Activists continue clashing with police in Tbilisi | Pro-EU protests continued on Sunday in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, where activists clashed with riot police outside the former Soviet country’s parliament building. ● The demonstrations are backed by a coalition of opposition parties, as well as Georgia’s pro-EU president, Salome Zourabichvili, who called the current government “illegitimate.” She previously claimed that the parliamentary election in October was rigged in favor of the ruling Georgian Dream party. ● The protesters are outraged by the government’s decision to freeze negotiations on joining the EU until 2028. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakzhidze said Georgia should ultimately become a member state, but do so on fair terms. He accused the EU of using the accession talks to “blackmail” Georgia and meddle in its politics.

■ WATCH Pro-EU protesters use ‘fireworks mini-gun’ in Tbilisi (RT.com)
✅ The West Is Ramping Up Its Regime Change Campaign In Georgia (Andrew Korybko)

Protests in the ex-Soviet state continue for the third day following the government’s decision to freeze EU accession talks until 2028 | Washington announced on Saturday the suspension of its strategic partnership with Georgia, condemning the ruling party’s recent decision to freeze EU accession talks until 2028. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has slammed the Georgian Dream party over the move. [...] The Georgian government’s announcement came on Thursday when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze declared that discussions on joining the EU would not be prioritized until at least 2028. He stated that while Georgia aims to become a member, it should do so under fair conditions, accusing the EU of using the talks to “blackmail” Georgia and meddle in its affairs.

■ French-born Georgian president refuses to leave office (RT.com)
■ Медведев: Грузия быстро движется по украинскому пути в темную бездну (BaltNews.)

The bombing has thwarted the offensive launched by militants on the town of Tel Rifat, RIA Novosti has reported | Syria has launched an airstrike targeting a motorized column of terrorists in the country's northwestern Aleppo Province, RIA Novosti has reported, citing local security sources. The news agency has published aerial footage showing the raid. ■ The strike was ordered in response to a surprise counteroffensive launched by the militants against Syrian troops on Wednesday. Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS), a terrorist group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra and affiliated with Al Qaeda, attacked government-controlled territory in the north of the country on Wednesday alongside a collection of allied militias, breaking a fragile truce brokered by Russia and Türkiye in 2020.

■ Syrian Army issues statement, details situation in Aleppo, Idlib (Al Mayadeen)
■ Turkish professor reveals who is behind the militant offensive in Syria (tsargrad.tv/Pravda-EN)
■ Aleppo airport and major roads closed as Syrian rebel fighters step up attacks (Yahoo)
■ Russia fails to halt Aleppo offensive with war planes diverted to Ukraine (MEE)
■ Russian jets back Syrian counteroffensive – military (RT.com)
■ Syrian Conflict: Massive NATO-Backed Attack on Aleppo | Syriana Analysis (11/29/24)

■ Who is behind the new Syria war flare-up? (Murad Sadygzade)
✅ U.S., Allies Reignite War On Syria (Moon of Alabama)

Syriana Analysis is an independent political commentary channel founded by award-winning journalist Kevork Almassian. With expertise in geopolitics, Almassian's primary objective is to offer informative content that challenges the prevailing narratives of mainstream media. PS: The views and opinions expressed by the guest do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Syriana Analysis.

■ Syrian Army Eliminates Hundreds of Terrorists in Idlib and Aleppo, Including Foreign Mercenaries (Sputnik)
■ Resurgence of terrorism in Syria ‘American-Zionist plot’ after failure in Lebanon: Iran (PressTV)
■ Syrian Army Launches Counteroffensive in Aleppo, Idlib to Repel Militant Attacks - Reports (Sputnik)
■ Foreign-backed terrorists launch major attack against Syrian Army in Aleppo (11/28/24)

A coalition of foreign-backed terrorist groups and anti-Damascus militants have launched a major attack on the Syrian military positions in the northwestern province of Aleppo, with the Arab country’s army forces engaging in a deadly confrontation to repel the large-scale aggression. | Local media reports said members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist outfit and their allied armed factions overran at least 10 areas under the control of the Syrian military in the west of Aleppo city and the eastern countryside of Idlib on Wednesday. ■ The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitor, said almost 100 soldiers as well as militants from both sides were killed as a result of the heavy clashes. ■ Activists working with SOHR reported that 44 members of HTS were killed along with 16 members of allied armed militant groups.

