Friday, January 24, 2025
The Nordic Times

Polaris of Enlightenment

Friday, January 24, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

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https://nordictimes.com/world/afd-leader-questions-germanys-future-in-nato/

World

AfD leader questions Germany’s future in NATO

Published 17 December 2024
– By Editorial Staff
AfD leader Tino Chrupalla questions Germany's NATO membership.
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Tino Chrupalla, co-leader of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, is now questioning the role and importance of NATO for Germany.

In an interview with the German newspaper Welt, Chrupalla criticizes that “Europe has been forced to implement America’s interests“ and stresses the importance of also respecting Russia’s interests.

– Europe has been forced to implement US interests. We reject that, Chrupalla said in the interview. He believes that NATO no longer functions as a defence alliance and that Germany should reconsider its membership of the organization.

– NATO is currently not a defence alliance. A defence community must accept and respect the interests of all European countries – including Russia’s interests. If NATO cannot ensure that, Germany must consider to what extent this alliance is still useful for us, Chrupalla further elaborated.

The AfD has so far not taken a position in favour of a direct withdrawal from NATO, but Chrupalla has previously criticized the alliance’s confrontational stance towards Russia. He argues that this policy creates divisions in Europe and makes reconciliation with Moscow difficult.

In an earlier statement, Chrupalla described this as “…necessary to ensure lasting peace and prosperity on our continent”.

AfD expected to succeed in upcoming new elections

The AfD is making strong progress ahead of the German elections in February. The party is currently polling at 18%, putting it ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats (SPD), but some way behind the Christian Democrat CDU.

Despite its success, all established parties have ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition with the AfD – at least according to the pre-election rhetoric.

The party recently nominated its other co-leader, Alice Weidel, as its candidate for chancellor. Weidel has promised, among other things, to tighten immigration policy, change climate policy and end all military aid to Ukraine.

– We want peace in Ukraine. We don’t want arms deliveries, we don’t want any tanks, we don’t want any missiles, Weidel said in connection with her nomination.

Tino Chrupalla believes that Germany and the West must adapt to the situation in Ukraine.

– Russia has won this war. Reality has caught up with those who claim to want to enable Ukraine to win the war.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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https://nordictimes.com/world/trump-releases-classified-documents-on-the-jfk-and-martin-luther-king-assassinations/

World

Trump releases classified documents on the JFK and Martin Luther King assassinations

Published today 18:55
– By Editorial Staff
President Kennedy in the limousine in Dallas, Texas, on Main Street, minutes before the assassination.
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President-elect Donald Trump has signed an executive order to release classified documents relating to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy and African-American activist Martin Luther King.

During a press conference in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump promised that “everything will be revealed”, adding that “a lot of people are waiting for this for long, for years, for decades“.

“I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue“, Trump wrote in his presidential order.

“And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest“, he continued.

Unclear if all censorship will lift

Under the new decree, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General must present a plan for the release of the JFK documents within 15 days. For other documents, a 45-day deadline applies. Although the documents are now being released, they are still expected to contain some redacted information, according to analysts.

The assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and King have been the subject of widespread speculation and theories for more than half a century, with many of the hypotheses put forward involving US intelligence or security services.

JFK was assassinated in 1963 during a motorcade in Dallas. In 1968, his brother Robert was assassinated and in the same year Martin Luther King was shot dead in Memphis.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/musk-in-dispute-with-wikipedia-boss-spreading-propaganda/

World

Musk in dispute with Wikipedia boss: Spreading propaganda

Published today 14:46
– By Editorial Staff
It is not the first time that Musk has harshly criticized Wikipedia.
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A new conflict has flared up between Elon Musk and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

The world’s richest man believes that the encyclopedia is not neutral at all but spreads political propaganda and is now calling on his followers to stop donating money to the project.

The row centers on a Wikipedia description of Musk’s high-profile gesture during Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Monday.

On Musk’s Wikipedia page, the gesture is compared to a “Nazi salute”, which caused the tech mogul to react very strongly. He chose to post a screenshot of the text on his social media platform X, accusing Wikipedia of being “an extension of legacy media propaganda“.

Musk has also called on his followers to stop donating money to Wikipedia until “the balance is restored” and the encyclopedia becomes more neutral and objective.

