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A shaky-looking Vladimir Putin praised his 'dear friend' President Xi Jinping while he gripped the arms of his chair during the Chinese leader's visit to Moscow today. Putin appeared to be trembling and clutching his seat as he welcomed Xi to the Kremlin today for a three-day visit in a sign that the 70-year-old's health is continuing to deteriorate. The Russian despot said he was willing to discuss Beijing's plan to end the war in Ukraine - a move that has been met with scepticism in Kyiv and the West, with world leaders questioning the real motive behind Beijing's plan...

As the forces of global banking and business seek to create a world economic order that puts China and Russia to the sidelines they have to convince people on the Left and Right to support it. For the Left "Climate Change" is a sucker issue that makes "Progressive" people think they are saving the planet when in reality climate policy is the re-aligning of the world system away from oil (made by Russia) and coal (made and used by China). It is creating a new kind of economic system led by the United States the "Green Economy" is an economy...

President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that Russia, which has already decided to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, could if necessary put intercontinental nuclear missiles there too. In an annual address to lawmakers and government officials, Lukashenko said Moscow's plans to station nuclear arms on the territory of its close ally would help protect Belarus, which he said was under threat from the West. (snip) "I am not trying to intimidate or blackmail anyone. I want to safeguard the Belarusian state and ensure peace for the Belarusian people," Lukashenko said. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that...

Between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed and wounded in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut since it began last summer, Western officials say. The epic nature of the battle is out of all proportion to Bakhmut's strategic significance, they add. But after more than six months of grinding, horrific fighting, the future of Bakhmut still hangs in the balance. Since the fighting began, some 90% of its pre-invasion population has fled.

In a Sunday editorial in the state-owned Global Times, Beijing warned that allowing the country into the alliance—as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested—would lead to an inevitable escalation in the conflict, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to use nuclear arms against the West. While unlikely—U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan stated in a White House press briefing last week that NATO should delay talks on allowing the country into the alliance—the newspaper warned "all European countries will tremble under the shadow of a possible nuclear war" should it take place, and called for the Western alliance to withdraw...

Vladimir Putin appeared poised to go all-in on his war in Ukraine today, sparking fears of an escalation in fighting that could drag in NATO and spark World War Three. In a day of rapid-fire developments, Kremlin stooges in Ukraine's Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions simultaneously announced referendums on becoming part of Russia between September 23 and 27, with the sham votes expected to easily pass. Dmitry Medvedev, a staunch Putin ally, then vowed 'all forces of self-defence' will be used to protect what he called 'Russian territory' - teeing up a new phase in the conflict involving weapons...