First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Tass, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names and initials below. Next, links to commentaries via the Greanville Post on the explosions that shut down two Baltic Sea pipelines meant to carry natural gas from Gazprom in Russia to customers elsewhere. Finally, from late yesterday via Popular Resistance and Consortium News, links to commentary by two observers regarding the explosions, and links to commentary by Diana Johnstone and by Caitlin Johnstone. — MCM
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Putin accuses the West of sabotaging Baltic Sea pipelines, by Jan M. Olsen | AP COPENHAGEN — Russian President Vladimir Putin today accused the West of sabotaging Russia-built gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea to Germany, a charge that has been vehemently denied by the United States and its allies. Nordic nations said the undersea blasts that damaged the pipelines this week and have led to huge methane leaks involved several hundred pounds of explosives. The claim by Putin . . . READ MORE . . .
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Zelensky says ready for dialogue with Russia, but not with Putin. From Tass. KIEV — Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said today that Kiev is ready for settlement talks with Moscow, but with a Russian president other than Vladimir Putin. “We are ready for dialogue . . . READ MORE . . .
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Putin proclaims annexation as Russian garrison surrounded in Ukraine, by Jonathan Landay | Reuters * Russian annexation of four regions condemned worldwide * Move is ‘dangerous escalation’ jeopardising peace – U.N. chief * Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says for war to end Putin must be stopped * Zelenskiy summons emergency meeting on security, defence | ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — President Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia’s annexation of a swath of Ukraine today in a speech at the Kremlin, but the event was overshadowed by one of Russia’s worst battlefield defeats of the war, with one of its main garrisons surrounded. “People living in Luhansk, Donetsk . . . READ MORE . . .
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U.S. announces ‘severe’ sanctions on Russia over annexations. From AFP. The United States today announced “severe” new sanctions on Russia in response to what President Joe Biden called Moscow’s “fraudulent” claim to have annexed four Ukrainian regions. “The United States is imposing swift and severe costs . . . READ MORE . . .
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Putin: Russia will use all means to guard annexed regions, by Jon Gambrell and Hanna Arhirova | AP KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the process of annexing parts of Ukraine by saying he would sign laws to absorb them despite international condemnation and protect the newly incorporated regions using “all available means.” In a speech preceding a treaty-signing ceremony to make four Ukrainian regions part of Russia, Putin warned . . . READ MORE . . .
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After staged referendums, Putin is annexing 4 regions in Ukraine. Reported by Rachel Martin and Charles Maynes | NPR President Putin will officially annex four regions in Ukraine that have become part of Russia, after holding a referendum that the international community broadly denounced as a sham. Click HERE to listen.
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How Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian regions could change the war. Leila Fadel of NPR talks with Andrew Weiss of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about Russia annexing four Ukrainian territories and how that could escalate the war. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.
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No, Russia didn’t blow up their own pipeline. From the Jimmy Dore Show / The Greanville Post. Why blow up an important and expensive strategic asset when . . . Click HERE for video.
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Germany and EU have been handed over a declaration of war, by Pepe Escobar | The Greanville Post The attack on both Baltic Sea pipelines consisted of multiple explosive charges detonated in separate branches close to the Danish island of Bornholm, but in international waters. That was a sophisticated operation, carried out in stealth in the shallow depth of the Danish straits. . . . [T]he waters around Borholm are crammed with sensors, reflecting fear of incursion by Russian submarines. (!) Drunk on their own hubris . . . READ MORE . . .
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The war on Germany just entered its hot phase, by Moon of Alabama | Educate! Just yesterday [Sept. 27] I laid out how the U.S. is winning its war on Europe’s industries and people. That war, hidden behind the U.S.-created Ukraine crisis . . . READ MORE . . .
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The timing of the pipeline attack, by Joe Lauria | Consortium News President Joe Biden, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz by his side, promised a White House press conference in early February that the U.S. was “able” to shut down the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea if Russia invaded Ukraine. A reporter asked . . . READ MORE . . .
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Omerta in the gangster war, by Diana Johnstone | Consortium News PARIS — Imperialist wars are waged to conquer lands, peoples, territories. Gangster wars are waged to remove competitors. In gangster wars you issue an obscure warning, then you smash the windows or burn the place down. Gangster war is what you wage when you already are the boss and won’t let any outsider muscle in . . . READ MORE . . .
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New Zealand’s PM wants more online censorship for the war in Ukraine, by Caitlin Johnstone | caitlinjohnstone.com New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern continued her crusade for the expansion of internet censorship during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday [Sept. 23], this time using the war in Ukraine. “Whether it’s climate, trade, health crises or seeking peaceful solutions to war and conflict, New Zealand has always been . . . READ MORE . . .
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MAY BE CONTINUED