Fighting back

Jimmy Wales responded by defending Wikipedia’s description, saying it was based on facts, not propaganda.

“Is there anything you consider inaccurate in that description? It’s true you did the gesture (twice) and that people did compare it to a Nazi salute (many people) and it’s true that you denied it had any meaning”, Wales wrote.

The Wikipedia boss also hinted that Musk was in fact unhappy that Wikipedia is not for sale, referring to Musk’s previous offer to donate a billion dollars if the encyclopedia changed its name to “Dickipedia”.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/trumps-election-promise-broken-no-peace-in-ukraine-yet/

World

Trump’s election promise broken – no peace in Ukraine yet

The war in Ukraine

Published today 10:43
– By Editorial Staff
If the war in Ukraine does not end quickly, it could go down in history as Trump's war, warns Steve Bannon.
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One of Donald Trump’s recurring campaign promises was to bring an immediate end to the war in Ukraine – promising to do so on his first day in office.

However, this promise has not been fulfilled and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon now warns that the Ukraine war risks becoming Trump’s “Vietnam”.

Trump’s message in the past has been that peace in Ukraine is “an easy thing to do”, that he promised to bring an end to the war “within 24 hours”.

– I will get it settled before I even become president, he has also proclaimed.

In recent weeks, however, the rhetoric has shifted, with the President no longer talking about the war ending anytime soon, but instead saying that “six months” is a more realistic timeframe – but that it could also take longer or shorter than that.

Nixon as a cautionary example

At the same time, it is important for Trump’s own voter base that the war actually ends and that the multi-billion dollar US aid packages cease. If the conflict were to continue during Trump’s term, there is also an imminent risk that it will be seen as his war, critics say.

– If we aren’t careful, it will turn into Trump’s Vietnam. That’s what happened to Richard Nixon. He ended up owning the war, and it went down as his war, not Lyndon Johnson’s, said former Trump adviser Steve Bannon in an interview.

Nixon ran for office in 1968 on a promise to end the war, but once in office he instead escalated US involvement through widespread bombing and incursions into Cambodia and Laos before finally negotiating a withdrawal from Vietnam. The war became a defining and highly controversial issue of his presidency.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/following-the-ceasefire-gazans-search-for-the-dead/

World

Following the ceasefire: Gazans search for the dead

The situation in Gaza

Published today 9:31
– By Editorial Staff
The Palestinian Civil Defense says it has already found hundreds of bodies.
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Since the ceasefire took effect in Gaza, rescue workers and civilians have started to dig out bodies from the rubble of Israeli bombings.

In the first few days of the ceasefire, at least 200 dead have been found, and the Palestinian Civil Defense estimates that another 10,000 missing people are still buried under the rubble.

Rescuers and family members are working feverishly to find and identify the dead.

– In every street there are dead. In every neighborhood there are people under the buildings, said Abdullah Al-Majdalawi, a 24-year-old civil defense worker in Gaza City.

Civil Defense estimates that it will take at least 100 days to recover all the bodies, but the lack of bulldozers and other essential equipment could prolong the process further.

Many of the recovered bodies are in poor condition, making identification difficult, reports British state broadcaster BBC.

The UN has previously estimated that around 60% of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed during the 15 months of fighting. The images now being broadcast around the world show widespread devastation, particularly in northern Gaza.

Palestinian civil defense under pressure

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, says that 48% of civil defense personnel have either been killed, injured or detained during the conflict.

In addition, 85% of the agency’s vehicles and 17 out of 21 facilities are reported to have been damaged or destroyed, further hampering rescue efforts.

According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 47,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the conflict, most of them women and children. Another 111 000 have been injured. However, these figures have not been independently verified.

The ceasefire, which came into force on January 19, has given the more than two million inhabitants of Gaza a much-needed break from the fighting.

At the same time, humanitarian aid has been able to increase significantly, with over 630 trucks crossing the border on the first day – the largest delivery since the beginning of the war.

Although the ceasefire has brought a halt to the bombing, Gaza is facing a huge humanitarian crisis.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) reports that more than two million Gazans are now homeless, without income and completely dependent on food aid for their survival.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com