Gravitas LIVE | Attack in Donbas: Has Russia launched a false flag operation in Ukraine?

[Music] good evening and welcome to gravitas and pakistan let's get started [Music] [Music] the opposite of war is not always peace ask ukraine they have been looking at a russian buildup for months now and there is now talk of a de-escalation there is talk of russia pulling back its soldiers but ukraine's western allies are not convinced today there was attack an attack in donbass in an area controlled by ukraine now russia says it is in fact pulling back troops it has already pulled back troops from crimea and they will also conclude their exercises with belarus by the 20th as was scheduled earlier but the americans say that russia has in fact added 7 000 soldiers so where is this build up going where is this conflict going tonight on gravitas we'll bring you up to speed with what's happening is diplomacy delivering what are american allies saying and what will a solution to this crisis look like we'll discuss all of that also on the show we're looking at what's happening in china hong kong is running out of hospital beds as mohan virus cases explode xi jinping's zero covert policies failing again in the u.s a tree a teen brawl has exposed racism in the country the police intervened after this brawl the white boy seated on a couch the black is handcuffed no condemnation yet from president joe biden justin trudeau has now upset the hindu community of canada they say the prime minister's statements will make them victims of hate crimes we'll tell you what this is all about and the iran nuclear deal is quote unquote closer than ever europe says the ball is now in tehran's court we'll bring you the latest we begin as always with gravitas global headlines french president emmanuel macron has announced that france will withdraw its troops from mali the eu will also follow suit and pull back troops these soldiers have been involved in the fight against islamic militants in mali for nearly a decade the decision to leave comes after a breakdown in diplomatic relations with the country's military regime in pakistan opposition parties have decided to bring a no-confidence motion against prime minister imran khan the announcement was made after a meeting of the multi-party opposition alliance in islamabad pakistan is facing multiple economic challenges causing difficulties for citizens inflation touched 13 in january pakistan's trade deficit has also increased to almost 25 billion dollars india's ministry of foreign affairs calls the statement of singapore prime minister on india's lawmakers uncalled for during a debate in the parliament prime minister lisian long said that there are criminal charges pending against majority of indian parliamentarians including charges of rape and murder india is set to sign a trade and investment agreement with the united arab emirates on friday the comprehensive economic partnership agreement will be signed during a virtual meeting the agreement aims to more than double the bilateral trade in goods to a hundred billion dollars within five years heavy rains and landslides have wreaked havoc in the brazilian mountain city of petropolis local officials say that at least 94 people have died videos shared on social media showed widespread damage and vehicles floating in the streets apple's shareholders are being urged to oppose tim cook's 99 million dollar pay package an advisory group has told apple's shareholders that cook's remuneration is not in line with his performance they also said it has significant concerns over the size of the sum in 2021 mr cook's pay was 1447 times more than the wage of an average apple employee nasa's latest explorer xp has shared its very first images the imaging data shows the remnants of cassiopeia a a supernova or an exploding star this star exploded in the 17th century gas and cosmic ray particles around it made a cloud that glows purple in x-ray light [Music] sydney has reported the first fatal shark attack in nearly 60 years several beaches had to be closed a video shared online shows a shark attacking a swimmer at sydney's little bay beach drones have been deployed as officials are still searching for the shark in the area [Music] russian skater camilla valeeva has missed out on a podium place in the women's singles skating event at the beijing winter olympics all eyes were on the 15 year old amid a major doping controversy but she failed to live up to her favorite tag by making several errors she finished fourth as her compatriots ana sherbachova and alexandra trusova claimed gold and silver liverpool have taken command of their champions league round of 16 tie against inter milan after a two-nil victory at the sun zero the italian champions failed to take advantage of their early superiority and were punished by late goals from roberto firmino and mohamed salah meanwhile german giants bayern munich salvaged a 1-1 draw at the red bull salzburg courtesy of a late strike from kingsley command yesterday we told you about an invasion that did not happen a prophecy of western intelligence they said ukraine will be invaded on wednesday that did not happen but something else did the attack in donbass we have accessed a video clip this is from donetsk it was shared on social media and this is what it shows foreign foreign what you saw there was the sound of shelling there were shelling in the luhansk region too bombs fell on a school a kindergarten let me show those pictures one of the walls has been completely destroyed thankfully no one was hurt but imagine the horror had there been children inside who is responsible for this ukraine is blaming russian separatists for what happened here so while russia may not have invaded has it