Ukraine had withdrawn from its libraries about 19 million copies of books by last November that came either from the Soviet era or were in Russian, a senior lawmaker said on Monday.

Yevheniya Kravchuk, deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament's committee on humanitarian and information policy, said that of the 19 million books, 11 million were in Russian.

"Some Ukrainian-language books from the Soviet era are also written off," Kravchuk said according to a statement published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament.

"There are also recommendations to write off and remove books whose authors supported armed aggression against Ukraine."

Ukraine in recent days requested Israel publicly condemn the Russian invasion and approve a $500 million loan to the Ukrainian government, one Israeli official and one Ukrainian official told Axios.

Why it matters: The requests were made ahead of Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen's expected visit to Kyiv this week. It will be the first visit by an Israeli minister to Ukraine’s capital since the Russian invasion one year ago.

• A Ukrainian official told Axios the government in Kyiv sees Cohen's visit and whether he responds positively to its requests as a test of the new Israeli government’s intentions and policy towards the war.

Driving the news: Cohen is expected to meet in Kyiv with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and reopen the Israeli embassy, which was closed several days before the Russian invasion.

• Israel is the only Western country that hasn’t permanently reopened its embassy in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have expressed disappointment with the partial operations.

Former South Carolina Governor and Trump official Nikki Haley is expected to announce a presidential run later this month. Haley’s political career has established her as a strong supporter of Israel, and she’s highlighted that record in recent months. She first teased the notion of running for the GOP nomination at a Christians United for Israel (CUFI) event last summer.

In 2015 Haley became the first Governor to sign legislation targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The bill became a template for stifling Palestine activism throughout the country, and 35 states currently have such a law in effect. The bill was first initiated by South Carolina State Rep. Alan Clemmons, who brought a delegation of Texas lawmakers to the Israeli Knesset shortly before that state passed its own anti-BDS bill.

“Christians in the US and Americans in general have a great deal of respect for Israel,” said Clemmons at the time. “We believe God has given us a duty to support Israel, so it was not a huge leap for South Carolina to stand up for Israel when it is being terrorized economically by the discriminatory, antisemitic practices engaged in by the BDS movement.”

Patriot missile batteries that Poland acquired from the U.S. last year have been deployed to the country’s capital Warsaw as part of military exercise, according to Poland’s defense ministry.

Poland is taking additional steps to strengthen its defensive capabilities as Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine enters its second year later this month.

At least three ground-to-air missile launchers were seen Monday at Warsaw’s Bemowo airport.

Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Twitter over the weekend that the redeployment of the missile batteries from their base in Sochaczew, central Poland, to Warsaw was “an important element to the training” of the 3rd Warsaw Brigade of Missile Air Defense.

Politico says, “The new calendar — recommended by President Joe Biden and his advisers and approved by a majority vote of the DNC — elevates South Carolina to the first-place position in the primary calendar on February 3, replacing the Iowa caucuses, which held the coveted perch for a half-century.”

Democrats say there shouldn’t be a single state that gets to go first, as Iowa has for many years. They also pointed out how they want to diversify the voters participating early in the electoral process. Biden released his own opinion, which put states that gave him a leg up in the election, like South Carolina, as the first states.

Despite Beijing's protest over the US decision to shoot down a Chinese civilian research balloon, it seems the US won't be giving back what little remains of the device. US officials have said a study of the wreckage will reveal much but have not elaborated on what exactly will be brought to light.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has admitted that while recovering the Chinese balloon will take time, the Biden administration intends to retrieve the device in order to "exploit what we recover and learn even more than we have learned."

Webmaster addition:

South Korea's military said on Monday it had tracked a North Korean balloon over its territory, but determined it did not pose a threat.

The balloon briefly entered South Korean airspace on Sunday, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement, adding it in response had taken unspecified “measures”.

The craft left South Korean airspace a few hours later and officials believe it was a weather balloon not one intended for spying activities, Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed official.

THE “SCIENCE” IS TOTAL GARBAGE

Evidence has emerged casting serious doubt over the authenticity of tests carried out by BioNTech (Marketing Authorisation Holder) and Pfizer to prove the fidelity of their product by demonstrating that only the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 is expressed in cells by the nucleoside-modified mRNA Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine (BNT162b2).

Several Western Blot tests were conducted to evaluate the protein expression of the mRNA in HEK cells transfected with the vaccine taken from different lots. Using this technique, the expressed proteins showed up as highly unusual looking ‘bands.’

