Russia should place its nuclear weapons in “friendly countries” near the US in response to Washington’s alleged plans to move its own tactical arms to Europe, lawmaker Aleksey Zhuravlev has suggested.
His comments came after The Telegraph reported on Saturday that the US is looking to deploy its nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years, in order to counter a supposedly increased threat from Russia.
In a post on Telegram, Zhuravlev, who is first deputy chairman of the Russian parliamentary defense committee and leader of the Rodina (Motherland) party, pointed out that Britain has its own nuclear weapons, and that the US has already deployed part of its atomic arsenal to several European countries close to Russia.
In a post on Telegram, Zhuravlev, who is first deputy chairman of the Russian parliamentary defense committee and leader of the Rodina (Motherland) party, pointed out that Britain has its own nuclear weapons, and that the US has already deployed part of its atomic arsenal to several European countries close to Russia.
“Therefore, it’s unlikely that additional deployment [of nuclear weapons to the UK] would have an effect on the military-political landscape,” Zhuravlev surmised.
Nevertheless, the politician suggested that Moscow should consider deploying its own nuclear weapons closer to the US and send them to “friendly countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.”
Zhuravlev admitted, however, that weapons systems have made a big leap in the years since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. “Russian hypersonic missiles launched from our territory would reach the US faster than subsonic ones launched from the American underbelly,” the MP wrote.
He also pointed out that Russia has strategic aviation as well as a vast arsenal of submarines stationed in unknown locations around the world’s oceans.
“We have ways to respond to any encroachments by the US and NATO, which it controls,” Zhuravlev said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously warned that Moscow would be forced to enact “compensatory countermeasures” in the event that American nuclear warheads return to Britain. Russia has also repeatedly accused the West of fueling tensions in Europe, and has cited NATO’s continued eastward expansion as one of the root causes of the Ukraine conflict.
Meanwhile, a number of Western officials – including from the UK, Germany, Estonia, and even the chair of NATO’s Military Committee – have stoked fears of a supposed Russian attack on Europe in the next few years, and have called on Western governments and citizens to prepare for a major conflict with Moscow.
Russia, however, has vehemently denied any plans to invade neighboring European countries, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov calling such claims a “hoax.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has also stressed that Moscow “has no interest… geopolitically, economically or militarily... in waging war against NATO” and would instead prefer to improve ties with the US-led bloc.
A dead body found under the debris as search and rescue efforts continue at the area in Az Zawayda town of Deir Al Balah, Gaza after an Israeli air strike. / Photo: AA
Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip killed 215 more Palestinians within 24 hours, including 20 members of one family, said the health ministry of Palestinian.
Israel's aggression in Gaza — now in its 115th day — has killed at least 26,637 Palestinians and wounded 65,387, as intense battles continue in southern city of Khan Younis.
In a collective outcry against the suspension of funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), several aid organisations have voiced their deep concern over the perilous situation unfolding in Gaza.
The statement, signed by more than 20 organisations, warned of starvation, the looming spectre of famine, and the outbreak of diseases exacerbated by Israel's continued bombardment and deliberate obstruction of aid access in Gaza.
“We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job,” it said.
“This decision comes as the International Court of Justice ordered immediate and effective action to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” it added.
Framework for halt in fighting in Gaza and release of hostages is to be relayed to Hamas, Qatar's PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says after meetings with US, Israeli and Egyptian officials pic.twitter.com/eZjf13ToIX
Saudi Arabia on Monday called on key donor countries to UNRWA to continue “supporting humanitarian missions” operating in the Gaza Strip after several countries announced they were halting funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Israel claimed that five of the agency’s staff members took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 Al-Aqsa Flood operation, prompting countries like the US, Canada, Australia, Britain, France, Italy and Germany to stop their funding of the agency.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “an independent investigation into these allegations shall come up with facts coupled with evidence, especially in light of the sacrifices made by UNRWA workers, (many of whom) were killed and injured as a result of the indiscriminate Israeli bombing of relief homes in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings.
