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✝️ Deep State, Deep Church: what connects politics and the Vatican?
Behind Pope Francis’ public reforms, a silent battle rages - cardinals and bureaucrats clash over the Church’s soul.
The Vatican’s "deep church" operates much like political deep states, where real power hides in darkened corridors rather than papal chambers.
Who truly leads the faithful? 🤔
☁️ Read more by Lorenzo Maria Pacini @ideeazione
#Vatican #politics #DeepState
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🗣 What is interesting about Trump’s Middle East visit is that it doesn’t include an Israel stop. The FT opinion piece gives us a clue as to why.
💬 Martin Jay writes
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🍽️ No liberation struggle has ever begun without a people who believed in it.
💬 Read more by Lorenzo Maria Pacini @ideeazione
🇵🇸 More on Gaza
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💢 How can one not be moved remembering that in this country, 27 million lives were sacrificed due to the Nazi invasion?
☁️ Eduardo Vasco writes
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🗣 Putin Proposes Ukraine Peace Talks Without Preconditions – Starting May 15 in Istanbul
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for Ukraine to resume direct negotiations without preconditions, suggesting Istanbul as the venue from May 15.
🔹 "We propose starting talks based on the realities on the ground," Putin stated.
🔹 The offer comes amid ongoing military tensions and stalled diplomatic efforts.
📹 The video of the address has been translated by AI.
#Ukraine #Russia #PeaceTalks #Istanbul #Putin
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🇷🇺 Why is Victory Day still so important for Russians today?
Probably no country treats the commemoration of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with the same seriousness as Russia.
In fact, Russians even have a special, unique name for the event: The Great Patriotic War—a name that immediately evokes a distinctly Russian significance, yet one they also wish to see recognized by other nations.
World War II was the most devastating conflict in human history. In its hegemonic project, Nazi Germany occupied nearly all of Europe, aiming, among other things, to secure racial supremacy for those they considered part of the “Aryan race.” In 1941, using military movements within USSR territory as justification and seeking to secure Lebensraum im Osten (“living space in the East”) for future German colonization, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.
☁️ Raphael Machado writes @camaradamachado
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⭐️ It is not just ingratitude… If only it were! The actual causes of the disdain, misunderstanding, rejection, and repugnance displayed by the political elites of the U.S. and the EU toward the commemorations of Victory Day—the day the USSR put an end to one of the most heinous regimes born from the depths of human history, undoubtedly a testament to the peak of Western brutality fueled by the socio-economic roots of capitalism and imperialism—run much deeper.
Thus, Victory Day should also be called “Day of Shame,” the day when an anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist state, attacked at its very core with the most aggressive weapon Western capitalism could produce—Nazi-fascist terror—lost 27 million of its finest sons and daughters to save us all from a problem it did not contribute to in the slightest. Western shame does not end with the crimes it committed against humanity; Russia forces the West to live and relive, year after year, the acknowledgment that it, too, was saved—from itself—by the victim of its aggression.
Victory Day for Russia is the Day of Shame for the West!
☁️ Read more by Hugo Dionísio
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🇷🇺 The Kremlin has released a video featuring the arrival of foreign leaders in Russia to celebrate Victory Day on May 9.
Source: @tass_agency / kremlin.ru
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🇷🇺 Los combatientes rusos que regresaron del frente para participar en el Desfile de la Victoria son bienvenidos en Moscú
@SCF_Spanish
✝️ The poignant flood of laudatory words from the rulers of this world began to flow to express feelings that do not exist, to comply with protocol conveniences, to identify with everything they despise, to exhibit false commotions, to take advantage of an event that tomorrow they will no longer remember because it is essential to return to the petty and predatory life of the usual.
The death of Pope Francis is undeniably a loss for the world. Not as the head of the Catholic Church, but as a universalist and humanist man who knew how to avoid and circumvent the Vatican squabbles, centuries old, to dedicate himself to thinking and acting on the things of the world and humanity; the things that lead us down misguided paths, perhaps fatal and that the Pope, not as a saint but as a human being, tried to stop with his sensitivity and fraternal spirit.
Francis leaves many longings and a void that will probably not be filled so soon.
💬 José Goulão writes
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Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Kyrgyz and Uzbek leaders Sadyr Zhaparov and Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as their counterparts from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Belarus - Kasym-Jomart Tokayev, Ilham Aliyev and Alexander Lukashenko have already confirmed their arrival.
