2022-02-28: News Headlines

Kyle Anzalone (2022-02-28). US, Allies Ban Russian Banks From SWIFT, Crypto Maybe Next Target. news.antiwar.com The US has joined Canada, the EU and UK in barring some Russians from the international money transfer system, SWIFT. The move is the most serious round of sanctions yet from Western nations over Russia's actions in Ukraine, with Ross Delston, a U.S. lawyer and former banking regulator, calling it "the closest thing to a …

Anonymous103 (2022-02-28). War In Ukraine Day 4: Hard Battles In The Cities. International Situation Deteriorating (Videos, Photos, 18 +). southfront.org On February 27, the Ukrainian military began mass use of phosphorus-filled ammunition in Kiev's suburbs near the Gostomel airfield. According…

Antonio C.S. Rosa (2022-02-28). The Situation in Russia and Ukraine — Why Is Ukraine the West's Fault? transcend.org John J. Mearsheimer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago since 1982. He graduated from West Point in 1970 and then served five years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. In 2020 he won the James Madison Award from the American Political Science Association to "an American political scientist who has made a distinguished scholarly contribution to political science."

Anonymous103 (2022-02-28). Russia out of Swift, The "Nuclear" Financial Option That Risks Collapsing The World Economy. southfront.org Click to see full-size image | Written by Piero Messina | There is the war that is fought on the ground and there is the war that is fought with international finance weapons. Financially, Europe and the United States have a nuclear option. They used it: to oust the Russian Central Bank from Swift transactions. | But what is the Swift? It is an acronym that stands for "Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications": it is a Belgian messaging platform that connects thousands of financial institutions fro…

Staff (2022-02-28). Putin Puts Russian Nuclear Forces on High Alert as Resistance to Ukraine Invasion Grows. democracynow.org Following a wave of peace rallies held across the globe this weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to diplomatic talks with Russia. This comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin placed Russia's nuclear forces on high alert on Sunday, citing increasingly tightened international sanctions. We speak with Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, who says it's not clear whether Putin is using a nuclear threat to topple the Ukrainian government or pressure them into a deal. Lieven also speaks about Belarus's support of the Russian invasion…

Anonymous349 (2022-02-28). Russian Forces Take Control Of Energodar City, Declare Air Dominance (Videos). southfront.org Click to see the full-size image | The peace enforcement operation in Ukraine entered its fifth day. Russian forces have been developing their operational success in the southern, northern and eastern sectors amid strong resistance of the Kiev regime forces near Kharkov, Sumy and Mariupol. | In the morning of February 28, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian forces have liberated the towns of Energodar and Berdyansk in Zaporizhzhie Region. | According to the released statement, Russian military aviation control…

Antonio C.S. Rosa (2022-02-28). Ukraine versus Iraq — Humanitarian Intervention versus Invasion? transcend.org 25 Feb 2022 – Russian "Peacekeeping" or another "Forever War" – With the emphasis so emphatically placed on "invasion", little is said of the possibility of "humanitarian intervention" — let alone of the meaning of any form of "promise" not to invade.

CODEPINK, Pivot to Peace (2022-02-28). Sunday 2/27: The Shanghai Communiqué: Key to Peace Webinar. indybay.org Online event (FREE)…

Moderator (2022-02-28). Hedges: The Greatest Evil Is War. scheerpost.com Natali Sevriukova reacts next to her house following a rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) |
| By Chris Hedges / Original to ScheerPost | Preemptive war, whether in Iraq or Ukraine, is a war crime. It does not matter if the war is launched on the basis of lies and fabrications, as was the case in Iraq, or because of the breaking of a series of agreements with Russia, including the promise by Washington not to extend NATO beyond the borders of a unified Germany, not to deploy thousands of NATO troops in Eastern Europe, not to meddle in the internal affairs of…

Antonio C.S. Rosa (2022-02-28). Did the U.S. and NATO Promise Not to Threaten Russia by Moving the Military Forces of NATO to Its Borders? transcend.org 22 Feb 2022 – We continue to be threatened by the culture of war, which, as usual in recent history, is monopolized by the nation states.

