Published January 20, 2024
The new Slovakian Prime Minister, Robert Fico, has publicly confirmed what he had been saying since his campaign: he will not follow the previous government’s policies towards Ukraine.
In fact, Fico has now vowed to thwart Kiev’s plans in a number of ways, from vetoing their NATO membership, to stopping all military aid, up until joining Hungary’s blockage of EU’s €50 billion package.
Since MSM is asleep at the wheel, we went to find this story in Azeri and Ukrainian news sources.
EN reported:
“Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico said that at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Denis Shmygal, which will take place on January 24 in Uzhgorod, he will announce that he will block Ukraine’s membership in NATO since this would mean the beginning of the Third World War, APA reports citing Political Lore.
‘I know what I’m going with (to the meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister), I’m going with humanitarian aid, we’ll confirm that they will not receive any weapons from the Slovak army and from state warehouses, I’ll say that there are things on which our views are completely different. […] I will say that I am against Ukraine’s membership in NATO, that I will use the right of veto and block it because this will be the foundation of the Third World War’ – Fico said on Saturday.”
Fico thinks the January 24 meeting in Uzhgorod will be ‘interesting’.
The Slovak government will focus on humanitarian assistance and no longer send weapons to Ukraine.
“The Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Fico, did not approve the proposal of the previous government, which concerned sending the next package of military assistance to Ukraine for 40.3 million euros.”
Slovakia had sent 13 packages of military assistance worth 671 million Euros, so far.
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SOURCE: www.thegatewaypundit.com
RELATED: How Germany fudges the math on NATO and Ukraine
Germany has earmarked €8 billion ($8.7 billion) in military aid for Ukraine. But that’s set to come from the general defense budget, making defense spending seem bigger than it is. It’s a move that has many crying foul.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (l) and Chancellor Olaf Scholz want to modernize the Bundeswehr and help Ukraine
Published January 21, 2024
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the man tasked with modernizing the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, has been in office for a year. He’s the most popular minister in Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s highly unpopular government.
But, shortly before the end of his first year on the job, plans for a major reform of Germany’s armed forces, known as the “Zeitenwende” (turning point), were scaled back — again. In the federal budget for 2024, the government will barely reach NATO‘s spending target. That’s been heavily criticized by the largest opposition party, the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU).
NATO countries have committed themselves to spending 2% of their budgets on their armed forces each year. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Chancellor Scholz promised his partners in Europe and the US that Germany would meet this target in the future.
The German army was promised an additional €100 billion ($108 billion) to modernize. This special fund, a separate budget approved by the German parliament, the Bundestag, was established primarily to purchase modern war equipment.
However, it has emerged that aid for Ukraine is now also coming from this budget. Germany plans to spend a total of €8 billion on weapons for Ukraine starting this year.
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SOURCE: www.dw.com
RELATED: Ukraine-Russia war: Nato sends 90,000 troops to deter Russia in largest exercise since Cold War
A Ukrainian soldier preparing a long-range drone for take-off near Bakhmut, Donetsk CREDIT: Ignacio Marin
Published January 18, 2024
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
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SOURCE: www.telegraph.co.uk
