The United States and its NATO allies are seeking to win a victory over Russia on the `battlefield’ to destroy our country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told TASS in an interview. 💬 "The actions by the collective West and their puppet [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky confirm the global nature of the Ukrainian crisis. It is no secret that the strategic goal of the US and its NATO allies is to win a victory over Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism of weakening or even destroying our country," Lavrov said. "Our opponents will just do about anything to achieve this goal," he added. ● According to Russia’s top diplomat, the beneficiary of a ‘hot conflict’ is the United States who has been seeking to get the most out of it both economically and strategically. "Washington has also been solving a key geopolitical goal of breaking the traditional bonds between Russia and Europe and making their European satellites even more dependent on them," Lavrov emphasized.

■ Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s year-end interview with TASS news agency, December 27, 2022
■ US should think twice before contemplating ‘decapitation strike’ – Lavrov
■ Ex-Russian president issues ‘nuclear catastrophe’ warning (12/26/22)
■ The Risk of Nuclear Armageddon (Stephen Lendman)

Elena Panina (Елена Панина) | The appointment of the new WHO chief scientist, Jeremy Farrar, a Briton, went unnoticed in Russia (neither TASS nor RIA reported it) on 13 December. He is a well-known figure in his own circles and a landmark, as they say. ■ Farrar is the director of the Wellcome Trust, a giant centre for funding medical and biological research (turnover in 2020: £464 million). An influential healthcare businessman whose name is regularly mentioned in conjunction with both Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates. Knight of the Order of the British Empire, knighted in 2019. And one of the most staunch critics of the laboratory origin of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strain that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. ■ It was largely through Farrar's efforts that such theories were branded as conspiracy theories in scientific journals and respectable media. And anyone who did not share the official position was subjected to unprecedented silencing and discrediting by the medical establishment. ■ And now, from spring 2023, this gentleman will begin overseeing the WHO's Office of Scientific Affairs, "bringing together the best minds in science and innovation around the world", as the organisation's website says. This means that the suppression of dissent in global medical science is reaching a new level. And the chances of ever finding out the truth about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 are becoming vanishingly small. (DeepL.com)

The diplomat has lashed out at “US-occupied” nations for their vote on a Moscow-sponsored resolution | Germany and Japan should not get permanent seats at the UN Security Council after voting against a Russia-sponsored resolution denouncing Nazism, a senior Russian diplomat has suggested. The decision by Berlin and Tokyo “insults the memory of the victims of German Nazism and Japanese militarism,” Oleg Stepanov, the Russian ambassador to Canada, said in remarks to RIA Novosti, which the Foreign Ministry published in full on Tuesday. ● Germany’s vote casts doubt on expressions of remorse for the crimes committed by the Nazis during World War II, he stated. Japan meanwhile, has never reconciled with its dark past, considering that its government honors war criminals, he said. 💬 “It is clear that such behavior can only be possible with permission from the US, under whose multilayered informal occupation both nations remain,” the diplomat claimed. ● The remarks refer to a vote at the UN General Assembly earlier this month on a Russia-proposed non-binding resolution condemning glorification of Nazism and various forms of xenophobia. The document was adopted by 120 votes in favor, with 50 against and 10 abstentions.

The CIA is working with an unnamed "NATO ally," according to Jack Murphy --Murphy was a former senior trainer and adviser to an Iraqi SWAT team --He said the CIA and Joe Biden are personally authorising missions | The CIA is combining with the spy service of a NATO ally in Europe to conduct covert sabotage operations inside Russia, according to new claims. The clandestine campaign is behind many unexplained explosions and fires that have hit strategic or prominent facilities in recent months, says US expert Jack Murphy, an eight-year Army Special Operations veteran. Separately other European intelligence services have allegedly been "running operatives into Russia to create chaos without CIA help," as has Ukraine. His claims follow as a new fire struck a shopping mall in Krasnodar region, in southern Russia, the latest in dozens of such incidents... Oil and gas facilities, railways, fuel depots, power plants and shopping malls have been hit across Russia by mysterious explosions, with rumours of sabotage.

Several U.S. Jewish leaders during a meeting with Israeli officials earlier this month warned that racist and extremist moves by the new Israeli government could seriously hamper support for Israel among Jews in the U.S., six sources who either attended the meeting at the Israeli embassy in Washington or were briefed on it told Axios. | Why it matters: The incoming Israeli government is expected to be the country's most right-wing ever. A senior Israeli official said the meeting at the embassy represented the anxiety the organized U.S. Jewish community has about the incoming Israeli government over its expected policies towards Jews in the diaspora and against democratic values. ● The Dec. 7 meeting was attended by representatives of several mainstream U.S. Jewish organizations that are the backbone of the pro-Israel community in the U.S. They are all regular interlocutors of the Israeli embassy. ● Driving the news: The representatives of the Jewish organizations were invited for a meeting with Shuli Davidovich, the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry bureau for the diaspora, who asked to hear their thoughts about the political situation in Israel, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to speak freely about what was discussed in the meeting. The meeting took place against the backdrop of the negotiations between Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the radical right-wing and ultra-orthodox parties. According to sources who attended the meeting, the atmosphere was very difficult and almost all of the attendees raised concerns about the policies of the incoming Israeli government.

Researchers used CT software to “digitally unwrap” the mummy of one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs | Egyptian and British scientists have unveiled a facial reconstruction of Ramses II, having used computer tomography (CT) software to “digitally unwrap” the mummy of the famous Ancient Egyptian pharaoh. The joint scientific project allowed historians for the first time to observe what the ruler looked like at different points in his life. ● The researchers say they used earlier CT scans of the pharaoh’s mummy and applied them to analysis software. They were then able to differentiate between the skull and other materials used during the embalming process and produce a 3D rendering of the skull. They then applied the average facial muscle layer measurements believed to be appropriate for ancient Egyptians to reconstruct the pharaoh’s face. 💬 "This is the only scientific facial reconstruction of Ramesses II based on the CT scan of his actual mummy,” explained professor Sahar Saleem of Cairo University, who led the project, adding that previous attempts were “mostly artistic, based on his mummy’s face.”

NASA will end 2022 with several back-to-back achievements for the history books, from breathtaking images taken by the James Webb telescope to further demonstrations of flight on Mars with the Ingenuity helicopter. | This year also marked the launch and return of the unmanned Artemis I mission, with later flights planned to take humans back to the moon by 2025. The James Webb Space Telescope, which provided humanity with a glimpse at distant galaxies in stunning images released in this year, will continue to serve as a trove of scientific knowledge in the upcoming year, space agency officials said. Many developments in 2023 will come in the form of the release of research and images from the telescope, which still is in the first year of operation.