“The Kingdom urges all supporters of UNRWA to carry out their role in supporting humanitarian missions towards Palestinian refugees inside the besieged Gaza Strip,” the statement added, stressing the importance of enabling the agency to continue its work to ensure “the provision of basic requirements for the Palestinians, (and) to mitigate the effects of the humanitarian crisis that is affecting them.”
On Friday, UNRWA said it had fired several people and promised a thorough investigation into the Israeli claims. Meanwhile, Israel has vowed to stop the agency’s work in Gaza.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis say they launched a rocket at US warship Lewis B. Puller as it sailed through the Gulf of Aden.(X)
Yemen's Houthi group on Monday said they have launched a missile attack on a U.S. military ship in the Gulf of Aden.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahiya Sarae said that Houthi naval troops fired an anti-ship missile at the USS Lewis B. Puller as it traveled in the Gulf of Aden. Sarae said the attack was retribution for US and UK bombings in Yemen and in solidarity with the “oppressed” Palestinians.
“The targeting procedure is part of the Yemeni armed forces’ military actions in defense of Yemen and evidence of their determination to help the oppressed Palestinian people,” Sarae said.
On Sunday evening, "We launched a naval missile targeting 'USS Lewis B Puller,' a ship belonging to the American Navy when it was sailing in the Gulf of Aden," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement.
"One of the ship's missions is to provide logistical support to the American forces involved in aggression against our country," he added.
The Houthis have said that neither the coalition attacks nor the new designation will stop them from preventing all Israel-bound ships passing through the Red Sea.
“Neither America nor anybody else will be able to prevent Yemen from meeting its humanitarian and moral obligations towards the tortured people of Gaza,” chief Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam said on social media platform X on Sunday.
Experts believe the Houthis continue to attack ships to remain in the spotlight and keep the US involved in the region, as they are aware that the administration of President Joe Biden will not deploy troops to Yemen during an election year.
Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East expert and head of Girton College at the University of Cambridge, said that the current exchange of strikes between the Houthis and the US may escalate into an aggressive US bombardment of Yemen and may also see the Houthis intensify their own attacks.
“As long as there is no ceasefire in Gaza, the Houthis can position themselves as having rightson their side,” she said.
“The more the US bombs them, the more they can justify their own expansion of operations — as long as they still retain capability, which looks to be the case. We may already be in a spiral.”
As usual to cover up real events, such as in the case of positive covid all the crew of the US aircraft carrier Rooselvet, a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said there were no reports of an attack on the Puller.
In fact, adding to convince his lies as truth, he said that the Houthis had previously launched missiles that did not reach the target, instead falling onto land or sea.
Unfortunately, this statement makes the real truth even clearer. If there is a missile attack, the US response is usually, shoot it down, not miss the target and crash. The inconsistencies in the statements show that US intelligence is lying .
Russian artillery in the Ukrainian conflict zone has recently dealt yet another stinging blow to the Kiev regime forces.
This time, D-30 howitzer units unleashed their fury upon camouflaged Ukrainian strong points in the Kupyansk sector.
Some 30 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in this attack as their positions were hit by salvos of 122mm high-explosive fragmentation shells.
“Tired?
No. How can we get tired? Russia does not get tired,” a Russian artilleryman can be heard quipping at the end of a short video released by the Russian Ministry of Defense, which shows this attack from the howitzer crews’ perspective.
Watch Russian Grad MLRS Devastate Ukrainian Troops Near Artemovsk
The Russian military disrupted the rotation of Ukrainian units in the Artemovsk area of the special operation zone.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has released footage showing Russian artillerymen firing rocket-propelled grenades at Ukrainian forces in a special operation zone.
Russian scouts located about 50 Ukrainian soldiers and gave their coordinates to the artillerymen. Russian military units belonging to the Yug Battlegroup used the Grad BM-21 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) to disrupt the rotation of Ukrainian troops.
