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Marianna Budanova, the wife of the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, was poisoned with heavy metals. The woman is in the hospital.

“Babel” was informed about this by intelligence sources.

After a prolonged deterioration of her health, she was hospitalized.

“The course of treatment is now being completed, and then there will be a check-up by the doctors,” said the interlocutor at the HUR and added that the woman had been diagnosed with damage by heavy metals.

“These substances are not used in any way in everyday life and military affairs. Their presence may indicate a purposeful attempt to poison a specific person,” the intelligence agency said.

Sources confirmed that attempts were also made on Kyril Budanov before and after the full-scale invasion.

Currently, an investigation is being conducted into the alleged attempt to kill the wife of the head of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

• In an interview with Radio Svoboda, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that his wife, Marianna, currently lives with him in his office, although she does not work in the State Administration of Ukraine. Since June 2021, she has been working as an adviser to Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klychka.
• Kyrylo and Marianna Budanovy got married in August 2013. In October 2022, Budanova gave an interview to the Ukrainian magazine Elle , in which she talked about herself. She reported that she is a psychologist by education, and from 2015 to 2017 she volunteered at the Main Military Hospital on Hospitalnaya in Kyiv.

The Israeli-Hamas war has given Russia a golden opportunity to sow division among its Western enemies. It’s a chance Vladimir Putin’s disinformation machine was never going to miss.

Since the outbreak of hostilities on October 7, Kremlin-linked Facebook accounts have ramped up their output by almost 400 percent, with the Middle East crisis now dominating posts from Russian diplomats, state-backed outlets and Putin supporters in the West. 

The lies spread by Moscow’s digital propagandists now include claims that Hamas terrorists are using NATO weapons to attack Israel and that British instructors trained Hamas attackers.

The entrenched — and bloody — conflict represents a double opportunity for Putin.

It allows Russia to foment division in the West via targeted social media activity aimed at splitting those in support of Israel from those who back Palestine. Real-world violence, particularly against Jews, has spiked over the last seven weeks and anti-war protests by hundreds of thousands of people have sprouted up from London to Washington.

Russia’s Middle East social media onslaught also pulls public attention away from its war in Ukraine, which has become bogged down after a succession of military missteps, a mutiny by Wagner mercenaries, and a long-running counteroffensive from Kyiv.

“Taking attention off Ukraine is only a good thing for Russia,” said Bret Schafer, head of the information manipulation team and the German Marshall Fund of the United States’ Alliance for Securing Democracy, a Washington-based think tank. “The more the Western public is focused on Israel and Hamas, the less they’re paying attention to the fact that Congress is about to not fund Ukraine’s war effort,” he added. “Shining a light on other places pulls attention away from Ukraine.”

The Kremlin’s online assault mirrors Putin’s geopolitical game-playing since the Hamas attacks of October 7.

His government hosted Hamas leaders in Moscow at the end of October — apparently as he sought to play a mediation role on the release of Israeli hostages. Russia and Hamas have a common ally in Iran and Putin himself has warned that Israeli military action in Gaza could escalate beyond the region.

The Kremlin was quick to weaponize the Israel-Hamas war for its own propaganda purposes.

In the seven weeks since Hamas fighters attacked Israel, Russian Facebook accounts have posted 44,000 times compared to a mere 14,000 posts in the seven weeks before the conflict began, according to data compiled by the Alliance for Securing Democracy. In total, Russian-backed social media activity on Facebook was shared almost 400,000 times collectively, a four-fold increase compared to posts published before the conflict.

The most-shared keywords now include many phrases associated with the conflict like “Hamas” and the “Middle East,” while before the war, Russia’s state media and diplomatic accounts had focused almost exclusively on either Ukraine or Putin’s role in the world.

The near-400 percent increase in posts from Russian government-linked accounts represents a drop in the ocean compared to the millions of Facebook posts about the Middle East conflict from regular social media users over the same time period. But many of the Kremlin-backed accounts — especially those from sanctioned media outlets like RT and Sputnik — have an oversized digital reach. Collectively, these companies boast millions of followers in Europe, Latin America and Africa, even though the EU has imposed sanctions on their broadcast and social media operations.

“They use whatever they can to spread anti-West messaging,” said Jakub Kalenský, a deputy director at the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, a joint NATO-EU organization tracking state-backed influence campaigns. “They surf on the wave of the news cycle because they are competing for the same audience that is consuming solid media sources.”

Such digital propaganda can have real-world effects. Some in the West now openly question how long governments can support Ukraine in its costly war against Russia in a time of economic uncertainty.

In France, for instance, the foreign affairs ministry accused a Russian-affiliated network of social media bots of amplifying anti-semitic images of Stars of David graffiti on buildings across Paris. French officials blamed Russia for “creating tensions” between supporters of Israel and those who favored Palestine. The Russian embassy in Paris said Moscow had no ties to the covert digital activity. 

The goal of the clandestine campaign was to heighten real-world tensions — both in France and across Western Europe — over which side governments are backing, according to two senior European officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

“What happens online never just stays online anymore,” one of the officials said.

Neither Russia nor China objected to the draft resolutions’ lack of a call for a ceasefire.

As lines of division around the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza become more pronounced, questions arise about where big powers may position themselves.

While most Western governments have united in supporting Israel’s right to self-defence, China and Russia have made their own calculations. Along with the broader Global South, they have not shied from criticising Israel’s military response in Gaza and its impact on Palestinian civilians.

Whether the fighting between Israel and Hamas benefits Russia and China will largely be a matter of perception. While the West may view Russian and Chinese positions as opportunistic and driven by their desire to oppose Western countries for strategic advantage, the opinion of the Global South may well still be up for grabs.

But Russia and China will need to make sure they do not suffer the same fate as the West, by being criticised for their hypocrisy in their contrary treatment of the Ukraine and Gaza crises.

To demonstrate their status as great powers and capture the support of the Global South, they will have to match their words with deeds by acting to protect civilians and uphold legal and humanitarian obligations, as expressed in the recent UN resolution they supported.

The division between the West and the Rest over Gaza has deepened since Hamas launched a surprise attack on 7 October, in which the Islamist organisation invaded Israeli territory, killing hundreds and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel’s security establishment was caught off guard and the international community was shocked by the violence.

While many Western countries swiftly aligned with Israel, Russia and China sought greater balance in their statements, which included criticism of Israel’s response, which has included displacing over a million civilians, placing the territory under a tight siege and restricting humanitarian assistance while also withholding the supply of electricity and water.

While the immediate impact of Israel’s military action in Gaza may well be at the forefront of Russian and Chinese policymakers’ minds, there are also wider regional and global considerations influencing their positions.

In the weeks following the Hamas attack, the UN Security Council struggled to reach a consensus. Four attempts to draft resolutions failed due to vetoes from the United States on one side and Russia and (occasionally) China on the other.

Although most of the proposed resolutions condemned attacks on civilians, American objections included the absence of any acknowledgement of Israel’s right to self-defence and only a commitment to ‘humanitarian pauses’ to allow aid into Gaza.

By contrast, neither Russia nor China objected to the draft resolutions’ lack of a call for a ceasefire. They have also differed from the West in not openly criticising Hamas. Indeed, a Hamas delegation even visited Moscow to discuss the prospects of a ceasefire and resolving the hostage situation.

Although both countries have cultivated diplomatic and economic relations with Israel in recent decades, from Chinese investment in the country to Russian and Israeli coordination during the Syrian civil war, they are mindful of public opinion in the Arab world, which has been critical of Israel’s military response.

So great has been the anger that even governments in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who have little patience for Hamas and had either normalised relations with Israel (like the UAE) or were in the process of doing so (like Saudi Arabia) have felt the need to publicly distance themselves from Israel.

Additionally, Russia and China’s positions have reflected wider global sentiment. In the absence of a UNSC resolution, the General Assembly, where all member states are represented, successfully passed a non-binding resolution for a humanitarian truce on October 27.

The resolution condemned attacks on civilians and called for the “protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations.” Russia and China, along with most of the Arab world and the Global South were among the 120 member states that voted in favour, with 14 against (including the US, which opposed the exclusion of any explicit reference on Hamas) and 45 abstentions, including Australia.