✅ The Terrorist Offensive In Aleppo Is Meant To Deliver A Coup De Grace To Syria (Andrew Korybko)

Thomas Fazi | Tbilisi has been ensnared by Nato hypocrisy | Food. Churches. Chacha. This is what Georgia has long been known for. But now this ancient country, flanked by the mountains and the sea in the heart of the Caucasus, is the battleground in a new Not-So-Cold War. Due to its strategic location — it shares a large border with Russia to the north — the country has found itself caught up in the geopolitical power play between the West and Russia. And just like the Euromaidan revolt in Ukraine a decade ago, Georgia’s domestic politics have been framed in Nato circles as an existential fight. On one side sits the Georgian Dream, the allegedly pro-Russian ruling party, in power since 2012. On the other sits the opposition, avowedly pro-Western and pro-EU. ■ Little wonder, then, that last week’s parliamentary elections have turned into a global event. As predicted by the polls, Georgian Dream won by a wide margin, securing over 53% of the vote. The four major opposition coalitions together managed less than 40%. There is no reason to believe that the vote was fixed: despite raising some concerns about pressure on voters, biased media coverage and an environment of political polarisation, independent observers found no evidence of electoral fraud, let alone of Russian interference.

Foreign funding is used for this purpose, Irakli Kobakhidze noted | Unprecedented foreign interference was observed during Georgia’s latest parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said. [...] Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on October 26, employing the widespread use of electronic ballot boxes for the first time. According to the Central Election Commission, the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party got 53.93% of the vote. As the winner it has the right to form the government on its own. Four opposition parties cleared the five-percent threshold: Coalition for Change had 11%, Unity-National Movement — 10.16%, Strong Georgia — 8.8%, and Gakharia for Georgia — 7.76%. ● All opposition parties that have entered parliament refuse to recognize the results of the elections, and so does Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili. According to her, the Central Election Commission data is rigged and in reality the opposition received more votes than the Georgian Dream party and therefore has the majority of seats in parliament.

■ Partial recount in Georgia election ‘confirms ruling party win’ (Hürriyet Daily News)
■ Georgia to recount votes after opposition rejects election loss (10/30/24)
■ Georgia’s pro-Western opposition refuses to accept election defeat (10/28/24)
■ This post-Soviet country is too independent for the West. Punishment is at hand (09/28/24)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange testified during a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) hearing, and spoke about his U.K. imprisonment at HM Prison Belmarsh and his plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Assange said he chose freedom over justice, stating:

💬 I eventually chose freedom over unrealizable justice, after being detained for years and facing a 175 year sentence with no effective remedy…. Justice for me is now precluded, as the U.S. government insisted in writing into its plea agreement that I cannot file a case at the European Court of Human Rights or even a freedom of information act request over what it did to me as a result of its extradition request. I want to be totally clear. I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today because after years of incarceration I plead guilty to journalism. I plead guilty to seeking information from a source. I plead guilty to obtaining information from a source. And I plead guilty to informing the public what that information was. I did not plead guilty to anything else.

💬 President Obama’s Justice Department chose not to indict me, recognizing that no crime had been committed. The United States had never before prosecuted a publisher for publishing or obtaining government information. To do so would require a radical and ominous reinterpretation of the US Constitution…. However, in February 2017, the landscape changed dramatically. President Trump had been elected. He appointed two wolves in MAGA hats: Mike Pompeo, a Kansas congressman and former arms industry executive, as CIA Director, and William Barr, a former CIA officer, as US Attorney General…. CIA Director Pompeo launched a campaign of retribution. It is now a matter of public record that under Pompeo’s explicit direction, the CIA drew up plans to kidnap and to assassinate me within the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and authorized going after my European colleagues, subjecting us to theft, hacking attacks, and the planting of false information.

Julian Assange tells European lawmakers he ‘chose freedom over an unrealizable justice’ in first public comments since release from prison | Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblower media group WikiLeaks, told European lawmakers on Tuesday his guilty plea to US espionage accusations was necessary because legal and political efforts to protect his freedom were not sufficient. “I eventually chose freedom over an unrealizable justice,” Assange said in his first public comments since his release from prison. Assange, 53, returned to his home country Australia in June after a deal was struck for his release which saw him plead guilty to violating US espionage law, ending a 14-year British legal odyssey.

