EU leaders are in Brussels to discuss the membership bids of Ukraine and Moldova. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has voted heavily in favor of the two countries' getting candidate status.

The European Parliament has voted in favor of granting Ukraine and Moldova EU candidate status while leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss the issue on Thursday. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said the vote had been "unequivocal" and that the European Council "should grant candidate status today" to the two countries. "This will show leadership, resolve and vision in context of Russia's war against Ukraine," she tweeted. [...] North Macedonia and Albania still in limbo: Meanwhile, leaders failed to break a deadlock over a stalled membership bids from North Macedonia and Albania.

NATO Begins Land Blockade of Russian Enclave of Kaliningrad, Little Russia, in an Effort to Provoke Further Conflict.

Kaliningrad is an enclave of Russia on the Baltic Sea, with a population of around 450,000 Russians. Kaliningrad is surrounded by NATO countries Lithuania to the north and Poland to the south. Land access for Russia to Kaliningrad is a matter of treaties between Russia and Lithuania providing transit to the Russian enclave through Suwalski gap where railroads connect Kaliningrad to Belarus. In an intentionally provocative move, the NATO alliance has now decided to use Lithuania to cut off access to Kaliningrad by land. [...] This action is being taken as the same time as EU NATO countries are threatening to rush NATO membership for Ukraine into place. There is no other way to look at this decision by NATO member states as anything except a deliberate effort to increase the likelihood of war between Russia and the western alliance. Moscow warned of ‘very tough actions’ against the Western security alliance member after deliveries of coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology were stopped from entering the Russian territory. The Lithuanian chargé d’affaires in Moscow was told that unless cargo transit was resumed in the near future, Russia reserves the right to act to protect its national interests. The Russian foreign ministry said:

💬 ‘We consider provocative measures of the Lithuanian side which violate Lithuania’s international legal obligations, primarily the 2002 Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the European Union on transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation, to be openly hostile.’

Russia has vowed to respond to Lithuania's decision to block sanctioned goods from being delivered to Kaliningrad via rail.

Lithuania’s president on Wednesday said the Baltic nation is prepared for Russian retaliation over its decision to block the transit of sanctioned goods to Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave sandwiched in between Lithuania and Poland. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told Reuters that Vilnius is ready for “unfriendly steps” such as Russia cutting the Baltic nation from a shared power grid, but doesn’t expect a military response. [...] While Lithuania has a small military, it’s not afraid of Russian military action due to its NATO membership. “I do not believe that Russia will challenge us in military sense, because we are a NATO member,” Nauseda said.

EU member ousts pro-NATO government in no-confidence vote

If Assange is extradited, assumptions will be made that could weaken democracy, The Irish Times warns.

💬 “One is the assertion that the US can punish anyone, anywhere in the world who is involved in disclosing information it wants to keep secret. Assange is not American; he never signed up to any legal commitment to keep America's secrets. If he can be extradited, why not the editors of the Guardian and Der Spiegel and their reporters who worked on the story? The other is that Assange is not charged only with putting the lives of informants at risk by disclosing their names. He is charged with conspiring with Chelsea Manning to obtain classified information. ... News is what somebody in power would prefer to keep secret. The rest is PR - and the worst kind is military PR.” (Dec 14 2021)

Six firefighters in the US, two TV journalists in Ireland, a Chinese AI scientist, three young dads in the UK, six strange drownings and six strange accidents in Italy (Europe's death camp), and more.

In memory of those who "died suddenly" in Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Spain and Greece, June 14-June 20, And Many, Many More... (MCM Substack)

Young people dying in their sleep is now happening on a regular basis (The Burning Platform)

Heart-wrenching footage shows the moment a stray dog tried to bury a cat that died after being hit by a car in Egypt. The merciful dog was seen first carrying the poor cat to the soil and then digging the ground with its nose to bury the dead feline.