Russia’s position may also be influenced by its ongoing war in Ukraine, where it has occupied parts of the country since February 2022. Moscow may hope that the Israel-Hamas conflict could deflect Western attention and practical assistance away from the Ukraine, including supplies of weapons.

While Russia and China’s positions have so far been in line with that of the broader Global South in relation to the Israel-Hamas War, their stance could potentially work to their disadvantage.

For one, the past few weeks have contributed to increasing distrust of Russia and China within the Israeli political establishment.

Israel has never regarded Russia and China as allies or as offering comparable assistance as the United States, so the slowness of their response to the 7 October attacks followed by the criticism of Israel’s military response could have repercussions down the line.

In recent years Chinese officials have played up Beijing’s interest in becoming a conflict mediator in the Middle East, including on the Palestinian question. But given Israeli suspicion, it is unlikely that China would be welcome in any future peace process. Such an exclusion could be damaging to its aspirations of becoming a global power, with interests and influences beyond its own immediate neighbourhood.

The same might go for Russia. Moscow is already a member of the Quartet, a group of external parties (along with the UN, the US, the EU ) concerned with and supportive of the (currently frozen) Oslo peace process. Successive Israeli governments had tacitly accepted Hamas rule in Gaza, but the 7 October attack has uprooted those calculations.

Now Israel’s government looks intent on eliminating Hamas. That has made Moscow’s channel to Hamas less useful than before. Besides, Russia’s refusal to condemn Hamas and its preparedness to host them only serves to offend the Israeli leadership further.

Russian and Chinese positioning on the Israel-Hamas war could potentially create problems with their partners, both in the region and beyond.

If those partners perceive Moscow’s and Beijing’s stances as driven by self-interest and not by principle, this could lead to suspicion and doubt about their own relations with each.

The goodwill generated in the recent past — through China’s Belt and Road Initiative for instance, or their assistance to developing countries during the pandemic in the form of medical equipment, guidance and vaccine — could be undermined.

Dr Guy Burton is a Visiting Fellow working on the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-sectarianisation Project at Lancaster University and Author of Rising Powers and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1947 (Lexington, 2018).

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the largest international Iranian dissident organization, told members of the European Parliament this week that Iran remains the “epicenter” of terrorism. “The head of the snake is in Tehran, the epicenter of terrorism and warmongering,” said Rajavi, the leader of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran. Rajavi’s remarks came a day after police in Spain arrested three people in connection with the Nov. 9 shooting of politician Alejando Vidal-Quadras in Madrid. Vidal-Quadras, who was shot in the face, is one of the founders of the Spanish rightwing political party Vox. He had been sanctioned by the government in Tehran in part due to his ties with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, and though the arrested suspects were European there is speculation they could have ties to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei. Iran’s strong opposition to MEK is reportedly part of a global effort to assert geopolitical influence, including in the Joe Biden White House, in connection with the U.S. government’s policies toward the Islamic Republic. “The Iranian regime does not want to find a balance of power between us, it wants to wipe us off the face of the Earth,” Vidal-Quadras wrote Wednesday from the hospital. “As long as we do not understand and accept this terrible truth we will fail, and we will be defeated.”

In her address Wednesday to Parliament, Rajavi, who is head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), praised Vidal-Quadras for his stance against Iran. MEK is the NCRI’s militant wing.

“I was deeply touched by Mr. Vidal-Quadras’s courageous and inspiring message,” Rajavi said. “As always, [he has been] resilient and steadfast in his support for the cause of freedom in Iran with an exceptionally high morale.” Rajavi’s comments took place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, and it was attended many members of the European Parliament as well as various other leading European political figures including former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, former former Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga, and Former German Defense Minister of Franz Josef Jung, all of whom addressed the gathering. All told, more than 200 people were in attendance at the event. Rajavi made the case that the war between Russia and Ukraine, the clashes between Israel and Hamas, and other global conflicts are made by the role Iran plays in directly and indirectly supporting Russia and Hamas. Rajavi’s appearance in Strasbourg comes five months after the return of the Free Iran Conference at Paris’s Place de Vauban, the first meeting in the French capital after a five year absence.

https://justthenews.com/world/maryam-rajavi-key-iran-government-dissenter-tells-europes-leaders-tehran-terrorisms-epicenter

Last year’s ‘partial mobilisation’ triggered a backlash against the Kremlin and Putin is fearful of a repeat.

Cold war revisited: same old enemy (US moneyed interests), even older hero (‘traditional’ Russia) (Nina Khrushcheva)

In 2014, the former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the 2006 murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist from the liberal publication Novaya Gazeta. Now, just nine years into his sentence, Khadzhikurbanov has been pardoned, after spending six months fighting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. As far as the Russian president is concerned, this makes Khadzhikurbanov a patriot.

Khadzhikurbanov is far from the only violent criminal to earn a pardon in Russia by joining Putin’s army in Ukraine. It is a practice inspired by none other than Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane explosion two months after his Wagner Group mercenaries staged an aborted rebellion in June.

Despite his inglorious end, Prigozhin was long a crucial ally of Putin. His cv included running a troll farm to create Russian propaganda stories and deploying his Wagner fighters in African countries, in part to gain access to resources such as gold and uranium, often in exchange for protecting the lives and interests of local leaders. Wagner soldiers were also needed in the Ukraine war, fighting some of its bloodiest battles, such as the months-long struggle for Bakhmut.

Before hitching his fortunes to Putin, Prigozhin was a convicted criminal who spent nine years in prison for robbery and assault in the 1980s. No wonder he recruited criminals for the Wagner Group—a practice that has now been adopted by the Russian defence ministry. Though the official number of convict-soldiers is unknown, we know that more than 5,000 criminals were pardoned last March, after finishing their contracts to fight for Wagner. According to Prigozhin, some 40,000 prisoners were involved in the battle for Bakhmut.

Though these pardoned fighters remain in the military, some do manage to return home from the front—at least two dozen, according to some unofficial sources. Often, they have committed truly horrific acts. One pardoned fighter killed his girlfriend and put her body through a meat grinder; another stabbed his ex-wife in the stomach ten times. One ‘patriot’ filmed himself beating his friend to death, as if it were a joke.

But after just a few months at the front, their sins are forgiven and they are free to sin again. Some have reportedly carried out new violent crimes, including rape and murder, upon their return.

Even Putin loyalists are not fully on board with the Kremlin’s effort to make heroes out of criminals. Last year, the governor of Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, clashed with Prigozhin after a local club refused to host a Wagner fighter’s funeral. ‘If he were a real soldier, fine, but he was just a former prisoner,’ the club insisted.

Pardoning violent convicts might not be a particularly desirable way to get more soldiers on to the battlefield, but for Putin the alternative would be even worse. Last year’s ‘partial mobilisation’ triggered a significant backlash and Putin is fearful of a repeat. He also knows that there are two Russias—and that if the Kremlin keeps sending convicts, both will get something that they want.

The first Russia, comprising those living in Russia’s two biggest cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, can pretend there is no war at all. Visit a bookstore such as Respublika in Moscow and you will find American and British bestsellers and works by Russian authors who have fled the regime, such as Boris Akunin and Dmitry Bykov. Head to a cinema on Nevsky Prospect in Saint Petersburg and you can watch the American blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer, without seeing any sign that the authorities banned the films for ‘not upholding traditional Russian values’.

People in this Russia are well aware of the tenuousness of their reality. When I asked a young couple watching Oppenheimer what traditional Russian values are, they replied that no one really knows. But they also recognised the limits of their power to change their reality, before acknowledging that the cinema might soon be closed for ‘dissidence’.

Then there is the other Russia, the one you find in small towns and villages scattered across the country’s massive territory. Here, the Ukraine war is a source of patriotic pride and anyone who risks their lives for victory deserves to be honored.

On a recent trip to Siberia’s Omsk region, a couple beamed as they told me about their soldier son: ‘He fought for his country,’ the mother gushed. ‘He has a medal, and with the money he earned, he took us on vacation to Crimea.’ They did not mention that, prior to becoming a ‘hero’, he had been in and out of prison for most of his life.

