass Donald Trump als US-Präsident versuchen könnte, die Ukraine und Russland zu Verhandlungen zu drängen. Dafür könnte er zum Beispiel der Ukraine androhen, im Fall einer Weigerung die Militärhilfe einzustellen. Dem russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin wiederum könnte er drohen, die Militärhilfe für Kiew noch einmal auszubauen, falls der Kremlchef sich Verhandlungen verweigern sollte.
Könnte sich Deutschland an einer Friedensmission beteiligen?
Wie stark die Bundesregierung in die Gespräche involviert ist, war zuletzt unklar. Nach Informationen der Deutschen Presse-Agentur aus Nato-Kreisen sprach Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock das Thema einer möglichen internationalen Präsenz nach einem Waffenstillstand in der Ukraine in der vergangenen Woche in einer Arbeitssitzung mit den anderen Außenministern der Nato-Staaten in Brüssel an. Demnach machte sie dabei deutlich, dass sich im Fall der Fälle die Frage einer Beteiligung auch für Deutschland und alle anderen Nato-Partner stellen würde.
Die neue EU-Außenbeauftragte Kaja Kallas hatte bereits Anfang des Monats gesagt, dass sie es für denkbar hält, dass europäische Soldaten einen möglichen Waffenstillstand in der Ukraine absichern. Die Soldaten dafür könnten ihren Angaben zufolge auch aus Ländern kommen, die sich bereits in der Vergangenheit offen für Gespräche über eine Truppenentsendung geäußert hatten. Dazu zählen zum Beispiel Frankreich oder die baltischen Staaten.
40.000 Mann starke Friedenstruppe?
Wie das Nachrichtenmagazin "Politico" nun unter Verweis auf einen EU-Diplomaten und einen französischen Beamten berichtete, will Macron mit Tusk über die mögliche Entsendung einer Friedenstruppe aus ausländischen Truppen nach einem Ende des Kriegs sprechen. Die polnische Tageszeitung "Rzeczpospolita" zitierte einen Experten des Französischen Instituts für Internationale Beziehungen (IFRI), wonach eine solche Mission aus fünf Brigaden mit insgesamt rund 40.000 Soldaten bestehen könnte - das Kommando über eine davon könnte demnach Polen übernehmen. In Paris allerdings gab es für diese Angaben keine Bestätigung.
Polens Verteidigungsminister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz hatte am Dienstag gesagt: "Eine Entsendung polnischer Soldaten in die Ukraine kommt derzeit nicht infrage." Zwar tauche das Thema "in Veröffentlichungen auf", es gebe aber keine offizielle Bestätigung der Absicht, europäische Truppen in der Ukraine zu stationieren.
Macron hatte am Wochenende bereits in Paris mit Trump und dem ukrainischen Präsidenten Wolodymyr Selenskyj über das Schicksal des von Russland angegriffenen Landes geredet. Trump forderte eine Waffenruhe in dem Konflikt und rief Kremlchef Putin direkt zum Handeln auf./evs/DP/jha
Цитата:
Macron berät in Polen über weitere Unterstützung der Ukraine
Frankreichs Präsident Emmanuel Macron will am Donnerstag in Warschau mit Polens Ministerpräsident Donald Tusk über die europäische Unterstützung der Ukraine angesichts des Machtwechsels in den USA beraten. Nach unbestätigten Medienberichten könnte es dabei auch um Überlegungen gehen, nach dem Krieg eine Friedenstruppe aus ausländischen Soldaten in der Ukraine zu stationieren.
ARCHIV - Emmanuel Macron (r), Präsident von Frankreich, empfängt Donald Tusk, Ministerpräsident von Polen, im Elysee-Palast. Foto: Aurelien Morissard/AP/dpa
Quelle: Keystone/AP/Aurelien Morissard
Nach Informationen der Deutschen Presse-Agentur gibt es zwischen Vertretern mehrerer Nato-Staaten bereits seit Wochen vertrauliche Gespräche darüber, wie ein möglicher künftiger Waffenstillstand in der Ukraine überwacht werden könnte. Federführend dabei sind demnach Frankreich und Grossbritannien.
Hintergrund ist das Szenario, dass Donald Trump als US-Präsident versuchen könnte, die Ukraine und Russland zu Verhandlungen zu drängen. Dafür könnte er zum Beispiel der Ukraine androhen, im Fall einer Weigerung die Militärhilfe einzustellen. Dem russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin wiederum könnte er drohen, die Militärhilfe für Kiew noch einmal auszubauen, falls der Kremlchef sich Verhandlungen verweigern sollte.
