Feb 142025
 
 February 14, 2025  Posted by at 10:22 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  48 Responses »


Margaret Gillies Charles Dickens 1844

 

Trump To Xi, Putin: Let’s Cut Military Budget In Half – Russia Back In G7 (ZH)
Russia and US To Hold ‘High-Level’ Meeting In Munich Friday – Trump (RT)
Trump’s Call With Putin Marks A Shift In Global Power (Fyodor Lukyanov)
Putin-Trump Summit On The Way – Kremlin (RT)
Trump Wants A Deal With Russia – But Can He Deliver? (Suchkov)
RFK Jr. Confirmed As Trump’s Health Secretary (RT)
Panic Grips European Leaders as EU Left Out of Trump-Putin Call (Sp.)
European NATO ‘Fears Cost’ Of Trump’s Ukraine Burden Shift (RT)
Orban Sees EU As Undeserving Of Role In Ukraine Settlement Talks (TASS)
Vance Blasts ‘Russian Meddling’ Excuse (RT)
Musk Fraud Probes May Explain ‘Urgency’ of Trump-Putin Call (Sp.)
Zelensky Targets Political Opposition (RT)
Trump Will Terminate ‘Woke’ Policies – Musk (RT)
Trump Freezes All National Endowment for Democracy Funding (RT)
DOGE Exposes Insane Federal Use Of Old Limestone Mine (MN)
Musk: “We Need To Delete Entire Agencies”; Fed Worker Buyout Tops 75,000 (ZH)
US Govt Paid Reuters For ‘Social Deception’ – Musk (RT)
The Great AI Game: US, China Vie For West Asian Cash (Cradle)
The Pentagon Is Recruiting Elon Musk To Help Them Win A Nuclear War (MacLeod)

 

 

 

 

CNN

182

Trump Zel

Tulsi

Benz

Leavitt

Tillis

Rand Paul

JD

 

 

 

 

Full collision course with the MIC/deep state.

And: you can demand that Europe pays more, or you can pay less yourself.

Trump To Xi, Putin: Let’s Cut Military Budget In Half – Russia Back In G7 (ZH)

On Thursday President Donald Trump continued to signal positive feelings about a future relationship with Russia and Putin, telling reporters that he’d like to see Russia invited back in to join the The Group of Seven major economies, or G7, which until 2014 was the G8 when Russia was included. “I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out. Look, it’s not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia. It was the G8,” Trump said from the Oval Office upon announcing new US reciprocal tariffs. “I said, ‘What are you doing? You guys – all you’re talking about is Russia and they should be sitting at the table.’ And he then added, “I think Putin would love to be back.”

The G7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. In 2014 these nations decided to expel Russia over the annexation of Crimea, but Moscow pointed out that Crimeans overwhelmingly voted to become part of the Russian Federation after a popular referendum. Another highlight from the Oval Office press conference was when the president called on China and Russia to join the United States in agreeing to cut their enormous defense budgets in half. He said in the context of also urging the three major powers to restart nuclear arms control talks.

“One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia. And I want to say, ‘let’s cut our military budget in half.’ And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to,” Trump declared. According to an Associated Press summary of the comments: Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent and said he hopes to gain commitments from the U.S. adversaries to cut their own spending. “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Trump said. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully much more productive,” Trump continued. Russia and the US have long had the world’s biggest nuclear arsenals, but China has in the last ten years been making strides to greatly bolster its strategic capabilities, which has alarmed the West. Trump warned that any future nuclear use by a global power is “going to be probably oblivion.” Likely Moscow and Beijing will receive these words positively as an overture, especially on the nuclear front, but neither will actually heed Trump’s call to pledge a 50% reduction in defense spending – especially when Russia is at war in Ukraine and under US-EU sanctions. They might tell the Trump White House instead: ‘your move first’.

Read more …

The Munich Security Conference was going to take place anyway, but it acquires a whole new status now. JD Vance leads the US delegation, Foreign Ministers Rubio and Lavrov(?!) will be present. Perfect settings to prepare the Putin-Trump get-together. Not sometime in the future, but today, Feb. 14, and over the weekend. Things move fast.

Russia and US To Hold ‘High-Level’ Meeting In Munich Friday – Trump (RT)

President Donald Trump has announced that “high-level” US representatives will meet their Russian counterparts at the Munich Security Conference on Friday to discuss a resolution to the Ukraine conflict. President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart spoke for nearly 90 minutes by phone on Wednesday, marking the first known direct interaction between the Russian and US heads of state since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. On Thursday, Trump said the phone call paved the way for further direct contacts between American and Russian officials. “They’re having a meeting in Munich tomorrow. Russia is going to be there with our people,” Trump told journalists at the White House on Thursday. Trump added that “Ukraine is also invited, by the way,” but did not specify the format of the meeting or clarify whether it would be a three-way dialogue or a series of bilateral talks.

“Not sure exactly who’s going to be there from any country, but high-level people from Russia, from Ukraine, and from the United States,” the US leader added. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday that the fact that both presidents had expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue was a “very important achievement” that has “set in motion an apparatus of aides, ministries and so on, that will now gradually begin dialogue and prepare the next contacts.” “Now that the leaders have demonstrated political will and provided their aides with the necessary instructions to initiate communication, we ask for a bit of patience. These discussions need time to gain momentum,” Peskov said.

The Munich Security Conference is taking place from February 14 to 16 in Munich, Germany. US Vice President J.D. Vance will lead the American delegation at the MSC, where he is expected to meet with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the conference is an opportunity for American officials to “lay out a broad path forward” on Ukraine. Meanwhile, US presidential envoy for the Ukraine conflict Keith Kellogg is reportedly expected to make it clear that the US has no intention of deploying troops to protect Ukraine and wants European NATO allies to increase their defense spending. Russian officials have not attended the Munich Conference since 2022, and Moscow has yet to confirm its participation this year or announce the composition of its delegation.

Read more …

“The liberal world order is no longer a guiding principle – it is a relic of the past..”

Trump’s Call With Putin Marks A Shift In Global Power (Fyodor Lukyanov)

The long-anticipated phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump has finally taken place, sending shock waves through the geopolitical landscape. But before anyone gets carried away with triumph or despair, it’s worth recognizing what has actually happened: Russian-US relations have simply returned to their natural state – one of strategic rivalry, conflicting interests, and fundamental differences in worldview. For decades, the US pursued a fantasy – one where it could reshape Russia in its own image, first through incentives and later through coercion. Washington believed it could mold Moscow into a compliant partner within the ‘liberal international order’, an illusion that only collapsed when reality hit: Russia was never going to be remade. Meanwhile, Moscow spent years trying to find common ground, adjusting its own policies in hopes of reaching a workable coexistence.

That experiment, too, ended a decade ago. The dissolution of the Cold War system in the late 1980s was a historical anomaly, a fluke that many mistook for a permanent transformation. The Western narrative of ‘victory’ was premature – history does not end, it evolves. Over time, the illusion of a unipolar world became harder to sustain, and the global balance of power began shifting. Those who benefited from the old order clung to it desperately, while those who felt shortchanged pushed back harder. Ukraine became the unfortunate fault line in this struggle, the battleground of irreconcilable visions. What is happening now is not the beginning of a new era but the inevitable correction of an old one.

The US, even under Trump’s presidency, has recognized that great power rivalry is once again the defining feature of international politics. But unlike previous decades, when ideological battles masked geopolitical interests, the new competition is more pragmatic, stripped of the pretense of universal values. The liberal world order is no longer a guiding principle – it is a relic of the past. This shift does not guarantee peace, nor does it eliminate the risks of confrontation. But it does bring a certain rationality back into the equation. The West’s ideological zeal, which often led it to take reckless, counterproductive actions, is giving way to a more sober assessment of power and interests. The focus is no longer on forcing one side to submit, but on negotiating tangible advantages.

Russia, meanwhile, is positioned as a key player in shaping this new world order. The strategic fantasies of the 1990s have been replaced with a hard-nosed realism that acknowledges the limits of Western power. The reset to ‘factory settings’ does not mean stability – it means a return to the fundamentals of global politics, where strength, influence, and calculated diplomacy dictate the course of history.

Read more …

The view from Moscow: “..the Trump team apparently “holds the view that everything must be done to stop the war and for peace to prevail..”

Putin-Trump Summit On The Way – Kremlin (RT)

It is hard to overestimate the significance of the recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He also noted that the presidents have instructed their teams to lay the groundwork for the summit. The call on Wednesday marked the first known conversation between the US and Russian leaders since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Trump has since signaled that he is “okay” with keeping Ukraine out of NATO and suggested that it is “unlikely” that Kiev could regain all of the territory it has lost to Russia over the past decade. Trump also noted that the presidents had exchanged invitations to visit each other’s countries.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Peskov described the phone call as “a very important conversation.” “Against the backdrop of what has been happening for several years, there have been no contacts at the highest level between Moscow and Washington,” he said, noting that this landscape did not contribute to solving the Ukraine crisis. Unlike the administration of ex-US President Joe Biden, which believed that “everything must be done to ensure that the war continues,” the Trump team apparently “holds the view that everything must be done to stop the war and for peace to prevail,” Peskov said. “We are much more impressed by the position of the current administration, and we are open to dialogue,” the spokesman stressed. Peskov added that the leaders would remain in touch regarding a summit.

“They will focus on a separate meeting; they also agreed that instructions would be immediately given to the relevant assistants so that they would begin the relevant work.” At the same time, Peskov declined to reveal which side had initiated the engagement, while clarifying that there has been no agreement on whether Trump will come to Moscow to attend the Victory parade to celebrate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany on May 9. “Exchanging mutual invitations is one thing, but focusing on a separate bilateral meeting is a different process,” the spokesman noted. Regarding a potential territory swap with Ukraine, Peskov cautioned against “getting ahead of ourselves.” “There is political will… to conduct a dialogue to reach a settlement… We need to wait for… at least the first results of the joint work.”

At the same time, Peskov would not confirm or deny Trump’s remarks that Saudi Arabia would host a summit between the two leaders. He also did not provide any timeline for a potential Trump-Putin meeting, or when Russian and American work groups could get down to negotiations. “There is definitely a need for such a [Trump-Putin] meeting to be held promptly. The heads of state have a lot to talk about… It is also impossible to speculate on any deadlines at this point, because the work will only begin these days.”

Read more …

“The idea that Trump and Putin could strike a deal on Ukraine [..] poses an existential threat to the current European security order.

Trump Wants A Deal With Russia – But Can He Deliver? (Suchkov)

The defining geopolitical rivalry of the 21st century may be between the United States and China, but few interactions in global politics draw as much scrutiny and intrigue as those between America and Russia. While the future world order may hinge on the dynamics between Washington and Beijing, the stability of the world itself often depends on the relationship between the US and Moscow. Wednesday’s phone call between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was a reminder of this enduring reality. It was also a signal that, for all the efforts to isolate Russia, serious negotiations are back on the table.

Unlike his predecessors, Trump has never treated Russia with the hostility so often expected in Washington. While he has mocked and insulted rivals and allies alike, from Mexico to NATO partners, Russia and India remain two notable exceptions. The US foreign policy establishment readily accepts Trump’s warmth toward India but views his respectful approach to Russia as something suspicious. Since his first presidency, speculation has swirled around whether Trump genuinely sees Russia as a major power deserving of engagement, or whether he simply understands that diplomacy with Moscow requires mutual respect. Whatever the case, the meticulous preparations that preceded this latest phone call suggest a stark contrast with Trump’s often impulsive approach to other world leaders. Every face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin during his first term was marked by strong personal chemistry and productive discussions on key global issues.

However, each time Trump returned to Washington, those tentative diplomatic breakthroughs were undermined by a political establishment determined to preserve the narrative of a Russian threat. Allegations of “Russian interference” sabotaged potential cooperation on Syria, Ukraine, counterterrorism, missile defense, and arms control. Now, with Trump back in office, those same forces are once again mobilizing to block any steps toward détente. The idea that Trump and Putin could strike a deal on Ukraine — one that would leave behind those who have invested political and financial capital into prolonging the war — poses an existential threat to the current European security order. It is no coincidence that this phone call took place just before the Munich Security Conference, where many of these “investors in war” gather to reinforce their commitments to perpetual conflict.

Yet, this conversation is merely the first step in a long and uncertain road. Trump’s primary focus remains making America — not Russia — “great again,” and any agreements he seeks with Moscow will be dictated by that priority. However, his openness to negotiation and strategic realism signal a shift in approach that could redefine the global balance of power. The next crucial moment will be an in-person meeting between the two leaders. Whether that meeting leads to a genuine breakthrough or another cycle of political sabotage remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: with the world watching and the stakes higher than ever, Trump and Putin have set the agenda — and their adversaries are paying attention.

Read more …

“..Kennedy joined Trump’s campaign, with the latter vowing to let him “go wild” on healthcare policy.”

RFK Jr. Confirmed As Trump’s Health Secretary (RT)

The US Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services on Thursday. The confirmation was secured despite Democratic objections to what they described as Kennedy’s promotion of ‘conspiracy theories’ about vaccines and nutrition. The vote was largely divided along party lines, with 52 Republicans supporting the nomination and 48 Democrats opposing it. Former GOP leader Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to vote against the confirmation. Kennedy, 71, an environmental lawyer, was nominated by US President Donald Trump shortly after his reelection victory in November last year. The vote breakdown marks the second time in as many days that McConnell has opposed one of Trump’s nominees. He was the only Republican to oppose the confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday.

