A Deliberately Forgotten Episode in Ukraine

https://consortiumnews.com/2025/05/04/how-bob-parry-covered-odessa-fire-that-sparked-a-war/

This is not only a mostly forgotten episode but one crucial to understand the complex of events and motives that led to Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This is not to justify Putin's actions. Rather the story in this case is the need for harsh condemnation of Western media which refused to seriously cover this event (and similar stories) and revisit them during the lead up to Putin's invasion. To this day, the statements of his government have never been taken seriously and when sound bytes are played or recounted out of context the purpose is to suggest he's either insane or simply absurd.

The Weapons that Keep Killing Long After the Battlefield Falls Silent

https://theworld.org/segments/2025/03/28/study-high-levels-of-uranium-and-lead-found-in-bones-of-iraqis-linked-to-conflict

As expected PRI's The World didn't go very deep in covering this story but to be honest I was surprised it was mentioned at all. The programme is informative but not exactly adversarial. The story of Depleted Uranium and its connections to cancer occasionally pops up in the media but the Establishment has made every effort to discount and dismiss the question.

Wikileaks, Internews, and USAID

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/wikileaks-reveals-us-spent-4726m-to-promote-covert-censorship-media-control-through-ngo/3476741

This linked article comes from a Turkish news source. As expected this Wikileaks revelation isn't getting a lot of coverage in the West.

Some are happy to see USAID collapse because of it ties to US intelligence operations. The article (in the AKP-aligned news outlet) mentions Soros and yet a closer read of the historical record reveals that far from being some agent of Internationalist Globalism or Socialism, George Soros was one of the American Empire's 'point' men in the 1980's and 1990's in Eastern Europe. As soon as the Berlin Wall came down, the US sought to consolidate power in Eastern Europe and worked with Soros and many others to subvert politics, create political parties, and spread money around to quickly shift the former Warsaw Pact nations into the EU and NATO. It was highly successful and played no small role in today's tensions with Moscow.

Coveting Serbia's Lithium

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3274031/thousands-protest-lithium-mining-serbia-officials-call-it-coup-plot?module=top_story&pgtype=subsection

This author and many others have been writing for years about the tug-of-war in Serbia. The Atlanticist plan in the 1990's was to break up Serb-dominated Yugoslavia and bring all the pieces into the EU and NATO orbit. This largely succeeded except with Serbia itself which remains outside the bloc and friendly to its historical ally in Moscow.

Kosovo, Serbia and the Balkan Game in the Age of Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/20/kosovan-acting-pm-accuses-trump-envoy-of-meddling

Kosovo sometimes referred to as the Fifty-First state of the United States was from the beginning an American creation. It was part of Washington's project to consolidate the power of NATO in the aftermath of the Cold War.

Brussels is not Being Idle: The EU, Albania and Macedonia

https://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/opinion/albania-and-macedonia-a-ray-of-hope-and-a-warning-for-balkans/

Despite all its woes the EU is looking to expand. The only countries left within the European orbit that aren't part of the EU are countries like Norway and Switzerland which have no interest in joining, nations like Ukraine and maybe Georgia which are riddled with controversy, states like Belarus and Moldova which are hostile to Brussels and the handful of Balkan nations which are a source of contention.

Further Troubles for EU Solidarity: Italy and Slovenia

A new Right-wing government has taken over in Italy. A coalition between the Five Star Movement (M5S) and Lega (formerly the Northern League) has swept a largely anti-EU group into power and you can be sure the folks in Brussels and Berlin are not happy.

An Army for Kosovo

https://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/news/belgrade-and-washington-have-differing-views-on-kosovo-army/

Of course Washington and Belgrade have different views on whether or not Kosovo should have its own army. Serbia is but one of many nations that have refused to recognise the 2008 Washington created Pristina regime. Though the Western public has moved on, not everyone accepts the results of NATO's wars against the Serbs.

The Simmering Balkans

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/tensions-in-the-balkans-rising-as-promise-of-eu-future-fades-a-1154499.html

A fascinating article as are all things Balkan.

But as is often the case it's only hinting at larger truths... the KLA/UÇK was from the beginning a CIA (via the German BND) backed operation. The state of Kosovo is in particular a US project and proxy. But in a wider circle the US is utilising an informal alliance with Albanian Nationalism which affects not only Kosovo, but Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.

Macedonia: The Balkan Trap

http://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/macedonias-political-crisis-takes-ethnic-turn/

http://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/macedonian-president-warns-eu-nato-of-albanian-meddling/

Albania insists it has a right and obligation to pursue the interests of ethnic Albanians in neighbouring countries. In other words the NATO-proxy says it has the right to meddle.

The Montenegrin Microcosm

There were reports that numerous websites associated Montenegrin politics were hacked today and the suggestion was that Russia was probably behind it. Montenegro is yet another Balkan country caught in the middle of Cold War II. It's a battlefield in miniature. Historically and culturally the Eastern Orthodox Slavic peoples of the region have looked toward Russia but post-1991 NATO and the EU have been determined to 'scoop up' every last nation of the former Warsaw Pact into their orbit.

The Brexit and the Balkans

This is an important but missed story related to the Brexit and the status of the EU. As Brussels is in a state of semi-turmoil, negotiations surrounding EU membership for Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia will certainly be delayed if not thrown into question. This is despite public assurances to the contrary.

International Courts: Rigged Justice

All forms of Nationalism are hideous, all ultimately lead to war and death on a massive scale. Nationalism creates its own ethic and justifies behaviours that otherwise would be viewed as immoral. Essentially as an '–ism', it represents a worldview, a philosophical system with its own metaphysic, epistemology and ethic. It's a religion and thus idolatrous.