On Wednesday, Russia <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/04/24/russia-nuclear-weapons-space-un-resolution">vetoed</a> a UN Security Council resolution proposed by the United States and Japan reaffirming the obligation of countries that signed the Outer Space Treaty not to place nuclear weapons in orbit around the Earth. The resolution would ban member states from developing nuclear weapons specifically designed to be placed in orbit.
The Outer Space Treaty was signed in 1967. The treaty added new provisions to the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, adopted by the General Assembly in 1963. Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty <a href="https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/treaty_Princi_Gov_Acti_States_OST.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states</a>:
<blockquote>
States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner. The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. 
</blockquote>
“We have heard President Putin say publicly that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/04/24/statement-from-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-on-russias-veto-of-the-un-security-council-resolution-on-the-outer-space-treaty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>.
“Russia is developing a space-based military capability that members of Congress and U.S. officials worry could pose a significant threat to the United States and its allies, possibly by damaging critical intelligence or communications satellites with a nuclear weapon, according to officials familiar with the matter,” The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/14/national-security-threat-mike-turner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in mid-February.
At that time, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/02/15/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-white-house-national-security-communications-advisor-john-kirby-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commented</a>, “This is not an active capability that’s been deployed. And though Russia’s pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety. We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth. That said, we’ve been closely monitoring this Russian activity and we will continue to take it very seriously.”
“Russia conducted a direct-ascent hit-to-kill anti-satellite (ASAT) test on November 15, 2021, striking a Russian satellite and rendering it into more than 1,500 pieces of orbital debris. Reacting to the test, U.S. Space Command commander Army Gen. James Dickinson claimed that Russia is ‘deploying capabilities to actively deny access to and use of space by the United States and its allies,’” the Arms Control  Association <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2022-03/features/russias-anti-satellite-weapons-asymmetric-response-us-aerospace-superiority#:~:text=Russia%20conducted%20a%20direct%2Dascent,1%2C500%20pieces%20of%20orbital%20debris." target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> in March 2022.

Rocket flies through the clouds

Russia Vetoes UN Resolution To Reaffirm Ban On Nuclear Weapons In Space

Nuclear Weapons

Outer Space

Russia

United Nations

Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro broke down the complicated history of Ukraine in the latest “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/facts-the-real-history-of-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facts</a>” episode, pointing out the flaws in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justification for invasion. 
Shapiro began the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/facts-the-real-history-of-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">episode</a>, released Saturday, by talking about Putin&#8217;s recent interview with Tucker Carlson, where Putin said that his reason for invading Ukraine was based on historical claims to the land. In the episode, Shapiro analyzes Putin’s claims and lines them up to the historic record.
“Putin&#8217;s claim is that Ukraine is inherently Russian territory,” Shapiro said. “That&#8217;s a claim that requires two pieces of support. First, the idea that Ukraine is historically Russian controlled and Russian populated. And second, that Ukraine today has no claim to its independence.”
Shapiro explained how a state formed in the late 9th century known as Kyivan Rus which included some of today’s Russia, today’s Belarus, and part of today’s Ukraine. This state lasted for about 300 years before it broke into a series of loose principalities.
After the Mongols destroyed the region in 1349, Poland and Lithuania partitioned the territory now known as Ukraine and the Ukrainian language began to develop. 
For the next several hundred years the area became entangled in a series of European and Russian conflicts with different parts of modern Ukraine being controlled by different powers. During this time a sense of Ukrainian nationalism began to develop, including in parts of Ukraine controlled by Russia.  
After World War I, Ukraine was divided up between Russia and Poland, which was generally how things stood until the end of World War II when it became part of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union dissolved, it became independent in 1991.
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“Those borders of Ukraine were essentially set until 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and occupied the Donbass region. So as you can see, the history of the region is pretty complicated,” Shapiro said. “A lot of moving borders, a lot of territorial claims. But Putin claims that because Ukraine&#8217;s borders have moved over time, because its territory and population was divided repeatedly, because Russia occupied some parts of Ukraine for some swaths of time, this means Ukraine has never existed.”
Shapiro noted that many Ukrainians have wished to maintain their independence despite Putin’s claims. 
“The Putin argument for the invasion of Kiev and the dissolution of Ukraine as an independent entity are not only wrong historically, they are highly likely to lead to continued bloodshed and warfare in the region,” Shapiro said.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The REAL History of Ukraine | Facts Ep. 11" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K3kKSa6Se5U?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Facts Intro Still

WATCH: Ben Shapiro Explains Historical Flaws With Putin’s Argument For Invading Ukraine In Latest ‘Facts’

Ben Shapiro

U.S.