McConnell said he refused back RFK Jr. due to the nominee’s vaccine skepticism. “I’m a survivor of childhood polio … I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,” McConnell stated. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement that “when dangerous diseases make a comeback and people struggle to access lifesaving vaccines, all Americans will pay the price.” Warren also warned that “with his significant, unresolved conflicts of interest, RFK Jr.’s family could continue profiting from his anti-vaccine agenda while he holds office.”

Kennedy, the founder of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, has gained prominence in the US for questioning the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccinations and promoting the claim that vaccines are linked to autism. He was also a vocal critic of the Covid-19 response measures recommended by the World Health Organization, including the strict lockdowns and rapid rollout of vaccines. Despite this, Kennedy denies being opposed to vaccination, noting that his own children are immunized. During his confirmation hearings, he stated that he simply advocates for stricter studies and safety testing of vaccines. Following an unsuccessful independent presidential bid, Kennedy joined Trump’s campaign, with the latter vowing to let him “go wild” on healthcare policy.

Kennedy has publicly backed Trump’s pledge to end the Ukraine conflict quickly. In a 2023 interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, he alleged that the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary agency for funding political projects abroad, had funneled $5 billion to support the protests that led to the 2014 Maidan coup. In the interview, Kennedy described USAID as a front for the CIA. He also referenced a leaked phone call between then-US diplomat Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine, in which Nuland was heard selecting members of Ukraine’s post-coup government – just weeks before the president was overthrown. Kennedy is the son of former US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

Read more …

Europe wants to be important. In reality, it is impotent. Close, but…

Why on earth would Trump and Putin want the likes of von der Leyen or Macron at the table? They would just be in the way.

Panic Grips European Leaders as EU Left Out of Trump-Putin Call (Sp.)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, energy issues, and the exchange of citizens in a telephone call that lasted for one and a half hours, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov revealed. The phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump has triggered a litany of reactions from European politicians. Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy posted a joined statement by several European states that read: “Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations.” UK Defense Secretary John Healey claimed that no peace talks could be done “about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense chief, lamented the development as “regrettable” arguing that the Trump administration had made “concessions” to Russia, while asserting that “it would have been better to speak about a possible NATO membership for Ukraine or possible losses of territory at the negotiating table.” Joining the bandwagon, Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock added that “peace can only be achieved together. And that means: with Ukraine and with the Europeans.” In addition, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared that “All we need is peace… Ukraine, Europe and the United States should work on this together.”

For his part, French top diplomat Jean-Noel Barrot insisted that “There will be no just and durable peace in Ukraine without Europeans.” Meanwhile, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur chimed in, saying: “Europe is investing in Ukrainian defense, and Europe is rebuilding Ukraine with European Union money, with our bilateral aid – so we have to be there.” And finally, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called for turbo-charging defense production among member states, adding: “We have to make sure that Ukraine is in a position of strength.”

Read more …

It’s not just the money. Europe has no war industry, it has no troops. For decades, it let the US take care of all that. Much cheaper. It will take decades to re-balance this, if ever.

European NATO ‘Fears Cost’ Of Trump’s Ukraine Burden Shift (RT)

Officials in European NATO states are reluctant to shoulder Ukraine’s security without US backing, The Financial Times reported on Thursday. This week, the US President Donald Trump administration signaled its desire for minimal involvement, once a possible truce is achieved. According to the FT, Washington’s transatlantic allies “fear they will have to bear the cost of postwar security and reconstruction” and are frustrated by Trump’s negotiations with Russia conducted without their input. One source indicated that a scenario where “the US says, ‘We did the ceasefire, and all of the rest is for you to clean up’” wouldn’t work for the EU. The diplomat further noted: “There is a limit to what the EU alone can realistically provide in terms of money, arms, and perhaps boots on the ground.”

Another EU official remarked that “the Americans don’t see a role for Europe in the big geopolitical questions related to the war,” adding: “Trump sees us as money.” Former US President Joe Biden’s stated policy was to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” a sentiment echoed by the EU and various national governments. The shift in Washington’s stance was articulated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a meeting of arms donors in Germany on Wednesday. Hegseth characterized Kiev’s ambition to recover territories it has lost since 2014 as “an unrealistic objective,” an “illusionary goal” would only lead to greater suffering. He also dismissed the feasibility of NATO membership for Ukraine and emphasized that any post-ceasefire peacekeeping mission should not involve the US-led military bloc or US forces: “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine.”

Trump then made his intentions clear by announcing he had held a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK issued a joint statement on Wednesday evening alongside the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, reaffirming support for the previous US government’s approach. Releasing the statement on Wednesday Kallas declared Ukrainian territorial integrity “unconditional” and demanded Western Europe has a “central role” in any negotiations. Russia has consistently expressed concerns over NATO’s eastward expansion since the 1990s, viewing it as a direct threat to its national security. Moscow has viewed Ukraine’s potential NATO membership as a “red line” and a significant factor in the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

Read more …

“While [Trump and Putin] negotiate on peace, EU officials issue worthless statements. You can’t request a seat at the negotiating table. You have to earn it! Through strength, good leadership and smart diplomacy.”

Orban Sees EU As Undeserving Of Role In Ukraine Settlement Talks (TASS)

The EU leadership has not earned a seat at the Ukraine negotiating table alongside Russia and the US, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said. His comments came in response to a statement by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who, following phone talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, insisted that Europe and Ukraine should be included in any negotiations to resolve the conflict. The statement was issued on behalf of the EU as well as France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the UK.

“This declaration is a sad testament of bad Brusselian leadership. While President Donald Trump and President Putin negotiate on peace, EU officials issue worthless statements. You can’t request a seat at the negotiating table. You have to earn it! Through strength, good leadership and smart diplomacy. The position of Brussels – to support killing as long as it takes – is morally and politically unacceptable,” Orban wrote on X. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s conversation with Trump on Wednesday lasted almost 90 minutes. They discussed the crisis in Ukraine, the Middle East and exchanging convicted nationals of the two countries. The Russian and US leaders agreed to maintain communication and arrange a face-to-face meeting.

Read more …

But that excuse is all Europe has.

Vance Blasts ‘Russian Meddling’ Excuse (RT)

Western mainstream political parties blaming Russian meddling for electoral failures are increasingly out of touch with voters, US Vice President J.D. Vance has said. EU politicians would rather suppress dissent than reflect on their actions, he told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Ahead of attending the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Vance urged Western politicians to embrace the rise of anti-establishment politics. He criticized attempts to dismiss viewpoints on issues such as traditional values and immigration by those who attribute them to “misinformation.” “If your democratic society can be taken down by $200,000 of social media ads, then you should think seriously about how strong your grip on or how strong your understanding of the will of the people actually is,” Vance said.

Hillary Clinton, former US secretary of state and presidential candidate, notably popularized the tactic of blaming Russia following her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election — a claim Moscow has consistently denied. A recent instance occurred in Romania in December, where the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of voting in the country’s presidential election after right-wing anti-establishment candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly led the race. Media reports revealed that the alleged Russian interference cited by the court actually stemmed from a consulting firm associated with the ruling National Liberal Party. Allegations of Russian efforts to undermine Romanian democracy were promoted by Context, an NGO funded by the US through the National Endowment for Democracy — an organization that according to its co-founder Allen Weinstein is mostly doing in the open what the CIA previously did covertly.

The narrative suggesting Moscow bolstered Georgescu was supported by the US Embassy in Romania and senior American officials. Vance argued that mainstream parties in the EU are “kind of terrified of their own people.” He pointed to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which despite electoral success struggles to find coalition partners due to being labeled extremist by centrist factions. Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, ignited controversy in Berlin by endorsing the AfD in this month’s federal election, asserting that “the entire fate of Europe” hinges on its outcome. In response, the German government accused the billionaire of election interference, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz stating that freedom of speech does not encompass the promotion of “extreme-right positions.”

Read more …

“..Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE sniff out “the fraud and corruption of the Biden Ukraine project.”

Musk Fraud Probes May Explain ‘Urgency’ of Trump-Putin Call (Sp.)

“Trump appears to have a better understanding of the causes and conditions of the Ukraine-Russia and US/NATO versus Russia conflict,” retired US Air Force Lt. Col and ex-DoD analyst Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik, commenting on Wednesday’s lengthy telephone conversation between the Russian and US leaders and its focus on Ukraine. “His tendency to be practical (something we are not seeing in his Israel-Gaza policy) is apparent here. The signal is one of deal making and practicality,” Kwiatkowski said. The call comes at a decisive moment, the observer stressed, pointing out that Congress will be teeing up a new package of aid to Ukraine shortly, with current commitments to run dry in March, as Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE sniff out “the fraud and corruption of the Biden Ukraine project.”

“I suspect this cannot be kept under the lid much longer, so this may explain the urgency of a settlement,” Kwiatkowski said. “Whether Trump gets a settlement he likes from Russia” or not “is not clear, but I think Trump realizes Russia has already won, and Europe/NATO, in agitating for a long costly wasteful war, needs to start dealing with what it has wrought,” the analyst said. Earlier in the day Wednesday, President Trump took to Truth Social to announce that he had a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with President Putin, and that the leaders had discussed an array of issues, focusing on Ukraine.

“We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump said. “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately,” Trump said, adding that his first step would be to call Volodymyr Zelensky. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed important details on the call, including Putin and Trump’s expression of mutual commitment to a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis. Putin reiterated the importance of addressing the “root causes” of the conflict, Peskov said, and invited Trump to visit Moscow. The conversation was said to have lasted for one and a half hours.

Read more …

“..criticized Zelensky in parliament, accusing him of transforming Ukraine into a dictatorship with “closed borders, state-controlled television, and leader KimJong-Ze..”

Zelensky Targets Political Opposition (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has imposed personal sanctions on five prominent individuals, including potential political rivals former President Pyotr Poroshenko and exiled opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk. Zelensky previously suspended elections nationwide, citing the ongoing conflict with Russia. On Wednesday evening, Zelensky put into power an order penned by the National Security and Defense Council, which he chairs. In addition to the two politicians, it targeted three wealthy entrepreneurs, including Poroshenko’s business partner Gennady Bogolyubov, former Dnepropetrovsk Region Governor Igor Kolomoysky, and former MP Konstantin Zhevago. Reports of impending sanctions against Poroshenko have circulated in the Ukrainian media since January.

The former president, now serving as an MP, has condemned Zelensky’s move as politically motivated and labeled it “a crime” with “many accomplices.” He accused Zelensky of attempting to scapegoat others for his own mistakes. MP Aleksey Goncharenko, a political ally of Poroshenko, criticized Zelensky in parliament, accusing him of transforming Ukraine into a dictatorship with “closed borders, state-controlled television, and leader KimJong-Ze,” alluding to the Western perception of North Korea. The sanctions issued by Zelensky vary in severity, ranging from largely symbolic revocations of state awards to the freezing of assets, prohibiting legal contracts, and barring the use of mass media for communication. Zelensky has framed the measures as essential for “protecting our state and restoring justice,” alleging that the five targeted individuals “earned billions by effectively selling out Ukraine and Ukrainian interests.”

The sanctions were announced shortly after US President Donald Trump reportedly secured Zelensky’s agreement to transfer $500 billion worth of Ukrainian rare earth minerals as compensation for American military assistance. Trump aims to swiftly resolve the Ukraine conflict while recouping costs for US taxpayers. Zelensky’s presidential term expired last year, although he has refused to call new elections or relinquish power, citing martial law in Ukraine. He maintains that his landslide victory over Poroshenko in 2019 grants him sufficient legitimacy and insists that Ukrainians are not interested in choosing a new leader at this time.

Read more …

“..wasting taxpayer money on “ridiculous – and in many cases, malicious – pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats..”

Trump Will Terminate ‘Woke’ Policies – Musk (RT)

US President Donald Trump and his administration will work to end the promotion of diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programs across the world, Elon Musk announced at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Thursday. The billionaire’s statement comes as Trump has launched a campaign aimed at ending DEI initiatives within the federal government since assuming office last month. Shortly after being sworn in, Trump repealed some 78 orders signed by his predecessor Joe Biden. This includes terminating DEI programs and ending protections for transgender individuals. Trump also set a 60-day deadline for federal agencies to cease all DEI-related practices.

Speaking via video link at the Dubai forum, Musk, who currently heads Trump’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), acknowledged that there has been “a lot of pushing of DEI worldwide” by the US and stressed that the new administration “doesn’t agree” with this approach. “We want to terminate that stuff, and we are,” Musk said. He warned that if DEI principles were allowed to continue and be used to implement “crazy things that are untruthful” and “don’t reflect reality” into things like artificial intelligence, it could easily lead to a “very dystopian outcome.” Earlier this month, the billionaire claimed that DOGE had already saved the US over $1 billion by scrapping over 100 contracts related to DEI programs.

Musk also reported that his department has managed to cut federal spending by $1 billion per day by effectively halting “the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, the deletion of DEI, and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations.” Trump has also ordered the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was Washington’s primary vehicle for funding political projects abroad. The president accused the agency of wasting taxpayer money on “ridiculous – and in many cases, malicious – pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats,” which included promoting DEI initiative both domestically and internationally. Musk has also called USAID a “criminal organization” and claimed that it had funded bioweapons research.

Read more …

USAID’s ugly little sister.

