US security services are trying to recruit Russian diplomats working in Russia's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Deputy Permanent Representative Maria Zabolotskaya said at a committee meeting.
"The updated information presented by us indicates that the US keeps purposefully applying an entire range of measures and restrictions to our Permanent Mission and its employees aimed at reducing the effectiveness of our interaction with the UN, but moreover, at the provision of psychological pressure on Russian diplomats," Zabolotskaya said.
“How else to explain more and more intrusive recruiting approaches by local security services who approach employees on the street and at the airport,” she said.
Zabolotskaya said contextual advertising is used in social networks, search engines and at video hosting sites, for example YouTube, to demonstrate calls to cooperate with the FBI.
The latest comes just over a month after the US spy agency CIA undertook a social media campaign to target the Russian public so as to establish so-called "secure" lines where secrets could be shared with American officials.
At the time, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters the targeting campaign was being monitored by officials.
US' John Kerry Admits Iraq War Was Based on Lie But Won't Call It Aggression
A former Vietnam veteran, John Kerry received significant criticism during his failed 2004 presidential run for "being for the [Iraq] war before he was against it."
The US special ambassador on climate change and former Secretary of State John Kerry recently admitted on French television that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was based on a lie, but refused to admit it was a war of aggression.
Appearing on French TV channel LCI, Kerry insisted the US invasion of Iraq was completely different from the conflict in Ukraine. The French journalist noted the invasion of Iraq was a war of aggression based on lies that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaeda*.
John Kerry, pour montrer que l’Occident suit des principes faut-il aussi juger Bush pour l’Irak?
— Darius Rochebin (@DariusRochebin) June 25, 2023
« -Non.
-N’était-ce pas un crime d’agression sur la base d’un mensonge?
-Non… Enfin, on ne savait pas que c’était un mensonge.
-Mais lui mentait.
-Écoutez, on ne va pas rouvrir le… pic.twitter.com/AtPJkQI30P
The crux of Kerry's argument seems to be that former US President George W. Bush was never charged with a crime. “No, (it was not a war of aggression),” Kerry replied. “Because there’s never even been, you know, a process of direct accusation of President Bush himself.”
Kerry did not deny there were abuses in Iraq and claimed he “spoke out against them.” However, he repeatedly denied the war was an act of aggression by the United States.
“No, No, No. Well, you didn’t know it was a lie at the time. The evidence that was produced, people didn’t know that it was a lie,” Kerry stammered.
“Sir, that is not a constructive way,” the failed 2004 presidential candidate trailed off before concluding: “I’m not going to re-debate the Iraq War. We have spent a lot of time doing that previously, I was opposed to going in, I thought it was the wrong thing to do, but we gave the president the power, regrettably…. Based on the lie. And when we knew it was a lie, people stood up and did the right thing.”
Kerry, as the reporter pointed out, voted to authorize the invasion, though he would later campaign against it during his 2004 presidential run. The Iraq War would officially endure until 2011, though the US continues to station roughly 2,500 troops in Iraq to for its operations against Daesh (ISIS).
The Iraq War was sold on the premise that Iraq had or was developing weapons of mass destruction in violation of a UN resolution signed after the end of the Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield/Storm).
The Bush administration and Tony Blair premiership in the UK presented fabricated evidence that Iraq was violating those sanctions and limiting UN weapon inspectors. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell also uncritically recounted a report that captured al-Qaeda leader Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi stating Iraq was providing chemical weapons training to Al-Qaeda fighters, though a CIA report prior to his testimony indicated al-Libi would not have been in a position to know such information.
Post-war analysis showed that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had actually rebuffed meetings proposed by al-Qaeda operatives, that he never provided any material or operational support to the organization and saw them as a threat to his regime.
Two years after the attack, 69% of Americans believed Hussein was personally responsible for September 11 and 89% believed he was providing support to Osama bin Laden.
After losing to Bush in 2004, Kerry would later serve in the Obama administration as the secretary of state. Despite pledging to end the war, former US President Barack Obama kept it going for years and sent an additional 33,000 troops to the country in 2009.
US always puts interests over principles, Lavrov tells RT
The US’ goal in any situation is to secure profit for itself and it readily goes against its stated principles when it sees an opportunity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT on Monday, commenting on Washington’s reaction to the aborted mutiny in the country last weekend.
US media have claimed that the US opted to postpone planned sanctions against the private military company Wagner Group, whose leader Evgeny Prigozhin tried to use the force to oust senior Russian Generals on Saturday. The US wanted to avoid the optics that it was siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the turmoil, the reports said.
“This is just another piece of evidence that the US position depends on what it wants from every particular player, be it on the international arena or in some particular nation,” Lavrov said about the reports.
“The US has repeatedly shown bias and vested interests regarding the Ukrainian conflict,” he added. “They are the ones waging a war against Russia with Ukrainian hands, after all.”
The much-touted “rules-based order” that Washington wants to impose on the world is merely a mechanism for securing US interests, the minister added. These ‘rules’ have “nothing to do with either international law or with the laws of any nation, including Western ones,” he proposed.
Lavrov cited the whitewashing of the right-wing Ukrainian nationalist unit Azov as an example of Washington’s approach. The US Congress branded it a terrorist group that is unfit to receive American military assistance, before the hostilities in Ukraine erupted last year, he pointed out.
All that is now forgotten. They have rehabilitated Azov,” Lavrov said.
Members of the unit have been receiving heroes’ welcomes in the US, with former and serving US officials serving as their cheerleaders. For example, ex-US Ambassador to Moscow Michal McFaul welcomed Azov fighters at prestigious Stanford University last October.
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