Andrew Korybko | It’s possible that this scenario was speedily devised sometime in the past month after the aerial phase of the latest Israeli-Lebanese War began. | Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warned on Tuesday that some NATO countries and Ukraine are preparing a chemical weapons false flag provocation in Syria so as to discredit Russia in the Global South. They specified that “The plan of the operation envisages the militants dropping a mined container with chlorine from a UAV during strikes by the Syrian Armed Forces and the Russian Aerospace Forces on terrorist groups' positions in the Idlib de-escalation zone”, which the White Helmets will then film. ■ The timing is suspicious since it coincides with the start of Israel’s ground operation in Lebanon. Syria isn’t any stranger to chemical weapons false flags so the latest one could have been cooked up in a jiffy by building upon the experience obtained in all the prior ones.

■ West set to stage chemical weapons use by Syria and Russia in Arab republic — SVR (TASS)

Tarik Cyril Amar | Washington and Brussels are ramping up the pressure on Georgia again, believing others’ sovereignty isn’t the same as theirs | Say what you will about the EU’s “elites,” they are persistent. They are on the verge of losing the Ukraine proxy war they have been waging under US command against Russia, but they never miss a chance to antagonize. This time it’s Georgia’s turn – the one in the Caucasus, of course: Brussels would never dare raise its voice about anything in the US, no matter how rotten the sorry remnants of “democracy” are over there. ■ If the Georgian government – duly elected and all that but still led by the Georgian Dream party, which Eurocrats love to hate – won’t do as told by the EU, then, so the warning from the European Commission, “all options are on the table, including the potential temporary suspension of the visa liberalization scheme.” What this means is that Georgians would lose their right, based on a 2017 agreement, to travel to and within the EU’s Schengen Zone for up to six months without a visa.

CIA and U.S. State Departments Anti-Russia Internet Troll Boiler Rooms - HACKED | For a long time, K Street firms in Washington, DC, operating “Internet Opinion Management” houses/boiler rooms, have been run by the State Department and the CIA. Today, two of those . . . anti-Russian operations . . . have been HACKED and their info, leaked. Databases from the anti-Russian funds The U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) and Free Russia Foundation (FRF) have now been leaked online. Among the leaked documents are the organizations' payrolls, information about correspondences and their participants, and other data. [...] The documents reveal that the foundation's employees were destabilizing the situation in Russia using a bot farm, for which a special guide was written as part of an anti-Russian campaign overseen by intelligence services. It turned out that the employees of this "elf factory" posted calls for protests, criticized the authorities, and even pretended to be wives of mobilized men. The documents show that "elves" were essentially given ready-made messages where they only needed to insert, for example, the name of a city or square where demonstrations were planned. Bots were also encouraged to spread complaints about "local administration," though exactly which administration was left for the employees to decide. This is hardly surprising since they had to meet a daily quota of 100 "dumps" over an eight-hour workday. [...] The revelations in these hacked documents proves the United States has been waging an information war against Russia for years; even before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The clear intent of these operations was to sew social discord, create upheaval, and destabilize the Russian government at all levels: local, state, and national.

The Biden/Harris administration has rescinded Secret Service protection for RFK. Jr after the independent candidate endorsed Trump and said he will actively campaign for him. | The protection was only granted last month following the assassination attempt on Trump, despite repeated requests from Kennedy’s campaign. The New York Post reports that RFK Jr. will no longer have Secret Service protection, with the government stating it is because he has suspended his candidacy. However, Kennedy remains on the ballot in 40 out of 50 states and has only suspended his campaign in the key swing states. ● The backlash was immediate with respondents noting how dangerous this is just weeks after Trump was shot, and given the fact that Kennedy, whose father and uncle were both assassinated, will now be campaigning with him.

The SVR press bureau emphasized that in preparation for the color revolution, "Georgian pro-Western non-governmental organizations are recruiting a large number of people to closely monitor the voting process" | The United States is preparing to stage a color revolution to prevent the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party from winning the October parliamentary election, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said. According to it, the White House is...

💬 "...extremely dissatisfied with the landscape in Georgia" ahead of the October 26 parliamentary election in the country. "The Americans are preparing a color revolution in Georgia," the SVR pointed out. "At the 'Tbilisi maidan' they plan to make public 'evidence of falsifications' in voting, announce non-recognition of the election results and demand a change of power. Law enforcement agencies will be provoked to suppress the protests by force," the intelligence agency said. At the same time, the Americans are working out options for a "ruthless" political and economic response to the "excessive" use of force by the authorities against "peaceful citizens."