Trump Freezes All National Endowment for Democracy Funding (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s administration has frozen all funding to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), several media outlets reported on Wednesday. The move is said to have caused a “bloodbath” within the organization, leaving it unable to pay staff or fulfill financial commitments. The NED, established in 1983, is officially a nonprofit organization that provides grants to support democratic initiatives worldwide. However, over the years, it has faced allegations of covertly influencing political outcomes, with critics arguing that it has taken over covert functions previously handled by the CIA, particularly those aimed at overthrowing foreign governments.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk, who heads Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and has been in charge of finding ways to cut federal spending, singled out NED, calling it a ”scam” and an “evil organization” that needs to be dissolved. Since then, the organization has reportedly been “under siege” from Musk’s DOGE, according to Free Press. “It’s been a bloodbath,” one NED worker told the outlet, explaining that the organization has been unable to meet payroll and pay basic overhead expenses.

The NED has faced longstanding criticism over its role in supporting political movements to undermine sovereign governments. The Center for Renewing America, a think tank founded by Russell Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, released a policy paper on February 7, accusing the NED of acting as the “tip of the proverbial spear for heightened CIA and State Department efforts to foster political revolution in Ukraine.” The report claimed that the NED had funneled tens of millions of dollars to a myriad of Ukrainian political entities and anti-Russian interests and “advanced both the ‘Orange Revolution’ and ‘Maidan Revolution’ that paved the way for the current Ukraine-Russia war.”

The NED has also faced accusations of sponsoring “color revolutions” in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan and of funding opposition groups in Belarus, Serbia, and Egypt. “The reasons for defunding NED are as numerous as they are imperative,” Vought’s think tank wrote, listing things like “Ukraine warmongering” and “Middle East meddling” as the most clear and pressing rationales for dismantling the agency. The NED funding freeze comes as part of broader measures by the Trump administration to cut foreign spending. This has already included a crackdown on the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary vehicle for funding political projects abroad. Trump earlier called for the agency to be shut down, claiming it is run by “radical lunatics.”

Read more …

Easily the craziest story this week. People can’t retire when the mineshaft elevator breaks down.

DOGE Exposes Insane Federal Use Of Old Limestone Mine (MN)

Elon Musk’s DOGE has revealed that the federal government is using an old limestone mine in Pennsylvania to store tens of thousands, if not millions of physical paper files in cardboard boxes. The files are just retirement documents for federal workers, so could easily be digitised, yet the government has continued to physically store them. The mine is 230 feet underground and requires over 700 workers with the Office of Personnel Management to operate and upkeep it. What the hell? At least if there is a nuclear apocalypse whoever survives in here will have access to…information on retired government workers. Musk shared the insane finding, noting “Maybe it’s just me, but I think there is room for improvement here.”

The vault inside Iron Mountain which is equipped with a huge reservoir for geothermal cooling. A 2021 report uncovered that despite spending $106 million spent trying to digitize the process, the government abandoned the idea and decided to stick with the stone mine. Labelling it a “time warp,” Musk noted that “The limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move determines how many people can retire from the federal government.” “The elevator breaks down sometimes, and nobody can retire,” Musk revealed, adding “Doesn’t that sound crazy?” Musk also revealed that since 2014 they had gotten to the letter B in their efforts to digitize the records.

The DOGE post has close to 45 million views at time of writing. Commenting on the mine and other “rot” being exposed by DOGE, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday on Fox News that the media was left in “sheer silence.” “I was watching the faces of the mainstream media reporters who were in the Oval Office, and there was sheer silence because it appeared that many of them who are supposed to be writing the truth about our federal bureaucracy had no idea that the federal retirement system is being processed deep into the ground and is not computerized,” Leavitt said.

“They, the president and Elon are shining a light on the truth about our federal government. But the mainstream media simultaneously is saying there’s an alleged lack of transparency and access. It’s preposterous,” Leavitt continued, adding “Together, President Trump and Elon, the entire DOGE team and this entire administration are shining a light on the corruption, the waste, the fraud and abuse.” “Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and they are revealing the rot of this city every single day. It’s music to the ears of the American people who voted for this. As you rightly pointed out, 77 million of them liked what President Trump promised on the campaign trail, and he is delivering and it’s fascinating,” Leavitt urged.

Read more …

“Even Ronald Reagan, the great apostle of smaller government, couldn’t achieve in eight years what Mr. Musk has done in 3 1/2 weeks.”

Musk: “We Need To Delete Entire Agencies”; Fed Worker Buyout Tops 75,000 (ZH)

Early Thursday, Elon Musk joined Dubai’s annual World Governments Summit via video link to provide an update on his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts within the US government, aimed at rooting out corruption and dismantling federal agencies, reducing the federal workforce, and eliminating the shadow government operated in a complex web of NGOs. “We need to delete entire agencies. We need to remove the roots of the weed. That’s not to say there won’t be an increase in future bureaucracy from another administration but it will be from a lower baseline. Nothing is forever but we can strengthen the foundation,” Musk told the crowd.

President Trump appointed Musk as a “special government employee” to lead DOGE and has waged war against the federal bureaucracy. The latest data from Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the voluntary resignation program for the federal workforce, indicates that 75,000 workers across various federal agencies have opted to leave. This number only makes up about 3% of the 2.4 million civilian federal workforce, far short of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s target of 5% to 10%. This came after a federal judge in Boston lifted his order freezing the buyout program overnight. “The federal workforce grew 6.3% under former President Joe Biden, fueled by pandemic spending programs. A 3% cut to the federal workforce would only bring the number down to 2023 levels,” Bloomberg pointed out.


Source: Bloomberg

Even with the targeted buyouts missing the White House’s estimates, an op-ed by the Wall Street Journal’s deputy op-ed editor, Matthew Hennessey, noted: “Even Ronald Reagan, the great apostle of smaller government, couldn’t achieve in eight years what Mr. Musk has done in 3 1/2 weeks. The billionaire businessman is less apostle than avenging angel. The Department of Government Efficiency is the change we’ve been waiting for.” On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate what he described as “waste and bloat” in the government while “promptly undertaking preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force.” He called it a “critical transformation” of Washington, DC, and framed the move as a necessary step forward for the nation.

Early Thursday, we noted internet search trends across the DC metro area, including Maryland and northern Virginia counties, indicating growing panic among federal workers in the so-called DC swamp. Searches for “Criminal Defense Lawyer” and “RICO Laws” have erupted in recent weeks. Draining the swamp is long overdue. Yet Democrats are calling for war against Musk and Trump over DOGE’s efforts for a more transparent and efficient government. Some far-left Democrats, like Rep. Robert Garcia, called for supporters to begin arming up.

Read more …

“..the US Department of Defense had committed more than $9 million on two projects called Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) and Large Scale Social Deception (LSD)”.

US Govt Paid Reuters For ‘Social Deception’ – Musk (RT)

A subsidiary of Reuters has received millions in US government funding for “large scale social deception” projects, Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has claimed. In a post on Thursday, Musk weighed in on data from the website USAspending.gov stating that Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, had contracts with government agencies. One of the publicly available documents stipulated that the US Department of Defense had committed more than $9 million on two projects called Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) and Large Scale Social Deception (LSD). Commenting on the document, Musk wrote: “Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the US government for ‘large scale social deception’. That is literally what it says on the purchase order! They’re a total scam. Just wow.”

According to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the ASEAD program aims to develop automated defenses against social engineering attacks, which could involve deceptive tactics to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information. Neither the Pentagon nor USAspending.gov elaborates on the purpose of the program, but both LSD and ASEAD are listed as activities within the realm of engineering and research and development. Reuters was awarded another Pentagon contract that provides the Department of Defense with unidentified advanced development services. The agency has also received around $500,000 from the State Department for access to news services.

Both Musk and US President Donald Trump have vowed to fight corruption and wasteful spending in the US government. In light of this, several federal agencies have terminated contracts totaling $8 million with Politico magazine following Musk’s criticism of these agreements as a “wasteful” use of taxpayer funds. Trump has also suggested that billions of dollars have been misappropriated within agencies such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary agency for funding political projects abroad, to pay for favorable media coverage of Democrats. The claim was rejected by several US media outlets, including Politico and the Associated Press.

Read more …

AI requires lots of energy. Where is that cheap? In the Gulf states.

The Great AI Game: US, China Vie For West Asian Cash (Cradle)

China’s unveiling of DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the tech industry. The app skyrocketed to the top of Apple’s US App Store, surpassing ChatGPT and Gemini, and triggered a market tremor: US tech giants like Nvidia saw their valuations plunge by $600 billion. The development heightened Washington’s security anxieties, with officials warning that China’s AI advances could give Beijing a military edge and serve as a tool for spreading state-backed narratives. Global investors have responded by shifting capital toward China’s AI sector, signaling confidence in Beijing’s ability to challenge US dominance. Simultaneously, China is accelerating its push for technological self-sufficiency, reducing reliance on western semiconductor firms like TSMC and Samsung.

Beyond economics, AI-driven automation is expected to disrupt the global labor market, displacing jobs in data analysis, translation, and customer service. Meanwhile, China’s surging demand for AI talent is attracting experts from western markets, exacerbating a potential brain drain in the US and Europe. The global AI contest is often framed as a US–China duel, but West Asia is emerging as a decisive force capable of tilting the balance. With DeepSeek proving that western AI hegemony will no longer go unchallenged, Persian Gulf states are reevaluating their AI alliances, making them a critical factor in Washington’s efforts to secure AI investments. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar are now considered the “swing states” of AI geopolitics. Their importance in the AI revolution rests on three key pillars: energy, finance, and geography.

Energy is the most obvious element as generative AI data centers require vast amounts of power, and energy-rich countries in West Asia are expected to benefit significantly. Persian Gulf states, rich in energy resources, are well-positioned to benefit from this demand. Financially, oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are heavily investing in AI infrastructure and future technologies, making them not only key customers but also influential players. Sovereign wealth funds are channeling billions into AI-related projects through initiatives like Sanabil, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which invests $3 billion annually in top-tier venture capital firms across both the US and China. In addition, Prosperity7, the investment arm of Saudi Aramco, made headlines by investing in Zhipu AI, one of China’s largest AI startups, becoming the first non-Chinese investor to do so.

The move highlights West Asia’s evolving strategy of playing on both sides in the geopolitical race for AI, maintaining influence and independence despite growing global pressure to ally with the US or China. Such investments demonstrate the region’s ability to balance geopolitical tensions while expanding its influence in the global AI ecosystem. In addition, the geographical location of West Asia represents a fully untapped advantage in the development of AI globally. Data centers play a pivotal role in improving the speed and quality of digital services for users as service efficiency increases and data centers get closer to the end user. Having multiple data centers in strategic locations ensures that data recovery backups are provided in case of failures.

The region’s location is also an advantage, as West Asia serves as a digital crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa. The majority of web traffic between these continents passes through the region, making it a prime hub for global AI deployment. As AI competition intensifies, West Asia is no longer just an emerging market – it is a strategic theater in the tech war between Washington and Beijing. China views the region as an extension of its Digital Silk Road, aiming to expand its technological footprint through cost-effective AI solutions.

The US, on the other hand, is deepening its AI partnerships with Persian Gulf states, trying to ensure that AI infrastructure aligns with western standards. The battle over AI in West Asia transcends mere technological rivalry; it is a contest for economic and geopolitical dominance. With Persian Gulf states positioned as kingmakers in this struggle, their decisions in the coming years could redefine the balance of power in the AI era. The US–China AI war is no longer just a two-player game – West Asia is now firmly in the mix, and its role in shaping the future of AI is only growing.

Read more …

I have a hard time seeing Musk as a -nuclear- warmonger. For one thing, how would he ever get to Mars?

The Pentagon Is Recruiting Elon Musk To Help Them Win A Nuclear War (MacLeod)

Donald Trump has announced his intention to build a gigantic anti-ballistic missile system to counter Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons, and he is recruiting Elon Musk to help him. The Pentagon has long dreamed of constructing an American “Iron Dome.” The technology is couched in the defense language – i.e., to make America safe again. But like its Israeli counterpart, it would function as an offensive weapon, giving the United States the ability to launch nuclear attacks anywhere in the world without having to worry about the consequences of a similar response. This power could upend the fragile peace maintained by decades of mutually assured destruction, a doctrine that has underpinned global stability since the 1940s. Washington’s war planners have long salivated at the thought of winning a nuclear confrontation and have sought the ability to do so for decades. Some believe that they have found a solution and a savior in the South African-born billionaire and his technology.

Neoconservative think tank the Heritage Foundation published a video last year stating that Musk might have “solved the nuclear threat coming from China.” It claimed that Starlink satellites from his SpaceX company could be easily modified to carry weapons that could shoot down incoming rockets. As they explain: “Elon Musk has proven that you can put microsatellites into orbit, for $1 million apiece. Using that same technology, we can put 1,000 microsatellites in continuous orbit around the Earth, that can track, engage and shoot down, using tungsten slugs, missiles that are launched from North Korea, Iran, Russia, and China.” Although the Heritage Foundation advises using tungsten slugs (i.e., bullets) as interceptors, hypersonic missiles have been opted for instead. To this end, a new organization, the Castelion Company, was established in 2023.

Castelion is a SpaceX cutout; six of the seven members of its leadership team and two of its four senior advisors are ex-senior SpaceX employees. The other two advisors are former high officials from the Central Intelligence Agency, including Mike Griffin, Musk’s longtime friend, mentor, and partner. Castelion’s mission, in its own words, is to be at the cutting edge of a new global arms race. As the company explains: “Despite the U.S. annual defense budget exceeding those of the next ten biggest spenders combined, there’s irrefutable evidence that authoritarian regimes are taking the lead in key military technologies like hypersonic weapons. Simply put – this cannot be allowed to happen.” The company has already secured gigantic contracts with the U.S. military, and reports suggest that it has made significant strides toward its hypersonic missile goals.