Könnte sich Deutschland an einer Friedensmission beteiligen?
Wie stark die Bundesregierung in die Gespräche involviert ist, war zuletzt unklar. Nach Informationen der Deutschen Presse-Agentur aus Nato-Kreisen sprach Aussenministerin Annalena Baerbock das Thema einer möglichen internationalen Präsenz nach einem Waffenstillstand in der Ukraine in der vergangenen Woche in einer Arbeitssitzung mit den anderen Aussenministern der Nato-Staaten in Brüssel an. Demnach machte sie dabei deutlich, dass sich im Fall der Fälle die Frage einer Beteiligung auch für Deutschland und alle anderen Nato-Partner stellen würde.
Die neue EU-Aussenbeauftragte Kaja Kallas hatte bereits Anfang des Monats gesagt, dass sie es für denkbar hält, dass europäische Soldaten einen möglichen Waffenstillstand in der Ukraine absichern. Die Soldaten dafür könnten ihren Angaben zufolge auch aus Ländern kommen, die sich bereits in der Vergangenheit offen für Gespräche über eine Truppenentsendung geäussert hatten. Dazu zählen zum Beispiel Frankreich oder die baltischen Staaten.
40.000 Mann starke Friedenstruppe?
Wie das Nachrichtenmagazin "Politico" nun unter Verweis auf einen EU-Diplomaten und einen französischen Beamten berichtete, will Macron mit Tusk über die mögliche Entsendung einer Friedenstruppe aus ausländischen Truppen nach einem Ende des Kriegs sprechen. Die polnische Tageszeitung "Rzeczpospolita" zitierte einen Experten des Französischen Instituts für Internationale Beziehungen (IFRI), wonach eine solche Mission aus fünf Brigaden mit insgesamt rund 40.000 Soldaten bestehen könnte - das Kommando über eine davon könnte demnach Polen übernehmen. In Paris allerdings gab es für diese Angaben keine Bestätigung.
Polens Verteidigungsminister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz hatte am Dienstag gesagt: "Eine Entsendung polnischer Soldaten in die Ukraine kommt derzeit nicht infrage." Zwar tauche das Thema "in Veröffentlichungen auf", es gebe aber keine offizielle Bestätigung der Absicht, europäische Truppen in der Ukraine zu stationieren.
Macron hatte am Wochenende bereits in Paris mit Trump und dem ukrainischen Präsidenten Wolodymyr Selenskyj über das Schicksal des von Russland angegriffenen Landes geredet. Trump forderte eine Waffenruhe in dem Konflikt und rief Kremlchef Putin direkt zum Handeln auf.
Цитата:
Guerre en Ukraine : la Russie pourrait frapper avec un missile Orechnik « dans les prochains jours »
En novembre, les États-Unis avaient autorisé l’Ukraine à utiliser des missiles longue portée pour frapper le territoire russe
La Russie pourrait frapper l’Ukraine « dans les prochains jours » avec, à nouveau, son missile de dernière génération Orechnik, supersonique et conçu pour porter des têtes nucléaires, a affirmé ce mercredi un haut responsable américain.
« La Russie a signalé son intention de tirer un nouveau missile expérimental Orechnik sur l’Ukraine, potentiellement dans les prochains jours », a déclaré ce responsable sous le couvert de l’anonymat. « Mais ce missile n’est pas de nature à renverser la dynamique sur le champ de bataille, il cherche à intimider l’Ukraine et ses alliés », a ajouté cette source américaine. « L’Orechnik, avec son ogive plus petite et une disponibilité limitée, a peu de chances de changer le cours du conflit », a-t-elle encore déclaré.
Un autre responsable américain a aussi cherché à modérer l’inquiétude, affirmant que « la Russie possède sans doute seulement une poignée de ces missiles expérimentaux ».
Orechnik déployé en Biélorussie ?
L’arme, capable de frapper avec des ogives nucléaires des cibles à plusieurs milliers de kilomètres, a été utilisée pour la première fois avec des têtes conventionnelles le 21 novembre contre la ville de Dnipro, dans le centre-est de l’Ukraine.
