Tucker Carlson interviews Vladimir Putin in Moscow

AMERICAN journalist Tucker Carlson is reportedly airing his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin today (Thu 8 Feb). Let's hope Mr Carlson clarifies that his references to 'English speaking countries' are confined to the US. People in other English speaking countries are better informed than the average American. His video intro, and the interview, can be viewed at Tucker Carlson Network https://tuckercarlson.com/why-were-in-moscow/

Why I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/hqvXUZqvHX

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 6, 2024

A Feb 6 post at X by Tucker Carlson @TuckerCarlson, copied here above, simply says “Why I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin”. The post contains a video of Mr Carlson explaining why he is interviewing President Putin. It is date stamped 6:44 PM · Feb 6, 2024 and so far (15:29 GMT) has 99.2M Views.

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From The Independent - Thu, 8 February 2024, 3:17 pm GMT

How to watch Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin

The interview will be broadcast on Mr Carlson’s website at 6pm ET (11pm GMT) and also on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/watch-tucker-carlson-interview-putin-144458540.html

Photo: Carlson in 2023. Courtesy Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_Carlson

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UPDATE Fri 9 Feb 2024:

Report from BBC News

By Sarah Rainsford

Eastern Europe correspondent

Dated Friday, 9 February 2024 - excerpts:

Tucker Carlson: Putin takes charge as TV host gives free rein to Kremlin

[…] Instead of pushing the Russian leader - indicted as a suspected war criminal - on his full-scale invasion of Ukraine and challenging his false assertions, Carlson swerved off-piste to talk God and the Russian soul. The American had touted his sit-down with Putin as a triumph for free speech, asserting that he was heading where no Western news outlets dared to tread. That's untrue. The Kremlin is simply highly selective about who Putin speaks to. It will almost always choose someone who knows neither the country nor the language and so struggles ever to challenge him. Carlson's claim also ignored the fact that Russia's president has spent the past two decades in power systematically stamping out free speech at home. Most recently, he made it a crime to tell the truth about Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Multiple critics - Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin and many more - are in prison right now for doing just that.…

Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68248740

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'There's a 1939 feel to the world right now'. Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: We (UK, Europe, NATO) could be at war within the next sixty months. Here are some snippets from a few news reports by British journalists published towards the end of last month.

• 'There's a 1939 feel to the world right now'. 

• 'We are in a pre-war era’. 

• Russia could attack NATO 'within five years', German defence minister warns. 

• NATO now sees its chief adversaries as Russia and terrorist organisations. 

• World War Three could be on the cards if global conflicts continue to escalate.

• British citizens should be "trained and equipped" to fight in a potential war with Russia - as Moscow plans on "defeating our system and way of life", the head of the British Army has said. UK General Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing Chief of the General Staff (CGS), said increasing army numbers in preparation for a potential conflict would need to be a "whole-of-nation undertaking". The comments, first reported by the UK's Daily Telegraph, are being read as a warning that British men and women should be ready for a call-up to the armed forces if NATO goes to war with Vladimir Putin.

• It comes after UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in a speech last week that we are "moving from a post-war to pre-war world" and the UK must ensure its "entire defence ecosystem is ready" to defend its homeland.

• Tobias Ellwood, a former UK defence minister who has served alongside Sir Patrick, said the military chief should be "listened to carefully"."What's coming over the horizon should shock us. It should worry us and we are not prepared," he told Sky News. The MP for Bournemouth East said that following decades of post-Cold War peace, there was a growing sense authoritarian states could "exploit our timidity, perhaps our reluctance to really put fires out" - pointing to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "So Patrick Sanders is saying prepare for what's coming over the horizon - there is a 1939 feel to the world right now," he said.

Source: Sky News & Agencies Wed 24 Jan 2024

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HERE is a reminder of wondrous natural beauty in our fragile world, compared to evil ugliness of man-made wars and man's inhumanity to man.

From BBC News UK
Published Wednesday, 7 February 2024 - here is a copy in full:

Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award winner

IMAGE SOURCE,

NIMA SARIKHANI/WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

A stunning image of a young polar bear drifting to sleep on an iceberg, by British amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani, has won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award.

"Sarikhani's breathtaking and poignant image allows us to see the beauty and fragility of our planet," Natural History Museum director Dr Douglas Gurr said.

"His thought-provoking image is a stark reminder of the integral bond between an animal and its habitat and serves as a visual representation of the detrimental impacts of climate warming and habitat loss."

Sarikhani made the image after three days searching for polar bears through thick fog off Norway's Svalbard archipelago.

Wildlife photography and nature fans from around the world were invited to vote from a short list of 25 images.

Four other outstanding finalists were "highly commended".

The Happy Turtle, by Tzahi Finkelstein

IMAGE SOURCE,

TZAHI FINKELSTEIN/WPY

Tzahi Finkelstein was in his hide, photographing shore birds, when he spotted a Balkan pond turtle walking in the shallow water.

