Author: Steven Sahiounie

Canberra alleges that its P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft was targeted by a laser from a Chinese navy vessel in the Arafura Sea on 17 February. The sea is located off Australia’s northern coast, between its Northern Territory and the Indonesian province of Papua. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has rejected Australia’s accusation that a Navy vessel belonging to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA-N) aimed a laser at a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) plane last week. Responding to Canberra’s accusations, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing on Monday that Canberra’s charge didn’t “square with facts”. Wang also urged Australia…

Last week, the lower house of Russian parliament sent an appeal to Vladimir Putin asking him to recognise the Donbass breakaways as independent countries. However, in his talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last Tuesday, the Russian president said he felt the potential of the Minsk Agreements has not yet been exhausted. Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, have appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to recognise their status as independent nations. “In the interests of determining our international legal standing and, as a result, the possibility for full-fledged…

The symbolic gesture comes as a sanctions bill against Russia has failed to make progress The US Senate has published a bipartisan but nonbinding statement expressing support for Ukraine and warning Russia not to invade the Eastern European nation, days after proposed legislation that would have sanctioned Moscow in the event of an attack hit an impasse. Lawmakers signed off on the resolution on Thursday, writing that the Senate “commends the courage, resolve, and restraint shown by the Ukrainian people in their pursuit of sovereignty and democracy, and pays tribute to the many men and women who gave their lives in…

Moscow says it has repelled an armed border incursion Ukraine has denied a Russian claim that five of its service personnel were killed on Monday during a firefight near the two countries shared border. Kiev added that none of its forces have a presence in Russia’s Rostov region, dismissing Moscow’s assertion as “fake news.” “I reiterate that the Ukrainian armed forces have not attacked Donetsk and Lugansk, have not sent saboteurs or APCs across the border, have not shelled Russia’s territory or its border checkpoint. All of these are the products of Russia’s fake factory,” Ukrainian military spokesman Pavlo Kovalchuk told reporters.…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The western media is bombarding us with threats of imminent war, even giving out deadlines for when the invasion of Ukraine is to begin. NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg appears mild-mannered and quietly wonders out loud why Russian President Putin would think that NATO could be a threat to Russia. NATO has been in numerous wars in Europe, Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq. They were not protecting member states from attack, but on the offense and instigating conflicts far from Europe and the North Atlantic. The first NATO attack was on Bosnia in 1995 involving 400…

Moscow says its forces also destroyed two armored personnel carriers Russia’s armed forces have reported that its troops opened fire on a “Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group” that attempted to cross into the country, killing five servicemen and destroying their vehicles. In a statement issued on Monday, military chiefs said that “a unit of the Southern Military District, alongside a border patrol by the Russian Federal Security Service, prevented a sabotage and reconnaissance group from violating the Russian state border from the territory of Ukraine.” Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and no Russian servicemen were injured during the firefight, they reported. The ministry…

Ukrainian forces shelled multiple settlements overnight in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in Ukraine’s southeast, according to the DPR mission to the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination on the ceasefire regime (JCCC). The Ukrainian forces attempted to attack the positions of the People’s Militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), but suffered losses and retreated, the people’s police of the LPR said on Sunday. “At around 5 am on 20 February, fighters of the 79th Airborne Assault Brigade made an attempt to attack the positions of the People’s Militia in the area of the settlement of Pionerskoye, crossing…

Western officials and media have spent months accusing Russia of preparing to “invade” Ukraine, recently claiming that the incursion would start on 16 February. Instead of Russian aggression, the past several days have witnessed a dramatic deterioration of the security situation in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine, which is wracked by civil war. Russia has no plans to invade anyone, and given its history is the last country in Europe which wants to even speak the word “war,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov has said. “We are calling for reason. We are urging [the West] to ask itself the question: What…

The incident reportedly occurred amid a flare-up between Kiev and two of Ukraine’s breakaway regions A local TV channel operating in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine said on Sunday that its reporters came under fire amid an ongoing military escalation between Donbass rebels and Kiev. Union TV, which is run by the local authorities, said the incident occurred in the village of Sakhanka in the rebel-held area. The channel’s head, Nikolay Cherkashin, said reporters managed to escape unharmed. Nor did it provide any video or picture evidence of the alleged incident. The channel also didn’t say where…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Riad Salameh is splitting Lebanon into those who defend him, and those who demand he leave his job as governor of the central bank of Lebanon, Banque du Liban (BDL). France, Germany, Switzerland and Luxemburg have all sent letters to Beirut requesting information on the personal finances of Salameh, which support the credible accusations of money laundering and fraud. Salameh has been on the job for 30 years and holds the secrets of the state, as well as secrets of the political elite who stand accused by the public for the economic meltdown which…