Per edited: Lu Xiangyong, Duan Lian, Gai Yuanyuan
According to CCTV news, on the 16th local time, the United Nations International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands, ruled on the Ukraine v. Russia case, demanding that Russia immediately stop its military operations in Ukraine.
According to other reports, russia and Ukraine have prepared a conditional ceasefire withdrawal plan on the same day.
The Ukrainian side said that the Swedish or Austrian model of neutrality could not be accepted, and that neutrality could only be "Ukrainian-style".
According to CCTV News, on March 16, local time, US President Joe Biden made a public speech at the White House, announcing that it would provide additional military assistance to Ukraine with $800 million, which brought the total amount of security assistance pledged by the United States to Ukraine in the past week to $1 billion.
The latest negotiation progress was disclosed
On the 16th local time, Russia and Ukraine prepared a ceasefire withdrawal plan for Ukraine to maintain neutrality and disarmament.
But Russian presidential press secretary Peskov said it was too early to announce the consensus reached in the negotiations.
People were evacuated through humanitarian passage in Ilpin, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine, on 11 March. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Diego Herrera)
Mekzynski, head of the Russian negotiating delegation, said on the 16th that the progress of negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation was difficult and slow, but the Russian side hoped to achieve peace as soon as possible through negotiations. The respective positions of both sides were clear and clear, and some progress was made on certain issues during the talks. The two sides are discussing Ukraine's neutrality, the demilitarization of Ukraine and a range of issues related to the size of Ukraine's military. The Ukrainian side proposed to establish a neutral demilitified state according to the Austrian or Swedish model, retaining its own army and navy. At present, these issues are being discussed at the leadership level of the Russian-Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
On the 16th, Podoliac, a member of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation and adviser to the office of the Ukrainian president, refuted Mekzynsky's proposal that the Ukrainian side proposed to adopt the Neutral Model of the Austrian or Swedish version. Podoriac said that in the current Ukrainian-Russian conflict, the so-called neutral model can only be the "Ukrainian model", and there is no other model and choice. He stressed that the Ukrainian side needs "absolute security guarantees" and that the state party to the security guarantees must ensure that Ukraine does not stand idly by when it encounters similar current situations.
Vladimir Putin: Russia has every reason to believe it
Components of biological weapons have been built in Ukraine
On the 16th local time, Russian President Putin made a televised speech.
Putin said the special military operation was going well and was being carried out as planned. Although the Russians were close to Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, they had no plans and purposes for occupying Ukraine.
Putin said Ukraine has a network of dozens of laboratories that carry out military biological programs under the guidance and financial support of the Pentagon, including experiments with samples from coronavirus, anthrax, cholera and African swine fever. Now they are working to remove all traces of these programmes. But Russia has every reason to believe that the components of biological weapons have been manufactured in Ukraine's immediate vicinity with Russia.
Putin said that the West's freeze on Russia's foreign exchange reserves is actually equivalent to declaring a default on Russia's debts. Now everyone knows that a country's foreign exchange reserves can be easily stolen. Putin said that the West's confiscation of Russia's public and private assets overseas is a lesson that Russian entrepreneurs should learn, and it is safest to invest assets in the motherland. It is believed that after the West blocked Russia's account, many countries will convert their foreign exchange reserves into commodities, which will lead to a shortage of commodities.
Putin said that the Western "empire of lies" is weak in the face of truth and justice. Russia will continue to stand by its original position for the whole world.
Biden announced to Ukraine
$800 million in military assistance
Image source: Visual China
Since the biden administration's inception, U.S. aid to Ukraine has totaled $2 billion.
According to a statement released by the White House, the military assistance program also includes anti-tank missiles and more defensive weapons that the United States has begun to provide.
On March 15, local time, US President Joe Biden signed a bill totaling $1.5 trillion. The bill will fund the U.S. government by September and provide $13.6 billion in humanitarian and security assistance to Ukraine.
According to CCTV news, on the 15th local time, the Russian Ministry of Defense released a video showing a large number of foreign weapons captured by the Russian airborne troops in the fierce battle with Ukrainian nationalists in Kiev Oblast, and the video screen showed the Us "Javelin" anti-tank missile, the German "Iron Fist 3" anti-tank bazooka and individual anti-aircraft missiles.
The Russian military said it planned to hand over all these weapons to Luhansk as well as to the local armed forces in Donetsk.
The United States sold more than trillion yuan in arms last year
The world's top five major military enterprises have all "flowered" the United States
According to CCTV news, sweden's Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released a report on global arms sales trends on the 14th. The report shows that between 2017 and 2021, global arms trading volume fell from the previous five years, but U.S. overseas arms sales rose sharply over the same period.
Analysts pointed out that the US overseas arms sales showed a contrarian growth, behind which is the fact that US military enterprises and some politicians have made a lot of money by using the war. For a long time, the United States has made great profits by instigating confrontation and conflict, seriously endangering world peace and stability.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report notes that global arms trade from 2017 to 2021 fell by 4.6 percent compared to 2012-2016, but U.S. arms exports rose 14 percent over the same period, with the global share rising from 32 percent to 39 percent.
US media analysis pointed out that US arms sales mainly rely on two major channels, one is intergovernmental sales, and the other is direct commercial sales by private contractors authorized by the US State Department. Official statistics show that the total amount of arms sales in these two major channels in fiscal year 2021 in the United States, despite a slight year-on-year decline, is still as high as $161.1 billion (about 1.02 trillion yuan).