Ukraine

Vladimir Putin

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> suffered humiliation on the global stage again this week as the U.S. is reportedly set to give up its bases in Niger and evacuate the thousand American troops deployed there.
The move upends U.S. counterterrorism efforts and security policy in the politically unstable Sahel region of Africa, which stretches across the northern central part of the continent and includes Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Eritrea.
The region is one of the most dangerous in the world and is a hotbed for multiple major Islamic terrorist groups, including ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and many more.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/us/politics/us-niger-military-withdrawal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the Biden administration is pulling the troops out in the coming weeks after the country&#8217;s democratically elected government was overthrown by its own weak military.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING &#8211; U.S. tells Niger it will withdraw 1,000 American military personnel from the West African country in the coming months. upending United States counterterrorism and security policy in the tumultuous Sahel region of Africa
— Eric Schmitt (@EricSchmittNYT) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricSchmittNYT/status/1781455128509194562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2024</a></blockquote>
The situation in Niger is part of a pattern in the region where countries are breaking ties with Western nations and are forming alliances with Russia, whose criminal paramilitary forces have been increasing their footprint in recent years, the report said.
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Russia is now providing the country with military resources and personnel, and the highly impoverished country is considering giving &#8220;Iran a possible deal on its uranium reserves.&#8221; The country has also <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/04/17/us-losing-access-its-bases-niger-heres-why-thats-big-deal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strengthened</a> economic ties with China in recent years, and with Biden being forced out of the country, China could again increase its footprint.
The country served as key strategic interest for the U.S. because its location allowed U.S. forces to conduct critical counterterrorism operations in the region.

niger

Biden Forced To Pull U.S. Forces Out Of Key African Nation That’s Turning To Russia, Iran, China

Africa

Communist China

Global Politics

Iran

Joe Biden

World

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joy-behar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joy Behar</a> claimed on Thursday that Republicans were &#8220;in bed with the Russians&#8221; and would have been referred to the House UnAmerican Activities Committee if it were still a functioning body.
Behar made the comments during a broadcast of ABC&#8217;s &#8220;The View,&#8221; where she and cohost Whoopi Goldberg complained about Republicans in response to a series of video clips showing them clashing with Democrats on Capitol Hill.
&#8220;I’m discovering that most of the folks on the other side are the snowflakes. They’re the ones that are afraid of information. They’re the ones who are afraid of history. It’s not us. It’s y’all,&#8221; Goldberg claimed.
&#8220;Why are they in the bed with the Russians?&#8221; Behar asked. &#8220;I mean, we grew up in a time when if you were pro-Russia in any way, you were hauled before the HUAC Committee and your life was ruined and you were blacklisted. Now all of a sudden these people are all about Russia. Why are Americans accepting that?&#8221;
&#8220;They call the Democrats &#8216;Commies,&#8217; they&#8217;re the Commies!&#8221; she added.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Whoopi claims Republicans &quot;have forgotten that we the people make the decisions about what goes on in this country,&quot; as if Republicans were not elected by the people. She also claims, without evidence, that the GOP wants to make women property again. <a href="https://t.co/ujN1H4Opof">pic.twitter.com/ujN1H4Opof</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1780986625394155657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Goldberg went on to argue that it was harder to get through to Republicans because &#8220;they&#8217;ve forgotten that we the people make the decisions about what goes on in this country, and every time they try to usurp that &#8230;&#8221;
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She then pivoted to talk about women&#8217;s rights, suggesting that Republicans wanted to go back to a time when women had no agency and &#8220;didn&#8217;t exist&#8221; unless they were married. &#8220;Why would you want to go back to that?&#8221; she asked.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t understand why we didn&#8217;t get angrier sooner, and I know people are angry now because I hear it,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;But why are we going backwards in a way that&#8217;s not good for the economy, it&#8217;s not good for the country?&#8221;

Watch What Happens Live – Season 12

‘They’re The Commies!’: Joy Behar Says Republicans Are ‘In Bed With The Russians’

'They're The Commies!': Joy Behar Says Republicans Are 'In Bed With The Russians'