Castelion’s slogan is “Peace Through Deterrence.” But in reality, the U.S. achieving a breakthrough in hypersonic missile technology would rupture the fragile nuclear peace that has existed for over 70 years and usher in a new era where Washington would have the ability to use whatever weapons it wished, anywhere in the world at any time, safe in the knowledge that it would be impervious to a nuclear response from any other nation. In short, the fear of a nuclear retaliation from Russia or China has been one of the few forces moderating U.S. aggression throughout the world. If this is lost, the United States would have free rein to turn entire countries – or even regions of the planet – into vapor. This would, in turn, hand it the power to terrorize the world and impose whatever economic and political system anywhere it wishes.

If this sounds fanciful, this “Nuclear Blackmail” was a more-or-less official policy of successive American administrations in the 1940s and 1950s. The United States remains the only country ever to drop an atomic bomb in anger, doing so twice in 1945 against a Japanese foe that was already defeated and was attempting to surrender.

President Truman ordered the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a show of force, primarily to the Soviet Union. Many in the U.S. government wished to use the atomic bomb on the U.S.S.R. President Truman immediately, however, reasoned that if America nuked Moscow, the Red Army would invade Europe as a response. As such, he decided to wait until the U.S. had enough warheads to completely destroy the Soviet Union and its military. War planners calculated this figure at around 400, and to that end—totaling a nation representing one-sixth of the world’s landmass—the president ordered the immediate ramping up of production. This decision was met with stiff opposition among the American scientific community, and it is widely believed that Manhattan Project scientists, including Robert J. Oppenheimer himself, passed nuclear secrets to Moscow in an effort to speed up their nuclear project and develop a deterrent to halt this doomsday scenario.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Humanity

 

 

Princess

 

 

Dogkey

 

 

Albatross

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 292025
 


Pablo Picasso Visage 1928

 

Biden Team Spent Aid Budget Like ‘Drunken Sailors’ – White House (RT)
Trump To Offer Buyouts To All Federal Workers (ZH)
Trump Executive Order Bans “Chemical And Surgical Mutilation” Of Children (ZH)
Homan Defends ICE Raids, Says He Will Carry Out Mission ‘Without Apology’ (JTN)
Trump Moves Undercut Dem Defense Of Biden (JTN)
Comer Launches Investigation Into Sanctuary Cities, Invites Mayors To Testify (JTN)
Biden Administration Tried To Kill Putin – Tucker Carlson (RT)
Kremlin Responds To Carlson’s Claim Biden Admin Tried To Kill Putin (ZH)
Ukrainian Energy Infrastructure On Verge Of Collapse – Forbes (RT)
Putin: Direct Talks With Zelensky, But He Can’t Sign Peace Deal (Sp.)
Ukraine Conflict Could End In Weeks – Putin (RT)
Is Trump Positioning For A “No-Deal” With Russia – Or Not? (Alastair Crooke)
Denmark Allows Russia’s Gazprom To Do Work On Damaged NS2 Pipeline (ZH)
Dancing to Trump’s Disco Inferno (Pepe Escobar)
How China Became Ideal Incubator for DeepSeek, US May Struggle to Follow (Sp.)
Trump: Let’s Make Money In Gaza But First Dump The Palestinians (Jay)

 

 

 

 

Trump morning

Phone

Bongino

Vivek
https://twitter.com/i/status/1884060637648806341

DOJ
https://twitter.com/i/status/1883991123104063851

Tucker Tulsi

TuckerTaibbi

 

 

 

 

 

 

New White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt starts off with some catchy language.

Biden Team Spent Aid Budget Like ‘Drunken Sailors’ – White House (RT)

The Biden administration spent the federal budget recklessly during its tenure, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday, defending President Donald Trump’s decision to temporarily freeze foreign aid.Speaking at a press briefing, Leavitt explained that Trump’s executive order, which suspends nearly all foreign aid expenditures for 90 days, is part of a broader effort to ensure fiscal responsibility and align spending with the administration’s “America First” agenda. “The past four years, we’ve seen the Biden administration spend money like drunken sailors. It’s a big reason we’ve had an inflation crisis in this country,” Leavitt said. Leavitt highlighted examples of what the Trump administration considers excessive spending under Biden. These include $37 million earmarked for the World Health Organization (WHO) and $50 million for condom distribution programs in Gaza.

“That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money,” she added. The freeze, she noted, reflects the administration’s commitment to responsible use of public funds. President Trump signed the executive order shortly after being sworn in for his second term last Monday. The measure halts foreign development aid and other spending for 90 days, pending reviews by the newly established Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Management and Budget. Some exemptions include military aid to allies like Israel and Egypt, as well as emergency food aid programs. Outlining the rationale for the freeze, Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to prioritize programs that directly benefit the United States while cutting unnecessary expenditures. “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” Rubio said last week.

The aid freeze has drawn criticism from some diplomats and organizations, particularly those involved in Ukraine-related programs. According to the Financial Times, several US diplomats have requested exemptions for critical development projects in Ukraine, even as military assistance to Kiev remains unaffected. These requests are reportedly under review. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the US has provided over $65 billion in direct military aid and an additional $100 billion for various Ukraine-related projects. Trump, however, has expressed skepticism about continuing such levels of support, advocating for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. His administration aims to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia within 100 days, backed by threats of increased sanctions against Moscow.

Read more …

“..56 percent of the civil service is covered under collective bargaining agreements that include telework provisions, while a full 10% of federal jobs are now designated as fully “remote..

Trump To Offer Buyouts To All Federal Workers (ZH)

Update (1750ET): According to CNBC, the buyout offer is for all 2 million federal workers. One senior administration official told the outlet that they expect 5-10% of the federal workforce to quit, which could lead to roughly $100 billion in savings.

* * *
In December, then-President-elect Donald Trump warned federal employees working from home that they would have to return to the office, or “they’re going to be dismissed.” Now, according to Axios, the Trump administration will send out a memo Tuesday afternoon offering to pay federal workers who don’t want to return to the office, in what would amount to an 8-month severance through Sept. 30, a White House official tells the outlet. “The government-wide email being sent today is to make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration’s plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards. We’re five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable,” said the anonymous senior administration official.

More via Axios: It’s not clear how many workers would be eligible for this offer, or how it would be paid for. According to guidance posted on OPMs website, in order to be eligible for severance pay workers must have completed at least “12 months of continuous service,” as well as meet other requirements. Political appointees aren’t eligible for severance, per the website. Many federal workers are already feeling scared about the administration’s crackdown on DEI, its return-to-office policy and the effort to reclassify civil servants. That unease could increase take-up on this new offer. Earlier on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the president has the authority to fire federal employees. While that is true about at-will political appointees, federal workers have more protections.

Leavitt was defending Trump’s firings of at least a dozen agency inspectors general. During the pandemic, approximately 2.3 million federal employees shifted away from traditional office spaces. This shift was not just a temporary adjustment, but a transformational move that many hoped would persist post-pandemic due to its perceived benefits in work-life balance and reduced operational costs. The Biden administration, acknowledging these benefits, continued to support telework, facilitating the reduction of government-owned real estate and integrating flexible work arrangements into the fabric of federal employment. However, with Trump’s election, a quick pivot is on the horizon. Unsurprisingly, Trump’s call for a return to office has been met with resistance from federal employees and unions. Approximately 56 percent of the civil service is covered under collective bargaining agreements that include telework provisions, while a full 10% of federal jobs are now designated as fully “remote,” according to the Washington Post.

Read more …

The vast majority of Americans will agree with this, even Democrats.

Trump Executive Order Bans “Chemical And Surgical Mutilation” Of Children (ZH)

Hours after signing an executive order restricting transgender service in the US military, President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order banning the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children, in a move that takes direct aim at pediatric gender transition treatments. The order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” yanks federal funding for so-called gender-affirming care. The EO prohibits federal funding, support, or promotion of pediatric ‘gender-affirming’ medical interventions. It outlines detailed measures across multiple federal departments, including Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice (DOJ), to curtail treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and gender-related surgeries for individuals under the age of 19. -Tampa Free Press. According to the report, the order includes:

• Defunding Medical Institutions: Federal research and education grants will be withheld from hospitals and schools performing pediatric gender-transition treatments.
• TRICARE Coverage Restrictions: The Department of Defense will exclude these treatments from military health insurance programs.
• Insurance Policy Changes: Federal Employee Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits programs will bar coverage for transgender-related pediatric surgeries or hormone treatments.
• Consumer Protection: The DOJ is directed to prioritize investigations into deceptive practices or misinformation regarding long-term effects of gender-affirming care, including potential fraud or violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

“Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing impressionable children,” reads the order, which describes such procedures as a “stain on our Nation’s history.” The order also calls for a comprehensive review of scientific evidence surrounding gender dysphoria, and calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to publish updated guidance within 90 days. The Trump administration will replace the existing standards – such as those issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which the order deems lacking in “scientific integrity,” the Free Press continues.

The executive order represents a significant escalation in the administration’s broader campaign to curtail diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, as well as gender-related policies, in government and public life. It builds upon earlier executive actions restricting DEI programs and eliminating gender-affirming policies in federal agencies and education. The order also authorizes federal law enforcement agencies to challenge states that support gender-affirming care for minors or policies that strip parental custody over disputes involving a child’s medical treatment. It tasks the DOJ with drafting legislation to allow parents and children affected by such procedures to file lawsuits against medical professionals. -Tampa Free Press. And of course, we’re sure it’s only a matter of hours before civil rights organizations file lawsuits to allow parents and doctors to continue abusing confused children.

Read more …

“This, what happened on the southern border the last four years, is the biggest national security threat this country’s seen, at least in my lifetime.”

Homan Defends ICE Raids, Says He Will Carry Out Mission ‘Without Apology’ (JTN)

New border czar Tom Homan on Monday defended the immigration raids that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers carried out over the weekend, and said he will continue to carry out the raids “without apology.” Actress Selena Gomez posted a tearful video online Monday, which has since been deleted, where she apologized to her fans for the mass deportations, claiming she wished she could do something for the children impacted by the raids. Homan told Fox News that he was not aware of families being deported, and that the administration was focused on deporting national security and public safety threats. “Look, President [Donald] Trump won the election on this one issue: securing our border and saving lives,” Homan said. “This, what happened on the southern border the last four years, is the biggest national security threat this country’s seen, at least in my lifetime.”

Homan said he expects that the continued operations will result in lethal fentanyl overdoses decreasing, a decrease in crimes by illegal immigrants, and a decrease in sex trafficking. “We’re going to do this job. And we’re going to enforce the laws of this country. If they don’t like it, then go to Congress and change the law. We’re going to do this operation without apology. We’re going to make our communities safer,” Homan said. “It’s all for the good of this nation, and we’re going to keep going. No apologies. We’re moving forward.” The comment comes after ICE and a small handful of other federal agencies conducted raids over the weekend that resulted in the arrests of more than 2,000 people, including nearly 1,000 on Sunday.

Homan

Read more …

“Absolutely massive cleanup effort is underway in western North Carolina today!”“The Army Corps of Engineers are everywhere!”“Why didn’t Joe Biden do this 4 months ago?”

Trump Moves Undercut Dem Defense Of Biden (JTN)

President Donald Trump’s whirlwind first week back in office has seen him move decisively to lock down the southern border, implement mass deportations, wrap up Middle Eastern conflicts, and deliver aid to storm-ravaged parts of the U.S., leaving many to ask why now-former President Joe Biden didn’t make the same moves months ago. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly blamed Trump for torching a bipartisan immigration bill and insisted that the commander-in-chief could not move to secure the border without support from Congress. Trump rebutted that the president had broad executive authority on the matter and didn’t require any new legislation.

Biden also drew flak for his response to Hurricane Helene, which devastated western North Carolina and saw thousands of people lose their homes. The perceived sluggish and allegedly politicized handling of the disaster in light of the region’s Republican tilt fueled outrage among the residents and outside observers alike. In the Levant, moreover, the last days of the Biden presidency saw Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire agreement to end the more-than-year-long conflict in the Gaza Strip, but only after then-President-elect Trump dispatched his own envoys to push the deal over the finish line. Most of the agreement’s terms fell within a previously-negotiated framework. The rapid, post-election turnaround on these keynote issues has many conservatives insisting that Biden had merely opted not to address the issues and that leaving them unresolved had simply been deliberate.

Since launching his 2016 campaign, Trump has focused on illegal immigration and vowed to crack down at the border, including by building a wall. The Biden administration saw more than 10 million people enter the U.S. illegally, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures. In 2024, Democrats worked with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., to negotiate an immigration reform package that would have established an illegal crossings threshold for the Department of Homeland Security to implement stringent border controls. Republicans asserted that the bill essentially condoned a predetermined amount of illegal immigration and did little of substance. Lankford received widespread criticism over his perceived negotiating failure and Trump urged Republicans to sink the bill, which they did. Its failure led Democrats to blame Trump repeatedly for the border influx and insist he had undermined a credible solution to permit him to run on fixing the problem.

Amid debate on the bill, which occurred three years into the four-year term, Biden himself said it would “give me as president, the emergency authority to shut down the border until it could get back under control… If that bill were the law today, I’d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.” At the time, Republican lawmakers dissented, arguing that Biden already had the authority to address the issue. “Anyone who says Biden needs new laws to stop the migrant crisis is a liar. The law RIGHT NOW says if the President finds that the entry of any aliens would be detrimental to the U.S. he can “suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens,” then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said at the time.