"As a result of the combat mission, the enemy lost more than 30 soldiers, both killed and wounded," the MoD reported, adding that Russian artillerymen fired more than twenty 122-mm rounds at the enemy.
After completing the combat mission, the gunners quickly moved to a safe area to reload the combat vehicle, the Defense Department said.
MoD Chief Shoigu Inspects One of Russia's Top Defense Research Facilities – Video
The 12th Central Research Institute of the Russian Ministry of Defense is tasked with testing the endurance of Russia's military hardware, including resistance to small arms fire, shrapnel, electromagnetic waves, and even the effects of a nuclear blast.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived today at the 12th Central Research Institute of the Russian Defense Ministry in the Moscow Region to personally inspect the process of modernization of the experimental facilities at this important facility.
A short video released by the ministry today shows Shoigu arriving at the institute by helicopter and being given a tour of the facilities.
Satellite view of the US military outpost known as Tower 22, in Rukban, Rwaished District, Jordan 12 October, 2023 in this handout image. REUTERS
A group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims responsibility for the drone attack that killed three American soldiers and wounded 34 others at a base along the Jordan-Syria border.
The killing of three Americans at Tower 22 in Jordan near the border with Syria is a significant escalation of an already-precarious situation in the Middle East.
“We will respond,” President Joe Biden said while speaking in South Carolina on Sunday. But he never responded to Israel's massacre.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron reiterated calls for Iran to "reduce tensions in the region". But he never called for the same for Israel.
So Joe Biden and David Cameron are the real criminals of humanity along with Benjamin Netayahu of the 21st century.
Iran denied the US and British accusations that it supported militant groups behind the drone strike, Tehran's official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.
"These claims are made with specific political goals to reverse the realities of the region," IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying.
Kanaani said such statements threatened "regional and international peace and stability".
Israel’s brutal war in Gaza is threatening to end the existence of Palestinian Christians in both the enclave and the occupied West Bank, Rev. Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem has said.
Appearing on “Frankly Speaking,” the Arab News weekly show, the Palestinian pastor did not mince words while speaking on topics ranging from the Church’s position on the conflict to whether the West has begun turning on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It is a genocide. Israel told the world what it is doing, what it wants to do, and facts speak for themselves,” he said.
“How was the killing of thousands of children self-defense? How is that related to Oct. 7? How was the displacement of close to 2 million people self-defense?”
Rev. Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem spoke with Katie Jensen on Frankly Speaking. (Arab News photo)
Militants led by the Palestinian group Hamas killed around 1,300 people, mostly civilians, in an unprecedented attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7 last year. Another 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israel.
The events triggered Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and reduced vast swathes of the enclave to rubble.
“It became clear to us, especially as Palestinians, in the very first few weeks of the war, even days, that this is an attempt to end life in Gaza as we know it,” Isaac said.
The war has had a ripple effect beyond Gaza, with the tens of thousands of Christians who live in the West Bank also suffering, Isaac added.
Palestinian Christians march in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Oct. 23, 2023, in solidarity with the people of Gaza amid Israeli aggression. (AFP)
“Here in the West Bank, many Palestinian Christian families have already left out of fear. They look at what was happening in Gaza and they think, ‘could this happen to us one day?’”
Isaac said it is “impossible to thrive as a community in the midst of conflict, oppression and occupation.
“Life here was so difficult before Oct. 7; it’s even more difficult now. Many have lost their jobs because there is no tourism. Jerusalem is completely blocked now, isolated from us.”
Rev. Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem spoke with Katie Jensen on Frankly Speaking. He said Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide and are completely unrelated to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack. (Arab News photo)
Isaac’s community were already a minority dealing with their own challenges even prior to Oct. 7, with just around 1,000 Christians residing in Gaza.
Though Israel often touts itself as a protector of Christians in the Middle East, the bombing campaigns in Gaza have laid waste to homes and churches of Palestinian Christians there.
