Russian Security Council (i.e. Senate) Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has publicly stated that it's not fundamentally Ukraine that Russia is at war with, but that the Russian military is facing all of NATO inside Ukraine. 💬 "The events in Ukraine aren’t a clash between Moscow and Kiev. It’s a military confrontation of NATO, first of all the US and Britain, with Russia. Fearing a direct engagement, NATO instructors push Ukrainian men to certain death," he said in a fresh interview with state-owned newspaper aif.ru. ● People in the collective West do not seem to understand the implications of Russian political officials repeatedly stating "Russia is at war with all of NATO." The implications are that all of NATO may be attacked.

■ Ukraine Humiliated Western Propagandists After Its Defense Minister Admitted It’s A NATO Proxy (A. Korybko)
■ Bombshell Admission: Ukraine is ‘Carrying Out NATO’s Mission’ Against Russia, Defense Chief Says (01/08/23)

■ Kiev ready to sacrifice own citizens to let West settle score with Russia — DPR official Alexey Muratov (TASS) | Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK Vadim Pristayko told Newsweek about "huge, indigestible" casualties, sustained by the Kiev regime. He called it a unique chance for the West to settle score with Russia, because there are "not many nations in the world who would allow themselves to sacrifice so many lives, territories and decades of development." ● [Alexey Muratov:] 💬 "My first reaction, when I heard about this interview, was - did he really just say that? I checked it, and indeed, he did," Muratov said about Pristayko’s interview. "The Ukrainian political elite already make no attempt to hide as it sells off to the West and says that the Ukrainians are simply cannon fodder for them. Western sycophants from Kiev are proud of the number of casualties among the Ukrainian armed forces and civilians and openly say that they are ready to kill as many Ukrainians as the West needs to inflict a blow on Russia."

The International Health Regulations Review Committee (IHRRC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) is planning to meet in secret from Monday, January 9, 2023 to Friday January 13, 2023. The IHRRC will be working to finalize what is now a 46 page document that includes proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR). The 76th World Health Assembly is scheduled to occur from Sunday May 21, 2023 to Tuesday May 30, 2023. In order for the proposed amendments to be considered during the 76th World Health Assembly, they must be submitted to the World Health Organization at least 4 months in advance. The IHRRC plans to submit these proposed amendments to the WHO by Sunday, January 15, 2023. ● The International Health Regulations are existing, legally-binding international law. If the proposed amendments are presented to the 76th World Health Assembly, they could be adopted by a simple majority of the 194 member nations. According to the already agreed upon rules of the IHR, if the proposed amendments are adopted, the member nations would not need to take any additional actions.

West Jerusalem’s new national security chief has ordered the removal of “terror flags” from public places [From the loony bin:] 💬 “It is inconceivable that lawbreakers will wave terror flags, incite and encourage terrorism,” Ben-Gvir said on Sunday night in a statement cited by the Jerusalem Post. “I have issued instructions for the removal of the flags, which support terrorism, from the public space and to stop incitement against the state of Israel.” ● The nationalist official, who already stirred controversy shortly after taking office by visiting the Temple Mount compound last week, dismissed concern that his flag order would infringe on civil liberties, arguing that freedom of expression “does not extend to identifying with a terrorist” and those who seek to harm Israeli soldiers. ● The move came after Palestinian flags were flown at an anti-government protest on Saturday night in Tel Aviv. Concerns also were raised after the release of Israel’s longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, Karim Younis, who was convicted in 1983 of kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier. Younis waved a Palestinian flag as he returned home to a celebration in northern Israel’s Ara village. ● Netanyahu’s government also has announced a series of punishments of the Palestinian Authority (PA) for seeking a legal opinion from the UN’s International Court of Justice on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki discovered on Sunday that those sanctions apparently included rescinding his travel pass.

■ Israel: MP says time to 'subdue Palestinians once and for all' in the 'last war' (01/05/23)
■ Operation Cast Lead and the Dismembering of a People (Vincent Di Stefano)(12/29/10)

■ Slouching Towards Gaza. Operation Cast Lead and the Dismembering of a People WEBAMP Sound: Two days after Christmas in 2008, the isolated and densely populated city of Gaza was visited by volley upon volley of deadly missile and mortar fire. The intense bombardment of what has been described by the United Nations Development Programme as "one of the most densely populated places on earth" continued unabated for a period of three weeks. By the end of the assault, over 1,400 Palestinians had been killed and more than 5,000 wounded, many seriously. Between three and four hundred of the dead were children. A total of 13 Israelis were killed during the same time, four of them by the action of their own troops. This post offers a fifth anniversary commemoration of this tragic and highly destructive assault which commenced on the 27th December 2008 and ended on the 18th January 2009. It offers an account of pivotal events in the history of Israel/Palestine from 1947 to the present through the reflections of a number of informed and articulate commentators.

