Trump Blames Biden for Ukraine Crisis, Accuses US of ‘Taunting’ Putin

©Sputnik / Sergey Guneev / Go to the mediabank

The former president has said repeatedly that the escalation of the eight-year-old security and political crisis in Ukraine wouldn’t have taken place on his watch. At a rally on Saturday, he called for “immediate” negotiations on a “peaceful end” to the crisis before it goes nuclear.

Donald Trump has blamed President Joe Biden and his administration for instigating the Ukraine crisis, suggesting that Washington practically “forced” Russian President Vladimir Putin into kicking off the military operation in February.

“They actually taunted him, if you really look at it. Our country, and our so-called leadership, taunted Putin. And listen, I would say you know, they’re almost forcing him to go in with what they’re saying. The rhetoric was so dumb,” Trump said, speaking in an interview with Real America’s Voice on Saturday.

“Look, we are closer to World War III, and this will be the war of all wars because the weaponry is so unbelievably powerful. The nuclear is so powerful, this isn’t army tanks going back and forth and planes shooting each other. This is the big deal and I’m telling you, the way they’re handling it is so bad. And we could very well end up in World War III starting with Ukraine,” Trump warned.

Trump also repeated his oft-made claim that the crisis in Ukraine would never happen if he were still commander-in-chief.

“It would have never happened if I was president. If the election wasn’t rigged, this would not have happened. Ukraine and Russia would not be fighting. It doesn’t mean they’d love each other but there’s no way that they would be fighting. There’s no way that Putin would have gone in,” he said.

Asked by his interviewer whether he would be willing to negotiate a peace agreement, Trump boasted that he “got along with” both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while in office. He recalled that Zelensky had publicly dismissed claims made by Democrats during their 2019 impeachment probe that Trump acted illegally by investigating the shady business activities of Joe Biden’s son Hunter in Ukraine.

“Had we not had that phony Russia-Russia-Russia hoax going all the time by a bunch of sleazebags –it was a creation by the Democrat Party…we would have had a very nice relationship with Russia. But it was very tough under those circumstances. But I had a very good relationship with Putin,” Trump added.

“Again, this would have never happened. Ukraine in a million years – even the other side admits that if Trump was president it wouldn’t have happened,” the former president said.

The former president has weighed in on the Ukraine crisis repeatedly over the past eight months, calling for peace negotiations, offering to mediate, and saying the US needs a “strong” leader at the helm amid a series of international crises plaguing the world.

Russia kicked off a military operation in Ukraine in February after weeks of escalating shelling, sabotage and sniper attacks against the Donbass republics by Ukrainian forces, and fears that Kiev was preparing to launch a full-scale offensive. The crisis followed more than a year of escalating regional tensions and military-buildups, including joint exercises between Ukrainian and NATO forces in September of 2021.

Last December, Moscow offered NATO and the United States a means to dramatically de-escalate tensions via a pair of draft treaties proposing a major pullback of troops, warships, military aircraft and missile systems, and formal, written agreements that Ukraine and other post-Soviet republics would not join NATO. Washington and Brussels balked at the proposals, emphasizing that the alliance’s “open door” policy was non-negotiable.

Serangkaian pemogokan terbaru membuat sebagian besar kereta di Inggris terhenti

Seseorang menyapu lantai di depan papan keberangkatan yang kosong di stasiun Euston, ketika anggota serikat pengemudi Aslef dan Asosiasi Staf Gaji Transportasi (TSSA) mogok, di London, Rabu, 5 Oktober 2022. (Victoria Jones/PA melalui AP)

Sebagian besar layanan kereta api di seluruh Inggris dibatalkan pada hari Sabtu karena ribuan pekerja kereta api melakukan pemogokan terbaru atas pekerjaan, gaji dan kondisi kerja.

Pemogokan 24 jam oleh 40.000 petugas kebersihan, pemberi sinyal, pekerja pemeliharaan, dan staf stasiun adalah yang ketiga dalam seminggu, dan bagian dari gelombang pemogokan yang melonjak dari pekerja yang mencari kenaikan gaji untuk mengimbangi inflasi yang berjalan hampir 10%.

Hanya sekitar 20% layanan kereta api yang diharapkan beroperasi di seluruh Inggris pada hari Sabtu, menurut operator infrastruktur Network Rail, dengan gangguan meluas hingga Minggu pagi.

