With over 11,000 deaths and more than 100,000 cases of Covid-19, Italy is currently a country which feels under siege. But this is no impediment to the think tank racket twisting an offer of support for its propaganda purposes.

Here's what happened. The weekend before last, Vladimir Putin called Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. During the conversation, Conte asked for help, in fighting coronavirus, according to the Kremlin readout which hasn't been contradicted by Italian officials.

Let's be clear from the outset, there was undoubtably a strong PR, as well as practical, element to Russia's assistance. However, there were also advantages to Rome from this approach, as the move may have helped to concentrate a few minds among its traditional allies.

By Emily ZanottiDailyWire.com
APLES, CAMPANIA, ITALY - 2020/03/31: Sanitary workers disinfect the streets of Naples city to counter the danger of a coronavirus infection (COVID 19). (Photo by Salvatore Laporta/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images)Photo by Salvatore Laporta/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images
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Italy’s rate of coronavirus infections has finally slowed, but the national lockdown that helped slow the spread of the disease is now threatening to take its own toll as Italy’s poorer regions begin to push back against government regulations keeping them from working.

The “depressed south” is “turning into a powderkeg,” according to Bloomberg world news, and the Italian government is now prepared to take efforts to control the possible spread of violence.

GERMANY was reminded of its Nazi history in a passionate plea for financial support to help tackle the deadly coronavirus by a group of influential Italian politicians.

Italy's economy minister has clashed with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen after she said that the EU is not planning to issue 'corona bonds' to help countries decimated by Covid-19.

"The commission president's words were a mistake and I regret that she made them," Italian Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri told reporters at a news conference on Saturday, stressing that Europe needs "a great Marshall Plan" to keep its economy afloat.

The historic Marshall Plan was a massive US-led economic aid package to rebuild Western Europe after the devastation of WWII. Italy proposed that Brussels issue so-called 'corona bonds,' a common debt instrument aimed at funding the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made a significant dent in Europe's economies by forcing businesses to shut down due to quarantine measures.

Lombardy regional councilor for health services, Giulio Gallera, announced the arrival of Russian doctors at Papa Giovanni Hospital in Bergamo.

As of Monday, Russia had sent fourteen Il-76 military aircraft to Italy to assist in the fight against the coronavirus. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, Russian military experts will engage in disinfection and COVID-19 prevention after coordinating their operations with Italian authorities.

The new coronavirus and its accompanying disease Covid-19 has stopped the globe in its tracks. Governments, markets and news cycles have become dominated by the pandemic. Europe is now the epicenter for the disease, with reportedly more fatal cases of infection than China where the virus first erupted in December.

The Belgian government is preparing for an unemployment spike with some one million people losing jobs as a result of the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, Belgian media reported, citing Minister of Employment Nathalie Muylle.

The Sudinfo news outlet said that half a million people have already lost jobs and an approximate one million Belgians in total might end up unemployed as the nation struggles to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Many companies went out of business temporarily as part of an effort to contain the pandemic, prompting a sharp upward increase of unemployment rates. The Belgian government in this regard has pledged to facilitate unemployment application procedures.

A popular Warsaw entertainment centre looks empty and closed amid a government-ordered shutdown from the coronavirus, but inside, cook Bozena Legowska is busy.

One hot pizza after another is lifted out of the oven, boxed and whisked to a nearby hospital for a hungry staff of doctors who are working harder than ever under the pressure of the spreading virus.

The pizza boxes are inscribed with upbeat messages, including, “You are our heroes.”

The Ale Zebra centre in northern Warsaw has joined a growing nationwide network of restaurants and eateries showing their appreciation for the doctors, nurses and other medical professionals by bringing them free meals.

Thousands of US troops and military staff based in Europe have been ordered into self-isolation after at least 35 of them tested positive for Covid-19, further complicating Washington’s power projection across the Atlantic.

Some 2,600 European Command (EUCOM) troops and personnel were isolated on Friday in an effort to stem the spread of the lethal virus, following nearly three dozen positive test results. The Defense Department noted that the troops quarantined were not ill, but were isolated as a precaution due to recent travel, among other reasons.