Joy Behar

Media

Politics

The View

Whoopi Goldberg

A secret plan to undermine the U.S. and The West with an “offensive information campaign” was drawn up by Russia’s Foreign Ministry and now has been revealed.
The April 11, 2023 document uses much more harsh language regarding Russia’s relations with the West than the <a href="https://www.mid.ru/ru/detail-material-page/1860586/?lang=ru" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation</a>, approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin only 12 days before. The March document calls for “the democratization of international relations,” “sovereign equality” and states that “Russia does not consider itself an enemy of the West … and has no ill intentions toward it,” adding that Russia hoped the West would “realize the lack of any future in its confrontational policy and hegemonistic ambitions, and will accept the complicated realities of the multipolar world,”
But the April 2023 secret document utilizes harsher rhetoric, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/17/russia-foreign-policy-us-weaken/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a> reports, writing, “We need to continue adjusting our approach to relations with unfriendly states. It’s important to create a mechanism for finding the vulnerable points of their external and internal policies with the aim of developing practical steps to weaken Russia’s opponents.”
The Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/08/russia-propaganda-us-ukraine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> last week, “In an ongoing campaign that seeks to influence congressional and other political debates to stoke anti-Ukraine sentiment, Kremlin-linked political strategists and trolls have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts and comments that promote American isolationism, stir fear over the United States’ border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions &#8230;”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said that a portion of the Republican Party&#8217;s base has bought into Russian propaganda thanks to what they described as &#8220;conspiracy theory outlets&#8221; and &#8220;nighttime entertainment shows.&#8221;
In an interview with Puck News, McCaul said, &#8220;I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.&#8221;
McCaul said that the source of a lot of the propaganda has been &#8220;some more nighttime entertainment shows that seem to spin, like, I see the Russian propaganda in some of it — and it’s almost identical [to what they’re saying on Russian state television] — on our airwaves.&#8221;
&#8220;They have the same problem in Europe. I mean, Russia’s been very effective at that,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;These people that read various conspiracy theory outlets that are just not accurate, and they actually model Russian propaganda. And I have to explain to them, &#8216;You’re actually a victim of Russian propaganda, and what you’re saying, you’re spreading Russian [propaganda].&#8217; [And they respond,] &#8216;Oh, no I’m not.'&#8221;
Turner was asked about McCaul&#8217;s comments during a Sunday interview on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; with Jake Tapper, specifically if he thought McCaul was correct and if it was a big problem.
&#8220;Oh, it is absolutely true,&#8221; Turner responded. &#8220;We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, there are members of Congress today who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which, of course, it is not, Vladimir Putin having made it very clear, both publicly and to his own population, that his view is that this is a conflict of a much broader claim of Russia to Eastern Europe, including claiming all of Ukraine territory as Russia&#8217;s,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;To the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian-versus-democracy battle, which is what it is. President Xi of China, Vladimir Putin himself have identified it as such. We need to stand up for democracy. We need to make certain that we know that authoritarian regimes never stop when they start an aggression.&#8221;
<div>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-republican-committee-chair-russian-propaganda-has-infiltrated-chunk-of-gop-base">House Republican Committee Chair: &#8216;Russian Propaganda&#8217; Has Infiltrated Chunk Of GOP Base</a>
</div>

Kremlin

Secret Russian Document Reveals Plan To Target U.S. With ‘Offensive Information Campaign’

