European Union

Ukraine Asks Russia to Fill Its Budget Holes

By Paul Antonopoulos | May 6, 2020

The ambitious Nord Stream 2 pipeline project aims to deliver Russian gas to Europe via the Baltic Sea, thus bypassing Ukraine and reducing risk from Russia’s perspective. While Ukraine has consistently said it will prevent the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the country is now also offering Russian state-owned Gazprom its gas storage facilities.
However, there are two major reasons why Moscow might not agree to Ukraine’s offer:

China Denying False Claims Is ‘Evidence’ of COVID-19 Cover-Up

China is being put in a no-win bind. It is accused of misleading the world over the Covid-19 outbreak, which is in turn prompting demands for financial compensation. The United States, Britain, France and Australia have pushed this narrative. Demonization of China involves claims that Beijing has fomented disinformation about the pandemic.
The publicly documented timeline of the pandemic confounds this “blame China” narrative. So too does the disproportionate mishandling of the crisis in the U.S., Britain and Europe.

Danse Macabre’ and a Fear of the Abyss: We All Fall Down

In the European imagination, the harbingers of contagion (whether plague or cholera), were conjured as shadowy, cloaked, and hooded forms, presenting a vaguely human silhouette, yet within the stygian recess of their black hood, no face was discernible – only a long, grey, birds’ beak jutting out. These ‘doctors of the plague’ inspired the shivers. Cities were portrayed deserted, immobilised by an extensive, lofty, sinister power. Behind those walls, people were dying. Silence.