For them, it probably does not matter. In Russia, the Kremlin has made clear, one can ‘atone with blood’. The money also helps. In the Omsk region, young men—not prisoners—receive 195,000 rubles (€2,000) just for enlisting. If they die, their families receive the equivalent of tens of thousands of euro in compensation. If they return, they can buy houses, cars and more. Either way, the economic boost is substantial.

Russia’s duality is nothing new. The state symbol is a double-headed eagle. Rarely, however, have the two Russias stood in such stark contrast to each other. While Moscow and Saint Petersburg mourn their isolation from the rest of the world, the provinces embrace Putin’s message of animosity toward anything ‘not Russian’.

The longer the war rages, the more deeply this sentiment will take hold outside Russia’s biggest cities. If the outside world is against us, insist the provinces, we will protect our great nation from those who want to diminish it. But no one in the outside world can diminish Russia more gravely than the growing number of Putin’s pardoned patriots.

A rocket is fired from Gaza toward Israel, in Gaza, October 7, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

The Russian war against Ukraine “also means a turning point for internal security,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in June 2023, warning of a new wave of disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, and espionage by foreign intelligence services.

At the beginning of August, there was another case in point: Thomas H.* was arrested Wednesday (August 9) in the western city of Koblenz, when the federal prosecutor’s office accused the Bundeswehr officer of having betrayed information about military details to Russian intelligence.

The Berlin daily Tagesspiegel reported that Thomas H. had already come to the attention of his colleagues because of his sympathy for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). Some parts of the party is considered far-right extremist and very critical of the NATO alliance’s attempts to help Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Carsten L.

At the end of 2022, a similar case made headlines. Carsten L., head of a unit of Germany’s foreign intelligence service Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), where he was responsible for “personnel security,” was accused of working as a double agent for the Russian secret service FSB and of having betrayed state secrets.

According to media reports, the FSB is said to have been particularly interested in data on air defense positions supplied to Ukraine by Western states. However, it is unclear whether Carsten L. had access to this information. He was arrested on December 21, 2022, and is being tried for treason along with a suspected accomplice.

Mr & Mrs Anschlag

But it is not only since the Russian invasion of Ukraine that spies in Germany have been reporting to Moscow. Beginning sometime in the 1980s, two Russian agents led a middle-class life under the names of Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, he posing as an engineer, she as a housewife.

They spied on NATO and the European Union first for the Soviet Union, then for the Russian secret service, receiving their orders via encrypted radio messages on shortwave, at a time when espionage was not yet a predominantly digital business. It was not until 2011 that their cover was blown — probably thanks to a tip-off from US intelligence services. In 2013, they were sentenced to several years in prison and eventually deported to Russia.

Gabriele Guest

The communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) referred to their agents as “scouts of peace.” An estimated 12,000 of them are believed to have been deployed by the East German secret service, the Staatssicherheitsdienst or Stasi, to West Germany during the Cold War.

Among them was Gabriele Gast, a West German who was recruited by a Stasi officer in 1968 while on a research trip to East Germany for her dissertation entitled: “The Political Role of Women in the GDR.” From then on, Gast reported to the intelligence service in East Germany — while also making a career for herself at the Western intelligence service BND under a false name. She was only exposed after the collapse of the GDR in 1989, shortly before the reunification of Germany. She is still considered to have been one of the GDR’s top spies in the West.

Gabriele Gast was one of the GDR’s most high profile spies (photo from 1995)Image: Michael Jung/dpa/picture alliance

Alfred Spuhler

Alfred Spuhler may have been a similarly good source for the Stasi. As a high-ranking BND official, he unmasked hundreds of Western agents working in the GDR. He was arrested in November 1989.

Heinz Felfe

Heinz Felfe, the longtime head of the BND’s “Counterintelligence Soviet Union” unit, was also a double agent. He was a member of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s police unit, Schutzstaffel (SS), then reported to the KGB in Moscow until 1961. Over the years, Felfe is believed to have worked for seven different intelligence services, including the British MI6.

Gunter Guillaume

Probably the most sensational espionage case from the Cold War period in Germany is that of Günter Guillaume.

Posing as refugees from East Germany, he and his wife Christel came to West Germany in 1956. Their mission was to provide the Stasi with internal information about the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Guillaume worked his way up, eventually becoming personal advisor to Chancellor Willy Brandt when the SPD came to power.

When Guillaume’s cover was blown, Brandt was forced to resign as chancellor on May 6, 1974. Guillaume was sentenced to 13 years in prison and his wife to eight years. Both were released in 1981 in exchange for West German agents.

Günter Guillaume (r.) was the assistant of Chancellor Willy Brandt (l.)Image: picture-alliance / akg-images

Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz

A particularly large number of Stasi spies were exposed after the fall of the Wall. Not much is known about Western agents in the GDR, with the notable exception of Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz, who smuggled GDR documents to the West at the beginning of the Cold War in the early 1950s.

Barczatis worked as chief secretary to GDR Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl. She obtained rather banal government papers that she passed to her lover Karl Laurenz, who handed them over to West German authorities. When this was discovered, both Barczatis and Laurenz were sentenced to death in East Germany and executed by guillotine in 1955.

This article was originally written in German.

*Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Marianna Budanova, the wife of the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, was poisoned with heavy metals. The woman is in the hospital.

“Babel” was informed about this by intelligence sources.

After a prolonged deterioration of her health, she was hospitalized.

“The course of treatment is now being completed, and then there will be a check-up by the doctors,” said the interlocutor at the HUR and added that the woman had been diagnosed with damage by heavy metals.

“These substances are not used in any way in everyday life and military affairs. Their presence may indicate a purposeful attempt to poison a specific person,” the intelligence agency said.

Sources confirmed that attempts were also made on Kyril Budanov before and after the full-scale invasion.

Currently, an investigation is being conducted into the alleged attempt to kill the wife of the head of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

• In an interview with Radio Svoboda, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that his wife, Marianna, currently lives with him in his office, although she does not work in the State Administration of Ukraine. Since June 2021, she has been working as an adviser to Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klychka.
• Kyrylo and Marianna Budanovy got married in August 2013. In October 2022, Budanova gave an interview to the Ukrainian magazine Elle , in which she talked about herself. She reported that she is a psychologist by education, and from 2015 to 2017 she volunteered at the Main Military Hospital on Hospitalnaya in Kyiv.

The Israeli-Hamas war has given Russia a golden opportunity to sow division among its Western enemies. It’s a chance Vladimir Putin’s disinformation machine was never going to miss.

Since the outbreak of hostilities on October 7, Kremlin-linked Facebook accounts have ramped up their output by almost 400 percent, with the Middle East crisis now dominating posts from Russian diplomats, state-backed outlets and Putin supporters in the West. 

The lies spread by Moscow’s digital propagandists now include claims that Hamas terrorists are using NATO weapons to attack Israel and that British instructors trained Hamas attackers.

The entrenched — and bloody — conflict represents a double opportunity for Putin.

It allows Russia to foment division in the West via targeted social media activity aimed at splitting those in support of Israel from those who back Palestine. Real-world violence, particularly against Jews, has spiked over the last seven weeks and anti-war protests by hundreds of thousands of people have sprouted up from London to Washington.

Russia’s Middle East social media onslaught also pulls public attention away from its war in Ukraine, which has become bogged down after a succession of military missteps, a mutiny by Wagner mercenaries, and a long-running counteroffensive from Kyiv.

“Taking attention off Ukraine is only a good thing for Russia,” said Bret Schafer, head of the information manipulation team and the German Marshall Fund of the United States’ Alliance for Securing Democracy, a Washington-based think tank. “The more the Western public is focused on Israel and Hamas, the less they’re paying attention to the fact that Congress is about to not fund Ukraine’s war effort,” he added. “Shining a light on other places pulls attention away from Ukraine.”

The Kremlin’s online assault mirrors Putin’s geopolitical game-playing since the Hamas attacks of October 7.

His government hosted Hamas leaders in Moscow at the end of October — apparently as he sought to play a mediation role on the release of Israeli hostages. Russia and Hamas have a common ally in Iran and Putin himself has warned that Israeli military action in Gaza could escalate beyond the region.