■ Georgia to start registering foreign-sponsored NGOs in September (05/30/24)
■ US threatens action against NATO applicant (05/23/24)
■ Georgia accuses NATO countries of trying to orchestrate coup (05/17/24)

"Those who dream of achieving something by force will fail," Aleksandar Vucic said | Moscow has warned Belgrade of preparations for mass riots initiated by representatives of Western countries, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters. Asked about Western preparations for a coup in the country, he said: "Today, we received official information from the Russian Federation." [...] Earlier, the Vecernje Novosti newspaper reported that members of Serbia’s opposition were ready to take advantage of the pro-Western protests in Belgrade planned for August 10 to seize the presidential palace, eliminate the head of state and launch the same scenario as in Ukraine.

■ Russia warns Serbia of potential coup ahead of eco protests (Al Mayadeen)
■ Serbian president says he received coup warning from Russia (RT.com)

The Grayzone caused ‘biggest PR fiasco in history’ for US govt regime change arm, leaked emails reveal

 ■ The Grayzone’s publication of an embarrassing phone call with a National Endowment for Democracy VP triggered an institution-wide meltdown at the US government’s regime change laboratory. Following the call, the group’s founding president privately admitted the “fiasco” exposed major “problems beneath the polished surface.”
 ■ Now, leaked emails obtained by The Grayzone reveal the organization has since descended into chaos, with two senior officials fired due to the fiasco, and remaining staff engaged in civil war between the neocon old guard and the “woke” new generation hired to replace them.
 ■ Senior NED management is currently in complete disarray, with two high-ranking staffers fired due to their handling of The Grayzone’s phone call, and founding president Carl Gershman isolated and marginalized by those who took his place.
 ■ What began as a bitter dispute over the decision to engage with The Grayzone ultimately devolved into a full-fledged culture war that pitted the group’s neoconservative founders against its more liberal recent hires, derided by the neocon old guard as “woke flakes” obsessed with “microaggressions” and compulsory DEI trainings.
 ■ One of the fired NED staffers, neocon Michael Allen, accused his progressive boss of a “clear campaign of harassment, marginalization and victimization,” and fretted over her allowing NED staff to attend pro-Palestine rallies. He was so incensed by his dismissal that he threatened to reveal the details of his firing to the “many mailing lists of key decision-makers and opinion-formers that I have built and retained over the years” if he did not receive a substantial settlement.
 ■ Read a collection of the NED files exclusively obtained by The Grayzone here.

Venezuelans have taken to the streets after the national electoral authority declared victory for President Maduro | Unrest and street clashes broke out across Venezuela on Monday, after the electoral authority announced that Nicolas Maduro had been re-elected for another six-year term as president. ● The opposition says the vote was marred by fraud, insisting its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won the ballot. Some opinion polls ahead of the election showed a clear majority for the challenger. ● Large numbers of riot police and soldiers were deployed in Caracas to disperse protesters and prevent them from approaching the presidential palace. Over 20 Venezuelan security personnel were injured, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said.

■ Exit poll used by Venezuela opposition sourced from US gov-linked firm (Al Mayadeen)
■ Press review: World reacts to Maduro's re-election + Lebanon (TASS)
■ Protests in Venezuela Definitely Financed by Washington - Russian Observer (RT.com)
■ At least 15 people detained for vandalism, destabilization attempts in Venezuela (TASS)
■ Βενεζουέλα: Ανακοίνωσε ότι αποσύρει το διπλωματικό προσωπικό της από επτά χώρες της Λατινικής Αμερικής
■ О президентских выборах в Венесуэле 🇻🇪 (Мария Захарова)(Telegram)

🚨BREAKING: JOE BIDEN LIKELY HAS ONLY DAYS LEFT TO LIVE ⚠️

2 weeks ago I reported that they were planning to kill him and make it look like natural causes. THE STAGE IS BEING SET FOR THAT NOW!

The President is currently in significantly worse condition than is being disclosed… pic.twitter.com/gfG8P2NgeO

— Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) July 23, 2024

🚨ASSASINATION INFO DROP🚨

We found the assassin’s connections through our in-depth analysis of mobile ad data to track movements of Crooks and his associates.

To do this, we tracked devices that regularly visited both Crooks’s home and place of work and followed them.🧵 https://t.co/T5HETLhkgM pic.twitter.com/hMsI9dFwNk

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) July 22, 2024

Investigators have found that an unknown person who made regular visits to would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crook’s home and workplace also visited the site of an FBI office in Washington D.C. before the assassination attempt at the Butler Park rally. | Newly acquired cell phone data allowed investigators to “follow” the location of other devices deemed potential co-conspirators, allowing them to focus on the geolocation data and trace their movements. The cell phone data raises the question of whether Crooks had been contacted by the FBI or other intelligence agencies prior the the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Additionally, a device linked to Crooks’ workplace traveled to Butler, PA, on July 4th and July 8th but stopped all activity on July 12th. The FBI has been caught red-handed on numerous occasions grooming vulnerable young men and adolescents into becoming terrorists tasked with committing politically opportunistic attacks against fellow Americans.