The bill did not pass, however, and Trump has moved to seal the border without so-called “emergency authority.” Footage from Trump’s first day in office showed border officials blocking ports of entry and declaring that anyone attempting to enter the U.S. would face arrest. He also deactivated the CBP One app, which Biden’s DHS had used to process illegal entrants. On Sunday alone, moreover, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported 956 arrests of illegal aliens, including many violent offenders. The agency had arrested 1,300 by Thursday, according to NewsNation. “The Biden admin knew exactly who these criminal illegal aliens were and where they lived. ICE was not allowed to make the arrests until President Trump entered office,” posted Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, in response to a video showing the arrest of a criminal illegal alien from Haiti.

Hurricane Helene proved devastating to western North Carolina in the leadup to the presidential election. The mountainous region rarely faces storms of that degree and was ill-prepared to handle the large-scale flooding that washed away entire towns, such as Chimney Rock. The death toll cleared 200 in early October, making it the deadliest storm to hit the mainland United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. High-profile figures such as Elon Musk took aim at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), contending it was blocking aid to the storm victims. Biden visited the Carolinas on the heels of a Trump trip to northwestern Georgia the same week and authorized the deployment of 1,000 troops to aid in the recovery effort.

Nonetheless, Biden faced blowback over his perceived failure of leadership, especially from now-Vice President JD Vance, who criticized the slow deployment of the 82nd Airborne to the region. “The 82nd Airborne is an hour away from western North Carolina, and it took six days to get them there,” he said in Greensboro while on campaign. “That doesn’t happen without a failure of leadership, but we gotta get to the bottom of exactly what that failure of leadership looked like.” Trump speedily deployed additional forces to the region to bolster rebuilding efforts and visited the area during his first week in office. Monday saw residents observe a large presence of federal troops working to rebuild key infrastructure and provide relief. “Absolutely massive cleanup effort is underway in western North Carolina today!” posted Matt Van Swol, a resident of the area who has documented the recovery efforts on social media. “The Army Corps of Engineers are everywhere!”“Why didn’t Joe Biden do this 4 months ago?” he asked.

Read more …

“The investigation is looking into the policies of sanctuary cities when it comes to federal immigration enforcement..”

Comer Launches Investigation Into Sanctuary Cities, Invites Mayors To Testify (JTN)

House Oversight Chairman James Comer on Monday launched an investigation into sanctuary cities, requesting documents and communications related to their policies and their impact on public safety. Comer sent the requests to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and invited the mayors to testify in front of the committee on Feb. 11. The investigation is looking into the policies of sanctuary cities when it comes to federal immigration enforcement. Sanctuary cities have largely promised not to work with the federal government in order to protect their illegal alien residents from deportation.

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States and their impact on public safety and the effectiveness of federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws of the United States,” Comer said in a statement. “Sanctuary jurisdictions and their misguided and obstructionist policies hinder the ability of federal law enforcement officers to effectuate safe arrests and remove dangerous criminals from American communities, making Americans less safe,” he added.

Adams has expressed a willingness to work with the Trump administration to deport illegal immigrants who commit dangerous crimes in his city, and previously met with Trump and his border czar Tom Homan to discuss the migrant crisis. Trump has also recently signed a flurry of executive orders that crack down on illegal immigration. “In addition to the efforts of the Trump Administration to ensure federal immigration enforcement can proceed unimpeded, Congress must determine whether further legislation is necessary to enhance border security and public safety,” Comer said. “It is imperative that federal immigration law is enforced and that criminal aliens are swiftly removed from our communities.”

Read more …

“Who takes over Russia? What happens to the nuclear arsenal in a country so complex that outsiders can’t even understand… That’s demented that you would even think about something like that..”

Biden Administration Tried To Kill Putin – Tucker Carlson (RT)

The administration of former US President Joe Biden tried to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Ukraine conflict, American journalist and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has claimed. In an interview with journalist Matt Taibbi on Monday, Carlson suggested that many former and current US officials have been rattled by President Donald Trump’s campaign to declassify numerous government papers, as they see the potential fallout as extremely dangerous. “I think this was one of the reasons [ex-Secretary of State] Tony Blinken was pushing so hard for a real war, trying to kill Putin, for example… The Biden administration did [it], they tried to kill Putin,” Carlson said, without providing any further details about the alleged assassination plot.

Carlson, who broadcast a bombshell interview with Putin last February, described the alleged move as “insane,” pointing to the potentially cataclysmic fallout for global security. “Who takes over Russia? What happens to the nuclear arsenal in a country so complex that outsiders can’t even understand… That’s demented that you would even think about something like that,” he added. US officials have never publicly acknowledged plans to assassinate Putin, or any other Russian or Soviet leaders. However, Newsweek reported in September 2022 that US defense officials had discussed a “decapitation strike” if Russia used nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied that such an option has ever been on the table, arguing that there are no targets in the neighboring country for such a weapon.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov interpreted the allegations of a “decapitation strike,” as “a threat to assassinate the head of the Russian state.” “If such ideas are really being considered, those involved must carefully think about the possible consequences,” he said at the time. In May 2023, Russia accused Ukraine – which has received massive aid from the US – of attempting to assassinate Putin in the Kremlin using a drone strike, although the aircraft was neutralized. While Ukraine has denied any involvement, Blinken said at the time that Washington had no prior warning of the raid, adding that Kiev was free to defend itself in any way it saw fit.

Read more …

..Antony Blinken had pushed for a “real war” with Russia and that the Biden administration sought to “kill Putin.”

“Russian President Vladimir Putin is well protected from any potential threats..”

Kremlin Responds To Carlson’s Claim Biden Admin Tried To Kill Putin (ZH)

Tucker Carlson has unleashed international controversy this week when in an interview with journalist Matt Taibbi, Carlson claimed that former Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pushed for a “real war” with Russia and that the Biden administration sought to “kill Putin.” The former Fox News host described the plot as madness and insanity on the part of the prior Democratic administration. However, Carlson didn’t offer specifics or any evidence. Carlson stated firmly that the Biden White House “was pushing so hard for a real war, trying to kill Putin, for example… The Biden administration did [it], they tried to kill Putin.” Watch the clip with Carlson and Taibbi:

Last February Carlson went to Moscow to interview Putin one-on-one, and it’s unclear whether the Russian leader may have conveyed some specific information at that time. On Tuesday, the Kremlin responded to what was said in the Carlson interview, and the statements were cryptic and vague, neither confirming nor denying the claim of an assassination plot. Below is a Russian media summary of the Kremlin response: “Russian President Vladimir Putin is well protected from any potential threats, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. He was responding to a claim by American journalist Tucker Carlson that the administration of former US President Joe Biden planned to assassinate the Russian leader. …The conservative journalist did not provide any details of the alleged plot. However, he denounced the purported plan as “insane,” considering the power vacuum it would create in Russia and the potential for Moscow’s vast nuclear arsenal to end up in the wrong hands.”

Asked to comment on Carlson’s remarks on Tuesday, Peskov would neither confirm nor deny US attempts to target Putin, nor reveal any knowledge of such plans by officials in Washington in the past. “Russian security services continuously take all necessary measures to ensure public safety and the safety of those under state protection. First and foremost, the head of state,” he told reporters. There was a past drone attack out of Ukraine which hit a building of the Moscow Kremlin complex. At that time it was seen as targeting Russian leadership, but it’s not clear that this episode is what Carlson had in mind. Carlson seemed to be saying something more significant was afoot – that Washington was will to risk a ‘decapitation strike’ or operation, perhaps especially if something like a Russian nuclear launch was imminent or likely. But if such a plan was an ‘option’ – it would be highly classified and the Biden admin wouldn’t want it to get out. If there had been such a secretive plot, it’s possible that President Trump could confirm or reveal it at a future date.

Read more …

“According to the International Energy Agency and the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Ukraine now has just one-third or less of its pre-war capacity.”

Ukrainian Energy Infrastructure On Verge Of Collapse – Forbes (RT)

Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is reportedly nearing collapse following sustained Russian attacks, according to a report by Forbes on Monday. The article by energy analyst Gaurav Sharma suggested that the country’s power grid has suffered severe damage and will require billions of dollars to repair. Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since October 2022, shortly after the bombing of the Crimean Bridge, for which Kiev claimed responsibility. Moscow has since conducted a number of large-scale strikes on the country’s power grid with the aim of crippling Kiev’s military-industrial complex, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, which has maintained that its strikes are not directed at civilians.

In early 2024, Moscow also added Ukrainian power plants to its list of legitimate military targets as a response to Kiev’s continued drone incursions in Russian territory, which have targeted Russian energy infrastructure as well as residential areas. In its latest article on the state of Ukraine’s energy system, Forbes specifically highlighted a large-scale attack that Russia carried out on December 25. It involved more than 170 missile and drone strikes, causing extensive damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Sharma described the attack as a major blow to the grid, which had already been weakened by previous strikes.

It is believed that Ukraine’s power capacity had already been cut in half due to Russia’s continued attacks by the beginning of 2024. Some 6GW of capacity was also lost after Moscow took over the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant at the beginning of the conflict. In subsequent attacks in March and May 2024, Kiev is believed to have lost another 9GW of power generation capacity. According to the International Energy Agency and the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Ukraine now has just one-third or less of its pre-war capacity.

Forbes noted that, while Kiev has not officially confirmed that its power systems are “on their knees,” it is “hard” to draw any other conclusion. The outlet added that, while efforts to repair the damage are ongoing, the scale of destruction has made full restoration difficult and costly. According to Forbes, citing sources in Kiev, the cost of the damage to Ukraine’s power infrastructure is thought to be in the region of $15 billion to $20 billion. This, coupled with the Ukrainian energy industry’s financial losses, means the total cost of reconstruction could reach $70 billion, according to the outlet.

Read more …

1/ Putin won’t be part of the talks, he’ll send underlings.
2/ Russia’s been cheated before.

Putin: Direct Talks With Zelensky, But He Can’t Sign Peace Deal (Sp.)

Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree outlawing peace negotiations with Moscow in 2022, months after the West sabotaged a ready peace treaty to pursue an all-out proxy war against Russia. President Putin has expressed readiness to find negotiators to speak directly with Volodymyr Zelensky. “If he wants to take part in negotiations, I will select such people, it’s not an issue. The question is about the final signing of the documents,” Putin said in a TV interview Tuesday, noting that Zelensky’s legitimacy has expired, and he therefore “does not have the right to sign anything.” Under Ukrainian law, the end of the president’s term means his powers are transferred to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada parliament, and in accordance with the Constitution, even martial law does not give him the right to extend his authority, Putin said.

Zelensky’s powers officially ran out last spring, but he remained in office after cancelling elections, citing martial law. “On the question of the final signing of the documents…there cannot be a single mistake or wrinkle. Everything must be polished,” Putin emphasized. Furthermore, direct talks cannot start if Zelensky does not lift his self-imposed ban, Putin said. “If there is a desire, any legal question can be resolved. So far, we simply don’t see such a desire” from the Ukrainian side, the president said. “Negotiations factually began immediately after the start of the Special Military Operation. Initially, we told the Ukrainian leadership at the time that the people of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics don’t want to be part of Ukraine. Leave these territories, and that’s it, that’s where it ends. No fighting, no war,” Putin said.

The Ukrainian side rejected these terms, but Russia nevertheless agreed to talks. “This was at the end of February 2022,” Putin recalled. Russia was prepared to implement the peace deal reached in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, “even though there were things [in the draft deal, ed.] which we had issues with,” Putin revealed. “Nevertheless, I agreed that we were ready to implement this document. And on March 15 or 16 we informed Kiev that we were ready to refine and sign this document. There was practically nothing to change there,” he said. “Somewhere near the end of March [2022, ed.] we received a proposal from Kiev – the one with the signature of the head of the Ukrainian negotiations group, Mr. Arakhamia. And it was these Ukrainian proposals – I want to emphasize this, it’s very important, that formed the basis of the draft peace treaty developed at Istanbul,” Putin said.

The draft agreements also “had a small point proposed for consideration by the Ukrainian side on a personal meeting between the two presidents. I agreed to this,” Putin added.Russia also sent signals to Kiev’s Western sponsors, including now former US president Joe Biden, Putin said, saying he had made clear that “if they had a desire…to achieve peace, the path was very simple.” Today, Putin said, Ukraine’s sovereignty is “almost nil,” and without foreign sponsorship and weapons, the present conflict would “end in a month and a half or two months.” Putin also commented on Zelensky’s claims that he banned negotiations after the Russian military was stopped at the gates of Kiev in early 2022, pointing out that Russian forces withdrew voluntarily as an act of good faith for the sake of the peace treaty being negotiated in Istanbul, many months before Zelensky implemented his ban in October 2022.

“For us it was clear in principle that deception was a serious risk. Russia has been deceived in a similar manner for decades: they say one thing, they do something completely different,” Putin said. “Nevertheless, based on considerations of the need to prevent the bloodshed associated with a serious war, we agreed, and began to withdraw troops from Kiev at the end of March.” Subsequently, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson flew to Kiev on NATO’s behest to tell Zelensky to scrap the peace plan, and Ukrainian and Western media blew up the Bucha Massacre controversy, accusing Russian forces of slaughtering unarmed Ukrainian civilians in a suburb of Kiev to justify continued fighting and Western support. Follow-up investigations revealed that the civilians killed at Bucha were murdered by Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces sent in to punish locals accused of ‘collaborating’ with Russian forces.

Read more …

“..without such a step, any proposed negotiations would be as illegitimate as Vladimir Zelensky..”