The dragonfly unexpectedly landed on the turtle's nose.

Starling Murmuration, by Daniel Dencescu

IMAGE SOURCE,

DANIEL DENCESCU/WPY

Daniel Dencescu spent hours following the starlings around the city and suburbs of Rome, Italy.

Finally, on the cloudless winter's day, the flock, swirled into the shape of a giant bird.

Shared Parenting, by Mark Boyd

IMAGE SOURCE,

MARK BOYD/WPY

Two lionesses had gone hunting, leaving the pride's five cubs hidden overnight in dense bushes, in Kenya's Maasai Mara Mara.

Returning from their unsuccessful mission, they called the cubs out on to the open grassland and began grooming.

Aurora Jellies, by Audun Rikardsen

IMAGE SOURCE,

AUDUN RIKARDSEN/WPY

Sheltering his equipment in a self-made waterproof housing, Audun Rikardsen used his own system for adjusting the focus and aperture during a single exposure, as moon jellyfish swarmed in the cool autumnal waters of a fjord outside Tromsø, in northern Norway, illuminated by the aurora borealis.

The five images will be displayed online and at London's Natural History Museum until 30 June.

All photos copyright Wildlife Photographer of the Year

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-68215592

END

President Putin visits UAE & Saudi Arabia Dec 6 before meeting next day in Russia with Iran president

Report from BBC News

By George Wright

Dated Wednesday, 06 December 2023 - excerpts:

Russian President Putin lands in UAE

Image Source, Reuters. Image caption, 

Vladimir Putin was welcomed by the UAE's foreign minister

Mr Putin told UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan that "our relations have reached unprecedented levels".

Trade and oil will be on the agenda in the UAE, which a Kremlin statement said is "Russia's main economic partner in the Arab world".

The Russian president is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia later on Wednesday to meet with the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The two leaders will "consider ways to promote de-escalation" in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Kremlin said.

Conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Sudan will also be discussed in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Russian presidential assistant Yuri Ushakov stated.

Kremlin officials have also announced that Mr Putin will meet with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi on Thursday to discuss the war in Gaza.

Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67636648

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Related report 

From Oil Price dot com

By RFE/RL staff 
Dated Wed, 05 Dec 2023, 10:00 AM CST - here is a copy in full:

Putin Makes Rare Trip Abroad With Visit To Saudi Arabia, UAE

• In a rare trip abroad as an international arrest warrant hangs over him, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on December 6.

• The Kremlin said on December 5 that bilateral relations and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be discussed during the meetings.

• Following the one-day trip, Putin will return home and meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the Kremlin said.

In a rare trip abroad as an international arrest warrant hangs over him, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on December 6 before heading home for a meeting with Iran's president the next day.

The Kremlin said on December 5 that bilateral relations and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be discussed during the meetings, while issues concerning the oil market, "are also always on the agenda."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in March issued arrest warrants for Putin and his children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for being responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia -- a war crime under international legislation.

While Putin did not make many foreign trips before the warrant was issued, he has curtailed his travel even more since.

He did not attend the G20 summit in India in September, and has limited his recent trips to countries such as China and states of the former Soviet Union.

With the warrant, Putin became the third serving head of state to be targeted in an arrest warrant from the ICC, the world's permanent war crimes tribunal, along with Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Libya's Muammar Qaddafi.

The Kremlin did not give details of Putin's agenda, but the online news outlet Shot, which first reported the trip, quoted Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov as saying the Russian leader would travel first to the U.A.E. before heading on to Saudi Arabia, where talks would include a meeting with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.

Putin and the prince have developed close ties over the years as they worked to form a group of leading oil producers, now known as OPEC+, in late 2016. The group has worked to support the price of oil, and last week announced voluntary supply cuts.

Following the one-day trip, Putin will return home and meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the Kremlin said.

Putin visited Iran in July 2022, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Tehran in October.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Iran has widely been accused of delivering cheap but effective kamikaze drones to Moscow.

While Iran denies the allegations, saying it only sold drones to Moscow before the war started, U.S. officials have repeatedly accused Tehran of supplying Shahed-136 Iranian drones that Russia has used to destroy civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. There has been evidence of Iranian drones rebranded as Russian Geran-2s being used on the battlefield.

And as the two countries have increased military-technical cooperation, Iran's Defense Ministry has routinely showcased its ballistic, cruise, anti-tank, and air-defense missile systems to Russian officials.

This has raised fears Moscow and Tehran could try to expand their existing arms dealing to include more advanced weaponry, know-how, and technology that could boost both Russia's war effort in Ukraine and Iran's ballistic-missile and drone programs.

By RF/ERL

View original:

https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Putin-Makes-Rare-Trip-Abroad-With-Visit-To-Saudi-Arabia-UAE.html

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