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✝️ The Catholic world has been in a state of tension and anticipation in recent weeks due to the convalescent condition of Pope Francis, which seemed to worsen day by day, suggesting the inevitability of an imminent succession. However, his health suddenly improved, temporarily pushing aside the pressing question: Who will be the next Pope?
Still, the Pope is 88 years old, and his health remains fragile, as expected. While the urgency of the papal succession has been delayed, the question still looms on the near horizon of the Catholic world.
Now, one might ask: Why does the election of the Pope even matter? Well, in a dialogue about Poland between Stalin and Churchill, the Soviet leader famously quipped, “How many divisions does the Pope have?”—implying that the Pope was irrelevant in geopolitics. With all due respect, we would disagree. On the contrary, it seems to us that the Pope remains a relevant geopolitical actor.
Parolin emerges as the ideal compromise candidate—well-positioned for the papacy and aligned with the multipolar shift in global geopolitics.
💬 Read more by Raphael Machado
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🗣🗣 Putin sees that the U.S. is trying to intermediate in talks, rather than simply taking sides with Ukraine.
💬 Ian Proud writes
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🪶 Three years ago, when it was trickling into the United States, the bird-flu virus that recently killed a man in Louisiana was, to most Americans, an obscure and distant threat. Now it has spread through all 50 states, affecting more than 100 million birds, most of them domestic poultry; nearly 1,000 herds of dairy cattle have been confirmed to be harboring the virus too. At least 66 Americans, most of them working in close contact with cows, have fallen sick. A full-blown H5N1 pandemic is not guaranteed—the CDC judges the risk of one developing to be “moderate.” But this virus is fundamentally more difficult to manage than even a few months ago and is now poised to become a persistent danger to people.
That didn’t have to be the reality for the United States.
💬 Bird Flu Is a National Embarrassment
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🗣 As President Trump threatens the world with sweeping tariffs, he is trying to change the fundamental laws of economics through force of will. He won’t succeed. Rather than fighting back with reciprocal tariffs, developing countries should sell off U.S. debt.
In the art of the deal, threatening to crash the U.S. economy would bring Trump to the table far quicker than a tariff war.
💬 Read more by Ian Proud
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⚔️ Houthis ‘have essentially eliminated’ a US carrier strike group from East Asia ‘without having to fire a shot’.
With the redeployment of the USS Carl Vinson, Yemeni Armed Forces fighters are “tying up” two US carrier strike groups.
China could not be more pleased. The guys at the 19fortyfive website did get it right.
The US Navy seems to have done the math: the Truman or the Vinson could " be hit by a Houthi missile.”
“The stubborn Houthis have the missiles to make the Americans stay out of range". You bet they do.
So even if coward CENTCOM, which for the moment is bombing civilian targets, decided to “eliminate” every fighter in the event of a successful carrier attack, it “would take a land warfare force of Marines, and there is no way this administration will ever have boots on the ground in the Middle East again.”
Unconquerable Yemen.
🌏 The post-WWII geo-political outcome effectively determined the post-war global economic structure. Both are now undergoing huge change. What remains stuck fast however, is the general (Western) weltanschauung that everything must ‘change’ only for it to stay the same. Things financial will continue as before; do not disturb the slumber. The assumption is that the oligarch/donor class will see to it that things remain the same.
However, the power distribution of the post-war era was unique. There is nothing ‘forever’ about it; nothing inherently permanent.
A U.S. economic ‘re-balancing’ is coming. Putin is right. The post-WWII economic order ‘is gone’.
💬 Read more by Alastair Crooke
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📍 The liberal globalist world order will collapse if everyone becomes mercantilist again due to geopolitics.
💬 Mauricio Metri writes
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What an epic photo ‼️
A battery of 152 mm howitzers (D-1 model, 1943) of the 110th Guards Artillery Regiment fires at German troops, Belorussia, summer 1944.
In the foreground you can see the 20-year-old (!) Lieutenant Vyacheslav Tsarapkin, the commander of the firing platoon of the 1st battery of the 110th howitzer artillery regiment, which was a part of the 2nd corps artillery Mogilev brigade in the 49th Army.