Ukraine Conflict Could End In Weeks – Putin (RT)

The Ukraine conflict could end in two months of Kiev is deprived of the money and ammunition it depends on to continue fighting, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. Speaking to reporter Pavel Zarubin on Tuesday, Putin was asked about the possibility of a negotiated end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “They can’t exist without their Western sponsors. They won’t last a month if the money and ammunition run out,” Putin told Zarubin. “Everything can be over in a month and a half to two months. Ukraine practically has no sovereignty, in that sense,” the Russian president added. According to Putin, if Kiev’s western backers truly want peace, “this is very easy to do,” adding that Moscow has already spelled out its terms very clearly.

Kiev can signal its willingness to talk by canceling the decree banning all negotiations with Russia, Putin said. He explained that without such a step, any proposed negotiations would be as illegitimate as Vladimir Zelensky, whose presidential mandate expired last spring. The US and other backers of Ukraine have channeled more than $200 billion in aid to Kiev, ranging from weapons, equipment, and ammunition, to cash payments for the salaries of government employees and pensions. The Kremlin has pointed to this support as making the West “de facto a party to the conflict,” which both Washington and Brussels have officially denied.

Read more …

Trump has a short window to get out and blame it all on Biden. Very short by now.

Is Trump Positioning For A “No-Deal” With Russia – Or Not? (Alastair Crooke)

Trump’s rhetoric about Russia having lost 1 million men in the Ukraine conflict is not just nonsense (the real number not even reaching 100,000), but his resort to it underlines that the usual meme of Trump being just woefully misinformed is looking less and less plausible. After touting the 1 million Russian deaths, Trump then suggests that Putin is destroying Russia by not making a deal. Adding (seemingly as an aside), that Putin may have already made up his mind ‘not to make a deal’. Instead, in a curiously disinterested way, Trump remarks that negotiations would depend entirely on whether Putin is interested or not. He further claims that Russia’s economy is in ruins, and most notably says that he would consider sanctioning or tariffing Russia, if Putin does not make a deal. In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump writes, “I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR”.

This – plainly said – is a narrative of an entirely different order: No longer is it his Envoy Kellogg or another team member saying it; it is Trump’s own words as President. Trump answers a journalist’s question ‘Would [he] sanction Russia’ should Putin not come to the negotiating table? To which he responds, “that sounds likely”. What, we might ask, is Trump’s strategy? It seems more as though it is Trump that is preparing for a ‘no deal’. He must be aware that Putin repeatedly has made plain that he is both interested and open to talks with Trump. There is no doubt about that. Yet Trump subsequently contradicts the ‘loser discourse’ in yet another apparent after-thought: “I mean … it’s a big machine so, eventually things will happen …”. Here he appears to be saying that the Russian ‘big machine’ ultimately will win. Russia will be a winner – and not a loser.

Maybe Trump is thinking simply to let the dynamics of the military ‘trial of strength’ play out. (If that is his thinking, he cannot utter such sentiment out loud – explicitly – as the Euro-élites would sink even further into a pathological tailspin). Alternatively, were Trump to be seriously seeking productive negotiations with Putin, it is certainly not a good way to start by being deeply disrespectful towards the Russian people – depicting them and President Putin as ‘losers’ who desperately need a deal; whereas the reality was that it was Trump who earlier had touted getting a deal within 24 hours. His disrespect will rankle – not just with Putin – but for most Russians. The ‘loser narrative’ simply will stiffen Russian opposition to a Ukraine compromise.

The backdrop is that Russia in any case collectively eschews the idea of any compromise that “boils down to freezing the conflict along the line of engagement: that will give time to rearm the remnants of the Ukrainian army, and then start a new round of hostilities. So, that we have to fight again, but this time from less advantageous political positions”, as Professor Sergei Karaganov has noted. Moreover, “the Trump administration has no reason to negotiate with us on the terms we [Russia] have set. The war is economically beneficial to the U.S. … and [possibly] also to removing Russia as the powerful strategic support of America’s main competitor ? China”. Professor Dmitri Trenin similarly predicts that,

“Trump’s bid to secure a ceasefire along Ukraine’s battle lines will fail. The American plan ignores Russia’s security concerns and disregards the root causes of the conflict. Meanwhile, Moscow’s conditions will remain unacceptable to Washington, as they would effectively mean Kiev’s capitulation and the West’s strategic defeat. In response Trump will impose additional sanctions on Moscow. Despite strong anti-Russian rhetoric, U.S. aid to Ukraine will decrease, shifting much of the burden onto Western European nations”. So why cast Russia as contemptible ‘losers’, unless this forms Trump’s strategy for walking away from the Ukraine issue? If a clear-cut U.S. ‘victory narrative’ seems beyond reach, then why not invert the narrative?‘Mission accomplished’ being obstructed solely by Russia’s ‘loser streak’.

This inevitably leads to the question of what is the meaning – exactly – of the return of America’s “most famous criminal defendant to the White House”, and his promise of a “revolution of common sense”? “There is no doubt that it is revolutionary”, Matt Taibbi argues: “Trump galvanized [income mal-distribution] resentment, creating a political Sherman’s march that left institutional America smouldering. The corporate press is dead. The Democratic Party is in schism. Academia is about to swallow a giant bottle of bitter pills, and after the executive orders signed Monday: a lot of DEI instructors will have to learn to code” [i.e., will be unemployed].

Yes, Taibbi observes, “it makes me nervous to see a murderer’s row of censorious CEOs (particularly Bezos, Pinchai, and the repulsive Cook) sitting in front of Trump, together with other Wall Street luminaries … nonetheless, if the deal was support for Trump in exchange for platforms going back to being merely self-interested profit-gobblers, I’ll take it over the previous cabal. The Wall Street Journal was probably closest to capturing the essence of that idea of the event with yesterday’s header, “The New Oligarchy is a Vast Improvement on the Old””.

Read more …

Trump must have agreed with this?!

Denmark Allows Russia’s Gazprom To Do Work On Damaged NS2 Pipeline (ZH)

In a very unexpected development Denmark is now working directly with Russia’s Gazprom to do environmental mitigation on the damaged Nord Stream pipelines, in the wake of the multiple underwater blasts that took them offline on September 26, 2022 – leading to years of accusations against Moscow and a Russia-West tit-for-tat. Denmark’s energy agency has granted Nord Stream 2 AG (which is under Gazprom) permission to engage in preservation work on Nord Stream 2 in the Baltic Sea. The agency described that there remain serious safety risks after the natural gas pipeline was filled with seawater and the remnants of natural gas. “The work aims to preserve the damaged pipeline by installing customized plugs at each of the open pipe ends to prevent further gas blow-out and the introduction of oxygenated seawater,” Denmark’s energy agency said.

The $11 billion pipeline project to pump Russian gas to Germany was hugely contentious for years, with Washington opposing it, before it was blown up in a ‘mysterious’ sabotage operation. The Western mainstream media has since backed off its repeat accusations that Moscow must have blown up its own vital pipeline, in light of revelations and a recent consensus that it was either a team of Ukrainian specialists on a ‘rogue’ yacht or else a major CIA op with help from the US Navy. While Scandinavian countries were once leading the accusations and investigations against Moscow related to the sabotage, suddenly Denmark appears to be working with ‘pariah’ Russia. All of this is happening as Washington still has far-reaching sanctions on Russia as well as the NS2 Russian operator, Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 AG.

“The damaged line of NS2 is estimated to still contain approximately 9-10 million cubic meters of natural gas, while the intact line remains filled with gas, the Danish agency said,” Reuters notes. “The United States in December issued further sanctions on the operator and other Russian entities saying it considers Nord Stream 2 a Russian geopolitical project and opposes efforts to revive it,” the report adds. This has raised the crucial question of whether the Russian entity’s supposed environmental mitigation efforts are but cover to eventually revive the controversial project. This brings up other questions of context and timing. After all, the Danish government is currently locked in a very public battle and war of words with the new Trump administration over Greenland’s sovereignty. Is the tiny NATO country of Denmark in search of any and all possible leverage?

From close US ally to lashing out… And given the Ukraine war increasingly seems unwinnable from the Western perspective, is it time for a European reset vis-a-vis Russia and its heavily relied upon natural gas? The following hit Politico on Tuesday: “France has discussed with Denmark sending troops to Greenland in response to United States President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex the Danish territory, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said. Asked about calls to send EU troops to Greenland, Barrot said in an interview with France’s Sud Radio that France had “started discussing [troop deployment] with Denmark,” but that it was not “Denmark’s wish” to proceed with the idea. Barrot’s comments came as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was in the middle of a lightning tour of European capitals to drum up support from allies in dealing with Trump.”

Essentially, at the very moment Denmark is trying to “drum up support” within Europe to stand up to Trump, the Danish government goes from condemning Russia’s sanctioned Gazprom to working with it and authorizing it to do work on NS2. But likely there will be a shrug from the White House, given the current broader context is Trump is trying to get Moscow to the negotiating table in hopes of quickly winding down the Ukraine war.

Read more …

Long from Pepe. This is just a small part.

Dancing to Trump’s Disco Inferno (Pepe Escobar)

Now to the war against the Global Majority. Inestimable Prof. Michael Hudson is adamant: in an absolutely must read essay, he concisely explains that “when Trump promised his voters that the United States must be the ‘winner’ in any international trade or financial agreement, he is declaring economic war on the rest of the world.” The key Hudson take away: If nations in the Global South are to save their economy “from being plunged into austerity, price inflation, unemployment and social chaos”, they will have to “suspend payments on foreign debts denominated in dollars.” It’s a work in progress: “Circumstances…are forcing the world to break away from the US-centered financial order.

The US dollar’s exchange rate is going to soar in the short term as a result of Trump blocking imports with tariffs and trade sanctions. This exchange-rate shift will squeeze foreign countries owing dollar debts in the same way that Mexico and Canada are to be squeezed. To protect themselves, they must suspend dollar debt service.” There may be serious problems ahead for Mr. Disco Inferno: “Trump’s America First political theater that got him elected may get his gang unseated as the contradictions and consequences of their operating philosophy are recognized and replaced. His tariff policy will accelerate US price inflation and, even more fatally, cause chaos in US and foreign financial markets. Supply chains will be disrupted, interrupting US exports of everything from aircraft to information technology. And other countries will find themselves obliged to make their economies no longer dependent on US exports or dollar credit.”

Prof. Hudson notes how Trump “thinks that the US economy is like a cosmic black hole, that is, a center of gravity able to pull all the world’s money and economic surplus to itself. That is the explicit aim of America First. That is what makes Trump’s program a declaration of economic war on the rest of the world. There is no longer a promise that the economic order sponsored by US diplomacy will make other countries prosperous. The gains from trade and foreign investment are to be sent to and concentrated in America.” The EU, in the Global North, is even more vulnerable to “America First”. Davos came and went with a mere blip on the screen, apart from the odd US banker bragging about “peak pessimism” in Europe – linked to the incoming Trump tariff tsunami – and head of the European Central Bank Christine “Look at my new Hermes scarf” Lagarde wondering it was “not pessimistic” to say that Europe is facing an “existential crisis”.

Read more …

Trump offers Ellison and Altman et al $500 billion to make AI cheaper. Sounds like a joke, but they mean it. Now Oracle and OpenAI are not focused on cheap fast AI, but on what to do with all that money. With $500 billion on the table, why do it for $50 billion, even if you could?! And where’s Elon?

How China Became Ideal Incubator for DeepSeek, US May Struggle to Follow (Sp.)

The seemingly out-of-nowhere rise of Chinese dark horse AI language model DeepSeek has tanked US tech stocks, with President Trump calling it “a wake up call for our industries that we should be laser focused on competing to win.” A leading technology expert tells Sputnik why may be easier said than done. “In a nutshell, China’s advances in AI highlight that tech leadership is not a birthright of the West anymore,” veteran independent cybersecurity expert and digital strategy advisor Lars Hilse said, commenting on DeepSeek’s emergence overnight to trump all of America’s most advanced large language models in coding, complex problem-solving and analysis benchmarks.

Hilse says China’s large language model breakthrough was made possible by: the state’s timely 2017 Next Generation AI Development Plan, “which prioritizes AI as a critical area for economic and tech dominance,” “China’s vast population, and digitized ecosystem generating unparalleled amounts of data, which is essential for training sophisticated AI models,” a “talent pipeline” assured by China’s “heavy investment into STEM education”, allowing companies like DeepSeek to pick from a pool of candidates “without compromising cutting edge R&D and cost efficiency, prioritization of software optimization, semiconductor production and chip stockpiling amid US restrictions. Globally, Hilse said, the model’s popularity stems from its open source nature, which can’t be said about its competitors.

Ultimately, the US now faces the prospect of a “fragmented global tech order,” and China setting tech standards in emerging markets, “which in turn erode both economic as well as ideological influence,” the observer said. Accordingly, “the upcoming decade will test whether the West can sustain its innovation edge or whether the sanction-induced improvisation efforts of China will yield technological dominance.” “Rapid scaling, state-backed resource mobilization – and most importantly – the adaptive resilience under pressure created by sanctions” – these are the factors that made DeepSeek’s success possible, Hilse said.

“Now, the US clearly retains advantages in creativity and foundational research but has to (like the West in general) chronic under-investment in manufacturing and infrastructure, fragmented policy and corporate thinking as well as over-reliance on sanctions as a ‘Swiss Army knife’, which in this case, too backfired in that it put China under pressure to improvise. Whether the US will win this race will depend on whether they can unify its entrepreneurial culture with strategic industrial policy, like Trump’s ‘Stargate’ initiative, and whether China can in that time transition from a fast follower to an actual pioneer in global tech standards,” the observer summed up.

