News Online World News
The Kremlin said Wednesday it was “unacceptable” for US President Joe Biden to accuse Moscow’s troops of committing genocide in Ukraine, where Russia has been conducting a military campaign for nearly two months. News Online
“We categorically disagree and consider unacceptable any attempt to distort the situation in this way, especially since it is hardly acceptable for the president of the United States,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He added that the United States is a “country that has committed well-known deeds in modern and recent history”.
Biden on Tuesday accused President Vladimir Putin’s forces of committing genocide in Ukraine, the first time his administration has used the term.
Biden said it would ultimately be up to courts to determine whether Russia’s actions in its pro-Western neighbour — where it stands accused of atrocities against civilians — constitute genocide.
bur/bp
© Agence France-Presse. All rights are reserved.
Macron Urges Caution After Biden ‘Genocide’ Claim Against Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron declined Wednesday to repeat President Joe Biden’s accusation that Russia was carrying out “genocide” against Ukrainians, warning that verbal escalations would not help end the war.
Biden had accused Vladimir Putin’s forces on Tuesday of committing genocide in Ukraine, saying it has “become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian.”
But speaking to France 2 television as he ramps up his re-election campaign against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Macron said leaders should be careful with language.
“I would say that Russia unilaterally unleashed the most brutal war, that it is now established that war crimes were committed by the Russian army and that it is now necessary to find those responsible and make them face justice,” Macron said.
“It’s madness what’s happening, it’s incredibly brutal,” he added.
News Online Economy
“But at the same time I look at the facts and I want to try as much as possible to continue to be able to stop this war and to rebuild peace. I’m not sure that verbal escalations serve this cause,” he said.
Macron said it was best to be “careful” with the terminology on genocide in this situations, especially as “the Ukrainians and Russians are brotherly peoples”.
Biden’s comments were welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has repeatedly accused Moscow of genocide since the invasion was launched on February 24.
The comments by Macron, who has kept dialogue going with Putin during the conflict, echo concerns the French leader expressed last month after Biden called Putin a “butcher”.
Macron responded at the time that the priority was to achieve a ceasefire through diplomacy, and “if we want to do that, we can’t escalate either in words or actions”.
In his interview with France 2, Macron indicated he would be holding new telephone talks with both Putin and Zelensky in the coming days.
jri-sjw/js/bp
© Agence France-Presse. All rights are reserved.
World News News Online
‘Through Ukraine’: Can the West Use the War to Stem Its Decline and the Shift to a New Global Monetary Order?
By Alastair Crook
Sometimes revolutionary change creeps up upon us by stealth; we only come to appreciate the major bifurcation when we come to notice it, in the rear-view mirror. This is especially so when the those who first pulled the trigger do not fully appreciate – themselves – what they have done.
What has been done? In a moment of visceral prejudice, a few ‘Team Biden’ staffers decided to leverage their plan to collapse the value of the rouble. So they hit upon the ruse of seizing the dollar, euro and Treasury bond reserves of the Central Bank of Russia.
So sure were they of their plan that this would completely stymie Russia’s efforts to save a sinking rouble, they did not even bother to consult the Federal Reserve or the ECB. The latter said so publicly and disagreed with the action taken.