“Kami tahu ini sulit bagi publik,” kata Mick Lynch, sekretaris jenderal Serikat Perkeretaapian, Maritim, dan Transportasi. “Tetapi apa yang kita lihat di seluruh negeri adalah semakin banyak orang yang muak dengan cara mereka diperlakukan di tempat kerja.

"Orang kaya tampaknya semakin kaya dan orang miskin tampaknya semakin buruk sepanjang waktu," kata Lynch kepada Sky News.

Inggris mengalami peningkatan jumlah pemogokan di tengah krisis biaya hidup terburuk di negara itu dalam beberapa dekade.

Setelah musim panas dengan sedikit kemajuan dalam menyelesaikan perselisihan perkeretaapian, pembicaraan antara serikat pekerja dan manajemen baru-baru ini dilanjutkan.

Serikat pekerja menuduh pemerintah mencegah perusahaan kereta api - yang dimiliki secara pribadi tetapi diatur secara ketat - untuk membuat kesepakatan. Lynch mendesak Menteri Transportasi Anne Marie Trevelyan untuk "melepaskan operator kereta api yang saat ini mengambil mandat mereka langsung dari diri Anda sendiri."

Parisians Want France, Out of NATO in Protest against High Costs of Living

Chanting "Let's get out of NATO," the protesters demanded President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation, calling on his government to stop supplying arms to Ukraine.

Parisians staged a huge rally to call for an end to France’s membership in the US-led NATO, while also protesting against the high costs of living.

On Wednesday, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen stated that if she won the presidency, she would once again leave the military command of the US-led alliance.

Ever since the Ukrainian crisis began, causing a severe energy crisis across Europe, anti-NATO sentiments have been rising among the Europeans.

In France, petrol pumps have been running dry as worker’s strike continues in the refineries of the major French oil companies.

On Friday, riders faced the crunch as hundreds of meters long queues crawled out of petrol stations across the country, causing frustrations and long waits for commuters.

Around 20.7 percent of service stations experienced difficulties on Saturday, compared with 19 percent the day before, according to the French energy ministry.

Out of the total six refineries, three are currently not operating, cutting the production by 60 percent equaling to 740,000 barrels of petrol a day, and affecting nearly one third of the petrol stations across France.

Kremlin: OPEC+ Decision to Cut Oil Production is a 'Victory of Common Sense'

©Sputnik / Максим Богодвид / Go to the mediabank

Last week, the group of influential oil-producing countries agreed to cut oil production by two million barrels per day (bpd), undermining the Biden administration's diplomacy in Gulf nations aimed at ramping up output amid a global energy crisis sparked by the anti-Russian policies of the US and its allies.

The "responsible position" taken by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its major non-member partners to cut oil output serves to balance out the "chaos" on global energy markets that was unleashed by the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

"Of course, the fact that [the Russian] president was able to establish mutually respectful relations [with Saudi Arabia and the UAE] which are based on mutual benefit, based on mutual trust - this of course helps in discussing the most critical details. I am not inclined to say that this is some kind of victory on our part. This is a victory of common sense," Peskov said in an interview with Russian television on Sunday.

The presidential spokesman said it was a good thing that such "balanced, thoughtful and planned out work by countries which take a responsible position within OPEC resists US actions" is possible, since "this at least balances out the chaos being caused by the Americans."

OPEC+ agreed to cut crude production by two million bpd on Wednesday after a ministerial meeting in Vienna, with the cuts expected to enter into force in November.

The move was made amid growing uncertainty in global oil markets, caused in part by Western efforts to limit the purchase and sale of Russian energy and to introduce a "price cap" on Russian crude oil. Russian officials have warned repeatedly that any attempts to "cap" the price of Russian oil may lead to a halt in exports. Russia accounts for approximately 10 percent of the global crude oil market.

"The US has begun to literally lose their self-control...Their main task is to push through the decisions [targeting Russian energy] partially adopted by the European Union in its latest package of sanctions, even at the cost of destabilizing the global energy market," Peskov said.

The White House expressed "disappointment" over the OPEC+ output cut, pledging to pour an additional 10 million barrels from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve onto the market, while some lawmakers threatened to pull US weapons systems, troops, and contractors out of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in retaliation.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington would consider "a number of response options" against Riyadh over the cuts, while Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused OPEC+ of "aligning with Russia."