Read more …

Jordan and Egypt don’t want 1,5 million Palestinians. But they get a lot of US aid money.

Reminder: the official policy is still the two-state solution.

Trump: Let’s Make Money In Gaza But First Dump The Palestinians (Jay)

Trump’s serendipity is the only thing geopolitical analysts can bet on as if there’s one thing we can all agree that we can predict with certainty about how he will resolve all the world’s problems, is that he will not be predictable. He relies heavily on his own instincts and vanities and sees opportunity everywhere. His unfettered support for Netanyahu’s genocide might just yet still shock his more die-hard supporters, given that he posted unflattering social media clips about the Israeli leader in December and yet is ready to throw his weight behind Israel’s bolder ambitions of wiping every Palestinian off the surface of Israel. The big plan is no longer a conspiracy theory.

As months went by and the whole world witnessed the breathtaking depravity of Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinians – at least 100,000 by even the most conservative estimates – some, like myself, were bold enough live on TV to suggest that it seemed that the big plan was to completely eradicate Palestinians from Gaza, forcing neighboring countries to take what was left. For those of us who assumed this, we hoped we were wrong. And yet in the last couple of days, Trump has let the cat out of the bag and revealed this is in fact the plan, one which he supports – explaining perhaps why Netanyahu was never interested in discussing a two-state solution or what the make-up of an administration there might look like under the leadership of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Trump has suggested that neighboring Arab countries should take in Palestinian refugees and “clean out” the embattled Gaza. Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One on 25th of January, Trump said he spoke to King Abdullah II of Jordan about the war and was planning to speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi the following day. “I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, we just clean out that whole thing. It’s a real mess.” What is worrying about this statement is how the idea itself, which he must have supported all along, like so many feral schemes that seem to appear from nowhere, is based on Trump being very badly briefed about the Middle East. If he listens to his advisers at all, they should have told him that neither Jordan nor Egypt would ever entertain the idea of taking huge numbers of Palestinians under any circumstances.

Any two-bit hack in the region can tell you that the current situation in neighboring countries which have taken Palestinian refugees since 1948 is very bad for both the refugees themselves and for the host countries. In Lebanon, they are kept in ‘camps’ which are off limits, normally, to Lebanese police and security forces, where the UN gives them the bare minimum to eat and where terrorism is rife – creating an internal security problem for the state which often raises its ugly head now and again. In Jordan, the King already has a difficult job keeping his country on an even keel with the high percentage of Jordanians originating from Palestine, which brings its own challenges itself politically; the last thing King Abdullah needs is more of them arriving as refugees.

In Syria too, Palestinians have settled in camps and accepted they are third class citizens although it is less clear how the new leaders of the country – who are the most extreme terrorists stemming from ISIS – will treat them, given they are broadly aligned politically with them. The Trump bombshell is revealing. One the one hand the vitriol that Trump is happy to show against Netanyahu on social media is probably a sham – he has a track record of pretending to not like certain world leaders in front of the cameras while admiring them in private; and secondly, unlike what we are lead to believe, the old doctrine that Israel controls U.S. foreign policy is still true, perhaps even more so under Trump than Biden. The plan to level Gaza and then turn to the international community and say ‘hey, look it’s uninhabitable, there’s nothing there now…it would be inhumane to put people there’ is now looking more and more like official policy.

The only real question is how weak western countries will be in supporting this plan. Will the EU just follow U.S. foreign policy blindly like it always has done in the past? It’s unimaginable that Spain and Ireland would allow this genocide to be swept under the carpet so that Israel can rebuild from the ground up a new Gaza for even more illegal settlers, while a new Suez-like canal mega project is built to compete with Egypt’s, right? Is Trump going to be part of this cash cow? Trump 2.0 appears to be even more about finding the deal, than its former term in office. Is it that Trump is listening to his advisors? But their mandate is not to advise him on what’s best for America, just what’s best for him? Show me the deal.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Ozempic

 

 

RFK

 

 

Gain of function
https://twitter.com/i/status/1884195491287560584

 

 

Carr

 

 

Flow

 

 

Herding

 

 

Sleep

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Mar 112018
 
 March 11, 2018  Posted by at 10:06 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  8 Responses »


James McNeill Whistler Nocturne Blue and Gold Southampton Water 1872

 

$21 Trillion And Rising: Central Banks’ Leveraged Buyout of The World (ZH)
The $233 Trillion Dollar Dark Cloud of Global Debt (GT)
Trump Is Going For A Clean Reset in The West Wing (Vanity Fair)
Trump ‘Clarity’ on Tariff Conditions Not What EU Was Looking For (BBG)
China Ties Future to Xi as Congress Scraps President Term Limits (BBG)
Putin Says He ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ If Russians Meddled In 2016 Elections (NBC)
Millions Of Struggling UK Families Face Deepest Benefit Cuts In Years (O.)
UK Government Leaves At Least £1 Billion For Affordable Housing Unspent (O.)
‘We Are Nowhere Near Out Of Austerity’ – Institute for Fiscal Studies (G.)
UK Consumers Losing Interest In Buying New Cars On Credit (Ind.)
Erdogan Slams Allies’ Refusal To Support Turkey Offensive In Syria’s Afrin (RT)
Greek Defense Minister: We’re Close To A ‘Fatal Accident’ With Turkey (K.)
Post-Bailout Credit Line For Greece Probably Not Needed – Regling (R.)
UK Government Asks Public For Ideas To Curb Plastic Pollution (Ind.)

 

 

$21 trillion to buy out a broken system.

$21 Trillion And Rising: Central Banks’ Leveraged Buyout of The World (ZH)

Back in late 2016, we showed the unprecedented domination of capital markets by central banks using a chart from Citi, which had put together a fascinating slideshow asking simply “Where is the utility in marginal QE” and specifically pointing out that the longer unconventional monetary policy such as QE continues, the bigger its marginal cost, until eventually QE becomes a detriment. A broad criticism of monetary policy, the presentation carried an amusing footnote: “This presentation does not change any of Citi’s existing, published views on the actual future path of monetary policy. It is merely intended as a contribution to the ongoing debate about the efficacy of available policy tools” – after all, the last thing the market wanted is the realization that even banks no longer have faith in the central planners.

Incidentally, Citi’s broad critique of global QE took place when central banks owned just over $18 trillion in assets. Fast forward to today when in its latest update of central bank holdings, Citi shows that as of this moment not only has the total increased by another $3 trillion to a grand total of $21 trillion and rising, but that the big six central banks now own over 40% of global GDP, more than double the 17% they held before the financial crisis less than a decade ago. Which is remarkable in a world where there is still some confusion about what is behind the “global coordinated recovery”, and where there are deluded people who claim that central banks are now out of the picture.

Read more …

I admit: it was the headline. Nothing much else there.

The $233 Trillion Dollar Dark Cloud of Global Debt (GT)

Global debt has reached record heights without any signs of relief. While central bankers try to explain away the phenomenon of these out-of-control numbers, it’s not much of a mystery. Immediate consumption with the promise of repayment sometime in the future has consequences. Global debt is staggering to the point most of it will never be repaid. Certainly not in our generation. Perhaps by our grandchildren, but as global debt keeps mounting, the picture is doubtful. The per capita global debt is $30,000. Who, exactly, will be making repayments? Economists insist that the 2007 financial crisis could not have been predicted. Yet, all the signs of out-of-control credit where there.

Today, economists are repeating the same mantra, despite the spiraling world debt. The question is not if the next bubble will strike. It’s a matter of when. The math is fairly simple. The more a country increases its debt to simply stay afloat, the more like the increasing debt will cause a tightening of credit. The next step in the equation is a burst bubble and economic crisis. This is what happened in 1929, happened again in 2007, and it’s happening now. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Out-of-control credit will undoubtedly slow down the US’s current economic growth. It probably won’t cause an outright crisis. Other countries may not be as fortunate.

Countries such as China, Belgium, South Korea, Australia, and Canada are experiencing an unprecedented credit bubble, with few systems in place to control it. The resulted inflation or simply write-offs of debts could result in a global financial disaster we have not seen before. The current economic upswing is unlikely to continue.

Read more …

Coming out of the sophomore year. Cohn wanted to be Chief of Staff… Still, Bolton would be a grave mistake, he would be shredded.

Trump Is Going For A Clean Reset in The West Wing (Vanity Fair)

Even before he decided to launch a trade war and roll the nuclear dice by agreeing in the course of a West Wing afternoon to a risky sit-down with Kim Jong Un, Donald Trump was telling friends he was tired of being reined in. “I’m doing great, but I’m getting all these bad headlines,” Trump told a friend recently. A Republican in frequent contact with the White House told me Trump is “frustrated by all these people telling him what to do.” With the departures of Hope Hicks and Gary Cohn, the Trump presidency is entering a new phase—one in which Trump is feeling liberated to act on his impulses. “Trump is in command. He’s been in the job more than a year now. He knows how the levers of power work. He doesn’t give a fuck,” the Republican said.

Trump’s decision to circumvent the policy process and impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum reflects his emboldened desire to follow his impulses and defy his advisers. “It was like a fuck-you to Kelly,” a Trump friend said. “Trump is red-hot about Kelly trying to control him.” According to five Republicans close to the White House, Trump has diagnosed the problem as having the wrong team around him and is looking to replace his senior staff in the coming weeks. “Trump is going for a clean reset, but he needs to do it in a way that’s systemic so it doesn’t look like it’s chaos,” one Republican said. Sources said that the first officials to go will be Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, both of whom Trump has clashed with for months.

On Tuesday, Trump met with John Bolton in the Oval Office. When he plans to visit Mar-a-Lago next weekend, Trump is expected to interview more candidates for both positions, according to two sources. “He’s going for a clean slate,” one source said. Cohn had been lobbying to replace Kelly as chief, two sources said, and quit when he didn’t get the job. “Trump laughed at Gary when he brought it up,” one outside adviser to the White House said. Next on the departure list are Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Trump remains fiercely loyal to his family, but various distractions have eroded their efficacy within the administration. Both have been sidelined without top-secret security clearances by Kelly, and sources expect them to be leaving at some point in the near future.

Read more …

But he’s clear.

Trump ‘Clarity’ on Tariff Conditions Not What EU Was Looking For (BBG)

Hours after European Union trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom said she had “no immediate clarity” on whether the bloc will be let off the hook from planned U.S. tariffs, President Donald Trump laid down his conditions and repeated a threat if they’re not met. “The European Union, wonderful countries who treat the U.S. very badly on trade, are complaining about the tariffs on Steel & Aluminum,” he wrote on Twitter. “If they drop their horrific barriers & tariffs on U.S. products going in, we will likewise drop ours. Big Deficit. If not, we Tax Cars etc. FAIR!” Trump’s response came after Malmstrom on Twitter described what she called “frank” but fruitless talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Brussels on Saturday.

There was still “no immediate clarity on the exact U.S. procedure on exemption,” Malmstrom, the 28-nation bloc’s trade commissioner, said after the meeting that also included Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko. “As a close security and trade partner of the U.S. the EU must be excluded from the announced measures,” she said. Canada, Mexico and Australia have secured exemptions from the tariffs of 25% on imported steel and 10% on aluminum announced by Trump, though Canada’s and Mexico’s were conditioned on progress renegotiating NAFTA. Trump has called the tariffs a matter of national security while threatening to tax European car imports and impose “reciprocal taxes” on countries that charge higher duties on U.S. goods than the U.S. now charges on their products.

Read more …

Just as China’s economic model is about to ‘go into a next phase..’

China Ties Future to Xi as Congress Scraps President Term Limits (BBG)

China’s parliament voted to repeal presidential term limits, allowing President Xi Jinping to retain power indefinitely in a formal break from succession rules set up after Mao Zedong’s turbulent rule. The rubber-stamp National People’s Congress agreed Sunday to strike a 36-year-old constitutional provision barring the president from serving more than two consecutive terms. The amendment – announced by the Communist Party two weeks ago – removes the only barrier keeping Xi, 64, from staying on after his expected second term ends in 2023. The vote – never in doubt – gives Xi more time to enact plans to centralize party control, increase global clout and curb financial and environmental risks.

It also ties the world’s most populous country more closely to the fate of a single man than at any point since reformer Deng Xiaoping began establishing a system for peaceful power transitions in the aftermath of Mao’s death. Before Sunday’s vote in Beijing, Donald Trump had joked that Xi was “now president for life.” The NPC could appoint Xi to a second term as soon as Saturday. “In the long run, the change may bring some uncertainties, like ‘key man’ risk,” Yanmei Xie, a China policy analyst for Gavekel Dragonomics in Beijing, said before the vote. “Dissenting is becoming riskier. The room for debate is becoming narrower. The risk of a policy mistake could become higher and correcting a flawed policy could take longer.”

Read more …

They all reported on the Megyn Kelly interview a while ago. Now all of a sudden there’s a new headline from that same interview. And.. “he even said it might be Jews..”

Putin Says He ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ If Russians Meddled In 2016 Elections (NBC)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told NBC News that he “couldn’t care less” if Russian citizens tried to interfere in the 2016 American presidential election because, he claims, they were not connected to the Kremlin. In an exclusive and at-times combative interview with NBC’s Megyn Kelly, Putin again denied the charge by U.S. intelligence services that he ordered meddling in the November 2016 vote that put Donald Trump in the White House. “Why have you decided the Russian authorities, myself included, gave anybody permission to do this?” asked Putin, who will probably be returned as president in the March 18 elections.