“These individuals are not necessarily sick, but may have been exposed and are doing their due diligence following health preventative measures,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

That number includes those who may have been tested, but not positive, and those who did indeed test positive, which is 35.

SOURCE: PEPE ESCOBAR VIA THE ASIA TIME
Fallout from Covid-19 outbreak puts Beijing and Washington on a collision course...

Among the myriad, earth-shattering geopolitical effects of coronavirus, one is already graphically evident. China has re-positioned itself. For the first time since the start of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in 1978, Beijing openly regards the US as a threat, as stated a month ago by Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference during the peak of the fight against coronavirus.

Beijing is carefully, incrementally shaping the narrative that, from the beginning of the coronovirus attack, the leadership knew it was under a hybrid war attack. Xi’s terminology is a major clue. He said, on the record, that this was war. And, as a counter-attack, a “people’s war” had to be launched.

Venetian canals are the clearest they have been in living memory after Italy's coronavirus lockdown stopped boats from bringing sediment to the surface.

In a rare welcome side-effect of the health crisis, the usually murky waterways are clear enough to see the schools of fish under the water.

White swans are also roaming the canals in a city where the usually overloaded piazzas and alleyways have become almost deserted, while air pollution has declined across northern Italy.

As we are all collectively, as One Universe, experiencing the potential of a coronavirus infection, we have been assured that the outbreak originated in a fish market in Wuhan, China’s eighth largest city with a population of 11 million. That is the largely unchallenged conclusion since China is well known for its extensive network of high tech labs and since the SARS virus began in China last year.

At first glance, it seems a passing curiosity that the next two most extensively affected countries with corona infections, each disparate from China and each other, have extensive trade relations with China. In defiance of science, why would Italy be the most infected country outside of China?

NATO’s massive military exercise ‘Defender Europe 2020’ has been effectively canceled over the covid-19 pandemic. Instead of hype about Russia, perhaps the alliance should address the actual danger to Europe, analysts tell RT.
The Pentagon had already deployed some 6,000 troops and 3,000 pieces of equipment to Europe by March 13, when the transfers were halted amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The decision to cancel the drills actually improved European security, since the risk of covid-19 transmission among the troops – and from them to civilians – was unacceptably high, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and international security commentator Scott Ritter told RT.

Social distancing is impossible in military formations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Tuesday that the European Union will be closing its external borders and establishing a 30-day entry ban to combat the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

Merkel revealed that EU member states had "agreed to impose an entry ban" that provides travel exemptions to nationals of European Free Trade Association countries and Britain, according to the Telegraph.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed during a March 17 news conference that it will be the responsibility of bloc leaders to establish their countries' border closures.

"The enemy is the virus, and now we have to do our utmost to protect our people and to protect our economies," she said, as reported by Reuters. "We are ready to do everything that is required. We will not hesitate to take additional measures as the situation evolves."

The government of Italy, as everyone knows, has locked down the whole country of 60 million people. So how many Italians have died from COV? Even by the standards of the useless and misleading diagnostic tests?

Ready?

As far as the Italian Higher Institute of Health knows, at this point:

Maybe two.

Maybe.

Try to wrap your mind around that.

Moments ago, Serbian President Vucic addressed the West Balkan nation in what can only be characterized as a heart-felt and somber statement which continued for over half an hour. A state of emergency has been announced.

Broad and sweeping measures have been announced, including the closure of most public institutions. All Serbians have been encouraged to remain self quarantined as much as possible. Adults were urged not to visit their elderly parents during this time, as this group is the highest risk for infection.

Moreover, Vucic explained that pleas to the European Union, which has expressed its desire for Serbia to become a member state, said it would not be offering any assistance to Serbia.

"We are now in the state of war. Our enemy is invisible, but it exists, and it marches forward," the French president said

The number of new coronavirus cases in Europe has been doubling, on average, every 72 hours.

The World Health Organisation has declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic. The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 156,000 in almost 140 countries and territories, with over 5,800 fatalities.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin says Russia will close its land borders with Poland and Norway in a bid to curb the spread of the new coronavirus global pandemic.