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy encouraged Washington to begin a "wholesale reevaluation" of the US' alliance with Riyadh, while Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski accused the Gulf states of seeking to tank the US economy and to "help" Washington's enemies.

Ribuan Ikan naik ke darat di Lampung Penjelasan BMKG

Sebuah video menunjukkan ribuan ikan kecil jenis tanjan naik ke pinggir pantai menghebohkan media sosial. Ikan itu masih dalam kondisi segar dan melompat-lompat di daratan.

Peristiwa itu terjadi di wilayah Panjang, Bandar Lampung hingga di Selaki, Kabupaten Lampung Selatan, pada hariJumat malam, 07/10/2022.

Dalam video tersebut, tampak warga berduyun-duyun mengeluarkan ember dari dalam rumah masing-masing untuk mengambil ikan yang terdampar dalam kondisi masih hidup.

Tak hanya ember, beberapa masyarakat juga tampak menggunakan plastik berukuran besar untuk membawa ikan-ikan itu.

#Gempa Mag:5.5, 09-Okt-22 17:02:44 WIB, Lok:7.09 LS,106.08 BT (26 km BaratDaya BAYAH-BANTEN), Kedlmn:12 Km, tdk berpotensi tsunami #BMKG pic.twitter.com/RAm8Dcgq7U

— BMKG (@infoBMKG) October 9, 2022

"Ya Allah ikannya banyak benar pada loncat naik ke pantai semua," ucap pengunggah video tersebut.

Menurut Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (BMKG) Stasiun Maritim Lampung, fenomena ikan teri naik ke daratan itu terjadi karena banyak faktor.

"Pertama karena gelap bulan, di mana ikan akan senang menghampiri sumber cahaya yang terdapat dipinggir atau dermaga," kata Petugas BMKG Stasiun Maritim Lampung, Ahcmad Rafli.

Selain itu, ikan naik ke pinggir pantai diakibatkan karena adanya upwelling atau arus naik dari dasar ke permukaan laut, yang menyebabkan ikan naik ke permukaan.

"Pertama karena gelap bulan, di mana ikan akan senang menghampiri sumber cahaya yang terdapat dipinggir atau dermaga," kata Petugas BMKG Stasiun Maritim Lampung, Ahcmad Rafli.

Selain itu, ikan naik ke pinggir pantai diakibatkan karena adanya upwelling atau arus naik dari dasar ke permukaan laut, yang menyebabkan ikan naik ke permukaan.

Menurutnya, air laut di sekitar Pelabuhan Panjang yang surut adalah normal. Dimana proses air laut dimulai pukul 19:00 WIB dan diperkirakan akan berlangsung hingga dini hari.

Warga Sawangan Depok Dibuat Geger dengan Hujan Es

Butiran es (dok.istimewa)

Hujan angin disertai es mengguyur kawasan Depok, Jawa Barat pada sore ini, hari Minggu, 09/10/2022. Dari unggahan sejumlah video di laman Instagram, terlihat hujan es dengan ukuran cukup besar guyur kawasan Sawangan, Depok.

Informasi hujan es juga disampaikan sejumlah warga di media sosial.

Di salah satu video yang beredar di sosial media, terlihat bongkahan es sebesar kerikil tampak mengguyur deras ke arah sebuah mobil

"Diguyur hujan deras sejumlah kawasan di Sawangan, Depok dilanda hujan es," tulis unggahan akun Instagram @depok.update.

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Menurut salah satu warga sekitar, Agus, hujan es terjadi kurang lebih sekitar 3 menit. Tiba-tiba saat hujan, dia dikagetkan dengan suara berisik di atas rumahnya.

Setelah dicek, hujan es berukuran kecil sudah banyak di sekitar area rumahnya.

"Sekitar 3 menitan, sekarang ada lagi tapi enggak sebanyak di awal," kata dia.

Tak cuma di kawasan Bojongsari, wilayah Sawangan, Depok, juga dilaporkan terjadi fenomena hujan es. Di salah satu video yang beredar di sosial media, terlihat bongkahan es sebesar kerikil tampak mengguyur deras ke arah sebuah mobil.

Selain hujan es, di kawasan Sawangan Village, Depok, Jawa Barat, angin kencang juga menumbangkan sebuah pohon, sejumlah bangunan rusak. akun Instagram @depok.update membagikan video kejadian : 'Pohon tumbang dan sejumlah bangunan rusak di dekat Yapan. Sawangan, Depok'.