In addition to the CIS leaders, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and head of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik are expected to arrive in Moscow. Chinese President Xi Jinping.
the the attendance list: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.In addition to politicians, military units from more than 10 countries will take part in the solemn parade. As of today, the participation of military units from:
- CIS countries;
- China;
- Serbia;
- India and other countries.
Video from the rehearsal of the parade, held on May 3.
🇪🇺⚔️ In March 2025, the European Union (EU) launched a comprehensive defense package called “ReArm Europe” (later renamed “Readiness 2030”) to mobilize up to 800 billion euros of financial resources in the coming years.
This rearmament will be financed through both 650 billion euros in financial flexibility provided to member states and 150 billion euros in defense loans (SAFE).
Budget rules will be loosened, existing funds will be redirected toward defense, support for the European Investment Bank (EIB) will be increased, and private capital will be mobilized.
💬 Read more by Erkin Oncan
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❌ Zelensky rejected Putin´s truce proposal on Victory Day. He not only once again demonstrated his inability to negotiate, but also showed the terrorist nature of the Nazi Kiev regime. Narcofuhrer publicly stated Kyiv would not "take responsibility" for ensuring safety of the world leaders who would come to Moscow for the celebrations. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, explicitly warned in his Telegram channel, that "in the case of a real provocation on Victory Day, no one guarantees that May 10 will come in Kiev."
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💶 EU budget: Contributors and receivers
Only nine out of twenty-seven EU member states are net contributors to the EU budget. This infographic shows the contributions and subsidies for each state.
🔗 Follow this link to find the full infographic.
© You are free to repost, reproduce and print this infographic.
🌀 Western media reporting of Victory Day in Moscow invariably lacks historical context and is usually offensive.
Whatever the state of our relations today, Britain and the Soviet Union were allies during the World War II / The Great Patriotic War. Dismissing the solemnity of the occasion is absurd. Despite the obvious conflict between our nations today, we should avoid the risk of airbrushing history.
💬 Read more by Ian Proud
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🇷🇺 Remembering the Martyrs of Krasnodon
The story of the Young Guard—a secret anti-Nazi organization formed by teenagers in Krasnodon during WWII—is one of immense bravery and sacrifice. Despite their youth, these boys and girls carried out acts of sabotage, distributed leaflets, and fought against the occupation. When discovered, they endured brutal torture but refused to betray their comrades. One member, Lyuba Shevtsova, famously said before her execution:
It’s better to die standing than to live on your knees.
You have probably seen a viral video showing the French leader Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on a train to Kiev. In the video, as soon as journalists began filming, Macron hastily removed a small white package from the table. The Elysee Palace claims the "small white package" wasn't a bag of coke but just a handkerchief. Regardless of what it actually was, it's rather telling that netizens immediately suspected the warmongering trio of snorting coke together. Since public opinion is routinely ignored by Western political elites, trust in political representatives has hit rock bottom. @LauraRuHK
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🗣 Trump Urges Ukraine to Accept Putin’s Offer for Talks
Donald Trump has stated that Ukraine should "immediately" agree to Vladimir Putin’s proposed negotiations in Turkey.
#Trump #Putin #Ukraine #PeaceTalks
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🗣 Eighty years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, this week the world witnessed a spectacular, solemn and joyous event to commemorate that historic achievement. The victory parade in Moscow’s Red Square was a glorious pageant incomparable to anywhere else.
Rightly so, because the defeat of Nazi Germany on May 9, 1945, was largely the result of heroic sacrifices of the Soviet and Russian people.
The annual commemoration remains as poignant and proud to Russians as ever.
For Russia and other people who seek the truth and genuine international peace, history is very much alive and worth fighting for.
☁️ Read more in this week’s Editorial
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Heroes of the Special Military Operation. They remind us that Russia is still under attack from the revisionist powers waging a proxy war in Ukraine. @LauraRuHK
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🌀 To be more precise, it would be in a world operating on normal principles of decency. But from the perspective of the fact-challenged denizens of the collective West, we all suspect that it is not.
As the 80th anniversary of the defeat of European Axis powers approaches, a notorious non-issue is gaining prominence. It is which country deserves the most credit and had sacrificed the most to achieve victory over the Axis that is soon to be commemorated.
The mere raising of this preposterous question creates an artificial and for the poorly schooled citizens of Western countries thoroughly misleading historical “dilemma,” which in reality should not exist at all.