Le président russe Vladimir Poutine a présenté le tir inédit comme une réponse aux récentes attaques ukrainiennes contre la Russie avec des missiles américains et britanniques, et surtout menacé de frapper des « centres de décision » à Kiev, qui abrite le gouvernement ukrainien. Vendredi dernier, il a même évoqué la possibilité de déployer l’an prochain son missile Orechnik en Biélorussie, son plus proche allié, dont la frontière avec l’Ukraine est située à 100 kilomètres de Kiev.
En Ukraine, cette nouvelle arme a provoqué la peur d’habitants, poussant certains à venir à nouveau s’abriter dans des refuges en cas d’alarme anti-aérienne.
L’Ukraine frappe un aérodrome russe
Un peu plus tôt dans la journée, l’armée russe a affirmé que les forces ukrainiennes ont attaqué ce mercredi un aérodrome à Taganrog, dans le sud de la Russie, à l’aide de missiles américains ATACMS, promettant « une réponse ».
« Il a été établi avec certitude que six missiles balistiques ATACMS de fabrication américaine ont été utilisés », a indiqué le ministère russe de la Défense dans un communiqué, précisant que deux avaient été « abattus » et « les autres […] détournés par des équipements de guerre électronique ». Vladimir Poutine a présenté comme une ligne rouge les attaques ukrainiennes contre le sol russe avec des armes occidentales.
Цитата:
Pistorius: Merz-Kritik am Ukraine-Kurs "infam"
Verteidigungsminister Boris Pistorius wehrt sich gegen die Kritik der CDU, Deutschlands Unterstützung für die Ukraine sei zu zögerlich. CDU-Chef Friedrich Merz hatte bei einem Besuch in der Ukraine gesagt, die bisherige deutsche Politik zwinge das Land, sich mit einem Arm auf den Rücken gebunden zu verteidigen. "Ich finde, das ist infam und unredlich", sagt Pistorius bei einer SPD-Veranstaltung in Hannover. Merz wisse, dass Deutschland der größte Unterstützer der Ukraine in Europa sei.
"Die Ukraine muss weiter unterstützt werden, damit sie in eine Position kommt, aus der heraus sie mit (dem russischen Präsidenten Wladimir) Putin, wenn der irgendwann an den Verhandlungstisch gehen will, auch verhandeln kann aus einer Position der Stärke heraus", bekräftigt Pistorius. "Das sichert Frieden." Es dürfe keinen Diktatfrieden geben. "Ich bin ziemlich sicher, die Ukraine würde morgen verhandeln. Aber Putin nicht."
Цитата:
Macron berät in Warschau über weitere Hilfe für Ukraine
Frankreichs Präsident Emmanuel Macron will am Donnerstag in Warschau mit Polens Ministerpräsident Donald Tusk über die europäische Unterstützung der Ukraine angesichts des Machtwechsels in den USA beraten. Macron hatte am Wochenende bereits in Paris mit dem designierten US-Präsidenten Donald Trump und dem ukrainischen Präsidenten Wolodymyr Selenskyj über das Schicksal des von Russland angegriffenen Landes geredet.
Kritik an Werbung für Minderjährige
Die Bundeswehr hält daran fest, bei 17-Jährigen für den Dienst in der Armee zu werben. Die Linke und die katholische Friedensbewegung Pax Christi fordern einen Stopp. Doch die Bundesregierung setzt weiter auf die "bewährte Maßnahme".
Die Bundeswehr steht mit Blick auf Werbung, die sich an Minderjährige richtet, weiter in der Kritik. "Die Praxis, Werbematerialien der Bundeswehr an 17-Jährige zu verschicken, muss unverzüglich beendet werden", sagte der verteidigungspolitische Sprecher der Linken im Bundestag, Dietmar Bartsch, am Dienstag in Berlin.
"Nicht umsonst hat der UN-Ausschuss für die Rechte des Kindes mehrfach Kritik geäußert an Maßnahmen wie der des Bundesamtes für das Personalmanagement der Bundeswehr", sagte Armin Lauven von der katholischen Friedensbewegung Pax Christi, die Mitglied im Bündnis "Unter 18 nie!" ist. "Laut den Vereinten Nationen sollen alle Formen der auf Kinder ausgerichteten Werbung oder Vermarktung des Militärdienstes verboten werden."
Regierung: Alles völkerrechtskonform
Die Bundesregierung wertete die Rekrutierungspraxis in einer Antwort auf eine Anfrage von Bartsch hingegen als völkerrechtskonform. Die Übersendung von Informationsmaterial über Tätigkeiten in den Streitkräften an diejenigen, die im kommenden Jahr volljährig werden, sei eine bewährte Maßnahme, hieß es.