intensified its proxy war on gravitas tonight we discussed that the focus clearly is on donbass russian president vladimir putin has made a big charge he says ukraine has committed a genocide in donbass russia says it has found mass graves in the region hundreds of russian-speaking civilians have been buried and that they died in ukrainian shelling now these charges are not new they've been floating around for a while now last week we heard something similar a leader of a russian separatist group made the same statement he spoke of a genocide what russia is doing now is officially backing such claims but do they have any proof well nothing substantial so far but voices of pro-russian leaders in donetsk are getting louder today they accuse the ukrainian forces of cease-fire violations in the last 24 hours the situation on the contact line has been exacerbated dramatically the enemy is trying to escalate that conflict by the direct order of key military and political leadership again there is no proof of this so are we witnessing a russian false flag operation is moscow creating a pretext for an invasion ukraine is beefing up its border deployments more guards are being stationed at the ukraine belarus border nine thousand russian soldiers are in belarus and they're conducting drills near the same border and within striking distance of kiev ukraine says the situation is stable as of now but they do not want to take any chances the situation at the border is stable and under control we stepped up border defense due to the available data we increased the number of troops at the border we also deployed reaction groups to react immediately if the situation changes what about russia it says it will end the exercises in belarus on the 20th as was announced earlier and that's a good sign but russia is essentially sending mixed signals no promises of a de-escalation but some troop withdrawal more troops are being pulled back from crimea russian state press released some videos but washington is not convinced it says russia is not withdrawing soldiers it is in fact sending more soldiers to the border seven thousand more russian soldiers have been deployed this is what the u.s has said to be very very clear we have not seen that in fact we have seen the opposite in recent weeks and even in recent days more russian forces not fewer are at the border and they are moving concerningly into fighting positions this is cause for profound concern america says russian troops are in fighting position europe agrees with that they do not believe russian claims of withdrawal defense ministers of nato countries met again today they said that russia is spoiling for war and looking for a pretext to begin one so we are concerned that russia is trying to stage a pretext for an armed attack against ukraine um it is still no clarity no certainty about the russian tensions we don't know what will happen but what we do know is that russia has amassed the biggest force we have seen in europe for decades in and around ukraine the crisis in ukraine is breathing new life into nato after the fall of the soviet union the alliance the nato alliance found it hard to justify its existence but now it is talking about expansion nato's military commanders have been given marching orders make plans for new combat units that's what they've been told these units will be stationed in two regions central and south eastern europe they could be set up in four countries romania bulgaria hungary and slovakia how many new units are we talking about how many is nato planning four they will have a total of four thousand soldiers france has already offered to lead one of these units in romania now nato already has a sizable presence across europe there are four multinational combat units they have some 5 000 troops officers from the united states germany canada and britain are leading these units now they're stationed in four countries poland lithuania latvia and estonia 5000 troops might be a small number but nato has the option to dramatically scale up deployments if it decides to go to war even before this conflict began the united states had 80 000 troops across europe they are stationed permanently on different bases and these deployments are rotational meaning america keeps switching the troops there there is permanent american presence but since this crisis began the u.s has shifted some troops closer to ukraine 4 700 troops have been deployed in poland plus an unspecified number of fighter jets poland is important because it shares a border with ukraine just like romania and american troops are in romania too around 1 000 of them have been recently repositioned from germany some 300 service members were also sent to germany basically nato members are doing exactly what they're accusing russia of doing building troops so nato may say it won't join the war but it's certainly preparing for one the only problem is that ukraine is not a nato member ukraine's president wants to change that volatility zelensky wants ukraine to join the nato he says a nato membership will guarantee ukraine's security and that there is no other path for his country now that's one of the sticking points in the standoff is ukraine's nato ambition part of the problem or part of the solution and what would a solution to this crisis look like that's in our next story they say the history of mankind is a history of war over the years that history has grown we started with swords and spears we upgraded to muskets and cannons and now we have missiles and bombs yet one thing has not changed and that is the role of oil oil is a strange commodity you see you fight for oil and you fight using oil and this standoff in ukraine is no different oil is a deciding factor for