Misinformation

United States

General Christopher Cavoli, the head of U.S. European Command, warned this week that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russia&#8217;s</a> military has grown stronger and has recovered faster from its war in Ukraine than the U.S. thought was possible.
Cavoli, who is also the supreme allied commander of Europe at the Western security alliance NATO, made the remarks Wednesday during a House Armed Services hearing on National Security Challenges in Europe.
&#8220;With the help of the United States, and invaluable help from other allies and partners, Ukraine has inflicted significant damage upon the Russian military,&#8221; he said in his opening remarks. &#8220;However, Russia relies on the mass and quantity available to a large country, and despite its military’s evident deficiencies and dysfunctions, continues to pose an existential threat to Ukraine.&#8221;
Cavoli said that Russia has increased its production of long range precision munitions and has started to buy &#8220;ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and long-range drones from third countries who were previously outside this fight.&#8221;
&#8220;In fact, it is mainly only in the land forces that Russia has suffered, losing over 2,000 tanks and 315,000 soldiers wounded or dead,&#8221; he said. &#8220;However, Russia is reconstituting that force far faster than our initial estimates suggested. The army is actually now larger – by 15 percent – than it was when it invaded Ukraine. Over the past year, Russia increased its front line troop strength from 360,000 to 470,000. Russia’s army increased the upper age limit for conscription from 27 to 30, which increases the pool of available military conscripts by 2 million for years to come.&#8221;
He said that Russia is planning &#8220;an ambitious ground forces restructure&#8221; in which they want to drastically increase the size of their military and base many of the new forces &#8220;in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, as well as Karelia in the High North, opposite Finland.&#8221;
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&#8220;Perhaps most concerning, the Russian military in the past year has shown an accelerating ability to learn and adapt to battlefield challenges both tactically and technologically, and has become a learning organization that little resembles the chaotic force that invaded Ukraine two years ago,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;In sum, Russia is on track to command the largest military on the continent and a defense industrial complex capable of generating substantial amounts of ammunition and materiel in support of large scale combat operations,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia will be larger, more lethal, and angrier with the West than when it invaded. Diplomatically, Russia has used the past two years to attempt to alter the global security architecture by creating relationships that challenge the existing order.&#8221;
He added that Russia &#8220;shows no signs of stopping&#8221; and does not &#8220;intend to stop with Ukraine.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;Russia shows no signs of stopping. And nor does Russia intend to stop with Ukraine. Russia presents a chronic threat.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/PVMV1AfRjX">pic.twitter.com/PVMV1AfRjX</a>
&mdash; U.S. European Command (@US_EUCOM) <a href="https://twitter.com/US_EUCOM/status/1778396567877079103?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Senate Armed Services April 11

Top U.S. General In Europe Issues Stark Warning About Russian Military

Ukraine-Russia War

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) say that a portion of the Republican Party&#8217;s base has bought into Russian propaganda thanks to what they described as &#8220;conspiracy theory outlets&#8221; and &#8220;nighttime entertainment shows.&#8221;
In an interview last week with Puck News, McCaul said, &#8220;I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.&#8221;
&#8220;And I have to explain to them what’s at stake, why Ukraine is in our national security interest,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;By the way, you don’t like Communist China? Well, guess what? They’re aligned [with Russia], along with the Ayatollah. So when you explain it that way, they kind of start understanding it. And unlike 1939, we want to provide deterrence so that we don’t have to send anyone over, and we don’t want Article V invoked. Because the next thing the Russians will do is [attack] Moldova, Georgia, and then part of the Baltics. Or at least provoke a lot. So I just think it’s preventative.&#8221;
Later in the interview, when asked to expound upon his comments, McCaul said that the source of a lot of the propaganda has been &#8220;some more nighttime entertainment shows that seem to spin, like, I see the Russian propaganda in some of it — and it’s almost identical [to what they’re saying on Russian state television] — on our airwaves.&#8221;
&#8220;They have the same problem in Europe. I mean, Russia’s been very effective at that,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;These people that read various conspiracy theory outlets that are just not accurate, and they actually model Russian propaganda. And I have to explain to them, &#8216;You’re actually a victim of Russian propaganda, and what you’re saying, you’re spreading Russian [propaganda].&#8217; [And they respond,] &#8216;Oh, no I’m not.'&#8221;
Turner was asked about McCaul&#8217;s comments during a Sunday interview on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; with Jake Tapper, specifically if he thought McCaul was correct and if it was a big problem.
&#8220;Oh, it is absolutely true,&#8221; Turner responded. &#8220;We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, there are members of Congress today who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which, of course, it is not, Vladimir Putin having made it very clear, both publicly and to his own population, that his view is that this is a conflict of a much broader claim of Russia to Eastern Europe, including claiming all of Ukraine territory as Russia&#8217;s,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;To the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian-versus-democracy battle, which is what it is. President Xi of China, Vladimir Putin himself have identified it as such. We need to stand up for democracy. We need to make certain that we know that authoritarian regimes never stop when they start an aggression.&#8221;

GOP Speaker Meeting Oct 10

House Republican Committee Chair: ‘Russian Propaganda’ Has Infiltrated Chunk Of GOP Base