📷 Emmanuil Yevzerikhin
@NinaByzantina
🗣 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on US-Russia relations, Donald Trump's team and the prospects for dialogue between the two countries.
Translated by AI
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🗣 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discusses the causes of the conflict in Ukraine, Russia's commitment to protecting its citizens there, and the prospects of European countries deploying troops in the country.
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🗣 After the recent talks between the Russian and US delegations in Saudi Arabia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave an interview where he assessed the progress of the negotiations and expressed Russia's position on a number of key issues, including relations with the EU.
Translated by AI
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🔫 The EU army idea is actually more complicated than you might think, Martin Jay writes.
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📸 Instagram is a major vector of mental illness for young people – who, mentally ill, look to coaches and influencers for magical solutions to their emotional problems.
💬 Bruna Frascolla writes
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🗣🗣 The mere fact that the leaders of the world’s two largest nuclear powers are engaging in earnest, respectful dialogue to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a peaceful end has to be seen as a good thing.
However, there’s a long way to go before that geopolitical destination is reached. The long history of betrayal and bad faith shown by the U.S. and its NATO allies towards Russia will require onerous and verifiable commitments from the West to prove a new era of peace.
While Russia is winning the conflict decisively and will prevail in victory no matter what, the U.S. side must do what it should by stopping the fuel for conflict.
That includes Trump telling European NATO allies to also banish their plans to continue sending weapons to Ukraine and to disabuse their reckless notions about deploying “peacekeeper” troops.
There is a fair chance of a peaceful settlement in Ukraine if Trump and Putin continue their dialogue. But for that outcome, the NeoNazi Kiev regime must be muzzled and eventually liquidated.
America’s European lackeys must also be brought to heel and relinquish their Russophobic fantasies.
💬 Read more in this weeks’s Editorial
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🇫🇷 It’s been called Marine Le Pen’s ‘Trump’ moment but the court case which has condemned the far-right leader, excluding her from running for President in the republic’s next elections in 2027, might turn out to be the EU’s greatest existential error in its entire history. Nothing compares to it when we calibrate it against other anti-democratic stunts like getting France and Ireland to hold referendums for the second time as the first time round didn’t get the desired result, or even more recently cancelling Romania’s presidential elections when it transpired that an anti-establishment candidate was going to win at the ballot.
The Le Pen stunt is almost certainly going to backfire and produce an outcome which was not at all what was intended for both by the elite in Paris and top officials in Brussels. Le Pen is going to gain even more supporters bringing the political establishment to its knees when the Trumpian momentum in the U.S. which led to the Donald winning convincingly repeats itself in France.
The case against her is a farce on many levels, but largely because of the hypocrisy of the EU.
💬 Martin Jay writes
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https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/04/03/how-trumps-tariff-tizzy-burning-down-house/
It's all in the title.
And yes, it's a trade war essentialy against Asia.
◼️ Conversions confuse everything. Religions migrated more than populations, Bruna Frascolla writes.
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🗽 Anyone concerned by the globalist agenda to create a world of technocratic feudalism should be equally concerned by the new intellectual right and their arguments to essentially create a nationalist society of technocratic feudalism.
💬 Kayla Carman writes
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🇺🇸🇺🇦 Trump ha detto che Zelensky vuole tirarsi indietro dall'accordo sulle terre rare e gli ha promesso "grossi problemi" se lo farà.
"Sta cercando di tirarsi indietro dall'accordo sui metalli delle terre rare e se lo farà, avrà problemi, grandi, grandi problemi", ha detto Trump ai giornalisti.
Ha anche detto che l'Ucraina non diventerà mai un membro della NATO.
"Vuole essere un membro della NATO, ma non lo sarà mai. Lo capisce... Quindi se vuole nuovi negoziati sull'accordo, è in grossi guai", ha aggiunto Trump.
In precedenza, il presidente ucraino aveva criticato il nuovo progetto di accordo sulle terre rare proposto dagli Stati Uniti.