russia too and i will tell you how russia produces 10 percent of the world's oil it makes up 25 percent of their export revenue so if oil is more expensive it's good news for russia it means more money for them but for the u.s it means the opposite the united states is the largest consumer of crude oil and if oil is more expensive it means higher inflation for the united states of america here's something else that you must know oil is very sensitive it hates uncertainty so the crisis in ukraine is driving up prices of oil if war breaks out oil could cross one hundred dollars a barrel america wants to stop that what's their strategy to ask saudi arabia for help they want riyadh to produce more oil it's really simple economics more supply equals lower prices right now saudi arabia is producing 10 million barrels per day their maximum capacity is 12 million barrels per day if saudi arabia agrees to increase production oil will stabilize and that's what joe biden is trying to do he spoke to saudi arabia's king salman he did that last week on wednesday he sent white house officials to riyadh still no luck saudi arabia is sticking to its opec plus commitments who does that commitment benefit russia moscow is part of the opec plus cattle together they decided to limit oil production to drive up prices and riyadh is not willing to change that policy not even for the united states of america what explains this now well we can think of two reasons reason number one joe biden's cold shoulder to saudi arabia he's refused to meet crown prince mohammed bin salman he pulled out of the war in yemen and he declassified documents linking saudi arabia to 9 11. saudi officials to 9 11. this is riyadh's chance to get even with them reason number two practical considerations higher oil prices don't just benefit russia they benefit saudi arabia too if russia's pull back is genuine oil will stabilize any way saudi arabia will not have to increase output which brings us to the bigger question is russia's pullback genuine what's next in this month's long standoff things may cool down for now but it won't be permanent this is a simple case of impossible demands what putin wants nato cannot give what nato wants putin cannot accept and neither side is famous for concessions so how will this conflict play out for now it seems that russia has ruled out invasion their economy cannot bankroll it their military would suffer huge losses so chances are putin will opt for a safer option maybe spike the insurgency in donbass or [ __ ] ukraine in cyber security and nato will not mind any of that for them avoiding war is priority number one anything below a full-blown conflict is a win for them and they can go back to focusing on the indo-pacific or the iran nuclear deal it may sound like an attractive prospect but it will not work in the long run you see conflicts have to be resolved not ignored if you put them on a back burner they will fester and we have multiple examples the korean war for instance there was a ceasefire but there was no resolution and the result is this today we are dealing with a rogue nuclear state another example is vietnam again they had a cease-fire but no resolution a couple of years later a war did break out there even in donbass in 2014 the minsk accord was signed again it was a ceasefire not a resolution eight years later we are on the brink of war so i'm going to repeat a cliche now those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it that's what america and russia are doing as we speak repeating the same mistakes cease fires and stalemates are not the same as resolutions even if russia retreats this time the conflict will not end it will only be delayed and this delay could be used for mobilization what kind of mobilization more defense spending more weapons more allies maybe next time russia and china will synchronize their attack both in targets ukraine xi jinping targets taiwan all of this remains very much possible you see peace is not the absence of war it is the pursuit of progress and ukraine has a long way to go there they have to tackle corruption contain the oligarchs fight the insurgency and to do all of this they need security you cannot fight a war and achieve progress at the same time for the moment this is ukraine's future no war but no peace either if world powers are serious about resolving this crisis they need to accept concessions and put their ego aside for once now in the last three months if the last three months can be termed as war then it would be called an intelligence war a war of intelligence or narrative just think about it when was the last time so much critical information was made public on a daily basis possible dates of attack troop deployment numbers possible scenarios even routes that the russians could take if they were to invade kiev the kind of videos that that could be used to stage a false flag attack that too was shared everything was out in the open under normal circumstances this material would be classified put in a file sealed marked confidential and moved clandestinely in the shadows of the night but this time information was flowing almost real time it was being disbursed from the top the white house had regular briefings what explains all of this a long history of intelligence war the cia versus the kgb at one point it dates back to the cold war era our next report tells you all about it [Music] after the second world war the united states and the soviet union emerged as the two superpowers one was a democracy the other a communist regime their differences went beyond political structures there was always a fear that the enemy was plotting both developed intelligence agencies america had the cia the soviet union had the kgb