Цитата:
Цитата:
Polen will große TV-Sender vor russischer Einflussnahme schützen
Polen will Medien des Landes vor russischer Einflussnahme schützen. Ministerpräsident Donald Tusk teilte am Mittwoch mit, seine Regierung werde große Fernsehsender wie den in US-Besitz befindlichen TVN vor feindlichen Übernahmeversuchen abschirmen. Tusk betonte, eine entsprechende Richtlinie werde in der kommenden Woche verabschiedet, um Schutz vor russischen Versuchen der Einflussnahme auf die Demokratie und den politischen Prozess in Europa zu schaffen. Dabei verwies er auf die Präsidentschaftswahl in Rumänien, die vor dem Hintergrund von Vorwürfen einer russischen Einflussnahme vom Verfassungsgericht für ungültig erklärt wurde. Die Wahl sei ein "Negativereignis" gewesen, das "Russlands unablässige Angriffsbereitschaft unter Einsatz immer ausgefeilterer Methoden und Werkzeuge bestätigt" habe, sagte Tusk.
Цитата:
Siemoniak: Stacje telewizyjne są tak strategiczne dla Polski, jak sektor energetyczny
Największe stacje telewizyjne są w obecnych czasach tak samo strategiczne dla Polski, jak sektor energetyczny i paliwowy - ocenił na X minister koordynator służb specjalnych, szef MSWIA Tomasz Siemoniak.
Siemoniak odniósł się do środowej wypowiedzi premiera Donalda Tuska, by stacje telewizyjne TVN i Polsat umieścić w rozporządzeniu - wykazie strategicznych firm, które podlegają ochronie państwa przed agresywnym i niebezpiecznym przejęciem z punktu widzenia interesów kraju.
"Obrona polskiego interesu narodowego to silne Wojsko Polskie, służby mundurowe MSWiA i służby specjalne. To odporne państwo i społeczeństwo na wszelkie zagrożenia. To sprawne państwo, które chroni pluralizm i wolność najważniejszych mediów przed przejęciem przez aktywnych uczestników wojny informacyjnej i hybrydowej przeciw Polsce" - napisał na X Siemoniak.
"Największe stacje telewizyjne są w obecnych czasach tak samo strategiczne dla Polski, jak sektor energetyczny i paliwowy. Demokracja i praworządność muszą się bronić!" - uważa polityk.
Premier zapowiedział, że rozporządzenie dotyczące Polsatu i TVN zostanie przyjęte w przyszłym tygodniu przez Radę Ministrów. Wyjaśnił, że decyzja o uzupełnieniu o te stacje listy firm strategicznych oznacza, że bez zgody polskiego rządu nie będzie można ich przejąć czy kupić, bo będą na liście strategicznych firm, które podlegają ochronie.
Tusk zaznaczył, że nie będą pierwsze firmy prywatne objęte taką ochroną i nie jest to precedens, ponieważ w innych krajach Europy też są tego typu rozwiązania.
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Serious Christmas tree envy hits London as Trafalgar Square's spruce is branded a 'wonky corn on the cob' compared to New York's Rockefeller giant (but at least it's not as bad as one European city's offering)
London's Trafalgar Square Christmas tree has been branded 'scrawny' and 'half-dead' compared to their Rockefeller rival in New York.
The tree, which has been gifted annually by Norway since 1947, was deemed as looking 'rather unwell' and 'so sad' after its lights were turned on earlier this month.
Daily Mail columnist Andrew Neil posted a photo of the two competing trees on X with the caption: 'When it comes to Christmas Trees London really needs to up its game.'
Commenting beneath, one person wrote: 'I’m glad someone said it. I didn’t want to be negative but our wonky corn on the cob is a tad underwhelming.'
Another added: 'By the look of that tree in Trafalgar Square, you'd think London was trying to eliminate Christmas. That's really bad.'
A third also wrote: 'It looks like a pickle,' while a fourth quipped: 'Maybe it's a cucumber.'
The Norwegian spruce from Grefsenkleiva, in Oslo’s Forest, is decorated in traditional Norwegian fashion with strings and lights. It is also approximately 20 metres high and is around 60 years old.
For many people, the fact that it is a gift from Norway adds an important sentimental value, as one person explained: 'It’s the 77th tree we’ve received as a gift from the Norwegians as a token of gratitude for supporting them in WW2. It has more meaning than the Rockefeller tree.'