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Sampai saat ini belum ada penjelasan mengapa hujan es bisa terjadi di kawasan Bojongsari dan Sawangan, Depok. Beberapa hari belakangan Depok, Jakarta dan sekitarnya dilanda hujan deras. Sejumlah lokasi bahkan banjir.

China Launches Its First Solar Observatory: CASC

©STR

Beijing - China has successfully launched its first solar observatory, nicknamed Kuafu-1, after a giant in Chinese mythology who wished to capture and tame the Sun, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) informs.

The launch was carried out on Sunday, at 7.43 a.m. local time (23:43 GMT on Saturday), from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, using the Long March-2D carrier rocket, CASC said.

Kuafu-1, or the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), entered its planned orbit successfully, according to CASC. Kuafu-1 will observe the Sun from an orbit 720 kilometers (447 miles) above Earth’s surface and will help study how the Sun’s magnetic field creates its energetic emissions. The mission is expected to last four years.

The satellite was launched atop a Long March-2D carrier rocket from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:43 a.m. Beijing Time and has entered the designated orbit.

A space-borne observatory running at a sun-synchronous orbit is not hampered by the Earth's rotations, while an Earth-based telescope can see the sun only in the daytime.

"ASO-S is capable of probing the sun 24 hours daily for most of the year," said Gan Weiqun, the satellite's principal scientist from the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). "Its longest daily time-out is no more than 18 minutes when briefly running through the shadow of Earth each day from May to August."

The solar probe, with a projected life of no less than four years, is designed to accumulate and transmit back some 500 gigabytes of data within a day, which is equivalent to tens of thousands of high-quality images.

"The onboard detectors take pictures every few seconds or minutes, and during solar eruptions, they can rapidly increase their shutter speed to only one second so as to capture solar activities with more details," said Huang Yu, associate chief designer of ASO-S science application system.

During its in-orbit operation, three ground stations in the cities of Sanya, Kashgar and Beijing, far apart from each other, will receive data from space, before sending them in packages over the next four years to a 2,048-core powerful computer mounted at the PMO for decoding.

ASO-S' study of solar physics

The probe, dubbed Kuafu-1, a sun seeker in ancient Chinese mythology, will operate in orbit 720 kilometers from Earth, permanently facing the sun.

Equipped with a trio of instruments, the 888-kilogram satellite will provide insight into the sun's magnetic field, the cause of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

Solar flares and CMEs are two high-energy eruptions from the sun's atmosphere. While CMEs are relatively gentle expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields, solar flares produce bursts of electromagnetic radiation that travel at the speed of light, reaching Earth in just over 8 minutes.

Both solar flares and CMEs can affect Earth when they reach and interact with our planet's atmosphere. Therefore, studying them can help researchers forecast such eruptions with data from ASO-S, minimizing the potential interference with navigation systems or power grid disruptions, according to Gan.

The data will be collected from a set of tools loaded on the satellites, which include an All-Solar Vector Magnetic Imager, a Lyman Alpha Solar Telescope and a Solar Hard X-ray Imager.

"After the probe's initial commissioning phase, ASO-S's data will be open for anyone to access for free," said Li Hui, a researcher from the same academy and the chief scientific application systems engineer of the probe.

The ASO-S is set to cover the 2024 to 2025 peak of the solar cycle, which normally lasts 11 years.

"Today's launch will provide us the best window period for studying the sun," said Gan. "A four-year minimus life span of the probe can cover peak years; we can observe a lot of eruptions."

Berbulan-bulan Puluhan Siswa SD di Tasikmalaya Belajar di Tenda Darurat

Siswa SD di Kabupaten Tasik terpaksa belajar di tenda darurat (Foto: Istimewa)

Kondisi bangunan sekolah yang hampir ambruk membuat puluhan siswa SD Banjarwangi, Desa Banjarwaringin, Kecamatan Salopa, Kabupaten Tasikmalaya terpaksa belajar di tenda darurat.

Kondisi panas akibat terik matahari serta becek saat hujan datang harus dirasakan para siswa. Di dalam tenda itu terdiri dari dua kelas. Sehingga mereka saling berhimpitan di dalam tenda.

Mengutip dari Harapanrakyat.com--jaringan Suara.com, kondisi ruangan kelas lain yang tersisa juga tidak jauh berbeda, total sebanyak 126 siswa belajar dalam kecemasan.