WSWS (2022-02-28). UK workers and youth speak in support of "Fight Covid! Save lives! Stop the drive to World War III !" webinar. wsws.org "Everyone should condemn the war against Ukraine while opposing the NATO contribution to the current war. All the mainstream media are trying to rally people into a bloody war with Russia, which could be catastrophic for the entire planet."

Cynthia Papermaster (2022-02-28). Thursday 3/3: No War with Russia/No NATO Expansion/Fund Communities, Not War. indybay.org I-80 Pedestrian Overpass, Berkeley, foot of University Ave.

sputniknews (2022-02-28). Sweden, Finland Inching Closer Toward NATO Amid Russia's Ukraine Op, Poll Shows. sputniknews.com Both Finland and Sweden have maintained a lively collaboration with the North Atlantic alliance through joint drills and overseas operations while retaining their formal non-alignment.

Antonio C.S. Rosa (2022-02-28). US, UK, France Promised USSR Not to Expand NATO East of Germany, Newly Discovered Document Proves. transcend.org 21 Feb 2022 – A newly discovered document provides more evidence that Western governments broke their promise not to expand NATO eastward after German reunification. Notes from a 1991 meeting prove that the US, UK, France, and Germany assured the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand east.

WSWS (2022-02-28). Conflict between US-NATO and Russia over Ukraine threatens nuclear war. wsws.org Sixty years after the Cuban Missile crisis, the war in Ukraine has brought the world to the point where the exchange of nuclear weapons is a real possibility.

Edward Curtin (2022-02-28). U.S./NATO is in the Grip of a Daemonic Death Wish and the Entire World is Threatened. dissidentvoice.org Not wanting to sound hyperbolic, but I am starting to conclude that the nuclear madmen running the U.S./NATO New Cold War they started decades ago are itching to start a nuclear war with Russia. Their hypocrisy and nihilistic thirst for death and destruction are so extreme that it boggles my mind. They accuse Russia of …

Fight Back (2022-02-28). Activist explains why anti-war movement wants U.S. out of Ukraine. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – Fight Back! News interviewed Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a founding member of the MN Anti-War Committee, on February 27 for her anti-war perspective on the crisis in the Ukraine and the proxy war developing between the U.S./NATO and Russia. | Fight Back!: Why should Americans join with the anti-war movement right now? | Meredith Aby-Keirstead: This is a critical time to stop the U.S. as it fans the flames of war. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress want to send more weapons and more military support to Ukraine, which would be like pouring gasoline on this fire. Not only would it kill any dipl…

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (2022-02-28). Foreign Agents Designation Causes Media Cold War. fair.org The US government in 2020 declared five Chinese media entities to be "not independent news organizations" but rather "effectively controlled by the [Chinese] government" (Politico, Most nations have some form of state media. These days, it's pretty easy for Americans to access any number of foreign state media outlets, and many of them have journalists covering US affairs. Some of those journalists must register as "foreign agents" with the US government. But others don't have to—a distinction that h…

Ali Abunimah (2022-02-28). Ukraine, Palestine and the propaganda of war. electronicintifada.net Western publics are being primed for another bloody calamity.

Anonymous103 (2022-02-28). War In Ukraine, The West's Propaganda War Is The End Of Democracy. southfront.org Tianjin explosion in China | Written by Piero Messina | Vladimir Putin has become "Putler", something halfway between Putin and Hitler. For the less aggressive, the Russian president is Vlad the Mad. "There has never been a genocide against the pro-Russian populations in Donbass. Nazi formations do not exist and have never existed in Ukraine and there has been no massacre in Odessa. Putin threatens the world and must be stopped." Western media is treating the Ukrainian crisis as if it were selling soap bars w…

sputniknews (2022-02-28). SAG Awards 2022: Popular Korean Show 'Squid Game' Actors Lee Jung Jae, Jung Ho Yeon Win Top Honours. sputniknews.com The popular Korean survival thriller 'Squid Game' is touted as one of the most-watched non-English language shows on Netflix, starring Lee Jung-Jae, Jung Ho-Yeon and others. Directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, the series revolves around cash-strapped contestants who play children's games with deadly consequences in a bid to win 45.6 billion won ($38 mln).