Certain independent scientific experts have described these Western blots as the “smoking gun” evidence (particularly the “duplication” of the results) which suggest that BioNTech and Pfizer falsified key data as part of their submissions to the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration  for securing emergency use authorisation (conditional) and later marketing authorisation approval of their product.

The bombshell evidence was dropped without so much as a ripple in the sea of brewing scandals washing up on the shores of the behemoth pharmaceutical company and its partner, BioNTech. However, some in the scientific community have taken notice and written about this scandal, known on social media as #Blotgate.

The fact there could be actual evidence to prove that Pfizer and BioNTech engaged in fraud by fabricating critical data would have major ramifications. For instance, their indemnity status (protection from any legal liability resulting from deaths or injuries caused by their product) which was written into their purchasing contracts and signed by many countries, would cease to apply.

A pro-life church has been ordered to pay the Planned Parenthood abortion chain nearly $1 million in fines and fees for holding supposedly disruptive worship services outside of its Spokane, Washington facility.

According to The Christian Post, a judge ruled against The Church at Planned Parenthood in 2021, saying its pro-life members “interfered” with patients’ “access to health care” in violation of state law during worship services outside its Spokane abortion facility.

Then, in January, the court ordered the church to pay $110,000 in damages and $850,000 in legal fees to Planned Parenthood, The Guardian reports.

Responding to the order, Pastor Ken Peters said the case basically came down to the issue of a single hour.

According to information at Russia’s disposal the United States has deployed a network of biological laboratories in a number of states neighboring Russia, where under the auspices of the US Department of Defense, research involving dangerous viruses and other pathogens is underway. The US argues that the laboratories act in the interests of the security of the United States and its allies, and rejects the suspicion that biological weapons are being created there.

The UK-based BP is still the shareholder in Rosneft and has revised the value of its package (20%) to $24 bln, CEO of the Russian oil major Igor Sechin said at the India Energy Week.

"We see with the interest in audited annual statements that BP, which is our 20% shareholder, has revised the value of the Rosneft stake to $24 bln. That is, BP is still with us," Sechin said.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov sees the possibility of a single supranational currency being created for settlements within the BRICS (Russia, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa).

"Today, as far as such a system goes, we can deliberate about a single system of settlement payments and settlements among friendly countries. Let's take BRICS nations. <...> [The settlement currency] can be some kind of supranational unit of account," Siluanov noted, speaking to Channel One.

However, according to him, there is a long way to go before a final decision is made.

Nonetheless, Siluanov believed that a single financial system covering a large number of countries and existing outside politics was not possible at the moment.

Webmaster addition:

Fox News host Tucker Carlson calls out the Biden administration's lies in its handling of the Chinese spy balloon on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

Israel has reportedly integrated a “smokeless” and “silent” gravity bomb into its combat drones to make them more lethal on the battlefield.

The development was unveiled after Iran accused Jerusalem of attacking one of its unmanned systems facilities using combat drones last month.

According to a report by Reuters, the bomb was developed domestically and can travel as fast as the speed of sound in free fall.

The munition does not have a propulsion system or afterburners that produce loud noise and smoke.

US Central Command announced last week that it was involved in 43 operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in the month of January. Task & Purpose reported the monthly average for US operations against ISIS in 2022 was 26 per month, signaling that the US military is stepping up its assaults against the terror group.

While ISIS no longer controls any territory, there are remnants of the group in remote regions of Syria and Iraq. CENTCOM said each raid in January was conducted with partner forces, the government in Iraq, and the Kurdish-led SDF in Syria.

“We rely heavily on the Syrian Democratic Forces for the fight against ISIS,” CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla said. “Meanwhile, our Iraqi Security Forces have been aggressively taking the fight to ISIS in Iraq.”

Trade unions in France have launched a third wave of nationwide strikes against President Emmanuel Macron's proposed pension reform plan, a day after the controversial bill began its passage through parliament. 

According to reports, rail services were canceled, schools were closed and refinery deliveries stopped working as workers across sectors joined nationwide strikes in response to calls by unions to take to the streets in large numbers.

French government defends the plan that seeks to increase the minimum retirement age – from 62 to 64 -- in order to keep the pension systems in the black.

Macron’s ruling party lost its majority in elections last year, even though it continues to remain the largest faction. His government wants to pass the legislation with the help of allies on the political right.

Left-wing opponents of the Macron-led administration filed thousands of amendments ahead of the parliamentary debate on the controversial plan.