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WARSAW, Poland (AP) – A massive fire that destroyed a large shopping center in Warsaw last year was the result of arson ordered by Russian intelligence services, Polish officials said Sunday on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the blaze. The fire broke out May 12, 2024, in the Marywilska 44 shopping that housed some 1,400 shops and service points. Many of the vendors were from Vietnam, and it inflicted tragedy on many in Warsaw’s Vietnamese community. “We now know for certain that the massive fire on Marywilska was the result of arson commissioned by Russian services,” Prime Minister...

Throughout Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, repeated and escalating warnings of the potential for a wider war have only raised fears in the Baltic states that they could be next in the crosshairs of the Kremlin. Talk about a potential Russian invasion is "very common at parties, gatherings, lunch breaks, water cooler talk," Gabija Stasiukyne, a 32-year-old living in Vilnius, told the Kyiv Independent. "It’s everywhere. The conversation inevitably turns in the direction of — what are you going to do?" Lithuania's government is also taking the threat seriously — the country reinstated conscription in 2015, and Vilnius in January...

Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (file photo) Serving as president of Estonia between 2006 and 2016, and foreign minister before that, Toomas Hendrik Ilves has always been an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin's Russia. Speaking by Zoom from Estonia, Ilves pours water on the idea of negotiating with Russia and says that Georgia's position on the war in Ukraine is "absolutely despicable." RFE/RL: There are many people who think that the roots of what is going on now in Ukraine, and what happened in Georgia in 2008, go back to the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest and the refusal...

Berlin (dpa) - Russia intends to test Western unity, especially with regard to NATO's collective defence clause, according to Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany's BND intelligence service. In an interview with Deutsche Welle broadcaster, he said Russia was considering testing the reliability of NATO's Article 5, which states that an attack on one ally must be treated as an attack on all. .... "It is also possible that a concrete threat or blackmail attempt from Russia against Europeans could occur earlier than previously calculated," Kahl said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has suggested that NATO’s Article 5 collective security protections be extended to Ukraine, without offering it full membership in the Alliance. She made this statement while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the EU leaders' meeting in Brussels. "Clearly, the main issue is peace in Ukraine, and I believe we must all do everything we can to support the peace process, welcoming the U.S. initiative and those working towards peace. However, a just peace requires clear security guarantees," Meloni stated.

A British Army officer turned MP has warned NATO’s Article 5 is “effectively dead” and says Europe needs to form its own alliance without the US. Lib Dem MP Mike Martin, who sits on the Defence Committee, says the Government needs to reconsider its faith in Article 5 - the cornerstone of NATO security. The Afghanistan veteran says Europe must develop its own collective alliance, dubbed EATO, led by Britain or France as the continent’s two sole nuclear powers. He told the Express: “What I would like to see is a serious assessment as to whether they [the Government] think...

Guest Opinion. On June 15 of this year, Cherokee Nation voters will have an opportunity to call for a review of our entire Constitution, and potentially change it. The decision is consequential. The Constitution of the Cherokee Nation, adopted by a convention of citizens in 1999 and fully implemented in 2003, requires elected officials to work together to periodically place a single question before the voters: Should we convene a convention to review and possibly change the Constitution? A “yes” vote on June 15 means you want the entire Constitution reviewed and potentially changed at a convention. That rewritten Constitution...

Moscow nearly triggered a collective response from NATO by firing a missile that reportedly struck close to a convoy transporting the Greek prime minister and Ukraine's president, former U.S. representative Adam Kinzinger has said.The Illinois Republican was responding to reports of the proximity of a Russian missile strike to Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Volodymr Zelensky on Wednesday when they met in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

Use it or lose it. Article V opponents believe America is too corrupt to be trusted with a Convention of the States. They believe We The People fulfilled Ben Franklin’s fears and are no longer fit for self-government. If true, it also means we don’t have any business voting.Thanks to our collective failure to demand Article V Conventions of the States when necessary, We The People slowly, over decades, relinquished our sovereign authority to Scotus.I challenge anyone to explain the practical limits of the Supreme Court of the United States. On paper our system provides mutual checks, but what of...