Meski masih layak, namun jika hujan deras siswa memilih belajar bergantian lantaran khawatir ambruk.

Dari informasi yang dihimpun, dua ruangan kelas 4 dan 5 masih rusak setelah ambruk tahun 2020 silam.

Selain atap sudah lapuk, beberapa kusen jendela juga sudah tidak tersisa. Sayangnya, bangunan belum kunjung mendapat perbaikan.

“Enggak nyaman belajar di tenda, suka ada becek, kadang banyak nyamuk. Saya rindu sekolah lagi di dalam kelas biar tidak bocor,” kata Muhammad Hafid salah seorang siswa.

Sementara itu, Suhendar salah seorang guru olahraga menjelaskan, kondisi sekolah atapnya dua kelas ambrol. Bahkan dindingnya pun sudah pada lapuk.

“Siswa belajar di tenda sudah berlangsung selama 4 bulan, namun yang belajar di tenda hanya sementara saja sambil menunggu sekolah ini dibangun,” terangnya.

Walaupun kondisinya mengkhawatirkan, Suhendar mengapresiasi siswanya karena terus menorehkan prestasi, terutama di tingkat kecamatan.

Soal pembangunan sekolah yang ambruk, kata Suhendar, pihaknya sudah berusaha mengajukan perbaikan ke dinas. Namun hingga saat ini belum ada kepastian pembangunannya.

“Tapi kalau menurut informasi katanya bakal ada pembangunannya tahun 2023. Kami harap Pemda maupun Pemprov serta pusat segera membangun kelas ini, apalagi ini demi keselamatan siswa,” ungkapnya.

Dapur bak air terjun diterjang banjir

Melupanya sungai Cibuyut membuat sejumlah pemukiman warga di Ciamis, Jawa Barat diterjang banjir. Banjir bahkan sampai masuk ke dalam dapur rumah warga (Tangkapan layar akun @andreli_48)

Banjir melanda kawasan Cihaurbeuti, Ciamis, Jawa Barat pada hari Jumat, 07/10/2022, yang diakibatkan oleh hujan lebat dengan intensitas tinggi sejak siang hari. Hujan tersebut berlansung cukup lama, bahkan hingga menjelang petang juga belum reda.

Hujan lebat tersebut membuat sungai Cibuyut yang merupakan anak sungai Citanduy meluap mengakibatkan banjir ke pemukiman dan mengakibatkan satu pengendara motor hilang terbawa hanyut.

Dalam kejadian ini empat dusun terdampak banjir bandang, yakni Dusun Desa Kaler, Dusun Desa Tengah, Dusun Baketrak, Dusun Jengkol Pandak. Banjir bandang yang menimpa empat dusun tersebut hingga masuk ke dalam rumah.

Kondisi banjir yang masuk ke dalam rumah itu sempat terekam video dan menjadi viral di media sosial yang diunggah oleh akun Instagram @andreli_48.

Dalam video singkat tersebut terlihat air bah seakan mengalir deras melalui celah-celah jendela dapur.

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“Banjir masuk dapur.” tulis caption pada unggahan video tersebut.

Hal ini mengakibatkan perabotan rumah tangga menjadi rusak dan rumah bagian dalam tergenang oleh banjir.

Video terjangan arus sungai yang masuk ke dapur milik warga itu pun banyak mendapat komentar dari publik.

"Ngeri langsung cabut regulator gas dan segera matikan listrik," tulis salah satu netizen.

"Banjir dimana-mana... Cuaca memang lagi ekstrem," sambung akun lainnya.

Tak hanya itu, banjir yang melanda Cihaurbeuti Ciamis, Jawa Barat tersebut menelan korban jiwa yakni satu pengendara motor yang hilang hanyut dibawa oleh arus.

Menurut informasi warga sekitar saat kondisi hujan deras, saluran air tiba-tiba meluap hingga ke jalan raya.

Pada saat itu pengendara motor tersebut bersikeras untuk melewati jalan yang kebanjiran dari arah Cihaurbeuti menuju Panumbangan dan Rajapolah, Tasikmalaya.

Namun sayangnya pengendara tersebut tidak berhasil melintas hingga terbawa arus air yang cukup deras.

Sementara itu, camat Cihaurbeuti Eddy Yulianto menjelaskan bahwa selain pemukiman dan 1 pengendara yang hanyut, banjir juga menggenangi sawah warga. [