they planted agents in each other's territory infiltrated power corridors and stole critical information these missions often involved assassinations even proxy wars they said if a cia agent got to you no one would know where or why you disappeared but if a kgb agent got to you no one would know you ever existed the russians were masters in spycraft but did that help them win the intelligence war in 1962 the cia undertook one of its most daring missions it infiltrated a soviet research facility in the arctic it was freezing cold the agents were pair dropped and they sent information using helium balloons the intelligence gathered revealed that kgb was trying to detect and attack u.s submarines around the same time kgb infiltrated the arpanet or the advanced research projects agency network it was a kind of internet service u.s research labs used it to share data the soviets stole information about the u.s shuttle program and managed to send their own space shuttle first the cia and kgb also fought for advantage in other countries afghanistan for example the cia knew well in advance that the soviets would be invading the south asian country in 1979 so it trained local fighters and armed them with advanced weapons when the soviet army arrived in afghanistan they were surprised by the welcome fire for the next decade the cia continued supplying afghan fighters with arms and they finally forced the soviet union to withdraw india too was once a playground for the rival spy agencies kgb files reveal that the agency once had 10 indian newspapers on its payroll where it planted articles and steered narratives the kgb also had a code name for indian prime minister indira gandhi she was a vano ukraine is the latest playground it was washington that first alerted ukraine about russian troop movements that was in november 2021 over the next three months the u.s flooded the world with information directed towards the kremlin the motive was clear to prove that the u.s had an intelligence advantage and it knew about russia's next moves the information warfare never snowballed into an exchange of fire but the relentless reporting of this information resulted in some brilliant content central intelligence agency has given some great content for the silver screen so this is russian media doing a mic drop do you know what discrimination looks like i'm sure you can all think of examples from your own life you walk into a corporate boardroom you only see men at the table why because of institutional discrimination you go through the list of american presidents you only see one black man why again institutional discrimination tonight we have another example of this for you this is what discrimination in the united states looks like okay [Music] [Music] chill brian get up [Music] [Music] racially motivated let me recap that for you this incident happened in new jersey two teenagers got into a heated argument one was white the other was black we don't know how the argument broke out or what they were arguing about but within seconds things escalated a fist fight broke out both teens were throwing punches at each other and seeing this the police arrived they pulled the white teen aside and seated him on the couch but look at what they did to the black teen they slam him onto the floor they roll him on his belly and then they handcuff him well this is what racism looks like a white teen is let off while a black teen gets pinned by two cops what exactly was his crime both of them were throwing punches both of them deserve the same punishment why was only one teenager harassed because he was black you can hear people shouting this in the video too you can hear them say racially motivated crying and that's the only way to describe this what are the authorities saying let me tell you what new jersey governor phil murphy said i'm deeply disturbed by what appears to be racially disparate treatment in this video we are committed to increasing trust between law enforcement and the people they serve well this is not about trust really this is about institutional racism police officers in the u.s do not see a crime they seek color and they decide who is guilty based on that color the question is how do you correct this does joe biden have a plan well why didn't the presidential candidate was full of passion listen to what he said in may 2020 we need real police reform to hold cops to a higher standard that so many of them actually meet that holds bad cops accountable that repairs relationship between law enforcement and the community they're sworn to protect this is a national crisis we need real leadership right now leadership that will bring everyone to the table so we can take measures root out systemic racism very well what is biden the president saying nothing the white house is yet to make a comment they yet to say anything on what happened in new jersey how convenient is that if something happens in a remote corner of egypt the white house will comment if there's a crime in some tiny village in bangladesh the white house will sanction well this happened in new jersey just 200 miles from washington dc but joe biden's white house has nothing to say the president's track record on crime is a long list of failed promises you just heard one of them in 2020 he promised to root out systemic racism how much of that has been achieved no big reforms no racial sensitivity training and no punishment for past offenders biden's solution is to pour money on the problem he wants congress to approve two spending plans 300 million dollars for police departments and 200 million for community violence prevention programs put together that's 500 million dollars for the american police now let me put that number in context the