Author: Steven Sahiounie

Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN has stated that the foreign presence within Ukrainian forces was a fact long before Poland revealed it. Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, coined foreign troops’ presence in Ukraine an ‘open secret’ that was dubbed a fact before the Polish foreign minister revealed the deployment of NATO forces in Kiev. In a statement for Sputnik, Polyansky said “It’s an open secret that Western military personnel are present in Ukraine. We know not only through the Polish foreign minister but other sources.” He also further supported his statement by referencing the leaked conversation between German…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved plans for a military attack on the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, the last major population center to be subjected to a ground invasion in the regime’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian territory. Netanyahu’s office announced in a statement on Friday that he “approved plans for a military operation in Rafah, and the army is operationally preparing for it and for the evacuation of residents.” The statement provided no details on the exact time and date of the assault, and rejected the latest ceasefire proposal put forward by the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance…

The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, Joseph Borrell, congratulated Mohammed Mustafa on his appointment as the new Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, at this critical moment of great suffering for the Palestinian people. “More than ever, the Palestinian people need well-governed institutions that deliver much-needed services in these trying times. We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the new government, including addressing the tragic situation in Gaza, and working on key reforms towards stronger democratic institutions and governance, for the benefit of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza,”…

By: Steven Sahiounie, Journalist and political commentator The carnage and devastation in Gaza is ongoing, but as the world looks at the western most land in Palestine, there are ongoing battles to the east in the Occupied Territory of the West Bank. Tensions flared all of the summer of 2023 in the West Bank, and once the Israeli attacks began in Gaza, the Palestinians of the West Bank were also targeted by Israel and made to suffer because of the Hamas resistance operation in Israel on October 7, even though they are not connected by land. Israel Defense Forces (IDF)…

Moscow’s Western opponents actively tried over the past year to disrupt the Russian presidential election, Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Saturday. “Our opponents stirred up not just a week or a month ago. It seems to me that over the past year they did everything to either disrupt the presidential election or prevent it from being held or distort the conception of the elections in different ways,” the diplomat said. The West has organized misinformation campaigns and influence in the cyber sphere: from spreading the corresponding content to blocking the apps of Russian organizations on digital…

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi deplored the attempts by the Western media outlets to draw the world’s attention away from the crisis in Palestine and Gaza and prevent the Israeli atrocities from being publicized. In a meeting with a group of Iranian media people and officials of news agencies and newspapers, held in Tehran on Thursday, President Raisi decried the role of the Western media outlets in diverting the public opinion of the people of the world away from the events in Palestine and Gaza. “Some media are mercenaries for the United States and the Zionist regime, while censoring the widespread…

The incumbent Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, who is vying for the country’s top office as an independent candidate, has cast his electronic online vote in the presidential election. The published video footage shows Putin walking to a computer in his office, casting his vote and then smiling and waving at the camera. The computer monitor displayed a standard notification for a successfully cast vote. This is not the first time the president used this voting method. In the last few years, Putin cast his vote online during the autumn single election day. This is the first time online voting is…

Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, the Palestinian Prime Minister-designate, is a distinguished economic and political figure, serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the PLO since 2022 and heading its Economic Department. He has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Palestine Investment Fund since 2015. His extensive experience includes high-ranking roles in various international and Arab public and private economic institutions across Palestine, the Arab region, and the United States, focusing on governance, institutional building, development policies, and infrastructure development. He has been instrumental in initiating and managing several significant local and regional investment funds and…

A ship towing a barge loaded with food arrived off Gaza on Friday, witnesses said, as a test run for a new aid route by sea from Cyprus into the devastated Palestinian enclave where famine looms after five months of Israel’s military campaign.The ship, arranged by the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity, is carrying nearly 200 tons of aid to be delivered via a jetty being prepared in Gaza, with a second ship expected to sail soon.There are few details on how the aid delivery and distribution will work once it is ready to unload in Gaza, with UN relief…

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has presented a ceasefire proposal that includes prisoner exchange and delivery of aid to the people in the besieged Gaza Strip. In a statement late on Thursday, Hamas announced that it had handed the new proposal to mediators, Egypt and Qatar. It said that the “comprehensive” plan involves a ceasefire in Gaza, the delivery of aid, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes, and the Israeli military’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. “The rights and concerns of our people shall remain our top priority,” it added. The movement did not announce details of the plan,…