Michael McCaul

Mike Turner

The following is an edited transcript of a Daily Wire interview with Bill Whittle on his new, in-depth docuseries on the rise of the Soviet Union: &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/apollo-11-what-we-saw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What We Saw: An Empire of Terror</a>.&#8221; 
Daily Wire: Bill, you’ve now produced multiple “What We Saw” documentaries for The Daily Wire: “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/apollo-11-what-we-saw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apollo 11</a>” and “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/apollo-11-what-we-saw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Cold War</a>.” Why did you choose the rise of the Soviet Union as your next project?
Bill: Shortly after the invasion of Ukraine I received a call from Jeremy Boreing at The Daily Wire. I just finished covering a fair amount of Russia with &#8220;The Cold War&#8221; series. Given the research for &#8220;The Cold War,&#8221; and my previous readings, I&#8217;ve always been kind of morbidly fascinated with the mechanisms of the Soviet Union — fascinated and disgusted and appalled and intrigued by governments that have to terrorize their people in order to remain in power, antithetical to the American system. And no matter how bad we think things get here, there&#8217;s nothing that&#8217;s happened or is happening now in this country that even approaches this scale.
DW: Why is it important to remember Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution?
Bill: Several years after World War I, Winston Churchill said that the Germans had transmitted a “Bacillus” into Russia in the form of Lenin. I think he got that exactly right. It (Lenin) was a biological weapon. And it was designed to destroy Russia as a great power in World War I. That&#8217;s why the Germans not only allowed Lenin to travel through Germany during the height of the war, but in fact paid his expenses for many, many years afterwards.
This regime is interesting to me for two reasons: the main reason is how intellectual it was — and I have a very low opinion of intellectuals. Intellectualism is for people who think they are intelligent and are so certain of themselves and so certain of what they believe that they feel the right to enforce their theories on other people.
What fascinated me about this horrific system was the theoretical aspect of everything. There was nothing about the system that was practical. There was nothing based on common sense, experience, reason, kindness, decency — nothing. It was all based on the theory of a German philosopher named Karl Marx. His writings appealed to people looking for some sort of justice, but they also appealed to people who had any sort of envy for the people in power but didn&#8217;t want to do any work in order to achieve it.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/apollo-11-what-we-saw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: &#8220;An Empire of Terror&#8221; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
The other remarkable quality about all of the Soviet leaders is just how useless they were. Prior to finding themselves in the middle of the system, none of them had jobs. Lenin’s only job was as a failed attorney, very briefly. As a lawyer he lost, I think, 13 out of 14 cases and never really worked a day in his life. Prior to the revolution, he sat around for 16 years, sitting in cafes in safe places like Berlin and Munich and London and Zurich, sipping tea and discussing theory. 
He developed in his massive forehead this idea of how a society should work and there was no real world evidence that would change his mind. If it turned out that there was a difference between the map he had in his head and reality, then the reality had to be well, he would then go about doing whatever he had to do with the lovers of state power to beat reality into line with the theory. And this is why the Soviet state was a terror state. They never had legitimacy. 
The Bolsheviks were a minority every single time they held a so-called “election;” they were a tremendous minority. And you can’t even accuse the Nazis of that.
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DW: In &#8220;An Empire of Terror&#8221; you mention the leader of Russia’s provisional government, Alexander Kerensky. Why wasn’t he able to mount a good defense against the growing Bolshevik threat?
Bill: Someone once wrote that Lenin was “lucky with his enemies.” And that was exactly the case. I have very high regard for Alexander Kerensky’s principles and for what he wanted for the Russian people. But as an actor, Kerensky had two qualities that actors often bring to the world: First, he was spectacularly naive when it came to the real world. And second, he was tremendously vain. These two blind spots led him to believe he was in control when in fact, Lenin was ready to do everything up to and including murder when Kerensky was simply looking out the window at the daisies. He was a good man and history was kind to him but he was no match for Lenin’s ruthlessness. This is the thing about the Soviet state — it&#8217;s designed in such a way that you have to keep the population under control through terror. The people that end up running the machine, by definition, become the most ruthless and terroristic of the bunch.
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DW: What were some of the challenges you faced making this new series?