In the Donetsk direction, the enemy made 17 attacks from multiple rocket launchers, artillery of caliber 155 and 152 mm | Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the past day shelled the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) 30 times launching shells of different caliber, the representative office of the DPR in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine (JCCC) announced on Monday. 💬 "In the Donetsk direction, the enemy made 17 attacks from multiple rocket launchers, artillery of [caliber] 155 and 152 mm. Three attacks on Yasinovatskoye [settlement], eight attacks on Gorlovskoye [settlement]. In the direction of Starobeshevskoye there was one shelling from a Tochka-U tacticalmissile system. There was one shelling from a Tochka-U tacticalmissile system in the direction of Shakterskoye," the statement says. In total, 150 different munitions were fired at settlements. ●  Earlier it was reported about two dead as a result of the shelling of the Starobeshevskaya thermal power plant. Another rocket was fired at the thermal power plant in Zugres, it was shot down in the sky.

The US also announced $682 million in aid for its European allies to 'backfill' weapons that have been sent to Ukraine | The US on Friday pledged a new $3.075 billion weapons package for Ukraine that includes Bradley Fighting Vehicles for the first time, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called an “awesome Christmas present” as it was announced on the eve of Orthodox Christmas. ● The aid marks the single largest arms package the US has pledged to Ukraine at one time since Russia’s invasion. On Twitter, Zelensky thanked President Biden for the “all-time defense package” and said it was an “awesome Christmas present” for Ukraine that would bring a “common victory” for the US and Ukraine. ● The $3.075 billion includes $2.85 billion in presidential drawdown authority, which allows Biden to send Ukraine weapons directly from US military stockpiles. Ukraine will also receive $225 million under the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, which provides foreign governments with funds to purchase US-made military equipment.

‘In the interests of humanity and democracy . . . emergency action needs to be taken . . .the cessation of all technological development for the moment’ - I am back with James Collins for our 12th encounter, this one to look back at the year that was and forward to the one that has begun. What is the true, deep meaning fo the ‘Covid Project’? What is the scope of the damage it has wrought upon the fabric of our society as a human community? Why were we so ill-prepared not merely for the confiscation of freedoms but the changes trundling down towards us from the future, now being implemented as if we are not here? What awaits us in 2023, and what are our chances of turning things around? Beyond that, if/when we succeed, what is the scope of the project awaiting us in rebuilding our country and community once the totalitarian fire has been extinguished and the arsonists of our country, our democracy and our freedoms, are safety behind bars?

The West will require the Serbian authorities to sign an agreement with the partially-recognized republic of Kosovo on its formal recognition once Belgrade agrees to impose sanctions against Russia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday. | Vucic recalled that Belgrade has withstood external pressure for about 100 days, refusing to impose sanctions against Russia over the special operation in Ukraine. 💬 "We handed over [former Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic, no matter what we think about him. Why should we have extradited the president? Did we become part of the European Union after that? No, after that we killed our own prime minister [Zoran Djindjic]. And again, we are not sure that this is the work of domestic forces only. Then we were told: arrest [former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko] Mladic, [former President of the Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina Radovan] Karadzic, conducted secret operations ... And what did we get? Visa liberalization? And now, if we impose sanctions [on Russia], then it turns out that the time has come for an agreement with Kosovo," Vucic said on air of Serbian broadcaster.

■ NATO rejects Serbian request – president (RT.com)
■ How US-NATO Illegal Bombing of Yugoslavia Undermined Global Rule of Law 23 Years Ago (Sputnik News)

In May 2022, Sweden and neighboring Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led alliance, citing a change in their security landscape following Russia's special operation in Ukraine. | Despite the considerable lengths Stockholm has gone to in its attempts to please Turkey, Ankara has time and again stressed that more was needed to win its full backing for Sweden’s NATO bid. Turkey has made some demands that Sweden cannot meet, the Nordic nation’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said. 💬 “Turkey has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but it also says that it wants things that we can't, that we don't want to give it. Now the decision rests with Turkey,” Ulf Kristersson said at a security conference also attended by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, highlighting the trilateral memorandum which Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed in the summer of 2022, agreeing to several commitments. ● NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said he expects both countries will be able to join the military alliance as early as this year, while admitting the decision hinges on the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments. Among the 30 NATO members, only Hungary and Turkey have yet to welcome the two Nordic applications. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pledged that his parliament will soon approve both Finland and Sweden's accession bids, leaving Turkey the main holdout.

■ Sweden complains NATO member is asking for the impossible (RT.com)

The provocation will reportedly use dug-up and disfigured dead bodies from local cemeteries to accuse Russia of war crimes. | Kiev is organizing a large-scale false flag op using the bodies of naturally-deceased civilians to accuse Moscow of committing war crimes, the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Sunday. ● On the eve of Orthodox Christmas, representatives of the State Bureau of Investigation and the Security Service of Ukraine led work to open graves in cemeteries in the villages of Kazachya Lopan, Veliky Burluk, Shipovatoye and Khatnoye in the Kharkov region, where local residents who died of natural causes were buried from February 24 to September 6, 2022, while the abovementioned settlements were controlled by the Russian forces. ● The Defense Ministry clarified that "after the exhumation, the bodies of Ukrainian citizens were additionally disfigured and thrown into specially prepared "pits" on the outskirts of the abovementioned settlements to create a false "evidence base" of alleged "torture" and "executions" of civilians by Russian military personnel.