The Kremlin was quick to weaponize the Israel-Hamas war for its own propaganda purposes.

In the seven weeks since Hamas fighters attacked Israel, Russian Facebook accounts have posted 44,000 times compared to a mere 14,000 posts in the seven weeks before the conflict began, according to data compiled by the Alliance for Securing Democracy. In total, Russian-backed social media activity on Facebook was shared almost 400,000 times collectively, a four-fold increase compared to posts published before the conflict.

The most-shared keywords now include many phrases associated with the conflict like “Hamas” and the “Middle East,” while before the war, Russia’s state media and diplomatic accounts had focused almost exclusively on either Ukraine or Putin’s role in the world.

The near-400 percent increase in posts from Russian government-linked accounts represents a drop in the ocean compared to the millions of Facebook posts about the Middle East conflict from regular social media users over the same time period. But many of the Kremlin-backed accounts — especially those from sanctioned media outlets like RT and Sputnik — have an oversized digital reach. Collectively, these companies boast millions of followers in Europe, Latin America and Africa, even though the EU has imposed sanctions on their broadcast and social media operations.

“They use whatever they can to spread anti-West messaging,” said Jakub Kalenský, a deputy director at the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, a joint NATO-EU organization tracking state-backed influence campaigns. “They surf on the wave of the news cycle because they are competing for the same audience that is consuming solid media sources.”

Such digital propaganda can have real-world effects. Some in the West now openly question how long governments can support Ukraine in its costly war against Russia in a time of economic uncertainty.

In France, for instance, the foreign affairs ministry accused a Russian-affiliated network of social media bots of amplifying anti-semitic images of Stars of David graffiti on buildings across Paris. French officials blamed Russia for “creating tensions” between supporters of Israel and those who favored Palestine. The Russian embassy in Paris said Moscow had no ties to the covert digital activity. 

The goal of the clandestine campaign was to heighten real-world tensions — both in France and across Western Europe — over which side governments are backing, according to two senior European officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

“What happens online never just stays online anymore,” one of the officials said.

Neither Russia nor China objected to the draft resolutions’ lack of a call for a ceasefire.

As lines of division around the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza become more pronounced, questions arise about where big powers may position themselves.

While most Western governments have united in supporting Israel’s right to self-defence, China and Russia have made their own calculations. Along with the broader Global South, they have not shied from criticising Israel’s military response in Gaza and its impact on Palestinian civilians.

Whether the fighting between Israel and Hamas benefits Russia and China will largely be a matter of perception. While the West may view Russian and Chinese positions as opportunistic and driven by their desire to oppose Western countries for strategic advantage, the opinion of the Global South may well still be up for grabs.

But Russia and China will need to make sure they do not suffer the same fate as the West, by being criticised for their hypocrisy in their contrary treatment of the Ukraine and Gaza crises.

To demonstrate their status as great powers and capture the support of the Global South, they will have to match their words with deeds by acting to protect civilians and uphold legal and humanitarian obligations, as expressed in the recent UN resolution they supported.

The division between the West and the Rest over Gaza has deepened since Hamas launched a surprise attack on 7 October, in which the Islamist organisation invaded Israeli territory, killing hundreds and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel’s security establishment was caught off guard and the international community was shocked by the violence.

While many Western countries swiftly aligned with Israel, Russia and China sought greater balance in their statements, which included criticism of Israel’s response, which has included displacing over a million civilians, placing the territory under a tight siege and restricting humanitarian assistance while also withholding the supply of electricity and water.

While the immediate impact of Israel’s military action in Gaza may well be at the forefront of Russian and Chinese policymakers’ minds, there are also wider regional and global considerations influencing their positions.

In the weeks following the Hamas attack, the UN Security Council struggled to reach a consensus. Four attempts to draft resolutions failed due to vetoes from the United States on one side and Russia and (occasionally) China on the other.

Although most of the proposed resolutions condemned attacks on civilians, American objections included the absence of any acknowledgement of Israel’s right to self-defence and only a commitment to ‘humanitarian pauses’ to allow aid into Gaza.

By contrast, neither Russia nor China objected to the draft resolutions’ lack of a call for a ceasefire. They have also differed from the West in not openly criticising Hamas. Indeed, a Hamas delegation even visited Moscow to discuss the prospects of a ceasefire and resolving the hostage situation.

Although both countries have cultivated diplomatic and economic relations with Israel in recent decades, from Chinese investment in the country to Russian and Israeli coordination during the Syrian civil war, they are mindful of public opinion in the Arab world, which has been critical of Israel’s military response.

So great has been the anger that even governments in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who have little patience for Hamas and had either normalised relations with Israel (like the UAE) or were in the process of doing so (like Saudi Arabia) have felt the need to publicly distance themselves from Israel.

Additionally, Russia and China’s positions have reflected wider global sentiment. In the absence of a UNSC resolution, the General Assembly, where all member states are represented, successfully passed a non-binding resolution for a humanitarian truce on October 27.

The resolution condemned attacks on civilians and called for the “protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations.” Russia and China, along with most of the Arab world and the Global South were among the 120 member states that voted in favour, with 14 against (including the US, which opposed the exclusion of any explicit reference on Hamas) and 45 abstentions, including Australia.

Russia’s position may also be influenced by its ongoing war in Ukraine, where it has occupied parts of the country since February 2022. Moscow may hope that the Israel-Hamas conflict could deflect Western attention and practical assistance away from the Ukraine, including supplies of weapons.

While Russia and China’s positions have so far been in line with that of the broader Global South in relation to the Israel-Hamas War, their stance could potentially work to their disadvantage.

For one, the past few weeks have contributed to increasing distrust of Russia and China within the Israeli political establishment.

Israel has never regarded Russia and China as allies or as offering comparable assistance as the United States, so the slowness of their response to the 7 October attacks followed by the criticism of Israel’s military response could have repercussions down the line.

In recent years Chinese officials have played up Beijing’s interest in becoming a conflict mediator in the Middle East, including on the Palestinian question. But given Israeli suspicion, it is unlikely that China would be welcome in any future peace process. Such an exclusion could be damaging to its aspirations of becoming a global power, with interests and influences beyond its own immediate neighbourhood.

The same might go for Russia. Moscow is already a member of the Quartet, a group of external parties (along with the UN, the US, the EU ) concerned with and supportive of the (currently frozen) Oslo peace process. Successive Israeli governments had tacitly accepted Hamas rule in Gaza, but the 7 October attack has uprooted those calculations.

Now Israel’s government looks intent on eliminating Hamas. That has made Moscow’s channel to Hamas less useful than before. Besides, Russia’s refusal to condemn Hamas and its preparedness to host them only serves to offend the Israeli leadership further.

Russian and Chinese positioning on the Israel-Hamas war could potentially create problems with their partners, both in the region and beyond.

If those partners perceive Moscow’s and Beijing’s stances as driven by self-interest and not by principle, this could lead to suspicion and doubt about their own relations with each.

The goodwill generated in the recent past — through China’s Belt and Road Initiative for instance, or their assistance to developing countries during the pandemic in the form of medical equipment, guidance and vaccine — could be undermined.

Dr Guy Burton is a Visiting Fellow working on the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-sectarianisation Project at Lancaster University and Author of Rising Powers and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1947 (Lexington, 2018).

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the largest international Iranian dissident organization, told members of the European Parliament this week that Iran remains the “epicenter” of terrorism. “The head of the snake is in Tehran, the epicenter of terrorism and warmongering,” said Rajavi, the leader of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran. Rajavi’s remarks came a day after police in Spain arrested three people in connection with the Nov. 9 shooting of politician Alejando Vidal-Quadras in Madrid. Vidal-Quadras, who was shot in the face, is one of the founders of the Spanish rightwing political party Vox. He had been sanctioned by the government in Tehran in part due to his ties with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, and though the arrested suspects were European there is speculation they could have ties to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei. Iran’s strong opposition to MEK is reportedly part of a global effort to assert geopolitical influence, including in the Joe Biden White House, in connection with the U.S. government’s policies toward the Islamic Republic. “The Iranian regime does not want to find a balance of power between us, it wants to wipe us off the face of the Earth,” Vidal-Quadras wrote Wednesday from the hospital. “As long as we do not understand and accept this terrible truth we will fail, and we will be defeated.”