entire military budget of belarus is 480 million dollars the same belarus that has nuclear-capable ballistic missiles the same belarus that is holding drills with the russian army you see money is not the problem the problem is attitude american police officers need to be retrained racial sensitivity programs must be mandatory officers who refuse to change must be fired and you don't need 500 million dollars to do that what you need is political will unfortunately biden is more focused on his popularity police unions hold considerable clout in the us last time around they endorsed donald trump so biden is keen to win them over he keeps repeating the same broken record that these cops are not the real america but looking at how frequently this is happening we have to just disagree turns out the real america is racist and unresponsive for the moment we'll shift to what's happening in hong kong in chinese controlled hong kong hospitals are overwhelmed the omicron fueled wuhan virus surge is pushing the city towards a total lockdown more than 90 percent of the beds and isolation centers are occupied patients are being treated in tents there is a shortage of testing kits food supplies have been disrupted our next report tells you more there is panic in hong kong the wuhan virus has brought the city to its knees the daily infection rate has crossed the 4 000 mark and the health system is struggling to keep up these shocking scenes are from a hospital in hong kong patients are being treated in deplorable conditions there are no beds left in this hospital so patients are being treated in makeshift tents even as it rains outside hospitals and quarantine facilities are overwhelmed more than 90 percent of the beds are occupied nine people have died in the last 24 hours experts are raising an alarm they fear hong kong could report 28 000 cases daily if the outbreak isn't contained locals say the administration's zero covert policy has failed there are worries because more or less has affected my daily life the government wants to achieve dynamic zero coverage status which has basically made citizens more troubled and confused because i believe that no virus can be eradicated completely if everyone in hong kong is willing to get vaccinated the situation will be better if you look at mainland china the vaccination rate is as high as 90 percent so that they can control it better many people in hong kong are only getting the first dose now so of course the situation now is not as good as the mainland it is also because the people of hong kong lack of confidence in vaccine safety desperate times call for desperate measures xi jinping is now trying to control hong kong's response from beijing the chinese president made an unusual intervention on wednesday he called out officials in hong kong and asked them to take all necessary measures for containment that message was for hong kong's chief executive carrie lam today she was seen greeting health experts from the mainland lam said the zero covert strategy is still the city's best bet but struggled to share how her administration will stop new infections fighting the pandemic is our paramount task we would not be distracted by any other things we will devote every resource and manpower we have we will impose any measures that we should the aim is to make sure hong kong people's lives and health are protected and to uphold hong kong's stability reports say a total lockdown of hong kong is now on the cards if that happens more than 7 million people will be confined to their homes throughout the pandemic china has relied on the zero covert strategy and shut down cities at will zero kovid has clearly failed in hong kong but beijing refuses to take any lessons from its failures bureau report we on world is one now we turn to nepal which is in the grip of yet another political crisis one that has pushed nepal's ruling coalition to the brink of breakdown there are five parties in this coalition that form the government two of them are threatening to break away why because they do not want an american project to be approved in nepal the project in question is called the mcc the millennium challenge corporation it's an american funded project aimed at boosting nepal's electricity sector the parties against it say it could threaten nepal sovereignty the u.s suspects china's hand behind this it says beijing is trying to manipulate nepal into getting the project cancelled a war of words has followed as of protest in kathmandu reports say the government of nepal could fall any day here's more [Music] a political gridlock in nepal led to the ouster of prime minister k.p sharma oli a new government was formed through a coalition of five parties six months on this coalition too is on the brink of breakdown [Music] these visuals are from kathmandu these people are not your average civilians they are members of various political groups staging a demonstration outside the nepalese parliament what are the protests about a 500 million dollar deal between nepal and the united states it is called the mcc the millennium challenge corporation nepal compact we are in opposition to mcc not from today we are in opposition since a few years ago this is a strike agreement it is against the country and the people signed in 2017 this deal is aimed at increasing the supply of electricity by strengthening cross-border energy trade between india and nepal this deal was expected to boost nepal's economy by bringing new employment opportunities for its citizens but five years since it was signed this agreement is yet to be ratified it hangs like the sword or democracy over nepal's parliament why there are a host of reasons chief among them is china's involvement in nepal's affairs