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Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted last August that a drop in the importance of the U.S. dollar was "irreversible"—but there appears to be no sign that the global economy is turning its back on the greenback. "The U.S. Dollar was used in 48% of international payment transactions last year, the highest level in more than a decade. But Brics...," it said next to the graph, which showed the euro making 23.2 percent of transactions and the Chinese yuan way behind at 3.47 percent. "BRICS countries would like their currencies to be used in world trade, but each has a major...

Moscow has been on a drive to replace the use of the US dollar in international trade, but there are barrels of Russian oil stuck at sea due to issues with paying in alternative currencies. Shipments of Russian Sokol grade crude oil to state-owned Indian Oil Corp, or IOC, have been delayed by payment issues, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The seller is the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft. The problem arose because Rosneft unit selling the oil hasn't been able to open a bank account in the United Arab Emirates to receive payments...

Kash Patel an Indian-American whose parents trace their roots to Gujarat and migrated to the US from East Africa during Idi Amin’s rule in Uganda Washington: Kash Patel is a senior advisor to former US President Donald J Trump, the most likely nominee for the Republican ticket for presidential elections this year. Patel served in senior positions in the National Security Council and other government agencies and eventually became the chief of staff to the Department of Defence during the Trump presidency. He also travelled with Trump to India in 2020. An Indian-American whose parents trace their roots to Gujarat...

Five of the six countries invited to join the BRICS bloc of developing nations from Jan. 1 have confirmed they are joining, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Egypt, South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday.

India has signaled it will distance itself from Russian weapons, threatening further Russia's role as a major global arms supplier amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. The development was reported by Reuters on Monday, citing four government sources, including a recently retired senior security official, who all spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject. The sources said India is gradually pivoting away from Russia and shifting toward the West for its arms supplies. Russia is the second-largest global arms exporter behind the United States. Over the last two decades, Russia supplied India with 65 percent of its...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X, "Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour." Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 7, 2023 The US on Saturday "unequivocally" condemned the attack by "Hamas terrorists" against Israel, the White House said in a statement. "The United...

CAPE TOWN — Presidents Putin and XI and other leaders from the Brics bloc of developing countries will hold a virtual meeting on the Israel-Hamas war on Tuesday, with Secretary General Guterres also participating. The leaders of fellow Brics members Brazil, India, and South Africa, as well as of Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, which are set to join the bloc in January, will also take part, according to the office of President Ramaphosa of South Africa. Mr. Ramaphosa will chair the “extraordinary meeting” because of South Africa’s position as current chair of Brics,...

Let me begin by saying to all you leftists that I told you so. Lots of leftists are supporting raping, mass-murdering Seventh Century semi-humans, and they are mad that they are now being treated like people who support raping, mass-murdering Seventh Century semi-humans. Apparently, this is a terrible attack on free speech and McCarthyism and probably Islamophobic and transphobic and is the worst thing ever since the last thing that was the worst thing ever. Well, I think it’s kind of funny. They are mad and accuse us conservatives of now embracing cancel culture. You can argue about the definition...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on October 13 that in the coming weeks, Azerbaijan could invade Armenia. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has threatened Armenia with war multiple times.Meanwhile, pro-Erdogan media outlets in Turkey are also playing their war drums against Armenians. The headline news in the pro-Erdogan newspaper Türkiye on October 3 refers to Armenians in Armenia’s Syunik (Zangezur) province as “snakes”, “gangs” and “terrorists”. One headline reads: “The new nest of the snake is Zangezur”. It claims that the Armenians displaced from Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) are receiving military training in “terror camps in Zangezur”.When the...

I don’t care if you’re out on the street, waving your flag and chanting your slogans. We won’t die silently the way you want us to… I don’t care that you sympathize with Hamas. I know you wouldn’t tolerate any of the things they did to us if they would’ve done it to you. I don’t care that you’re outraged by Israel’s response to the massacre more than the massacre itself. I don’t care that this doesn’t fit neatly into your carefully constructed narrative of ‘Israel as aggressor’ and ‘Palestinian as victim I know you would do everything to eliminate...

