— 🇷🇺/🇺🇦 NEW: Russian opposition forces also temporarily captured the village of Gorkovsky in Belgorod Oblast, before retreating to Ukraine

@Middle_East_Spectator

I congratulate all my Orthodox friends on the fasting season (Lent) and also the Catholics, for whom it started a bit earlier.

I do not celebrate it, since I am Muslim, but I truly wish a happy lent to you all! 🤲☦️🤍

— 🇲🇩/🇷🇺/🇺🇦 WATCH: The exact moment when a suicide drone destroys a helicopter in Tiraspol, Transnistria

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇲🇩/🇷🇺/🇺🇦 Theories as of now:

– Some media allege that the drone was launched by Moldovan pro-Ukrainian elements, who consider Transnistria as part of Moldova.

– Others say it is a Russian false flag operation, to justify direct Russian military intervention in Transnistria.

– Lastly, some claim the attack was carried out directly by Ukraine, in order to blame it on Russia, to say they comitted a false flag.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇷🇺 NEW: Vladimir Putin is re-elected as President of the Russian Federation, with 88% of the vote, according to exit poll – TASS

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— 🇷🇺/🇮🇷 NEW: Iran's President Ibrahim Raeesi has congratulated President Vladimir Putin on winning the Russian election

@Middle_East_Spectato

https://telegra.ph/Maintaining-Parity-with-a-Stronger-Foe-The-Pakistan-Airforce-03-17
An in-depth analysis of the Pakistan Airforce's monumental efforts to remain a peer to the larger Indian Airforce.

— 🇷🇺 My thoughts about the Russian Presidential election:

Many people and international observers claim that the Russian election process is 'unfair', 'rigged', 'pre-determined' and so on. However, they fail to understand several things.

The Russian elections are not rigged, as in, the voting process itself does not contain large scale government fraud. There is not some government agent that forces people to write Putin's name, and there are not thousands of phantom votes coming from nowhere. What people really mean when they say the elections were 'unfair' is the lack of diversity in candidates.

For example, in Russia there were 'only' 4 candidates. Putin (Independent), Kharitonov (Communist), Davankov (Centrists) and Slutsky (Liberal-RW).

Observers claim that although these are different candidates, they do not differ substantially in ideology, because they all support Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, for example.

I pose several questions to observers who make such assertions. First of all, if four candidates is not enough, what about the United States? Most of the time, there are only two real contenders for the Presidency; a Republican and a Democrat. And arguably, there is not much fundamental difference between both parties. They largely agree on foreign policy, but have some minor differences regarding domestic policies. This is the same in Russia.

Second, some people claim the issue is that Russia disqualifies any real opposition. Well, the same can be said about the United States; do you think they would allow a fascist, a communist, or an Islamist to run for President? No, because that goes out of bounds of the accepted political dialogue.

Even in the current election cycle, Republican nominee Donald Trump is being heavily obstructed by the Biden administration, despite Trump not even being a real threat to the American system.

Every country has different spectrums of political views they find 'acceptable' to allow into the political process. America, or any other Western nation for that matter, is in no position to lecture Russia about democracy. When they disqualify a candidate, it's because they're 'dangerous' or 'extreme', but when Russia does it, it's suddenly anti-democratic.

Keep in mind that in the United States, candidates almost always need vast amounts of money to even appear on the ballot in the first place, which effectively reduces the pool of potential candidates to a handful of elites.

There is not a single country in the world with a perfect democracy, because the ruling regime will always seek to eliminate any real fundamental opposition to it, based on its own interpretation of what is good for the country, and what crosses the boundaries. For this reason, Russia is fully right not to allow an opposition candidate, most likely someone who is a direct asset of the West, into their election process.

In the end, the Russian people did have a choice. They had the choice between four different individuals who have substantially different political views. And whether you like it or not, 88% of Russians voted for the man they consider the best fit for the job, based on his experience and strong leadership: Vladimir Putin.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇲🇩/🇪🇺 BREAKING: Moldovan President Maia Sandu announces that Moldova will hold a referendum on joining the European Union in October of this year – Bloomberg

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇫🇷/🇺🇦/🇷🇺 BREAKING: France is preparing to send a contingent of 2,000 military personnel to Ukraine, according to Russia's Director of Foreign Intelligence - TASS

@Middle_East_Spectator

— I'm usually not someone who thinks something big is going to happen. In previous years, whenever someone mentioned the possibility of World War 3 in the near future, I'd look at them funny.

Well, I'm not saying it's going to happen, but if someone would tell me the same thing these days, I definitely wouldn't make fun of them anymore. I still think the chances are low, but they are higher than it's been for at least the last 50 years.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇫🇷/🇺🇦/🇷🇺 NEW: French troops would likely be stationed along the West bank of the Dnieper river, to prevent a Russian crossing, and along the Ukraine-Belarus border to shield Kiev – French Media

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇨🇦/🇳🇱/🇮🇱 NEW: Canada suspends all weapons exports to Israel, & the Kingdom of the Netherlands says it will consider imposing sanctions if Israel invades Rafah

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷 Iran celebrates Nowrooz, (the Persian New Year), and the start of the year 1403

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