■ Secret Service Had ‘Text Thread Going’ for Suspected Gunman Just Before Shooting Started (Conservative Roof)
■ Phone associated with would-be assassin pinged near FBI DC offices in 2023, report says (The Blaze)
■ Bombshell Investigative Report Claims to Link Would-Be Trump Assassin with FBI Office in DC (The Western Journal)

The US-built port has delivered very little actual aid to starving Palestinians while the area next to it was used as part of the Israeli operation to massacre hundreds of Palestinians and rescue four captives | The US military is considering temporarily dismantling the pier it constructed off the coast of Gaza and moving it back to Israel amid concerns that rough seas could once again break it apart, CNN reported on 14 June. ● Earlier this month, the fragile pier and causeway system, known as Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS), broke apart due to heavy waves and had to be towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod to be repaired. It was moved back to Gaza last week, and operations resumed on Saturday. However, were paused again on Monday and Tuesday due to heavy seas. Poor weather and rough waters are again expected this weekend. ● Meanwhile, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) aid distribution operations at the pier have been suspended. WFP Director Cindy McCain announced on Sunday the organization was pausing its work there after the Israeli army used the area next to the pier to extract by helicopter four Israelis rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza.

Moscow has condemned Washington’s decision to allow arms supplies to Ukraine’s notorious Azov Brigade | Washington will stop at nothing, including the use of neo-Nazis, to damage Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, following a US decision to lift a ban on supplying weapons to Ukraine’s Azov Brigade. ● The unit has notoriously welcomed into its ranks people who espouse ultranationalist and neo-Nazi ideologies, and has been described by the Western press as a magnet for such individuals from across the world. ● On Monday, the US Department of State cleared the brigade to receive American military assistance, stating that it found no evidence of human rights violations by the group.

■ US lifts arms ban on Ukrainian neo-Nazi unit (RT.com)

US Senator Graham is recognized as a terrorist and extremist by the Russian Federation | Republican Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham* said in an interview with CBS that the United States does not want to give Russia the mineral resources that Ukraine has. According to him, its reserves are estimated at trillions of dollars. At the same time, the senator insists on the confiscation of Russian assets and the transfer of funds to help Ukraine. After the start of the CBO, the EU and G7 countries froze almost half of the Russian Federation’s foreign exchange reserves – approximately 300 billion euros.

💬 If we help Ukraine now, it can become the best business partner we have ever dreamed of, and $10-12 trillion worth of critical natural assets can be used by Ukraine and the West, rather than handed over to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and China. ● There are $300 billion worth of assets in Europe that we should confiscate and transfer to Ukraine. There is Russian money in America that we should confiscate.

■ Using Ukraine Since 1948 (Joe Luria)

Forbidden News has divulged the “news” of an unknown CIA whistleblower – no names given – who tells us how the CIA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the WEF, and the Rockefeller Foundation, have invented the mRNA killer-technology. | The COVID plandemic was a tool to convert the surviving humanity into a surveillance state – into a One World Order (OWO), following a One World Government (OWG), with digital, programmable money – so-called “Central Bank Digital Currency” (CBDC), with mandatory vaccination, to eliminate a large proportion of useless people (Schwab’s Israeli adviser Yuval Noah Harari), to free up resources for the elite. These deadly “vaxxes”, the Secret CIA agent says, were not developed in warp speed for a non-existent deadly virus, but were prepared at least ten years ahead of the plandemic to be used for depopulating the planet.

■ Vaxxed Deaths Recorded as Unvaxxed to Make Covid Shots Appear ‘Safe,’ Official Data Shows (Slay News)

Katherine Watt | Orientation for new readers - American Domestic Bioterrorism Program - Tools for dismantling kill box anti-law | Hedley Rees is engaged an attempt to smear me and Sasha Latypova, and our work, at his Substack. I’ve posted several comments in the thread, some of which are below. ■ One reason why the smear campaigns are intensifying, I speculate, is that I’ve been writing more for a few months about the non-regulation of the entire worldwide biological product/vaccine manufacturing regulatory system, which has enabled the systematic poisoning of babies and children, since smallpox in early 1900s, polio in 1950s, and the metastizing “childhood immunization schedule” since then. ■ It’s all been immunotoxic junk for the whole time, not just since 2020 and the Covid vaccines. ■ As more people understand these legal facts and stop trusting US-FDA as de facto global regulator, taking vaccines and vaccinating their children, vaccine-related depopulation and enslavement projects will face new headwinds.