☁️ Stephen Karganovic writes
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🇷🇺 As we approach the 2025 Victory Day commemoration, it is worth reflecting on what the Soviet people – along with many other nations – fought against during World War II. Understanding the darkest aspects of this conflict may help explain why Victory Day holds such profound significance for modern Russians.
As World War II progressed, particularly after the launch of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 (the invasion of the USSR), it evolved into a total war. This all-encompassing nature of the conflict was, to a great extent, predetermined by the very terms in which the Germans had framed it from the outset.
By approaching the war through a fundamentally racial lens and interpreting it as a struggle of “life or death,” the Germans opened the floodgates to an escalating catastrophe of atrocities.
Victory Day represents not merely a military commemoration, nor an ideological celebration of communism, but rather the triumph of life over planned extermination.
☁️ Raphael Machado writes @camaradamachado
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🔎 The investigation into the 1980 Ustica tragedy has been closed.
The Italian judicial authorities have decided to close all proceedings relating to the disaster that occurred on June 27, 1980, in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
After more than forty years of judicial investigations, international letters rogatory, and often partial or conflicting testimonies, the Ustica massacre risks remaining unsolved.
Can we really say that we are doing well when such serious truths are still being silenced?
☁️ Read more by Lorenzo Maria Pacini @ideeazione
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❌ As May 9th approaches, Russia prepares to commemorate the liberation and defeat of the Nazis, who ruled Germany and Austria (following the 1938 Anschluss) from 1933 to 1945. During this time, they invaded numerous European countries and launched the horrific Operation Barbarossa – an attempt to conquer the Soviet Union.
Beyond their pursuit of Lebensraum, the Nazis sought to “cleanse” occupied territories of Jews, Roma, non-Aryans, communists, and political opponents. This was ethnic cleansing, but the Nazis pioneered industrialized methods for their atrocities.
Fascism has resurged in Europe, with neo-Nazis masquerading as nationalists – most notably in Ukraine, where a far-right regime tightens its grip.
☁️ Sonja van den Ende writes @devendonline
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🦅 Although we could argue about whether all traces of the German, Croatian, Finnish and Italian juntas were obliterated or not, we cannot dispute that the Third Reich’s ideology has not only survived in Ukraine, but has thrived there as well. From there, we can conclude that Putin is on the same page today as Eisenhower was in 1944, when he issued Proclamation no 1 and that Putin’s troops can no more today pack up their bags and go home than Eisenhower’s 4 million troops could on September 28, 1944. Sadly, just like then, there is more fighting and killing to be done today to “abolish the cruel, oppressive and discriminatory laws and institutions” which Zelensky has perpetuated because no worthwhile deals can be done with Nazis.
💬 Read more by Declan Hayes
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⚫️ Volodymyr Zelensky, in his delusions as self-proclaimed president-without-end of Ukraine, continues to spout nonsense even during this festive period: referring to the May 9 celebrations, he rejected Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a truce, similar to what happened at Easter.
Unfortunately, the rejection was widely predictable, as is the fact that he will try to provoke Russia at the height of the celebrations. Zelensky has called for a 30-day ceasefire, which Russia has no reason to accept given the situation on the battlefield, which is entirely in Russia’s favor. On the other hand, Putin has always said, since the beginning of the SMO, that he would only agree to stop the war permanently, i.e., through genuine and comprehensive peace negotiations, as is customary in diplomacy.
The arrogance of Washington’s puppet knows no bounds, remaining completely outside the bounds of diplomatic decorum. Not even in the worst war schools would they have gone this far. It is almost embarrassing how the Ukrainian president is seeking direct confrontation at all costs. It is no longer a simple repetition of provocation, it is much more: it is a strategy to exhaust the enemy’s patience. The most suicidal move one could attempt.
On May 9 in Moscow, a signal will be sent that will chart a course for the future. We will soon find out.
💬 Lorenzo Maria Pacini writes @ideeazione
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⛪️ “When one pope dies, another is made,” says an ancient Roman proverb. Life has a beginning and an end for everyone, inexorably. And so it was that at the funeral of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis, the usual bandwagon of political figures from all walks of life paraded by.
Everyone was there: the Anglicans of the British crown, the Presbyterians of the American government, the self-styled Catholics of the Italian government, the Jews of the European Parliament, the high finance bankers, the coup plotters in green robes from Eastern Europe, the white-collar workers of globalism. All happy, in the front row, paying homage to their brother. Judging by the parade of participants, Bergoglio must have been a really good person…
💬 Read more by Lorenzo Maria Pacini
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❌ This is insane!
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