In a document late last year, the U.S. State Department bluntly acknowledged that arms transfers and defense trade are important tools of U.S. foreign policy, adding that the United States considers political, military, economic, and end-use factors when granting direct commercial sales licenses to allies and partners for military equipment and defense supplies.
The US "National Interest" magazine wrote that during the administration of former President Trump, the United States not only established overseas arms sales as an important goal of national security and foreign policy, but also regarded them as a major opportunity to promote innovation and create jobs, believing that vigorous arms sales can serve its "America First" policy.
Some analysts pointed out that the two world wars provided the original basis for the development of US overseas arms sales, and then during the Cold War, the United States exported a large number of arms to other countries on the grounds of "resisting communism." Since entering the 21st century, the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq have ushered in a period of prosperity for the US military industry based on overseas arms sales.
According to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute at the end of last year, since 2018, all the top five major military enterprises in the world have "spent" the United States. Among them, Lockheed Martin is the world's largest military enterprise, with arms sales and military service sales reaching $58.2 billion in 2020, accounting for 11% of the total arms sales of the world's top 100 military companies. Raytheon Technologies, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics ranked second to fifth, respectively.
Analysts pointed out that the sustained development of US military enterprises is closely related to the collusion between enterprises, governments and Congress. The U.S. "Open Secret" website reveals that over the past 20 years, U.S. military-industrial companies have spent up to $2.5 billion alone to influence defense policy to make their own arms "useful." The "revolving door" of politics and business in American society has continuously promoted the development of the military industry. After stepping down, some "bigwigs" in THE US political circles have gone to military enterprises, using resources such as contacts to influence the government's foreign policy, and while seeking export business for enterprises, they have also earned a lot of money. For example, former U.S. Defense Secretary Esper was a former Raytheon Technology executive who left the government and joined Epirus, which manufactures military equipment.
Franklin Spiny, who has worked in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense for many years, pointed out in a blog post a few days ago that over the past 30 years, the US military-industry-Congress complex has been in collusion with the US media, think tanks, academic circles, and intelligence agencies. The U.S. Department of Defense is led by the nose by capital, resulting in an increasing dependence on defense spending. Former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower warned when he left office that the military-industrial complex must be vigilant against the impact of the military-industrial complex on American politics, but from the history of these decades, the United States clearly did not heed his warnings.
Wherever there is war, there is America
It is no exaggeration to say that for many years, wherever there have been wars in the world, there has been the United States. Even if the United States did not directly participate in the war, it would not be difficult to find American weapons and equipment on the battlefield.
Poster of the movie "King of War" Image source: Douban Movie
Recently, with the escalation of tensions in Ukraine, the stock prices of US military companies have risen significantly. A well-known investment website in the United States wrote in February this year that in the coming months, US military companies are likely to see a surge in demand, and the US military industry will usher in a new period of growth. A senior executive of Raytheon Technology Company said unabashedly that regional tensions will create opportunities for overseas arms sales, and military companies will see some opportunities from them.
According to the US "Contemporary" weekly report, a well-known think tank funded by a number of large US military enterprises began to incite Russian-Ukrainian tensions a few months ago, and also called on the US government to take immediate action to start military preparations.
Eric Sperling, executive director of the U.S. anti-war organization Justice Foreign Policy, said that in Washington, D.C., everyone knows that the military industry is one of the driving forces of the United States, and these military enterprises have profited from the situation in Ukraine because the United States is importing a large amount of weapons and equipment into the region.
In the view of Kavan Karazian, a U.S. foreign policy analyst, sincere and practical diplomatic engagement can alleviate unnecessary and potentially disaster-inducing conflicts and benefit the entire region, but this may not be profitable for the military industry.
US Independent Investigative Journalist: To find an excuse to sanction Russia
The United States does not want the crisis to end as soon as possible
Recently, Benjamin Norton, an independent investigative journalist in the United States, said in an exclusive interview with CCTV reporters that the United States and other Western countries do not want the Ukraine crisis to end as soon as possible. Benjamin Norton has studied a large number of historical archives and published articles pointing out that the United States and NATO want to use the situation in Ukraine to stimulate Russia to take military action in order to achieve the purpose of sanctions against Russia. Therefore, in a short period of time, neither the United States nor NATO wants the Ukraine crisis to end as soon as possible.
Norton also stressed that the new Minsk agreement was signed in accordance with the UN Charter, but the United States and NATO have never required Ukraine to strictly abide by it.
Independent investigative journalist Benjamin Norton: Not only did they not urge Ukraine to negotiate, but the United States and NATO escalated the crisis, and the United States and NATO are still constantly sending hundreds of millions of dollars of military equipment and weapons to Ukraine, and even discussing support for ukrainian warplanes, which is making the conflict worse.
Norton pointed out that the United States and NATO have continuously increased sanctions against Russia, making the Russian-Ukrainian conflict worse, and these sanctions are also illegal under international law. To some extent, the United States and NATO are "encouraging" Russian military action, so that there is an excuse to increase sanctions against Russia. While mainstream voices in the international community want a peaceful diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis, the United States and NATO do not expect so.
Independent investigative journalist Benjamin Norton: The United States and the European Union are actually waging an economic war and an information war against Russia, constantly sending weapons to Ukraine, creating chaos in Ukraine, and they just don't want the war to end as soon as possible.
Editor| Lu Xiangyong Duan Lian Gai Yuanyuan Du Bo
Proofreader | Sun Zhicheng
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