Staff (2022-02-28). Bill McKibben on Dire IPCC Climate Report & How Oil and Gas Are Fueling Putin's Ukraine Invasion. democracynow.org We speak with climate author, journalist and movement leader Bill McKibben upon the release of the highly anticipated U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022 report, which finds the impacts of the climate crisis are already worse than predicted, driving poverty, hunger, disease and species extinction. McKibben also speaks about how global dependency on oil and gas empowers autocrats like President Vladimir Putin and is helping fuel the Russian war in Ukraine. Renewable energy could help defeat fascism and deter some of "the worst people on Earth" if deployed at scale, he says.

WSWS (2022-02-28). South Korean presidential candidates stoke anti-Chinese sentiment. wsws.org Both of the main candidates in the March election are attempting to prepare the country for conflict while projecting social tensions outwards.

teleSUR (2022-02-28). Russia-Ukraine War Threatens Import-Depending African Economies. telesurenglish.net Last week, the Renaissance Capital Investment Bank Economist Director Charlie Robertson warned that the Ukraine-Russian war will severely impact African countries that depend on food imports from Europe. | RELATED: | "Africa keeps centuries-old ties with Western countries," Robertson said, stressing that this continent imported US$6.9 billion in agricultural products from Russia and Ukraine in 2020. | He considered that the g…

sputniknews (2022-02-28). Russian Air Forces Dominate Airspace Over Ukraine, MoD Says. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian warplanes dominate the airspace over the entire territory of Ukraine, Russian defence ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Monday.

David Swanson (2022-02-28). RAND Corporation Urged Creation of the Horrors You're Seeing in Ukraine. warisacrime.org By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 28, 2022 In 2019, the RAND Corporation tentacle of the U.S. Military Industrial Congressional "Intelligence" Media Academic "Think" Tank Complex published a report claiming to have "conducted a qualitative assessment of 'cost-imposing options' that could unbalance and overextend Russia." Here was one of the "cost-imposing options," one that …

Antonio C.S. Rosa (2022-02-28). War Propaganda about Ukraine Becoming More Militaristic, Authoritarian, and Reckless. transcend.org 27 Feb 2022 – Every useful or pleasing claim about the war, no matter how unverified or subsequently debunked, rapidly spreads, while dissenters are vilified as traitors or Kremlin agents.

Antonio C.S. Rosa (2022-02-28). Leak Exposes Ericsson's Secret Dealings with ISIS amid Iraq Corruption Spree. transcend.org 27 Feb 2022 – The embattled Swedish telecom giant concealed years of bribery and fraud in the war-torn nation and grappled with undisclosed corruption allegations in more than a dozen other countries.

UFCLP (2022-02-28). Saturday 2/26: United Fronts, The Working Class & The War In Ukraine- How To Defend Working People. indybay.org To join the panel: | us02web.zoom.us/j/81903904446?pwd=bG5XR0JjU2V4YnpvemFBVThMRjVRUT09

sputniknews (2022-02-28). Israel is Getting Pricier and Tweeps Blame Government for Sitting Idle. sputniknews.com Recent months have seen a spike in the price of basic food products, electricity bills and fuel in Israel. Although the country has put forward a plan that aimed to tackle those issues, critics have already called it useless and argued it didn't solve the core of the problem, namely the country's monopolies.

Tom Engelhardt (2022-02-28). Tomgram: Liz Theoharis, Poverty is the Sin, Not Poor People. warisacrime.org This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. Yes, there had been rich American presidents before, but never a billionaire. And it wasn't a mistake either that this country — already in a nosedive of inequality — elected Donald Trump president in 2016 (though who knows …