Bill: All roads lead back to Lenin. When I began to realize the magnitude of the crimes that these people committed, I began to feel a tremendous sense of historical responsibility to the people who disappeared without photographs.
800,000 people were killed in one of the gulags called Kolyma. 800,000 people. That makes it second on the leaderboard from hell: Auschwitz is first, Kolyma is second, and Treblinka is third. So, more than anything, I wanted every single episode to have as many photographs of the faces of individual people. And most importantly, we can never use the same face twice. I just wanted faces because, as Stalin said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.”
So my biggest challenge was to find a way to try and personalize this. Make people understand that this could just as easily be you or your family, and then try to give them some idea of what the size of 20 million people looks like.
For example, about 100,000 people attend the Super Bowl every year. Imagine that everybody had to exit the stadium, single file, through one gate and you had to stand there and look at every single face as they left the stadium. When you were finished, hours and hours and hours later, you would have only 199 more Super Bowls to look at before you reached 20 million and saw the face of every person killed by this “idea.” And if it&#8217;s killed that many people, maybe it&#8217;s not such a good idea.
DW: Did you come across any surprises in your research?
Bill: The most astonishing story in &#8220;An Empire of Terror&#8221; is a true story. I&#8217;ve worked exceedingly hard and long to make sure that not only everything I wrote was true, but that I also had the receipts for everything.
But the most astonishing coincidence in the entire series is this: Lenin and Stalin were both known to be extremely paranoid, and very, very private people. They kept a very tight circle and they were constantly on the lookout for assassination and betrayal. So when Lenin finally arrives in Moscow from St. Petersburg, and eventually gets himself a little mansion, he is living with his sisters, his wife, and two secretaries. He also has four bodyguards and a private cook named Comrade Spiridon.
Comrade Spiridon went from being the only person that lived with Lenin, who was not related to him, to becoming the only person who lived with Stalin. And he lived with Stalin for the duration of Stalin&#8217;s reign in the Soviet Union. The only person who shared the insight into the entire thing — from the rise from agrarian peasantry to nuclear superpower. Comrade Spiridon was the only man who was on the inside. He would serve dinner to people who were the heads of the secret police one night and then the next night they were gone. They&#8217;d been killed and replaced. The genuinely remarkable part of this story is that Comrade Spiridon’s last name was Putin. This was Vladimir Putin&#8217;s grandfather.
Vladimir Putin learned about the Soviet Union on his grandfather&#8217;s knee. And so the perspective Vladimir Putin received of the Soviet Union was the most elevated inside perspective that was possible to obtain. No one else in the entire history of the Soviet Union, ever, got that close to both of those men. And to think that it was possible for Vladimir Putin to turn out any other way is insane.
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DW: In light of the upcoming presidential election, do you see elements of communism at play in our politics?
Bill: Well, the first thing I think that stands out about the upcoming election is the lawfare that&#8217;s being conducted against Donald Trump. If these people who are committing these atrocities against him genuinely believed in democracy, if they genuinely believed that their democratic values were better than Republican values, they wouldn&#8217;t be trying to lock up Trump. They&#8217;d be doing everything they could to get him to keep talking. If you feel like your only way to win an election is by having your opponent put in jail, you are well on your way to this kind of totalitarian empire of terror. That&#8217;s number one.
Number two is cancel culture. The Left is using cancel culture as a strong-arm tactic to get people to shut up. And we all know the way it works: “You&#8217;re racist” or “we&#8217;re going to call your boss” or “we&#8217;re going to boycott your product” or whatever. But the point is that the only people who feel they need to shut up the opposition are people who know that their opposition has a better argument. And if they don&#8217;t shut them up, they&#8217;re going to win. One of my favorite sayings is that liberals want conservatives to shut up and conservatives want liberals to keep talking. And that&#8217;s the essence of the difference between these two parties.
I have seen a concerted effort in America over the last several years to silence people. This whole idea of cancel culture is as close as we&#8217;ve come so far to taking people out to the Gulag and shooting them in the back of the head. But there are people who do want other people silenced. And the one thing I did realize is that there comes a tipping point when too many people are too quiet for too long. The social proof is to be quiet. The longer everybody is quiet, the harder it is to speak up. Eventually, it will lead to a situation like the Soviet Union, or the Nazi state. With &#8220;An Empire of Terror,&#8221; I was determined to do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.