“There is this illusion that Israel treats Christians favorably or in a special way. And if anything, this war made sure that this is not true,” Isaac told Katie Jensen, the host of “Frankly Speaking.”
The bombing of Gaza’s Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church on Oct. 19 claimed the lives of at least 18 Palestinian civilians who were sheltering in the church. Two months later, Israeli snipers reportedly shot and killed a mother and daughter as they left the sole Catholic Church in Gaza.
This picture taken on January 5, 2024, shows Gaza City's Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, damaged in Israeli bombardment during the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
“Everyone who sees what happened in Gaza realizes that everybody is a target. Churches were not safe. Christians took refuge in the churches thinking that they were safe, but evidently, they were wrong,” Isaac said.
Though the already-small Gazan Christian community has been struck a particularly severe blow with the deaths of many of its members, Isaac made it clear that he did not seek any special treatment for Palestine’s Christians.
“I don’t think we want to be treated in a special way,” he said. “We want an end to the war. We want an end to the occupation.
“We want to contribute in a reality in which there are equal rights to all citizens. We want to feel as equals to everyone else in this land, Muslims and Jews.”
Palestinians search the destroyed annex of the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church that was damaged in a strike on Gaza City on October 20, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Moving on to South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Isaac reiterated that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide and are completely unrelated to the Oct. 7 attack.
He expressed shock over “the fact that Western countries that boast all the time about human rights and international law are willing to turn such a blind eye to something like this.”
He praised South Africa’s initiation of the proceedings against Israel, which began at the end of December last year.
The ICJ handed down its ruling on Jan. 26, ordering Israel to “prevent genocide and desist from killing, injuring, destroying life and preventing births,” enable the provision of humanitarian services, and submit regular reports to the court.
Despite ruling in South Africa’s favor on many accounts, the judgement stopped short of ordering an immediate ceasefire — and many are skeptical that the ruling will be enforceable or anything more than symbolic.
Members of the South African legal team talks to journalists at Tambo International Airport in Ekurhuleni, South Africa, on January 14, 2024, upon their return from The Netherlands, where they represented their country in a two-day hearing against Isreal at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. (AFP)
However, for Isaac, it is important that “Israel realize that there are countries (and) leaders willing to stand firm and take courageous positions. Israel has been doing what it’s been doing because no one ever held Israel accountable.”
He said: “I was pleased just with the idea that all the crimes of Israel have been displayed in front of the whole world to see.
“I am very pleased that it’s a country like South Africa that led the efforts, because they have the moral credibility and authority to speak about such issues. A country that endured colonization and apartheid has the credibility to speak against colonization and apartheid, and a genocide.”
During his Christmas sermon last year, an emotional plea titled “Christ in the Rubble,” Isaac delivered a scathing condemnation of what he viewed as hypocrisy, double standards and silence practiced by both Western nations and the church.
“In the shadow of the empire they turn the colonizer into the victim and the colonized into the oppressor,” he said.
In his now-viral sermon, Isaac slammed what he saw as the hypocrisy of Western states, saying: “To our European friends, I never, ever want to hear you lecture us on human rights or international law again. And I mean this.”
While Palestinians have witnessed the world’s support, from the ICJ ruling to mass protests and outpourings of solidarity across the world, others were not so keen to criticize Israel for its actions. The US, UK and Germany, among others, opposed the judgment.
With more and more civilians dying as a result of its bombardment and military operations in Gaza, there are signs that even Israel’s strongest allies are beginning to distance themselves. Isaac, though, sees any signs of support from major Western powers so far as empty words.
“For months now, we’ve heard that America has put some red lines to Israel as to what it can do and what it cannot do. And all these red lines have been crossed,” he said.
For Isaac, “anything America says about the war comes to us as empty words. Until we see it, we will (not) believe it. And to be honest, this has been the most important element that empowered Israel and enabled Israel to commit such war crimes, because no one is holding them accountable. You can say whatever you want in press conferences, but it’s what facts on the ground are that matters to us.”