José Manuel Blanco Diaz (2022-02-28). 33 Years After the People's Uprising: Venezuelan Renowned 'Frasso' Remembers the 'Caracazo' (+Maduro & Padrino). orinocotribune.com 33 years after the popular rebellion of the Caracazo, journalist and photographer Francisco "Frasso" Solórzano evoked moments that he lived as a Venezuelan, in the front lines of battle as a reporter covering the events of February 26-28, 1989. | Frasso spoke with journalist Ernesto Villegas in an interview that had the Caracazo as the central topic. There he recounted how during those hours he had to portray dozens of trucks full of the corpses of victims of the insurrection, that in those days rose up against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) package promoted by then president Carlos Andrés Pérez from the D…

sputniknews (2022-02-27). Kiev Backtracks on Peace Talks in Gomel After Russian Delegation Arrives in Belarus. sputniknews.com Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks earlier this week, but as soon as Russia agreed, Kiev broke off contact. Later, the Kremlin revealed that Putin had ordered a temporary halt to the Russian military operation in Ukraine in anticipation of talks, but Kiev had refused to negotiate.

Anonymous349 (2022-02-27). Day 4 Of War In Ukraine Started: Russian Troops Are In Kharkov City. Cruise Missiles Pound Regime Forces (Video). southfront.org The Fourth Day of the Russian peace enforcement operation in Ukraine started. In the morning of February 27, Russian forces…

Staff (2022-02-27). Donetsk and Lugansk: The Role of NATO and the US Strategy. orinocotribune.com By Rubén Ramos — Feb 23, 2022 | The attack on Donetsk and Lugansk is part of a US plan to apply heavy sanctions, together with its European vassals, on Russia, by accusing it of wanting to annex Ukraine. This would hamper Russia's current economic plan, its ground and space technology development, and its self-defense strategy. | While the United States and its European "vassal states" have denied the geopolitical validity of the "Security Guarantees" peace proposal presented by Russia in December 2021, those very same countries have sent mercenaries and illegal armament to the Donbas region to attack the i…

Andrew Korybko (2022-02-27). President Putin Didn't Spark World War III, he Just Averted it! orinocotribune.com By Andrew Korybko — Feb 24, 2022 | A much larger war that could dangerously escalate into World War III was averted by Russia's preemptive special operation in Ukraine aimed at neutralizing the US and NATO's latent, imminent, and hot threats emanating from that country. This makes Moscow's military mission truly a peacemaking one since the Eurasian Great Power responsibly sought to prevent World War III, not spark it. Russia truly had no choice but to act now. | The US-led Western Mainstream Media's latest information warfare narrative against Russia is that President Putin just sparked World War III, but th…

David Swanson (2022-02-27). Solidarity Between U.S. and Russian Peace Activists. warisacrime.org By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 27, 2022 War is fairly well known for killing, injuring, traumatizing, destroying, and rendering homeless. It's somewhat well known for diverting massive resources from urgent needs, preventing global cooperation on pressing emergencies, damaging the environment, eroding civil liberties, justifying government secrecy, corroding culture, fueling bigotry, weakening the rule …

Peoples Dispatch (2022-02-27). US and NATO are threats to global peace. peoplesdispatch.org The world is already bearing witness to the grim reality of unrestrained military buildup and warmongering attitudes embodied by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In June, NATO will host its In the lead-up to this sum…

ecns.cn (2022-02-27). China to seek political settlement of Ukraine issue: FM spokesperson. ecns.cn China has always stood on the side of peace and justice and will continue to promote a political settlement of the Ukraine issue, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

Zach Farber (2022-02-27). Dozens turn out to hear anti-war activist Juliana Musheyev speak against war with Russia. liberationnews.org On Feb. 25 nearly 40 people, including CBS 8 news, gathered at the San Diego Justice Center for a community forum about NATO expansion and aggression since the alliance's inception.