EOT – Key Art – 16×9 (1)

‘An Empire Of Terror’: Bill Whittle On The Rise Of The Soviet Union

Bill Whittle

Communism

Documentaries

Josef Stalin

Opinion

Readers Pass

Soviet Union

Vladimir Lenin

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged this week that Islamic terrorists were behind the massacre at a concert hall that killed well over a hundred people.
Four terrorists armed with fully automatic weapons and explosives stormed the Crocus City concert hall in Moscow on Friday and opened fire on a sold out concert while simultaneously setting the building on fire.
At least 139 people have died from the attack and dozens more injured, according to figures released by the Russian government.
&#8220;We know that the crime was perpetrated by radical Islamists,&#8221; Putin said in an address on Monday.
The 71-year-old then suggested that Ukraine was somehow linked to the attack and that ISIS-K could not have carried out the attack alone because the &#8220;organization banned in Russia.&#8221;
Officials have warned that Putin will try to blame Ukraine for the attack to justify escalating his war against Ukraine.
The Russian government claimed that the terrorists tried to escape to Ukraine and suggested that there was an escape route opened for them by people inside the country — claims that have not been corroborated.
&#8220;It is also necessary to answer the question why the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine after committing a crime, who was waiting for them there?&#8221; Putin asked. &#8220;It is clear that those who support the Kyiv regime do not want to be accomplices of terror and sponsors of terrorism, but there are really a lot of questions.&#8221;
“We know by whose hands this atrocity was committed against Russia and its people, and we are interested in who the instigator is,” Putin added.
The intelligence services for the U.S. and France have both pointed to ISIS-K as the sole entity responsible for the attacks. ISIS-K took credit for the attack just a few hours after it happened.
The U.S. issued a public warning more than two weeks ago urging Americans in Moscow to avoid large crowds, especially concerts.
The U.S. government also reached out to the Russian government and warned them that ISIS-K was planning the attack.
“We gave them that private warning consistent with our duty to warn &#8230; when we see or when we gather intelligence of terrorist attacks or potential terrorist attacks,” a U.S. official said on Monday.
Russia failed to stop the attack.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-secretly-warned-iran-that-isis-was-plotting-terror-attack-iran-didnt-listen-and-dozens-were-murdered-report">U.S. Secretly Warned Iran That ISIS Was Plotting Terror Attack; Iran Didn’t Listen And Dozens Were Murdered</a>

RUSSIA-MOSCOW-CONCERT VENUE-SHOOTING

Putin Acknowledges Islamic Terrorists Carried Out Attack In Moscow

ISIS-K

Terrorism

According to <a href="https://tass.ru/politika/20348589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TASS,</a> the Russian state-owned news agency, Russia is objecting to what it calls the United States’ &#8220;illegal attempts to unilaterally change the external boundaries of the continental shelf&#8221; in regions of the oceans around the world.
In advance of the council of the International Seabed Authority meetings between March 18 and March 29, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing the U.S. of moving its boundaries.
“During the session, the Russian delegation announced its non-recognition of the outer boundaries of the continental shelf declared unilaterally by the United States in December 2023 beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the width of the territorial sea is measured in seven regions of the World Ocean,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “Earlier, the American side was sent a corresponding demarche via a bilateral line.”
But it was Russia that claimed in December it wanted an extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. During the 13th International Arctic Forum, Russian Navy chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov stated, &#8220;There is need for a full-scale expansion into the continental shelf beyond the borders of the 200-mile exclusive economic zone.”
As far back as 2001, Russia asked the U.N. to let them expand the  Arctic Seabed; the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) rejected the submission. &#8220;In 2015, Moscow re-submitted an updated claim&#8221; and did so again in March 2021. “In all, Russia’s continental shelf as proposed would encompass almost 70 percent of the Arctic Ocean, overlapping EEZ’s of other Arctic countries such as Denmark and Canada,” The Maritime Executive <a href="https://maritime-executive.com/article/russia-insists-on-an-expanded-boundary-in-the-arctic-ocean" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
The 1982 Law of the Sea Convention issued a legal framework for the use and protection of the sea, stating guidelines with respect to states&#8217; navigational rights, maritime zones and boundaries, and economic jurisdiction. The United States has never ratified the convention. In 2012, when 34 senators opposed ratification, Sen. Rob Portman, (R-OH), <a href="https://www.heritage.org/global-politics/commentary/7-reasons-us-should-not-ratify-un-convention-the-law-the-sea" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-external="yes">stated</a>:
<blockquote>
We simply are not persuaded that decisions by the International Seabed Authority and international tribunals empowered by this treaty will be more favorable to U.S. interests than bilateral negotiations, voluntary arbitration, and other traditional means of resolving maritime issues. No international the seas, and we are confident that our nation will continue to protect its navigational freedom, valid territorial claims, and other maritime rights. On balance, we believe that the treaty’s litigation exposure and impositions on U.S. sovereignty outweigh its potential benefits.
</blockquote>
The Heritage Foundation <a href="https://www.heritage.org/global-politics/commentary/7-reasons-us-should-not-ratify-un-convention-the-law-the-sea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outlined its opposition</a> to ratification by noting “U.S. membership in the convention would not confer any maritime right or freedom that the U.S. does not already enjoy. &#8230; U.S. accession would penalize U.S. companies by subjecting them to the whims of an unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy and would force them to pay excessive fees to the International Seabed Authority for redistribution to developing countries. &#8230; it will be required to transfer a large portion of royalties generated on the U.S. extended continental shelf to the International Seabed Authority, and, through the authority, to corrupt and undemocratic nations. &#8230; it will be exposed to climate change lawsuits and other environmental actions brought against it by other members of the convention.&#8221;
Former President Barack Obama wanted the U.S. to join the convention, <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/law-of-sea-convention#:~:text=The%201982%20Law%20of%20the,both%20natural%20and%20cultural%20resources." target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> in 2013, “Only by joining the convention can we maximize legal certainty and best secure international recognition of our sovereign rights with respect to the U.S. extended continental shelf in the Arctic and elsewhere.”