In her address Wednesday to Parliament, Rajavi, who is head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), praised Vidal-Quadras for his stance against Iran. MEK is the NCRI’s militant wing.

“I was deeply touched by Mr. Vidal-Quadras’s courageous and inspiring message,” Rajavi said. “As always, [he has been] resilient and steadfast in his support for the cause of freedom in Iran with an exceptionally high morale.” Rajavi’s comments took place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, and it was attended many members of the European Parliament as well as various other leading European political figures including former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, former former Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga, and Former German Defense Minister of Franz Josef Jung, all of whom addressed the gathering. All told, more than 200 people were in attendance at the event. Rajavi made the case that the war between Russia and Ukraine, the clashes between Israel and Hamas, and other global conflicts are made by the role Iran plays in directly and indirectly supporting Russia and Hamas. Rajavi’s appearance in Strasbourg comes five months after the return of the Free Iran Conference at Paris’s Place de Vauban, the first meeting in the French capital after a five year absence.

https://justthenews.com/world/maryam-rajavi-key-iran-government-dissenter-tells-europes-leaders-tehran-terrorisms-epicenter

Last year’s ‘partial mobilisation’ triggered a backlash against the Kremlin and Putin is fearful of a repeat.

Cold war revisited: same old enemy (US moneyed interests), even older hero (‘traditional’ Russia) (Nina Khrushcheva)

In 2014, the former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the 2006 murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist from the liberal publication Novaya Gazeta. Now, just nine years into his sentence, Khadzhikurbanov has been pardoned, after spending six months fighting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. As far as the Russian president is concerned, this makes Khadzhikurbanov a patriot.

Khadzhikurbanov is far from the only violent criminal to earn a pardon in Russia by joining Putin’s army in Ukraine. It is a practice inspired by none other than Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane explosion two months after his Wagner Group mercenaries staged an aborted rebellion in June.

Despite his inglorious end, Prigozhin was long a crucial ally of Putin. His cv included running a troll farm to create Russian propaganda stories and deploying his Wagner fighters in African countries, in part to gain access to resources such as gold and uranium, often in exchange for protecting the lives and interests of local leaders. Wagner soldiers were also needed in the Ukraine war, fighting some of its bloodiest battles, such as the months-long struggle for Bakhmut.

Before hitching his fortunes to Putin, Prigozhin was a convicted criminal who spent nine years in prison for robbery and assault in the 1980s. No wonder he recruited criminals for the Wagner Group—a practice that has now been adopted by the Russian defence ministry. Though the official number of convict-soldiers is unknown, we know that more than 5,000 criminals were pardoned last March, after finishing their contracts to fight for Wagner. According to Prigozhin, some 40,000 prisoners were involved in the battle for Bakhmut.

Though these pardoned fighters remain in the military, some do manage to return home from the front—at least two dozen, according to some unofficial sources. Often, they have committed truly horrific acts. One pardoned fighter killed his girlfriend and put her body through a meat grinder; another stabbed his ex-wife in the stomach ten times. One ‘patriot’ filmed himself beating his friend to death, as if it were a joke.

But after just a few months at the front, their sins are forgiven and they are free to sin again. Some have reportedly carried out new violent crimes, including rape and murder, upon their return.

Even Putin loyalists are not fully on board with the Kremlin’s effort to make heroes out of criminals. Last year, the governor of Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, clashed with Prigozhin after a local club refused to host a Wagner fighter’s funeral. ‘If he were a real soldier, fine, but he was just a former prisoner,’ the club insisted.

Pardoning violent convicts might not be a particularly desirable way to get more soldiers on to the battlefield, but for Putin the alternative would be even worse. Last year’s ‘partial mobilisation’ triggered a significant backlash and Putin is fearful of a repeat. He also knows that there are two Russias—and that if the Kremlin keeps sending convicts, both will get something that they want.

The first Russia, comprising those living in Russia’s two biggest cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, can pretend there is no war at all. Visit a bookstore such as Respublika in Moscow and you will find American and British bestsellers and works by Russian authors who have fled the regime, such as Boris Akunin and Dmitry Bykov. Head to a cinema on Nevsky Prospect in Saint Petersburg and you can watch the American blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer, without seeing any sign that the authorities banned the films for ‘not upholding traditional Russian values’.

People in this Russia are well aware of the tenuousness of their reality. When I asked a young couple watching Oppenheimer what traditional Russian values are, they replied that no one really knows. But they also recognised the limits of their power to change their reality, before acknowledging that the cinema might soon be closed for ‘dissidence’.

Then there is the other Russia, the one you find in small towns and villages scattered across the country’s massive territory. Here, the Ukraine war is a source of patriotic pride and anyone who risks their lives for victory deserves to be honored.

On a recent trip to Siberia’s Omsk region, a couple beamed as they told me about their soldier son: ‘He fought for his country,’ the mother gushed. ‘He has a medal, and with the money he earned, he took us on vacation to Crimea.’ They did not mention that, prior to becoming a ‘hero’, he had been in and out of prison for most of his life.

For them, it probably does not matter. In Russia, the Kremlin has made clear, one can ‘atone with blood’. The money also helps. In the Omsk region, young men—not prisoners—receive 195,000 rubles (€2,000) just for enlisting. If they die, their families receive the equivalent of tens of thousands of euro in compensation. If they return, they can buy houses, cars and more. Either way, the economic boost is substantial.

Russia’s duality is nothing new. The state symbol is a double-headed eagle. Rarely, however, have the two Russias stood in such stark contrast to each other. While Moscow and Saint Petersburg mourn their isolation from the rest of the world, the provinces embrace Putin’s message of animosity toward anything ‘not Russian’.

The longer the war rages, the more deeply this sentiment will take hold outside Russia’s biggest cities. If the outside world is against us, insist the provinces, we will protect our great nation from those who want to diminish it. But no one in the outside world can diminish Russia more gravely than the growing number of Putin’s pardoned patriots.

A rocket is fired from Gaza toward Israel, in Gaza, October 7, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

The Russian war against Ukraine “also means a turning point for internal security,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in June 2023, warning of a new wave of disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, and espionage by foreign intelligence services.

At the beginning of August, there was another case in point: Thomas H.* was arrested Wednesday (August 9) in the western city of Koblenz, when the federal prosecutor’s office accused the Bundeswehr officer of having betrayed information about military details to Russian intelligence.

The Berlin daily Tagesspiegel reported that Thomas H. had already come to the attention of his colleagues because of his sympathy for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). Some parts of the party is considered far-right extremist and very critical of the NATO alliance’s attempts to help Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Carsten L.

At the end of 2022, a similar case made headlines. Carsten L., head of a unit of Germany’s foreign intelligence service Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), where he was responsible for “personnel security,” was accused of working as a double agent for the Russian secret service FSB and of having betrayed state secrets.

According to media reports, the FSB is said to have been particularly interested in data on air defense positions supplied to Ukraine by Western states. However, it is unclear whether Carsten L. had access to this information. He was arrested on December 21, 2022, and is being tried for treason along with a suspected accomplice.

Mr & Mrs Anschlag

But it is not only since the Russian invasion of Ukraine that spies in Germany have been reporting to Moscow. Beginning sometime in the 1980s, two Russian agents led a middle-class life under the names of Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, he posing as an engineer, she as a housewife.

They spied on NATO and the European Union first for the Soviet Union, then for the Russian secret service, receiving their orders via encrypted radio messages on shortwave, at a time when espionage was not yet a predominantly digital business. It was not until 2011 that their cover was blown — probably thanks to a tip-off from US intelligence services. In 2013, they were sentenced to several years in prison and eventually deported to Russia.

Gabriele Guest

The communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) referred to their agents as “scouts of peace.” An estimated 12,000 of them are believed to have been deployed by the East German secret service, the Staatssicherheitsdienst or Stasi, to West Germany during the Cold War.