Fight Back (2022-02-27). Minneapolis protest calls for U.S. de-escalation in Ukraine. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – On February 24, around 30 people demonstrated outside U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar's office in downtown Minneapolis with signs and banners calling for no war with Russia and an end to U.S. intervention in Ukraine. Held less than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine, the protest came amidst a jingoistic frenzy of calls by Western governments and media for actions against Russia. | Protesters emphasized the role that the U.S. and NATO played for years in escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia. In 2014, the elected Ukrainian government was overth…

Editor2 (2022-02-27). Barack Obama's Father Identified as CIA Asset in US Drive to 'Recolonize' Africa During Early Days of the Cold War. orinocotribune.com By Gerald Horne — Feb 10, 2022 | Over the last decade, the U.S. has been quietly expanding its covert intelligence empire in Africa as part of a growing geopolitical rivalry with China. | A new book published by Susan Williams, entitled

sputniknews (2022-02-27). How Western Press Has Kept Silent For Years on War in Donbass & Neo-Nazism in Ukraine. sputniknews.com Russia on 24 February launched a "special operation" in Donbass aimed at protecting Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), which were recognised as independent entities by Moscow on 21 February. The Western media called the operation "an invasion" they have long warned about.

_____ (2022-02-27). NATO's Atlantic Council Promoted Ukraine's Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. popularresistance.org The NATO military alliance's de facto think tank, the Atlantic Council, promoted a notorious neo-Nazi militia in Ukraine, the Azov Battalion, in a 2014 article that depicted the fascist extremists as anti-Russian heroes. | The Atlantic Council is one of the most powerful think tanks in Washington. With funding from the US State Department, numerous Western governments, NATO, and the weapons industry, it plays a key role in shaping US foreign policy, particularly toward Russia. | The Atlantic Council published a report in June 2014 titled "The Battle For Mariupol." It was little more than a press release for Azov,…

Benjamin Norton (2022-02-27). US gov't knew NATO expansion to Ukraine would force Russia to intervene. multipolarista.com Former US Ambassador to Russia William J. Burns, who is now CIA director, admitted in a classified 2008 embassy cable that NATO expansion to Ukraine crosses Moscow's security "redlines" and "could potentially split the country in two, leading to violence or even, some claim, civil war, which would force Russia to decide whether to intervene."

_____ (2022-02-27). Why Russia Wanted Security Guarantees From the West. strategic-culture.org Despite promises made to Gorbachev at the end of the Cold War, NATO has incorporated almost all of former Soviet allies establishing its military facilities along Russia's border. NATO forces have encircled the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, home to Russia's only ice-free port on the Baltic Sea. In addititon, the West has instigated "color revolutions" in the former Soviet republics targeting Russia-friendly regimes. Still, the West refuses to recognize Russia's security concerns as legitimate.

Benjamin Norton (2022-02-27). US sanctions on Russia over Ukraine also target Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba. multipolarista.com President Joe Biden's top Latin America advisor, Juan S. Gonzalez, admitted that US sanctions against Russia aim to hurt Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba as well. The three socialist governments condemned NATO aggression for creating the crisis in Ukraine.

Dave DeCamp (2022-02-27). Putin Orders Nuclear Forces on High Alert, Cites Western Sanctions. news.antiwar.com Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered Russia's nuclear forces to be put on "special" alert in response to Western sanctions and what he said were "aggressive statements" made by NATO countries. "Top officials in NATO's leading countries have been making aggressive statements against our country. For this reason, I give orders to the defense …

_____ (2022-02-27). On Contact: Race And America's Long War. popularresistance.org The internal violence in the United States, militarized police, and the largest prison system in the world, along with America's endemic racism, are mirrored in the foreign wars that have been fought almost continuously by the United States since the end of the 19th century. These inner and outer wars, argues historian Nikhil Pal Singh, are intimately connected. The gunning down of unarmed black people in American cities is expressed outside our borders in the gunning down of unarmed Muslims in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia, often by militarized drones. The prison-industrial-complex at home…

_____ (2022-02-27). 'The War In Ukraine': Watchdog Media Institute's 22-Part Video Series. popularresistance.org Produced and presented by the Watchdog Media Institute, here is a chronological archive of events in Ukraine from the beginning of the Euromaidan protests in November 2013 to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014. Hundreds of various sources are presented without commentary and in context, allowing the viewer to adequately interpret the information themselves. Research & Editing by: Chris Nolan. Subtitles by: Angelina Siard & Ollie Richardson. This video series presents an invaluable background to the beginnings of the war in Ukraine that eventually led to the Russian intervention on T…

2022-02-28 19:29 | 21:29 EST | jz | 53 | 0 | 18 | 32 | 0