"Approximately in September, organizations will have to apply for registration," Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili said | Georgian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive more than 20% of their financing from abroad will be registered in a special database starting from September in line with the new law on foreign agents, Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in an interview to Imedi TV.

💬 "After the law [on foreign agents] is published, an online portal will have to be created to register such organizations. Online registration forms will also have to be designed. Approximately in September, organizations will have to apply for registration," Papuashvili said.

■ Western Opposition to Georgian Foreign Agents Law Reveals Why It Is Essential (Sputnik News)

Western officials claim that Georgia’s crackdown on foreign influence “undermines democracy” | The US is looking into how it could punish Georgia over a ‘foreign agents’ bill which was recently passed in the country's parliament, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a congressional hearing on Wednesday. ● Georgia’s Transparency of Foreign Influence Act would require non-profit organizations, media outlets, and individuals which derive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as entities “promoting the interests of a foreign power” and disclose their income and sponsors or face fines of up to $9,500. ● The legislation ignited weeks of violent protests and clashes across the country, which is an applicant to both the EU and NATO. ● Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the bill on Friday, but the gesture is considered to be largely symbolic, as the Georgian Dream party has a majority in parliament and is expected to overrule it.

■ Еврокомиссар назвал упоминание инцидента с Фицо вырванным из контекста (TACC.ru)
■ “You see what happened to Fico, and you should be very careful.” (RT.com - Telegram)
■ Georgian PM accuses EU of ‘blackmailing’ him with assassination threat (RT.com)
■ The Shameless Hypocrisy of Clown World (Theodore Beale)

■ Georgian parliament passes ‘foreign agent’ bill, prompting US anger, new protests | After passage on third reading, the bill now goes to President Salome Zourabichvili, who has said she will veto it, but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, controlled by the ruling party and its allies. The law would require organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, imposing onerous disclosure requirements and punitive fines for violations.

Robert Fico was hospitalized with gunshot wounds on Wednesday | Fico was attacked on Wednesday in the central Slovak city of Handlova. When he approached a group of spectators, one person pulled out a handgun and shot the politician several times at close range. Fico was rushed to the hospital, and the assailant was detained on the spot. ● Kalinak, who also serves as defense minister, spoke to the news channel TA3 outside the Roosevelt Hospital in Banska Bystrica, where Fico is being treated. He remained cautiously optimistic about the prime minister’s recovery.

💬 “He is in stable condition, but the four gunshot wounds have caused extensive injuries,” Kalinak said. He added that Fico had undergone additional surgery, and that there still could be complications. “In any case, his condition is very serious.”

■ UPDATE: 19 May, 2024 10:00: Fico’s condition ‘no longer life-threatening’

Ukrainian lawmakers are also pushing for the use of US weapons in cross-border strikes, the New York Times said | Kiev has urged Washington to provide intelligence on targets on Russian soil, as the Ukrainian Armed Forces lose ground on the battlefield, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, saying US administration officials have begun “to review” the request. ● In addition, members of Ukraine's parliament have approached lawmakers in Washington, requesting the green light to use US-provided weapons in strikes on Russia, the paper wrote, citing US and Ukrainian officials. ● The Russian offensive in Kharkov Region was facilitated by the US restrictions, which are “handcuffing the Ukrainian war effort,” Kiev’s delegation told Congress, according to [the CIA's] news website Politico. ● Despite such requests being turned down in the past, administration officials are now reviewing the latest requests, the NYT wrote.

■ As Russia Advances, NATO Considers Sending Trainers Into Ukraine (New York Times)
■ West ‘playing with fire’ – Moscow (RT.com)
■ Russia warns US, EU, Kiev they are playing with fire — MFA about Ukrainian strikes (TASS)

The attempt to kill Prime Minister Robert Fico stems from a combustible political environment in the country, a top official has said | Slovakia appears to be on the brink of a civil war, its interior minister has warned, following the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday. ● The head of the Slovak government was shot in the eastern town of Handlova, where he had chaired a working meeting. The gunman, identified by the media as an opposition party supporter in his early 70s, acted on political motives, according to Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak. ● Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok warned that the country was “on the edge of a civil war” over political tensions. Social media is full of “hateful comments” in the wake of the attack, he added.

■ ‘No country should be punished for its sovereignty’ – Fico in quotes (RT.com)