The leader of Armenia on Tuesday (Dec 27) questioned the role of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh as he discussed a blockade of the breakaway region with President Vladimir Putin. Since mid-December Azerbaijani activists have been blocking the Lachin corridor, the only land link between Armenia and Karabakh, to protest what they claim is illegal mining. As a result of the blockade, the mountainous region of some 120,000 people is running short of food, medicines and fuel. SNIP As part of the deal, Moscow has stationed peacekeepers in Karabakh. Since the start of the blockade Armenia has repeatedly accused Russian peacekeepers...

On 24 April 1915, approximately 250 leading intellectuals of Constantinople’s Armenian community (including political leaders, journalists, and religious leaders) were arrested by Turkish officials. They were then slain. This event marked the beginning of the 1915 Armenian genocide. By 1923, Turkish deportation and annihilation policies resulted in the deaths of approximately 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children in jihad genocide during which Armenians and other Christians were targeted mainly for their religion. 108 years later, Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey have committed the same crime against the Armenians in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Since 2020, around 120,000 Armenians...

Taking its fears of an imminent coup to the next level, the Georgian government is now accusing the United States of sponsoring a DIY revolution workshop in Tbilisi.USAID, the international aid arm of the US government, and its Serbia-based partner organization that organized the workshop have dismissed the claim as false and absurd. The US Embassy in Tbilisi assailed the Georgian claims, saying they “fundamentally mischaracterize” the goals of US assistance to the country. Domestic critics contend that the government’s accusations are politically motivated, intended to kneecap opposition elements as Georgia gears up for parliamentary elections in 2024.

<p>Baku has promised to guarantee the safety of residents, but Armenia's prime minister warned of "ethnic cleansing".</p><p>Armenian authorities said on Wednesday they have received 42,500 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, following Azerbaijan's lightning offensive last week.</p><p>That's more than a third of the separatist Caucasus region's total population.</p>

Thousands of people have fled from a disputed Azerbaijani territory to neighbouring Armenia amid fears that they may face ethnic cleansing. Nearly 6,700 people arrived in Armenia after leaving the Nagorno-Karabakh region, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, in the two days since the Armenian government began accepting refugees on Sunday. Armenia's prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, said that the country has plans to look after up to 40,000 refugees, but said he expects up to 120,000 people to leave the region due to the 'danger of ethnic cleansing', raising serious concerns over whether Armenia will be able to cope with...

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) expressed frustration Thursday with the Biden administration's lack of urgency in addressing what the United States has described as a "rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Nagorno-Karabakh, a hotly disputed region at the center of rising tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.Menendez, while chairing of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the crisis, said he was "amazed" by the responses from Yuri Kim, the acting assistant secretary for the State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs...The senator's frustration centered on the administration's application of Section 907 of the United States Freedom Support Act, which bans direct...

Update from Ukraine | South frontline success | Azerbaijan Armenia Conflict. Ukraine Poland tensions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW4Cm7IL0lM The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the recent developments on the battlefield, as of 13th September 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). [NOTE: two summaries per week, released on Wednesday and Sunday] https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-567-summary/ *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

NEW DELHI: Invites sent by Indian President Droupadi Murmu calling herself "President of Bharat" for a dinner on the sidelines of the G20 summit have stirred speculation that the government may be about to change the country's name. WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT INDIA'S NAME? By convention, invitations issued by Indian constitutional bodies have always mentioned the name India when the text is in English, and the name Bharat when the text is in Hindi. However, the invites - in English - for the G20 dinner called Murmu the President of Bharat. An official at the president's office said they...

NEW DELHI (AP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has replaced the name India with a Sanskrit word in dinner invitations sent to guests attending this week’s Group of 20 summit, in a move that reflects his Hindu nationalist party’s efforts to eliminate what it sees as colonial-era names. Indian President Droupadi Murmu is referred to as “President of Bharat” instead of “President of India” in the invitation sent to G20 attendees. The nation of more than 1.4 billion people is officially known by two names, India and Bharat, but the former is most commonly used, both domestically and internationally....

During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “Amanpour,” U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel stated that he’s not sure China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran have formed an alliance, but rather “an agreement among players that are isolated in the world.” Host Christiane Amanpour asked, [relevant exchange begins around 6:05] “China is involved, too. China has a certainly friendly relationship with Russia. Does this grouping, this alliance pose a threat to the United States and its Western allies? China, North Korea, Russia, and whoever else, Iran.”