@RandPaul Today I offered an amendment to the NDAA that would have clarified that Article 5 of the NATO treaty does not supersede the constitution. It should have been an easy vote to affirm the Constitution, to vote against affirming the Constitution actually places doubt in the Constitution. But it was defeated 83-16. The power to declare war is the most important power and the most important vote that any legislator will ever entertain. See how your senator voted: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/118-2023/s191

Russia-Poland strike: 'The stakes are really high', says General Sir Richard Barrons Sky News

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy facilities Tuesday with its biggest barrage of missiles yet, striking targets across the country and causing widespread blackouts. A senior U.S. intelligence official said missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, where two people were killed. A second person confirmed to The Associated Press that apparent Russian missiles struck a site in Poland about 15 miles from the Ukrainian border.

@RepThomasMassie There will be much discussion of NATO Article 5 today, but few will mention Article 11, because it exposes the lie that Article 5 itself can obligate the US to war. Article 11 shows Article 5 does not preempt the Constitutional requirement that the full Congress votes on war.

MOSCOW, June 22 (Reuters) - A top Russian official warned the West on Wednesday to stop talking about triggering NATO's "Article 5" mutual defence clause in a standoff between Lithuania and Russia. Moscow has promised practical retaliation that will affect Lithuania's population after the Baltic state blocked the transit of goods subject to EU sanctions from Russia to its Baltic exclave. "I would like to warn Europeans against dangerous rhetorical games on the topic of conflict," the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday.

Putin's regime branded Latvia a 'neo-Nazi' state in a chilling echo of Moscow's threats to Ukraine after the Baltic state made May 9 a day of remembrance for victims of Russian aggression. In an extraordinary rant, Moscow called Riga's decision to commemorate Ukrainian war victims next month - on the same day as Russia's Victory Day to mark the surrender of Nazi Germany - 'blasphemous'. Latvian MPs passed the legislation to draw attention to ' Russia's military aggression'. Latvian national flags will be raised alongside Ukrainian flags at every residence and government building. According to Kremlin-backed media, Russian Foreign Ministry...

President Biden on Saturday sought to reassure Polish President Andrzej Duda that NATO would respond in lockstep if Russia expands its war beyond Ukraine and launches an attack on Poland. Mr. Biden underscored the U.S. commitment to Article 5 of the NATO charter, which spells out that an attack on one member of the alliance must be met with a collective response from all the members. The comments come amid fears that Russia could expand its aggression into Poland, which is a member of the 27-country NATO alliance.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A House committee approved a bill Tuesday that would add South Carolina to a list of states calling for a convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The 14-8 vote in the House Judiciary Committee came after arguments from Black lawmakers who fear the open-ended process never used since the Constitution's ratification in 1788 could remove amendments that ended slavery and secured African American voting rights and citizenship. A conservative lawmaker suggested religious protections and gun rights could be at stake. The bill would allow South Carolina to join calls for a constitutional convention, limiting...

Mark Meckler, the new interim CEO of Parler, currently supports a Convention of States that could give George Soros and other interests the power to rewrite the Constitution. Meckler, who was appointed as interim CEO of Parler following the removal of founder John Matze, currently runs the Convention of States Project, a supposed “grassroots” organization pushing for a convention under Article V of the Constitution. The project describes itself as a “national effort to call a convention under Article V of the United States Constitution, restricted to proposing amendments that will impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its...

After the past few weeks follies by the House, it might be time to get an amendment passed to protect the Executive branch from bogus activities and hold those who perpetuate them accountable for their actions.

SALT LAKE CITY — It's official: Utah's game. The Utah House of Representatives in a late 42-32 vote Tuesday night gave final approval to a joint resolution calling for a convention to consider amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The resolution, which does not need approval from Gov. Gary Herbert, adds Utah to the list of states seeking to convene a convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution to address what the resolution's House sponsor, Rep. Merrill Nelson, called a "broken" federal government. "The checks and balances in our Constitution have been stretched and broken," said Nelson, R-Grantsville. "All three...