The COVID-19 disease, caused by the new coronavirus, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, is currently affecting 149 countries and territories across the globe. It has so far infected more than 148,000 people and killed more than 5,500 others.

Earlier this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic.

THE EUROZONE will start reducing the number of its members in order to survive and Italy will be one of the first countries to drop out, Lord David Owen has claimed in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk.

Rising tensions between member states of the EU, brought about by different approaches to dealing with the outbreak of Covid-19, could see the emergence of a new and particularly unwelcome problem for the bloc – CorExit.

While EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic said Brussels was working on a regional approach to the crisis, the latest figures show more than 10,000 cases of coronavirus in Italy, nearly 2,000 each in France, Germany and Spain, and hundreds across the rest of the continent. With those numbers only ever likely to go higher, that “regional approach” needs to appear pretty darn quickly – like, yesterday.

In a clear sign of division among the EU members, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comment that up to 70 percent of the population is likely to be hit by coronavirus didn’t go down well with Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who accused her of making remarks that would simply cause panic.

Brussels had hoped to show a ‘united front’ against the growing coronavirus crisis but, with panic setting in, top EU leaders are already scolding their unruly neighbors as responses vary wildly across the 27-member bloc.

In a statement on Thursday, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen lashed out at the Donald Trump administration’s sudden decision to ban travel to the US from Europe, with the exception of the UK and Ireland.

Yet, closer to home, some EU nations have implemented similar widespread restrictions in the past 24 hours – much to the disappointment of the union’s top dogs.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Chaputovi? stated the importance of improving relations with Russia, expressing the hope that the countries will be able to find a common language.

“Poland and Russia are neighboring countries, and normal relations should exist between our politicians and societies. Now these relations cannot be called good, they are tense, but we would like to improve them, ”the politician said in an interview with RBC.

Chaputovi? emphasized that he was interested in meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He allowed a meeting with a colleague before the Council of Europe ministerial meeting, scheduled for May.

Authored by Manlio Dinucci via VoltaireNet.org,

The United States are demonstrating their power by organising the largest transfer of their troops in Europe on the occasion of the Defender Europe 20 exercises. This country, which only a few years ago sacrificed its soldiers without warning in its nuclear tests, is taking no precautions for its soldiers faced with the coronavirus epidemic.

The United States have raised the alert for the corona virus in Italy to level 3 - (« avoid non-essential travel »), and taken it to level 4 for Lombardy and Veneto (« do not travel »), the same level as for China. The airline companies American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have cancelled all their flights between New York and Milan. US citizens who are travelling to Germany, Poland and other European countries are at alert level 2, and must take « increased precautions ».

The worst-case coronavirus scenario is now being realized for German ports, as collapsing trade volumes from China could push Europe’s largest economy into recession.

For the last three weeks, global markets have been obsessed with economic paralysis that is quickly spreading across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. An economic shock combined with a virus outbreak is what triggered a macro matters moment for investors, who sold first and are asking questions later, as it appears a global trade recession could be on the horizon.

In order to prevent the conflict in the region to be nuclear, USA decided to take the nukes out of Turkey. The fact of taking the ammunition out of the country was widely discussed in Turkish media.

The media informed that five C-17A Globemasters III arrived to Incerlik AB from Ramstein Air Base and took the whole bulk of nukes out to Germany, Poland and one of the Baltic States.

An official in the Air Mobility Command who wished to remain anonymous said that the nuclear ammunition had already been delivered to Powidz, Poland in early March 2020.

In this way the tensions are to rise in Europe: the biggest US maneuvers in Europe, more nukes– that can provoke reactions from Russia.

Moscow has already warned that Russian government would take responsive measures to an upcoming, massive U.S. military deployment and U.S.-led exercises across multiple European states bordering Russia.

Italy has suspended payments on mortgages due to the coronavirus outbreak as more than 9,000 people have been infected and over 460 have died, the government announced on Tuesday.

The head of the Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, demanded that France and Europe help Greece deal with the influx of refugees, and also accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of wanting to “Islamize Europe,” Ouest-France reports.