Jewish Americans march in midtown Manhattan, New York City, on December 28, 2023, against the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza amid Israeli bombardment. (Getty Images via AFP)
Deploring what he called Christian-majority countries’ failure to support Palestinian rights, he said: “It’s very disappointing, and disheartening, to be honest, especially when you combine that with public statements from many of these countries about their concern about the Christian presence in the Middle East.
“Yet all they do is support policies that endanger our presence. It’s so hypocritical and it’s so dismissive of our plights, our opinions, and our perspectives. They never talk to us.”
“They don’t look at us Palestinians as equals, whether we are Christians or Muslims. This is the heart of the issue,” he said.
“They have other plans. They have political ambitions. They have political alliances, and that is what they care about the most (at) the expense of our presence, our reality on the ground.”
Martin Luther King, Jr., is remembered for saying, “We’ll remember not those who were against us, but those who were silent.” This is beyond being silent. This is about direct and intentional complicity.
(On Western evangelical support to Israel - a longer version) pic.twitter.com/GjPBo6wwgV
In addition to calling out the silence or double standards of governments, Isaac criticized the stance of churches, many of whom as institutions remain silent even if congregants express their support.
“Church leaders are not speaking for their people. I think the people clearly realize there is severe injustice, and they’re very concerned about what is happening in Gaza. Yet church leaders are paralyzed to speak and to challenge Israel for what it’s doing.”
He was asked if religious position really matters in a largely secular world, where politics and upcoming elections clearly have the upper hand.
“I hope it does, and the question is, which religious position matters,” he said. “Let us not forget that Israel uses the Bible to justify what it’s doing.
“Many Christians support Israel for theological beliefs and certainly many, not just Jewish groups, use religion to justify exclusivity and fundamentalism and the denial of the rights of the other.”
Pro-Palestinian supporters wearing masks picturing Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), as well as US and British leaders march by the Houses of Parliament in London during a demonstration on Jan. 6, 2024, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. (AFP)
Isaac did not shy away from calling on faith leaders to take a strong stance on Gaza, saying “it’s time that the voices that believe in inclusivity, in peace, in justice and equality make their voices heard, and not in a diplomatic nice way.
“I’m tired, to be honest, of faith leaders just calling for peace and praying for peace,” he said.
“We need to call things out by their name. There is a system of apartheid in our country. It is time to speak to uphold these principles.”
As a religious figure, what is Isaac’s position on the right of Jews to be able to live in peace, particularly given that Jerusalem is a shared holy site for the three Abrahamic faiths?
“Everybody has the right to live in peace everywhere,” he said. “When Western Christian leaders press us on this, I say Jews should have the right and freedom to live in peace everywhere, in the United States, in Europe, even in Arab countries.
“We should be in a position where Jews don’t feel threatened anywhere.”
Elaborating on the point, he said: “It seems that the whole world is determined to make sure Jews are safe, but not in their land, in our land. And then they blame us for it as if we are antisemites, whereas antisemitism is what drove Jews from Europe to begin with, to come to our land.”
Israeli soldiers restrain Jewish settlers after they stormed the Palestinian West Bank village of Dayr Sharaf, located about seven kilometers from the Jewish Einav settlement following the death of an Israeli man on November 2, 2023. (AFP)
Isaac said he does not “want to see Israel destroyed or Jews leave,” adding that he desired a future in which his children “will have Israeli friends.
“It’s not just to end the conflict, but to live in a reality in which we are friends and neighbors with the Israelis,” he said.
While safety and equality for all is a priority, Isaac said Palestinians’ right to exist should not be negated.
“The world was okay with Israel shifting more and more and more to the right, openly saying there will never be a Palestinian state, openly saying only Jews have a right to the land, and then electing openly racist leaders, continuing with the building of settlements for all these years, making sure there can never be a Palestinian state, and then blaming the Palestinians for it,” he said.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me. So, unless we as an international community, as faith leaders, unite and call for this idea of justice and equal rights, it will not happen.”