King Crab Fishing In Kirkenes

Russia Accuses U.S. Of Illegally Expanding Sea Boundaries. But Russia Has Been Trying To Push Boundaries For Decades.

Arctic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

Pacific Ocean

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) said over the weekend that the threat of terrorist attacks from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/isis-k" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ISIS-K</a> is growing after the Islamic terrorist group carried out a large attack late last week in Russia.
The remarks from McCaul, which he made on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face The Nation,&#8221; come as Russian officials continued to search for bodies in a concert hall outside Moscow where four heavily armed gunmen opened fire before setting the building on fire.
&#8220;This attack in Moscow was carried out by ISIS-K, a group that typically emanates out of Afghanistan,&#8221; said host Margaret Brennan. &#8220;We know the U.S. had advanced warning. From what you know, is there an ongoing threat in Eurasia, and are U.S. interests a target?&#8221;
&#8220;Yes, I believe so,&#8221; McCaul responded. &#8220;I think that the CENTCOM Commander, General Kurilla, just testified this week before Congress that, within six months, that ISIS-K would have the capability to operate outside of Afghanistan, to do external operations. And it only took six days before they hit Moscow, or outside of Moscow.&#8221;
&#8220;And I think Europe is of concern,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And it&#8217;s sort of like we&#8217;re going back to that old playbook where history repeats itself. And that&#8217;s why the fall of Afghanistan, the way it was done, and the way we left it with no ISR capability, that intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, puts us in danger, where this is a new battleground training ground for ISIS.&#8221;
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WATCH:
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China Task Force Presser

Michael McCaul: ISIS-K Terror Threat Growing After Moscow Attack

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed revenge on Saturday for the Islamic terrorist attack that unfolded in Moscow on Friday night, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-moscow-krasnogorsk-gunmen-concert-hall-fire-97e321c3c477ece36d4fb32f50fa0e8a">leaving</a> hundreds of people dead or injured.
Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, claimed credit for the terrorist attack that left at least 133 dead and wounded more than 140 people who were either shot, burned, or inhaled thick black smoke.
Putin said all four terrorists who carried out the were arrested by Russia authorities, and he appeared to try to lay the groundwork to blame Ukraine for the attack.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING:
Putin delivers speech to the nation, accusing Ukraine aiding the terrorists.
Putin says Russia has information indicating that Ukraine had been preparing a part of the border, a so-called “window” through which the terrorists could leave Russia and enter Ukraine. <a href="https://t.co/xwP5wx1onx">pic.twitter.com/xwP5wx1onx</a>
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) <a href="https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1771524073903763526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“They tried to escape, they were moving towards the border with Ukraine,” Putin claimed, according to a translation of his speech by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “And we have data that suggests that they were about to be moved towards the territory of Ukraine by those in Ukraine.”
Putin did not directly blame Ukraine for the attack, and he did not mention the fact that the U.S. issued a public warning two weeks ago that terrorists were planning on targeting large crowds of people, specifically concerts, in Moscow. The U.S. also reportedly reached out to Russian officials and warned them directly about the ISIS-K plot.
Pro-Russia conspiracy theorists have claimed that the warning from the U.S. was proof that the U.S. was involved in planning the attacks, even though the U.S. has a history of alerting foreign governments — including adversaries — of potential terrorist attacks.
Putin said that the entire Russian government was focused on finding everyone who assisted the terrorists, including those who provided transportation, gave them weapons, etc.
He compared the terrorists to Nazis who murdered Russians in World War II and said that everyone who is found responsible “will pay.”
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“We will identify everyone who stands behind these terrorists and they will pay,” he said. “These terrorists … there is only one future for them — retribution and oblivion.”
Putin called on the international community to stand with Russia in helping it combat international Islamic terrorism.

RUSSIA-ATTACK-SHOOTING

Putin Responds To Islamic Terror Attack That Killed 133+ People

Conflicts

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