america suspects that beijing does not want nepal to support this deal as it could become a geostrategic counter to the belt and road initiative is there merit to this claim the chinese state media confirms it the global times published this story on monday calling the mcc a geopolitical pact targeting china a part of america's indo-pacific military strategy back in kathmandu the effects of china's misinformation campaign are evident political parties in the ruling coalition are threatening to break away two of them in particular the communist party of nepal maoi center or cpn mc and the communist party of nepal unified socialist both these communist forces are known to sympathize with beijing [Music] naturally they are opposing the ratification of mcc they want some of its provisions to be amended but reports say they will not budge even if amendments are approved america meanwhile is growing restless it is warning of implications should the deal be altered or cancelled the u.s state department says this will have an impact on bilateral assistance and support that nepal receives the prime minister of nepal is in a fix he is trying to build consensus within the ruling alliance what if his efforts fail the alliance will split see his party leaders well justin trudeau meanwhile keeps stumbling from one crisis to the next the canadian prime minister is still fighting the freedom convoy and in the process he's making more people angry it seems so who has trudeau managed to anger this time the hindu community of canada apparently began with a statement trudeau was defending his government in parliament this was over the emergency powers act we've been telling you about it the canadian prime minister has declared a national emergency over the protests the opposition cornered trudeau in parliament conservative lawmakers said the prime minister has lost his way do you know how trudeau responded watch this positive optimistic hopeful vision for public life isn't a naive dream it could be a powerful force for change if canadians are to trust their government their government needs to trust canadians those are the words of the prime minister in 2015. these people very often misogynistic racists women haters science deniers the fringe same prime minister six years later as he fans the flames of an unjustified national emergency so mr speaker when did the prime minister lose his way when did it happen [Applause] mr speaker conservative party members can stand with people who wave swastikas they can stand with people who wait the confederate class well the mp who quest trudeau is melissa lantzman a lawmaker of jewish origin a descendant of holocaust survivors she says trudeau quote-unquote singled her out accused her of supporting nazi sympathizers and she's demanded an apology not once but twice but trudeau chose to leave the parliament and it wasn't just trudeau who made such statements jagmeet singh and other lawmakers said the very same thing allow me to read a quote for you this is what he's saying swastikas and confederate flags have no place in canada we have a responsibility to make our communities safe for everyone it's time to ban hate symbols in canada very well hate symbols have no place in our society canada or any other country for that matter but by making these statements the canadian prime minister may have further divided his country hindu groups in canada say they're being subjected to hate and that's because the prime minister cannot get his symbols right here's what a swastika looks like what they call the swastika it's a symbol of divinity and spirituality not just in hinduism but also in buddhism and jainism what trudeau and singh were talking about is something else the haken kroitz the identity of the nazi party of adolf hitler some people in the freedom convoy are nazi sympathizers carrying the symbol and the flag and they can be easily identified but hindu groups in canada say trudeau's misrepresentation has put their community in danger one of them is the hindu pact hindu policy research and advocacy collective let me share with you what they've told justin trudeau we believe this misrepresentation will lead to hate crimes against hindus and sikhs in the past month alone six hindu temples were vandalized and looted in canada hindu temples have been on target in trudeau's canada the first incident in fact happened in november last year two temples were targeted in brampton the hindu sabah temple and sri jaganath temple and in recent months a number of temples have been vandalized in at least six temples cash from donation boxes and ornaments from hindu gods have been stolen all these robberies have happened in a span of ten days there is alarm in the hindu community of canada here's what an official at a temple said and i'm quoting again whoever is getting this thing done to our temples they're doing bad to the community and our government should put their hand in and take out this kind of incident that's what he said i'm quoting not sure which government he's referring to the canadian or the indian but will the government the indian government speak on this will it express concern about the safety of indians in canada justin trudeau did not hesitate in preaching india during the former protest he called them a matter of concern for canada now his indecision and disappearing act has put democracy in peril the freedom convoy has snowballed into an anti-trudeau movement and left canada further divided with that it's a wrap we're leaving you with gravitas images thanks for watching [Music] sofia [Music] [Music] is

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Id: wc4qje0Q2dM

Length: 44min 29sec (2669 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 17 2022