London's famous Trafalgar Square Christmas tree has been branded 'scrawny'
The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was lit on December 4, an annual holiday tradition in New York City
Locals described the tree as 'rather unwell looking' and 'so sad' as they claimed they could see dead wood in photographs posted online
Another person similarly wrote: 'In this case, less is more plus the London tree is a symbolic gift. The sentiment behind it means it doesn’t need to be flashy.'
A third person argued: 'The arrival of Oslo’s present is special. For me it’s a reminder that Christmas is just around the corner, marked by a gift from Oslo which is so in the Christmas spirit. It beats all the glitzy lights and the manicured Christmas trees. It is real.'
Another wrote: 'You're all missing the point. This tree is a GIFT. It's around 60 years old and enormous and has to travel by boat to get to us. And the lights - this is the way they are tradionally hung in Norway.
'It may not be as glamourous as having 50,000 coloured lights intertwined, but this tree is a symbol of friendship and gratitude which we should accept and cherish gracefully.'
Fellow journalist Peter Allen, who is based in France, also took to social media to share Paris' Christmas tree, which was certainly underwhelming in comparison to the US and UK.
He wrote, sarcastically: 'This year’s Christmas tree in Paris 75001 is going to leave Londoners and New Yorkers green with envy.'
Commenting beneath the post, one person pointed out: 'Where's the rest of it?!'
This comes after Britain's saddest trees were revealed last month, as one was even labelled anti-festive.
Journalist Peter Allen poked fun at the rather underwhelming Paris tree this year
One person described the Trafalgar Square tree as looking like a 'wonky corn on the cob'
A group of people take a selfie in front of the brightly illuminated tree at the Rockefeller Center
The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is pictured in the square before being mounted by specialist crews
The tree was attached to the hook of a crane before being lifted into a vertical position
The tree has been gifted annually by Norway since 1947
One sorry-looking Christmas tree was spotted by the arrivals board at London Euston station this week.
Decorated with gold baubles and guarded by a plastic barrier, the threadbare tree measures around 180cm.
Talk TV's Chuck Thomas shared a picture of the tree on X with the sarcastic caption: 'This will get everyone in the Christmas spirit.'
The post received over 300,000 views as people were quick to blast the sad-looking Christmas tree, which they described as depressing, pitiful and anti-festive.
Meanwhile, over at the Coal Drops Yard near King's Cross Station, one woman said she had her 'Christmas cheer stolen from her so fast' when she looked at the tree erected there.
Ellen filmed her reaction for TikTok and said: 'I'm about to show you the Christmas tree. I don't get it. What is this?'
Taking to the comments, one person joked: 'It looks like it was made on Microsoft paint,' while another person said 'it's giving Tate Modern Christmas'.
This year's Trafalgar Square tree was cut down by The Lord Mayor of Westminster Cllr Robert Rigby and The Mayor of Oslo Anne Lindboe, during a felling ceremony which took place on Thursday 21 November 2024.
Talk TV's Chuck Thomas shared a picture of the tree with the caption: 'This will get everyone in the Christmas spirit'
At the Coal Drops Yard near King's Cross Station, one woman said she had her 'Christmas cheer stolen from her so fast' when she looked at the tree erected there (pictured)
Ellen filmed her reaction for TikTok of the Coal Drops Yard tree and said: 'I'm about to show you the Christmas tree. I don't get it. What is this?'
It was then transported to Brevik using an electric truck in a bid to cut the journey's carbon footprint.
The tree is a gift from Norway in gratitude for the UK's aid during the Second World War.
King Haakon VII of Norway made popular broadcasts to his country via the BBC while in exile in London during the Second World War.
Aware that he was likely to be found and apprehended by the Nazis after the invasion of neutral Norway in April 1940, he slept in his uniform, fearful they would be able to publish humiliating photographs of him in pyjamas.
Denmark surrendered just six hours after Hitler's troops crossed its border. To do otherwise would be to risk further bloodshed and almost certain defeat. But Haakon and his government were determined Norway would not collaborate with the Nazis.
His broadcasts from Britain reminded Norwegians to keep their values and his moral fortitude cheered them, just as he was cheered by the defiance of the greater part of the Norwegian people.
Rather than saying 'when we win the war', he spoke of the day he would 'come home'. Loyalty to their constitutional monarch provided the focus for the Norwegian resistance.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
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