Among them was Gabriele Gast, a West German who was recruited by a Stasi officer in 1968 while on a research trip to East Germany for her dissertation entitled: “The Political Role of Women in the GDR.” From then on, Gast reported to the intelligence service in East Germany — while also making a career for herself at the Western intelligence service BND under a false name. She was only exposed after the collapse of the GDR in 1989, shortly before the reunification of Germany. She is still considered to have been one of the GDR’s top spies in the West.

Gabriele Gast was one of the GDR’s most high profile spies (photo from 1995)Image: Michael Jung/dpa/picture alliance

Alfred Spuhler

Alfred Spuhler may have been a similarly good source for the Stasi. As a high-ranking BND official, he unmasked hundreds of Western agents working in the GDR. He was arrested in November 1989.

Heinz Felfe

Heinz Felfe, the longtime head of the BND’s “Counterintelligence Soviet Union” unit, was also a double agent. He was a member of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s police unit, Schutzstaffel (SS), then reported to the KGB in Moscow until 1961. Over the years, Felfe is believed to have worked for seven different intelligence services, including the British MI6.

Gunter Guillaume

Probably the most sensational espionage case from the Cold War period in Germany is that of Günter Guillaume.

Posing as refugees from East Germany, he and his wife Christel came to West Germany in 1956. Their mission was to provide the Stasi with internal information about the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Guillaume worked his way up, eventually becoming personal advisor to Chancellor Willy Brandt when the SPD came to power.

When Guillaume’s cover was blown, Brandt was forced to resign as chancellor on May 6, 1974. Guillaume was sentenced to 13 years in prison and his wife to eight years. Both were released in 1981 in exchange for West German agents.

Günter Guillaume (r.) was the assistant of Chancellor Willy Brandt (l.)Image: picture-alliance / akg-images

Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz

A particularly large number of Stasi spies were exposed after the fall of the Wall. Not much is known about Western agents in the GDR, with the notable exception of Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz, who smuggled GDR documents to the West at the beginning of the Cold War in the early 1950s.

Barczatis worked as chief secretary to GDR Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl. She obtained rather banal government papers that she passed to her lover Karl Laurenz, who handed them over to West German authorities. When this was discovered, both Barczatis and Laurenz were sentenced to death in East Germany and executed by guillotine in 1955.

This article was originally written in German.

*Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Жену руководителя Главного управления разведки Марианну Буданову отравили тяжелыми металлами. Женщина находится в больнице.

Об этом сообщили источники в разведке.

После продолжительного ухудшения состояния здоровья ее госпитализировали.

«Сейчас завершается курс лечения, дальше контроль врачей», — отметил собеседник в ГУР и добавил, что женщине диагностировали поражение тяжелыми металлами.

«Эти вещества никак не используются в быту и военном деле. Их наличие может указывать на целенаправленную попытку отравления конкретного человека», — отметили в разведке.

Источники подтвердили, что на Кирилла Буданова также покушались до и после полномасштабного вторжения.

В настоящее время ведется расследование вероятной попытки убийства жены начальника ГУР МО Украины.

• Руководитель Главного управления разведки Кирилл Буданов в интервью «Радио Свобода» заявил, что его жена Марианна проживает вместе с ним в его рабочем кабинете, хотя и не работает в ГУР. С июня 2021 года она работает советницей мэра Киева Виталия Кличко.
• Кирилл и Марианна Будановы обручились в августе 2013 года. В октябре 2022 года Буданова дала интервью украинскому журналу Elle , в котором рассказала о себе. Она сообщила, что по образованию психолог с 2015-го по 2017 год занималась волонтерской деятельностью в Главном военном госпитале на Госпитальной в Киеве.

Война между Израилем и Хамасом дала России прекрасную возможность посеять раскол среди своих западных врагов. Это шанс, который машина дезинформации Владимира Путина никогда не упустит.

С момента начала военных действий 7 октября связанные с Кремлем аккаунты в Facebook увеличили свою активность почти на 400 процентов, а ближневосточный кризис теперь доминирует в сообщениях российских дипломатов, поддерживаемых государством СМИ и сторонников Путина на Западе. 

Ложь, распространяемая московскими цифровыми пропагандистами, теперь включает утверждения о том, что террористы Хамаса используют оружие НАТО для нападения на Израиль и что британские инструкторы обучали нападавших Хамаса .

Укоренившийся и кровавый конфликт представляет собой двойную возможность для Путина.

Это позволяет России разжигать раскол на Западе посредством целенаправленной деятельности в социальных сетях, направленной на раскол тех, кто поддерживает Израиль, от тех, кто поддерживает Палестину. Насилие в реальном мире, особенно против евреев, резко возросло за последние семь недель, а антивоенные протесты сотен тысяч людей распространились от Лондона до Вашингтона.

Натиск России в социальных сетях на Ближнем Востоке также отвлекает общественное внимание от ее войны в Украине, которая зашла в тупик после череды военных ошибок, мятежа наемников Вагнера и длительного контрнаступления из Киева.

«Отвлечение внимания от Украины – это только хорошо для России», – сказал Брет Шафер, глава группы по манипулированию информацией и Немецкого фонда Маршалла Альянса США за защиту демократии, вашингтонского аналитического центра. “Чем больше западная общественность сосредоточена на Израиле и Хамасе, тем меньше она обращает внимания на тот факт, что Конгресс собирается не финансировать военные усилия Украины”, – добавил он. «Освещение других мест отвлекает внимание от Украины».

Онлайн-атаки Кремля отражают геополитические игры Путина после атак ХАМАС 7 октября.

Его правительство приняло лидеров ХАМАС в Москве в конце октября — очевидно, потому что он стремился сыграть посредническую роль в освобождении израильских заложников. У России и Хамаса есть общий союзник в лице Ирана, и сам Путин предупредил , что военные действия Израиля в секторе Газа могут выйти за пределы региона.

Кремль поспешил использовать войну Израиля и ХАМАС в качестве оружия в своих пропагандистских целях.

Согласно данным, собранным Альянсом за защиту демократии, за семь недель с тех пор, как боевики ХАМАС атаковали Израиль, российские аккаунты в Facebook разместили 44 000 сообщений по сравнению с всего лишь 14 000 сообщений за семь недель до начала конфликта. В общей сложности о поддерживаемой Россией активности в социальных сетях Facebook было опубликовано почти 400 000 раз, что в четыре раза больше, чем посты, опубликованные до конфликта.

Наиболее часто используемые ключевые слова теперь включают множество фраз, связанных с конфликтом, таких как «Хамас» и «Ближний Восток», в то время как до войны российские государственные СМИ и дипломатические отчеты были сосредоточены почти исключительно на Украине или роли Путина в мире.

Почти 400-процентное увеличение количества постов на аккаунтах, связанных с российским правительством, представляет собой каплю в море по сравнению с миллионами постов в Facebook о ближневосточном конфликте от обычных пользователей социальных сетей за тот же период. Однако многие аккаунты, поддерживаемые Кремлем, особенно аккаунты попавших под санкции СМИ, таких как RT и Sputnik, имеют огромный цифровой охват. В совокупности эти компании могут похвастаться миллионами последователей в Европе, Латинской Америке и Африке, хотя ЕС ввел санкции в отношении их деятельности в области вещания и социальных сетей.

«Они используют все, что могут, для распространения антизападных посланий», — сказал Якуб Каленский, заместитель директора Европейского центра передового опыта по противодействию гибридным угрозам, совместной организации НАТО и ЕС, отслеживающей кампании влияния, поддерживаемые государством. «Они плывут на волне новостного цикла, потому что конкурируют за ту же аудиторию, которая потребляет надежные источники СМИ».

Такая цифровая пропаганда может иметь реальные последствия. Некоторые на Западе теперь открыто задаются вопросом, как долго правительства смогут поддерживать Украину в ее дорогостоящей войне против России во времена экономической неопределенности.

Во Франции, например, министерство иностранных дел обвинило связанную с Россией сеть ботов в социальных сетях в распространении антисемитских изображений граффити «Звезды Давида» на зданиях по всему Парижу. Французские официальные лица обвинили Россию в «создании напряженности» между сторонниками Израиля и теми, кто поддерживает Палестину. Посольство России в Париже заявило, что Москва не имеет никакого отношения к тайной цифровой деятельности. 