Putin was unmoved by an indictment filed by special counsel Robert Mueller last month that accused 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies of interfering in the election – including supporting Trump’s campaign and “disparaging” Hillary Clinton’s. Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin. “So what if they’re Russians?” Putin said of the people named in last month’s indictment. “There are 146 million Russians. So what? … I don’t care. I couldn’t care less. … They do not represent the interests of the Russian state.” Putin even suggested that Jews or other ethnic groups had been involved in the meddling.

“Maybe they’re not even Russians,” he said. “Maybe they’re Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship. Even that needs to be checked. Maybe they have dual citizenship. Or maybe a green card. Maybe it was the Americans who paid them for this work. How do you know? I don’t know.” Asked whether he was concerned about Russian citizens attacking U.S. democracy, Putin replied that he had yet to see any evidence that the alleged interference had broken Russian law. “Are we the ones who imposed sanctions on the United States? The U.S. imposed sanctions on us.” “We in Russia cannot prosecute anyone as long as they have not violated Russian law,” he said. “At least send us a piece of paper. … Give us a document. Give us an official request. And we’ll take a look at it.”

U.S. intelligence agencies and many Western analysts have said that Russian interference came at the orders of the Kremlin. Putin, Russia’s longest-serving leader since Stalin, dismissed this. “Could anyone really believe that Russia, thousands of miles away … influenced the outcome of the election? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous even to you?” he said. “It’s not our goal to interfere. We do not see what goal we would accomplish by interfering. There’s no goal.”

Read more …

In praise of austerity, of destroying the social and health care systems. A class society, more suited to the 19th than the 21st century.

Millions Of Struggling UK Families Face Deepest Benefit Cuts In Years (O.)

Families struggling to make ends meet will be hit by the biggest annual benefits cut for six years, according to a new analysis that exposes the impact of continuing austerity measures on the low paid. Chancellor Philip Hammond is preparing to give a stripped-down spring statement on Tuesday, where he is expected to boast of lower than expected borrowing figures. He will use them to suggest Britain has reached a “turning point”. He will point to forecasts showing the “first sustained fall in debt for a generation” to claim “there is light at the end of the tunnel” in turning around Britain’s finances. However, he will be speaking just weeks before a further public spending squeeze will see the second largest annual cut to the benefits budget since the financial crash.

According to new research by the Resolution Foundation thinktank, the changes from April will save around £2.5bn and dent the incomes of the “just about managing” families that Theresa May has vowed to help. The cuts will affect around 11 million families, including 5 million of the struggling families that the prime minister stated she would focus on. There will also be some good news for the low paid, with more than 1.5 million workers set to benefit from a 4.4% pay rise when the national living wage increases from £7.50 to £7.83 at the start of April. However, that measure will be outweighed by the effective £2.5bn cuts to working-age benefits.

Read more …

The real face of the British government.

UK Government Leaves At Least £1 Billion For Affordable Housing Unspent (O.)

MPs are demanding an urgent explanation from ministers after being told that £817m allocated for desperately needed affordable housing and other projects in cash-strapped local authorities has been returned to the Treasury unspent. The surrender of the unused cash has astonished members of the cross-party housing, communities and local government select committee at a time when Theresa May has insisted housebuilding is a top priority and when many local authorities are becoming mired in ever deeper financial crises. On Monday the committee, which discovered the underspend for 2017-18, will interrogate housing minister Dominic Raab and homelessness minister Heather Wheeler on the issue, before Tuesday’s spring statement by the chancellor, Philip Hammond.

He is under heavy pressure from MPs, and the Tory-controlled Local Government Association, to signal extra help for the local authority sector, which has seen budget cuts of around 50% since 2010. The acting chair of the committee, the Tory MP Bob Blackman, said: “We will be wanting to know why this very large sum has not been spent at a time of great strain on local authority budgets, and why it was not channelled to other spending projects. It does not help those of us who argue that more should be given to local authorities if the chancellor knows money he gave last time has not even been spent.” MPs believe they can argue for more for local authorities because Hammond will announce that unexpectedly high tax receipts have left the Treasury with a windfall of between £7bn and £10bn.

Read more …

Never trust anything that sounds even remotely like “Institute for Fiscal Studies”. This wanker goes on to praise the achievements of Britain’s austerity.

‘We Are Nowhere Near Out Of Austerity’ – Institute for Fiscal Studies (G.)

When the chancellor Philip Hammond sits down on Tuesday after delivering his first spring statement – the streamlined replacement for what we used to call the budget – one man will be greatly in demand, popping up on every media outlet to tell us what the figures on borrowing levels and the projected deficit really mean. That man is Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). I suggest to him that his official role is to pour a bucket of cold water over Hammond’s head, and he doesn’t disagree. [..] The idea of the spring statement, with the budget now pushed back to autumn, is to tell us where we are financially, and to kickstart consultations about the long-term fiscal challenges facing the UK. That, for Johnson, is the important bit.

If the spring statement works, it is an opportunity to counteract the short-termism that bedevils British politics and to start thinking about the issues that really matter – the ageing population, the buckling health service, the lack of any coherent plan for social care, the fact that soon taxes are going to have to rise or public services will fall to pieces. There comes a point when you can no longer kick the can down the road because the road is no longer usable. The Office for Budget Responsibility numbers cited in the spring statement will be better than those projected last autumn because tax receipts have been higher than anticipated, and Johnson reckons Hammond will indulge in some self-congratulation for having met the government’s austerity targets (albeit two years later than his predecessor George Osborne forecast) and eliminated the deficit on day-to-day spending.

But Johnson is ready with his bucket of cold water. “Chancellors always talk up the positive numbers,” he says, “but we’re not out of austerity; we’re nowhere near out of austerity. There are still big spending cuts and big social security cuts to come.” [..] He says the government has done well to get the deficit under control [..] Local government until 2014 was coping fine. It really isn’t any more. Clearly, the health service is struggling in a way that, three or four years ago, it wasn’t. So it feels as if we’ve got to the crunch point. We’re really beginning to feel the cost.” Government borrowing is now back to pre-financial crash levels. “It is quite an achievement to have got borrowing down from the highest level since the war to pretty much normal kinds of levels,” he says.

Read more …

Followed by a car sales promo. No. 1 advertizers for newspapers.

UK Consumers Losing Interest In Buying New Cars On Credit (Ind.)

The march of the brand new car once seemed unstoppable. Cheap finance and personal contract plans (PCPs) fuelled a boom in new cars, accounting for more than 80% of all new car registrations. A fall at the start of 2017 was blamed on a collapse in consumer confidence in diesel vehicles and last year remains one of the highest on record for new car registrations. However, the latest figures reveal that the number of new cars registered in February fell by 2.8% compared with the same month last year, making it the 11th month in a row to show a decline. And once again it’s being blamed on falling demand for diesel vehicles; diesel cars accounted for just 35% of the new cars registered last month, compared with more than 44% in February 2017.

[..] The previous surge in new car registrations had been partly fuelled by changes to the way we buy vehicles. Buying a brand new car with a relatively small deposit and monthly fee can be more immediately affordable than buying an older car upfront. 37% of car buyers claim to have bought on finance because it enabled them to spread out their payment monthly, 36% to get a better deal and, revealingly, 36% because they couldn’t afford to purchase a car otherwise. [..] Justin Benson, KPMG’s UK head of automotive, says: “Consumers aren’t necessarily turning away from car finance. There is, however, evidence to suggest that the new car market is pretty saturated, ie most cars in the last few years have been bought using PCP plans. So many are using the vehicles they already have and we are seeing a drop in demand – although Brexit is also in the back of people’s minds.”

Read more …

Hollow phrases: “Washington has repeatedly called upon Turkey to stop its “aggression” against the Afrin region..”

Erdogan Slams Allies’ Refusal To Support Turkey Offensive In Syria’s Afrin (RT)

Turkey’s leader has scorched NATO allies over their failure to support his “counter-terrorist” operation in the Kurdish-held Syrian region of Afrin, but expressed gratitude that they at least had no guts to openly oppose Ankara. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered the inflammatory comments while speaking before a gathering of his ruling AK Party in the Turkish city of Mersin on Saturday. “Hey NATO where are you? We’re fighting so much. NATO, Turkey is not a NATO country? Where are you? You’ve invited NATO-member states to Afghanistan,” Erdogan said. NATO members not only show no support towards Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch and would even openly oppose Ankara’s actions in Syria, but did not have the guts to do so, Erdogan claimed.

The offensive against Kurdish militias in Syria’s region of Afrin was launched late in January. Turkey describes the militias as offshoots of the terrorist-labeled outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). So far, 3,213 “terrorists” have been killed during the operation, carried out by Turkish troops and affiliated Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants, Erdogan stated. “In fact, they would openly oppose Turkey in Syria if they could. But seeing Turkey’s adamant position, they did not find [the] resolve to do so,” the president said. The Turkish leader also reiterated his earlier statements, that his only goal in Syria was the “fight against terrorism.” When Ankara reaches it, the troops will be pulled out of the country, he stated.

[..] Washington has repeatedly called upon Turkey to stop its “aggression” against the Afrin region, omitting the fact that the US-led coalition itself spent years in Syria without any invitation from the government or international approval. The recent UNSC resolution, which urged a 30-days Syria-wide ceasefire, has been also used to call upon Erdogan to halt the invasion. “Turkey is more than welcome to go back and read the exact text of this UN Security Council resolution, and I would suggest that they do so,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on February 27, stating that the Afrin region was “certainly within Syria.”

Read more …

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Greek Defense Minister: We’re Close To A ‘Fatal Accident’ With Turkey (K.)

As tensions rise over the detention of two Greek soldiers who crossed the Turkish border accidentally and over Turkish aggression off Cyprus, statements by both Greek and Turkish officials over the weekend underscored the fragility of the situation. In an interview with French daily Liberation on Saturday, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos declared that “Greece is very close to a fatal accident with Turkey,” referring to Turkish violations of Greek air space and territorial waters. “We are obliged to defend our territory which is not only Greek but also European,” he said. Late last week, meanwhile, Kammenos had referred to two Greek soldiers being detained in Turkey as “hostages.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with German weekly Die Zeit published on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusogu said Turkey’s judiciary was seeking to determine whether the Greek soldiers crossed into Turkey by accident or deliberately. Asked whether Ankara was considering exchanging the two men with eight Turkish servicemen who fled to Greece following an attempted Turkish coup in 2016, Cavusoglu ruled out such a prospect. “We do not want such an agreement,” he said.

Read more …

Oh yes, it will. Brussles won’t set its slaves free voluntarily.

Post-Bailout Credit Line For Greece Probably Not Needed – Regling (R.)

Greece will probably not need a precautionary credit line after its bailout ends in August if the country sticks to reforms, the head of Europe’s rescue fund said in an interview released on Saturday. Greece has received 260 billion euros in financial aid from euro zone countries and the IMF since 2010, and its third bailout expires in August. The country regained market access last year but some European Union policymakers and Greek central bankers believe Athens cannot go it alone without a standby line of credit after its financial support ends. But a precautionary credit line would come with conditions attached, something the government is keen to avoid after eight years of austerity that has worn down Greeks and hurt its popularity in polls.

In an interview with Proto Thema newspaper, the head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Klaus Regling, said having a precautionary arrangement available is good because it gives more assurances to markets, investors and the Greek population. “But it very much depends whether it’s really needed,” he said. “If everything remains quiet, reforms continue and Greece continues to develop its market access, then based on what we know today it’s probably not needed.” The ESM and the European Financial Stability Facility are Greece’s largest creditors, together holding more than half of its 332 billion euro public debt, a sum equal to nearly 180% of economic output.

Read more …

They talk the talk because their pollsters say they must. And then deflect responsibility because they have no intention of doing anything. This way it becomes along term issue; the public must be heard first, and that takes years.

A tax on disposable cups is ridiculous. Just ban them, what’s the problem?

UK Government Asks Public For Ideas To Curb Plastic Pollution (Ind.)

The public will be urged by the Government to suggest tax changes to curb plastic pollution, amid growing criticism that ministers are dragging their heels. A “call for evidence” on how tax incentives could cut the amount of single-use plastics – such as cutlery, foam trays and coffee cups – that end up littering the land and poisoning the seas will be launched. But the move, in Tuesday’s Spring Statement, is not expected to include any specific proposals, nor will a formal consultation be launched by the Treasury. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, will tell MPs he is determined that Britain will “lead the world in creating innovative solutions to tackling this global problem”.

But the call for evidence was first proposed by Mr Hammond four months ago, the delay prompting criticism that ministers have simply “talked the talk on plastic pollution”. A proposal for a 25p “latte levy” on disposable coffee cups, made by a cross-party Commons committee in January was met with a cool response from the Government. In January, Theresa May delivered the first major speech on the environment from a sitting prime minister since 2004 and published a 25-year Environment Plan with the ambition of abolishing plastic waste by 2042. However, it was widely criticised for being vague, for the lack of proposed legislation and for the lengthy timescales for dealing with the problems involved. [..] The UK still creates 2.26 million tons of plastic packaging waste a year and recycles only around a third.

On Tuesday, Mr Hammond will say the call for evidence is intended to find ways to use the tax system to deliver both technological progress and behavioural change. Individuals, green groups and industry will be urged to have their say, as the Chancellor announces a £20m innovation fund for businesses and universities to develop the new technologies and approaches needed. The Chancellor said: “Single-use plastics waste is a scourge to our environment. From crisp packets to coffee cups, each year the UK produces millions of tonnes of waste which is neither recyclable nor biodegradable. “That’s why I want British businesses and universities to lead the world in creating innovative solutions to tackling this global problem.

Read more …