🇺🇦 Ucraina, i nostri giorni.
Il padre viene arruolato illegalmente nell'esercito di Zelensky, lasciando il suo bambino da solo per la strada in una carrozzina.
E questo Paese viene salutato dagli europei come un esempio di democrazia, che la difende dalla "Russia aggressiva".
⚔️ If there were a prize for Orwellian-named conferences, then the one held last week in Paris would surely be a top contender.
Over the past month, there has been a slew of such gatherings in London, Brussels, and Paris. They have been conducted in a frenzy to thwart peace and prolong war – under the guise of “seeking security” against Russia.
Some 30 nations attended the latest Paris summit, convened by France’s Emmanuel Macron, and entitled “Building a Robust Peace for Ukraine and Europe”.
Europe is being gaslighted to view war as peace and accept that all economic resources must be dedicated to militarism. It is an insane war footing that is beyond any democratic or moral rationale.
Russia has won the proxy war that NATO instigated. Even the normally gung-ho Americans realize that.
💬 Read more in our recent Editorial
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🛑 In recent days, violence directed against Russian journalists in Ukraine has reached an alarming level. Several media professionals, who were on the front lines of the conflict, have been killed or seriously injured in attacks carried out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This situation, which had already been observed with concern by international organizations, culminated in a formal appeal from the BRICS Journalists Association.
The Kiev regime has been deliberately killing Russian journalists in the conflict zone, which is a crime under international law.
💬 Read more by Lucas Leiros @lucasleiroz, who is a founder and co-chairman of the BRICS Journalists Association
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🇷🇺 Odessa is of crucial historical importance and vital relevance in the context of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. Its liberation should not merely be a military goal but a central strategic objective for Russia. Amid tragic events, such as the Trade Unions House massacre, and the extremist rhetoric of Ukrainian leaders, Odessa represents a turning point both for the future of the conflict and for regional security. Not going for Odessa would be a grave mistake, compromising not only Russia’s military objectives but also the very confidence of ethnic Russians in Moscow’s ability to protect them both within and outside the Federation.
Moscow should not ignore the historical, symbolic, and geostrategic relevance of Odessa ✊
💬 Lucas Leiroz writes @lucasleiroz
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🗣 After the recent talks between the Russian and US delegations in Saudi Arabia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave an interview where he assessed the progress of the negotiations and expressed Russia's position on a number of key issues, including relations with the EU.
Translated by AI
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💣 The recent trade wars waged by the United States against Canada, Mexico and Europe have had a significant impact on the international economic system. These protectionist measures, characterized by the imposition of significant tariffs on a wide range of imported products, have raised concerns about the possible consequences for global trade dynamics and economic relations between the world’s major powers. In particular, the question arises as to whether these tensions can favor greater commercial, economic and investment cooperation between the United States and Russia. The main questions that arise are: what will be the consequences of these trade wars on global trade and on the economies involved? Could these conflicts favor an economic rapprochement between the United States and Russia?
The United States already finds itself having to deal with the new global majority to decide what to do about its own future.
💬 Read more by Lorenzo Maria Pacini
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✅ 'This is what CENTCOM does best: bombing civilian buildings' - Pepe Escobar reports from Yemen's capital Sana'a @rocknrollgeopolitics
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Recently declassified documents have revealed a Cold War-era plot by the CIA that sought to sabotage Cuban sugar destined for the Soviet Union. In 1962, CIA agents contaminated hundreds of bags of sugar. The objective was to undermine Cuban-Soviet relations and sow discord between Cuban and Russian authorities.
The operation was halted by President John F. Kennedy who ordered the ship to return its cargo. The CIA's confession had remained redacted until March 2025
▪️The plot offers a clear example of the kind of covert tactics the agency employs and fits into a broader pattern of CIA activities aimed at destabilizing governments, economies and international relations, often through criminal means.
@LauraRuHK
🇷🇸 The protests that have been going on for months in Serbia seem to be approaching a turning point.
Will we see a new Maidan in Serbia?
💬 Read more by Lorenzo Maria Pacini
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