По словам двух высокопоставленных европейских чиновников, говоривших на условиях анонимности, целью тайной кампании было усиление реальной напряженности — как во Франции, так и по всей Западной Европе, которую поддерживают правительства сторон.

«То, что происходит в Интернете, больше никогда не остается в сети», — сказал один из чиновников.

Ни Россия, ни Китай не возражали против отсутствия в проектах резолюций призыва к прекращению огня.

Поскольку линии разногласий вокруг конфликта между Израилем и Хамасом в секторе Газа становятся все более явными, возникают вопросы о том, где могут позиционировать себя крупные державы.

В то время как большинство западных правительств объединились в поддержке права Израиля на самооборону, Китай и Россия сделали свои собственные расчеты. Наряду с более широким Югом, они не уклоняются от критики военной реакции Израиля в секторе Газа и ее воздействия на палестинское гражданское население.

Принесет ли борьба между Израилем и ХАМАС пользу России и Китаю, во многом будет вопросом восприятия. Хотя Запад может рассматривать позиции России и Китая как оппортунистические и обусловленные их желанием противостоять западным странам ради стратегического преимущества, мнение стран Глобального Юга вполне может все еще быть предметом обсуждения.

Но России и Китаю необходимо убедиться, что их не постигнет та же участь, что и Запад, когда их будут критиковать за лицемерие и противоположное отношение к кризисам на Украине и в секторе Газа.

Чтобы продемонстрировать свой статус великих держав и заручиться поддержкой стран Глобального Юга, им придется подкрепить свои слова делами, действуя по защите гражданского населения и соблюдая юридические и гуманитарные обязательства, как это выражено в недавней резолюции ООН, которую они поддержали.

Раскол между Западом и остальными странами по поводу сектора Газа углубился после того, как 7 октября ХАМАС предпринял внезапную атаку, в ходе которой исламистская организация вторглась на территорию Израиля, убив сотни людей и взяв более 200 заложников. Службы безопасности Израиля были застигнуты врасплох, а международное сообщество было шокировано насилием.

В то время как многие западные страны быстро присоединились к Израилю, Россия и Китай стремились к большему балансу в своих заявлениях, которые включали критику реакции Израиля, которая включала перемещение более миллиона мирных жителей, помещение территории под жесткую осаду и ограничение гуманитарной помощи, а также приостановку поставок. снабжение электроэнергией и водой.

Хотя непосредственные последствия военных действий Израиля в Газе вполне могут быть в центре внимания российских и китайских политиков, существуют также более широкие региональные и глобальные соображения, влияющие на их позиции.

В течение нескольких недель после нападения ХАМАС Совет Безопасности ООН изо всех сил пытался достичь консенсуса. Четыре попытки разработать резолюции провалились из-за вето США с одной стороны и России и (иногда) Китая с другой.

Хотя большинство предложенных резолюций осуждали нападения на гражданское население, возражения Америки включали отсутствие какого-либо признания права Израиля на самооборону и лишь обязательство сделать «гуманитарные паузы», чтобы разрешить помощь в секторе Газа.

Напротив, ни Россия, ни Китай не возражали против отсутствия в проектах резолюций призыва к прекращению огня. Они также отличаются от Запада тем, что не критикуют ХАМАС открыто. Более того, делегация ХАМАС даже посетила Москву, чтобы обсудить перспективы прекращения огня и урегулирования ситуации с заложниками.

Хотя обе страны в последние десятилетия развивали дипломатические и экономические отношения с Израилем, от китайских инвестиций в страну до координации действий России и Израиля во время гражданской войны в Сирии, они учитывают общественное мнение в арабском мире, которое критикует израильские военные силы. ответ.

Гнев был настолько велик, что даже правительства Саудовской Аравии и ОАЭ, у которых мало терпения к Хамасу и которые либо нормализовали отношения с Израилем (как ОАЭ), либо находились в процессе этого (как Саудовская Аравия), почувствовали необходимо публично дистанцироваться от Израиля.

Кроме того, позиции России и Китая отражают более широкие настроения в мире. В отсутствие резолюции СБ ООН Генеральная Ассамблея, где представлены все государства-члены, 27 октября успешно приняла необязательную резолюцию о гуманитарном перемирии.

Резолюция осудила нападения на мирное население и призвала «защищать мирное население и выполнять юридические и гуманитарные обязательства». Россия и Китай, а также большая часть арабского мира и Глобального Юга были среди 120 государств-членов, проголосовавших за, при этом 14 против (включая США, которые выступали против исключения любого явного упоминания о Хамасе) и 45 воздержавшихся, в том числе Австралия.

На позицию России также может повлиять продолжающаяся война на Украине, где она оккупировала часть страны с февраля 2022 года. Москва может надеяться, что конфликт между Израилем и Хамасом сможет отвлечь внимание Запада и отвлечь практическую помощь от Украины, включая поставки оружия. .

Хотя позиции России и Китая до сих пор соответствовали позициям стран Глобального Юга в отношении войны между Израилем и Хамасом, их позиция потенциально может работать им во вред.

Во-первых, последние несколько недель способствовали росту недоверия к России и Китаю внутри израильского политического истеблишмента.

Израиль никогда не считал Россию и Китай союзниками и не предлагал сопоставимую помощь с Соединенными Штатами, поэтому медлительность их реакции на теракты 7 октября, за которой последовала критика военного ответа Израиля, может иметь последствия в будущем.

В последние годы китайские официальные лица подчеркивали заинтересованность Пекина в том, чтобы стать посредником в конфликтах на Ближнем Востоке, в том числе в палестинском вопросе. Но, учитывая подозрительность Израиля, маловероятно, что Китай будет приветствоваться в каком-либо будущем мирном процессе. Такое исключение может нанести ущерб ее стремлениям стать глобальной державой, чьи интересы и влияние выходят за рамки ее непосредственного соседства.

То же самое может произойти и с Россией. Москва уже является членом «квартета», группы внешних сторон (наряду с ООН, США и ЕС), заинтересованных и поддерживающих (в настоящее время замороженный) мирный процесс в Осло. Последующие израильские правительства молчаливо признавали правление ХАМАС в секторе Газа, но нападение 7 октября разрушило эти расчеты.

Теперь правительство Израиля, похоже, намерено уничтожить ХАМАС. Это сделало канал связи Москвы с ХАМАС менее полезным, чем раньше. Кроме того, отказ России осудить ХАМАС и ее готовность принять их у себя лишь еще больше оскорбляют израильское руководство.

Позиция России и Китая по войне между Израилем и Хамасом потенциально может создать проблемы с их партнерами как в регионе, так и за его пределами.

Если эти партнеры воспримут позицию Москвы и Пекина как основанную на личных интересах, а не на принципах, это может привести к подозрениям и сомнениям в отношении их собственных отношений с каждым из них.

Добрая воля, созданная в недавнем прошлом – например, благодаря китайской инициативе «Пояс и путь» или помощи развивающимся странам во время пандемии в виде медицинского оборудования, рекомендаций и вакцин – могло быть подорвано.

Доктор Гай Бертон — приглашенный научный сотрудник, работающий над проектом «Сектантство, доверенные лица и десектантизация» в Ланкастерском университете, и автор книги «Восходящие державы и арабо-израильский конфликт с 1947 года» (Лексингтон, 2018).

Первоначально опубликовано на Creative Commons компанией 360info .

(Эта история не редактировалась сотрудниками NDTV и создана автоматически на основе синдицированного канала.)

Марьям Раджави , лидер крупнейшей международной иранской диссидентской организации, заявила на этой неделе членам Европейского парламента, что Иран остается «эпицентром» терроризма. «Голова змеи находится в Тегеране, эпицентре терроризма и разжигания войны», – сказал Раджави, лидер Народной организации моджахедов Ирана. Заявления Раджави прозвучали на следующий день после того, как полиция Испании арестовала трех человек в связи с расстрелом 9 ноября политика Алехандо Видаль-Квадраса в Мадриде. Видаль-Квадрас, получивший огнестрельное ранение в лицо, является одним из основателей испанской правой политической партии Vox. Правительство Тегерана наложило на него санкции отчасти из-за его связей с Народной организацией моджахедов Ирана (MEK), и хотя арестованные подозреваемые были европейцами, есть предположение, что они могли иметь связи с иранским лидером Али Хаменеи. Сообщается, что решительная оппозиция Ирана МЕК является частью глобальных усилий по утверждению геополитического влияния, в том числе в Белом доме Джо Байдена, в связи с политикой правительства США в отношении Исламской Республики. «Иранский режим не хочет найти баланс сил между нами, он хочет стереть нас с лица Земли», — написал Видаль-Квадрас в среду из больницы. «Пока мы не поймем и не примем эту ужасную правду, мы потерпим поражение и потерпим поражение».

