Russia and Ukraine exchange hundreds of POWs in UAE-brokered deal
Russia and Ukraine said Wednesday that they had swapped hundreds of captive soldiers, their first publicly announced prisoner of war exchange in almost five months.
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The two sides have carried out several rounds of exchanges throughout Moscow's 22-month long invasion, but the process stalled in the latter half of last year.
In almost simultaneous statements Wednesday, the Russian defence ministry and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced they had received over 200 soldiers each.
"More than 200 of our soldiers and civilians have been returned from Russian captivity," Zelensky said on Telegram, posting a video of uniformed men celebrating.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said 230 Ukrainian soldiers had been released in total, marking what he said was the 49th exchange between the two sides.
Moscow's defence ministry said 248 of its soldiers had been returned in a deal that came about after "complex" negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Neither side discloses how many prisoners are in their custody.
Among the Ukrainian soldiers released were 66 from the city of Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces in May 2022, an official who took part in the negotiations told AFP.
Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers who fought in Mariupol have been tried by Russia for war crimes, in court proceedings denounced by Ukraine and rights groups as illegal.
(AFP)
Swedish MEP slams antisemitic accusations
against Israel by Irish MEP as ‘bats**t crazy’
Swedish MEP Sara Skytteda couldn’t have said it any better. In an increasingly woke world, even rules of decency don’t matter. The personal decorum of Ireland’s MEP Mick Wallace in parliament further adds to the impression that he is indeed “bat s*** crazy.”
Wallace then proceeds to parrot Palestinian/Hamas talking points in calling Israel an “apartheid state” with no evidence. Arabs serve in Knesset; there are currently 10 Arab members. This would not be permitted under an apartheid regime.
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Germany: Leftist ruling party panics over populist AfD’s surge in polls, seeks to ban it
Back in June, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party secured its first district council election win, despite the united stance of the other major parties against it. This victory sent shockwaves through the globalist establishment in Germany and signaled that a battle was to come. The AfD has been winning that battle, and causing panic among establishment globalists. In Pirna, Saxony in mid-December, in another major, historic victory, the AfD won its first mayoral election. By that time, its globalist opponents were foaming at the mouth trying to figure a way to end their own cycle of defeat, which has been brought on by their own failure in leadership.
The AfD is “currently predicted to win the state elections in Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia; and be on its way to state premiership.”
The AfD victory and its soaring popularity have been driven by frustration with open-door migration and other globalist policies, such as the extreme green agenda. Germans are also fed up with the nation’s ruined economy, which stems from bad economic policies. The people have had enough. And so now SPD leader Saskia Esken claims that “the people are shaken up” and that the AfD should be banned. It is a desperate Esken that’s shaken up.
The AfD’s globalist opponents — including the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — are working overtime to brand the AfD as “extreme” and have it banned altogether.
Tarring legitimate opponents with unsubstantiated smears and then proceeding to ban them outright is straight from the communist playbook. It is a longstanding and predictable modus operandi of the left. However, given the growing support for the AfD, German globalists have a fight on their hands. AfD’s membership has grown sharply from 29,296 members at the end of 2022 to a current membership of 40,131.
AfD is not only branded by the ruling SPD as “extremist,” but also “Islamophobic.” The party “has been calling for a cut in aid and funding support for Palestinians since the October 7 Hamas attacks” and even “submitted parliamentary proposals to halt financial donations to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which were rejected.”
Governing German Party Suggests Banning Populist Opposition AfD
by Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart, January 3, 2024:
The leader of the left-wing Social Democrat Party (SPD) of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has suggested banning the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party amid the right-wing populist party’s surge in the polls.
SPD leader Saskia Esken said this week that an outright ban of the AfD should not be off the table to protect democracy, claiming that the party uses “every topic to incite people” which she said is “clearly anti-democratic”.
“Such a party ban is rightly subject to high hurdles. But I am convinced that we should keep reviewing it,” Esken told the German dpa news agency. “It is important that we talk about banning the AfD and that voters are shaken up.”
The left-wing leader’s comments come as the AfD has overtaken her party — which also happens to be the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz — in the polls, with the AfD becoming the most-supported single party in the country and only lags behind the combination of the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), which given their strong partnership are typically counted in the polls together…
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