В своем обращении в среду к парламенту Раджави, возглавляющая Национальный совет сопротивления Ирана ( NCRI ), похвалила Видаля-Квадраса за его позицию против Ирана. МЕК — боевое крыло NCRI.

«Я был глубоко тронут смелым и вдохновляющим посланием г-на Видала-Квадраса», – сказал Раджави. «Как всегда, [он был] стойким и стойким в своей поддержке дела свободы в Иране с исключительно высоким моральным духом». Комментарии Раджави прозвучали в Европейском парламенте в Страсбурге, Франция, и на них присутствовали многие члены Европейского парламента, а также различные другие ведущие европейские политические деятели, в том числе бывший премьер-министр Бельгии Ги Верхофштадт, бывший бывший министр иностранных дел Польши Анна Фотыга и бывший премьер-министр Бельгии. Министр обороны Германии Франц Йозеф Юнг выступил перед собравшимися. Всего на мероприятии присутствовало более 200 человек. Раджави доказал, что война между Россией и Украиной, столкновения между Израилем и Хамасом и другие глобальные конфликты вызваны той ролью, которую Иран играет в прямой и косвенной поддержке России и Хамаса. Появление Раджави в Страсбурге произошло через пять месяцев после возвращения Конференции Свободного Ирана на парижскую площадь Вобан, первой встречи во французской столице после пятилетнего отсутствия.

https://justthenews.com/world/maryam-rajavi-key-iran-government-dissenter-tells-europes-leaders-tehran-terrorisms-epicenter

Прошлогодняя «частичная мобилизация» вызвала негативную реакцию против Кремля, и Путин опасается повторения.

Возвращение к холодной войне: тот же старый враг (финансовые интересы США), еще более старый герой («традиционная» Россия) (Нина Хрущева)

В 2014 году бывший офицер полиции Сергей Хаджикурбанов был приговорен к 20 годам лишения свободы за участие в убийстве в 2006 году Анны Политковской, журналиста-расследователя либерального издания «Новая газета» . Теперь, всего через девять лет после заключения, Хаджикурбанов помилован , проведя шесть месяцев в борьбе с войной Владимира Путина на Украине. Что касается российского президента, то это делает Хаджикурбанова патриотом.

Хаджикурбанов далеко не единственный жестокий преступник, который заслужил помилование в России, присоединившись к армии Путина на Украине. Эту практику вдохновил не кто иной, как Евгений Пригожин, который погиб в результате взрыва самолета через два месяца после того, как его наемники из группы Вагнера устроили в июне неудавшийся мятеж .

Несмотря на свой бесславный конец, Пригожин долгое время оставался важнейшим союзником Путина. В его резюме входило управление фермой троллей для создания российских пропагандистских историй и размещение своих бойцов Вагнера в африканских странах, отчасти для получения доступа к таким ресурсам, как золото и уран, часто в обмен на защиту жизни и интересов местных лидеров. Солдаты Вагнера также были необходимы в войне на Украине, участвуя в некоторых из ее самых кровопролитных сражений, таких как многомесячная борьба за Бахмута .

До того, как передать свое состояние Путину, Пригожин был осужденным преступником, который провел девять лет в тюрьме за грабеж и нападение в 1980-х годах. Неудивительно, что он вербовал преступников для «Группы Вагнера» — практика, которую сейчас переняла российское министерство обороны. Хотя официальное число военнослужащих-заключенных неизвестно, мы знаем, что более 5000 преступников были помилованы в марте прошлого года после завершения контрактов на борьбу на стороне Вагнера. По словам Пригожина, в бою за Бахмут было задействовано около 40 тысяч пленных .

Хотя эти помилованные бойцы остаются в армии, некоторым все же удается вернуться домой с фронта — по меньшей мере, два десятка , по некоторым неофициальным источникам. Нередко они совершали поистине ужасающие поступки. Один помилованный боец ​​убил свою девушку и пропустил ее тело через мясорубку; другой десять раз ударил свою бывшую жену ножом в живот. Один «патриот» снял на видео, как избивает до смерти своего друга, как будто это была шутка.

Но всего через несколько месяцев на фронте их грехи прощены, и они снова могут грешить. По сообщениям, некоторые из них по возвращении совершили новые насильственные преступления, в том числе изнасилования и убийства.

Даже сторонники Путина не полностью поддерживают усилия Кремля сделать из преступников героев. В прошлом году губернатор Свердловской области Евгений Куйвашев поссорился с Пригожиным после того, как местный клуб отказался провести похороны вагнеровца. «Если бы он был настоящим солдатом, хорошо, но он был всего лишь бывшим заключенным», — настаивали в клубе .

Помилование жестоких осужденных, возможно, не является особенно желательным способом привлечь больше солдат на поле боя, но для Путина альтернатива была бы еще хуже. Прошлогодняя «частичная мобилизация» вызвала значительную негативную реакцию , и Путин опасается повторения. Он также знает, что есть две России – и что, если Кремль продолжит отправлять заключенных , обе получат то, что хотят.

Первая Россия, в которую входят жители двух крупнейших городов России, Москвы и Санкт-Петербурга, может делать вид, что войны вообще нет. Посетите книжный магазин, такой как «Республика» в Москве, и вы найдете американские и британские бестселлеры, а также произведения российских авторов, бежавших от режима, таких как Борис Акунин и Дмитрий Быков. Зайдите в кинотеатр на Невском проспекте в Санкт-Петербурге, и вы сможете посмотреть американские блокбастеры « Барби » и «Оппенгеймер », не увидев при этом никаких признаков того, что власти запретили фильмы за «неподдержание традиционных российских ценностей».

Люди в этой России хорошо осознают хрупкость своей реальности. Когда я спросил молодую пару, смотрящую «Оппенгеймера» , каковы традиционные русские ценности, они ответили, что на самом деле никто этого не знает. Но они также осознавали пределы своих возможностей изменить свою реальность, прежде чем признать, что кинотеатр вскоре может быть закрыт из-за «диссидентства».

Есть и другая Россия, та, которую можно найти в маленьких городках и деревнях, разбросанных по огромной территории страны. Здесь война на Украине является источником патриотической гордости, и каждый, кто рискует своей жизнью ради победы, заслуживает уважения.

Во время недавней поездки в Омскую область Сибири пара сияла, рассказывая мне о своем сыне-солдате: «Он сражался за свою страну», — восторгалась мать. «У него есть медаль, и на заработанные деньги он отвез нас на отдых в Крым». Они не упомянули, что до того, как стать «героем», он большую часть своей жизни провел в тюрьме и вышел из нее.

Для них это, наверное, не имеет значения. Кремль ясно дал понять , что в России можно «искупить свою вину кровью». Деньги тоже помогают. В Омской области молодые люди – не заключенные – получают 195 000 рублей (2 000 евро) только за призыв. Если они умрут, их семьи получат компенсацию в размере десятков тысяч евро. Если они вернутся, они смогут купить дома, машины и многое другое. В любом случае экономический рост будет существенным.

В двойственности России нет ничего нового. Государственный символ – двуглавый орел. Однако редко когда две России так резко контрастировали друг с другом. В то время как Москва и Санкт-Петербург оплакивают свою изоляцию от остального мира, провинция принимает послание Путина о враждебности ко всему « нерусскому ».

Чем дольше бушует война, тем глубже эти настроения будут распространяться за пределами крупнейших городов России. Если внешний мир настроен против нас, настаивают провинции, мы защитим нашу великую нацию от тех, кто хочет ее умалить. Но никто во внешнем мире не может унизить Россию более серьезно, чем растущее число помилованных Путиным патриотов.